I'm in  the middle of my month long "world tour" - I spent the first week of March in Moscow, the next two and a half around Europe attending various MongoDB meetups, and spending a few days sightseeing in Krakow and Prague (pictures coming soon, I hope!) and will finish off the month in Hong Kong giving a couple of talks at a couple of conferences.

This morning I went to CPH airport with plenty of time before my 9:00am flight to Dublin.  After seeing this picture which told me estimated security line wait was 19 minutes, I used the "Fast Track" lane which had zero wait and was in the terminal with time to spare and spent 25 minutes relaxing in the SAS lounge.

When I exited the lounge to head for my gate I realized that Ireland is outside of Schengen Area and that I would have to go through passport control.   It was around the same time that I realized that there was only a single line through passport control and it was really long.  

After looking for some sort of "fast lane" in vain, I joined the line, thinking there was maybe a very realistic chance that I would miss my flight (which would a first ever).  Luckily it was moving reasonably fast, and within a couple of minutes a second lane opened, though it was labeled "EU, EAA and CH passports only" or something like that.   When I got close to the split I risked getting into it (it was much shorter) and got lucky and a few minutes later got my passport stamped though with a stern admonition: "Next time use the right lane."

I'm thinking - that'll be a while - I haven't been in CPH since 2007 though I hope I won't have a long of a wait before I return.

This morning's flight had two firsts for me.  It was my first time flying with Blue1 (technically a subsidiary of SAS which I had flown for the first time yesterday).  It was also my first time flying on a Boeing 717.

I got to the plane as it was finishing boarding and settled in my seat 1D.  This was a regular coach seat as this plane is configured all coach.

We pushed back on time and took off mere minutes later.  

I can't say for sure, but it seemed within about five or ten minutes there was a relatively loud "bang" noise and the plane jerked a little bit.  It felt like something "jostled" us and it was followed by regular not very loud "boom" noises about 2-3 seconds apart.  They stopped after less than a minute and since the FAs didn't look worried, I didn't worry either.  I was sitting all the way in the front of the plane so I didn't see or smell anything (though apparently people sitting in the back did).

The sky was blue, the sun was out once we ascended above a thin cloud layer, and we were smoothly flying along till we started making a rather banked turn which felt like about 270° if not a complete 360° (it's hard to tell when there are no points to orient your direction way up high).

Sure enough, a few minutes later our Captain came on the intercom to announce that we had lost the use of the left engine and we were returning back to Copenhagen airport.  He reassured us that the plane was absolutely designed and built to be able to safely fly with the use of only one engine, but of course to be on the safe side we would return as quickly as possible and just as a precaution the airport would have rescue squads standing by.

The landing was as smooth and uneventful as I've ever had, and while normally I'm pretty disdainful of passengers clapping for the pilots after landing, in this case I thought it was quite appropriate.  You could tell that even though there were a lot of questions as a whole the passengers were quite relieved.

SAS was extremely professional - we were deplaned into an arrival gate area that was closed off just for us to keep us together (we had already gone through passport control so we were technically in "no-man's land") and had cases of bottled water for us.  They made frequent announcements about our plane (compressor failure in the left engine) and the Captain spoke to everyone explaining the details of what happened, how they dealt with it, how rare it is, and that he would be around to answer any other questions that anyone might have.

After a while they took us as a group back through passport control and to the transfer desk where everyone was offered a meal voucher and we were told that the replacement plane may be available to take off by 12:30 (original departure 9:00, back in the airport by 10:00).  Since I'm Star Alliance Gold I went to SAS lounge where I knew they had free food (though no herring!) and internet  and I started writing up this experience.


At passport control back into CPH Schengen, the passport officer glanced up at me with surprise and said "Welcome back, so soon".


The rest of the story was much less dramatic (or traumatic as this was for a couple of people on the flight).  They prepared an Airbus 320 which was scheduled for 13:00 and eventually took off close to 14:00.  Gaining an hour into Dublin, we arrived at 14:50 rather than expected 10am but everyone got there safe and sound.


Kudos to our pilots who have to deal with much worse conditions in their training and periodic flight simulator refreshers (every six months according to our captain) and who handled this extremely calmly and professionally, providing reassurances to the passengers that while this occurrence was extremely rare, we were not in any danger and they had the situation under control the whole way.

It happens every January...  You log into your FF account, and you see the long road again of you:

In even sadder development, 2014 will be the first year in a decade that I will not have United 1K status (after January 31st).  I will drop down to Premier Gold - luckily I have that for "lifetime" so I don't have to worry about dropping down any lower...

Some say the happiest place on Earth is that park with that mouse. If you ask me, there's no happier place than the TSA pre-check lane at the airport, especially when the regular and elite lanes are both long.

I was just dropped off at SNA (John Wayne Airport in Orange County) and it was about two minutes from curb to Gate area.  And I think most of it was spent walking around the long elite lane to get to the precheck lane!

Pre-check - making flying fun* again

[*] or at least much less of a hassle.

One of the best things about flying a lot is miles.  As in redeemable miles.  As in, earn so many miles that you can fly anywhere, any time, or for me, since I hate to forego earning miles, it means fly someone else with me, usually a companion - and my companions have gotten spoiled and like to fly Business/First class - and who can blame them?

So I'm spending Thanksgiving in New York with Mark and I'm looking for a mileage flight back for him for Sunday night after Thanksgiving.  Sure, it's a busy flight time, but paying double miles means never having to say "there are no award seats on this flight" so I just had to decide which airline had the better times and better availability.

Here is how it shook down between American, United and Delta, all for NYC-LAX for Business or Business/First:

No surprises on United - absolutely no "saver" availability, but all flights available for double mileage: 50K miles for Business/First is wide open.  And from JFK these are nice lie flat seats with entertainment system and lounge access.  Nice.

The picture pretty much looks the same on American - nothing in the saver buckets, but plenty in the full price awards - these are three class planes, so 50K gets you business, and 62.5K miles gets real First.

I want to know what planet Delta is operating on that they think that 140,000 miles for Business/First is in any way reasonable or competitive.  I understand they have three levels, and this must be peak.  Regular though looked to be 110,000 (available only for 7am departure) and who cares what "saver" is - even if it was ever available I don't see it being very competitive with other airlines.

And that is one of the many reasons I don't fly SkyTeam/Delta.  I like being able to use my miles and get some reasonably good value out of them.  Delta is not where that value is.

On Sunday we arrange to meet Alison and 20+ FlyerTalkers near Imperial Palace for a leisurely walk and viewing (and photographing) of cherry blossoms which were in full bloom.   Here are all my pictures, they probably don't need much commentary.

Then of course, there are the endless convenience stores and the amazing and entertaining foods that you can find there - familiar brands with very unfamiliar variants are very common.

Here's a version of "Frosted Flakes" but I guess they were not sweet enough as these are "Maple Waffles" flavor!   One thing I've always loved in Japan is that their desserts are a lot less sweet than US desserts - I guess this one is an exception (plus it's not even a dessert!)

Later that evening we headed to Haneda Airport (HND) to meet up with 20 other FTers to take a water tour of Tokyo along with some delicious tempura and beverages.   A question that came up was "does this count as a visited airport" since we didn't fly out of it...  we did depart from Haneda Pier though...

The boat may have been a bit smaller than I expected, but it was plenty big enough for our group and was a very enjoyable way to spend 2+ hours, even if we didn't get to use the Karaoke machine (I'm still bumming about that!)

We were served a nice meal with drinks and while we had to stay inside while the boat was moving, we stopped near some nice sights and were able to take some pictures.

On Friday we took the Shinkansen back to Tokyo.  We didn't have much time to make the transfer from the JR train in Shin-Osaka so we couldn't stand in long line at the ticket window or we would miss our train.  

While the ticket vending machines all have "English" mode it's not always clear what it's tell you to do - especially on the reserved seating trains where you have to have the fare for the train plus a ticket for reserved seat and the machine allows you to buy one, the other or both.

But it was all worth-while when we switched to the Subway in Tokyo to encounter this amazing ad.  I stared at it for a long time trying to figure out if it involved Bacon or bacon.  I think it must have been the former, but I'm just not sure.

We made our way to Grand Hyatt in Roppongi where we would stay for the next three days.

Because I'm platinum with Hyatt (recently dropped from Diamond but intent on getting back to the top), we had a nice upgraded room and some goodies waiting for us:

Our plans for the weekend involved some of the activities planned for Flyertalk Japan DO, in particular we would be meeting folks at an izakaya for dinner tonight, Friday night, then going on a dinner cruise on Saturday night and walking through Imperial Palace on Sunday taking in the beautiful Cherry Blossoms.

The izakaya chosen was in Ginza.  This is a crazy busy and crowded area of Tokyo at any time, but on Friday night, after work the place is absolutely jam-packed.

It wasn't hard to find the restaurant, thanks to great directions, and we enjoyed a meal of ... lots of stuff with some sixty+ flyertalkers from all over the world.

After dinner we walked around Ginza, taking in sometimes strange sights there:

The day after Kyoto we went to Osaka.  Maybe it was the neighborhood we were in, but it seemed that food serving establishments loved to display in very "visible" way what exactly they are serving:

We walked around, had some food, saw some sights...

Nothing too memorable - well, except some strange signs and business names that would never work in the US or any other English speaking country...

On Wednesday we spend the day in Kyoto.  It's about an hour by train from where we are staying and we get there a little after 11am.   

By the way, this was the first time in as long as I can remember when trains were running late in Japan.  I'm sure it happens often enough, I just can't remember the last time that happened.

We had no specific plan, just to take the train, stop by Yodobashi Camera to pick up a SIM card for my phone (which I can't seem to activate because you need a Japanese cell phone to activate it!) walk around, see the sights, get some food and then head back when we're bored or tired.

After shopping we end up at one of the bazzillion shrines in Kyoto - this one just North of Kyoto station.

In addition to gorgeous architectural details, it's full blast cherry blossom season and I keep taking pictures!

We get hungry for lunch and start wandering towards what we think is an area with high food concentration. Strangely, the most common sight in the area we were in were French restaurants.  And I mean a lot of them!

Eventually we got to Shinkyogoku area, which offered plenty of unusual sights and food options!  We ended up at a BBQ eel place, having unagi over rice, me with egg, Ben without.   Then we headed off to Kaleidoscope Museum, which was a lot of fun (sorry, no pictures were allowed). 

We finished off the day by having a lovely Kyoto style Kaiseki which you can read about and see here.

This morning we headed off to find a post office or 7-11 (for the ATMs that accept US cards) and then to visit some local sake breweries, maybe do some sampling (Ben) and some picture taking (Asya) and whatever else we happen to come across that looks interesting.

Not only was the weather absolutely beautiful, but the cherry blossoms were in full bloom and made everything look absolutely delightful. 
 
I can see why people like to visit Japan at this time of year!

We quickly found ATM, got cash (because most places in Japan don't take credit cards, even among ones that cater to tourists!) and went to visit three of the half-dozen sake breweries which were within 20-30 minute walk.

I have absolutely no idea what the sign says in this little park/monument, but I know that it has a green leaf on it that looks just like MongoDB green leaf!

After the breweries, we decided we were hungry but couldn't find much around that area, so we hopped on a train to find better lunch options in Kobe.  You can see the result on the food page.

We then walked around the part of Kobe between JR Kobe Station and Harbor Front.

We saw this cool building (above) that looked like a church or a hotel, but the sign on it said "Estacion Kobe" - I eventually found lots of pictures of it on the internet but still didn't figure out what it is!

In one of the malls we were walking through there was a fascinating huge part-art part-mechanism of unknown purpose.  

And on our way out we saw this, uh, creature.  No idea what it was, but it looked comfortable sitting there, so Ben took a seat next to it for a minute.