LH1031 CDG FRA 1120 1235 321 24D

I got in the proper line, and then behind me an elderly couple
queued up and were kicked out! They made their way to the desk,
where it was determined that they should not have been kicked out
in the first place (more French efficiency), so they replanted
themselves. The people who had arrived in the meantime kindly
offered to give them their former places, but the couple stayed
put, and fine.

We ended up being delayed by late equipment, so some of the
other passengers had their share of anxieties, and there was
shuffling of seating to get people with short transit times
toward the front. I had an easy connection so didn't sweat it.

On-board lunch - a Leerdammer cheese (half-cream, cow's milk,
tasteless) with mayo, grainy mustard, and sweet cucumber on
sunflower rye. Another turn the taste buds off occasion, and
I didn't eat it all.

We landed half an hour late, and I wished the inconvenienced
passengers well - there were a lot of them with tight, some
now impossible, connections, especially, as I ruefully pointed
out to a lady leaving for Houston, that leaving Schengen takes
a while and a fairly long trek (the non-Schengen and Schengen
terminals are stacked, but you have to go to the end of one,
clear emigration, and then go up- or downstairs and trek all
the way back.

I on the other hand with still 3 hours cushion and my EasyPass,
strolled on over to the Schengen Senator lounge and relaxed for
a couple hours with ample provisions.

Andechs-style goulash soup tasted like Campbell's vegetable beef
with lots and lots of pepper thrown in. A Munich-style pork loin
with beer-caraway sauce and potato dumpling was perhaps not so
nice as in a Munich restaurant but still pretty respectable. I
felt well fed.

Ch. Borie de Noaillan 15, another red Bordeaux ordinaire, was more
balanced and better in general but probably not much more costly
than the stuff served at Paris.

Desserts included assorted cakes and cookies, Kaiserschmarrn,
none of which I bothered with, and Bavarian cream with redcurrant
and strawberry jam and elderflower jelly (good, rich, creamy);
the oddity was a dark beer jelly with meringue and butterscotch
cream (err, interesting).

Camus VSOP braced me for the possibility of a 10-hour flight in the
back of the bus, which is what happened.

I allowed close to an hour to get to my gate, but all of the half-
dozen automated checkpoints were closed, so there was a 20-min wait
for the regular exit, whose stolid policeman wouldn't believe that
I could have gone through expedited immigration without being a
German citizen. I was preparing for a long acrimonious battle when
he gave up and let me through. When I arrived at my gate, boarding
was well underway, and though I had been #3 for 3 spots up front,
no upgrade was forthcoming. Bear in mind that I paid over $1000
extra for an upgradeable ticket.

UA 927 FRA SFO 1725 2000 773 24D

Lufthansa had given me seat 24D on both flights - row 24 is apparently
the last row of not-in-business-class-non-Lufthansa-based elite
seating; on the short flight, I had a precious empty seat next to me;
on this one, I had two, but my armrest didn't go up, so other than
being able to store stuff, there wasn't much advantage.

This flight also had an electrical problem, so they had the mechanics
reboot the plane. Which came with some odd lighting effects, including
a brief multicolor burst from the monitors that had everyone gasping,
and other peculiarities auditory and visual, which were amusing for
some and disquieting for others.

Dinner was served. First a crunchy snack of pesto breadsticks, which
actually weren't bad, followed by a choice of spinach manicotti in
red sauce or chicken in red curry. I was also given the option of
an Indian vegetarian meal, apparently abandoned by the person who had
stolen my upgrade, as nobody else got this option. I had the chicken,
which was lip-burning spicy and not bad at all. It came with a bread
roll (not my thing), a couscous salad (heinous), gooey overcooked rice
(rather tasty), and a mix of red peppers and green beans (eh). For
afters, Loseley strawberries and clotted cream ice cream, actually
not too bad.

There was the somewhat nasty Redwood Vineyards Cabernet 15
(California), of which I had three splits, adding up to 3/4 of a
real bottle. When you're desperate, you're desperate. For some reason,
the somewhat charming couple in the exit row next to me got their wine
from business class, which rankled me just a hair.

The lady flight attendants, mostly more or less my age, were quite
jolly; the men ones, somewhat younger, were kind of unfriendly.

Midflight snack
Lorentz Crunchips paprika potato chips - slightly bittersweet paprika
flavor; pretty crisp and not bad; stained my fingers red; stale Kit Kats, really bad, and snack mix and gouda and crackers, which I didn't try.

We landed half an hour late, counting one go-around because of
unexplained objections from the tower.
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