It turns out that our desk agent had gone the extra mile and secured us bulkhead seats. Scott is delighted. I’m indifferent – I’ve never liked the lack of storage in bulkhead seats. The flight is fine, but we’re slightly delayed getting into Dubai. It is about 2 A.M. and it is very hot and humid as we exit down the stairway. We have to take a long bus ride to the terminal and we’re starting to worry about our connection. It is a very elegant, but poorly designed airport. You enter and exit at one end of a long, straight terminal parallel to the road. Then you pass by gates on only one side for a long time. There are shops and restaurants all the way. It’s great for browsing the stores – which is perhaps the point – but it ensures long walks through a congested hall to get to the next gate. The monitors indicate that our plane is in final boarding so we run for the gate. I feel for Scott, because all the equipment makes his bag very heavy. We arrive just before they start boarding.
The flight back is not on the A380, but once inside there’s not a discernable difference. Scott and I are separated by ten rows. I’ve taken his magic sleep elixir and I get pretty good sleep. I try to call Scott’s seat without luck. I am able to send him a text message inviting him to play backgammon. We spend the last hour playing. Our last game ends on the tarmac at Kennedy just before they shut the system down. Fortunately, despite a late desperate run by Scott the final score reflects my superior skills.
We reach the gate and I return my sim card to my phone and turn it on. I’m scheduled for a Delta flight in four hours, but I know there’s an earlier one. I’ve got about an hour before that flight is scheduled to leave. The flight attendant tells everyone to sit back down, that it will take a few minutes before we’ll be deplaning coach. Surprisingly, everyone actually sits down. I seize the opportunity. I grab my bag and explain that I have a connection in an hour – I consider that to be true enough. I say goodbye to Scott as I pass by. I walk quickly down the corridor, pass through customs quickly, take the airtrain and find myself at the gate in under forty minutes.
Delta’s commuter jet terminal at Kennedy is the worst airline zoo I’ve ever seen. They have only two doors serving about a dozen jets in an extended walkway. To make matters worse, the doors are at the corner of the terminal and there is way too little seating space. I go to the counter and ask if I can standby for the Chicago flight. The agent tells me there are twenty people on standby and just three seats. She won’t add me to the list. The flight is delayed by 30 minutes, so I head upstairs to the Delta Crown Room. The agents in the lounges are generally more accommodating. I explain my situation and she seems to want to help, but in the end she tells me that she’ll get in trouble if she moves me up the list. Nonetheless, I’m on the list.
I head down to the gate as the time approaches to board. I realize that an earlier flight to Chicago has been delayed and is scheduled to leave at the same time. That means there are two planes leaving at the same time. I take some hope from the prospect that some of the standby’s might be from the earlier flight. They announce the boarding of the two Chicago flights even though the monitor only shows one of them boarding. It’s very confusing and they have to make several last calls for people. I’m standing in a knot with a few other standbys. We discuss our chances. A woman with her daughter asks if the second flight to Chicago is boarding. My peers in the hope of opening up two more seats claim to not know. I want to get home, but I can’t allow it, so I tell her it’s boarding. Justice is served when I’m called to the podium as the second to last standby.
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