Journey – DFW-LGA
Flight no. – AA728
Class – First
Seat – 3A

I head to the gate a little early as I need to grab some cash for the taxi ride to the city when I get to NYC. This is probably the hardest part of the journey – some terminal maps indicate that the ATM is at Gate 28 and others at gate 25, the “helpful” chap at the info desk says that the ATM is at gate 30 and I finally find it at gate 26!

Boarding actually starts a little early (but I am here on time so no issues there) and as I board I realise this is an S80 and I have booked the left side of the cabin so my carry on take up a good chunk of the overhead. Thankfully my seat buddy who normally travels with hand luggage this time due to various circumstances is travelling with checked luggage.

As ever there is only water and orange juice offered as a pre-flight drink and the joys of US domestic travel come rushing back to me. Boarding early does mean however a slow and lengthy boarding process so I have plenty of time to write up some notes getting me up to date pretty much. I even stopped writing the notes on this flight as I had gotten to the point where I was writing about the notes I was writing about this flight.

For once I make a bold move after take off – I start a conversation with my seat buddy. I guess 18 hours without human interaction other than cabin crew and ground staff makes even the lone gunman twitchy. We actually had a decent chat about flying and travel – he was an extensive Hiltonian as well (ok so I am not an extensive Hiltonian – just a recently frequent Hiltonian). Thankfully and finally he asks for a beer after take off so I don’t feel too bad to be the only one drinking again… most of my seat buddies seem to have “taken the pledge” and often look at me with disdain when I sip a glass of wine

Lunch is served and I foolishly gamble on the Turkey sandwich and a glass of white “wine” – let us never mention the “wine” again. The service is however great – at least on a par with the international first I just left. We are asked how many beers we think we might like to have on the flight as they only have a small number of our choices up here and they will need to go and get more from down the back and put it on ice for us (hmm I really should carry those applause stickers with me). As usual the warm gooey cookie is a tasty messy treat – and I pass on the offer of a second.

This is on reflection a really bad seat choice – window seat bulkhead. Admittedly I have no recliner but it is really pretty uncomfortable. I do really need to review my approach to seat selection for future trips. I think I have over thought some of them and not actually worked out what is the important part of the seat selection…. You know I think it is time for a little exercise in seat selection.

[aside]

When I were a lad and we had to walk fifteen mile through fog and snow just to see a sign post to the airport you had to turn up 7 hours before the flight the day before yours just to avoid being stuck in row 632 between Martin Ruane and Shirley Crabtree and you took what you were given and were grateful for it. Now it’s all “forward aisle” this and “5E for FEBO” that. The pressure I am put under by the rest of the FF community to choose the official best seat in the house is quite daunting. It takes phone calls, logging into MMB on the BA website, FEBO and even then it’s a gamble. Have you checked the type of aircraft, who was it leased from, is it mid, lo [sic] or high J, are you sleeping or peeing, is it a domestic flight on an international flight number? So many potential pitfalls – and then some of the guidance can’t even agree. Seat Guru lists some seats as “this is a great seat but also a bad seat” – I mean c’mon guys throw me a bone here!

And then you have my non-OCD friends who I say “Have you requested a seat yet?” to respond with “No, but my booking says 3C – seems ok”.

Q. Am I overthinking this?
A. Yes – probably

Q. Does it matter?
A. Based on this trip – very much so. I made some horrendous mistakes – mostly around being in the front row.

Anyway – here is the logic I sort of applied to this trip:

- No matter how bad the food is it is always important to have a choice
- If food is not a question then forward is better – I don’t want to be responsible for death or injury of pax that might get trampled as I sprint for the immigration queue
- For a night flight where I want to sleep window is good
- Anywhere I really want to see the view coming into the city the window is good
- Day flights where views are not important it has to be the aisle

Now these sound like great concepts but the outcomes were horrid – too many bulkheads, window seats when I was awake, the left side of the S80 with the only saving grace being 64K on a NNCW which was great apart from the non-functioning AVOD at my seat

So what is the outcome – will I be less picky? I think not, looking at my upcoming trips the seat selection will be key (unless the F upgrade comes through ) I just need to work smarter, not harder

[/aside]

My seat buddy offers to share a cab and ordinarily I would say no but this time I am more relaxed about it. However as he has checked bags and I am free and easy the cab share doesn’t happen.

After the meal service the flights drags a little but eventually we are landing at LGA with my specially selected window seat. This is my first day time landing into New York and I am really excited about looking at …. clouds over New Jersey…

It is however a beautiful day in Manhattan – it is warm and sunny without being humid like China. I am off the aircraft like a Whippet chasing a piece of fur on a mechanical track in the misbegotten belief that there is a rabbit there, poor poor whippet how badly we mistreat you…

The queue for the cab resembles the Friday night melee in Sydney but without the neat lines of cabs – on the upside though unlike the Sydney melee this cab queue flows like mischief of rats sliding through the greased pipes of the local [name of fast food outlet redacted to avoid potential litigation].

In the can the meter goes on which always unnerves me in foreign cities. I was sure that there was a fixed fee from LGA to the city but I am proved wrong. It is a pretty speedy cab ride to the city but we hit gridlock as we hit Manhattan. Unsurprising given that it is 5 pm on a Friday night. Eventually I get out about 100 metres from the Doubletree Suites – another advantage of hand luggage only and I walk to the hotel….