I’m on my first flight at what I hope is the end of the pandemic. (No, it’s not over. It will be a long time before we get there. Learning to live with it means learning to wear masks, get vaccinated, and isolate as required)

I’m on the way to IETF113, in Vienna Austria. I decided to fly direct from Montreal. In general, I prefer to take a shorter KLM/AirFrance flight Montreal to Schipol (AMS) and then take a (fast) train. I think that short-haul flights are unethical waste of fuel.

I made the decision to fly direct because the rules and regulations around COVID seemed to be changing a lot, becoming inconsistent even between European countries at times. I read of some group who flew into Schipol, and the regulations changed while they were in the air. Schipol was alas, unprepared to quarantine the people on the plane when they arrived.

I figured, flying direct meant that I only had to deal with one departure airport, entry to one country,etc. But this meant flying Air Canada partner, Austrian Airline. I won’t fly Air Canada: they have screwed me over too many times. Like United (a partner…) they don’t actually sell tickets, all tickets are effectively “standby”, subject to overbooking, and without any thought to whether people have connecting flights, or other situations. (I’m not against selling lower cost tickets: I’m against mis-labelling them)

I took bus 51, to Tunnys Pasture, and then the Ottawa LRT to the Tremblay train station. I took VIA Rail to Dorval, which is the former name of the Montreal airport. Now it’s been renamed after our former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau. The trip on the train (business class) was on the refurbished business class equipment, so I had a single seat facing backwards. A plug, a side table, and a meal. The meal was cheese and some fruit. Coffee. Beer.

The power on the train was perhaps a bit unstable, as I was down to 57% before it finally kicked in when we actually left the station and power went on. Charging up again the laptop was slow.

A VIA/Indigo provided shuttle from the train station to the airport. About 10 minutes. Annoying that they aren’t connected: there is some plan for a people mover, but really, I would be quite happy with moving walkways. The shuttle was a bit full, as some grandparents had many suitcases full of presents for their grand-kids.

Across the departure area to find the Austrian check in, part of the Air Canada klutch. They asked to see my vaccination status. They did not ask for the PCR test that I got “just in case”, and for which I was quite anxious about. I’m told they start boarding in fifteen minutes, but boarding will take close to an hour I think. It’s 6:10pm, and the flight does not leave until 19:35. I hate having to hurry up and wait. That’s why I always bring a paper book with me.

Through security, which was unbusy. Some man in front of me thinks he can take his phone through the scanner. Like… has he not been in an airport in the past twenty years?

Down the hallways (the concourse) to gate 57. I’ve taken off many times from gate 57. I get a preztel on the way, but where to eat it… I sit in another places tables where I feel it’s okay to take off my mask. I use the washroom, I take my insulin shot, and I change my mask. I spilt coffee on it on the train. I find the water fountain, and I fill my running water bottles with water. Always bring an empty water bottle to fill after security.

Now to the flight. I’m group 4, back of the plane. I see no reason to rush the counter to get on. I don’t even hear them call group 4, but they go on the group 5, and the line is short. I board. There is a flight attendant handing out FFP2 masks to people who have medical masks which aren’t even N95. I got a stack of FFP2 masks (KN94) from South Korean maker goodmannermasks.com a few months ago… I got way too many of them.

I find my seat. Aisle K, window, row 37. Not quite the very back, but very close. A man in front of me, one behind me. Nobody beside me so far. My knees don’t bang the seat. The man in front of me, he is on the phone. I look for an opportunity make my deal: I won’t kick his seat if he won’t bounce his seat back without warning. But, just after the flight door closes he moves to another seat. Awesome.

I try to plug my phone in to the USB port. Nothing. Maybe the unit isn’t on? It won’t let me do anything while the promo is running. Annoying. My headphone (my running ear buds) fits in, but is a bit loose. Later on I notice that the USB jack is actually busted. I try the one on the seat next to me, and yes, there is power.

No AC power under the seat, no volume control buttons. The selection of movies is okay. It has an option to star things I like. I can display the entire catalog at once, so I can go through the list and highlight stuff I like. The scrolling is AWFUL. The plane is still taxiing, imagine when it’s bumping around, would I even be able to control it? I can’t tell if it’s Windows ME or Android. Doesn’t look like Android to me. If it crashes, I guess we’ll see when they reboot the system.

I start watching Fast Saga 9. Not that great. I abandon it to watch Matrix Revolutions. I wonder if it will remember my place in Fast Saga 9. I bet not.

It makes me watch an ad from a watch store. I can’t even remember which one. I have to watch it again when I switch movies. Look, the only good point here, in favour of the store (which sold Cartier, Rolex and Bulvari… I remember that part) is that I don’t remember the name of the store, so I can’t hate it a lot and write the name in this blog entry.

I gotta wonder what my eyeballs are worth to Austrian Air for shoving that ad at me. I can’t afford business class, but I can afford small upgrades (not that Austrian had any really, not like KLM). I’m not sensitive to +- $100, and I don’t shop for price that way. I’m writing this because airlines keep racing to the bottom, and the service suffers.

I’ll see if I can actually report the USB port damaged… Yes, I was able to. I was sufficiently annoyed by the controls that I actually got my laptop out (there was space! Amazing actually) and burnt 20% of my battery writing this blog entry.

Oh, yeah, Wagner is the name of this jewelery store. Ads all over Wien airport too. I doubt I’m the right demographic. Maybe if they sold gold-plated Garmin watches? Or earings with BT headsets.