small pleasures of flying
Dec 26, 2012 | 12:23 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: SFO/SJC
Programs: UA 1K ex-GS(NL) 2.4MM, WN A, Bonvoy Ambassador, IHG Diamond, HH Gold, BW Diamond Select!, Hertz PC
Posts: 2,841
small pleasures of flying
[note to mods: I inadvertently posted this in the UA forum at first - please feel free to delete the cross-posting from that forum]
There isn't a particular point to this, other than to share my rediscovery of a love for the simple pleasures of flying...
I took my last flight of the year last week, a short-haul from LAX-SFO. Although I dearly love flying, and being up at 35,000 feet, I am fairly jaded when it comes to 1 hour flights on UA. But for some reason - perhaps I was in a very relaxed frame of mind after a relatively stressful six months or so at work - things changed on this flight.
The portents weren't great. I reached LAX at around 3:10 and went through the lovely and always empty pre-check line. I was on the 4:30 flight, but there was an outside chance of the 3:24. Only as I waltzed through the scanner, I heard the dreaded "bag check." I was the only occupant of that lane, so looking around for someone else to pin it on wasn't a winning strategy.
Then I realized I had put a bottle of water in my backpack at the hotel that morning. Easily fixed, or so I thought. I apologized profusely, but incredibly, they hadn't noticed the bottle of water at all. "Do you have some sort of cream in there?" was the question. I don't travel with anything remotely liquid, so I couldn't think what they were referring to.
It struck me in a second. I had brought a small gift basket down from SFO and it had a hazelnut spread in it amongst other things. My secret santa recipient was a no-show, so I was taking it back to SFO. Hadn't bothered security at SFO, but that had to be the issue, and sure enough, it was. As the TSA agent unwrapped and generally destroyed the gift basket, I asked how the same item had made it down from SFO? "That's different," came the reply - probably not what's written in the training manual.
They kept trying to convince me to just go out and check the bag in, and I kept insisting that I didn't care because I wanted to try and make the 3:24 flight.
I finally broke free of the clutches of the TSA at about 3:20 and absolutely pegged it (to the extent that I am capable of sprinting, that is) to gate 62. It would have been too easy for the flight to be going out of 70A, wouldn't it?
I was almost sure I was too late, but when I got there, there was a couple being shepherded through so I ran up to the counter and the conversation went something like this:
Me: "Is there any chance I could make it onto this flight? I'm currently on the next one?"
Agent: "Are you a Star Gold member?"
Me: "Yes, I'm a 1K"
Agent: "Well in that case, absolutely not!"
Agent: (noting the flummoxed expression on my face) "Of course I can help you, sir!"
[small nostalgia-inducing pleasure #1 - gate agent with a sense of humour]
Agent: (after about 250 keystrokes) "I'm afraid we can't put you in First on this flight, do you still want to get on?"
Me: "I'll take anything"
Agent: "Okay. You're in 9A. And we have a special treat for you today. You're going to get a small workout going up and down the stairs."
It turns out that the flight was delayed a few minutes because of a malfunctioning jetway. One of those happy little moments in life - if not for that delay, I wouldn't have made it on board.
[small nostalgia-inducing pleasure #2 - walking along the tarmac at LAX to board a 737]
I got on board, and noticed that the flight was relatively empty - very unusual these days. Settled into 9A, and was pleased to see that I had no seatmates.
[small nostalgia-inducing pleasure #3 - an empty row in coach!]
Then I hear a voice. "Mr Cricketer, it really is your lucky day. You're in 5B." I wasn't as it turned out, because the first class cabin had rearranged itself, but the good old CO on-board upgrade was indeed mine for the taking. And I took it.
[small pleasure #4 - an unexpected upgrade]
And then the penny dropped. Sod's Law. The pilot came on to inform us that we had missed our wheels-up and because of winds at SFO, we were going to be held on the ground for an hour or so. I almost, but not quite, felt responsible. And of course, this was one of the handful of pmCO 737's without the PTV's installed.
We eventually departed about 90-100 minutes late. The flight was uneventful, but then as we reached the Bay Area, the captain announced that we'd be landing to the south on 19L. That was great, because I hadn't done that in a long time, but better yet was the near perfect views of the city that we got on a pretty clear night as we looped around to come in for our approach. Absolutely beautiful, and I was in the mood to enjoy it.
[small pleasure #5 - an impromptu aerial city tour by night]
[small pleasure #6 - approach and landing on a rarely used runway]
Sorry - that got a bit longer than I planned. But somehow I found so much to enjoy and appreciate on a short flight that was delayed by 90+ minutes, so I figured it was worth sharing, cheesy or otherwise!
Happy Holidays to everyone!
There isn't a particular point to this, other than to share my rediscovery of a love for the simple pleasures of flying...
I took my last flight of the year last week, a short-haul from LAX-SFO. Although I dearly love flying, and being up at 35,000 feet, I am fairly jaded when it comes to 1 hour flights on UA. But for some reason - perhaps I was in a very relaxed frame of mind after a relatively stressful six months or so at work - things changed on this flight.
The portents weren't great. I reached LAX at around 3:10 and went through the lovely and always empty pre-check line. I was on the 4:30 flight, but there was an outside chance of the 3:24. Only as I waltzed through the scanner, I heard the dreaded "bag check." I was the only occupant of that lane, so looking around for someone else to pin it on wasn't a winning strategy.
Then I realized I had put a bottle of water in my backpack at the hotel that morning. Easily fixed, or so I thought. I apologized profusely, but incredibly, they hadn't noticed the bottle of water at all. "Do you have some sort of cream in there?" was the question. I don't travel with anything remotely liquid, so I couldn't think what they were referring to.
It struck me in a second. I had brought a small gift basket down from SFO and it had a hazelnut spread in it amongst other things. My secret santa recipient was a no-show, so I was taking it back to SFO. Hadn't bothered security at SFO, but that had to be the issue, and sure enough, it was. As the TSA agent unwrapped and generally destroyed the gift basket, I asked how the same item had made it down from SFO? "That's different," came the reply - probably not what's written in the training manual.
They kept trying to convince me to just go out and check the bag in, and I kept insisting that I didn't care because I wanted to try and make the 3:24 flight.
I finally broke free of the clutches of the TSA at about 3:20 and absolutely pegged it (to the extent that I am capable of sprinting, that is) to gate 62. It would have been too easy for the flight to be going out of 70A, wouldn't it?
I was almost sure I was too late, but when I got there, there was a couple being shepherded through so I ran up to the counter and the conversation went something like this:
Me: "Is there any chance I could make it onto this flight? I'm currently on the next one?"
Agent: "Are you a Star Gold member?"
Me: "Yes, I'm a 1K"
Agent: "Well in that case, absolutely not!"
Agent: (noting the flummoxed expression on my face) "Of course I can help you, sir!"
[small nostalgia-inducing pleasure #1 - gate agent with a sense of humour]
Agent: (after about 250 keystrokes) "I'm afraid we can't put you in First on this flight, do you still want to get on?"
Me: "I'll take anything"
Agent: "Okay. You're in 9A. And we have a special treat for you today. You're going to get a small workout going up and down the stairs."
It turns out that the flight was delayed a few minutes because of a malfunctioning jetway. One of those happy little moments in life - if not for that delay, I wouldn't have made it on board.
[small nostalgia-inducing pleasure #2 - walking along the tarmac at LAX to board a 737]
I got on board, and noticed that the flight was relatively empty - very unusual these days. Settled into 9A, and was pleased to see that I had no seatmates.
[small nostalgia-inducing pleasure #3 - an empty row in coach!]
Then I hear a voice. "Mr Cricketer, it really is your lucky day. You're in 5B." I wasn't as it turned out, because the first class cabin had rearranged itself, but the good old CO on-board upgrade was indeed mine for the taking. And I took it.
[small pleasure #4 - an unexpected upgrade]
And then the penny dropped. Sod's Law. The pilot came on to inform us that we had missed our wheels-up and because of winds at SFO, we were going to be held on the ground for an hour or so. I almost, but not quite, felt responsible. And of course, this was one of the handful of pmCO 737's without the PTV's installed.
We eventually departed about 90-100 minutes late. The flight was uneventful, but then as we reached the Bay Area, the captain announced that we'd be landing to the south on 19L. That was great, because I hadn't done that in a long time, but better yet was the near perfect views of the city that we got on a pretty clear night as we looped around to come in for our approach. Absolutely beautiful, and I was in the mood to enjoy it.
[small pleasure #5 - an impromptu aerial city tour by night]
[small pleasure #6 - approach and landing on a rarely used runway]
Sorry - that got a bit longer than I planned. But somehow I found so much to enjoy and appreciate on a short flight that was delayed by 90+ minutes, so I figured it was worth sharing, cheesy or otherwise!
Happy Holidays to everyone!
Last edited by cricketer; Dec 27, 2012 at 10:43 am
Dec 27, 2012 | 7:45 am
#2
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: WAS-ish
Programs: UA 1K-MM + UC, Marriott Plat, National Exec
Posts: 1,343
Happy Holidays, cricketer!
And thanks for an eccentric gem of a TR that just happened to hit the spot for me right now! What really shines through in your trip report is your determination (and ability) to take an trip with ups and downs, filter out the downs, and come away with a great experience. And that is how to enjoy travel -- because any idiot can enjoy the rare trip where everything goes perfectly, but if you can enjoy the mixed bags too, you get to be happy a lot.
One of my best flight memories is of an absolutely quotidian hop from EWR to YUL in a CRJ-700. Last-minute upgrade to 1D, nobody in 1C, surprisingly drinkable cup of wine served with a smile by the United Express FA... and an absolutely stunning aerial tour of the entire NYC area after dark, with every light and window glowing through air just cleansed by rain.
And just this morning, I was reflecting on my current stay at the Roosevelt in NOLA (which has been one of those mixed bags) and decided to enjoy the positives and ignore the negatives. So your TR fit perfectly with that resolution. Thanks again!
And thanks for an eccentric gem of a TR that just happened to hit the spot for me right now! What really shines through in your trip report is your determination (and ability) to take an trip with ups and downs, filter out the downs, and come away with a great experience. And that is how to enjoy travel -- because any idiot can enjoy the rare trip where everything goes perfectly, but if you can enjoy the mixed bags too, you get to be happy a lot.
One of my best flight memories is of an absolutely quotidian hop from EWR to YUL in a CRJ-700. Last-minute upgrade to 1D, nobody in 1C, surprisingly drinkable cup of wine served with a smile by the United Express FA... and an absolutely stunning aerial tour of the entire NYC area after dark, with every light and window glowing through air just cleansed by rain.
And just this morning, I was reflecting on my current stay at the Roosevelt in NOLA (which has been one of those mixed bags) and decided to enjoy the positives and ignore the negatives. So your TR fit perfectly with that resolution. Thanks again!
