Today I have boarded a flight to Chicago, Illinois on my way to the AAAI-08 conference. As usual, instead of flying direct, I have connected through Minneapolis in order to fly Northwest and get a First-Class upgrade. This time I left my passport home intentionally, as this is a purely domestic itinerary.
Some of you may recall my car accident. That led to me leaving my car at a garage for repair and renting a replacement car a few days ago. I have returned the rental car at the airport and thus saved the time and hassle of an airport shuttle.
As this is a short trip and the weather is warm, I packed almost nothing and did not check any bags, so I could proceed directly to the gate with my pre-printed boarding pass (as this is a domestic flight, I get no lounge access). My first class flight went smoothly, arriving on time at Minneapolis.
Upon arrivial, I checked the screens for my connection info and noticed that there was an earlier Northwest flight to Chicago Midway* airport. I decided to head directly to that gate and try to standby for the earlier flight. The gate agent told me that he could put me on standby, but the flight is likely to be full and I am not guaranteed a seat, and even if I get one, it would probably be in economy. I told the agent I don’t mind (I prefer spending an hour and a half on the plane in economy than in the terminal), and then I had to wait and see if there would be room for me.
The flight turned out to be fully booked, and all 12 first class seats were full. However, since I had Platinum status I got one of those! The flight did depart late, but I ended up arriving more than an hour before my original schedule. Another plus is that a nice girl sat next to me on the flight and we chatted all the way. She was flying from San Jose (SJO), Costa Rica and was on her final leg back home to Wisconsin. I had fun.
After arriving I checked in at my hotel and took a taxi to dinner with my advisor and some more Stanford folk at a Chicago restaurant. I just now returned to the hotel. Updates to come.
*Midway airport (MDW), is named such not because of its location, but as a reference to the Battle of Midway.
July 15th, 2008 at 07:28
Posted by
epsalon |
Chicago, Frequent Flyer |
3 comments
It’s time to settle the cliffhanger and to give due praise to Northwest Airlines. As I arrived at Memphis, the gate crew immediately tried to assist me with my passport issue. The final result: My passport was to arrive the next day and I was rebooked for the flights for that day. I was also given hotel and meal vouchers for Memphis.
I used the extra night to rest and change, and the next day I went so see Elvis’ mansion - Graceland. Later I arrived at the airport and got my passport at the gate.
The flight from Memphis to Amsterdam was on a brand new A330 which included a VOD entertainment system for all passengers. The system also allowed sending text messages from the plane for only $2.50 per message. I sent two.
The next flight was a short flight to Lisbon ok KLM. The scheduled arrival time of this flight left little time between arrival and the time I should present my poster.
As Murphy would have it, this was the only flight that did not arrive early. We had a 5 min delay on departure and then during final approach, after the crew was ordered to sit down, the pilot had to abort the landing and perform a “go around”, which means take off again, circle the airport and re-attempt. The reason given: the runway was “occupied”. KLM had their share of problems using occupied runways, the most spectacular at Tenerife.
That, however, was not the end of my problems. My luggage did not show up at Lisbon. A quick check recovered my luggage which has been mistakenly labeled “RUSH”, which means it does not show up at the belt.
After retrieving my luggage. I had to wait in line for a taxi. The driver then took me to the wrong hotel and had to correct himself (I think he did it on purpose to make more money). I ended up paying €55, but arrived on time.
Later I took a taxi to my hotel, used the very small shower and reasonably priced restaurant and went to sleep.
Tomorrow: I fly to Germany on AirBerlin, seat 1-A. Stay Tuned.
May 15th, 2008 at 14:58
Posted by
epsalon |
Portugal, US Travel |
no comments
Today I have concluded my first purely domestic itinerary and achieved my Platinum status by flying from San Diego to San Francisco via Salt Lake City (yes, it really isn’t on the way).
The flight to Salt Lake was delayed due to a ripple effect (the plane arrived to SLC late from the east coast due to weather). My seat selection tricks worked and I found myself next to the only empty seat on the plane (in a row of 3).
Even with the late arrival there was enough time to grab a burger at Burger King, especially as this flight was also delayed 20 minutes. As usual I asked if an upgrade is possible and surprisingly the answer was “sure!” and I immediately got my new boarding pass assigned to seat 2D (window seat in a 1-2 row on CRJ-900) with 2C next to me vacant.
The first class seats were slightly wider and with a lot more legroom. My drink was refilled as soon as I finished it was cleared just as fast. I rested most of the flight until our only slightly late arrival at SFO.
I’m now in the shuttle home. I’m the only passenger! Good to be back.
December 15th, 2007 at 11:00
Posted by
epsalon |
Frequent Flyer, San Diego, Travel |
2 comments
Today was the first day of the WINE2007 conference in San Diego. After having breakfast at McDonald’s, I arrived very early and waited for the conference to start.
The first talk was by Nobel laureate Kenneth J Arrow, best known for his Impossibility result in social choice. Surprisingly, the talk about economic equilibrium was rather uninteresting.
I spent the rest of the morning session half-asleep due to jet lag, as there was no flight West before this conference, I had to adjust to waking up a lot earlier.
At the conference, I met many people I knew from Israel or other conferences, including Ola (from the Amazing Race post). Four of us (all Israelis) decided to go and eat together with my car. We drove to one of the restaurants recommended by the conference only to find out it was way over our price range, so we went back and ended up buying prepared food at Safeway and eating it at the hotel.
I decided to skip the last session today and go to bed. Slept for some hours and now woke up again.
December 13th, 2007 at 09:14
Posted by
epsalon |
San Diego, Travel |
one comment
Hi all from San Diego, CA. I am here for a conference called WINE2007.
Yesterday I have flown a pure domestic itinerary for the first time without ever presenting my passport. I flew via Salt Lake City, where the pilot announced it’s 30 degrees. “Hmm, warm,” I thought to myself until I realized he was using a strangely calibrated scale called Fahrenheit and he actually meant minus 1, which explained the snow everywhere.
Upon arrival at SD, I decided to visit the road where I have lived 20 years ago. At that time my family lived in University city, San Diego and I went to elementary school. I managed to find the street, the school, and the house (photos soon).
Now I’m waiting for the conference to start. More updates to come.
December 12th, 2007 at 19:35
Posted by
epsalon |
San Diego, Travel |
2 comments
