I had two good flights between Seoul and Chicago. I was bumped up to Business Class on my flight from Seoul to Tokyo. My bus to the airport was late, so I arrived with less than the requisite 2-hours-before-your-flight check-in time. The line at the United counter was really long, so I got in, sure that by the time I got to the counter, they would tell me there wasn't enough time and I'd have to take another flight. I stood there in line, starting to worry. An airline employee and tapped me on the shoulder. "Do you have your passport?" he asked. I showed him my passport. "Okay, come with me."
I followed him over to the First Class counter (no line), where he proceeded to check me in and then handed me my boarding pass, not in the usual navy blue folder of Economy Class seats but in the shiny gold folder of Business and First Class seats. A little slow on the uptake, I didn't catch on to the fact that I had been bumped up.
I glanced down at my boarding pass and saw that I was in seat 14B, a middle or an aisle seat, and not 19A, the window seat I had requested. "Excuse me," I said. "Is there any way I can have a window seat?"
"I moved you up to Business Class," he said.
Suddenly I felt very stupid and overly demanding. "You did?! Thank you!" I exclaimed. "No complaints."
I am here to report that Business Class rocks. I could stretch my legs all the way out and not touch the seat in front of me!
The food is better in Business Class, too.
Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed my 2.5 hours in the comfortable seats in the airplane. The Business Class travelers around me probably thought I was a little nuts as I played with all the gadgets and took pictures of my own feet, and giggled at the two forks on my tray, but that didn't bother me. I was flying Business Class. Wow, that guy in the airport is my new favorite person.I had a 4.5 hour layover in Tokyo. I really like the Tokyo-Narita Airport, so I was able to keep myself moderately entertained before boarding my next plane. Here is my airplane at the gate in Tokyo.
I had a window seat, but since I was in the Economy Plus section (five extra inches of legroom, baby!), I was directly over the wing. There was still a great view of the sunrise, somewhere over the Pacific, just south of Alaska.
After a total 13.5 hours of air travel (and 6 hours of sitting at airports), I looked down and saw a very welcome sight . . . northern Illinois! I'm home.
1 comment:
Hi Jenn! Thanks! My camera is funny. It's a Vivitar ViviCam 5340s. My mom ordered it off the television as a Christmas present for me a couple years ago. It's an okay point-and-shoot for a beginner, but I wouldn't recommend it for an intermediate photographer--max ISO is 200, no macro capabilities, light meter is inaccurate, and it's very hard to adjust the settings manually. The one advantage, and the reason I keep using it, is that it's small enough to carry in my purse all the time.
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