Some thoughts on air travel

[girlyswot]

This is a post which was originally intended to be entitled, "Some thoughts on air travel courtesy of the Wifi at Chicago O'Hare airport" but the stupid thing wouldn't accept my credit card.

1. There is something really wrong with a system that charges twice as much to take one direct 6 1/2 hour flight than to go hundreds of miles further in a 2 hour and a 7 hour flight. $1150 for a US Airways flight from Philadelphia to Manchester vs. $569 for United/BMI from Philly to Chicago to Manchester.
   
2. When indicating baggage allowances on your website, it's not that helpful to say that excess baggage is charged at a variety of rates without specifying what these might be. I arrived at the airport to be told that I would have to pay $200. I did some rearranging and the guy went to check what the actual rates were and we reduced this amount to $50.
3. Just recently I was saying to a friend how terrified I was of being given an exit seat in a plane. I am appallingly bad at following pictorial instructions and I panic in emergencies. So guess which seat I was allocated on the flight to Chicago? On the plus side, there was lots of room for the large amounts of carry-on luggage I had, it was an Economy Plus seat which was very comfortable and had masses of legroom, and I wasn't squashed in the middle of two strangers. And we didn't have an emergency so it didn't matter that I wouldn't have been able to work the emergency door.
4. Chicago O'Hare is weird. It's the only airport I've ever been in where almost all the shops and concessions are on the main concourse before you go through security. Because I am always paranoid about huge queues to get through check in and security*, I prefer to do my shopping on the other side. All I wanted was a bottle of Coke and some crisps. Huh. There were a couple of news stands which only had Pepsi (evil brew of the devil) and a thing that called itself a bar but was really a few bottles of alcohol on a trolley. Oh, and the duty free shop. Pathetic.
5. I am still British. At the place where I eventually bought a smoothie (in the absence of any coke), I waited at the counter for several minutes before saying, 'Excuse me' to attract the attention of the sales assistant. She turned to me, glared, and told me that the register was on the other side. My response? 'Sorry.'
6. BMI is much, much nicer than US Airways. In fact, I think probably every airline is much, much nicer than US Airways. Such a shame that the only operator to go directly from Philadelphia to Manchester is US Airways. Things I liked about BMI:
• Music playing while we boarded. I found this very relaxing.
• Free earphones
• Free toothbrush and toothpaste. Also, socks, blanket, eyeshade and tissues.
• British chocolate and other goodies available for sale. Excellent for those of us starved of Cadbury goodness.
• The cabin services manager who sounded just like Victoria Wood doing a skit about cabin services managers.
• Nice, helpful cabin staff who helped us all find the best seats on the half empty plane. I ended up with a whole block of three to myself, so I could lie down properly to sleep.
• Excellent vegetable biryani for dinner.  The meat options looked pretty good, too.  Fresh fruit with a muffin for breakfast.


7. Things I didn't like about BMI: having a pilot's eye view of the runway come up on the TV screens as we landed.  Not good for those of us of a nervous disposition, who generally like to get through the whole flight without thinking about the fact that we're thousands of feet up in the air.  Also, no Coke. 
   
8. Mainly I spent the flight finishing my book (review later) and sleeping, but I did watch the last ten minutes of Prince Caspian which was enough to set me weeping.  I also saw the first hour or so of Made of Honor and I am now very excited about moving to Scotland where, when you are lost in the pouring rain and surrounded by cattle, Kevin McKidd will come riding through the rain to rescue you and instantly propose marriage.
9. Running over your toe with a luggage trolley is a bad idea.  Especially when wearing sandals.  You also know your suitcases are too heavy when you break four nails in the process of getting them off the baggage carousel.
10. It will always be raining when you arrive in Manchester.  This isn't actually a bad thing after three weeks of temperatures in the high 80's with lots of humidity.

*This is probably because my first proper experience of an international airport was at Heathrow about 10 days after the bomb scare. Check in took about 30 mins and security about 1 hour. At Manchester everything always takes forever, too.

Comments

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

I think meals on transatlantic flights are standard.