Friday, March 28, 2008

The Red Eye...

Right now I’m sitting in the Red Carpet Club at Chicago O’Hare Airport at 4:50am CDT, just having gotten off United #126 from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). I used to think a “red-eye” was a pretty miserable experience when I was in my twenties…now at 36 I think it’s even worse. Crowded and cramped was my experience, even in an Economy Plus seat with three extra inches of legroom but alas my upgrade did not clear (even used miles for a better shot)! My seatmate arrived after the aircraft door had closed, giving me a false sense of hope that the middle seat in the center three seat section of the Boeing 767-300 would be free but that was not the case. Unfortunately he wasn’t a great seat mate…kept his light on even though he was watching the movie and felt the need to click his pen multiple times every few minutes…not fun. But, I guess you can’t hope for much when you are stuck in an aluminum tube in the middle of the night.

This trip ended up being pretty brutal. I’m currently flying PHX-LAX-ORD-TYS and then driving to one of our plants 70 minutes from Knoxville as a U.S. Senator is interested in touring the facility and the federal lobbyist must be there! After the tour I drive up to the Tri Cities Airport for TRI-CLT-DCA and home…a very crazy trip I will admit. Unfortunately I had to be at our Spring Board Meeting on Thursday and then leave for this trip so the timing couldn’t be helped. At least it gets me a few more segments to re-qualify! And I suppose an added bonus is that I’ve never seen the Red Carpet Club so empty before.

I have to admit I don’t understand people that will subject themselves to the red-eye on purpose. For people like me, it was a business decision as there weren’t any other options so it had to be done. I guess for spring breakers, of which there were a lot of them on the plane, the cost is worth the inconvenience. As I sit here all groggy and bleary-eyed I can’t imagine wanting to pay that price on purpose…

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