I’m on the 11:45am Delta flight from Seattle to Narita. To confuse people, there’s a 12:30 JAL flight to Narita that’s from the adjacent gate, so everyone began to mill around, baffled and confused.
Then the Delta gate staff began to make announcements, mumbling as quietly as they could. Derisory shouts from the crowd began to echo around the terminal, and then the Delta staff apologised, saying there was a problem with the PA system.
Their apology was drowned out by an announcement from the JAL desk, which apparently had no problems with the PA at all, and that implied to the waiting masses that the Delta staff were shy rather than suffering from poor technology.
Along the way there’s been requests for two people to downgrade from first class to a lower cabin (how did they manage to over book first class?) and then a series of mumbled announcements asking different people to line up – and while it’s gratifying to see how inventive they are now, did the world need to distinguish Platinum from Diamond from Delta One from Comfort Plus and try to get them all on before boarding small children and the elderly?
I can’t complain too much, given I am now in a seat, but there was a nagging sense that they could have been a lot more efficient about it than they were. At least we should be on the way to Tokyo soon. (Unless the Curse of Delta strikes me again and the plane engines don’t start, or the plane is actually rerouted to Salt Lake City, or some other daftness.) Onwards, probably upwards.