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Tuesday, January 24, 2006

At LAX, waiting for the redeye 

Every couple of years I take the "redeye" back from the West Coast, and then swear an oath that I will never do it again. Then the memory of the agony fades, and -- being a glutton for punishment -- I decide "that wasn't so bad" and I do it again. Sitting here waiting for my 9:55 flight, which will land in Newark at 5:50 Tuesday morning, Allah willing, I can't quite extinguish the idea that I'm too old for this shit. To make matters worse, I am coming down with a fairly severe cold, which will probably get in the way of any sleep.

Of course, I have a strategy: a flagon of India pale ale followed by a couple of Nyquil LiquiCaps. If you hear tomorrow that there's a dead guy in seat 12D, Continental flight 1803, somebody tell Glenn Reynolds. And my family.

On the bright side, it seems as if the average traveler is a lot more civil at this hour. People happily share their table at the crowded airport bar, and everybody is very courteous and deferential. Perhaps, like soldiers the night before a big battle, redeye passengers do not want to leave this world with a serious karma deficit. Or maybe we're simply too tired not to be courteous.

4 Comments:

By Blogger John Fisher, at Tue Jan 24, 06:32:00 AM:

I gave up on redeyes after one a few years ago that featured several screaming babies.  

By Blogger Cassandra, at Tue Jan 24, 10:13:00 AM:

Ugh. I hate that particular time slot.

But I'm a confirmed JetBlue fan - I took them whenever possible from Cali - don't know if you've tried them yet, but I can't say enough good things about them.

Plus the nice thing is that you can fly out of Long Beach, which is a *much* nicer airport (and far less crowded than LAX or Oakland).  

By Blogger Cardinalpark, at Tue Jan 24, 02:24:00 PM:

You can also fly them out of San Jose, Burbank, San Diego or Ontario, for those committed transcon flyers...just fyi...  

By Anonymous Anonymous, at Tue Jan 24, 02:52:00 PM:

I last took a redeye while in my twenties. The idea of getting home early but near death no longer appeals to me. However, the last one I took was on a near empty DC-10 so I could stretch over across the center seats.

Whats worse is the Friday Frankfurt to Dulles flight that gets you in at 4 pm. A long flight, jet lag setting in, and dealing with the DC beltway traffic at rush hour is too much to take.  

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