Tag: airtravel

Flying Back

My last day in Helsinki was marked by a massive thunderstorm, so I wasn’t even able to take a picture of myself on the rock (my other traditional picture, which I was not able to take). In fact, it was probably the worst day of the whole vacation, weather-wise.

I was packing until the “one after last” minute, and we made it to the airport technically on time, but later than I planned. The airport was super-crowded (but we knew that would be the case). What I didn’t expect was a substantial line to the Priority desk (I was checking in one luggage). Fortunately, I am not just a Priority but Platinum, so I could go to another line with just two people in front of me.

The security check was fast and without issues. The passport control was new: there was a separate line for US, UK, Japan, and some other passports. They scanned the passports and took pictures, and after that, the border control officer still looked at me and my passport.

But the most interesting thing was arrival: same as in April, nobody asked for my passport! They just took a picture of me, and said it was good, and I am good to go. I think that they somehow match the picture taken before departure with arrival pictures, but that’s just a guess. Overall, all quiet, no lines, no crowds, no nothing.

Last Wednesday

Keeping going through the last week. I hosted two conference attendees, plus Anna for one of the nights. My first houseguest, B., was a conference speaker from Madagascar. She is an absolutely outstanding woman, and I want ot tell more about her in the near future. That was her first time coming to the US, and she had a 22-hour long journey with two connections. I told her I would meet her at ORD, because it is very difficult to navigate this airport even when you are an experienced traveler.

Her flight arrival time was 7:30 AM, and I took the L-train there, because everything runs relatively normally on a weekday morning, so it was a 4 AM wake-up, leaving the house at 5:30. The airport was as quiet as it could possibly be, and we saw each other right away. I took her to the office where we left her luggage, and then to the Architectural tour, because Wednesday was the only opportunity for her to see something!

One of the conference attendees took the same boat tour with us, and then we went to the Art Institute. I didn’t plan to be at work on that day, but one of the customers kept having issues, and I was the only person who could fix them. I asked Igor to take over my Chicago guide responsibilities, and rushed to the office to save the world. My second houseguest, L. was arriving at 4 PM, and we calculated that with the luggage and the passport control, she would be at my house by 6 PM, so I had plenty of time. But then I was stuck with saving the world, and her flight arrived earlier, and by some miracle, her luggage came out very fast as well.

With all that, she waited for us for twenty minutes! At least, the weather was warm on Wednesday, and she just sat on her luggage in the sun reading a book. Nobody wanted to go out for dinner, so I made a quick meal and went to bed.

The next day, the actual work had begun.

Flying Back

I flew back from LA to Chicago last Sunday, on the day of switching to daylight saving time. My original flight was about 11 AM, but then I switched to the first flight of the day so that I won’t spend the whole day on the flight (and I had a show at Theo that evening).

Although that meant I had to be up before 4 AM of DST, it was the right decision – I believe, that’s the only way for an American Airlines flight to be on time :). I was unsure whether the lounge will be open – in ORD, they open the AA lounge at 5-30AM, and even later, at 6 AM, in Helsinki. Maybe they stay open 24X7 at LAX, I don’t know, but at 5:05 AM they were open and breakfast was available – the first normal breakfast, with fruits, that week!

Then, same as on the inbound trip, there was no food on the plane, and by the time I was out of the aircraft, it was already six hours after this breakfast. I still wanted to get home ASAP, because I had chances to bike while the weather was nice, so I didn’t stop in any of the airport cafes, and preceded to the Uber pickup spot.

Judging by the driver’s name, there were high chances he was Muslim, so I said that I apologize of he is fasting, but would it be OK with him if I munch on a bisquit since they didn’t feed us during the flight. He said is was fine, and then he asked me whether I want a date, because it’s the best after you didn’t eat for a while. It was so unexpected tha I said “yes”, and he pulled out a napkin with several gigantic soft dates, and I took one. It tasted heavenly.He proceeded telling me how he was caught during the previous night “missing hour” with not being able to get in time to a cafe opened until 3 AM, because 3 AM happened right after 1 AM, and how he was well prepared on that day (“I also have oranges, if you’d like!”) He definitely made my day!

And Flying Again!

This time, to Pasadena for a conference. The American Airlines lounge at Terminal 3 now feels like home – I’ve been there so many times, that I have “my” spot.

The flight was showing on time, and I could not believe it! Still, the boarding was announced, and I hurried to the gate.

Guess what? We all got in, and then the captain announced: in case you didn’t notice, it started to snow, so now we need to go through de-icing, and it’s a long line ahead of us, so will will be here for at least 30 minutes.

It ended up being an hour. Well, I should say – only an hour!

Air Travel Again

It’s not even funny, but Boris’ flight back was also screwed up. To be precise, his evening flight on Sunday was canceled, and he was put on a British Airways flight that departed almost four hours later. As a result, he missed his connection in London, and they couldn’t find his new ticket, so he missed the next flight as well and was at home after 10 PM on Monday.

With all that, I am not optimistic about my next week’s flight to LA because it’s also AA. My only consolation is that I fly in the day before the conference starts, and my flight back is super -early Sunday morning on the day of switching to the DST

Monday Details

Trying to cover all this week’s events.

Boris was supposed to fly in on Sunday, right after I would bring my mom home from our matinee CSO concert. I had Monday off, so we were planning to spend it together, and had a long list of what we were going to do.

I didn’t expect anything unusual, so I checked Boris’ flight status at midday just to make sure it departed on time. Nowadays, it’s not always easy to find the flight status online unless it’s your flight and it’s in your app. To my astonishment, a Google search showed this flight approaching Reykjavik! I thought it must be a mistake; but one of the other searches also showed Reykjavik as the destination point. Another one still said Chicago.

I just locked the door of my apartment and started to walk down when I got a call from Boris: We just landed. I asked: in Reykjavik? And the answer was yes.

Nothing was clear for the next twenty-four hours, but now I know the complete sequence of events. Shortly after the departure, one of the four power generators located at the engines died, and they could not start the backup generator in the tail. (As they say in my world, “if you do not test backups regularly, you do not have backups”). This posed no problem for the flight itself but was not enough to support all the sensors, so they had to land in Reykjavik, which, BTW, has no American Airlines presence, so they could receive only limited equipment help.

Boris said that everything was very well organized, and throughout the ordeal, they were kept informed about what was going on, the options and possible outcomes, and all the moving parts behind the scenes. First, they tried to repair the generator, but since no parts were available, the AA decided to bring in another aircraft. All the passengers were transferred to hotels and transferred back to the airport in the morning. It took way longer than expected to reregister all passengers because this airport is not equipped to service aircraft of that size.

Fortunately, I found a website that showed all the “flight notes,” so I knew about all the expected delays and new estimated times. After the aircraft finally landed in ORD, I tried to take several screenshots to capture all the changes.

Approaching Chicago

I almost never post the views from the airplane window, but I like that one!

Travels

I am on a move again, doing several new things and hoping that the net will be positive.

  • Obviously, I didn’t plan it, but I fell down on the icy stairs last Friday and hurt the bottom badly. I know it will take weeks to get over, and I should be glad it didn’t happen today. By now, I can walk, sleep, sit and work at my desk, and take public transportation, and the only way it hurt is the way you sit on a plane!
  • I am flying with a connection in JFK, which I avoided for years, but when I was looking for tickets for my original trip (planned for the New Year), the price was exceptional, and the connection looked great (no terminal change), so I gave in, also trying to get out of my comfort zone. I guess getting out of your comfort zone is good :).
  • Because of the usual mixup when the flight is “operated by” a different airline, I was unable to select the seats beforehand. By the time I was able to check in, I had literally the worst seat in the Economy Premium without any option to change (all others were already taken). That’s a minus.
  • When it was time to leave, I started ordering Uber. The price of the trip to ORD was $54 for Comfort (and just a couple bucks less for regular), and then they couldn’t find a ride for me for a couple of minutes. Remembering how Boris nearly missed his flight last time and realizing that today was Friday before the long weekend, I switched to a ride to Cumberland. The price went down to $30, the car was available, and the driver smartly navigated through residential streets to avoid the traffic. We made it to Cumberland a little bit later than projected, but I didn’t complain. That’s a plus
  • When I got down to the station platform, the tableau said that the next train to ORD was in 23 minutes! AAAAA!!! But then the train appeared ten minutes later, and not crowded at all, so plus at the end.
  • When the train was pulling into the ORD station, the American Airlines app decided to give me a mobile pass, which is a huge plus, but immediately notified me about a 45-minute delay!
  • I had a three-hour connection, and there was no more delay and the food in the lounge was good, so that was a plus.
  • No terminal change and hence no additional security checks in JFK was a gigantic plus!
  • They do not have a Finnair lounge, but their AA lounge was good.
  • It turned out that there is no position for me to be half-reclined without an acute pain, so I slept for barely an hour tonight, although technically I could have a full night of decent sleep (I skipped the dinner onboard, because I ate in both longes)
  • We are supposedly arriving on time, and if I will manage to compensate my lack of sleep, it would be great!

Funny Story

I had a rather dramatic check-in for my October flight to Helsinki. As it sometimes happens when the first flight is not operated by Finnair, the trip locator changes for the partnering airlines, and you cannot find it until they send you an email that it’s time to register. And by that time, you can’t make any changes, like select your seats or order a special meal.

That being said, I could not order my low-calorie meal for my onward flight, but since I already had a trip locator, I could order it for my returning flight.

When I entered the aircraft on my way back, a flight attendant stopped by me, checked my name, and asked me whether I had a special meal, and I confirmed. But then, when the service started, another flight attendant asked me the standard “chicken or pasta” question. I said: special meal. She asked another attendant, and she was: did I talk to you on the ground? I said: yes, you did! Then both of them said that they are sorry and “one moment,” and then they returned with a very interesting tray:

A whole bunch of plates from the business class could all be considered “low-calorie.” They apologized again and then asked whether I also wanted a chicken 😀.

Traveling With Russian Passport

That was the first time in a while that I traveled together with Boris and had a connection in London. Actually, since I had a connection in London on my way to Helsinki, I had three London connections in a week!

The first one was just me, and there was a very long wait, and no priority line was opened.

The second one was with Boris, and we had it all:

  • Interrogation at the passport control in Helsinki
  • Interrogation at the boarding gate (the gate attendant started checking the regulations for transfers – as if Boris was the only one transferring person without a UK visa)
  • Interrogation in Heathrow
  • Long lines at security without a priority lane
  • Barely made it to the gate

The third one, again with Boris, on our way back from Athens

  • The online check-in didn’t issue a boarding pass for him
  • In the Athens airport, a BA counter attendant went to check the regulations (as if Boris was the only person connecting without a UK visa).
  • Then he called another associate, and this whole process took twenty minutes, and for some reason, they asked for my passport as well. They finally issued boarding passes for both of us, adding that Boris “can’t step out from the airport” in London (as if it was ever different). Then they tried to convince us to check in our carry-on (we refused because we didn’t want to wait for our luggage at 11 PM)
  • We finally made it to the lounge, which was not very impressive (fun fact: you had to go to another lounge for a toilet)
  • Interrogation at the border control, however – no lines!
  • Surprise: no lines at the security check!
  • We were absolutely sure we wouldn’t have time to go to the lounge, but because of zero wait time in the security line, we had it!

Completely unexpected:

  • When we arrived in Helsinki and had to go through passport control again, they figured out that “we were together,” and despite my protests, they sent me to the same officer who talked to Boris. I should have said that “we are not traveling together,” not “we have different passports,” but I didn’t realize it right away, and then I was a subject of interrogation. They assumed that I wanted to stay longer and asked whether I had a residential permit, and then when I said I didn’t they asked to show my returning ticket.

Summary: it was so good to finally be home, and before midnight!

P.S. Just to be clear: I understand that the suspicions against Russian passport holders are completely justified, and that post is not a protest.