A Tight Connection And A Loose Connection

Out Bound

I knew my flight to Charleston would have a tight connection, but that was based on flight departure, which gave me 32 minutes, not boarding:  The boarding start from Charlotte was 10:27, my arrival was scheduled for 10:30 and I was in row 23, out of Boston.  We arrived a bit late, maybe 10:45 and it was probably 10:50 before the flight attendant asked for people who had Charlotte as a final destination, to remain seated so that people with connections could get off the plane.

Luckily, I had gate checked my bag since we landed at terminal B and my connection was terminal C.  I hustled through the crowd and kept my eyes peeled for signs.  When I approached my gate, relief:  There were maybe 6 people still in line to board.  My relief evaporated when I looked at the sign above the gate agent desk--boarding for St. Louis!  The agent quickly informed me that I needed to go to D1.

I full-out ran whenever the crowds permitted and avoided the people-mover thing because I saw that people were forming clots of standing and I could walk/run faster.  When I got to the gate, it was a ghost town--other than the gate agent, who quickly informed me that I was not too late and I could go down the jet-way.  I ran down the jetway and after passing a bend, there was a pilot at the end of the next segment. He said I didn't need to run, there were a couple more passengers coming.  I got on the fully packed plane somewhat expecting boos for holding them up, but everyone was civil.  After I found my seat, one other person got on and then off we went.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Home Bound

On the way back, I was changing at LaGuardia and had much more cushion--maybe 40 minutes of actual waiting.  Even though there was plenty of time, I went right to my gate--in the same terminal, which was huge:  I had assumed 59 gates, since the numbers go that high, but I researched it and there are (only) about 3 dozen.  When I got to my gate, it had changed, but was not far away.  When I got there, the departure time had gone from 9:10 to 10:30!

With the extra time, I decided to have dinner--I wasn't really hungry and had planned on skipping an evening meal, but time to kill and I could expense it. Even so, I skipped the $70 steak option, because that's an obscene price for the kind of quality you will get at the airport.  I got a hamburger and milkshake for about $20. Then I set-up camp in a sort of giant sky walk which had electric outlets and divided my time between work and surfing.  As 10:30 approached, I checked the AA app and saw the flight had been pushed back to 11:40!  I was already irritated by not getting a direct flight, which I could have done, but management wanted us to use credits from the Cancelled Cancun trip and AA didn't have direct flights between Boston and Charlestown. 

I decided to freshen-up and so found a single person bathroom to floss and brush my teeth in and then headed to the gate for a change of scenery.  It didn't surprise me that there wasn't any one around since the boarding was more than an hour from starting, but the gate agent asked if I was on the flight and if so, to board.  I got on and the plane was full!  No booing though.  After I found my seat, another guy got on and then we pushed off.  It was weird that no update was sent to the app, I'm pretty sure that if I stayed in my camp another hour, I would have missed the plane.

Soon after we took-off, I saw Yankee Stadium all lit-up.  They played a game Thu night and I happened to be on the correct side of the plane to see it, the left side, as facing forward.