V-Flyer

After a great few days of business and catching up with friends, it was time to leave. We spent a very comfortable few days in the Sheraton, and on our last evening asked to book a town car to the airport for 11am. We received a call in the morning from someone in the hotel to confirm our car reservation.

11am came and went and there was no sign of a car, so after waiting for 15 minutes I tried to find out from reception what had happened. No one had any information about a reservation and the lady who made the booking could not be tracked down, so we had to squeeze all our luggage into a slightly too small cab and race to the airport. Not that way you want to start a trip! Fortunately downtown Seattle is pretty close to the airport so we were there with a bit of time to spare.

Here's where things get weirder. I checked in online and printed out our boarding passes at the hotel the previous night. When we arrived at the bag drop we were met with a somewhat cold and surly agent from DL who told us we could drop off our bags, but we had to go back to the kiosks to scan our passports, claiming she couldn't do it at her station. She was quite hostile. One of our bags was about 4lbs (just under 2kg) overweight. Our other bag was right on the limit so there was no way we could reduce it, and we agreed to pay the $60 fee. We had some USD left over and asked to pay cash--which she took. She then asked us in a rather strange manner why we would fly back to LHR with a connection when DL fly direct. I politely explained that we were flying PE and that as Delta didn't offer that product, that was what made our decision. Her attitude then swiftly changed and several things happened. One was that suddenly, magically, we didn't have to go back to the kiosk--she was happy to do our passport verification then and there. The other is that while she was doing this she pocketed our cash and didn't provide us with a receipt. Neither of us were on the ball, so it was only after we'd gone through security that we realised she hadn't provided the receipt.

At the gate, I asked the member of staff on duty if we could have a copy of the receipt for the overweight bag for our records. She said of course, and proceeded to look through the records to find how much we'd paid so she could produce said receipt. After some time and no luck finding anything, she asked how we'd paid, and when I said cash this raised an eyebrow--apparently there was no record of the overweight bag having been paid for at all. All of a sudden there was a flurry of activity and a lot of apologies, including a phone call to a manager to investigate. We were asked for a description of the person who took the bags to be checked. Literally 5 minutes before our flight was due to depart, a receipt was produced with sincere apologies, but no further details. Hmmmm...

Anyway, the flight from SEA to SFO was fairly short and uneventful after that! We arrived at SFO and had a bit of time to shop and eat as the flight was delayed by an hour or so. I like the international terminal there; it's perhaps a bit too small for the purpose, but it's very light and airy and quite a pleasant place to be. We had to clear security and were rebuffed and told that the DL printed boarding passes were no good as VS "prefer you to have their boarding passes", so we went to the desk and were given new ones that also featured a "priority" stamp, so we got to cruise through security in the fast lane on our second attempt!

Boarding was fairly smooth with the exception of the lady who did not understand the word "queue" (she was holding a British passport, which I feel ought to be revoked for this crime). She pushed in front of us despite the fact that there was a very obvious line. I politely told her where the back of the queue could be found, and stepped in front of her. She stared blankly and tried to push in front of the gentleman behind us, who also did not acquiesce. Eventually she found someone less testy who she could push out of the way. Bizarre...

Anyway! Drinks were served on board and CC were fairly friendly, although the lady who ended up being our main member of CC for the duration of the flight did seem like she was there slightly under duress. She was perfectly polite, but seemed a bit tired, and it didn't help that we had some very demanding PAX around us which I think tried her patience a bit. I had the veggie meal, as always, and it was a pretty decent pasta marked as being made with aubergine, but was instead made with courgette Pretty tasty, though! I did not eat the cheesecake for dessert, but OH said it was OK.

We had the same seats booked on our inbound as on our outbound which meant I was yet again left to apologise to my OH for the lack of window! These seats were in much better condition than on the previous flight and were very comfortable, I slept pretty well for most of the journey despite having someone aggressively reclining into me a few times. I don't mind people reclining AT ALL, but do wish they do so slowly rather than thrusting their seat back so fast that I'm likely to either a) end up with my meal in my face or b) be the recipient of a smashed kneecap. I think some people just don't fly often and aren't aware of the space around them.

I think they brought an ice lolly around at some point, but this might have been a strange dream... My OH watched a couple of films this time but I didn't bother. He was pretty happy with the IFE, hence the good rating.

We woke for breakfast; it was awful. I love eggs, but remind me to never eat eggs on a plane again. It's just wrong. I would have otherwise given the food a 4 star rating, but the breakfast drags the rating down a bit.

Due to very strong tail winds (which were the reason the flight was delayed leaving), we actually arrived in excellent time and were through immigration swiftly. We waited a while for our bags--apparently some ski equipment had blocked the door, so it was a much longer wait than we were used to, but everything arrived safely.

Funnily enough, when our two bags arrived, a "heavy" tag had been put on the bag that wasn't overweight that we weren't charged for, whereas the bag that was apparently overweight was not marked as such...

Our next trip is another SFO flight later this month, but it will be in UC! I can't wait

Well, well, well....I'm sure there was a valid reason for the DL receipt not being issued
Another interesting read Spacedog, thanks for posting!

Thanks very much, Petmadness!

Yes, there was definitely something strange going on. I half hoped we'd be refunded for the bag because of all the obvious weirdness, but, alas...

What a strange tale.

I am working on trying to persuade MrsPJH back to Seattle via SFO (though probably not doing the drive this time). And not just because it's a nice long flight in UC.

Eggs On A Plane. Like Snakes On A Plane, only worse. That's why I love Revivals...

We love Seattle, it's one of our favourite US cities, not least because in the last few years the restaurant scene has been booming and there are some amazing places to eat. Hope you get to go back sooner rather than later