Roman Holiday

I joined my friend Krista in Rome for a few days. Not the smoothest of non-rev trips. My mom and grandma decided to tag along, only they didn't make the flight on Christmas Day. They next day didn't look good either, so they decided to go into Milan and take the train to Rome... only then the Rome flight opened up. But it was too late to switch.

Our attempts to visit the Vatican for free on Sunday were foiled by the gazillion other people who had the same idea. Did see the Forum, Il Vittoriano, Picasso exhibit, St Peter's, Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. Didn't get a chance to get to the Colosseum close up, though.

I think the catholic church could've done so much more good for the world if they weren't so obsessed with spending a shitload of money on fancy stuff. Did get to see the resting place of my man JP... is it weird that there were people crying over him, nearly 4 years later?

Will miss horribly the pasta and sauce, cappuccino, and chocolate croissants. Wasn't thoroughly impressed by the Italians, though - a little pushy and not great with the manners. And Euros are expensive. And apparently it's perfectly acceptable for teenagers to spend their days riding the bus and making out. While chewing gum.

Flights back during the day suck. Although, it didn't suck that much in business class... I watched 4 movies.

good night

The Flight From Hell

Yesterday I was on the flight from hell, number 752 from Denver to Atlanta. Scheduled to leave at 3:05. For the first time in a long time, I made the flight with no problem. I had a middle seat, but a little girl wanted to switch with me. Things couldn't be going better. Until they stopped taxiing and shut the engines down and pulled back into the gate. A flap indication problem turned into a computer malfunction turned into flying a part in from SLC on the flight arriving at 6:20pm. A beer and a few catch-up phone calls later, the plane was fixed and we boarded again.

This time, people were gone so I switched rows to a window. We pushed back... then stopped. Again. Seriously. Some other "lights" in the cockpit (they didn't say what and the logs weren't up yet when I checked.) 40 minutes and one soaked mechanic later, we were on our way to the runway... just in time for a huge storm to roll in and ground stop. Awesome

40 minutes later, nearly 6 hours after the scheduled departure time, we left Denver. Landed in Atlanta at 1am, in the door at 2am.

So much for trying to get home "early."

Non-rev Karma

The non-reving world is a funny one. My multiple trips to LA have proven what an interesting and slightly stressful experience it is. There are times when it's the smoothest thing ever and others, well, you end up stuck in the Knoxville airport all day.

My first trip out I got the last seat on the plane, but only because there were groups of two and three that didn't want to split up. On the way back, I had to use up a precious S2 to get the middle seat on the red eye in order to get back in time.

The second time, I left work to catch the flight and it looked wide open. By the time I got to the gate, I was 50th on the list and had to run to catch the flight to orange county. On the way back, I got the a seat in the last row of a 777.

And this time. A hellish flying day in atlanta due to bad weather meant I was 39th on the list and the flight was delayed by an hour. I checked into two others just in case. And then? I got cleared for 1st class. I tried to get out on sunday, but my favorite flight back on the 777 was canceled which backed up the rest of the day. Monday put me on the flight leaving at 1115... it only had room because it was actually scheduled for 730 and ended up with lost of space after everyone deserted and stood by for the later flights.

They say it used to be much easier. Most of the times it's not bad.

Non-rev chronicles, continued

My non-reving karma must be completely gone. Aaron finally made it to New York while Danny and I ended up in Atlanta. We couldn't get to LGA that night, so we went home just to try again the next day. Our luggage went, though.

Sunday morning the flight was pretty booked. Due to re-booking by some not so bright TYS ladies, we were no longer listed together. We told the guy we were in a party, but that didin't prevent him from cancelling and clearning one or the other a couple of times. Finally he just tells danny to get on the plane and find his own seat.

I end up in first class, which is great since daddy d owes me, but I'm sitting next to possibly the most disgusting person on the planet. Dressed and smelling like a bum, this guy obviously had a cold since he insisted on loudly snorting back his snot despite my donation of my entire pack of tissues to him. Not only that, but at one point he begins to cough, spits up his bagel, wipes it off and eats it again. Classy.

The way back was no better. This time both of us were in steerage, and I was sitting next to a nice oal captain until the most enormous black man I've ever seen squeezes himself down the aisle with his wife to the back of the 757. He won't fit in the seat, so much so that when the armrests are down the best he can do is sit on top of them. His wife ends up in the window, him the middle and me on the aisle, armrest-less. This guy proves to be just as enormous of a jackass as he is in size, from telling the flight attendents how to do their jobs, complaining about having to hold his breathe that the seat is too small, and pulling the racism card on several subjects. Not only that, but he tries to impress by sharing all of his aerospace knowledge, including wake turbulence and shear ("man, did you feel that wind shear?") His poor wife wasn't feeling well, evidently due to "altitude sickness."

I'm pretty sure the airplane didn't fail to pressurize.

I'm glad to be home and in the ATL for a few days.

Non-rev Sucky Experience #1

Danny, Aaron and I are currently sitting in the Knoxville airport. We've been here since 5:30am and it's likely we won't leave until 5:45. 12 hours.

Our 6 am direct flight to la guardia was overweight, so they left us off. Since then, between some great planning by Delta Connection and some awesome shafting by some gate agents, we've missed each flight since. Each flight has been oversold and/or overweight, and when there were two seats the awesome agent Bell offered them to a family (who declined) but refused to give them to us. No rewards points from me are coming her way.

The 545 flight is wide open, which will put us into LaGuardia at 12am. And to bed at around 1 or 1:30. After we got up at 4:30 to catch our wide open, overweight flight.

I blame CRJs. And Wendy Boone. And the best gate agent ever.

Ny, Ny... I'm trying!