How the other half doesn't live

Well it's back to the US of A for me.  Headed back to work for a few weeks and spend some time with my dad.  If you saw my post about my last flight you will remember that it was rather scary, what with the gasoline fumes, the turning around and landing right after take off etc.  Hoping tonight's will be more routine...triple wrapped chicken, movie, pretend to sleep, triple wrapped eggs and land in Philadelphia.  With of course crying babies in the background---but hey they're not my crying kids so it's  not so bad.  Anyway, after my last flight I received an e-mail from US Air letting me know that I had been upgraded to silver preferred.  This meant complementary upgrades to first class if there was a seat available and a waiver of one checked bag fee.  Wow was I excited.  I have been dreaming of my first class experience and at this point even the grocery store clerk knows that I might be flying first class.

Well, ladies and gentleman, don't believe the hype.  First class upgrades are only "when available."  That means not for flights to Hawaii, Europe, South America or the Middle East.  That leaves Asia, Africa and domestic travel available for upgrades.  But wait!  US Air doesn't seem to fly to Africa, and their only Asian destination is Japan.   That leaves Japan and domestic flights.  But wait!  For flights that are short distances--like halfway across the country from Philadelphia to Kansas City--US AIR uses small planes that do not have first class seating arrangements.

So I guess I won't get to see how the other half lives.  But at least I get to bring an extra checked bag free of charge so that I can bring back more things from Target and Costco.

But wait!  It turns out, everyone on the international flights gets a free checked bag, and while the small print didn't say these things were mutually exclusive, US Air's very flexible customer service department assured me that they are.

The whole thing kind of reminded me of when Bart and Lisa tried to hire a lawyer on the Simpsons:

http://vimeo.com/52752274

Israelis are not the only ones with bureaucracy, it seems. . .


Switching topics to "family and friends visiting Israel", my Aunt Marlene and Uncle Hyman were visiting in Israel this week and we had the pleasure of joining them for dinner in their hotel.  Hyman was a hit, especially with his introducing us to the MLB phone app (for watching major league baseball), and Marlene was very indulgent of our children's multiple entree predilections.

It was kind've funny to be the Israeli family that your American relatives take out for dinner. . .