My trip started pretty normally, or at least as normally as a trip that requires your alarm to ring at 4:15 in the morning can. My uncle picked me up and took me to the airport. I had no wait to drop my luggage off and then I headed through security. There was a bit of a line at security, but with my TSA precheck status, it wasn’t bad and I didn’t have to take off my shoes or my zip up hoodie, I got to go through the x-ray machine rather than the body scanner and thus, even with a short line I was through security in about five minutes (the non-precheck line was much longer). My flight to Seattle was a little boring, especially because the woman next to me spoke very little English, just Spanish and Spanish is a language I don’t speak (that surprises a lot of people). I arrived in Seattle and was double checking seats for my flight from Seattle to Seoul-Incheon. Because my surgery last spring resulted in my taking three trips between China and the U.S. last year I earned silver medallion status on Delta. With silver medallion status you can upgrade to first class on U.S. flights and you can upgrade to comfort+ on both domestic and international flights. You cannot upgrade to Delta One which is the International first class. Unfortunately, there weren’t any comfort plus seats available on either my flight to Seattle or my flight to Seoul. There had been only one first class seat available for an upgrade on my flight to Seattle and I had been number six on the upgrade list. Thus, as I arrived in Seattle and was double checking the available seats I was saddened. My silver medallion status was not prospering me at all.
I didn’t have a very long layover in Seattle and so by the time I got to the general vicinity of the gate it was only a few minutes before they started boarding. Before I found my actual gate I heard an announcement that started with needed to check the passports of the following passengers. I listened carefully even though my documents had been checked at the Anchorage airport. That was then followed up with an announcement that they needed to see a list of people to give them new boarding passes. I heard “Kristine Cannon.” Well, I thought, “I bet that’s me. So many people misread my name. I hope they’re upgrading me to comfort+.” When I found the right gate (I went towards the wrong one at first) there was already a line to speak to the gate agents. As I was waiting in line they started the boarding process. I was getting more and more nervous because they were getting closer and closer to zone one and that was my last remaining perk of having medallion status. The family directly in front of me had all kinds of problems including their names not being on the passenger list (they had both American and Korean passports and there was a lot of confusion). The agent had them step aside and someone else help them and so I thought, “finally. I’ll just barely get this boarding pass and make it to board with zone one.” Unfortunately, a couple who were boarding triggered some sort of problem and as the agent was working with them to fix the problem they began to call zone one. Now, I was frustrated and nervously tapping my passport on the counter. The agent finished with the couple and when I told him I’d been called for a new boarding pass he told me that they had needed room in the back of the plane (coach) and so I had been upgraded. He gave me a new boarding pass which had my zone now listed as SKY. As I walked away, I was looking at the boarding pass over and over thinking, “I think I’ve been upgraded to Delta One.” Since my zone was upgraded to SKY I could bypass the zone one people boarding and jump in the sky priority lane. I got on the plane and was quickly scanning it. My new seat was 9B. Sure enough 9B was the last seat in the middle of the Delta One section (the section was configured 1 -2- 1). There was a row 10 for the outside seats, but not the middle seats. Now I was excited!
There are four things that determine how good a flight is: the plane facilities - seats, restrooms, video equipment; the flight itself - turbulence, circling the airport in a holding pattern, rerouting due to weather, etc.; service; and your seat mate. On this flight I hit the trifecta (or whatever you would call four things aligning rather than just three). Delta One was awesome in both service and facilities. I had a seat that reclined into a bed. They also provided not only real pillows and blankets, but also slippers and an entire toiletry kit complete with real toothpaste (Crest Complete), socks, hand lotion, lip balm, socks and more. Additionally, there was a bottle of water waiting at my seat and flight attendants came around offering champagne and orange juice in real glasses. The purser, Domingo, came and introduced himself to everyone individually and told us to let him know if we needed anything. Things were definitely off to a good start.
A few minutes later the woman sitting beside me (which really means on the other side of my little table area) arrived. She was speaking on the phone and I could tell from her conversation that she had also been upgraded so I made a comment about it. She then started talking about me to the person she was on the phone with and the next thing I hear is, “he wants tos ay hi.” All of the sudden the phone of a stranger is being held up to my ear and I find myself saying hi to someone I’ve never met on the phone of someone I’ve never met. The person on the other end of the phone starts asking me all kinds of questions about where I was from and why I was going to Korea (in case there’s any confusion I wasn’t going to Korea, just transferring there). He told me he’d been to Korea and China many times. It was a little odd and I had trouble getting him off the phone. Finally he told me to take care of his wife and I said goodbye. Now, this might seem rather intrusive and I must admit it was definitely strange, but it was the beginning of a great seat mate relationship. My seat mate was a Korean woman who had met her Danish husband on a plane to Korea. They were friends for a long time (they met nine years before they married) and when they did marry her husband ended up having to give up his Danish citizenship (he was a U.S. green card holder) in order for his wife to get a U.S. green card (she’s still a Korean citizen). We had a great time sharing the first class experience together. We took pictures for each other and just enjoyed the overall experience. Our meals were amazing. Before take-off they brought a multi-page menu and we got to select from a Korean menu with a main-course of bimbimbap or a western menu with a variety of entrees including leg of lamb, salmon and a cedar plank and more. I chose the bibimbap and my neighbor chose the salmon which came with potatoes and asparagus. Dinner was served with table cloths, read silverware (mine also came with Korean style chopsticks which are a little different from Chinese ones and felt just a touch odd), and of course real glasses. The flight attendant made sure I knew how to eat the bibimbap (it’s a dish I’ve actually had many times, but it was nice to know that they want to make sure I knew how to eat it). After I had finished eating, I was ready to sleep, but they came by with a desert cart. The menu listed the desert options as ice cream sundaes with a variety of toppings, a lemon tart or cheese plate. My seatmate and I both decided we wanted the lemon tart, but unfortunately, sitting at the back of the section, they were out before either flight attendant got to us (I was served from one aisle and she was served from the other). One of the flight attendants apologized telling us that they had had lots of waste and so they had reduced the number of tarts they carried and now it seems everyone wants it. I got an ice cream sundae instead.
After I finished eating, I turned my seat into a bed and fell asleep quite quickly. It was a pretty comfortable way to sleep and reminded me of sleeping on a train (mostly the feel as we passed through some gentle turbulence - the actual facilities were much, much nicer than anything I’ve ever experienced on a train). I slept pretty well for a few hours, but then I was awake and didn’t sleep again during the flight. They served a second, smaller meal shortly before landing. The Korean option was beef bulgogi, which is another dish I really like, but I chose the frittata with holindaise. It was delicious!
When we arrived in Seoul I was still tired, but felt much better than I usually do after a 12 hour flight. I have been to the Seoul airport many times, and was confused because things seemed similar, but there were some differences that left me questioning my memory until I learned I was in the brand new (opened January 18, 2018) terminal 2. The last time I was in the Seoul-Incheon airport (See my favorite airport) I had found this really cool cultural experience where foreigners could make a traditional Korean craft. I looked online hoping to find this experience in terminal two and discovered they had a location very close to were I was sitting. I went and made a traditional fan and did a picture where you scratch off the black covering to revel a gold color underneath. While I was making my crafts I also had a wonderful conversation with a young woman who worked there (and wore a traditional Korean dress). I got to learn Korean history and have a pleasant conversation while also listening to live music that was playing just outside the door. The woman at the cultural exchange center, told me that they had another branch in terminal 2 that was bigger and even had Korean clothes you could try on. I didn’t go there, but I did stop briefly at the napping area she told me about (It was pretty nice with little beds in partitioned cubicles in an area with reduced lighting). My layover in Seoul was only about 2.5 hours so it was quickly time for me to head to my final flight.
My last flight allows for a potential future trip that is even better (nonetheless this trip was pretty awesome). I unfortunately had the middle seat, but thankfully this flight was only a little over 1.5 hours. This time I was on Korean Air and I have to admit I was pretty amazed by all the service they had on such a short flight. There were no choices, but they served an entire dinner (not even remotely as good as my first class dinner) and offered duty free shopping.
When we landed in Beijing I discovered they had changed the immigration procedures since I last arrived in Beijing (last February). As we were headed towards immigration they directed all of the foreigners to these machines where we had to scan our passports and be fingerprinted. I’d never been fingerprinted in China before and found this machine really frustrating. Not only did I’d have poor English, but I struggled to get it to read my fingerprints, especially for the four fingers of my right hand (you scanned the four left fingers, then four right fingers and then both thumbs). After that the machine spit out a receipt which you took to the same counters as before. They had added glass around the counters and an automated system which gave you directions for having your picture taken (I had trouble finding the camera though because it was in a different place than before). YOu also had to be fingerprinted again here. I don’t understand why I had to be fingerprinted twice in less than ten minutes, but such are things in China. After that, my passport was stamped, I was able to quickly get my luggage and was amazed to realize I was on the airport express train within an hour of my flight’s touchdown in Beijing (a fact made even more amazing by the fact that we taxied to the gate for about 15 minutes).
I didn’t bring a computer with me and I can’t seem to get edit or add captions to the photos, but here ware some pictures from my trip.
They had individually packaged pieces of pineapple.
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