So duly refreshed, breakfasted and packed I headed back to LAS where the check-in area for Virgin America was deserted. I was checked in all the way through to SEA and issued with boarding passes for both segments which was handy as my connecting time was only 50 minutes. The monitor behind the check-in desk was showing Delayed but when I queried it I was told it was only about 5 minutes or so. Hardly worth mentioning, then. [?] I headed off towards the D gates, diverting briefly into the PGA Tour shop to see if they had Aer Johns favourite golf balls (they hadnt) and through security. It was the usual unpleasant mess I have come to expect in America with the security guys monitoring the lines yelling constantly, admonishing us to take off our shoes, jackets (jackets in 100F temperatures?!), take out laptops, no liquids to the extent that as I shuffled along with the rest of the passengers I felt like I had been conscripted into a chain gang! [:(!] In addition a video was playing overhead telling us how to pack. Did they really expect that we would come to a halt and re-pack whatever carry-on bags we had there and then? Especially when you consider the size some people bring on board. Grrr! Anyhow the ordeal was soon over and I was free to make my way to the gate where the VX plane was waiting for us.
At the gate area they were still announcing delays of about 5 minutes for us guests but shortly they announced that the delays would be much longer because of weather conditions. I looked out at cloudless blue skies and scratched my head but it turns out that the weather conditions were the smoke-related smog in the San Francisco area which was restricting aircraft movement in the Bay area. I think they were talking about a 30 minute delay but were in contact with ATC and would report back. After about 10 minutes they announced they had clearance to leave just as soon as they managed to find the crew!! [:w] A PA announcement was made and a few minutes later they started to amble up. I resisted the urge to grab them by the arm and hustle them on board. After all this was cutting into my 50 minutes connection time but shortly after boarding was announced.
As we were boarding we were each handed a voucher. I wasnt sure what it was for but as soon as I got on board I realised there was no IFE and therefore no means of ordering snacks etc. The voucher was good for a drink, food or a movie on a future VX flight. I had premium seating once more and the leg room seemed to stretch to infinity. [:D] The flight was less crowded than my first one and so the middle seat remained unoccupied, which was grand. There was a soft drinks service but that was all. At one stage I took the cabin crew up on their offer of help if we had any questions and asked about landing time since we had been a good 20-30 minutes pushing back. The crew came back and informed me we would be landing on time and it was so. We trundled along to gate A2 past the Korean Airlines plane that had started to push back from gate A8 and soon I was upstairs in the concourse so familiar to all of us who have flown VS out of SFO.
I didnt know which gate the Seattle flight left from and couldnt decide whether it was quicker to go back to the place where you enter from security to see a monitor or to go to the one which I vaguely remembered as being near gate A4. My memory served me well and I found that the SEA flight was leaving from gate A1. All I needed to have done was cross the concourse and gone down that escalator! When I got there I found that like my earlier experience in SFO the gate served two flights, the one to SEA and the other to JFK. Or was it LAX? No matter. I wasnt going to either in any case. [ii] Boarding had commenced but I was unclear for which flight. Incidentally VX boards in groups and as I had booked Premium seating all the way I was in Group A. At this stage they were calling for Group C and I quickly realised it was my flight that was boarding so on I hopped. The flight was busy but not full and once more the middle seat next to me was empty. This plane was like the first one I had boarded and had the purple Perspex divider between First Class as well as the Red IFE.
We pushed back slightly early and made our way towards the departure runway and a very familiar sight. Mustang Sally had arrived from LHR ahead of schedule just as we had earlier in the week. [y] However unlike us, she was going to have a straight run in to the gate once her kid cousin had got out of the way. We obliged and soon were heading north to Seattle.
Once the cabin crew were released to their duties they began the drinks round and I decided to turn in my voucher for a glass of wine. I was also feeling slightly peckish but the food menu was a tad sparse so I opted for a snack mix. It seemed strange swiping a credit card for a $2 amount and I have to say that the system was not entirely infallible as I had to ask for it instead of having it delivered as promised. The rest of the flight was uneventful. I didnt use the IFE preferring to read but soon we were beginning our descent and Mount Rainier came into view as stunning as ever. In no time at all we were back on the ground. The bags took their time to come through but were in no way as tardy as in LAS earlier in the week. In the meantime my host had come to meet me and soon we were on our way for an enjoyable weekend in the Emerald city.
