Paying penance to the airline gods

If I have faith in any deity or deities, it would be the fickle and capricious gods that tally up, cash out, or demolish the karma points for travel on commercial airlines. My recent experience was that they are jealous and wrathful gods as well. I actually spent a month (September) without a single airline flight--this is extremely novel, given my previous work experiences (1-2 flights a month). I knew that I was spending too much time at airports when I was washing my hands at home, and ended up waving my hands under the faucet waiting for the electric eye to turn on the tap. They were waiting for me to come back after straying from the fold.

So... what went wrong on this trip? Let’s see:

Outbound: 2004-10-14 YYZ-SFO UAL 8517/AC 755 16:35-19:05

(to paraphrase, if U cn rd this, U fly 2 mch).

Being a code-share between United and Air Canada, I had the choice while driving on the airport access road: Terminal 1 or Terminal 2. Took a guess; parked the car; got inside: I guessed wrong. Took the shuttle bus over to the other terminal carrying my three bags; cleared check-in in about 10 minutes. Customs, on the other hand, took the better part of an hour--they actually had to expedite me out to get me onto my flight in time. The cross-country flight was overbooked; every seat filled.

Inbound: 2004-10-19 SFO-YVR UAL 1136/AC 5175 13:05-15:18

Another code share between United and Air Canada--figured this one was a no brainer--drop me off where I was picked up, right? Wrong. Another shuttle bus to a different terminal. FYI--I took a closer look at my Expedia itinerary--it does have terminal number information on it. Need to start including yet another piece of information in my travel plans.

This flight was delayed by 1.5 hours. This meant that my connection (Vancouver to Toronto) would not make it. At the Vancouver connection, I was so preoccupied with getting onto the next flight out that I didn't claim my luggage from customs before clearing. Also, I suppose part of the reason I spaced it was that it's an entirely novel set of actions for single-airline connections to involve reclaiming and then rechecking my luggage. Called the United baggage office for 15 minutes of continuous ringing before having them bring my bags out.

Then I had about 5-6 hours to kill in an airport--looks like I was going to be eating two of my meals today in airports. That's actually not my record--I once had breakfast, lunch, and dinner over the course of a PDX-SEA-ORD-BOS trip.

Admittedly, I made the best out of the time being stuck. I got wireless access waiting both at SFO and YVR, and caught up with a few people via IM. Found a pretty nice Japanese retaurant in Vancouver airport, and caught the Yankees-Red Sox Game 6 in the bar.

Final leg was the redeye from Vancouver to Toronto:

Inbound: 2004-10-19 YVR-YYZ AC 156 22:45-06:00

The airline gods are pinpoint in their malicious accuracy. All that I wanted to do on that return flight was pop a sleeping pill and try to get five hours of restless uncomfortable sleep before driving home. Surprise: I was stuck in the row before the exit row--the one that doesn't recline. And the row was full. Man... don't piss off the airline gods.

The photo above demonstrates that I was on the left-hand side window seat.

All that I can hope is that the airline gods are sated with the punishments they have doled out--I have 48 hours on the ground before getting back on a plane again (to Chicago). I believe that this flight put me over the top for Elite status on United for next year--I think they made sure I earned it.