Saturday, February 02, 2008

London Feb. 1: In Newark Airport

02FEB08 Newark Liberty International, Newark NJ (EWR)

We landed and headed to the gate. One could see a number of international airlines at the hard stand or at Terminal B getting ready to get going across the Atlantic. There were two L'Avion's wingleted Boeing 757-200, Qatar A330-200, two Alitalia's Boeing 767-300, Delta's Boeing 767-300, Air France's A330-200, Jet Airways B777-300ER, a Silverjet Boeing 767-300, TAP Airbus A310, SAS A330 and Lot Polish Boeing 767-300.

I left the Presidents Club at about 7:00p and made my way to Terminal B via the AirTrain. By 7:16p, I was in the Economy Class line waiting to be checked in. The line was not too long, but I made it to the counter in an hour as each transaction took a while as customer had a lot of bags or just had ticket issues.

As I waited in line, next to customers who were checking in for Eva Air’s Boeing 777-300ER service to Taipei, Taiwan (TPE) via Seattle, WA (SEA), I started talking to this older couple who were going to a Club Med in France via Geneva so they could go skiing. We chatted for a bit to pass the time which was good. A friend of mine called and asked if I was at a terminal, but this was not the case, so I was of no help. I was hoping to get to the Northwest World Club, but I don’t think that was going to happen as I did not see any more flights for them on the board today.

I continued inching my way up the line. When I was close to the front of the line, I noticed this passenger behind me without his shoes. I wondered why he was not wearing any shoes, but did not pay much attention to it. Later, I heard the check-in agent asking him where were they. Apparently, he had taken off since he was going to have to take them off when he entered security, interesting…

I got a trainee agent who could not do my transaction, so she had me wait for another agent. As I waited, I got to talking to a lady who had five pieces. I asked why and she said that she was a college professor in a nearby state and was taking books back to India. The Skycap who was helping her was also having a political discussion which was quite interesting. The topic was worldwide, but tended to focus a bit on the U.S. general elections coming up. He was quite knowledgeable about the world and was very strong on his points.

It was now my turn and the supervisor took care of me and gave me a window seat and said that the seat next to me should be empty to Geneva, but was assigned from there to Doha, Qatar (DOH). I thanked her then left and headed for the gate, pausing a little outside for some much needed fresh air. It was actually much warmer than I thought. Back inside, I got a call from a friend of mine who had just finished an endurance race. He was fine and was glad he had done it.

I then went through security where the lines were a bit long. I got through without any issues, well, I beeped, and I still have no idea why, so I emptied my pockets and also took off my belt and I was fine. At the gate, I finished up a call and checked with the agent as the supervisor had instructed me to do and the aisle seat was still empty so I was good to go. I then boarded.

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