The travel leg was doomed!
Flight out of JAX to MIA was delayed for an hour by rain & “weather.” MIA arrival was at D55, 15 minutes before departure at D21. Another passenger — a woman half my age! — and I “sprinted,” so to speak, through terminals. We had never met, but as she sympathetically looked over her shoulder to see how I was doing, she clearly sensed that it was a physical challenge for me, huffing & puffing!
Finally arriving at D21, the agent said, “We’re glad that you made it.”
THEN! We sat on the plane, at the gate, for 90 minutes because no AA personnel on the ground would close two open cargo doors. Apparently part of the recent AA employee work stoppage related to objections to an airline Covid vaccination requirement. When the time had been reached that, by law, the plane would have to be opened for dissatisfied passengers to disembark . . . as the JetBridge was being re-connected to the plane, someone on the ground closed the cargo doors, allowing us to depart. Ringing applause!
Unfortunately, late departure meant that we arrived at the SJU gate at 4 PM . . . too late to make Tradewind’s 4:10 flight to SBH — even with help of a TW “VIP” rep.
With TW assistance, I find myself tonight, as a result, at Hotel El San Juan in Isla Verde, near the airport . . . and am scheduled on TW’s 1:10 flight to SBH (6 AM & two 10 AM flights are fully booked). The hotel & all nearby hotels are filled by attendees at a conference organized by NY’s newly minted governor (does this compute?). In any event, here are a few photos of the scene.
. . . my bracelet, required in the hotel, as evidence of Covid vaccination:
Entrance to the hotel:
Garish side of the venue:
And a relatively mellow corner of the property:
All in all . . . I’m sorry to have missed my Chef’s Table seat tonight at Restaurant Zion, but I’ll be there Tuesday night. And tomorrow I’ll be “home!” The tingle is tangible.
Flight out of JAX to MIA was delayed for an hour by rain & “weather.” MIA arrival was at D55, 15 minutes before departure at D21. Another passenger — a woman half my age! — and I “sprinted,” so to speak, through terminals. We had never met, but as she sympathetically looked over her shoulder to see how I was doing, she clearly sensed that it was a physical challenge for me, huffing & puffing!
Finally arriving at D21, the agent said, “We’re glad that you made it.”
THEN! We sat on the plane, at the gate, for 90 minutes because no AA personnel on the ground would close two open cargo doors. Apparently part of the recent AA employee work stoppage related to objections to an airline Covid vaccination requirement. When the time had been reached that, by law, the plane would have to be opened for dissatisfied passengers to disembark . . . as the JetBridge was being re-connected to the plane, someone on the ground closed the cargo doors, allowing us to depart. Ringing applause!
Unfortunately, late departure meant that we arrived at the SJU gate at 4 PM . . . too late to make Tradewind’s 4:10 flight to SBH — even with help of a TW “VIP” rep.
With TW assistance, I find myself tonight, as a result, at Hotel El San Juan in Isla Verde, near the airport . . . and am scheduled on TW’s 1:10 flight to SBH (6 AM & two 10 AM flights are fully booked). The hotel & all nearby hotels are filled by attendees at a conference organized by NY’s newly minted governor (does this compute?). In any event, here are a few photos of the scene.
. . . my bracelet, required in the hotel, as evidence of Covid vaccination:
Entrance to the hotel:
Garish side of the venue:
And a relatively mellow corner of the property:
All in all . . . I’m sorry to have missed my Chef’s Table seat tonight at Restaurant Zion, but I’ll be there Tuesday night. And tomorrow I’ll be “home!” The tingle is tangible.