Text 2014, 110 rader
Skriven 2006-06-09 10:18:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: cruise part 1, 793
==========================
0602 WN1021 BWI MCO 1025 1245 733 16EF

Don't blame me for this! Carol's agent booked it. I tried
offering to go direct from Boston, but Carol pulled the
cute-girl moue and made me promise to fly with her and her
colleagues. Despite the fact that US Air from Boston would
have cost the company less than Southwest from Baltimore,
plus I had to pay for Boston to Baltimore (twice, as it
turns out).

This was a party given as a gift from the company for
some inchoate percentage of the top performers.

At the office parking lot at 8 for an 8:30 bus departure
to the airport. Around 8:30 two buses showed up for
something like 20 people; it was decided, for some reason,
that all the passengers were to go on one bus, and all the
luggage was to go on the other. We got to BWI shortly after
9. As people milled about, Carol and I decided to seize the
moment and get checked in to ensure being able to sit
together. People on group tickets are not allowed to check
in online so are at a distinct disadvantage in this regard;
and from the price shown on the receipt, there was not much
if any break given for a group (so why book one, one asks).

Our tickets read "Group A," so some of us were hopeful that
we would actually allowed to be Group A, but it turns out
apparently that our "Group A" was some administrative name
and not the real thing. As it turns out, we ended up all Bs
except for a few stragglers who got C.

Despite a very short line leading to a disproportionately
long wait, check-in for us was pretty short, and security
was a snap, so we were pretty early to the gate.

I hate the cattle call. And with Group A being hogged by
the on-line-checker-inners, well. Not to mention that I
think that on-line checkin is a huge potential security
hole and should be banned forever.

Gary, one of the company veeps, and I took the front of
the B line. Most of the rest just sat there lounging
around: several of the couples did not end up sitting
together. You'd think they'd have taken our cue and
dumped their bags at the front of the line with a token
guard force and then sat back down until boarding starts
(this is what seasoned - read obnoxious - Southwest fliers
do all the time).

I believe that this method of boarding is not substantially
better than other ones; what it does do, of course, is to
encourage couples, groups, and those with seating
preferences to check in early. It does not encourage them
to show up at the airport early, which I think was the
original purpose of the exercise.

Our aircraft was slightly over the hill - as bad as a
US Air one, perhaps worse than a United or Continental.

The flight attendants suffered from a massive dose of the
forced levity syndrome; the jokes that they tell were
stupid the first time I heard them ("if the oxygen masks
fall from the compartment above your head, put on your mask
first before helping others who need your assistance, such
as small children or those acting like small children" and
"the flight attendants in the aisles will now demonstrate
the use of the seatbelts for those who have not ridden in a
car or flown since 1960") and become cumulatively more
irritating as one realizes that the whole thing, just like
the "low fare airline" thing, the "you are now free to move
about the country" thing, and the "luv" noxiousness, is pure
hype dedicated to lining the pockets of yet more evil
rednecks from Texas. Disclaimer: the Bush family is actually
from New England.

The flight itself was inconsequential, but I must say that
if all flights were like Southwest flights, I would not be
going anywhere. One thing: my ears hurt on the way down,
which happens mostly with Southwest, Continental, US Air
Express, and Airtran, which makes me think that these
companies pressurize to the absolute minimum allowed by
law, and others are slightly more generous. Either that or
internal guidelines allow for steeper descents than more
cautious legacy airlines.

My, Orlando Airport has grown. There's even a Lush store
on premises.

Again, two buses, but this time we were joined by numerous
employees from remote sites, so we ended up 60-odd-strong.

Sat there waiting for an hour and half - our group had lost
about 20 bags; it turns out another cruise company had taken
them under the impression that our tags were their tags;
this was eventually rectified, and we were off for the hour
ride to Port Canaveral.

During the delay, bags of Chick-Fil-A courtesy of Vince, one
of the other veeps. What came (in order) -

nuggets - salty with a lot of breading but otherwise fine

fries - okay

chicken sandwich - grilled brined breast without much
texture or flavor; thank you, I'll take fried next time.

___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Try Our Web Based QWK: DOCSPLACE.ORG (1:123/140)