I s 1992 calling me? I ask because I just unexpectedly scored something which I had not experienced in years: the passenger load on my flight from New York to Amsterdam was so light that many of the passengers had the option to move to empty rows of seats in the middle of the Airbus A330 aircraft, which are four across…
…and that is what I did after the airplane departed: I snagged one of those rows and — aside from the meal services — slept for several hours through most of the entire flight in my ersatz economy class lie-flat seat. This was important because I basically did not get any sleep the night before at Washington Dulles International Airport.
The photograph displayed at the top of this article shows my “bed” for the night — complete with plenty of pillows and blankets…
…which means that I actually abandoned my window seat — something I very rarely do.
Passengers did not fill up the aircraft much more than what you see in the photograph shown below.
There was a couple with a young child — slightly older than a typical baby; but not quite a toddler just yet. I do not know its gender; but it would not stop whining and “fake” crying, which started long before the airplane left the gate — so I know it was not an ear pressure equalization issue.
The mother would say things such as “Use your talking voice” and “why are you whining?” — but did little else to quell the irritating whining, which was accompanied by sighing. Fortunately, it stopped — I do not know how and I do not care, as long as it stopped — just as I settled in to go to sleep and did not start again until just prior to landing at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
I had a choice of meals: the beef stroganoff; vegetarian pasta; or the shrimp salad. I chose the shrimp salad. The shrimp were quite tasty…
…but other than the lettuce and asparagus, the salad part was not all that good: radishes, strong red onions, zucchini, yellow and red peppers were dominant in the salad. I chose not to eat that part.
I was awakened to the snack box for breakfast approximately an hour before landing.
I do not get all of the hype with “Greek” yogurt. I ate it. It was fine — nothing great. Perhaps George from TravelBloggerBuzz can assist here.
By the way, one of the flight attendants asked where was my final destination. As with the agent in the Delta Sky Club in New York, she had no idea where Muscat or Oman is located.
Anyway — aside from the whiny baby — the flight was great: plenty of room to stretch out and sleep; never a line to use the lavatory; quick service even though the flight attendants were not quite as friendly as usual for Delta Air Lines; and a smooth flight aside from one small bout of turbulence shortly after take-off.
Now on to Muscat…
All photographs ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
