Today has almost been perfect. Almost. Got up around 530a this morning in Chicago to get ready for my 730a flight to LA. Everything went just the way it was supposed to. On my end anyway. I grabbed a Dt. Mt Dew before I went to the plane. It's for the red-eye tonight going back to Newark. I can't find Dt Dew anywhere near our gates in LAX. After 3 days of Diet Coke ( I don't drink coffee) I'm ready for the change. It's also become just one more thing in my routine for red-eyes.
The boarding process went smooth, except that we had a passenger who needed to be wheeled on with an aisle chair and somebody neglected to get them boarded first. Getting them on after the plane is boarded is a bit more challenging. That cost us missing our out time by 5 minutes, but we were planned into LAX twenty minutes early so it's not a big deal.
The flight was very nice today. Flying west in the morning is always a plus. No staring into the sun for half the day. The weather was good and the front range was very scenic today. I snapped this picture of Zion National Park; east of Las Vegas, on our way into LA.
We landed a good 13 minutes early and our gate was open. That is until someone decided to take it away at the last minute and give it to another plane. The only reason that I'm guessing was some sort of VIP on board to get them into the gate faster. So we got kicked to the curb. Our gate was occupied by a 767 that had been loaded with a dog and dry ice in the same cargo bin. Obviously that can't work, but they must not have been getting good information on how to fix it because it was taking forever!
Pretty soon our early arrival turned to a late arrival. Ground control kept taxiing us all over the airport because it seemed that no matter where we were we were in the way. So to keep all this straight I've got to talk to ATC Ground control on one frequency, our Company tower operation on the other frequency, talk to the flight attendants as needed and make the PA's to the passengers in between. The Captain just drives and we both double check each other to be sure we are where we are supposed to be.
They finally give us another gate and we get parked almost 40 minutes after we had landed. Like I say to the passengers, this sort of thing is out of my control. If I could change it I would, but I'm doing my best to make sure that our Tower ops knows that I'm irritated with the whole mess. Especially when we were early/on-time.
I short my sleep somewhat the night before a red-eye, in addition to getting some good food and good exercise. That lets my body let down enough to where I can usually sleep for 4-5 hours during the day; before the all night flight back to Newark. We have to be on time tonight. My flight home depends on it!