I’m on one of my all-too-regular trips to Westchester County for yet another IBM meeting. As usual, I booked my outbound trip on AA 288, leaving SJC at 11:30am, arriving JFK 8ish, getting me to my hotel 9:30ish — later than I want, but less of a hassle than getting up in time to catch the 8:30am flight.
This morning, my taxi driver called me at 8, and I told him that he could pick me up early since I was ready. So I was at the airport before 9, and a quick glance at the flight monitor told me that the 8:30am flight hadn’t left yet. I dashed up to the Admirals’ Club and found that there were plenty> of seats available, so I grabbed one.
We took off around 10:15 and landed at 6:25pm. I was in my car before 7 (the AirTrain at JFK is a huge improvement over the old Hertz buses), enjoying my first Ralph’s Italian Ice of the summer at their Valley Stream location by 7:15 (well, I had to do something with my extra time), and at the hotel around 8pm, well before my original flight was scheduled to land (and even more before it actually landed; it, too, was delayed).
Tomorrow comes early, of course, but I have a better chance of getting some sleep this way. Maybe I should reconsider and start taking the early flight?