Text 5746, 82 rader
Skriven 2006-09-21 16:39:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: end o trip 281
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We left there at noon, and with no traffic it turned out to
be just 20 min from Tacoma to Sea-Tac, where Hap dropped me
off. Getting my boarding pass from Easy Check-In (referred to
by frequent flyers as "Mr. Easy Chicken," because when the
kiosks were introduced, a puckish traveler or perhaps a
disgruntled employee transcribed the I and the E on the sign)
took seconds, as when machines work right, they work fast.
Security had a big old line - the TSA site says (for the time
that I was there) a 12 min delay, but judging from the length
of the line it was probably twice that. The priority line is
now at the front, which means lots of people being turned
away (with good humor on both sides, this being the Pacific
Northwest). Back in the days of old it was way in back of the
regular line, so none of the polloi could find it - but
unfortunately, neither could the elites. I pled the case for
a guy whose knee replacements were acting up: they let him
in just behind me. With the advantage of the priority line,
curb to gate took 10 min. I had time to run for the previous
flight, but it didn't have anything left in front, so I
slunk to the Club and ate a bunch of Walker's shortbreads.
There wasn't any tomato juice or "baby" carrots, so I couldn't
pretend to eat healthy. By the way, do you know that your
average 6-oz can of tomato juice has a quarter to a third of
your daily salt allowance?

UA 938 SEA ORD 1403 1949 752 2A Ch 9 Y Empower N

I strolled in in the middle of boarding, when the cabin crew
were wrestling with passengers with way too much hand carry
who blocked the aisle - it was another full flight. Eventually
we got settled, and they started making some serious draconian-
sounding security announcements. I was all set for a wretched
flight, but in the end the crew ended up fairly chirpy and
attentive.

Channel 9 was entertaining, the pilot sporting an outrageous
Terminator accent. We were officially United 8134, so as not
to confuse us with the real UA 938, which goes from Chicago
to London and for which this is a feeder. We got a 1000-mile
direct routing and despite taking off a bit late managed to
touch down about 10 or 15 ahead.

Some turbulence, but the captain didn't put on the seatbelt
light until we were bouncing around heavily enough to spill
the mediocre lemony Chardonnay. Lunch was a chicken sandwich
and bacon-cheddar soup - this turned out to be an odd sandwich
of a half lemon-pepper breast with lettuce, tomato, smoked
Gouda, spiced apple slices, and a red-pepper mayonnaise,
accompanied by a largish bunch of fairly sweet grapes and a
bowl of chowder with bacon (both lean and fatty bits),
potatoes, and what I think were heavily processed clams. And
of course a chocolate-chip cookie, for me the major perk of
sitting up front, for afters. They also offered a "garlic
shrimp nicoise salad" of which I didn't see any.

The movie was the X-Men final something. Afterward, the woman
next to me turned and said, wasn't that a nasty movie? I said,
I didn't pay much attention, but it looked as though it
would have been fine for comic-book collectors. She made a
few more conversational openers, but I didn't particularly
respond. The fact that she was going on to Virginia Beach and
I wasn't saved me a little effort in getting extricated.

UA 828 ORD BOS 2045 2357 733 1C Ch 9 Y Empower N

A lot of delays going in to Boston, and ours was supposed to
be the only one going out on time. But at 8:15 they didn't
have a crew yet. We boarded a few minutes late.

The purser was this cute young Asian kid with an almost
inaudible voice - though I was seated about eight feet
from him, I couldn't hear the various announcements, and
what went over the PA system was just an incomprehensible
whispering. It was so bad that I actually called him over
and told him. He apologized and said that the microphone
was very weak. I slept pretty much through the flight. We
landed within delta of on time, and I was back at the
apartment before 1.

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