My last flight from California back to Florida was something of an adventure. I don't like to get up too early; so I booked a flight that was due to leave at 8:40 AM. When I booked it online, I applied for upgrades and was offered the chance to be on the Upgrade Standby list; which I took.
When I got to the San Jose airport, just before 7AM, I was astounded to discover that there was virtually no line for the security checkpoint. Just one couple ahead of me at the ID check and one or two at each of the scanners. So I breezed through seurity, found my gate, and bought breakfast. (Ham and egg, no cheese, on a croissant.)
The wait at the gate was uneventful. I was pretty far down the Upgrade Standby list; and the list did not move. I didn't hear anyone called up for new boarding passes. We boarded approximately on time. A few minutes after they closed the doors, the Captain announced that we would be delayed taking off because DFW was already an hour behind schedule due to weather. So we took off about 40 minutes late.
The flight was fairly nominal. I spent the time listening to podcasts on my iPhone and trying not to get a headache from sitting in a vibrating seat that's too short for me. Then about the time I was beginning to expect the descent announcement; the Captain announced that we were being diverted to Tulsa for refuling and that DFW was having severe weather problems.
So we land at Tulsa and pull up to a parking spot on the tarmac. I noticed the refueling truck pull up; and they brought a set of stairs to the back doors for anyone who wanted to get off. Few did. We were there for a little over an hour before departing for DFW.
The flight to DFW was a bit longer than normal for Tulsa-to-Dallas because they routed us to the west to try to avoid the worst of the weather. It didn't do much good. The flight was so bumpy that even the flight attendants had to stay strapped in the whole time. And as we taxied to the gate, we were informed that nothing was leaving DFW that day.
By the time we got to Dallas, my bladder was bursting; so it was straight to the men's room. I turned my phone back on and found a voicemail from Ruth Ann about me being on the first flight in the morning. When I came out, the lines at the desks were long; and moving slowly. I crept my way through one; verified that I was on a 5:50AM flight the next morning and got my boarding pass. And made sure I was on the Upgrade Standby list.
By that time, all of the hotels with airport shuttles were full. Since I would have had to be at the airport around 4AM I decided that staying at the airport overnight was an adventure that I should get out of the way before I get much older...
We had arrived at gate C[mumble] and my flight was scheduled for A14 the next morning. Having plenty of time, I trudged through most of the C terminal and the walkway to A; and then almost the full length of the A terminal. I went past my gate while checking out the dining options. I decided to treat myself to dinner at Friday's, back near the other end of terminal A. They were already handing out cots; but I figured that I could wait until after dinner.
So after dinner I trudged back to A14 and waited around for another cartload of cots. I grabbed my cot and headed around the corner to find a queter, and hopefully darker place to doss own. I wound up under the escalator; just around the corner from A14.
I set up the cot; and noticed a couple of people with blankets. So I went back to the gate area to see if I could get one or two. (One for a pillow; since they didn't seem to be handing them out.) Almost everybody there now had blankets; but nobody could tell me where to get one. A couple of gates down was a desk that wasn't busy; so I asked there. The young man didn't know; so he checked with a couple of other people; and it turned out that they were taking them off of the airplanes. So he rushed around to try to find one for me. He checked about four planes, with no luck, and finally darted down the jetway of one that had just arrived. He was gone before the first passengers disembarked. After a few minutes, he and one of the flight attendants appeared with big armloads of blankets.
So I got my two blankets, returned to the escalator area and settled in for the night. As best as I could with a blanket designed for someone much shorter... I even managed to doze off fairly quickly.
About an hour later, I was awoken by a piercing wail. Someone around the corner had a screaming baby that was putting out some pretty signigicant decibals. It turned out to be three young adults with two little ones. Both of which put out a lot of noise. And they were at that age where they've just figured out how to run; so if you turn your back for a second; when you turn back you'll find them 100 yards away and still accelerating. The adults tried to make some sort of corral in the corner near me; but with little success.
Eventually the kids were quieted down enough that I could get back to sleep. But of course they didn't stay quiet... Around 2AM I gave up and moved my cot to an alcove that was a little quieter.
I finally got up at 5AM; with a minor headache. I folded up the blankets to take with me to use on the airplane. (One behind the small of my back or behind my neck seems to help.) I went to the bathroom and then wandered over to the gate. After sitting there for about five minutes I woke up enough to realize that I shoud verify the gate assignment. Sure enough, instead of A14 it was now D20. Pretty much the diagonally opposite corner of DFW.
Having plenty of time, I trudged over to D20 using the bridge instead of the shuttle. When I got there, there was a long line; but still some places to sit. I noticed that the displays were showing the usual 'here is how your name will show up on the standby list' screens; but no actual standby lists... Given the headache and the length of the lines; I figured I'd just wait and let whatever happened happen.
About 10 minutes later they called me and another man to the desk for our upgrade boarding passes. Things were looking up. Back to the chair. Boarding time came and went with no boarding. About 10 minutes after we should have started boarding they announced that they were delaying boarding while they waited for a couple more flight attendants to show up.
I had noticed that my new boarding pass was for seat 5G; so I figured it must be a widebody. When we boarded, my guess was confirmed. It was a 767. I have no idea what the seats in coach were like; but in First Class it was 2/2/2 seating with those new modular seats that fully recline. Things were looking even better. Oh, and my seat was in the middle section; so coach was potentially 3/4/3 seating.
Also, each First Class seat had a blanket about four times heavier than the usual airplane blankets; and a pillow that was actually pillow sized. So I tucked my old blankets into storage and settled in under the new one; with the pillow on my lap. I was overjoyed to discover that the headrest on the seat actually came up far enough. (Usually even the first class ones are barely adequate; and the coach ones too low.) It wasn't comfortable sitting up with the pillow behind me; so I held it in my lap while they finished boarding and during takeoff.
Once we were in the air, I figured out how to recline the seat, put the pillow behind my head, and dozed off. I woke up as they were serving breakfast. I started to eat breakfast; but something about it seems to have affected me because it came back up. Once it was all up, I felt much better though. I reclined the seat once more and dozed off again. I can't begin to tell you how wonderful it was to be able to nap comfortably on an airplane. Normally, even if I'm totally exhausted, I can't sleep on aircraft; even in First Class.
When it was time to sit up for landing, I noticed that my headache was gone. This was a miracle on the order of the parting of the Red Sea. I get headaches on airplanes; I don't loose them!
Everything was smooth at Orlando; I called the car park for a shuttle and waited 15 minutes or so for it to show up. When I got there and paid, I remembered to ask them whether I'd left my Sun Microsystems jacket on the shuttle when I left the car there; and was gratified when it turned up in their lost and found. I would have been irritated to have lost that memento.
The drive to Gainesville was uneventful; although it felt a little odd to be doing it in the daylight. I got into town just before 1PM. I stopped for lunch at the Back Yard Burger, went on home, plugged the computer into the charger, and crashed on the be for a couple more hours.
It is now Friday evening; and I think all of the delayed effects are wearing off...
