Ryan's Journal

On my flight out to Ireland, the first after conniving my way into Gold status, the flight crew found there was something irreparable about the plane and had us deboard back into the gate to await "new equipment," also known as the spare, fully-functional, and inspected planes they have sitting around in the back lot.

Gold status gets you, amongst other things, first-class check-in, the first-class security line, and first dibs on boarding. These gate-area benefits are really only visible if there are huge check-in lines, larger security lines, and multiple boarding groups, and if you get there early enough.

Today was my second flight with Gold. I was running late. Did l'or help? E-ticket self-service lines were shorter than first-class check-in, so I passed on that. The security agent took quite some time to re-acknowledge my existence after attempting to shuffle me into commercial class check-in, so that only helped a bit. And I was one of the last people to get on the plane, despite arriving at the gate one minute before boarding was scheduled to begin.

Then they found something wrong with a nose gear. They ended up looking for some equipment.

So it looks like Gold bought me freedom from ever worrying about being late for these things. They just ground the first plane and reboard another an hour later. I'll have to take advantage of this perk next time.

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