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| Shackled in Germany |
I had requested the customer service attendant for an aisle
seat. Unfortunately the only seat
available was a middle one, so I was sandwiched between an Armenian lady on the
aisle side and a Greek man who liked to manspread on the window side. However
they were very pleasant people so it wasn’t a difficult trip in that regard.
The Armenian lady noted that at least I was good natured about missing my
connection. And I said that’s because I couldn’t really do anything about it since
it was beyond my control. The flight felt longer than it was and despite
watching a couple of movies and imbibing two glasses of wine, I couldn’t sleep.
So when I started feeling antsy because I don’t like sitting for long periods
of time, I got up and hanged out near the galley for a couple of hours. It was
then when I noticed the difference between the other airlines I had flown with
and Air France. Air France had a pretty much unlimited supply of snacks and
drinks that they just left in their two galleys in coach class for any
passenger to partake in and one particular woman kept coming back for more.
That kind of perk was indeed very nice for coach class.
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| Gaming area in Charles de Gaulle Airport |
When we landed in San Francisco, we went to the baggage
claim area, but since I wasn’t sure if my baggage was going to be transferred
by Air France to Delta, I asked customer service and the man said yes. So I
proceeded to Customs and asked the officer to direct me to my connecting
flight. He did, but asked me first where I was coming from. I told him about
how I missed my flight to L.A., and he said that I should wait for my baggage
because it would not be forwarded to L.A. Thank goodness that customs officer
gave me the correct information which was not part of his job, and was very
nice because some of them can be surly. I found my baggage and went through the
same officer and thanked him profusely. Much to my surprise, even though the
zipper of the front pocket of my checked baggage was slightly open, none of my
belongings were missing!
I proceeded to my proper domestic terminal, checked in the
correct baggage this time, then went through TSA inspection again. Oh boy, it
looked like the majority of TSA agents I saw in that terminal were Filipinos!
The 55 minute flight to L.A. was uneventful, however it was
already 10 p.m. when we arrived. My original arrival time if I hadn’t missed my
connection would have been about 3 p.m. We went to baggage claim again and it
took a while for mine to appear. As soon as I picked it up, I exited the
building and started looking for the Prime Time Shuttle stop. The first lectern
I found had no agent and a note directed me to the next stop. Upon getting
there, there was no agent either but there was a touch screen computer which
asked me to enter my reservation number or phone number. The computer system
did not find me. I found Super Shuttle and the next van happened to be going to
my direction, so I boarded it even though I had to pay again because the Prime
Time reservation was prepaid. There were only three stops but I was the last
one, and by the time I got home it was already 11:30 at night. It had been a
very arduous trip that lasted almost a day and a half, but I was very relieved
to make it back home with me and my luggage intact and safe. All it took were
trains, a car, planes, and a van to reach my final destination.
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