Off to Cleveland
After 12 memorable years in Cleveland in the 80s and 90s, we still consider Cleveland our adopted home town. And we remain diehard Cavs, Browns and Indians fans. It's been 52 years since any major Cleveland sports team won a championship. So I keep hoping to savor one just once before I die. And here we go again. I had only intended to come back if the Cavs were up 3-2. But after beating the Warriors in Oakland, I decided to come back to "Believeland" experience Game 6, to see if they could force Game 7.
Our LA son had to work late last night, so we took the latest redeye... AA's 1:20a LAX-ORD flight. I left our Southern OC home at 10:15p and with no traffic on the 405, got to LAX less than an hour later. Since I had plenty of time and we were returning tomorrow morning on United, I parked in the T7 garage and walked to T4.
PreCheck lite tonight as I arrived just after regular PreCheck and Priority lanes shut down. And headed for the Admirals Club which is being renovated with lots of temporary walls and a temporary check-in/service counter.
... with work starting at around 11pm. Wow, sounds like dentists office. OK, after 11pm is not a good time to be here. 
Our LA son arrived around 12:20p... with proper Cleveland attire. 
At around T-40, we headed for Gate 47A. Wow, construction crews everywhere tonight.
And at our gate, looks like the cleaning crews haven't hit this gate yet tonight.
LAX-ORD
AA 395
737-800 new IFE seats
1:20a-7:30a
June 16, 2016
Refreshments
Oh joy, another emotional support dog... although this one was as tired as the rest of us and didn't make a noise the entire flight.
Excellent service tonight from our LAX-based crew, as we both knocked back a few G&Ts, did a number on the snack basket and watched a movie... all while I tried to find reasonably priced good seats for the game.
I placed bids on FlashSeats on 9 pairs of seats with a 9am EST expiration time, and slept lousy airplane sleep for about 90 minutes. Woke up on descent to discover that one of our bids was accepted and we have two 3rd row seats (actually 6th row including the floor seats) between the scorers table and the Warriors bench. Now I just need one more seat.
Morning pics of the cabin.
A beautiful morning in Chicago.
With an on time arrival into H4, we headed to the H/K Admirals Club.
And then the long walk to the L concourse and Gate L6A.
ORD-CLE
AA 3573
Crappy US metal CR7
9:10a-11:30a
June 16, 2016
Refreshments
Great crew and service but what a load of garbage this old US plane is with nowhere near the bulkhead legroom of the pmAA CR7.
I picked up our 3rd seat when a seller dropped his asking price to a reasonable (for a Game 6) price.
Our descent into Cleveland, on a typical Cleveland weather day... overcast and muggy. Now I remember why we moved.
And a great Cleveland souvenir shop located just before the C concourse.
Down to baggage claim. Not the classiest welcome. I sure hope this is a construction casualty and about to be replaced. Yikes.
