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My trip home from Madrid
Sorry for the long delay since the last post....
Before I tell the story of my trip home from Madrid, I just want to make clear that I am an arrogant, elitist traveller. I do not think there is anything wrong with that as I think my 100K-200K miles travel per year allow me to earn my arrogance and elitism.
I arrive at the Madrid airport at 4:30am for my 6:30am flight. The check-in line for Lufthansa was already about 100 people long with a very large tour group of teenagers in line. No business class line could be discerned. So, I waited in the regular line for a half hour until the ticket agents showed up at 5am. A business class line materialised, so I moved to it and was number 6 in line. There were 3 agents working economy and one working business. I made it through the line fine, but I have no idea how all the economy passengers did as the agents were not moving quickly.
I then made my way to the Spanair lounge for brekkie. As usual, the lounges of the other Star Alliance partners are much better than United Airlines or US Airways lounges. A huge fridge stocked with Coca-Cola. Mmmmmmmmm!
We board the flight from Madrid to Frankfurt. Lufthansa's idea of a business class seat on this plane (I think it was an A320, but cannot remember) was a row of 6 economy seats only in the middle seat you fold down a tray from the seat and there are cup holders on it. The brekkie served on the plane was really good.
I arrive at Frankfurt, and have to go from one end of the airport to the other. All of the United and Lufthansa flights to the United States leave out of the end of terminal B. There is an additional security checkpoint before going to that area. I made it through that area ok. I upgraded from business class to first class on the United flight from Frankfurt to Washington Dulles, so I was able to get through these lines faster using the first class lines. I then go down the terminal and make my way to the Lufthansa lounge.
The Lufthansa lounge had no power outlets anywhere in the lounge, except in the area where they have desks for people to use their computers, so I set up there. After being there for a half hour, I get an email from United telling me that the flight has been delayed from 12:30pm to 1:30pm and because of that, I would miss my 4:30pm connection to Pittsburgh. They rebooked me on the 10:00pm flight to Pittsburgh. Great, now I will be travelling for a full 24 hours.
About fifteen minutes later, there is an announcement in German on the PA system. I did not know what they said, but it did not seem good. Then they said in English: "Attention! Attention! You must leave the lounge immediately! Leave the lounge immediately!" I stand up and see police everywhere. A policeman sees me looking and points to the exit. I pack everything up and go downstairs. On the terminal level, they are telling everyone to leave the terminal. I see people coming back off planes they had boarded, so they are unloading all boarded planes as well. To exit this part of the terminal you have to go up an escalator and go back to the core of terminal B, then go back down one level and clear security again. I knew this, but many elderly travellers had no idea where they were going. I go back downstairs and the security line was very long. I worked my way up to what appeared to be the business class line and waited for about 45 minutes while they cleared the terminal.
I then made my way back through security. It took about another 30-45 minutes, and I made my way back to the lounge again. I went back to where I was sitting before and set my computer up and got to work. About 10 minutes later, there was another announcement on the PA in German. This time, I knew what they were saying, which was confirmed in English: "Attention! Attention! You must leave the lounge AGAIN, immediately! You must leave the lounge immediately!" Ok, back to this drill again. Police everywhere again. This time when I went downstairs, they were moving everyone to the other end of the terminal behind police line tape.
I was able to see at this point that they were isolating us from gate 24, which was the 11am United flight to Washington which looked like a 777. My 12:30 departure (scheduled departure, that is) was a 747 leaving from gate 25. I found out later what happened was as the 11 am flight was boarding, a passenger discovered that she had sissors in her luggage. She self-identified this to a crew member. They evacuated the terminal and forced everyone to go back through security. The police had everyone take their bags off the flight except the crew members. When a bomb sniffing dog walked through the plane, he positive ID'ed a crew member's bag, which led to the second security alert.
At this point, I just decided to go into the gate area. After making my way through the mob scene of pushing and shoving, I got into the gate area. The crew members were still sitting there, so I knew we were going to be delayed longer than 1:30. When the crew finally boarded, a large number of passengers who obviously do not fly often surged the gate thinking that boarding was starting. The gate agent should have gotten on the PA and said, "You might as well sit back down because the crew has to set-up the plane prior to boarding and that will take 30-40 minutes." But, she said nothing and the people stood there for 40 minutes until boarding started.
The gate agent then announces boarding for first class and global services members. I get up and try to make my way through the mob of people all standing in the boarding area. A polite "excuse me" allowed me to pass everyone except a
woman in the front of the mob.
Unfortunately, the attitude in the voice cannot be captured in the words. Read the woman's words with lots of attitude.
Me: Excuse me.
Bitch: We all all boarding now.
Me: No, we are not all boarding now. It is first class and global services boarding.
Bitch: It's everyone.
Me: No, it is first class and global services. Are you first class or a global services member? (I knew she was not; I could see her boarding pass)
Bitch: No.
Me: Well, I am. Please step aside and let me through.
Bitch: Hmmm!
At this point, I force my way through because she would not move and she yells at me. I am now 10 feet in front of her.
Me: You board when they call economy!
Bitch: Get out of my face! Get out of my face! (she holds her hand out in the "speak to the hand" position; and is yelling, now causing a scene in the boarding area)
Me: I am not in your face.
Bitch: Get out of my face! Get out of my face!
Me: Bitch!
Bitch: Oh, so that is how first class passengers are, mmm-hmmm. Blah Blah Blah.
I then boarded the plane. I was not my best when calling her a "bitch", but I could not take her attitude anymore.
The flight was great. I did see that woman again in the luggage area. I turned to my right and she was standing right next to me. She did not say anything. I was tempted to say to her, "Get out of my face!", but it was in the customs area and I did not want to get arrested.
Before I tell the story of my trip home from Madrid, I just want to make clear that I am an arrogant, elitist traveller. I do not think there is anything wrong with that as I think my 100K-200K miles travel per year allow me to earn my arrogance and elitism.
I arrive at the Madrid airport at 4:30am for my 6:30am flight. The check-in line for Lufthansa was already about 100 people long with a very large tour group of teenagers in line. No business class line could be discerned. So, I waited in the regular line for a half hour until the ticket agents showed up at 5am. A business class line materialised, so I moved to it and was number 6 in line. There were 3 agents working economy and one working business. I made it through the line fine, but I have no idea how all the economy passengers did as the agents were not moving quickly.
I then made my way to the Spanair lounge for brekkie. As usual, the lounges of the other Star Alliance partners are much better than United Airlines or US Airways lounges. A huge fridge stocked with Coca-Cola. Mmmmmmmmm!
We board the flight from Madrid to Frankfurt. Lufthansa's idea of a business class seat on this plane (I think it was an A320, but cannot remember) was a row of 6 economy seats only in the middle seat you fold down a tray from the seat and there are cup holders on it. The brekkie served on the plane was really good.
I arrive at Frankfurt, and have to go from one end of the airport to the other. All of the United and Lufthansa flights to the United States leave out of the end of terminal B. There is an additional security checkpoint before going to that area. I made it through that area ok. I upgraded from business class to first class on the United flight from Frankfurt to Washington Dulles, so I was able to get through these lines faster using the first class lines. I then go down the terminal and make my way to the Lufthansa lounge.
The Lufthansa lounge had no power outlets anywhere in the lounge, except in the area where they have desks for people to use their computers, so I set up there. After being there for a half hour, I get an email from United telling me that the flight has been delayed from 12:30pm to 1:30pm and because of that, I would miss my 4:30pm connection to Pittsburgh. They rebooked me on the 10:00pm flight to Pittsburgh. Great, now I will be travelling for a full 24 hours.
About fifteen minutes later, there is an announcement in German on the PA system. I did not know what they said, but it did not seem good. Then they said in English: "Attention! Attention! You must leave the lounge immediately! Leave the lounge immediately!" I stand up and see police everywhere. A policeman sees me looking and points to the exit. I pack everything up and go downstairs. On the terminal level, they are telling everyone to leave the terminal. I see people coming back off planes they had boarded, so they are unloading all boarded planes as well. To exit this part of the terminal you have to go up an escalator and go back to the core of terminal B, then go back down one level and clear security again. I knew this, but many elderly travellers had no idea where they were going. I go back downstairs and the security line was very long. I worked my way up to what appeared to be the business class line and waited for about 45 minutes while they cleared the terminal.
I then made my way back through security. It took about another 30-45 minutes, and I made my way back to the lounge again. I went back to where I was sitting before and set my computer up and got to work. About 10 minutes later, there was another announcement on the PA in German. This time, I knew what they were saying, which was confirmed in English: "Attention! Attention! You must leave the lounge AGAIN, immediately! You must leave the lounge immediately!" Ok, back to this drill again. Police everywhere again. This time when I went downstairs, they were moving everyone to the other end of the terminal behind police line tape.
I was able to see at this point that they were isolating us from gate 24, which was the 11am United flight to Washington which looked like a 777. My 12:30 departure (scheduled departure, that is) was a 747 leaving from gate 25. I found out later what happened was as the 11 am flight was boarding, a passenger discovered that she had sissors in her luggage. She self-identified this to a crew member. They evacuated the terminal and forced everyone to go back through security. The police had everyone take their bags off the flight except the crew members. When a bomb sniffing dog walked through the plane, he positive ID'ed a crew member's bag, which led to the second security alert.
At this point, I just decided to go into the gate area. After making my way through the mob scene of pushing and shoving, I got into the gate area. The crew members were still sitting there, so I knew we were going to be delayed longer than 1:30. When the crew finally boarded, a large number of passengers who obviously do not fly often surged the gate thinking that boarding was starting. The gate agent should have gotten on the PA and said, "You might as well sit back down because the crew has to set-up the plane prior to boarding and that will take 30-40 minutes." But, she said nothing and the people stood there for 40 minutes until boarding started.
The gate agent then announces boarding for first class and global services members. I get up and try to make my way through the mob of people all standing in the boarding area. A polite "excuse me" allowed me to pass everyone except a
woman in the front of the mob.
Unfortunately, the attitude in the voice cannot be captured in the words. Read the woman's words with lots of attitude.
Me: Excuse me.
Bitch: We all all boarding now.
Me: No, we are not all boarding now. It is first class and global services boarding.
Bitch: It's everyone.
Me: No, it is first class and global services. Are you first class or a global services member? (I knew she was not; I could see her boarding pass)
Bitch: No.
Me: Well, I am. Please step aside and let me through.
Bitch: Hmmm!
At this point, I force my way through because she would not move and she yells at me. I am now 10 feet in front of her.
Me: You board when they call economy!
Bitch: Get out of my face! Get out of my face! (she holds her hand out in the "speak to the hand" position; and is yelling, now causing a scene in the boarding area)
Me: I am not in your face.
Bitch: Get out of my face! Get out of my face!
Me: Bitch!
Bitch: Oh, so that is how first class passengers are, mmm-hmmm. Blah Blah Blah.
I then boarded the plane. I was not my best when calling her a "bitch", but I could not take her attitude anymore.
The flight was great. I did see that woman again in the luggage area. I turned to my right and she was standing right next to me. She did not say anything. I was tempted to say to her, "Get out of my face!", but it was in the customs area and I did not want to get arrested.
