Rescheduled my September New York trip, delaying it by two weeks after our generation's Day of Infamy. 7AM flight, and with no idea how long a delay to expect, arrived at Wally Park at 5AM. Getting in was routine, the empty parking lots and driveways spooky, and really very sad.

I decided to check my bag for the first time in a year or so, so off I went to the 1k/First class line. 3 people in front of me took about 10 minutes to process. There were about 100 people in the economy line. They have moved the elite checkins to the far east part of the lobby, insuring the longest possible walk back to security. Not too smart. Also closed the upstairs quiet security point, but I bet that will be back soon. Self serve check in was manned and available, but without curbside luggage check stood empty.

Security was longer, but still less than 15 minutes. Nothing terribly major, but thorough. Good!

Boarded on time, flight was a bit under 50% full. I was in one of the single seats on the old 767-200 which I saw in a whole different light this time. It is hard to stir up too much passion about it's amenities when you think of how it was used. We left on time, perfect takeoff, no extra security announcements, just a little gentle humor and flag waving. The head purser was quite sensitive to the reality of flying for so many people onboard.

Breakfast was the usual "Bowl O' Eggs," served medium runny. Love the wilted spinach in the bottom. But no griping. Breakfast breads were good, plastic knife cut the bagel fine, and they had the big coffee mugs, and real tubs of cream cheese instead of plastic.

Service was great. The purser came by to see me and thank me 3 times. Offered a bottle of wine, champagne, whatever. I told her I was glad to be back, and was flying UA on 10 segments in October. I also said it looked like loads were returning... this flight was sparse, but still close to 50%. She told me that the 5 LAX-JFK flights had been reduced to 2 on the Saturday I was flying. Near the end of the flight, they offered a bottle of champagne to anyone who works for a fire or police department, and then to anyone wearing a flag. That felt good.

Somewhat surprisingly, they had a decent deli service 90 minutes out. Haven't seen that often on the easterly transcons in business.

Landing was on time. UA has closed terminal 6 at JFK, so all flights are in and out of 7. Baggage claim is a amazing pit, and I hated the wait.

I got the Waldorf for $129 on Hotwire, and it was surprisingly busy. I have been using Hotwire for New York trips for a few months, and they perform like champs.

On the return, I was way too early for my 6:50pm flight. Traffic was light, check in was fast, and security was faster than LA. This flight was depressing from a revenue standpoint. No more than 45 people on the 767.

Dinner was served by courses, since they were so few to take care of, and the attendants were professional, with none of the extra warm stuff on the outbound flight. One did bring me my own bottle of water, which I drained over the following 5 hours. Landing was 20 minutes early, but no gate, so we deplaned right on time. Some things never change. Got antsy waiting for my luggage, so I need a better solution than checking it in.

In short, no hassles, and I never felt the tiniest bit unsafe. Totally routine, except for the airports and light loads.

Thanks for the report.