Without a doubt, George Bush deserved some of the abuse he took for his actions (and that of FEMA) during Katrina. I just wish the media were as critical in covering the current POTUS as they were five years ago....
After weeks of rhetoric about no-fly zones and supporting "hope and change" in Libya, the weekend had Qaddafi taking back ground lost to the "freedom fighters" and continued bombing/mowing down of the "rebel forces" by the Libyan military.
After days of being bombarded by imagery of the destruction caused by the tsunami, a new threat took over --- the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant was busy transforming itself into "Chernobyl-On-The-Sea"
While all this was going on, President O'Bummer came on the radio for his weekly radio address.
And what was the subject of O'Bummer's weekly address to the nation? Was it about standing with those who oppose dictators? Standing with an important ally and trading partner during a time of serious humanitarian need?
No, it was much more serious.
The Paycheck Fairness Act....
I know they pre-record the addresses, but you'd think in time of true global crisis, there might be cause to actually hold off on the planned programming, and perhaps do something Presidential.
Nope.
And then did POTUS board an airplane to speak to the UN Security Council, or heads of state in Europe? Did he go to Guam or try to address the situation in Japan?
No. He went golfing at Andrews AFB.
Since golf is a favorite sport in Japan, perhaps he was trying to show support for one of our most valued trading partners and allies in the past half-decade. Since millions of Japanese couldn't go golfing, he would do so in their honor.
Please. Just send me an early ballot now that gives me the option of "Anyone but the Incumbent"
And if the disaster in Fukishima continues, we may very well again see the unimaginable effects of nuclear radiation. The only thing left at this point is for Godzilla to suddenly rise up out of the wreckage of the power plant and start walking towards Tokyo Bay....
[Editor's note: if I use the President's real name, pro-O advertisements show up on this blog. Since I have no control over the content, and they seem to be spending money advertising on any blog that mentions He Who Shouldn't Be Advertised, I have to use a more descriptive name for him here....]
Monday, March 14, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Day One of the Blizzard of 2011
Wow, who'dathunkit... I remember the Blizzard of 1979 pretty well. I was in my teens, therefore able bodied to shovel out the three car wide driveway my dad had thought was a really good idea (we lived in a neighborhood of one-car garages therefore one-car driveways...). Thank God we had a snow-blower, but that only worked in snow about 2" deep.
This morning, I woke up to the aftermath of our first serious snowfall since moving to Chicago...
On Feb 1, we woke up to a dusting. Knowing the forecast, I'd decided that working from home might be a good idea, given the unpredictable nature of commuting home during weather events on Metra...
During the day, we'd been receiving "some" snow. About 4" by lunchtime, and it was pretty to look at... fresh powder. But then the winds started...
By the time 3pm rolled around, we had a nice 8", and were in pretty much whiteout conditions while I was picking up the kids from school... The boys and I shoveled out the driveway (mostly they shoveled, and I watched. That's what seniority is, right?).
Exhausted from shoveling, the kids went to bed early (here's something to file away for future reference if we stay in the snow belt...) but I had some work to catch up on. Around 8pm, we started getting thunder-snow. Great flashes of lightning and some thunder. Cool! and then the lights started flickering. Not cool!... We have generators, but I don't think we had more than a couple hours of gas. And the extension cords? Safely stored in the motorhome... 5 miles away.
Fortunate for us the lights stayed on. A few years ago, my parents and brother lost power for days at a time, which is one reason we keep the portable generator at the house vs. with the motorhome. But they don't work too well without gas, so that becomes the new goal.
Around midnight (yes midnight..), I went out to survey the damage so far. I'd guess 14", and still blowing like crazy. There was a snowdrift over 2' tall between our two cars, and another drift had formed around the corner by the front door, totally blocking it from opening. I shoveled out the walkway and front door, but the wind was cutting thru my parka like crazy, and I had to give up on the driveway after getting just 10' from the back of the Jeep. It wouldn't have mattered -- the city hadn't plowed out street since 4pm, and even if I could have gotten out, navigating the streets at midnight would have been a really dumb idea.
This morning, I woke up to my expectations....
Both the front door and back door were snowed shut. Fortunately, we have a sliding door that leads to the back door, but I literally had to shovel a path out for the dogs to exit and do their morning routine. The night before, I'd opened it up for the dogs, and had a fun time trying to get it to close again... Snow had fallen into the opening and track, making it impossible to close & latch. I literally had to get a trowel and screw driver to clear out the track of compressed snow (a.k.a. ice) before it would finally latch.
This time I was prepared... blanket laid at the door to catch whatever fell in, and the big snow shovel. Dug out a short path and cleared out the track with the trowel & screwdriver: door closed on first attempt.
Maggie was not amused. She had been out the night before, and it was chest deep even for her. When I opened the door, she turned to me with a look that said "Uh, no. Seriously?" and I had to literally push her out the door. Coogee thought it was fun, and proceeded to bound thru the drifting snow like a raindeer on acid... But there was no argument from either one as I called them back inside.
And now we have to dig out. It's gonna be a fun one. Someone please remind me why we don't live in the desert anymore. ;)
This morning, I woke up to the aftermath of our first serious snowfall since moving to Chicago...
On Feb 1, we woke up to a dusting. Knowing the forecast, I'd decided that working from home might be a good idea, given the unpredictable nature of commuting home during weather events on Metra...
During the day, we'd been receiving "some" snow. About 4" by lunchtime, and it was pretty to look at... fresh powder. But then the winds started...
By the time 3pm rolled around, we had a nice 8", and were in pretty much whiteout conditions while I was picking up the kids from school... The boys and I shoveled out the driveway (mostly they shoveled, and I watched. That's what seniority is, right?).
Exhausted from shoveling, the kids went to bed early (here's something to file away for future reference if we stay in the snow belt...) but I had some work to catch up on. Around 8pm, we started getting thunder-snow. Great flashes of lightning and some thunder. Cool! and then the lights started flickering. Not cool!... We have generators, but I don't think we had more than a couple hours of gas. And the extension cords? Safely stored in the motorhome... 5 miles away.
Fortunate for us the lights stayed on. A few years ago, my parents and brother lost power for days at a time, which is one reason we keep the portable generator at the house vs. with the motorhome. But they don't work too well without gas, so that becomes the new goal.
Around midnight (yes midnight..), I went out to survey the damage so far. I'd guess 14", and still blowing like crazy. There was a snowdrift over 2' tall between our two cars, and another drift had formed around the corner by the front door, totally blocking it from opening. I shoveled out the walkway and front door, but the wind was cutting thru my parka like crazy, and I had to give up on the driveway after getting just 10' from the back of the Jeep. It wouldn't have mattered -- the city hadn't plowed out street since 4pm, and even if I could have gotten out, navigating the streets at midnight would have been a really dumb idea.
This morning, I woke up to my expectations....
Both the front door and back door were snowed shut. Fortunately, we have a sliding door that leads to the back door, but I literally had to shovel a path out for the dogs to exit and do their morning routine. The night before, I'd opened it up for the dogs, and had a fun time trying to get it to close again... Snow had fallen into the opening and track, making it impossible to close & latch. I literally had to get a trowel and screw driver to clear out the track of compressed snow (a.k.a. ice) before it would finally latch.
This time I was prepared... blanket laid at the door to catch whatever fell in, and the big snow shovel. Dug out a short path and cleared out the track with the trowel & screwdriver: door closed on first attempt.
Maggie was not amused. She had been out the night before, and it was chest deep even for her. When I opened the door, she turned to me with a look that said "Uh, no. Seriously?" and I had to literally push her out the door. Coogee thought it was fun, and proceeded to bound thru the drifting snow like a raindeer on acid... But there was no argument from either one as I called them back inside.
And now we have to dig out. It's gonna be a fun one. Someone please remind me why we don't live in the desert anymore. ;)
Monday, January 31, 2011
Big Love returns for final season
It took a while, but the long wait for Big Love ended a few weeks ago. Since I've been traveling it took a while to watch the first two episodes.
This is the fifth and final season. The last couple episodes of Season 4 turned a bit dark, and so have the first two. There has always been a dark tinge between polygamy and the secretive sides to the LDS church's history. And just like watching a train wreck, I can't wait to see how it ends. Will Margine and Barb leave? Will Sarah return to the show? Will Don take over Home Plus?...
Lots of loose ends to tie up, and I hope they do a better job than the Sopranos did at leaving viewers knowing how it ends...
Monday, August 23, 2010
Riding "The City Of Harvard"
Over the weekend, I took two of my kids out to the Illinois Railway Museum (we're members). As we were over in a far flung corner, my son shouted "The Union Pacific!", and thinking it was just a freight run to the Chrysler plant in Belvedere, I was a bit surprised to see the UP's business train was going by on the line which runs parallel to the IRM's main track.
My view of the head end (front for all you who don't speak train) was already blocked by the station building, and the only car I could identify was the "City of Portland" diner-dome, followed by an old style business car (with back porch), and the Boy Scouts livery C45ACCTE commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Scouting in the US...
We walked back to the station, hoping it was going to come into the museum's track for display, but it kept going to Belvedere... Oh well. At least we saw a fleeting glimpse of it. I'd seen it before, but my son hadn't.
This morning, fate and my morning commute intersected...
As my normal train pulled into Track 4 at CPT (Olgilvie), I saw the business train sitting on Track 6. She had a standard road locomotive on the head, followed byCNW liveried UP1995 SD70ACe, chair dome "Colombine", chair car "Salina", diner dome "City of Portland", business car "Cheyenne" , then BSA liveried UP2010 and another standard road locomotive on the end.
Yes, for those of you counting, that was four locomotives for four passenger cars, and otherwise a bit excessive, but I'll explain that in a second....
Full bio's on the various cars are at http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/history/histequip/index.shtml
After getting off my train, I started taking pictures, but as I approached the last car, an inbound scoot (suburban commuter) pulled onto Track 5 blocking my view, so I walked down, over, and up to Track 4's platform... As I was up there, I walked towards the head end towards a group of UP employees in Operation Lifesaver polos. I asked what the event was, and they said it was an OLS special heading out to Harvard. I said that might explain why we saw it passing by on Saturday, and said was a little surprised it didn't stop at the museum. One of the conductors said that they actually had pulled into IRM on Friday, but because of a special event on Saturday ("Day Out With Thomas") at the museum, there wasn't enough room.
Then the unthinkable happened -- "Want to go to Harvard?"
The decision thought process took about 3 seconds... No, it wasn't an invitation to get my MBA. My Blackberry was fully charged, and I'd already been on phone calls with the foreign office for almost two hours. I've lived along the Harvard Subdivision for over half my life, but had never actually been to Harvard on the train, much less in a classic dome car from the 1950's...
"Why not?..."
I won't go into the Operation Lifesaver pitch, aside from saying it is intended to build awareness around the dangers of railroad crossings and trespassing. Today's run was for mostly police officers and a few reporters, making stops in Park Ridge, Barrington, and Crystal Lake on the way to Harvard, & then returning to Chicago with the same three stops. Runs over the weekend had included Scout units (presumably one of those going out to Union as I found out later), and only about half the seats onboard were filled.
Since the train came out as a unit from Cheyenne, they were leaving the two engines and four coaches together.
But why the extra engines? History, and the CNW being somewhat unique...
There are three subdivisions on the UP which host commuter service -- Harvard, Kenosha, and Geneva. For whatever reason, the Harvard and Kenosha subdivisions use a system called ATS (Automatic Train Stop), and the Geneva sub doesn't. This requires specially equipped leading and trailing cars (a primary reason why locomotives on the UPRR aren't swapped out with those on other Metra lines). While ATS equipped locomotives can go just about anywhere, the reverse is not true, and neither the BSA or CNW liveried engines had ATS equipment. So, for this day's operation, two locomotives from the local pool equipped with ATS were required.
With that much power, we had no problems getting up to 70 mph and staying there for most of the trip, slowing only for Mayfair, Deval, and the station stops. Not too surprisingly, it was a much smoother ride than Metra. The UPRR has a fleet of about 40 passenger cars that they maintain for PR and company business, and they're kept in top notch condition. Even the upholstery used on the seats was vintage.
As the train pulled out, I called my wife and told her the business train our son partially saw on Saturday would be going thru our town in about 30 minutes. I then let it slip that I was onboard... (bad idea). She agreed to bring him anyway.
When we pulled into the station, they were on the platform towards the back end, and saw me thru the window as we passed. Unlike Metra with tinted green plexiglass, the glass on these cars is as crystal clear as it can be under FRA specs, and you can see in....
Earlier, one of the conductors said he could have come along if he were over 18, but he isn't. He's 9. So, once we stopped, I walked back to an open door, and tossed him an Operation Lifesaver hat the crew was passing out on the train, which he thought was cool.
Then another one of the conductors did the second unthinkable act of the day... "We're not that full -- want to come along?"
My son took a few moments longer to decide than I had -- asking "do I go on the train, or to 'meet the teacher' day at school?" -- the conductor helped him decide by saying "you'll see your teacher all year."
He agreed, and the Queen said to text her to tell her when to pick him up on the return. We quickly took our seats in "Colombine's" dome.
My son was in railroad geek heaven for the second time in a month -- at the railway museum a few weeks earlier, we'd ridden in the Nebraska Zephyr's observation car "Juno"
I must admit, riding in a real dome car is a great way to watch McHenry County fly by. We rode back from Harvard on the main level of the "City of Portland", eating Jimmy John's box lunches that the UPRR was providing. Not the gourmet menu that was posted on the wall, but still a fine way to watch the world go by...
It was really fun pulling into stations along the way -- you could see some serious looks of confusion amongst those in their 20's, looks of delight from the kids and those in their 50's and older. Somehow, word was out about the run because I saw a lot of tripods set up along the route as well.
Before we knew it, we were rolling into our (new) home town, and I decided that it was probably best to go ahead and work the rest of the day from home (it's not very green to commute twice in one day...).
On the way off the train, the conductor manning the stairs, knowing I'd boarded by happenstance, said "90% of life is simply showing up."
I agree. And it was a fitting way to end the ride.
My view of the head end (front for all you who don't speak train) was already blocked by the station building, and the only car I could identify was the "City of Portland" diner-dome, followed by an old style business car (with back porch), and the Boy Scouts livery C45ACCTE commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Scouting in the US...
We walked back to the station, hoping it was going to come into the museum's track for display, but it kept going to Belvedere... Oh well. At least we saw a fleeting glimpse of it. I'd seen it before, but my son hadn't.
This morning, fate and my morning commute intersected...
As my normal train pulled into Track 4 at CPT (Olgilvie), I saw the business train sitting on Track 6. She had a standard road locomotive on the head, followed byCNW liveried UP1995 SD70ACe, chair dome "Colombine", chair car "Salina", diner dome "City of Portland", business car "Cheyenne" , then BSA liveried UP2010 and another standard road locomotive on the end.
Yes, for those of you counting, that was four locomotives for four passenger cars, and otherwise a bit excessive, but I'll explain that in a second....
Full bio's on the various cars are at http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/history/histequip/index.shtml
After getting off my train, I started taking pictures, but as I approached the last car, an inbound scoot (suburban commuter) pulled onto Track 5 blocking my view, so I walked down, over, and up to Track 4's platform... As I was up there, I walked towards the head end towards a group of UP employees in Operation Lifesaver polos. I asked what the event was, and they said it was an OLS special heading out to Harvard. I said that might explain why we saw it passing by on Saturday, and said was a little surprised it didn't stop at the museum. One of the conductors said that they actually had pulled into IRM on Friday, but because of a special event on Saturday ("Day Out With Thomas") at the museum, there wasn't enough room.
Then the unthinkable happened -- "Want to go to Harvard?"
The decision thought process took about 3 seconds... No, it wasn't an invitation to get my MBA. My Blackberry was fully charged, and I'd already been on phone calls with the foreign office for almost two hours. I've lived along the Harvard Subdivision for over half my life, but had never actually been to Harvard on the train, much less in a classic dome car from the 1950's...
"Why not?..."I won't go into the Operation Lifesaver pitch, aside from saying it is intended to build awareness around the dangers of railroad crossings and trespassing. Today's run was for mostly police officers and a few reporters, making stops in Park Ridge, Barrington, and Crystal Lake on the way to Harvard, & then returning to Chicago with the same three stops. Runs over the weekend had included Scout units (presumably one of those going out to Union as I found out later), and only about half the seats onboard were filled.
Since the train came out as a unit from Cheyenne, they were leaving the two engines and four coaches together.
But why the extra engines? History, and the CNW being somewhat unique...
There are three subdivisions on the UP which host commuter service -- Harvard, Kenosha, and Geneva. For whatever reason, the Harvard and Kenosha subdivisions use a system called ATS (Automatic Train Stop), and the Geneva sub doesn't. This requires specially equipped leading and trailing cars (a primary reason why locomotives on the UPRR aren't swapped out with those on other Metra lines). While ATS equipped locomotives can go just about anywhere, the reverse is not true, and neither the BSA or CNW liveried engines had ATS equipment. So, for this day's operation, two locomotives from the local pool equipped with ATS were required.
With that much power, we had no problems getting up to 70 mph and staying there for most of the trip, slowing only for Mayfair, Deval, and the station stops. Not too surprisingly, it was a much smoother ride than Metra. The UPRR has a fleet of about 40 passenger cars that they maintain for PR and company business, and they're kept in top notch condition. Even the upholstery used on the seats was vintage.
As the train pulled out, I called my wife and told her the business train our son partially saw on Saturday would be going thru our town in about 30 minutes. I then let it slip that I was onboard... (bad idea). She agreed to bring him anyway.
When we pulled into the station, they were on the platform towards the back end, and saw me thru the window as we passed. Unlike Metra with tinted green plexiglass, the glass on these cars is as crystal clear as it can be under FRA specs, and you can see in....
Earlier, one of the conductors said he could have come along if he were over 18, but he isn't. He's 9. So, once we stopped, I walked back to an open door, and tossed him an Operation Lifesaver hat the crew was passing out on the train, which he thought was cool.
Then another one of the conductors did the second unthinkable act of the day... "We're not that full -- want to come along?"My son took a few moments longer to decide than I had -- asking "do I go on the train, or to 'meet the teacher' day at school?" -- the conductor helped him decide by saying "you'll see your teacher all year."
He agreed, and the Queen said to text her to tell her when to pick him up on the return. We quickly took our seats in "Colombine's" dome.
My son was in railroad geek heaven for the second time in a month -- at the railway museum a few weeks earlier, we'd ridden in the Nebraska Zephyr's observation car "Juno"
I must admit, riding in a real dome car is a great way to watch McHenry County fly by. We rode back from Harvard on the main level of the "City of Portland", eating Jimmy John's box lunches that the UPRR was providing. Not the gourmet menu that was posted on the wall, but still a fine way to watch the world go by...It was really fun pulling into stations along the way -- you could see some serious looks of confusion amongst those in their 20's, looks of delight from the kids and those in their 50's and older. Somehow, word was out about the run because I saw a lot of tripods set up along the route as well.
Before we knew it, we were rolling into our (new) home town, and I decided that it was probably best to go ahead and work the rest of the day from home (it's not very green to commute twice in one day...).
On the way off the train, the conductor manning the stairs, knowing I'd boarded by happenstance, said "90% of life is simply showing up."
I agree. And it was a fitting way to end the ride.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Mexicana Standoff
Here's a press release issued by Mexicana.... The past weekend has been a rollercoaster ride with stories of reposessed aircraft, market cutbacks, and a plea for help from their pilots to the international pilot community (IFALPA)
(Sorry for the formatting, but I'm heading off the grid for a week in the backwaters of Minnesota, and the Berry isn't as easy to use... I suspect I will be coming back to a much changed landscape with MX...)
Mexicana Airlines Presents Unions With Reorganization Plan
- MexicanaClick and MexicanaLink continue to operate as normal.
- Mexicana Airlines' flight itineraries undergo minor adjustments.
- Stockholders to sell Mexicana Airlines to unions for token price of one peso
unless new collective contract is approved.
MEXICO CITY, Aug. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Compania Mexicana de Aviacion (CMA/Mexicana Airlines), a subsidiary of Nuevo Grupo Aeronautico (NGA), today informed the media and general public that the company's financial and labor situation is no longer sustainable.
NGA's CEO Manuel Borja called a press conference and gave several interviews
informing the public of the situation CMA is facing and reassured passengers
that it has not and will in no way affect the operations, flights or itineraries of MexicanaClick and MexicanaLink. Although they are also subsidiaries of NGA, these airlines operate under completely different business models; CMA is focused on the international market, while MexicanaClick and MexicanaLink cover the domestic market, said Borja.
The situation has forced CMA to make some minor adjustments to its
international flight schedules. For further information, passengers in the
Mexico City area are advised to call 5998-5998. Passengers elsewhere in Mexico can call toll free on 01800 801-2010 or on 1-877 801 2010 from the United States and Canada.
Regular updates will also be posted on the company's website at
www.mexicana.com
Despite of investments of over US$300 million in credit lines and resources put
up by NGA and its subsidiaries, MexicanaClick and MexicanaLink, CMA explained today that its current financial situation is no longer tenable. Concerted efforts have been made over the last four and a half years to restructure costs, efforts that have translated into savings of some US$800 million as a direct result of investment in IT systems, new routes and more efficient aircraft, but have not been sufficient to offset its crew costs.
Although the airline's operating costs excluding crew labor costs are 30% lower than the average of legacy airlines in the United States, these non
competitive labor costs are the main reason why the company has continued to suffer losses, to the extent that it is now financially non-viable. According to company sources, CMA's pilots earn 49% more than the average wage paid by legacy airlines in the United States and 185% more than the average pilots flying Airbus A320s for other Mexican low cost airlines like Volaris or Interjet.
Likewise, Mexicana Airlines flight attendants earn 32% more than the U.S. average and 165% more than their Mexican counterparts employed by the same airlines.
Numbers confirm, that if the CMA's collective contracts had been more
competitive, instead of registering losses of US$350 million from 2007 to date, the company would have posted profits of US$350 million, illustrating that CMA does indeed have the potential to be a profitable, financially viable carrier.
However, in light of the current situation, CMA has presented its pilots' and flight attendants' unions with two alternatives.
The first is the option to enter into a new collective contract to secure the
CMA's long-term financial viability. This would imply accepting cuts of 41% and 39% in wages and fringe benefits for pilots and flight attendants,
respectively. This alternative also calls for additional cost-cutting measures, including downsizing 40% of the airline's pilots and flight attendants. On the upside, it incorporates a profit-sharing plan whereby the unions would get a percentage of any operating profits that exceed 5% of the company's total
revenues.
As a second alternative, stockholders have offered to sell CMA to its
unions for the token sum of $1 peso, proving them convinced of the vital role these labor organizations will play in the future of the company. As the only entities capable of turning the situation around, CMA's management have stated that it would be willing to transfer control of the airline to its unions. The transaction would require further and more detailed negotiations with the unions, but in broad terms would require NGA to assume liabilities of US$120 million in bank credit lines, while the unions would have the option of retaining a BANCOMEXT loan for US$80 million or transferring this credit line and its respective sureties to NGA. The unions would also be given a six-month permit for the use of the Mexicana Airlines brand name, among other measures designed to allow for a smooth transition.
In response to statements by representatives of the pilots union
(ASPA) to the effect that both proposals outlined by CMA would be rejected, the company said that it is time to acknowledge reality, that the paradigm of commercial aviation has changed worldwide and that only airlines that operate at competitive costs can hope to survive and continue flying. CMA will
continue to negotiate with its unions.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Trip Report: ORD-JFK-MXP in AA Business Class
A very rare trip for the Queen and I on an airplane... without the kids.
------------------------------------------
AA 1362 - ORDJFK
Got to experience the naked scanners for the first time -- they were in place at both the checkpoints we walked by. The Executive Platinum/Intl F checkpoint (two lanes) only had about three people in line other than HRH and I, so we sailed thru. Slightly longer wait at the "Priority Access" lane for Gold/Platinum/Int'l J had about 50 people for four lanes.
Since we were going international, we were able to use the Flagship Lounge instead going up to the Admirals Club. Hadn't been there for a morning flight. Food options were waffles (strange...), breads, yogurt and fruit.
About 1030, they brought out sandwiches, veggies and soup (tasty chicken & sausage gumbo). The lounge is at K19, and has a back-door to K16/18 which is where our flight was departing, so we literally walked out the back door, and 20 steps later were on the jetbridge.
Quick taxi, airborne about five minutes after pushback. Took off on 32L, and flew up & over the east side of Arlington Heights before heading east.
Nice flight across the lake, very easy to pick out Warren Dunes and other spots along the Lake Michigan shore.
Meal service was the same domestic entrees I'd seen in the past two months -- salmon salad or a cheese enchilada.
Checked into the Admirals Club on Concourse C, but it was overrun by families and had no seating, so we shot thru the tunnel over to the headhouse/Concourse D, and visted the Flagship Lounge. I didn't take a close look at the D club, but it looked to be a little more spacious than the C club, and had a little more character just looking down the entry hallway.
Flagship Lounge had seating for about 80 with only about 25 people made it much more relaxing than the Admirals Club -- of all the perks I get with Executive Platinum, this and the dedicated check-in locations are most important to me... The comp Upgrades are nice, but the airport experience is where I appreciate status the most.
About an hour prior, The Queen decided she wanted to do a little shopping, so we wandered around the offerings by Gate 10. Oakley, LaCoste, and a few other brand name retailers, plus a fairly well outfitted food court.
------------------------------------------
AA198 - JFKMXP B763 2DG
Taxi'd out the long way -- passing over the Van Wyck, past T1 thru T4, and then out on 4R. Sitting in the center, it was hard to say what route we took, and the lack of Airshow didn't help.
Oddly, I don't recall having ever flown AA's new J product... When I took my round-the-world two years ago, I'd been upgraded to F on a 777, and the only other time I'd flown was in Y to CDG (sitting in the bulkhead, looking into J...).
Seat was the same as CX and IB -- the infamous accordion wedgie non-flat seat. To IB's credit, they've extended the seat pitch in their J cabin to facilitate fully flat. Not so on AA.
I found the layout to be entirely too cramped and almost claustraphobic. There was no way to bring out the tray table without inconveniencing your seatmate (they popped out of the center console), and the fabled snappable work tray was a falacy -- the tray which folded out of the bulkhead was so worn it was hanging about an inch lower than the main tray, and the way the lock worked, it couldn't engage.
IFE was a removable unit which needed to be plugged into the only available 12V powerport. They have an internal battery which is good for a couple hours, but from a usability standpoint, I don't like it. The selection of movies wasn't bad, but having to keep it plugged in stopped me from using the power to charge up my laptop or phone.
I also am growing tired of AA being the lone holdout with the 12V powerport... it was usable 10 years ago, but even my newest Jeep has a 110v outlet in it. I won't invest $100 in a 12V laptop adapter just for flying on AA, so I use a plain old car inverter, which had trouble staying engaged in the outlet on the bulkhead (no problems on the MD80, however...).
Meal options of beef, chicken Tandoori, fish, and a sausage lasagne. I chose the Tandoori as an express meal, and HRH had the beef as a standard presentation. I felt bad for finishing my meal so quickly, as she didn't like the beef, and my tray had been removed by the time her entree arrived. Since we'd eaten on the flight from ORD and snacked in the lounge, she wasn't that hungry to request another meal...
Breakfast was the ubiquitous melon, yogurt & cereal with choice of bagel or croissant. Flight attendant gave The Queen a choice -- mine was pre-plated... HRH also got juice, I didn't. One thing AA was good at for years was consistency in service. Not to be nit picky, but that wasn't evident on this flight.
Since I'd done the express meal, I settled in to watch "Valentine's Day" and then slept the remainder of the night until 0600 local. The Queen watched "Edge of Darkness" and "When In Rome" but had trouble sleeping due to a headache.
Arrival into MXP was from the south, with a very quick taxi. Being in the first row, we were also the first off the aircraft. We'd arrived just after Cathay Pacific and Qatar, so I expected a bit of a queue at immigration, but still sailed thru in just a few minutes. Bags were quick on the belt as well, and we were in the rental car on the way to Venice within 30 minutes of parking.
------------------------------------------
Won't go into a lot of details about Italy. HRH loved it, I was indifferent.
The area north of Lacco to Bellagio was stunning. Venice and Verona were interesting but too crowded. I have no desire to ever see Torino or Genova again.
------------------------------------------
AA199 - MXPJFK B763 5DG
Upgrades for the flight were outstanding as of the day before departure, so we were planning for the worst -- 9 hours in coach on AA, in which there was no IFE, and seats without a powerport.
Having driven up to MXP the night before, we were able to sleep in a bit. Dropped off the car at 0700, even though we had a 1030 departure. Check-in didn't open until 0730, so we were the first in queue for Priority Access line, while there were already about 20 other people queueud for the main cabin.
Pleasantly surprised to find the upgrades processed overnight, and we had adjoining seats in the center again.
Spent a few minutes exploring the shops and getting a few last minute gifts for the kids, and then headed up to the BA lounge. It's quite similar to the Terraces setup that used to be in T3 at LHR. An abundance of bite sized sandwiches and fruit juices out for breakfast, and no shortage of soft drinks, beer, wine and liquor... Wifi was not free (it hasn't been free in other BA lounges I've visited), but they had four PC's with web access available so I was able to check my Gmail and a few other sites while HRH took another stab at shopping....
Gate positioning was a bit ironic --- our AA flight was sandwiched between an Iran Air departure for Tehran, and an El Al departure for TLV. The position of the aircraft didn't lend themselves for a photo of the two or even three tails together, but it would have been an interesting shot.
One advantage of AA's docked IFE - I was able to watch the first third of "Old Dogs" before we'd even left the gate. Also watched "The Lovely Bones" and "Book of Eli" -- all very good movies. Tempting fate, I started a fourth movie -- "When In Rome" -- but didn't have time to finish before they took away the docked IFE (a distinct downside) about 30 minutes before landing.
HRH and I both ordered the chicken with mushroom sauce & rice. Appetiser of salmon & shrimp, salad with oil, and a dessert of ice cream with caramel & hot fudge mixed together...
Afternoon meal choice before landing of cheese & spinach pizza or a turkey and cheese sandwich, both served with a side salad. Both of us chose the pizza, which was OK but maybe a little too doughy.
Got about 90 minutes of sleep, until one of the guys across the aisle from me spilled his wine on his seat mate. FA's were cleaning up the mess but opened up the windows for light, which woke me up.
Arrival into JFK was on one of the west parallels, and then halfway around the airport to dock at gate 12 (right next to the FIS). Good part about parking at a close-in gate is the short walk. We had nobody in the passport control queue when we arrived, as both the ZRH and CDG flights had arrived about 20 to 30 minutes earlier, and it was still too early for Caribbean arrivals. Downside about arriving close in is it will still take just as long for the bags to be unloaded. Bags started arriving on the belt 30 minutes from landing, and as usual, mine was one of the first 30-40 out (all having orange premium tags).
We'd purchased some olive oil at MXP, which meant some repacking before continuing on. Did the best I could to roll up some jeans and other dense objects around the bottle, and then rechecked the bags.
Clearing security, we were pulled aside for contraband at the x-rays.
The offending object? A snow globe for my neice, also purchased in Milan and not posing any dangers there.... Despite there being less than 3 oz. of actual liquid in the object (the concept of the other objects inside the globe displacing water was lost on the TSA supervisor), I had to return to the ticket counter to check the snow globe... Maybe TSA has had warnings of flight crews being bedazzled by the floating and swirling glitter....
Fortunately, the gift shop had included styrofoam packing and a box, so I was able to check it with some degree of confidence that it would arrive in some semblence of a single piece.
Clearing security again, we headed up to the Flagship Lounge, where we enjoyed some sushimi and dim sum while listening to a combination of a man arguing with his girlfriend on the phone for 30 minutes (no joke), and CNN crowing about their new underwater "Gulf-cam" which was broadcasting live footage from underwater. Unfortunately, it was still showing sea life -- sharks swam by a couple of times, and they only go where there's food. The fact that it didn't look like "Finding Nemo" had them being quite alarmist about the effect of the oil spill and dispersents. Make no mistake -- there's a catastrophic effect from both, but the extent that the network was going to turn their underwater camera into proof of the devastation was a bit comical..
------------------------------------------
AA1733 JFKORD MD80 3EF
A normal domestic flight, aside from a 55 minute taxi-out, mainly due to flow control. Spent the hold parked across from Hangar 12 (the newer of the two old TWA hangars), which was a bit sad. All the old TWA and Pan Am hangars are rust streaked, and vacant from what I can tell. As of a couple years ago, the older of the TWA hangers was housing debris from WTC, including subway cars and first responder vehicles, but I'm not sure how much of that is still around, nor am I certain what will become of it. Putting it on display seems a little disrespectful, but at the same time, we need reminders of what happened only nine years ago.
Storms enroute were quite evident from the turbulence we encountered along the way. Flight attendants stayed in their seats for the first 30 minutes of the flight, but they still did a full meal service. Choice of cheese tortolini or a steak filet. I opted for the pasta, while The Queen slept thru until the chocolate-chocolate-chip cookies were delivered...
Landed from the west on 9R at ORD, and what should have been a quick taxi got messed up with a stroll down to the far end of 9R because our gate was occupied...
Snow globes arrived intact, as did the litre of olive oil that had been packed into my duffel bag.
------------------------------------------
Summary....
Ground experience (TSA excepted) -- Excellent. Lounges in all airports met or exceeded my expectations.
Flight experience -- Good. The seat and IFE on the 763 make me appreciate Iberia, but the food was excellent. Service from the FA's on the MXPJFK leg was exceptional.
------------------------------------------
AA 1362 - ORDJFK
Got to experience the naked scanners for the first time -- they were in place at both the checkpoints we walked by. The Executive Platinum/Intl F checkpoint (two lanes) only had about three people in line other than HRH and I, so we sailed thru. Slightly longer wait at the "Priority Access" lane for Gold/Platinum/Int'l J had about 50 people for four lanes.
Since we were going international, we were able to use the Flagship Lounge instead going up to the Admirals Club. Hadn't been there for a morning flight. Food options were waffles (strange...), breads, yogurt and fruit.
About 1030, they brought out sandwiches, veggies and soup (tasty chicken & sausage gumbo). The lounge is at K19, and has a back-door to K16/18 which is where our flight was departing, so we literally walked out the back door, and 20 steps later were on the jetbridge.
Quick taxi, airborne about five minutes after pushback. Took off on 32L, and flew up & over the east side of Arlington Heights before heading east.
Nice flight across the lake, very easy to pick out Warren Dunes and other spots along the Lake Michigan shore.
Meal service was the same domestic entrees I'd seen in the past two months -- salmon salad or a cheese enchilada.
Checked into the Admirals Club on Concourse C, but it was overrun by families and had no seating, so we shot thru the tunnel over to the headhouse/Concourse D, and visted the Flagship Lounge. I didn't take a close look at the D club, but it looked to be a little more spacious than the C club, and had a little more character just looking down the entry hallway.
Flagship Lounge had seating for about 80 with only about 25 people made it much more relaxing than the Admirals Club -- of all the perks I get with Executive Platinum, this and the dedicated check-in locations are most important to me... The comp Upgrades are nice, but the airport experience is where I appreciate status the most.
About an hour prior, The Queen decided she wanted to do a little shopping, so we wandered around the offerings by Gate 10. Oakley, LaCoste, and a few other brand name retailers, plus a fairly well outfitted food court.
------------------------------------------
AA198 - JFKMXP B763 2DG
Taxi'd out the long way -- passing over the Van Wyck, past T1 thru T4, and then out on 4R. Sitting in the center, it was hard to say what route we took, and the lack of Airshow didn't help.
Oddly, I don't recall having ever flown AA's new J product... When I took my round-the-world two years ago, I'd been upgraded to F on a 777, and the only other time I'd flown was in Y to CDG (sitting in the bulkhead, looking into J...).
Seat was the same as CX and IB -- the infamous accordion wedgie non-flat seat. To IB's credit, they've extended the seat pitch in their J cabin to facilitate fully flat. Not so on AA.
I found the layout to be entirely too cramped and almost claustraphobic. There was no way to bring out the tray table without inconveniencing your seatmate (they popped out of the center console), and the fabled snappable work tray was a falacy -- the tray which folded out of the bulkhead was so worn it was hanging about an inch lower than the main tray, and the way the lock worked, it couldn't engage.
IFE was a removable unit which needed to be plugged into the only available 12V powerport. They have an internal battery which is good for a couple hours, but from a usability standpoint, I don't like it. The selection of movies wasn't bad, but having to keep it plugged in stopped me from using the power to charge up my laptop or phone.
I also am growing tired of AA being the lone holdout with the 12V powerport... it was usable 10 years ago, but even my newest Jeep has a 110v outlet in it. I won't invest $100 in a 12V laptop adapter just for flying on AA, so I use a plain old car inverter, which had trouble staying engaged in the outlet on the bulkhead (no problems on the MD80, however...).
Meal options of beef, chicken Tandoori, fish, and a sausage lasagne. I chose the Tandoori as an express meal, and HRH had the beef as a standard presentation. I felt bad for finishing my meal so quickly, as she didn't like the beef, and my tray had been removed by the time her entree arrived. Since we'd eaten on the flight from ORD and snacked in the lounge, she wasn't that hungry to request another meal...
Breakfast was the ubiquitous melon, yogurt & cereal with choice of bagel or croissant. Flight attendant gave The Queen a choice -- mine was pre-plated... HRH also got juice, I didn't. One thing AA was good at for years was consistency in service. Not to be nit picky, but that wasn't evident on this flight.
Since I'd done the express meal, I settled in to watch "Valentine's Day" and then slept the remainder of the night until 0600 local. The Queen watched "Edge of Darkness" and "When In Rome" but had trouble sleeping due to a headache.
Arrival into MXP was from the south, with a very quick taxi. Being in the first row, we were also the first off the aircraft. We'd arrived just after Cathay Pacific and Qatar, so I expected a bit of a queue at immigration, but still sailed thru in just a few minutes. Bags were quick on the belt as well, and we were in the rental car on the way to Venice within 30 minutes of parking.
------------------------------------------
Won't go into a lot of details about Italy. HRH loved it, I was indifferent.
The area north of Lacco to Bellagio was stunning. Venice and Verona were interesting but too crowded. I have no desire to ever see Torino or Genova again.
------------------------------------------
AA199 - MXPJFK B763 5DG
Upgrades for the flight were outstanding as of the day before departure, so we were planning for the worst -- 9 hours in coach on AA, in which there was no IFE, and seats without a powerport.
Having driven up to MXP the night before, we were able to sleep in a bit. Dropped off the car at 0700, even though we had a 1030 departure. Check-in didn't open until 0730, so we were the first in queue for Priority Access line, while there were already about 20 other people queueud for the main cabin.
Pleasantly surprised to find the upgrades processed overnight, and we had adjoining seats in the center again.
Spent a few minutes exploring the shops and getting a few last minute gifts for the kids, and then headed up to the BA lounge. It's quite similar to the Terraces setup that used to be in T3 at LHR. An abundance of bite sized sandwiches and fruit juices out for breakfast, and no shortage of soft drinks, beer, wine and liquor... Wifi was not free (it hasn't been free in other BA lounges I've visited), but they had four PC's with web access available so I was able to check my Gmail and a few other sites while HRH took another stab at shopping....
Gate positioning was a bit ironic --- our AA flight was sandwiched between an Iran Air departure for Tehran, and an El Al departure for TLV. The position of the aircraft didn't lend themselves for a photo of the two or even three tails together, but it would have been an interesting shot.
One advantage of AA's docked IFE - I was able to watch the first third of "Old Dogs" before we'd even left the gate. Also watched "The Lovely Bones" and "Book of Eli" -- all very good movies. Tempting fate, I started a fourth movie -- "When In Rome" -- but didn't have time to finish before they took away the docked IFE (a distinct downside) about 30 minutes before landing.
HRH and I both ordered the chicken with mushroom sauce & rice. Appetiser of salmon & shrimp, salad with oil, and a dessert of ice cream with caramel & hot fudge mixed together...
Afternoon meal choice before landing of cheese & spinach pizza or a turkey and cheese sandwich, both served with a side salad. Both of us chose the pizza, which was OK but maybe a little too doughy.
Got about 90 minutes of sleep, until one of the guys across the aisle from me spilled his wine on his seat mate. FA's were cleaning up the mess but opened up the windows for light, which woke me up.
Arrival into JFK was on one of the west parallels, and then halfway around the airport to dock at gate 12 (right next to the FIS). Good part about parking at a close-in gate is the short walk. We had nobody in the passport control queue when we arrived, as both the ZRH and CDG flights had arrived about 20 to 30 minutes earlier, and it was still too early for Caribbean arrivals. Downside about arriving close in is it will still take just as long for the bags to be unloaded. Bags started arriving on the belt 30 minutes from landing, and as usual, mine was one of the first 30-40 out (all having orange premium tags).
We'd purchased some olive oil at MXP, which meant some repacking before continuing on. Did the best I could to roll up some jeans and other dense objects around the bottle, and then rechecked the bags.
Clearing security, we were pulled aside for contraband at the x-rays.
The offending object? A snow globe for my neice, also purchased in Milan and not posing any dangers there.... Despite there being less than 3 oz. of actual liquid in the object (the concept of the other objects inside the globe displacing water was lost on the TSA supervisor), I had to return to the ticket counter to check the snow globe... Maybe TSA has had warnings of flight crews being bedazzled by the floating and swirling glitter....
Fortunately, the gift shop had included styrofoam packing and a box, so I was able to check it with some degree of confidence that it would arrive in some semblence of a single piece.
Clearing security again, we headed up to the Flagship Lounge, where we enjoyed some sushimi and dim sum while listening to a combination of a man arguing with his girlfriend on the phone for 30 minutes (no joke), and CNN crowing about their new underwater "Gulf-cam" which was broadcasting live footage from underwater. Unfortunately, it was still showing sea life -- sharks swam by a couple of times, and they only go where there's food. The fact that it didn't look like "Finding Nemo" had them being quite alarmist about the effect of the oil spill and dispersents. Make no mistake -- there's a catastrophic effect from both, but the extent that the network was going to turn their underwater camera into proof of the devastation was a bit comical..
------------------------------------------
AA1733 JFKORD MD80 3EF
A normal domestic flight, aside from a 55 minute taxi-out, mainly due to flow control. Spent the hold parked across from Hangar 12 (the newer of the two old TWA hangars), which was a bit sad. All the old TWA and Pan Am hangars are rust streaked, and vacant from what I can tell. As of a couple years ago, the older of the TWA hangers was housing debris from WTC, including subway cars and first responder vehicles, but I'm not sure how much of that is still around, nor am I certain what will become of it. Putting it on display seems a little disrespectful, but at the same time, we need reminders of what happened only nine years ago.
Storms enroute were quite evident from the turbulence we encountered along the way. Flight attendants stayed in their seats for the first 30 minutes of the flight, but they still did a full meal service. Choice of cheese tortolini or a steak filet. I opted for the pasta, while The Queen slept thru until the chocolate-chocolate-chip cookies were delivered...
Landed from the west on 9R at ORD, and what should have been a quick taxi got messed up with a stroll down to the far end of 9R because our gate was occupied...
Snow globes arrived intact, as did the litre of olive oil that had been packed into my duffel bag.
------------------------------------------
Summary....
Ground experience (TSA excepted) -- Excellent. Lounges in all airports met or exceeded my expectations.
Flight experience -- Good. The seat and IFE on the 763 make me appreciate Iberia, but the food was excellent. Service from the FA's on the MXPJFK leg was exceptional.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
I Spoke Too Soon....
Two weeks, two roundtrips on Iberia...
I already wrote up my first report, in which I noted that they'd reconfigured the cabins and legroom was better.
As fate would have it, I spoke too soon.
My return flight NCE-MAD was no problems. There were several of us from my company onboard, and we'd all had very little sleep the night before for various reasons... Mine was working on a deadline of 0200 with a customer, and we finished at about 0130. By the time I'd returned to the hotel, I was able to get about two hours of sleep before heading off to the airport.
MAD-ORD is where things went south in a hurry...
One of my teammates was on the same flight, and thru a seat-swap, we were seated together. A few minutes into the flight, she discovered that her seat didn't recline, so I offered to swap as I had planned to work. Ordered the express meal service, and after my tray was removed, I plugged in the laptop. Battery had a pretty good charge left, but the seat power wasn't working... Told the purser, and she did a reset on the seat. No luck.
Did what I could to finish the work on my docs, but thanks to the idiocy of our IT department, we have new extra power thirsty widescreen laptops, which are as power efficient as a Hummer. An hour later, the battery was dead, and we still had seven hours of flying left.
Unable to work, unable to recline my seat, there wasn't a whole lot to do. I'd seen every one of the movies on their 12 channels of IFE already, and with the cabin lights dimmed for everyone else to be able to enjoy their fully-flat beds, I got to sit upright and try to learn Spanish from the inflight magazine.
Without a doubt, it was one of the worst flight experiences I'd had in a long time.
To make matters worse, the purser on the flight didn't bother to check back with me to see if the problems had been resolved. She spent 15 minutes showing duty free items to the person across the aisle, but never again acknowledged that there might have been a problem to resolve.
Had I not been under a deadline, it might have been tolerable. But I was. And the longer I sat watching Airshow creep across Greenland and Newfoundland, the madder I got...
Arrival at ORD was quick, aside from the line of foreign tourists in the US Passports queue. Bag was one of the first off, and I was able to get to the house about 50 minutes after docking.
IB6274 ORD-MAD A346 Ontime
The following Monday, I was off to Madrid again. No problems with the seat power, no problems with recline. Ordered the express dinner, and somehow the crew managed to give me the scallops & mango appetizer instead of the sea bass entre. Too tired to fight, I ate the scallops (quite tasty), and managed to get a good five hours of sleep on a seven hour flight.
Arrival at MAD was a little more frustrating than usual. We arrived after several other flights, and the foreign passport queues were jammed. Unlike the US, you go thru a central queue, but then line up without any assistance at the various immigration officer stands. Somehow, at the one I chose, there was a woman who had a documentation problem. The officer directed her to the secondary office, called the priest who was next in line ahead, cleared him, and then closed his station without warning. There were 12 of us in the queue, and he simply waved us back over to the other queues... I've had that happen in MIA, and nothing pisses me off more than having nobody managing the queues. Not even a broken seat pisses me off that much...
Fortunately, most of us tried to blend into the adjacent queue, and the people there were accommodating. Two minutes later, the officer came back, re-opened his station, and a few of us were able to get back into his line... Hardly the best welcoming I've had to the EU.
Despite the delays at immigration, a five minute wait for a train and the three minute train ride to the main terminal, our bags weren't out when I arrived at the claim area. Worse, when the bags did start arriving, premium bags didn't start arriving until about 50-70 "normal" bags had been sent onto the belt. If you're going to advertise a premium service, then deliver it. If AA can do it, anyone can....
This was my first stay in Spain of any length. Three nights in Aranjuez, which is where the summer palace is located. My guess is that it's not used much anymore, as the gardens were a little shaggy in places... Stayed at Hotel Barcelo, which was a disaster. It's a fairly new hotel, but the service was poor. We had about 150 people attending a conference over a five day period. They had the exact same food for breakfast each day, which is understandable. Lunch? Same food all five days. The two dinners they served us? Yep. Same food each meal. No variety whatsoever... A few of us wound up going to the bar and ordering lunch & dinner on the last day, since we'd had enough of gazpacho, fish and veal kneecaps.
IB6275 MAD-ORD A343 Ontime
Flight back MAD-ORD was mostly uneventful, however the seat power failed again. This is a recurring trend with IB, and I've had it happen on three of my last eight flights with two different laptops and power adapters. Ordered the quick meal, got about 90 minutes of work done, and then tried to sleep and watch movies... In comparison to the previous week, the purser checked back with me three or four times, offering to charge the laptop somewhere else.
Summary
I'm getting tired of the sub-par service with IB, and sincerely hope the BA-AA alliance gets approved soon so I can start flying on them to/from NCE. My next trip is already booked on AA to MXP.
I already wrote up my first report, in which I noted that they'd reconfigured the cabins and legroom was better.
As fate would have it, I spoke too soon.
My return flight NCE-MAD was no problems. There were several of us from my company onboard, and we'd all had very little sleep the night before for various reasons... Mine was working on a deadline of 0200 with a customer, and we finished at about 0130. By the time I'd returned to the hotel, I was able to get about two hours of sleep before heading off to the airport.
MAD-ORD is where things went south in a hurry...
One of my teammates was on the same flight, and thru a seat-swap, we were seated together. A few minutes into the flight, she discovered that her seat didn't recline, so I offered to swap as I had planned to work. Ordered the express meal service, and after my tray was removed, I plugged in the laptop. Battery had a pretty good charge left, but the seat power wasn't working... Told the purser, and she did a reset on the seat. No luck.
Did what I could to finish the work on my docs, but thanks to the idiocy of our IT department, we have new extra power thirsty widescreen laptops, which are as power efficient as a Hummer. An hour later, the battery was dead, and we still had seven hours of flying left.
Unable to work, unable to recline my seat, there wasn't a whole lot to do. I'd seen every one of the movies on their 12 channels of IFE already, and with the cabin lights dimmed for everyone else to be able to enjoy their fully-flat beds, I got to sit upright and try to learn Spanish from the inflight magazine.
Without a doubt, it was one of the worst flight experiences I'd had in a long time.
To make matters worse, the purser on the flight didn't bother to check back with me to see if the problems had been resolved. She spent 15 minutes showing duty free items to the person across the aisle, but never again acknowledged that there might have been a problem to resolve.
Had I not been under a deadline, it might have been tolerable. But I was. And the longer I sat watching Airshow creep across Greenland and Newfoundland, the madder I got...
Arrival at ORD was quick, aside from the line of foreign tourists in the US Passports queue. Bag was one of the first off, and I was able to get to the house about 50 minutes after docking.
IB6274 ORD-MAD A346 Ontime
The following Monday, I was off to Madrid again. No problems with the seat power, no problems with recline. Ordered the express dinner, and somehow the crew managed to give me the scallops & mango appetizer instead of the sea bass entre. Too tired to fight, I ate the scallops (quite tasty), and managed to get a good five hours of sleep on a seven hour flight.
Arrival at MAD was a little more frustrating than usual. We arrived after several other flights, and the foreign passport queues were jammed. Unlike the US, you go thru a central queue, but then line up without any assistance at the various immigration officer stands. Somehow, at the one I chose, there was a woman who had a documentation problem. The officer directed her to the secondary office, called the priest who was next in line ahead, cleared him, and then closed his station without warning. There were 12 of us in the queue, and he simply waved us back over to the other queues... I've had that happen in MIA, and nothing pisses me off more than having nobody managing the queues. Not even a broken seat pisses me off that much...
Fortunately, most of us tried to blend into the adjacent queue, and the people there were accommodating. Two minutes later, the officer came back, re-opened his station, and a few of us were able to get back into his line... Hardly the best welcoming I've had to the EU.
Despite the delays at immigration, a five minute wait for a train and the three minute train ride to the main terminal, our bags weren't out when I arrived at the claim area. Worse, when the bags did start arriving, premium bags didn't start arriving until about 50-70 "normal" bags had been sent onto the belt. If you're going to advertise a premium service, then deliver it. If AA can do it, anyone can....
This was my first stay in Spain of any length. Three nights in Aranjuez, which is where the summer palace is located. My guess is that it's not used much anymore, as the gardens were a little shaggy in places... Stayed at Hotel Barcelo, which was a disaster. It's a fairly new hotel, but the service was poor. We had about 150 people attending a conference over a five day period. They had the exact same food for breakfast each day, which is understandable. Lunch? Same food all five days. The two dinners they served us? Yep. Same food each meal. No variety whatsoever... A few of us wound up going to the bar and ordering lunch & dinner on the last day, since we'd had enough of gazpacho, fish and veal kneecaps.
IB6275 MAD-ORD A343 Ontime
Flight back MAD-ORD was mostly uneventful, however the seat power failed again. This is a recurring trend with IB, and I've had it happen on three of my last eight flights with two different laptops and power adapters. Ordered the quick meal, got about 90 minutes of work done, and then tried to sleep and watch movies... In comparison to the previous week, the purser checked back with me three or four times, offering to charge the laptop somewhere else.
Summary
I'm getting tired of the sub-par service with IB, and sincerely hope the BA-AA alliance gets approved soon so I can start flying on them to/from NCE. My next trip is already booked on AA to MXP.
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