Tokyo - Turkey Day 2001

Earlier in the year, Delta ran a "Double Miles" offer (and not just any miles, base miles, which count towards 2002 elite status). We took advantage of that offer and spent a mad weekend in Brussels (leave Friday, return Sunday. No, I'm not kidding). After the September 11 crisis, Delta offered another base miles deal, first only through 11/15, and then extended through 12/15 (which included Thanksgiving). My running-tally base miles spreadsheet said that including all planned travel, we could qualify for Platinum Medallion with about 15,000 additional actual miles flown during the double miles period.

The hitch. My parents currently live outside of Cleveland. Don't get me wrong, I think Cleveland is a wonderful town. I lived there for nine years, after all. But there's not much to DO there. Oh, and it's only worth 1252 miles each way (2504 round trip, or 5008 doubled). That didn't sound like a whole lot. Certainly we could do better than that.

Unfortunately, we left our trip planning a bit late. We didn't know until Veteran's Day weekend what our Christmas plans would be (which set of parents we'd be seeing). By then, the fares to Cleveland were above $600 round trip, and those on suboptimal flights (you know, the kind that require you arrive after midnight or depart at 6am).

I asked my parents if they'd be amenable to meeting us somewhere. Mild interest was expressed, so I investigated several warmer cities (nothing wrong with colder cities, but if we wanted cold weather, we could stay in Boston or just go to Cleveland). Unfortunately, with time so tight our options were rather limited.

One night I was messing with Delta's website and I started plugging in dates and destinations. London was cheap (~$300) for a Wednesday depart, Monday return. I asked my parents, but London was not their idea of a destination. My father was finishing up a long project at work and really did not want to cope with jet lag.

When we planned our mad Brussels weekend in May, my Delta Guardian Angel (aka "GA" or "DLGA") suggested a mileage run to Tokyo. The pennies per mile cost was much lower than any other run available. I remembered that conversation, and plugged in the cities. The flight priced out at a little above $500. Wow.

I did debate whether this trip was a good idea. That's a LONG way for just a couple of days. Would I be able to cope with the culture on the far end? Would I kill my husband on the trip? And if I couldn't cope or did commit husband-cide, would it be worth it, considering that the trip would put us over the top for Platinum Medallion? (Free Crown Room access! Platinum Medallion upgrades! And some other benefits which don't really mean much...).

My husband was all gung ho, and after much negotiation, we booked a slightly modified version of the original itinerary. Interestingly enough, the website said the flight was E-Ticketable, so we took the option (why mess with paper when you don't have to?).

22 November
DL 1661 dep BOS 1310 arr CVG 1529    737-800 (Mainline)
DL 9739 dep CVG 1645 arr LAX 1828    767-300ER

23 November
DL   79 dep LAX 1200 arr NRT 1655+1  MD-11

26 November
DL   78 dep NRT 1855 arr LAX 1125    MD-11
DL 1988 dep LAX 1310 arr BOS 2148    767-300ER

22 November (Turkey Day)

I was up early (as usual), had breakfast and finished packing while my husband dragged himself out of bed. We left for Logan just after 1000 and headed for the T. Unfortunately, my husband neglected to pack his Economist magazines (the mainstay of his non-bedtime reading), so I ran back to the house to pick them up. Fifteen minute delay, but no big deal.

The T was quiet (no surprise), but the trains were also pretty frequent. We got a red line train with minimal wait, a green line train with no wait, a blue line train after just two minutes, and the 33 bus pulled up at the station as we arrived. Karma was with us. We arrived at the airport at about 1050.

Terminal C was quiet. The agent who checked us in said that wasn't the case earlier that morning (no surprise). "You arrived at a good time", she commented. Gosh, I hadn't even planned it that way (more karma!). Our single checked bag was tagged and whisked away, and we were bid adieu and directed to gate 26.

Well, I wasn't quite ready to go there. Unfortunately, I hadn't flown Business Class recently and I was out of earplugs. I wanted to have some for the flight (most importantly, the long flight from LAX to NRT and back). We checked the usual suspects (Brookstone, the travel luggage store, etc). The Brookstone salesclerk pointed us to Press Relay (my favourite newsstand). Yeah, they had earplugs, but they also had $2.50 packs of two Tylenol gelcaps. I don't want to mortgage my house for 30 decibels less noise.

Since we had so much time to kill, we walked over to Terminal B to see if they had any likely stores. It's been ages since I was there. The inside walkway is long gone (casualty of perpetual Logan renovation), and we were forced to walk outside. Since it was a nice day (for Boston), and the airport was typically overheated, this wasn't such a chore. Terminal B was pretty bare (most of the shops and restaurants must be past security), so we returned to Terminal C.

After a quick snack at Burger King, we cleared through security. While we'd heard that Delta had instituted a seperate security line for certain elite (Gold & Platinum Medallion members) passengers as well as First/BusinessElite pax, there was no sign of it today. The national guardswoman checked our ETBAs and passports, and we were quickly through security. My husband went first (while I waited with the laptop). An employee of Argenbright security (!) tried to push ahead of me to get through the line while I was waiting to put my laptop through. Whatever, but I'm not sending my laptop until I can catch it on the other side. I let her cut in line.

We didn't have far to go, as the flight was scheduled to leave from gate 26, immediately past security. It was just after 12, so we didn't have a particularly long time to kill. I made a quick run to the newsstand to pick up eminently disposable reading material (the Globe and Herald), given that neither my favourite (Financial Times) or hubby's (Wall Street Journal) were available on Turkey Day.

Delta was making a big deal of their new carryon policy (courtesy of the FAA, of course): one bag plus one "personal item", which is a purse (male or female), briefcase, or laptop bag. We had three carryons: a backpack (stuffed full of books for the long flights), tote bag (for the disposable reading material and my slippers), and laptop bag.

This is when I get to bore you with the details of the newest addition to our family. On 14 November, my husband and I welcomed an Apple Powerbook G4 (667MHz, 512meg RAM, 48g HD, 15" "wide" screen) to our family. This was to be the laptop's first trip (note that while our last laptop was male, this new one is definitely female, so I will refer to the laptop as "she". Don't get confused). Yeah, it seems like a long way to haul a baby laptop for such a short trip, but the whole point was entertainment. With a built-in DVD-ROM drive, I hoped the hours on the flight would pass more quickly.

DL1661, sch dep BOS 1310, actual 1314, sch arr CVG 1529, actual 1524
737-800, N???D?, 4FA's (1.5F, 2.5Y), seats 18D&F. No meal.

Boarding was called ontime at 1245 (25 minutes before pushback time). Delta did a good job of calling the random screenees before boarding was called (and then they let them board immediately after the screening was finished, even though it wasn't their row number yet). I thought it was all handled pretty well.

We were in row 18 - seats D&F (typically, window and aisle. If the flight was full enough, we'd just slide aisle-ward and let the person scheduled for 18E get stuck in the window). It never happened, the seat between us remained empty. I'd estimate the load on this flight at about 75% - not bad, but probably not breakeven (I doubt we paid our fair share, given our low fare for the entire trip).

Some of the passengers were toting lots of things (and some of those were stopped before boarding). Clearly, some passengers were anxious about arriving at their destination on time, as many of them were pushy. As if that would get them to Cincinnati any sooner. There was also a family of mom, dad, and kids, where the kids were dressed as pilgrims (I don't know why, but I'm sure the kids will be scarred by it later).

Passengers were welcomed aboard by a hilarious male FA. He kept making lots of jokes, never at or about a particular passenger, just in general. I expected that he would make the flight much easier (in retrospect, the BOS-CVG leg is not a difficult one, so I can't imagine how it could be easier).

This 737-800 was mainline (not shuttle - the next BOS-CVG flight of the day was on Shuttle equipment), but it did have laptop power plugs. The funny FA told us that all new DL planes were being delivered with laptop power plugs. Unfortunately, the system wasn't working (audio wasn't working either, I suspect the two were related).

We pushed back at 1314 (a few minutes late), and en route to runway 22R (at high taxi speed), the captain announced that we were first in line for takeoff. It must be a holiday - I can't remember the last time at BOS when we didn't have to queue up for takeoff. And takeoff we did, rolling, at 1323 (nine minutes after pushback! And we had to be towed out from gate 26 to the taxiway, because they don't let planes run engines at gate 26. Something to do with sucking in or blowing away all of the LD3 containers on the apron).

No food on this flight (of course), but the four FAs very efficiently distributed drinks in coach along with the inevitable Summer Harvest mix. The weather was fine (it was too hazy when we left BOS to see much, but it was possible to look at the same scenery I've seen a million times en route to CVG), but the paranoid captain turned on the seatbelt sign anyways. He wasn't the chatty sort, either (I'd heard that pilots had become more chatty since September 11. I really didn't see it on my PVD-CVG-SLC-SEA-ATL-PVD sojourn two weekends ago, but perhaps that was the unusual).

After the drinks service and cleanup, the funny FA came along and gave one of the women in row 19 a back and neck rub. I later found that he didn't know her, she'd just complained of being tense. "He's really good!" said the passenger. The flight attendant was telling her how Virgin Atlantic had onboard massages available (although perhaps that's a casualty of September 11 cutbacks).

We reached Cincinnati pretty quickly (as I said, I've been on this flight a million times and I'm quite capable of killing the ~2 hours of flight time). The pilot lined our plane up for a traditional approach to runway 18L. Just as we were on short final, the engines revved up and we ascended.

Hm! I've been on a rejected takeoff before, but this was the first time I'd been on a plane that had to execute a missed approach. The plane circled around east, and then north. After a few moments, the captain came on the PA to explain that the plane on the runway lined up for takeoff took too long to takeoff, and the controller had waved our plane off.

Oh well. We got a gorgeous view of "Sunken Lunken", downtown Cincinnati, and my husband said he even saw the University of Cincinnati (he was by the window, so I can't confirm or deny his assertion). We lined up again for 18L, and touched down at 1519. We taxied over to gate A24 (the scheduled gate), and docked at 1524, five minutes before scheduled arrival (we would have been VERY early had we not had the missed approach).

Unfortunately, neither the captain nor the first officer were at the door to say "goodbye". Shame, too, as Christopher wanted to say "nice go 'round". Cheeky guy...

We were off, and down the A concourse. My goodness it's been ages since we've flown into A (well, we flew into A in May, but that was because our plane was late and got gate changed. A24 was our originally scheduled gate for this flight). Of course, A24 is at the very tip of the concourse so we had a nice long walk (at a high rate of speed. Yes, even though we weren't in a hurry...).

Down to the transportation concourse. Do we wait for the train? Christopher debates it. I'm already walking (trains? they're for wimps!). As it turns out, we beat the train to Concourse B. We go up the stairs and head over to our departure gate for our LAX flight: gate B7. The B1-B13 gates are on the "international" side of concourse B. Those gates feed into the immigration & customs hall. I'm not surprised our plane was here, as I suspect it came in from some international destination.

We settled down into three seats (one for me, one for Christopher, and one for the bags). I left him with the bags while I went off to look through a few of the book/gift stores (in search of earplugs). No dice. I returned and we killed the time until flight boarding was called.

DL9739, sch dep CVG 1645, actual 1646, sch arr LAX 1828, actual 1803
767-30ER, N1201P, 8FA's (4C, 4Y), seats 21F&G. Dinner.

Boarding was called at 1615, and we went on board to our favourite seats on the 767-300ER: 21F&G. These are the best coach seats on any Delta plane, bar none. Okay, so they're next to the double-lav, which means more traffic. You also get food first (or the chance to choose not to eat first), you're two rows behind the BusinessElite cabin, so you can get on and off quickly. The seats have seats in front of them, but those seats can't recline. On some configurations (and this plane, N1201P, was one of them), there are in-arm tray tables, as well as seat-in-front-of-you traytables. Two tray tables: and they don't touch! That should give you an idea of how much pitch these seats have!

We pushed back at 1646 (my aren't we running on time today). I love travelling on holidays. The male, German FA ("Gerhard", or somesuch) told us it would be a four hour flight. Funnily enough, he was the same FA who tried to give us directions to our seats after we got on board (no, really, we can find them!).

The flight wasn't very full, but it was full of girls. The University of Dayton Soccer team was on board. Twenty or so blonde-haired athletic girls along with their entourage. No hijacker would get us on this flight: I have no doubt that the girls would kick 'em!

We took off, as usual, from runway 27 at 1655. Soon after takeoff, the flight attendants served drinks (and snack mix), and then did cleanup. Dinner soon followed, and was the traditional option of chicken or beef. Christopher had the beef (which came with pasta and some sort of vegetable) while I had the chicken (ditto). The salad was ceasar (or it must have been, because it had ceasar dressing and had a couple of croutons), and the dessert was some kind of chocolate cake.

I don't know if it's part of the airline cutbacks, but the vegetable is "vegetable of the day". It's like no matter what they call it, it's always the same vegetable. Institutional food is like that. I've eaten in cafeterias where no matter what they call it ("California special", etc), it's still the same.

Digression over (and so was dinner). We fought over the laptop (who gets to use it), and the four hour flight went pretty quickly. The movie was supposed to be Legend of Bagger Vance (no thanks), but they substituted Remember the Titans (no, Delta doesn't have any other movies. Or at least it seems like it). I saw Remember the Titans recently on one of those free movie channel weekends, and once was enough.

While my husband used the laptop, I did puzzles (crosswords, logic puzzles, etc), while listening to my (new) MP3 player: an Apple iPod. It really does hold five gigabytes of music. I didn't load it that full, but it had plenty to take me to LAX (and even onto NRT).

The seatbelt sign had been lit for a while due to turbulence, but it became clear that we were descending around 1730. Sure enough, the captain rang final at 1744 and we were on the ground at LAX for 1757. The taxi was quite short, and we were eventually towed into our gate (looks like this is a common procedure for at least some LAX gates).

We haven't flown into LAX itself for years. Christopher and I discussed it, and I think the last time must have been 1992. We've been to Southern California since then, of course, but to San Diego (flew into SAN) and Anaheim (flew into SNA). And on the 1992 trip, we weren't even flying Delta (we flew NW); this was our first visit to the Delta terminal at LAX.

I was immediately struck by the newness of it. The terminal is absolutely gorgeous (clean and well kept, fixtures obviously new). We didn't see much of it, as our gate was quite near security, so we left the airside area and took the escalator down to baggage claim.

The bags emerged pretty quickly (starting with a large net-bag of soccer balls. Hm, I think I know who those belonged to!). Our bag wasn't one of the first out, but we didn't have to wait more than five minutes after the soccer balls. We picked up our one checked bag and three carryons and headed for the rental car shuttle bus stop.

Oh. Right. We're in Southern California. It was WARM. All of the natives were dressed in jackets and sweatshirts, but I thought shirtsleeves were quite enough for me. I'm guessing it was about 60F. Unfortunately, we didn't get much of a chance to enjoy the weather as the rental car bus pulled up almost immediately, and we went off to collect our car and drive to the hotel.

Not much to say about the stay in LA. I did manage to buy some earplugs at a drugstore not far from the hotel. We also made two other side trips on the way from the hotel back to the airport on Friday morning. The first was to Fry's, a California-based chain which sells electronics and electronic equipment (always fun, although I managed to ruin it by spraining my ankle in the parking lot). After Fry's we also took a quick drive down to Manhattan Beach to get some more fresh air (and a short walk) before our long flight.

23 November 2001

Car rental return was painless (there were just as few cars on Friday morning as there had been on Thursday night), and the shuttle bus dropped us at the departures level of Terminal 5 (nice touch: at Logan the rental car buses only use the arrivals level).

We went inside the terminal. Wow, was the coach line long. One more reason to keep that Medallion status. Who wants to stand with the mighty unwashed if you don't have to? The first class line was practically empty. The agent did a perfunctory passport check, and did a much closer check of our carryon size (nice touch. I wish they did this at more stations).

The line for security was crazy, so we took a stroll down the landside portion of Terminal 5 over to Terminal 6. On the way back, we walked the same path, just outside (get a few more rays). Lucky for us (or karma again), the line for security was quiet when we returned.

Actually, the line wasn't for security, it was for ID and ticket/ETBA check. After that check, we went up a short escalator and into a corral which fed into about six security screening machines. Wow, this was terrific. Plenty of lines, and the staff actually seemed like they had a clue (they were paying attention: something I find pretty rare in a US airport). After we went through I noticed a couple of military officers with full machine guns in hand. Hm. Times have changed.

My ankle was pretty sore, so we sat behind gate 58B where we found a power outlet. The hotel had graciously provided us with plenty of disposable reading material (LA Times, USA Today, Wall St Journal), so we read that away. Around 1030 we had a snack (chicken club sandwich) and I took an NSAID to kill the ankle pain (it did help). Of course it didn't help that I limped up and down the terminal in the meantime...

LAX is one of Delta's stations which has the large flatpanel LCD screens. The screen reported that boarding would commence at 1130 (which seemed late for a 1200 pushback time) and also that the plane had about 25 seats reserved in BizElite (out of 50) and around 55 in coach (out of about 150). This was going to be an empty flight!

DL 79, sch dep LAX 1200, actual 1208, sch arr NRT 1655+1, actual 1730+1
MD11, N807DE, 12FA's (6C, 6Y), seats 42C&G. Dinner & Snack.

Boarding was called even later than 1130 (1138 for BizElite, 1145 for coach). There weren't many Medallions on board. Christopher and I were the first in the coach cabin and went to our row, 31. Unfortunately, Christopher soon discovered that the row, while second in the coach cabin, had fixed armrests. As a result, we wouldn't be able to pull them up and stretch out.

We ended up moving back to row 42 (nice plus on an empty flight: lots of rows to choose from), and settled into 42C&G (the opposite ends of the 5-set in DL's MD11). The row was about six rows back in the second section of coach. Strangely, I noted that Delta does not have an actual cabin partition between the first and second coach cabins, just an open aisle running between the exit row doors.

I managed to stow our gear, some of it overhead and some of it underseat. Yuck, do the MD-11 center bins stink. They're hard to open, hard to close, hit your head when they're down, and they make a horrible noise. Clearly, Boeing did not keep the designers of these bins on when they developed the wonderful bins for the 777.

While on the ground, the FAs came around distributing coach-style headsets (the plastic air tubes) and menus. It didn't take them long to perform this task, something to do with the low load factor on the route! We put two bags under the seats in front of us and one (plus the jacket) went overhead. That done, I took a moment to peruse the (bilingual) menu:

Appetizer Salad
Seasonal salad (lettuce, cukes, radishes) offered with dressing (French)

Soba Noodles

Entrees
Steakhouse Selection
Tender Beef offered with seasonal vegetables and today's featured side dish

Chicken du Jour
Today's Chicken Specialty presented with vegetables and a hearty side dish

Seared Salmon Fillet
Complemented by Teriyaki Sauce with Ginger Rice and Vegetable medley (squash, green beans, onions)

Dessert
Today's Dessert Special (lemon pudding)
Russel Stover Chocolate (I didn't get one, neither did Christopher)

Mid-Flight Snack (served in the middle of the second movie)
Ice Cream Sandwich

Supper Snack (served about 75 minutes before landing)
Fruit (grapes)
Chocolate (once again, missing)
Cookies (2-pack of Oreos)

Turkey-Ham and Cheese sandwich
or
Rolled Sushi

plus there was cheese and crackers (not mentioned on the menu).

The menu was STRANGE. Why say "today's featured side dish" or "chicken du jour". I mean, does that cut down on their menu printing costs? It was still marked 11/01 EC-C LAX-NGO/NRT. Perhaps they already knew the route was a gonner and didn't want to invest money in printing the menus? Given the load factor I can hardly blame them.

Shortly before pushback, one of the FAs came around and dropped off "good" headsets for Christopher and I, saying that Delta appreciates the business we give them. Nice touch! I don't know if Delta appreciates that they're flying us for a loss to NRT, but there you go. We'll be Platinum by the end of the year, which is all that matters.

The door was closed at 1208 but it took another seven minutes before pushback. No explanation was given for the delay, but I can't imagine it was due to connecting baggage. We took off at 1227 from runway 23(?)R, on the south side of the airport. I noted on the taxi out to the runway that the brakes on this plane seriously need oiling: they were noisy and jittery.

After takeoff (and the seatbelt sign was turned off), the FAs did a drinks service. It didn't take them long (55 pax, no surprise). Then they cleaned up and served lunch. Christopher and I both had the salmon. It was quite popular, as I got the last one on the C-side of the plane (the FA was heard asking the FA on the G-side if she had any more). The salmon was pretty decent for airline food, although the Teriyaki sauce was saltier than I prefer. The lemon pudding was great, however.

During the meal service, the FA put on the entertainment. The first movie was Legally Blonde, which sounded cute (not cute enough for me to see in the theatre, however). I watched it, and it was cute, but didn't really have any rewatch value. Not worth paying for, but worth watching given that it was free. Delta's MD11s have TV-sized screens in coach above the aisle (rather than a large center screen and projector).

The FAs on the plane were all very good, and the ones in the coach cabin clearly had alot of seniority. One of them I spoke with used to regularly fly Delta's service from LAX to HKG (long gone now), and spoke with disappointment on Delta's cutbacks at LAX. I asked her if the LAX-NRT flight cancellation (as of 1 December) was due to September 11. She told me that while that didn't help, the real problems started with the Japanese economy weakening earlier in 2001. She's scheduled to fly the last LAX-NRT flight, and then has to deadhead home NRT-ATL-LAX!

The BizElite cabin had some Japanese FAs, but all of the FAs in coach were caucasian. There was a pretty even split of caucasian and Japanese passengers in coach (when I observed BizElite boarding, it seemed similar there, too). I don't know how the service went in BizElite (I tried in vain to get one of their menus when we left the plane), but in coach, the FAs came around about once an hour with water and juice on trays. They certainly didn't want us to become dehydrated (it worked for me, I don't know about anybody else!). There were five lavs in coach, four in the very back of the plane and one by door 3R.

The strange thing about this flight is that it was in total daylight until final approach. The FAs came around and shut all of the window screens, which quite upset me, as I like light (for one thing, it helps keep you awake). I moved over to seat 42A and opened the window shade a little bit and sat there listening to my iPod and did some puzzles. The FAs came around during the second movie and gave out ice cream sandwiches (pass).

I did manage to get a nap (about 45 minutes), stretched out on four seats in the 5-section. Christopher got perhaps a few minutes, no more. The two laptop batteries did us pretty well. They didn't last the whole flight (and I didn't expect them to), but they certainly helped keep us entertained). Christopher wangled with one of the FAs to let us plug the laptop in in a spare BizElite seat. Unfortunately, the seat must not have had a working power jack because the laptop came back with no more power than it had when he plugged it in. Ah well.

About 90 minutes before landing, the FAs came around with the carts and did a "formal" drinks service along with the snack. I'm not a sushi fan, so I got the sandwich, but it was pretty scary (wrapped in plastic with the nutritional information on the back. No, I really did NOT want to know that the sandwich was 340 calories with X grams of fat and Y grams of sodium). Cleanup, and we hit a patch of turbulence.

The seatbelt sign was lit for the turbulence at about 1654, but it was pretty clear we were descending at the same time. Before the sign was lit I opened up the window shade in 42A so I could see what was going on. It was still light out: just, and I saw an incredible sunset. The captain rang final at 1706 and we touched down at 1718. Welcome to Asia!

After touchdown, the lead FA came on the PA and asked everybody to remain seated because we'd have a "lengthy" taxi to the gate. He wasn't kidding, it took twelve minutes before we docked at gate 83 at the satellite terminal of Terminal 2. In the meantime, I viewed about five Northwest 747s (mix of classic and -400), while Christopher spied the ANA Pokemon plane. I wonder when NRT's peak is? It certainly seemed to be hopping at 1700.

Unlike landing at LAX, when we docked at the gate, everybody stayed seated until the captain turned off the seatbelt sign. Then there was a mad dash for the front. After disembarking, I wondered why. I mean, everybody has to go to the same shuttle train. What's the point of rushing?

The shuttle train was waiting when we arrived at the platform, and we managed some more plane spotting en route to the main building of Terminal 2. Two lines for immigration: Japanese and not. We got in the not line.

Several people in front of us were questioned by immigration officers quite closely, but I guess Christopher and I don't profile because they barely asked us anything. We gave the officer our landing cards and passports and we were welcomed to Japan.

Downstairs to baggage claim. The bags just started to arrive when we did, but it took several (~10) minutes before our single solitary bag arrived. We went through customs (where they wanted to see our passports again (!)), and we headed out landside.

Our first stop was an ATM. Some guidebooks we'd read noted that not many ATMs accepted American cards, but the ones at NRT did (two days before we left I read something that said the post office was now accepting Cirrus-brand cards, but I didn't want to bank on that - pun not intended!). We got a map of the terminal, found the cash hole, and proceeded to the train ticket counter.

There are two main ways into Tokyo from Narita: bus and rail. We rejected the bus idea (Y3000 - about USD 30, and not very frequent). Of the rail options, there are two companies: JR's Narita Express (NeX) - cost about Y3000 and again, not very frequent. The other option is Keisei Railways, who has the Skyliner (cost, about Y2000. Travel time: about 60 minutes to Ueno in Tokyo) and the Limited Express (cost, about Y1000. Travel time: about 75 minutes to Ueno).

We were pretty agnostic (although we'd rather save the money), so we opted for the Keisei Limited Express. We bought our tickets from a human (last time we'd do that!), and headed downstairs via escalator. The escalators actually can take carts. Very cool, I haven't seen that since Zurich-Kloten (and those were special escalators!).

The train ride into town was pretty grueling, at 75 minutes. It's really not that long usually, but when you're tired and the train is hot, it I found it pretty stifling. I also noticed a trend which continued throughout the weekend: Japanese people have NO problems sleeping on trains. Every time we got on a train, whether it be morning, noon, or night, there was somebody snoozing. Often, it was more than one someone.

We arrived at Keisei Ueno and transferred to the Ginza line and the subway. Our destination was Akasaka-mitsuke on the Ginza line. The hotel we'd booked, the Akasaka Prince, is actually marginally closer to Nagatacho station, but that would have required changing trains. Akasaka-mitsuke was a little further away, but a one seat ride from Ueno.

We arrived at the hotel and checked in. During the whole Keisei and subway rides, I noticed perhaps one or two other people not of Asian descent. The hotel was no different - I saw one other non Asian person (a businessman).

The check-in clerk was quick and polite. She retrieved our reservation with ease. I asked if the room was non-smoking and she said yes (during our whole trip, it didn't seem that as many Japanese people smoked as I'd heard. Either things have changed or I heard wrong). In addition, she told us that she upgraded us to a suite! She then summoned one of the bellboys who helped us with our luggage (just one duffle bag!) and showed us to our room.

Wow, the room was nice. It was on the 25th floor, unfortunately not facing "downtown". We had a seperate living room (with closable door) which had a couch, coffee table, desk, and mini bar/TV stand. The bedroom had a queen-sized bed with a reading lamp (!), dresser, and either western or Japanese bathrobes (terry cloth or yukata). The bathroom was just as nice, with a sit down stool for the sink, and a small step up to the WC/shower room.

We dumped our bags off and scoped the room out a bit. Then we went outside, partially to get oriented and partially not to fall asleep immediately (neither of us managed to get any shuteye on the long long flight from LAX to NRT). After a short walk around Akasaka we returned and zonked out.

Sunday (25 November) we returned to Narita to see the Narita Airport of Aeronautical Sciences. In addition, we wandered around Terminal 1. Both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 have open-air observation decks. The Japanese manage it, why can't the Americans? Argh!

Later in the day we spent some time at the Transportation museum and shopped through Akihabara (and the many many electronic gadget stores). Christopher was looking for a new pair of headphones and I wanted a case for my iPod. We both lucked out. Thanks to the weak Yen, our purchases were actally quite reasonable. We ended the day at a Starbucks and bought a couple of the Tokyo city mugs (Christopher's mother has a collection of them).

26 November (the longest day)

Monday was an odd day, because the sun rose twice. I had two breakfasts and two lunches. And in virtual terms, it was 90 minutes from when we left NRT to when we arrived in BOS.

Obviously it wasn't that simple. I was up much earlier than Christopher so I actually went and had breakfast without him. After he finally awoke I finished packing while he ate a curry-flavoured pastry from the boulangerie (yes, they called it that) inside the hotel.

We arrived at Tokyo Eki (central train station) and immediately found a locker for our bags. I really didn't want to haul around one backpack, one laptop, and one duffle bag, not to mention the big jackets. By sheer luck (or karma), the lockers we found were the closest to the Narita Express (aka NeX) platforms.

After dumping the bags, we got platform tickets and went inside the station. Christopher had a Bento box for lunch (I'd eaten earlier), but unfortunately there were no benches for him to sit on while he ate it. I also wanted to see a Shinkansen, but no luck. There was a seperate gated area for all Shinkansen trains, and I knew darn well that our platform tickets would never work.

We found a JR ticket office inside the fare paid area and bought tickets for the 1533 NeX train. That done, we left the station and walked through the Imperial Outer Gardens (really more like a park, not too many flowers at all. Of course, Christopher reminded me that there aren't many flowers in November) and over to Ginza. In Ginza I goggled at the sight of an Eddie Bauer store (I didn't stop in). We also went into a couple of department stores to look for chopsticks. We found some (yay), bought them, and headed out.

Back at Tokyo Eki a little early, I stopped in a ladies room to change out of my cargo pants and into my flying sweatpants. Unfortunately, the ladies rooms in the station were all of the "squat" variety. Thanks to some careful acrobatics, I didn't step in anything I didn't want to.

The 1533 NeX (train #29) was right on time. We boarded and found somebody in our seat. I summarily ejected him (and his four bags), and we sat down to while away the 55 minute ride to NRT Terminal 2.

We arrived at Narita at about 1525. Just as on Sunday, there were police officers checking passports (and conducting random baggage screenings) of EVERYBODY entering the airport. Japan is serious about airport security (more than I can say for the US). Once again, we were not selected for screening, so we took our things and trooped up three escalators to the departures level.

The Delta check-in desk was a little hard to find (it was listed counter "D-G". So we checked E, F, and G first, and of course that meant it was on D. They checked our passports again, and we were required to put all of our bags through an x-ray (but not our jackets or go through metal detectors ourselves). Another random security screening, and again we weren't selected.

We checked in at the BusinessElite line. The check-in clerk was very nice and apologetic, for the flight was going to be departing 30 minutes late. We already knew this, as there were 25 different signs plastered all over the check-in counter.

30 minutes late? Gulp. We had 85 minutes to connect in LAX. A hitch in immigration or customs, and our connecting flight could go right out the window (I knew for a fact that our connecting flight usually goes out of Terminal 6, while most of Delta's operations are out of Terminal 5. That's a long walk between the two). And I really didn't want to spend the night at LAX, because I had a "can't miss" appointment first thing on Tuesday (my own fault for making it, but there you go).

Nothing to do about it now. We went up to the fourth floor in search of food (which we procured from seperate offerings) and then scanned the shops. Some of them were cute, some were downright kitschy. Soon it was just after 1800, so I wanted to head towards the gate. The revised departure time was 1925, and the listed boarding time was 1845. I didn't know how long it would take us to get from the main building over to the satellite, and I didn't want any delays.

Downstairs and through security. Our bags went through without a hitch and so did we. We took a few moments to wander around the main terminal (we had a few thousand Yen to get rid of, and duty free is always a good way to do that). They also had an Internet Cafe, at the price of Y300 for 30 minutes (Y300 is very roughly USD 3). No thanks, I'll pass. But it did wake me up to the fact that there were very few public power outlets at NRT. Obviously they don't get requests from alot of businesspeople to plug in their laptops for charging.

Time was getting even shorter, so we went to get the shuttle train over to the satellite. They have four trains: two on each track. The track has a small passing lane in the middle of each run. As a result, the trains were very frequent (about every two minutes), so there was never a long wait for one.

The shuttle train (made by Otis and not by Kinki-Sharyo as I would have expected) was not very full, and we were whisked away to the satellite terminal in no time. We went straight to the gate, only to find it empty of everything (plane included). It was 1815 and no plane? We were going to have a difficult time making a 1925 given the lack of equipment.

The plane soon arrived, as did the crew. The flight crew got on board immediately while the FAs hung out at the gate. We had uniformly excellent cabin crew during the whole trip; this leg was to be no exception. The lead flight attendant was going over the passenger manifest, marking things down (I don't know what, but I wish I did!), while one of the others was cracking jokes. A third flight attendant was clearly very new on the job (her mother accompanied her, and another FA took their picture).

One thing I noted about Japan in general was how customer-service oriented everybody (and everything) was. They seem to overstaff, not understaff. There were a total of six agents to oversee boarding of this flight. I had asked when we checked in if it was a full flight and the pleasant agent said "not at all".

DL 78, sch dep NRT 1855, actual 1938, sch arr LAX 1125, actual 1123
MD11, N813DE, 12FA's (6C, 6Y), seats 43C&G. Dinner & Breakfast.

BizElite boarding was quick, and coach boarding was at 1920. Our boarding passes were torn (grr, I needed the whole thing to keep notes on. I was forced to use a menu instead), and we went down the ramp. One of the agents had said something about "mandatory screening", but I didn't know what she meant ... until we got to the bottom of the ramp. Every single passenger was patted down by white-clothed agents (of the appropriate gender). "May I touch you?" said the agent. Once again, REAL security. There was also a random baggage screening (which we were not selected for - obviously we DO NOT profile).

On board and back to our assigned row, 42 (C&G). The plane was N813DE (not the one we arrived from LAX on). It didn't seem that there would be many pax on the flight, but every seat had a pillow and (plastic-wrapped) blanket on it anyways. Sure enough, boarding was concluded by 1938, and although we had a lengthy taxi, we managed to takeoff at 1956.

After takeoff, the captain came on board to say that we'd have a bit of a tailwind (I later learned it was 160mph+!) and we hoped to make up some of the late departure time. We ended up pushing back 45 minutes late and I was very nervous (but what could I do about it?). One of the FAs (the one who was telling jokes in the gate area) kept cracking jokes on the plane. He was passing out I-94W and customs forms, and asked the passenger sitting behind me if he was American. "No, Korean" was the response. "Oh, do you have any kimchee?" said the FA. "Yes", responded the Korean. "Well don't open it, it'll stink up the whole place!". I laughed. This was going to be a FUN flight.

After takeoff (and the seatbelt sign was turned off), the FAs came around to do a drinks service. I pushed up the armrest, pulled out a couple of blankets, and immediately went to sleep. I was EXHAUSTED from walking and not sleeping well. Christopher said he got dinner. I'll have to take his word for it, because I didn't see it arrive or leave.

Appetizer Salad
Mixed Greens with Tomato and Carrot accompanied by Chicken Teriyaki Balls and a Baby Scallop offered with creamy Dressing.

Chasoba Noodles

Entrees
Barbequed Beef
Tender, braised beef with Barbeque Sauce, accompanied by Potatoes au Gratin and a Vegetable Medley

Roasted Chicken
Roasted Chicken accented by a tangy Orange and Green Peppercorn Sauce served with Pasta and Green Beans

Prawn and Scallops
Seasoned in a Japanese-style mild Curry, offered with buttered Rice and friend Onions

Roll and Butter

Dessert
Sweet Cake

Good Morning
Juice, Fruit, Cereal Bar

Turkey-Ham, Egg and Cheese on Toasted Bread
or
A Japanese Snack

I woke up after a couple of hours, hungry. I went back to the galley and got a glass of milk and shot the breeze with the funny FA. Turns out, he's a Mac fan. He'd seen my iPod earlier (although not my Powerbook G4) and was quite jealous. I promised to show him the Powerbook later and went back to my seat. And then I fell asleep again. Christopher did manage to get some shuteye as well (he tends not to sleep well on planes). The FAs kept service to a minimum (they came around with drinks often, but only on trays, not with carts).

Breakfast was served at 1000 LAX time. At the same time, the "Air Show" put our arrival time at LAX for 1118, or just before our actual scheduled arrival. I breathed a sigh of relief. After breakfast (Christopher had the Japanese breakfast, I had the western one), the FAs gave out hot towels (which I sorely needed) and then started cleanup (including pulling up all of the windowshades).

We started to descend at 1049, the seatbelt was "announced" at 1057 (it had been lit for a while due to turbulence) and we touched down at 1118 on runway 25L. The touchdown was one of the smoothest I've had in a while. We taxied over towards Terminal 5, and were towed in to gate 51B (a close-in gate requiring a tug).

"Ding", the seatbelt sign was turned off and we grabbed our stuff and headed for the front of the plane. Most of the other pax were moving pretty quickly, so we were off before we knew it. Once out of the plane, we could bypass some of the tortoises. The immigration hall was empty (due to the empty flight), and we actually got shunted through the crew line. We were cleared and went down to customs. Our bag arrived in short order, and we went off through the inspection line.

Once we passed the customs inspector, we rechecked our duffle bag for Boston and went upstairs. The line for security for Terminal 5 was nuts, so we walked down to Terminal 6 and cleared through there. Yuck. Terminal 6 is not nearly as nice as Terminal 5; it clearly has not been renovated in a very long time.

Our departure gate for Boston was 67B, which is almost all the way down the end of the terminal. Sure enough, a 767-300ER was awaiting us. We found a couple of chairs with a little bit of sunlight (enough to keep us awake, not so much as to give us sunlight) and sat down to wait the boarding call.

I knew from my Delta GA that this flight would be a full one. Originally, we'd been assigned seats seperately. I wasn't having any of that. GA fixed it so we had seats 21F&G (I just want owner plaques for these seats, I swear).

DL1988, sch dep LAX 1310, actual 1318, sch arr BOS 2148, actual 2120
767-300ER, N181DN, 8FA's (4C, 4Y), seats 21F&G. Dinner.

They called boarding at 1245 and we pushed back at 1318. Everybody in coach was jealous of our seats (except the people in 21A&B of course). The woman behind me in 22F kept kicking my seat (yes: woman, not child). I turned around and asked her to stop and she just huffed at me (but at least she did stop). Whatever!

Funny aside. Before pushback, one of the FAs came down to sit in one of the jumpseats by the mid-cabin lav. She put a bunch of her spare stuff in the other jump seat. "I wonder why she's doing that", I pondered. The FA was clearly thinking that there was not going to be another FA sitting in that seat. Sure enough, another FA came along, and the first FA said "oh, I didn't realize there was anybody going to be in this seat". Well duh, the 767-300ER carries eight flight attendants. Where was the other one going to sit: on the wing?

Flying time was originally quoted at 4h28 minutes, but it ended up being even less than that. Obviously, the tailwind followed us from the Pacific. After takeoff, the flight attendants did a drinks service, followed by lunch/dinner (whatever you want to call it). The choices were chicken or beef. Christopher had the chicken and I had the beef. Unfortunately, the beef was a bit tough and almost impossible to cut with my plastic knife. The salad was pretty good, however.

This plane was showing its age: it even had a 3-tube projector (rather than a single lens). But the flight attendants didn't let that stop them. They were great, delivering service with a smile. I watched the movie (Princess Diaries): at least it wasn't Remember the Titans (again)!

Later in the flight the FAs came around with bottled water (the little 8oz babies I like so much). Not long after that we began descending (at 2033 EST). The seatbelt sign was already on, and the captain rang final at 2056. We touched down at 2107 on runway 4R. After a hold on a cross taxiway, we reached gate 33 at 2120: half an hour early!

What a trip. I was quite afraid that my husband and I would kill each other, especially on the long LAX-NRT flight, but we both came home unscathed (apart from my sore ankle). The flights were uniformly excellent. Even the late departure from NRT didn't end up arriving late (which was my only concern). The staff, as I mentioned before, were all excellent. If Delta can keep its staff (and show their appreciation for them), then I have no doubt that while other airlines fail, Delta will succeed.

Next trip (and report): Christmas

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