UA1445 DEN-PHX Nov 14
I didn't sleep at all before this flight. I was working until 3:30am and then looked at my watch and determined that I had to leave in an hour! So, it was a long, long day.
The flight was full on the seat map during check-in. I selected the aisle seat. I have determined that I would rather have an aisle in E- than a window or middle in E+. I waited until I thought the jetway was clear to board. (I have never timed this right). I asked if I was the last to the GA and he said there were 17 more coming! (It was 10 minutes to pushback). By the time we pushed back there were quite a few rows empty on the A320.
We had a nice flight, I slept for some amount of time, I really don't know how long. I chatted with the window seat pax for the last half of the flight. We work in the same industry.
After deplaning in PHX I made tracks for the Cinnabon in the next terminal over. I missed a flight once at PHX attempting this! I had plenty of time this time and was able to eat my Cinnabon unhurried.
UA1584 PHX-DEN Nov 14
Another TED A320 and this one was full with one exception. The row I was in! I again took the aisle in E-. And not another soul was in my row. I felt the eyes of the other pax eying the seats. Had I been in the Window seat, I am sure that someone would have moved to the Aisle seat when the door closed. Several times during the boarding process the FAs looked at me and the empty seats pausing at my row and discussing them. I thought for sure they were going to move someone into them.
Since I hadn't slept the night before, I really wanted to stretch out across the three seats. But my I couldn't bring myself to do it with all of the cramped eyes around me!
Twice in a week, the flight from PHX (each a TED A320) has used two jetways to de-plane the pax. One in front and one in Back. I think that this will help increase the turn around time. They will have to rearrange the boarding groups to take full advantage of the boarding process though, or have a GA or FA standing in the jetway directing them to the front or back door.
After landing in DEN at around 12:15 I made my way to my vehicle and proceed to drive up to Wyoming to take care of some business. It was 7pm when I finally got home and immediately went to bed. I slept for 11 hours!
I promised more of the story I started in the previous post. So, here we go!
I had to listen to my friend make excuses as to why he couldn't go to the airport with me for about 15 minutes until he realized that I was agreeing with him the whole time and not turning around. I set the cruise control at 10mph under the speed limit. This really annoys him as his personality is such that he never wants to be passed on the freeway. So, I am driving slow and I am driving. These two things alone were driving him up the wall. So, to deal with it he crawls in the back seat. He really wants to be mad, but can't bring himself to it because he knows that this is my sense of humour.
We picked up the pax curbside in DEN. my friend never got out of the back seat and fell asleep shortly after getting on the freeway on the return trip. I told the pax what I had done and they thought it was just revenge for him attempting to dump his promise of making the airport pickup on me.
Here is where the fun began. My friend had taken his shoes off. The pax quietly retreived them from the backseat. I told him to tie the laces together at the ends. I then opened the sunroof halfway as the pax carefully placed them on top of the sunroof while holding onto the laces through the opening. I then closed the sunroof with the laces caught in the sunroof.
What we had was a pair of shoes on the roof of the car that would stay there at any speed. So, I again set the cruise at 10mph under the speed limit. We were on a secondary 4 lane highway and the speed limit was 65mph.
It didn't take long before a moving bottleneck was created for a few miles behind us! Since we were traveling slower than the speed limit, all the cars needed to pass us on the left. Every car that passed us felt the need to motion to us that something was on the roof. We at first feigned ignorance and that we couldn't understand what they were trying to say. Then we started gesturing in way that was then popular due to the song "Raise the Roof" and it got ridiculous from there.
The pax and I were having a great time and there was almost constant laughter from the front seat. The friend woke up and tried to figure out what was going on. He looks at the speedometer, looks out the back window and notices all off the cars as far as the eye could see. Then he notices that almost every car that passes is obviously trying to tell us that something is on the roof.
He is taking all of this well and keeps asking what is on the roof that everyone is noticing. He figures out that he can't find his shoes (A $200 plus pair of whatever was popular then sneakers). The light bulb goes off and so does he (he doesn't know that the shoes are safe because the laces are caught in the sunroof).
So, I am truly torturing him for these reasons:
1. He is going slow
2. He is being passed
3. He is not in control of the car
4. He believes his $200 pair of shoes are going to fly off the top of the car at any moment and be run over by the line of cars behind us. (Something we capitalize on by speeding up and slowing down depending on the intensity of his complaints).
Al of this excitement lasted about 1 hour. Until we got back to the office, the place were he thought I was taking him some 3 hours before. He gets out and tries to take his shoes off the roof only to find they are attached to the car..................
Thats my story, no moral to it, no punchline. He may now after 6 years be very averse to me picking him up at the airport. What do you think?
M.