ANA had issued me with a meal coupon worth $45 (alcohol and gratuity excluded) because of the delay, caused apparently by some maintenance issue.\u00c2\u00a0 I am not one to pass on free food, so I took the coupon to what looked like the most expensive restaurant in the B concourse, Max and Erma’s.\u00c2\u00a0 It was sit-down, which made me think it was expensive, and I did realize that tempting as it might be, $45 of Ben & Jerry’s in one sitting would make me sick.\u00c2\u00a0 Well, all my efforts were for naught.\u00c2\u00a0 If I hadn’t finished my salad, and instead ordered and eaten part of an extra large cheeseburger, I could have bumped the total up to $30.\u00c2\u00a0 As it was, I maxed out at $18.62.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s just over a third of those $45.\u00c2\u00a0 Can anyone eat for $45 when the most expensive entr\u00c3\u00a9e is around $13?\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, wait, this is America, home of the can-do attitude… but don’t offer that customer a mint!\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
I’ve never seen as empty a flight.\u00c2\u00a0 Apparently the delay caused the emptiness, though I’m unsure how.\u00c2\u00a0 For the first time ever I got to stretch out across three seats and sleep like that, although three seats aren’t nearly enough for someone my height to really stretch out on.\u00c2\u00a0 I alternated between lying on my back, lying on my side, and sitting in the seat as intended, because every position made my back hurt differently.\u00c2\u00a0 But I slept for most of the 13-hour flight.\u00c2\u00a0 You could tell the flight was empty – if the empty seats weren’t enough of an indication – by the relaxed flight attendants.\u00c2\u00a0 One of them asked me about the book i was reading, another offered to get me dinner even though I had just slept through it.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
ANA uses coffee grounds in a cup with a flower blossom on them to deodorize the bathroom.\u00c2\u00a0 I didn’t know coffee grounds were a deodorant.\u00c2\u00a0 I also yet again wondered what the little tail outlets on aircraft are for.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
The plane made up about one hour of its delay in the air.\u00c2\u00a0 Delay at Narita airport was minimal, and I was particularly happy at the floor markings banning carts from about four feet of the baggage claim.\u00c2\u00a0 It had the nice effect of all the people waiting behind the markings as well.\u00c2\u00a0 Thumbs up!\u00c2\u00a0 (I suppose it helps that most passengers are rule-abiding Japanese.)\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Carnet A.T.A. passed well, except that I had to go rooting through my other suitcase to find a business card to show I belonged to Nanosurf.\u00c2\u00a0 They were the first to ask what “gem\u00c3\u00a4ss Vollmacht” meant.\u00c2\u00a0 I also noticed when I had to open the suitcase that the TSA<\/a> had again inspected my stuff and not even closed the elastic straps back up.\u00c2\u00a0 No damage, as far as I can see, and I wouldn’t expect any, even without the straps, but the TSA keep inspecting and keep leaving just\u00c2\u00a0enough of a\u00c2\u00a0mess to bother me.\u00c2\u00a0 I saw that they’d instituted a blog<\/a>, so I went and commented.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n