飞机惊魂 (part 1)

left US for HK on Friday, the 12th (which is Sat the 13th for HK time)...eventhough i left on Fri, i only arrived HK on Sun morning...crap, i just lost 24 hrs of my time because of flying time and time difference!!! it was a disaster for me for my return~~~i called it my black friday in US and Black sat in HK....why did i say it like tat? let me tell you my story (in indian accent~~ @@) I'm actually very tired...only arrived HK at 830am after a loOOoooong flight...i left US on Friday evening from Baltimore to LA....knowing how tight the security is in US, we arrived airport 3 hours earlier...four of us checked in together, but it took us 40 mins to check in!!!

1. the lady won't stop chitchatting to us. that took us 5 mins!!!
2. She couldnt find my connecting flight. Coz she said my flight No. on the system is different from my flight number on my itinerary. I said couldnt be, it should be cx883, not 881. So she asked me to call Cathay pacific to confirm...so, she gave me only my boarding pass from Baltimore to LA...WITHOUT a seat number....why? according to her, the aisle seat are all taken, i'd only get my seat assigned during boarding time....and all of my colleagues got their seat (and they are not even on aisle seats...tat's something i don understand ????? question marks all over)..that took us another 5 mins!!!
3. my luggage is only 5 pounds over the limit...ie abt 1kg++...the check in lady wanted to charge me for USD50!!! we all went WHAT??? it's only 5 pounds!!! and we wanted to check in together so tat i could utilise their weight...she refused and said "According to the Federal Law, you are prohibited to do so" WALAO...quote me the stupid law? so i had to take my luggage and transfer things to my colleagues. that took us another 5 mins!!!
4. Why am i going to HK, the check in lady wondered...i told her i work there, and she wanted me to prove to her...Does she want my OFFER LETTER? oh man...this is too prudent...it's none of her business why i'm going to HK right? nevertheless, i showed her my HKID just to speed things up...another 2 or 3 mins gone.

Finally, all of us were checked in, we proceed to the security point....LOOOooong Qs...and at that moment, i suddenly felt like i was back in India....sigh..US is just another version of India...ppl do things slowly and too many redundant (or i think redundant) controls....we took of our shoes (be it flip flops, high heels or sport shoes), bags, jackets etc (NO WATER, TQ) and after the whole thing, i felt so tired already...one of my colleagues got picked to do a more detailed "analysis"...he has to go through a vacuum, being wiped from head to toe, then body searching etc etc... After the painful process, i quickly called Cathay pacific to make sure my flight is ok...the conversation went like this: me: Hi, could you pls help me check if im on cx 883 or cx 881 as i have problem checking in at the counter just now. CP: yup, u are definitely on cx883. no mistake. me: Great. Thx for your help Phew, now im sure im on the same flight as my other colleagues...so we proceed to the gate...crap, flight delayed!!! so we went for dinner.... the flight from Baltimore to LA took 5 hours...i slept like a baby in the plane...at least the good thing abt not getting a seat 1st turn out to be ok...i got a nice window seat with no one seating beside me :)