I fly American Airlines as much as I can because I have lifetime Platinum status with them, and that status carries with it some very useful privileges: access to exit-row seats when you book online, early boarding, higher probability of upgrades to first class, and free baggage checking.
American was not a good option for the Gulfport/Biloxi airport, however, so I flew on Delta, where my status is that of a typical modern airline passenger, which is to say, none whatsoever. The airlines do a pretty good job of making it clear that they don't like us passengers and wish they didn't have to bother with us, were it not for that whole getting paid thing.
Having said all that, today's two flights were no more of a human cattle march than is typical nowadays, and on neither flight did my knees actually touch my chest for very long, so I have little to complain about.
One traveling tidbit of note: On the regional jet from Atlanta to here, the flight attendant had to get someone--as it turned out, a rather large man--to move from the first four rows to the last row to "correct a weight imbalance." The captain would not take off without this change.
This announcement did not make the man happy, and it certainly didn't improve the spirits of the rest of us. I've never heard of it happening before, nor had any of the people around me.
As we were descending, less than twenty minutes out, this same large man walked forward to his previous seat to chat with his friend.
As you might imagine, all eyes were on him, and many of us mumbled threats.
Fortunately, he eventually returned to his seat, and we landed safely.
After settling into the fabled Super 8, we joined a large group of guests and CoastCon staff for dinner at a local Japanese steak and sushi house. Our end of the table included artist guest of honor and Hugo Best Artist nominee, John Picacio, his wife, and a fun fan couple; my apologies for only remembering John's name, but in my defense, he's the only one I've met before. We all chatted pleasantly and happily, I caused a few stomach cramps with the story of what the cat did to--well, forget that, not here--and the food was decent.
I learned when I got back to the room that the Hugo award ballot is out. Though I must be honest and confess I harbor a hope of one day having a novel appear on this ballot, I can honestly say the novel contenders are strong and more than worthy, and I send my congratulations to all their authors. As I expect will be true for most readers, choosing among these books will be difficult.
Tomorrow, I have many panels--check my Appearances page for details--and I still have a ton of work to complete before I can go to bed, so to my chores I go.
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