Full of Crap

I travel a fair bit I guess, although not as much as I one time did. Maybe I should share some of the more recent experiences.

In the USA I like to fly Delta or Alaska. I haven’t found other USA based carriers that have the consistent comfort and service that I find on those two. Some, such as United, are downright distressing, and I now refuse to fly United even if it means not getting there. Maybe such airlines are not sub-par by American standards, but only by what I see in other developed countries.

Nonetheless, I did have an unresolved issue with Delta not so long ago. I had purchased first class tickets for family and me on a short flight, and when we got our boarding passes, it was clear to me that it wasn’t what I had purchased. The agent told me it was a one-class plane. Okay, I could live with that IF it was true, but when I looked out the terminal window at the plane parked at our gate, I knew it was false. So I asked another Delta agent. She checked into it and told me that our seats had been given away to passengers who have higher priority than us! What can be higher priority than a cash purchase first class ticket, I wondered. I contacted Delta customer service and was eventually given a rebate on the fare difference (between first class and economy) and a $200 per ticket voucher, but nobody was able or willing to explain how someone else got our seats because they were more important, despite several requests I made for that explantion. And you know what? It may not have been as big of a deal if the seat they put me into had not been broken (the part I sat on had no support in the middle…was like sitting on a toilet). But apparently my discomfort was my fault because I should have let the flight attendant know so that I could have been reseated……on a full flight. Where would they have put me? In the baggage hold?  Well, they had no answer for that.

Sometimes we find delightful restaurants, such as the Lin Ju Hui in Richmond, B.C., which is a Xinjiang cuisine restaurant. Xinjiang is in northwest China and the cuisine has no seafood, but is based on lamb and chicken. Lin Ju Hui serves food made from fresh ingredients, and serves it quickly and presents it with visual appeal, and at affordable prices.

Then there was the Mazaj in Auburn, Washington. My major recent slop shop experience. Think of being hungry enough to eat whatever is served, and you get the picture. There was not one in our party of four that liked the meat that was served from what appeared to be a microwave, but might have been a steamer of some kind. In any event, normally roasted meats don’t taste great when prepared that way. Nor are they enhanced by accompaniments that say Kirkland on them. Nothing bad about Kirkland…..at Costco…..but to be served dips from a store container as part of a meal substantially above market prices doesn’t cut it for me. But guess what….I ate the meal…I was hungry…and then I was full of crap.