HOMEWARD BOUND - DAY 1
11 Apr 17.
Time to go home
Back up I-10, where I took the correct exit ramp this time [was it 149? I think so.] and returned the Rogue to Avis. Back on the shuttle bus with our 2 cases
and my backpack, 10 minutes to Terminal 4 where we successfully dropped the cases and collected our BPs, and straight through Security [thanks to TSA Pre✓ as usual]. By 1025 we were relaxing in the little AAdmiral’s Lounge by Gate A21, having first negotiated the Lounge Agent:
“Are you Club members?”, she asked quite aggressively as we presented our BPs.
“No, we’re just both oneworld Emerald, flying American in First” was my DYKWIA response
A small but perfectly adequate Lounge for an hour or so:
AA776, PHX-PHL, 1210-1946, A321, ‘First’ seats 2A/C
At 1125 we walked from the Lounge to the adjacent Gate 21, to hear “We are now boarding Group 1” … oh, gosh, we are just about the first to board again, with no queueing! There was a slight “Excuse me, you’re in my seat” in the row behind. A ‘gentleman’ had staked a claim for the window seat [3A] when in fact he was supposed to be in the opposite aisle seat [3D]. An easy mistake to make, of course, especially when you are apparently already under the influence and the signage is so unclear!
I was pleased to see that this aircraft had the newer brown seats - much more comfortable than the old blue ones we had suffered on the way out. Pushback at 1208, airborne at 1215, and lunch was served at 1320. Not one of our more successful airline meals on this occasion, although getting anything out of the tiny galley by one FA serving 16 pax must be something of a miracle!
The Galley
Microwaved? Enchiladas, apparently.
And what’s with the Half-Lettuce?
Towards the end of the flight, the FA announced that to her surprise we 16 F pax had gone through 12 bottles of wine! I’m not sure who was to blame … was it 1A, who was fawned over constantly by the FA? Or 3D, who had had enough already? One of the mysteries of air travel!
Thanks to the rescheduling of flights, our layover at PHL was agreeably brief. We got off the aircraft at the B Gates at 1935, and wandered down to A22 [in A East] where we arrived some 15 minutes later. Some of the walking times at PHL can be quite long, despite the moving walkways! No time for a Lounge this time [and there isn’t one there anyway!] as Group 1 boarding started at 2010.
AA722, PHL-DUB, 2055-0840, A330, Business, seats 1H/2H
Ah, back in our nice single window seats, ready for a nice meal and a few hours sleep on the TATL. I’m looking forward to Dinner, which is advertised as Cajun Duck Breast [etc etc]. Annoyingly, I left the menu on the aircraft, so I can’t remember what the rest of it was called!
Nice Bread Plate, though
Rather disappointing, and not terribly Cajun IMO. Nicely cooked, and moist, but with a rather strange texture and somehow lacking flavour. Whatever, it was all nourishment, and after a couple of glasses of Port I settled down for a couple of hours’ sleep.