First world problems, first world windfalls.
Aug 20, 2015 | 12:59 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: AMS
Programs: AAdvantage Platinum, Asiana Club Silver, Flying Blue Ivory
Posts: 368
First world problems, first world windfalls.
Almost everything we like to complain about on our flight travels here on FlyerTalk are by definition a "first world problem", I.e. A hiccup one experience while excersing our privilege. The reason I wrote my trip report is not because the trip itself was very noteworthy (it's your regular TATL in Y), but since it gave me time to muse about the nature of first world problems.
My flights were booked way in advance, when I came across a good fare. AMS-LHR-ORD-MSP.
The cool bit would be, that I'd be joining up with my romantic partner on the final US domestic leg. The two of us living on separate sides of the Atlantic is the main cause of my FF status. In fact this would be our first flight together!
Prelude:
Slightly cramping my style was the fact that I pulled a calf muscle the night before. But hey, I had plenty of time and good connections. The start of my journey was auspicious. Dutch Rail was, uncharacteristically, running on time. Security at Schiphol was a breeze.
Flight #1. AA6435
Route: AMS-LHR
Operated by: British Airways
Plane: 767-300 G-BNWA
Seat: 19 K, EuroTraveller
Departure time: 10:33 GMT+1
Straight outta Schiphol!
Having the NWA registration gave a bit of street cred to my journey. The very lightly filled 767-300 was a joy. Service was great. A lemon shortcake and a cup of tea later I found myself over London. One of the joys of flying into Heathrow from Amsterdam: sit on the starboard side of the plane. Glorious views of London will be your reward.
View from the wing!
Intermission: Heathrow Terminal 3
Snags! A delay of one hour was announced. Now, I was not too worried: ORD has the automated passport controls and I was travelling without checked luggage, so it was possible to make my conection.
T3’s Oriel restaurant, where I had brunch, is one of the nicest airside restaurants I’ve ever been too.
There's always time for espresso.
I found my phone’s battery had drained a bit and spent some time charging it up in the general departure lounge. I must have lost track of time and discovered I had tot hurry a bit to gate 36. Just my luck: of course the plane was at the farthest gate. I limped along and found myself slightly confused as I didn’t see my flight on the signss.
Arriving at the gate area, there was an eerie silence. Tumbleweeds didn't roll by, but they might as well have. Turns out, my flight had moved to gate 18. In fact, there had been a change of planes, and a further delay.
Seeing as how I would miss both my connection and flying with my girl, I went (limped) to the ticket desk and see if I could reroute through CLT instead, but the ticket agent would have none of that. They rebooked me on AA2185 for ORD-MSP, gave me a boarding pass for seat 24D and put me on the upgrade list.
Flight #2. AA87
Route: LHR-ORD
Operated by: American Airlines
Plane: 777-200, N780AN
Seat: 22B, Main Cabin
Departure: 14:28 GMT
The plane was loaded to the brim, but luckily my neighbour was a quiet guy and the person in front of me a a no-recliner.
The meal was meatballs, which was okay, which was served quickly after take-off, with a decent red. But after that, the cabin crew just up and disappeared (literally didn’t see them until snack service, 7 hours later). The movie selection didn’t contain much I liked, so I opted to listen to a few podcasts instead, and played a few games on my phone. After I had grown tired of that, I put on Tomorrowland. Annoyingly, every five minutes or so, the movie blacked out for a second or three, before it continued.
About halfway into the movie, the ‘medical professional required’ announcement played, asking any doctor on the plane to report to cabin crew. A bit later, this was followed by a request for any diabetic on the plane to report to the cabin crew. My guess is that someone in first class forgot their insulin. Now, this relativizes my annoyance. Diabetic shock can be a serious condition. I think it must’ve been kind-of tense flying over Goose Bay, which is when the request for a diabetic to make themselves known came in. That’s where a medical diversion would’ve been decided on.
For the rest of the plane, business-as-usual just carries on, although it might explain the lack of cabin crew.
About three quarters into my movie the IFE fully crashed. Now, the American Airlines IFE system has movies starting on some sort of interval system. I could wait 5 minutes to start watching it, or join it again about 10 minutes in.
Tomorrowland was not good enough to start again. In fact, I found that I couldn’t join any movie, at all. I spent some time playing games on the IFE and my phone, instead. In the end I did manage to get the movie Hot Pursuit started. Of which I could watch the end, after the IFE malfunctioned, just before a hard landing onto the runway at ORD.
All-in-all: Delays, crashing IFE, absent cabin crew, a full plane. First-world troubles that make flying a bad experience.
Intermission: O’Hare Customs and Terminal 3
Customs was smooth, one thing I do notice though, the American way of ‘organizing’ is not to have clear and simple instructions and procedures, but to just put someone there to shout at you; Someone to shout at you to ask if you’ve got a short connection, someone to shout at you to go to the ESTA APC lane, someone to shout at you to keep moving in said lane, someone to shout at you to go to luggage recheck, someone to shout at you in the TSA line.
O’Hare was bustling at this hour, and I had landed, just as my original connection took off. With three-and-a-half hours to kill, I looked for a place to eat and drink, but it was all kind-of-full. I eventually settled at an Italian place, where I suffered an over-salted salad, over-greasy bread and a cold espresso. The shrimp were great, though, but I already was wistful for Oriel.
At least the wine was good, and the waitress had nice handwriting.
To add to my first-world annoyances: O’Hare only has 30 minutes of Free Wi-Fi. I ran this out way quicker than I would’ve guessed.
Flight #3. AA2185
Route: ORD - MSP
Operated by: American Airlines
Plane: MD-80, N980TW
Seat: 3A, First
Departure time: 21:03 GMT-6
I like MD-80s. They're so pretty. This one used to belong to TWA.
Now, this was not my original planned flight, and I had been booked into 24D. I had used my app just before take-off in London, to switch to the exit row: 21A. My seat dance was not complete. Due to the limited Wi-Fi, I had switched seats, but not updated my mobile boarding passes. I approached the desk to get a new boarding pass. The gate attendant was having a bit of a puzzle getting everybody seated and asked if I was willing to switch to 11D, so she could accommodate a mother and child. I was about to say sure, even if she had put me in 32F, after all, it was going to be a short flight. She then noted I was also on the upgrade list, and just short of winked at me, saying there was a good chance I’d get it.
Sure enough, when boarding started, she called me to recheck, and I ended up with 3A. From that point on, the fact that a late cabin crew delayed departure a bit didn’t matter much. Nor the fact that turbulence made sure my drinks where shaken, not stirred. After a long day, I had ended up in the right place. The First class seat of one of my favourite type of planes, sipping G&T, on my way to the woman that loves me.
I guess that’s the opposite of the First World Problem: The First World Windfall.
Bright lights, big refinery. View from the plane of Pine Bend Refinery, near St. Paul.
My flights were booked way in advance, when I came across a good fare. AMS-LHR-ORD-MSP.
The cool bit would be, that I'd be joining up with my romantic partner on the final US domestic leg. The two of us living on separate sides of the Atlantic is the main cause of my FF status. In fact this would be our first flight together!
Prelude:
Slightly cramping my style was the fact that I pulled a calf muscle the night before. But hey, I had plenty of time and good connections. The start of my journey was auspicious. Dutch Rail was, uncharacteristically, running on time. Security at Schiphol was a breeze.
Flight #1. AA6435
Route: AMS-LHR
Operated by: British Airways
Plane: 767-300 G-BNWA
Seat: 19 K, EuroTraveller
Departure time: 10:33 GMT+1
Straight outta Schiphol!
Having the NWA registration gave a bit of street cred to my journey. The very lightly filled 767-300 was a joy. Service was great. A lemon shortcake and a cup of tea later I found myself over London. One of the joys of flying into Heathrow from Amsterdam: sit on the starboard side of the plane. Glorious views of London will be your reward.
View from the wing!
Intermission: Heathrow Terminal 3
Snags! A delay of one hour was announced. Now, I was not too worried: ORD has the automated passport controls and I was travelling without checked luggage, so it was possible to make my conection.
T3’s Oriel restaurant, where I had brunch, is one of the nicest airside restaurants I’ve ever been too.
There's always time for espresso.
I found my phone’s battery had drained a bit and spent some time charging it up in the general departure lounge. I must have lost track of time and discovered I had tot hurry a bit to gate 36. Just my luck: of course the plane was at the farthest gate. I limped along and found myself slightly confused as I didn’t see my flight on the signss.
Arriving at the gate area, there was an eerie silence. Tumbleweeds didn't roll by, but they might as well have. Turns out, my flight had moved to gate 18. In fact, there had been a change of planes, and a further delay.
Seeing as how I would miss both my connection and flying with my girl, I went (limped) to the ticket desk and see if I could reroute through CLT instead, but the ticket agent would have none of that. They rebooked me on AA2185 for ORD-MSP, gave me a boarding pass for seat 24D and put me on the upgrade list.
Flight #2. AA87
Route: LHR-ORD
Operated by: American Airlines
Plane: 777-200, N780AN
Seat: 22B, Main Cabin
Departure: 14:28 GMT
The plane was loaded to the brim, but luckily my neighbour was a quiet guy and the person in front of me a a no-recliner.
The meal was meatballs, which was okay, which was served quickly after take-off, with a decent red. But after that, the cabin crew just up and disappeared (literally didn’t see them until snack service, 7 hours later). The movie selection didn’t contain much I liked, so I opted to listen to a few podcasts instead, and played a few games on my phone. After I had grown tired of that, I put on Tomorrowland. Annoyingly, every five minutes or so, the movie blacked out for a second or three, before it continued.
About halfway into the movie, the ‘medical professional required’ announcement played, asking any doctor on the plane to report to cabin crew. A bit later, this was followed by a request for any diabetic on the plane to report to the cabin crew. My guess is that someone in first class forgot their insulin. Now, this relativizes my annoyance. Diabetic shock can be a serious condition. I think it must’ve been kind-of tense flying over Goose Bay, which is when the request for a diabetic to make themselves known came in. That’s where a medical diversion would’ve been decided on.
For the rest of the plane, business-as-usual just carries on, although it might explain the lack of cabin crew.
About three quarters into my movie the IFE fully crashed. Now, the American Airlines IFE system has movies starting on some sort of interval system. I could wait 5 minutes to start watching it, or join it again about 10 minutes in.
Tomorrowland was not good enough to start again. In fact, I found that I couldn’t join any movie, at all. I spent some time playing games on the IFE and my phone, instead. In the end I did manage to get the movie Hot Pursuit started. Of which I could watch the end, after the IFE malfunctioned, just before a hard landing onto the runway at ORD.
All-in-all: Delays, crashing IFE, absent cabin crew, a full plane. First-world troubles that make flying a bad experience.
Intermission: O’Hare Customs and Terminal 3
Customs was smooth, one thing I do notice though, the American way of ‘organizing’ is not to have clear and simple instructions and procedures, but to just put someone there to shout at you; Someone to shout at you to ask if you’ve got a short connection, someone to shout at you to go to the ESTA APC lane, someone to shout at you to keep moving in said lane, someone to shout at you to go to luggage recheck, someone to shout at you in the TSA line.
O’Hare was bustling at this hour, and I had landed, just as my original connection took off. With three-and-a-half hours to kill, I looked for a place to eat and drink, but it was all kind-of-full. I eventually settled at an Italian place, where I suffered an over-salted salad, over-greasy bread and a cold espresso. The shrimp were great, though, but I already was wistful for Oriel.
At least the wine was good, and the waitress had nice handwriting.
To add to my first-world annoyances: O’Hare only has 30 minutes of Free Wi-Fi. I ran this out way quicker than I would’ve guessed.
Flight #3. AA2185
Route: ORD - MSP
Operated by: American Airlines
Plane: MD-80, N980TW
Seat: 3A, First
Departure time: 21:03 GMT-6
I like MD-80s. They're so pretty. This one used to belong to TWA.
Now, this was not my original planned flight, and I had been booked into 24D. I had used my app just before take-off in London, to switch to the exit row: 21A. My seat dance was not complete. Due to the limited Wi-Fi, I had switched seats, but not updated my mobile boarding passes. I approached the desk to get a new boarding pass. The gate attendant was having a bit of a puzzle getting everybody seated and asked if I was willing to switch to 11D, so she could accommodate a mother and child. I was about to say sure, even if she had put me in 32F, after all, it was going to be a short flight. She then noted I was also on the upgrade list, and just short of winked at me, saying there was a good chance I’d get it.
Sure enough, when boarding started, she called me to recheck, and I ended up with 3A. From that point on, the fact that a late cabin crew delayed departure a bit didn’t matter much. Nor the fact that turbulence made sure my drinks where shaken, not stirred. After a long day, I had ended up in the right place. The First class seat of one of my favourite type of planes, sipping G&T, on my way to the woman that loves me.
I guess that’s the opposite of the First World Problem: The First World Windfall.
Bright lights, big refinery. View from the plane of Pine Bend Refinery, near St. Paul.
Last edited by AtlanticX; Aug 20, 2015 at 2:58 pm
Aug 20, 2015 | 2:40 pm
#2
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: London, GB
Programs: BA GGL, VS Gold
Posts: 212
In the four trip reports that I have written, in my short 17 years on planet earth I have been irked by multiple problems, some first world and some slightly less so. I therefore wholly agree with some of the things that irk you and I have to say the satire in this TR is brilliant. Good on you sir!
Safe travels.
Kind Regards LL
Safe travels.
Kind Regards LL
Aug 20, 2015 | 2:51 pm
#3
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: GLA... where else?!
Programs: BA VS
Posts: 477
In the four trip reports that I have written, in my short 17 years on planet earth I have been irked by multiple problems, some first world and some slightly less so. I therefore wholly agree with some of the things that irk you and I have to say the satire in this TR is brilliant. Good on you sir!
Safe travels.
Kind Regards LL
Safe travels.
Kind Regards LL
And you, Mr Litt, have the best handle on FT!!