Because I opted for a courtesy dinner coupon from United and didn’t have any yen to pay for an overpriced hotel breakfast, I start the day with the second of three peanut-butter Balance bars I had packed. I figured once I made it through security and immigration at the airport, I could pick up a coffee or something in the terminal before boarding my “delayed” flight. Like manna from heaven, the illuminated forest green, black and white Starbucks logo beckoned down the hallway, so I thought I would turn to the corporate-but-so-welcome-to-see coffee chain for my morning fix. As I approached the Starbucks, it struck me that this international airport was unusually silent, as in could-hear-a-pin-drop silent, and the duty-free stores lining the walkway weren’t open. Hmmm, does not bode well for a pre-flight, overpriced latte. And as I reached the Starbucks counter, my hopes were fully dashed when I learned that the location didn’t open until 7:30 – after we needed to board the plane. Thwarted! *sigh*
The “delayed” flight took off as re-scheduled at 8:00 with hardly anyone on board. We received the welcome news that since the flight was so sparsely filled, we could sit anywhere we wanted to have additional space and not be seated virtually on top of each other…except you had to stay in the class you purchased. So no free upgrades to the economy, business, or first class sections, which remained tantalizingly empty the duration of the flight. Now if I were running an airline, I’d tell my flight crews that in that situation, it’s completely appropriate to let people move on up to first class – that it should be considered free advertising for the higher-paying class of seats. Let the economy-paying people like me get a taste of what it’s like to be spoiled by fully-reclining chairs and at-your-beck-and-call premium wine lists and such, and maybe the economy-paying people will shell out the extra cash on future trips. Alas, I’m not running an airline, so this fly-in-first-class-as-a-marketing-ploy option didn’t pan out.
On the up side, I had a brilliant view of Mt. Fuji, the internationally recognized symbol of Japan. I could see it in the distance as we were taxiing on the jetway (it looked kinda like this, but further away), but I got a stellar view (like this) as we fly adjacent to it on our way west. As we flew past and I looked out my window, I acknowledged that had my flight not been “delayed” overnight, I would have missed that amazing sight because I would have been flying at night. (By the way, I apparently failed geography, because I thought that image was Mt. Kilimanjaro, until my sister oh-so-kindly – ok, there was a bit of snark involved – told me Mt. Kilimanjaro is in Africa; me being me, I had to Google it to see who was right.)
