Flying Helmut

Philadelphia International Airport

Philly Airport’s passenger building is shaped like a huge banana – Terminal A West is at one end, and Terminal F is at the other. I arrived at the former, and was to depart from the latter, so I needed to travel the entire length of the building; about a 30 minute walk. There was an airport bus service available, but I thought I’d see more if I “hoofed it”, and, anyway, I had hours to kill before my connecting flight departed.

I took my time, viewing all the mysterious pieces of “artwork” which lined my route. They were mostly sculptures of one kind or another, all brightly coloured, many with flowery motifs. I didn’t feel like photographing them (too “touristy” even for me!).

I couldn’t resist taking this photograph, though…seems ‘Our Hero’ got here before me!


My Wisconsin Airlines connecting flight to Dayton was due to leave from Gate F27, so I made my way there.


Having found it, I then doubled back to the food court to get a bite to eat: I wouldn’t get in to Dayton until well after 22:00, and I had already been on the go for 14 hours, with another 4 or 5 ahead of me.
I opted for a ‘Smash Burger’ since I’d never heard of this brand before, and I was keen to try “local” food and drink on this trip (I can’t stand those folks who go abroad and yet insist on eating cuisine from their own country of residence!).


It wasn’t bad at all. Then I made my way back to Gate F27, to be ready for boarding.


Now the Games began!
At my earlier visit, the Departures Board at Gate F27 had shown three flights going out to Ohio which had caught my attention; 15:00 to Columbus, 17:30 to Columbus, and 20:35 to Dayton (my flight). Upon return to Gate F27, I noticed that the Departures Board had changed, to 15:00 to Columbus – Departed, and 17:30 to Columbus – Cancelled.
While I was waiting, a number of people arrived at the Gate for their now-Cancelled flight; the young lady on duty politely informed them that they could get on the Dayton flight instead. I knew this would be tricky, since the Dayton flight was full!

Then a group of four men arrived – one older (? Father) and three younger (? Sons). They cheerfully announced that they only had three tickets for the Dayton flight, but that a friend had reliably informed them that they could use a fourth ticket (for a different flight) at the Departure Gate….
Of course, the young lady told them this was not so, and the older man launched into a tirade, threatening to sue United Airlines and all and sundry.
At this point, a dozen or so other would-be passengers arrived, trying to get onto the Dayton flight. The beleaguered young lady called for assistance, and another staff member duly arrived; she took on the task of arguing with the four men, while the first staff member juggled the new arrivals with the already-full aircraft.

Now a female Cabin Crew member strolled up, and she requested a Jump Seat on the already-full Dayton flight! She was told there was no space, and she stowed her bags under the desk and joined in the bunfight, which now had swollen to around 20 people!

The Staff ladies asked us all whether anyone who was already booked onto the Dayton flight would like to give up their seat, offering discounts and freebie packages to any takers – there were no takers.

I started to worry that I might not get onto this flight – especially now that two male pilots had arrived, and they had also requested Jump Seats for themselves as well!
Security had by now sent two members along to help with the unruly foursome, and, at last, our aircraft had arrived at the Gate, and its passengers had pushed their way through the throng and had escaped into the airport proper!

When the staff announced Boarding, I hurried to the desk to present my papers, to discover that all three of the passengers in front of me had carry-on bags which were too large for the testing frame!!! They all had to check their bags into the cargo hold now, and they were holding things up even more! Why hadn’t they tested them earlier?

The upside to this is that when I tried to show my documents, the frazzled first young lady Staff member simply waved me through with a weary “Just get on the plane, please.” invitation.
PHEW!!!! I was on the aircraft!

On the seating plan displayed on the United Airlines website, every single seat had been taken. I had been assigned an aisle seat (smile); when I found it, the window seat passenger next to me was a small slim girl who was already curled up against the fuselage wall, so I had plenty of room once again! She slept the whole way to Dayton. I was tired by now, so didn’t record any details about this flight. It arrived in Dayton on time.

Dayton

After collecting my checked suitcase I headed for the exit, to find not just Jim O’Neill (rhodie80) waiting for me, but also Peter (Teaticket), who was staying overnight with Jim before heading on to Columbus. I'd met Peter before, when he attended a Doncaster gathering, but Jim was a new face-to-face meeting. The drive to Beavercreek in Jim's car was short and uneventful.

We were staying with Jackie, Jim’s significant other, inside whose house a lovely sight greeted me in the guest bedroom…!


We went down to the lounge room, which was located in the basement, for a chat and a nightcap.
Relaxing in comfy chairs, we chatted a bit, then a bit more, then a bit more…Finally, an exasperated Peter declared that he would have to be the "Responsible Adult" and tell us to go to bed!!! After all, we had an early start in the morning.
Quite right, too!