Backgrounder: Kay Hughes, airline attendant for today’ s non-stop coast-to-coast airline flight is busy checking her catering order and prepping the cabin. Bob Harmon may be the captain and Jeff Mortowski is his first officer. The pax are from several businesses from the New York area or men and women on personal enterprise who have bought seats on his flight.
The Story: Kay woke up using a begin since the alarm on her clock radio blared. Reaching across her pillow, she noticed the time, 5:15, and hammered the snooze button from the hopes of grabbing an additional five moments of sleep. Tired as she was, her mind began to race as she considered the day time ahead. In less than four hours she could well be enroute to L.A. with an aircraft complete of passengers. Slowly the imagined of added sleep became less important as she considered all that she had to do prior to leaving Teterboro. Quietly she slipped on her robe and slippers, poured herself a cup of coffee, and slinked into the shower.
This was the return journey residence from our 12-day go to to Argentina, which was booked several months in advance, redeeming reward points from our Air Canada Aeroplan frequent flyer account. Given the excellent distance and prolonged journey time from Canada down to Argentina, comfort was a priority. So we made the decision to splurge treating ourselves to Business Class reward tickets. We truly boarded the airline at its origin at Ezeiza Airport in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with the short two-hour hop across the Andes to Santiago, Chile.
It was 6:48 and by now she could really feel the heat lifting off from the pavement.
Kay greeted Jeff who was busy overseeing the fuel delivery; she then climbed onboard the G-V and gave a similar greeting to Bob who was occupied with updating paperwork. Minutes later Kay turned to assist the approaching caterer with the day’s order. Within the hour, the first on the travellers began to arrive. Each sat within the lobby from the FBO holding out to get boarded. At precisely 8:00 a.m., Kay left the aircraft and walked down the ramp towards the FBO. “Ladies and Gentlemen, Jet Aviation Flight #001 departing TEB for LAX is now boarding. Once you’re cleared, you will likely be boarded. Thank you for flying Jet Aviation and get pleasure from your flight.”
Kay turned and left the FBO and walked back towards aircraft. Both pilots were definitely onboard completing their preflight preparations. She knew that with fourteen invitees the security clearance would take a bit longer than normal.
The Business Class cabin was two thirds empty on the two hour Buenos Aires – Santiago sector, and we landed an hour of so before sun down in clear and warm conditions, using the Captain informing us it absolutely was still 29 degrees C. All guests had been deplaned at Santiago during the one particular hour station stop, in purchase that the plane could possibly be groomed for that long-haul airline flight back to Toronto. Interestingly enough, Air Canada has traffic rights in between Buenos Aires and Santiago, so some travellers left us, but a larger quantity along using the new crew have been waiting to join the trip at gate 15 within the new Santiago Airport terminal. It was stifling warm as we waited to board the flight, though the Servisair-GlobeGround contract agents boarded the plane efficiently, there was no advance boarding for Business-Class travellers as usual in Canada.
As we took our seats 2D and 2F in a total Business-Class cabin, National Post and Globe and Mail newspapers had been handed out, along with a Spanish language Chilean paper. I made a decision the check the magazine rack for some interesting in-flight reading material only to uncover Canadian Living, Chatellaine, Canada Food and Wine, and Canadian Fishing; titles that are of little interest to most enterprise travelers. Our flight journey was under the command of Captain Green, and he did not supply the people having a welcome aboard announcement telling us about flying time, planned routing, enroute weather, or weather at destination.
Three airline attendants were allocated to the 25 passengers from the Business-Class cabin, with two working the cabin, and a single working the galley preparing meals and drinks. Prior to take-off the menus were distributed, with people having a principal course selection of Grilled Chicken Breast served in excess of linguini with pesto, Over-baked Crabmeat and Corn Boat provided on rice pilaf, or Tortellini filled with mushroom accented by Bechamel and Tomato Basil Sauces. As the airline flight was full, Gloria worked with her colleagues inside the coach cabin for your duration on the flight.
Kay thought to be waiting inside the cabin to maintain cool, but knew that it was important that she greet the travellers in the base in the methods in case one particular of them necessary assistance climbing up.” It need to already be 85 degrees out here,” she considered as she watched the heat vapors rise off the pavement.
After what seemed like an inordinate delay — Kay’s hair was gradually losing style inside heat — Bob poked his head out in the cockpit and said, “Sorry for your delay, but we caught a different one. The remaining invitees checked out okay, but we’ll be delayed until the agents finish interviewing them to see if they knew the guy.” Despite the heat, Kay shivered as she considered of the potential chain of events a terrorist onboard the plane could possibly unleash.
At 1015 PM around 30 mins after departure, the 1st drink assistance started, and my travel partner and I enjoyed the flight’s featured cocktail, the Iceberg Cosmopolitan (a refreshing mixture of Newfoundland-made Iceberg Vodka mixed with cranberry juice and a splash of Grand Marnier). This was soon following followed by a warm towel service, and 45 minutes soon after departure the Captain had nevertheless not welcomed us aboard the trip that has a standard airline synopsis announcement.
Her fears gradually subsided when Jeff reminded her that the VOICE RECOGNITION IDENTIFICATION TECHNOLOGY (VRIT) unit inside FBO was flawless in the almost six months of use. Over that time, twenty-six folks having a criminal element were definitely pulled, most of whom had been charged previously with petty crimes [such as tax evasion] and ended up either around the run or will be in violation of their parole restrictions had they left the state.
The Boeing 767-300 for our trip was C-GBZR, a former Canadian Airlines aircraft, which even now retained its dark blue Canadian Airlines interior, which in my opinion is not as great as Air Canada’s Business Class interior. The Business-Class cabin seating was comfortable with ample pitch, configured with five rows of 1-2-2. However, the seats are not fully-reclining as compared to the Business-Class seats on most other Air Canada 767-300s, which recline to near flat.
In addition, a change inside the way we do business, i.e., offering seats to people as opposed to promoting the whole trip to some business or an individual would need to happen — no longer would you’ve a lead passenger who could identify all of the other passengers. VRIT is now inside reach and will, far more than likely, turn out to be the norm of the day. Essentially, it works this way: an individual speaks into a device that immediately matches the voice pattern with one particular inside the database. The data source identifies the man or woman and when a match is made, the man or woman is cleared [unless the database turns up a warrant for their arrest].
White table clothes would have been nicer… classier. Fifteen minutes later a cold starter plate was served, consisting of Prosciutto Ham and marinated Heart of Palm, which was extremely nice. About 20 mins right after the cold plate service, the main course was served. I chose the Over-baked Crabmeat and Corn Boat, which was available, and it was served hot on fine china, and was really delicious! A dinner drink support was offered to accompany the meal and I had a good glass of red wine. The meal portions were definitely sufficient, along with the food taste and presentation was to some high standard.
This could happen if VRIT becomes as mandatory as holding a social safety quantity or a driver’s license. Foreign nationals would have being keyed in to the exact same process to generate it work, so the prospective for any worldwide Orwellian-type system would be great.
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