ON THE ROAD TO INDIA 1987

                                           ON THE ROAD TO INDIA…

                              By Aubrey W.A. Weldon

At the beginning of this adventure, the most trivial task to do was to get from San Francisco to Los Angeles.  Easy, right!  Wrong! I thought that I would use my usual native insight and prow ness by arriving at the airport at least an hour and one half before flight time, or more like "fight time."

Well, Marie, a most wonderful woman, got me to the airport around 5.30 p.m. I went to the long line at the PSA counter, though it moved quickly, I had expected to be standing and waiting for quite some time.  The ticket agent was efficient and pleasant. I immediately had her place my frequent flyer number on my ticket so I would get mileage credit for the trip. That's me, never drop a beat!

My plane was not scheduled to leave until 7 p.m.; however, there was a flight leaving at 6 p.m., so I thought 1 would go for it.  The agent gave me a standby number and I proceeded through the security baggage area.  By the way, just before I entered the area, I pass a small shoeshine stand where a group of people was watching the 49er game on television. I looked for a brief moment and asked the score, it was twenty zip 49gers.  That was good news.

I proceeded through the security area and headed for gate four (4). I told the ticket agent that I was a standby passenger.  He said, "Fine, give me your ticket and I will see if I can get you on. I gave him my ticket and went over to sit down next to a strange looking woman, somewhat un-kept, what the hell, we can't all be perfect models of western idealism.

            I took out my travel insurance form and made out a check for $55.00 for $1000.00 worth of insurance.  I didn't feel too good about this trip because my travel agent left me few assurances that there would be no problems.  As a matter of fact, she was quite skeptical about everything concerning the trip. My confidence had been shaken from the outset, but that's not difficult to do.  Prior to booking the trip, the price was increased, and it was cut shorter but no fare decrease.  Then, about a month before leaving, she called and told me that if I wanted to fly to Singapore from San Francisco, I would have to pay $50.00 more.  The trip was advertised as leaving from San Francisco. Of course I had already paid the complete price for the entire trip and San Francisco was where I leaving from.  I was told that absent the additional $50.00, I would have to fly Out of Los Angeles.  This little trick did not surprise me because it just happened to me on a special trip package with PSA to Tahiti.  It was suppose to leave from San Francisco but I had to go to Los Angeles first.  Interesting wor1d isn't it!

Nevertheless, it was a short time later when the ticket agent called out the standbys and I was the first one on the list.  This plane was to leave at 6 p.m.; however, it was now 6:20 p.m. when the names on standby were being called out.  Thank Ronald Reagan for deregulation!

While waiting to board, a startling announcement came over the, public address system.  "All PSA passengers on the 7 p.m. flight to Los Angeles with international connections please report to gate 2." I immediately grabbed my bags and headed for the gate.  At that gate, we were rudely told that the plane for 7 p.m. might have mechanical problems and that we must be booked on a flight leaving at 6:35 p.m., at gate 8 for Los Angeles.

I told the man that I was already on standby and had been given a seat on the 6 p.m. flight, which had not left, and it was 6:00 p.m. He said, "You re all set then." I said, "0.k., I will stay on that flight." I proceeded back to the gate 2 area to wait For the 6 p.m. flight to leave.

At 6:27 p.m., the agent at gate 2 made the following announcement: " The, 6:00 p.m. flight would be delayed further because they didn't have a flight crew, that the one scheduled for that flight was out of hours.  Just as this announcement was being made some Looney tune came up to me and said, "What did he say?" I said, "he said we have another fuck up as usual" and I immediately gather my bags and headed for gate 8.

At gate 8 I explain the problem to the agent, a nice female, even though the situation was frantic.  She booked me on that flight which was to leave at 6:35 p.m., it had just arrived from Las Vegas and would need to be cleaned and refueled before departure. It was 6:30 p.m.

I decided to wonder back over to gate 4 to see how that catastrophe was progressing. Just as I stepped into the boarding area, they started the boarding announcement for passengers with small children and those passengers needing special assistance. I walk over to the ticket counter to see if my seat had been taken. It was gone! He said that I could wait and see if a seat was left over.

Well, I had enough excitement for one evening, so I decided to stick it out at gate 8 come hell or high water. The boarding procedures at gate 8 started around 6: 50 p.m. I found my seat and promptly started to read my book called "The Day the Universe Changed by James Burke." The plane finally taxied to the runway around 7:10 p.m. and we were air born around 7: 2 0 p.m.

It was a nice flight.  Very fast!  It felt like we were in the air less than forty (40) minutes.  Impossible!  There was this little kid sitting in front of me who was having a joy of a lifetime watching the plane take off and providing a blow by blow description all the way. When we landed in Los Angeles, he shouted "touchdown," just as the wheels hit the ground.  What a joy!  It would be great to be young again but wise as well.