Tale of Two, er, Three Flights

Get to the Shanghai Pudong airport at 10:30am June 11, check in for United 858, nice new airport terminal (Pudong Terminal 2) and nice business class lounge. Board the plane, push back.

Pilot annouces the air conditioning is broken. We sit out on a side runway. After two hours, we get towed back to the gate, and told the flight is cancelled. We have to walk back out through immigration (typical Chinese queueing, meaning, every person for themselves), get our bags (no agents to tell people exactly *where* to get them), and stand in line to be reticketed. We decide to stand in line at the ticket counter, since the sooner you get reticketed, the more options you have (overhear people calling their travel agents and rebooking while waiting to re-enter. Isn't it annoying that our new agency only has a toll free number, worthless outside the US?) While Lizette waits, I dash downstairs to get our bags to shortcut things. No news, no info, not enough agents visible (really, just one or two not behind the counter). Turns out you walk down to the Burger King (!) and go through a side door through security and get the bags and exit customs, back up to ticket line, where we're at the front of the line, but... 300 people changing their flights - it's a little slow. By 4:20pm (4 hours after original push-back), have tickets to Chicago and then to San Jose. Those folks who rebooked while waiting to get through immigration have seats to SFO, but we don't, too late.

Oh, did I mention that United cancelled 858 the previous Saturday and Sunday? Are they skimping on maintenance to pay for gas?

Board the nonstop to Chicago, push back at 5:30pm or so. Kinda warm - pilot tells us, one of the three air conditioning packs is "degraded". Seems it was that way when the plane flew from Chicago the day before, and there's no way to fix outside the US. Good planning, guys!

3 hours into the flight, the captain comes on and says, "We know it's in the 90s back there in coach, but the only other choice we have is to turn around and go to Tokyo, and you wouldn't get home for 2-3 days. Just think of it as a summer day." He must be getting lots of flack. Plenty comfortable in business class - I stand at the boundary for a while to cool down. After about 8 hours, temperature finally reasonable. Only 4-5 hours to go!

On the ground in Chicago. Recheck bags. (Later, we realize that they failed to remind us about checking duty free in checked luggage -- helpful ticket counter agent fixed that up.) Security again, and at least that paid-for-with-miles Red Carpet Club membership comes in - wireless and power (and potato chips).

Hey! Guess what? Plane to San Jose is delayed! Finally take off two hours late - 10:20pm, in to San Jose at 1am. Thanks to Debbie Boydston, there's a very patient limo driver waiting to drive me to Berkeley. Finally in bed at 2:15am Thursday June 12: 32 hours after departing the Salvo Hotel in Shanghai!