Seth’s Sightings

Sightings this week is more of a travel adventure, in that I was informed that my dad had a heart attack, and was now nearing death. The plans for the weekend were tossed, and I found myself scrambling to get a flight for Ruth and me to Sacramento, California. From there we would drive. Buying air tickets was a pain. One internet site promising the best air fares then tacked on enough fees to eliminate savings. My usual airline didn’t have flights that could get there fast enough one trip was 27 and a half hours in total flight and connection time. American was able to do the job with a flight from Allentown. We packed our computer cases with travel items and brought a small carry case that could be loaded into an overhead bin, and on Thursday morning we were off.

Allentown is an easy airport to fly from. I found a parking place close in the main lot, and walked in and right up to the TSA line. After some fussing over the braces I wear on my knees, we were through and went up to the terminal to wait on our plane arriving. Then we were off to Charlotte with about 70 to 80 other passengers on an American Eagle flight. It was a bit of a bumpy ride.

Charlotte is an amazing airport. It sprawls, and the small commuter airplanes are put on one end, and then the American Airlines flights spread out through most of the other gates, with one far gate for other airlines. As luck had it, we landed at a far commuter gate and had to go almost to the end of the building, which was about a mile. Even with moving walkways, this was more than my poor braced knees and cancer-afflicted body could handle, but I did, arriving exhausted. We decided I’d be needing a wheelchair going forward.

My first story: The Charlotte to Los Angeles flight was going to be served by a Boeing 777. There was a tremendous herd of passengers gathered round. We figured with that many passengers, they’d be boarding quickly. Instead, we heard this: Passengers on the Los Angeles flight, boarding will be delayed because the flight attendants have not arrived on their flight into Charlotte. Over the next hour we got a play-by-play as their flight landed, and then that plane was empties of passengers.

by Seth Isenberg

Not too long thereafter, there was a parade of flight attendants. This poor crew barely had time to grab a coffee at the airport before they were put back to work.

American stuffs near 300 people in their 777s, I was told. So loading was complicated. In the end, when it was our turn, we found that we were stuck in the back, in the middle seats of a four-person middle section. The seats are set up three by each window, and four in the middle, so ten in each row. The seats were narrow, the aisles were narrow, and the seats were tucked up so close that my knees were right up against the seat in front of me. We were really crammed in, back in the cheap seats. After a couple of hours, I got up to walk in the aisle, do some exercises and use the little lav.

The plane finally lumbered into LA, and I waited til folks were mostly clear before I waddled out. There was supposed to be a wheelchair at the gate for me, but there wasn’t. It took forever to get one, and time was ticking away for us to be at the connection. When the chair finally did turn up, it was going to be tight.

It turns out that the commuter terminal isn’t attached to the air terminal itself, but is an island terminal about a mile away. Connection to that is by bus, and we arrived to find no buses. The delay in getting a bus is likely what caused us to miss our plane. Crazy thing, though, those buses go out onto the tarmac, and weave through air traffic, coming and going, near the gate areas. Our trip was a crazy run that included waiting for arriving and departing aircraft, plus the local fire department that was on a call at the airport.

There was no sign of our plane when we arrived, and despite their knowing we were coming and in the hands of airport transport, they “had to” leave. This earned us a free overnight stay at a three-star hotel courtesy of American Airlines, plus a snack voucher each towards breakfast.

To reach Sacramento Friday with any time left in the day, we were booked on a flight to Phoenix at 7:30 a.m., another 777, with a two plus hour wait in Phoenix to catch a direct flight into Sacramento from there. After being wheeled to our gate, we could sit and watch the Eagles fans arriving for the Super Bowl. It was a fun layover. The flight into Sacramento was easy, and I enjoyed the view from the window seat of desert and canyons and mountain snow over very sparsely populated parts of our country.

Finally in Sacramento, we made quick work of getting a rental car and getting out, so we could get to the hospital and see my dad. More about that next week my dad died on Monday afternoon. I will note that we found some charm in Yuba City when we took some breaks out of the hospital. And, that our trip home was tough emotionally. We went out on a direct flight from Sacramento to Charlotte, a red-eye, leaving just before 11 p.m. We were home via ABE by mid-afternoon and took a well-earned nap in our own bed. That evening we headed out to watch the Super Bowl with friends too bad about the Eagles losing a game they should have won. We’ll keep close to home this week, getting strong again after all that travel. There are Penguins games to attend, and ideally some walks to take on some warm, sunny days…Am loving these warm February days, as well as longer evenings while counting down to the return of Daylight Savings.

I hope you all enjoyed a happy Valentine’s Day and are in good health. Here’s to no snow ahead.