andyman1080

I'm relatively new to FT so let me introduce myself...I'm currently a grad student in electrical engineering living in central New Jersey, but I was born and raised in Seattle. My passion for aviation began developing at around age 8 when I took the first of what would become biennial family trips on BA from SEA to LHR to THR, 15,050 miles!

Anyways, fast forward and I was on my way from EWR-SEA to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends. This is my first trip report, so here goes...

Amazingly the busiest part of the trip was the AirTrain from NJ Transit to EWR. Friggin one of the AirTrains was broken and a billion people had taken NJ transit so I had to wait for the 4th AirTrain before I could finally squeeze myself and my two huge suitcases onto one (this was reminiscent of the Metro in Tehran, which was not a pleasant experience...)

Check-in was a breeze thanks to the first class line, or rather the absence of one compared to 30 people in the regular line. I requested 21A for both flights (exit-row window,) put myself on the upgrade list and got my boarding passes. The security checkpoint *brilliantly* was less busy than I have ever remembered. Breezed through and headed for gate 31 for my 7:15p departure that was originally scheduled for 6:05p. At this point I realized I was so early that my gate was being used for a different flight, that was also delayed. I spotted one pax stretched out on the floor playing PartyPoker on his laptop!!

It was not yet 4:30p so I went over to gate 35 where they were preparing to close the earlier ORD flight AA1927 which had been delayed 2 hours to 5p. As I was about to open my mouth to speak with the GA she took my boarding pass and starting slamming her fingers on the keyboard...the next thing I knew she had put me in front of 4 other waiting PAX and onto the flight. I shrugged and thanked my new PLT status and was the last to board the completely full S80. Later I found that they also had one non-rev FA on the flight but didn't have a seat for her so she sat in the rear with the working FA's.

Found that I had been given 31E, not great...but oh well, I was going to get to Chicago 2 hours earlier! It hadn't been 5 minutes, however, when the captain announced that control had pushed our take off slot back to 6:20p. By the way, I noticed that there were like 25 college kids on board. Later I would find out they were all heading to basic training. We applauded unenthusiastically for them. But I'll be damned if the non-rev wasn't the absolute hottest FA I have ever seen! Her name was Carissa, a 5'10" brunette, about 120 lbs and in uniform! Basically, imagine a younger, more beautiful Catherine Bell.

I had never been in the back of the S80, it has two seats behind the galley 30A-B which look like great seats from a privacy and leg room perspective, but I soon realized sitting in the back of this jet is far from acceptable due to the frequently visited lavatories and the engine noise. It is LOUD!! The first time I looked out the window I did a double-take when I realized the engine was 12 inches away.

Captain announced that wheels up time was now 6:14p. But we had to leave the gate now because they needed it for an arriving aircraft. So we moved a couple hundred yards away and parked. Now 7:15p. Now estimated 8:20p. Finally at 7:48p we departed but not before a quick call to a phone AAgent that confirmed I should make my connection to SEA.

Unfortunately O'Hare would not allow it. An uneventful flight but I was stuck between a real life version of Princess Fiona from Shrek, uh uh, the *ogre* version, and a Coach K lookalike that wore his leather jacket the entire flight and kept resting his head on the back of the seat in front of him.

We make great time and are on approach by 8:30p. But too bad, control asks us to hold...for 30 minutes. Finally we touch down at around 9p. Finally!! I still have 25 minutes...

But it wasn't over yet. Captain says we don't have a gate! All the gates were occupied while the aircrafts were being deiced. So we wait. Phone AAgent says my flight was cancelled anyways and I'm rebooked on AS21 for 8:30a tomorrow. But can we please get off this damn plane!! Because, oh by the way, most pax have been on since 4p (3p chicago time) and haven't had any frigging thing to eat. They didn't even bring a beverage cart around!

10p still waiting, and now it's because the ground crews at O'Hare went home!! We find out that 25 jets needed gates and they had no crews on the ground. So they were shuttling in and out of 3 gates. Finally at 11p we get off. In he end it was the longest 717 mile flight I have ever had! From 4:30p EST until 11p CST, 7.5 hours.

Already took care of rebooking so I just needed accomodations. Found an AE gate that wasn't very busy and asked for a distressed traveler voucher. Unfortunately the terminal manager for AA/AE who was assisting at the gate wasn't in a good mood and started refusing to help me, saying I should be at my gate (where 30 pax were waiting in line.) But I firmly insisted that all I needed was a voucher, my rebooking was done already, so he gave me one for the Wyndham O'Hare and sent me on my way. Headed for the shuttle and luckily it was just about to leave. Freakin serendipity man. Because on our way there I realize how lucky I was to catch it. The traffic into O'Hare was miserable!! It would have been at least an hour until he made it back, it was 32 degrees outside and I had no coat, hat or gloves, and it was already 11:30p.

Got in and paid $50 for my room, which I would later find was $50 too much. Crappy hotel. But no biggie. Set the alarm for 5:30a. Shuttled back to O'Hare, 5 million people trying to check into AA so I was glad they booked me on AS. Checked in, delighted to receive 6A. But what, I was selected for a *special* security screening. Probably due to the late one-way booking. X-rayed my stuff. Asked me to stand aside while they swabbed my bag, powerbook and shoes. Very intrusive, and the TSA agents are clearly geniuses in disguise. But soon I realized that when travelling alone I preferred the special security because I didn't have to worry about sending my powerbook through the machine before I got out of X-ray. There were only 2 other pax there. So that was nice. It took these guys like 15 minutes to clear me, included swabbing my powerbook twice, opening it and turning it on, turning on my camera, etc... Then they patted me down twice. And after they finished I had to wait 5 more minutes for my boarding pass while the chief filled out a report! The TSA is officially kind of bull, but oh well.

But I was delighted to find a Starbucks near my gate so I got a Latte, turned on my ipod and finally began to relax.