Day of Departure

I woke up at my usual time of 6AM and made some phone calls to China.  Telling the relatives that I will be gone for a week so no phone calls from me until I get back.  Finished some errands and called to get a replacement faucet for our kitchen sink.  We have had leakage issues for quite a while now and have not been successful in fixing the leak from the handle.  I got picked up at 10 AM for our Delta flight to ATL.  The trip took only 40 minutes to DFW Terminal E.  We got dropped off near gate 15 and took the escalator up to ticketing.

Since we were on Non Revenue Stand By tickets, we entered the special services line.  I was tempted to use the sky priority line since I am a Gold Medallion Skymiles member.  Since there were 4 of us and being stand by, we waited our turn.  We were aiming for the 11AM flight but we settled for the noon flight.  There was 12 First Class seats and 20 Economy Seats.  On the stand by list, there was 25 people waiting.  Eventually, First Class got filled up.  We had 5 people added to the stand by list (in front of us) and 30 economy seats were available.  We snacked on cookies and apple slices while waiting for general boarding to end.  Everyone on the stand by list got accommodated on the flight.  I was one of the last ones to clear and ended up in seat 25B... a dreaded middle seat.  My only worry was that there would be no more overhead space and I would have to gate check my duffel bag.  Luckily, I was able to find an overhead bin.  The only bad part was that since I was so focused on finding space, I got in the wrong seat.  I ended up in 26 E (next to a portly man) and was told by another passenger that I was in his seat.  I hung my head in embarrassment as I headed to my assigned seat.  I wanted to note that this Boeing 757 aircraft is one of the old Northwest Planes.

The flight took off after much taxing to another terminal.  About 15 minutes into the flight, I was falling asleep only to be awaken by turbulence.  For the next 5 minutes, the flight seemed more like a roller coaster ride more than anything else.  I brought my laptop and caught up on an episode of Heroes from January.  Too bad the show got canceled.  We had a quick snack and beverage service.  The flight was only 90 minutes and we taxied for about 10 minutes after we landed in Atlanta.  Upon arrival, we stopped at Chic-fil-a to grab lunch.  After lunch and using the facilities in Terminal A, we boarded the tram to Terminal T.  It was time to use my Admiral's Club membership.  We took our sweet time to find the Club and almost left the secured area and headed to baggage claim.  Even though I as an Admiral's Club member can bring 2 guests with me during each visit, the AAngel (agent) let me bring 3 with me.

The club was nice and not too crowded.  One of the World Cup games was on.  I used the complimentary wifi and caught up on more TV shows that I missed.  I made sure to drink plenty of water and have some snack mix.   It was a great place to relax for the 6 hour layover that we had in Atlanta.