I know some of the you just couldn't wait to see how the flight went.....
Here ya go bear, I'm sure this will give you more fodder for the cannon.....
Flight 104 CLT/EWR
Boarded on time and was seated in row 1. Plane was dirty but not nasty. Carpet on bulkhead was badly stained in spots and over all pretty dirty. Of course the pax in 1C had both feet on the bulkhead with his shoes on so I can only image how hard it is to keep it clean. Seat is just old and worn out and not sure how much 409 would help. Given the birds are going to go away in the not to distance future; I guess money is not being spent to keep them clean. This may have been the 37 that I was on a week or so ago. If so the vomit had been cleaned up, but it appeared the stain was still on the bulkhead carpet. The pen art did looked familiar…. DL’s birds now go through deep cleaning every thirty days so the difference was noticeable. We pushed on time, but the ramp seemed to be backed up for CLT. We were in the air in 10 minutes or less. Sure beats ATL on that score….
No pre-departure drink was served and I really could have used one after this morning. I wondered if I could get a Mojhito once in the air? (Inside joke to those who fly DL). My old friends Jack and Ginger would have been nice though. However, F did get to listen to the F/A lecture two different pax on how they really should not over pack their bags as they would not fit into the overhead. Very entertaining.
It was at this point that it hit me. Most of the people getting on the plane had two big bags + stuffed to the gills. Most seemed to have never flown before. I guess this really is the target market for US these days and it does appear to be working. Given that, I wonder how tired the front line people are of having to deal with Ma and Pa all day every day. I have to believe dealing with 100 CP’s has to be less stressful than dealing with 100 Bobby Sue’s. Maybe that is why so many just tried to brush me off this morning. It more than likely works with Ma and Pa. (Note to Tempe, it does not work well with FF.) Of course Ma and Pa would not have known what I know about policies, seat maps, being charged to change flights, etc., but that is the game we FF play. Know the rules and make the airline stick to them. I wonder if Ma and Pa are better off not knowing.
Crew was ok once in the air. They were on the tail end of a four day trip and appeared to be tired. Two Jacks’ and a full can of Ginger arrived shortly after clearing 10,000 feet. Service was attentive but not over bearing. Lead F/A came around several times with the snack basket and to refill drinks. Outside of the lesson on how to pack a bag, the flight was uneventful and the crew just like I remember the US crews to be.
Flight arrived on time at EWR. Did not check bags, thus nothing to comment on there. So after 10 hours of trying to get to EWR, I finally arrived. I could have driven quicker, but it would not have been as entertaining and quite frankly as cheap.
To be continued.