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If somebody asks me about the lessons I learned on my recent trip to Atlanta, I will not say a word. More so because I'll be in a different world full of nostalgic feelings about the get-together with my postgraduate classmates. I have less time to think about "lessons learned" and have no time to write about them. I was wondering if you could ask me a slightly different question. And that is: "what did you learn about flying?" Did you hear that? Possibly you could be a frequent flyer who needed no tips on flying. And since none of my mails are intended to give you hot tips on hotter subjects, read on, if you consider these as just observations. Knowing that you did not press delete button for this mail so far, let me take some time to congratulate you. My hearty congratulations. 1. Go a little earlier to the airport, and you may reach the destination a little earlier. It is a general trend to go hunting in the Internet for a cheap flight ticket. This, of course, is not a bad idea. The problem is that some of the sites which auction the flight tickets (like Priceline) did not take your convenience into consideration. As an example, my return trip from Atlanta was at 9 PM local time and I was scheduled to land in Seattle at 1:20 AM local time. And there was one stopover at St. Louis, MO. I went to Atlanta airport at 6:15 and went to the Service Center to see if they can put me in the standby list on a flight, which leaves at 6:50 to St. Louis. The customer representative at the Service Center smiled at me and said, "No, I am sorry, since you are traveling with a ticket purchased from Priceline, you cannot go in an earlier flight". Politely, I asked the lady, "May I know why this is so?" The reply surprised me: “This maybe weird, but that's their policy!” The term "theirs" was something unexpected. I was in an inquisitive mood. I asked again, "And whose policy is that?" She was getting a little impatient, "Priceline policy, and do you want me to issue boarding pass for the 9 o'clock flight?" I said, "It is very surprising to see that your flight accommodation is driven by a policy other than yours. Anyway, please issue my boarding pass..." A little disappointed, I went to the gate of the 6:50 flight. My friend was with me, and he went to the representative at the gate and asked if my name can be put in the standby list. The lady gladly did so, and instead of 9 PM flight, I boarded the 6:50 PM flight to St. Louis. Almost the same sequence of conversations happened, just like a replay in a cricket match, with a small, but significant change. The Service Center representative told me that she could put me in the standby list for the flight to Seattle at 8:35 instead of my scheduled 11:10 flight if I am ready to pay some extra money. This was because I purchased the ticket via Priceline! I did not argue. I asked her to issue boarding pass for the 11:10 flight and rushed to the gate where the 8:35 flight was ready to depart. My name was entered in to the standby list without any further question, and I flew out of St. Louis at 8:35. Hence Observation #1. 2. Do not buy drinks/entertainment in flight when you can carry beer bottles and headphones. As a continuation of the above trip, now I am on my way from St. Louis to Seattle. When it was announced that the paid entertainment in the flight is the movie "Notting Hill", I was happy, as I missed that movie in the theatre. As the flight attendant came to me offering the film, I more than gladly took the headphone, and paid $5. At this time, the young lady adjacent to me-Jamie, she is a student in Washington University-was busy listening some wild music with her CD player. She declined to take in-flight entertainment. In another 10-15 minutes, the movie got underway. Then Jamie cleverly took out the jack of her headphone, and put it in the entertainment channel of the flight and started watching the movie! I looked at her and smiled, acknowledging her tactics, and all she was, was a mysterious smile... So, I am here with Observation #2. (Written on September 30, 1999)
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