We arrived at GIG at 7pm, but the Real Omnibus driver convinced us that American Airlines was in terminal 1 (after we got off at terminal 2 and wanted our bags from under the bus). Of course, we were right and American Airlines was in terminal 2. This forced us to walk 10 minutes with our bags between terminals – which was not nearly as long as we expected after seeing how long it took the bus to drive between terminals.
We hurried to the check-in counter, which was madness. We had no confirmation code, and although Katie had a seat, JT was unable to select any seat. We waited in line for so incredibly long! They attempted to manage the lines after a while, but only made things worse.
We finally checked in and JT still did not get a seat because he was ‘white listed’. We got through security quickly, but then the line for customs was long. As we were heading to our gate, an airline personnel passed us and said ‘walk faster’. When we got to the gate they hustled Katie on and quickly gave JT a seat assignment. They assigned JT 13G and Katie 32J.
American Airlines Flight 250 – Rio to Dallas
After being hurried on to the plane, we did not end up leaving the gate until around 10pm! It seemed the girl next to Katie was getting ready to move to Los Angles to start a PhD program at the University of Southern California. She seemed nervous about moving so far away from home.
We ate dinner, which was a salad, bread, crackers with a tub of cheese, chicken in creamy sauce, peas, mashed potatoes, and cookies. We also both got red wine with our meal.
Then Katie went to sleep while JT stayed up and watched the Muppets movie. Katie slept decently with ear plugs in, although she did wake up with back pain periodically. JT slept rather poorly.
Katie woke up to find the breakfast cart coming down the aisle. Breakfast was small – 6 small pieces of fruit, cheese bread, orange juice in a box, and choice of juice or coffee.
We arrived in Dallas at 6:20am. We used the Global Entry kiosks in customs, went through a checkpoint, claimed our luggage (at which point we noticed JT’s bag was marked ‘standby’), went through another checkpoint, rechecked our baggage, and went through security again. After all this, we went to sit in the international departures terminal for a while. JT caught up on voicemail and text messages, while Katie caught up on email and blogging.
We headed to our gate in the C terminal about 35 minutes before our 8:20 departure. When we arrived, almost everyone was boarded.
American Airlines Flight 1475 – Dallas to Austin
We boarded – JT to his 14F exit row window and Katie to 24F. There was originally a larger man in the middle seat in Katie’s row, but he moved a row back when only one person showed in the 3-seat area. The plane was scheduled to be rather full, but in reality most middle seats at the back of the plane were empty. It was a quick, uneventful flight.
Once in Austin, we must have barely missed the 9:30am airport flyer and had to wait in the wonderful Texas heat for the 10am bus.
Hmmm .. White list, you should be glad you did not get put on the brown list .. (:-)