By Mike Luce
From: Atlanta (ATL)
To: O’Hare (ORD)
Date and time: Wednesday, March 4 – 4:50 p.m. (Eastern)
Gate: A32
Gate/Pilot Announcements: I missed all the lead-up to this flight while downing two enormous glasses of white wine at “A-Bar” a few gates away. Our presentation wrapped up late, leaving me no choice but to pay Delta a $50 rebooking fee to take a later flight. And thus I had plenty of time to kill.
Takeoff: Smooth, although the stench of my neighbors’ Krystal burgers and fries marred the experience.
Flight Attendant Service: Good. My attendant didn’t bat an eye when I paid for my bourbon-and-diet with a United Visa card.
Food: Unknown, although I will say this – Delta serves Woodford Reserve (an overrated Kentucky bourbon) in little 50ml glass bottles. Classy.
In-flight Entertainment: Limited – although I did enjoy observing the dynamic between my two older gay (and Krystal-lovin’) Southern neighbors. (Yes, the same.) They passed the time gossiping and sharing a copy of Men’s Health. And drinking double Absolut-Cokes.
Turbulence: Minimal – the weather between Atlanta and Chicago seemed beautiful. You can’t often see the ground during most of the flight, but during this flight . . . there it was. Right. Down. There.
Passengers: See “In-flight Entertainment.”
Landing: Like a hot knife through butter.
Notes: Delta offers in-flight Wi-Fi, which allowed me to spend the flight checking and returning e-mail for work. (Rather than reading Chasing Ghosts, a mediocre replacement for the copy of Rats, Lice and History that I misplaced at LaGuardia earlier in the week.) But I’m new to the in-flight Internet idea . . . are there limits? Apart from good taste? For example, what about Skype? Can I join a Webex, turn on my microphone and speakers and host a virtual conference call from seat 42A?
Overall rating: Two miniature bottles of booze.
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More than a million flights go in and out of Chicago’s airports every year. We intend to review them all.
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Previously:
* Southwest #1189: Cheap red wine and non-honey roasted peanuts.
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Comments and submissions welcome.
Posted on March 8, 2010