More on that flight to hell + California nightmares

I actually decided that it'd make a lot of sense to write an email to a dedicated elites-only address at United Airlines. I specifically dwelled on how the purser of my flight out of Toronto managed to insult, rather than serve, his customers.

I mentioned that the vast majority of United flight attendants live up to my, and their own, high expectations, and also that I hold air travel and airlines in high regard for bringing different peoples and cultures together, but this one exception has left me quite insulted.

I did not mention that I am writing a novel based at United Airlines, but Sarah was constantly on my mind, as an image of a top-notch United flight attendant, as I wrote that email.

Again, more often than not, the sight of one of Sarah's planes coming into a hostile airport (such as Amsterdam or Indianapolis) to pick me up is a very wonderful thing. I know I am about to get to a better place. My experience out of Toronto shattered that image - primarily because I was flying back to the Los Angeles theocratic hellhole, but also because of the poor service.

My writing mentor, learning of my experience via Facebook, hinted that the purser from hell could easily become a key character in Perfect Girl, throwing challenges into Sarah's line of work. It's definitely a great idea. I do want to push and challenge Sarah to the breaking point. The interview process already does a lot of that, asking how she would handle a hellish coworker like this, but there is nothing like on-the-job challenges.

In any case, I need to return to Sarah very soon. (And have her actually get mad at me for declaring her exhibitionism to the world.) I'm too mad at this point, however, as the California theocratic thugs have not only taken away my civil rights, but also my livelihood. I still have a job and a company but I am no longer able to perform my duties thanks to their false witness (a clear violation of Article #9 of the California Constitution, also known as the Ten Commandments) getting me banned from a major work site of my company. I'll have to work in exile via email while my reps actually do the supervising on-site.

Eventually, I'll have no choice but to part ways with the Holy State of California once and for all, before murdering transpeople will actually earn the murderer some praises and protection from the local police chief, as is done in the Central American hellholes many Californians came from. I don't know how Perfect Girl will shape up, in the wake of Prop 8, its aftermath, and the ever-worsening California theocracy. I've flirted with the idea of relocating Sarah and Kirsten to London, then Vancouver, but eventually dropped that idea. Plus, their marriage is technically heterosexual and legal. But I don't think California makes any sense as the land of the happily ever after. I do want to keep Sarah aboard at United, and Kirsten as well for a US-based employer, but on the other hand, Kirsten can telecommute, and even Sarah could commute to a United hub from a major Canadian city. I'll see what I end up doing.

A thought

The following is a Facebook note I just wrote, as I made my way back to Los Angeles from Toronto on Sarah's airline.

I am certainly NOT in a good mood, and Sarah's employer was one of the many reasons today. While I always listen to Rhapsody in Blue, the George Gershwin composition that is the official theme music of United Airlines, whenever I am on a United plane, that was not the case today.

As I travel from Ontario to Ontario...

As in, the Province of Ontario in Canada, to the city of Ontario, east of Los Angeles, in the US state of California (which was named by settlers who had hailed from the Canadian province). Actually, I landed at LAX rather than Ontario Airport, but the title works better with two Ontarios.

I may have been flying quite a bit lately - enough to qualify as Premier (low-level elite customer) at United Airlines - but I still feel excited about taking a trip by air. And if a United flight is involved, it's even better - because of all my past trips on that airline (one reason why I am Premier now) and the fact that I am using the airline as the setting for my novel in progress. Often, seeing the familiar United tail at a faraway hostile airfield (whether it's Amsterdam or Indianapolis) meant a sense of relief - relief that I was now flying to somewhere saner. Just as lovely: showing up over the skies of a great faraway city in a United plane (preferably the Boeing 777). But today, traveling from Ontario to Ontario on United, excitement was the last thing I could find, and it was dread instead.

My first leg took me from Toronto to Chicago, and I was very displeased with the purser, who was an elderly man with a French language pin on his uniform. His announcements seemed to mock the intelligence of his passengers rather than thanking them for their patronage. Examples:

"At this time, all electronics must be off. Not "airplane mode," but completely off."

"Please give your undivided attention to the safety demonstration. If you don't want to, at least shut up so that others can."

"We are preparing to land. Make sure to bring your seatback and tray tables to their upright and locked positions. And wake up any inattentive passengers."

Not even a "thanks for choosing United" after landing, just a whole bunch of insulting instructions. Maybe it was a good thing he didn't rub in his airline's name into his announcement (except for once at the end of the safety demonstration); if this were my first United flight, it would certainly have been my last. Not even a mostly empty Economy Plus section (as opposed to a fairly full Economy Minus) would've been enough to mollify me.

I've seen a number of flight attendants do nonstandard announcements, and those at Southwest and Alaska are quite funny, but I've never experienced such an insult. This brings that old railroad mentality - "passengers are the most obnoxious form of freight" - back to life. Needless to say, I responded to United's post-flight survey and rated this flight very negatively; when a Premier complains, the management certainly better listen. Fortunately, I've had far better luck with the vast majority of United flight attendants, and I will make sure my novel protagonist, Sarah Radcliffe, lives up to the best of their standards (while still having to put up with an occasional cut-rate coworker like the purser today).

The second leg to Los Angeles was to be flown with a Boeing 757, but ended up being flown with an international Boeing 767 featuring the new lie-flat business seats. I was not happy at all with this plane; while the First and Business cabins had been re-done in the curvy 777-style interior and equipped with video-on-demand (VOD), the Economy cabin was still stuck in the 1980s, complete with damaged/stained interior panels, and its seats were the same 9-channel videotaped personal TVs (PTV) from the late 1990s. When the safety video was shown, the VOD showed the full video, but the PTVs went off, requiring flight attendants to do the live demonstrations to the soundtrack for the Economy passengers. If a plane can be grounded/refurbished to upgrade the front half completely, doing some minor tweaks to steerage (and adding VOD) wouldn't have been too much more trouble. Some Economy passengers got re-seated in Business, but they seemed to be Premier Executive at least, higher on the elite hierarchy than I'll ever be.

It did not help that instead of flying from a bad place to a good place, I was flying today from a good place (Toronto, home of North America's first legal gay marriages) to a really bad place (Los Angeles, the first place in the world to revoke legalized gay marriages). And sure enough, as the half-refurbished 767 was descending over San Bernardino, California upheld Proposition 8, the questionable gay marriage ban passed by the theocratic voters after tons of misleading ads from out-of-state and foreign interests. And it didn't help to remember that California is home to not one, but TWO United hubs - Los Angeles and San Francisco.

This was one of the worse air travel days for me (though I've had it worse before - United was once guilty of double-charging penalty on a reservation change, though I did eventually get both charges refunded - and I've once had it even worse on a major competitor that I've never patronized since).

I really look forward to a day in the near future, when I can see the familiar United tail show up to take me away to a better place, and I can actually look forward to the flight. I do want to fly enough in 2009 to keep my Premier status through 2010, and I want to enjoy it while I do it. Today was not one of those days.

Some developments

I'm headed for Toronto in just a few more days. And yes, I am flying Sarah's airline again - and looking forward to it. And with a double elite-qualifying miles promotion at United through the end of June, I may be able to just keep my Premier status into next year!

Also, I decided that in addition to the San Francisco Pride, I will also attend the Los Angeles Pride two weeks prior. I am also working closely with trans and LGB activists around the US and the world closer than ever, relying much on Facebook. (In fact, I was honored to recently have one of the pioneers of the trans movement, Lynn Conway, ask to be my Facebook friend.)

Within DC last week, I had too much fun at Freddie's in Arlington, especially with its karaoke nights. I was able to sing a few different numbers, being able to hit all the high notes - with difficulty the first night, but perfectly fine the second night. There is no way I'll be able to walk into any heterosexual karaoke bar and pull it off, but in a trans-friendly karaoke bar, I should have no problems singing most numbers. My favorite trans nightclub in Los Angeles - Club Shine in San Fernando Valley - is letting its visitors sing starting next month, so I'll definitely be preparing a few numbers. Katy Perry's Sapphic anthem, "I Kissed A Girl," which I once sang back in Arlington, should really do well.

In and around Washington DC

It's always nice to travel around and see new things. And the capital city of a nation is always a good place to be - especially if the nation involved is, for now, still the greatest superpower in the world.

Here are some sights I saw in and around the Washington, DC area over the past few days, that would be of interest to Sarah.

The National Gallery of Art, located toward the northeast end of the Mall, is the premier depository of fine art in the US. It normally handles American and European art, but I could find a small section containing hundreds of Chinese porcelain objects.

And what would a Chinese porcelain section be, without a likeness of Kwan Yin, the transgender Goddess of Mercy?

Here is something more typical of National Gallery of Art - a famous French sculpture.

Although there is nothing transgender about Auguste Rodin's famous Le Penseur, I had to throw it in, because in an early draft of a scene I wrote very early on, Sarah was supposed to nag Kirsten about her lesbianism while touring the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art together. The two would come across a smaller likeness of this sculpture, and Sarah would talk about how embarrassed the guy would feel, sitting naked and showing off his goods to someone who couldn't care less. Of course, back then, Sarah was supposed to be boycrazy, but since then, I've turned her into a hardcore lesbian herself too.

For all the muscle mass, Le Penseur isn't too well-endowed. Honestly, I think Sarah's pre-op body is better endowed, though at this time she should be under the knife, turning her oversized clit into a smaller clit AND a vagina.

Across the Mall, the Freer Gallery of Art is where most Asian collections are stored. Freer is part of the Smithsonian system, and is located next to the Smithsonian Castle. I do have to say, however, that Washington, DC is not the best place to see lots of Asian art - that's better done in other American cities, in Europe, and obviously in Asia.

Here is a likeness of Shiva, sprouting multiple sets of arms. Shiva's wife, Shakti, is often considered to be a different aspect of the same Shiva, and the two are often fused into one body (though I couldn't find such an example today). Kwan Yin takes both her transgender history and her multiple arms from Shiva.

Here is a Nepalese rendition of a male Avalokitesvara. And yes, he's got six arms.

Here is a 12th Century Kwan Yin, hailing from the Kingdom of Dali, which occupied what is now today's Yunnan Province, China. She certainly looks female, but she does have an exposed male torso.

This statue certainly reminded me of the one I had seen over at South Korea's greatest Buddhist temple, Bulguksa. Bulguksa's Kwan Yin looked a lot like this, except that she actually had a very nice six-pack on her very masculine torso.

Another Chinese Kwan Yin. Dating from about 703 (Tang dynasty, near Xi'an), this Kwan Yin is sprouting eleven faces. Unfortunately, most of the faces have been mutilated. Also notable is one exposed, rather flat boob.

Another Kwan Yin. This one is from Northern Song Dynasty, dated 1095, and depicts Kwan Yin of the Water Moon, who takes a special significance in Chan Buddhism (which is better known by its Japanese name, Zen).

The inscription says that those who look up to this likeness of Kwan Yin will be spared from the pain of having his/her father pass away early.

I toured a few more museums while I waited for a local friend (Karen Bradley of Democracy Cell Project) to return to her place, a mile east of the Capitol. I somehow ended up at the National Air & Space Museum, at the extreme southeast corner of the Mall, and the most popular Smithsonian museum. This was my third visit.

There is a section devoted to commercial aviation, and I am looking at an exhibit showcasing progress made by women in the industry. From the 1970s on, women started working as pilots. And as shown here, pregnant women could still fly as flight attendants. The uniform was issued by United Airlines in the early 1990s, and was the first official maternity flight attendant uniform.

Sarah certainly has no use for a maternity uniform, but it's glad to know that the flight attendant profession now has the room to accommodate the likes of her.

Time for a look at the life of a 1950s air stewardess. The mirror and the checklist show all the things that a 1950s air stewardess had to go through, in order to carry out her work.

In addition, an air stewardess had to be between 5'2" and 5'6" tall and under 125 pounds. She also had to be single, attractive to the point of being just below Hollywood standards, under early 30s, and of course female. A two-year college degree and/or a nursing credential was also required. I don't think Sarah could meet any of these requirements.

These requirements were dismantled starting in the 1960s, thanks to the civil rights laws of the era. In the 1970s, larger, more fuel-efficient aircraft appeared, not only increasing demand for flight attendants (and the clout of the flight attendant unions) but also allowing the masses - not just businessmen - to take to the skies. Flight attendants were seen as less of pretty faces/sex toys for the businessmen, and more of safety professionals to cater to the needs of the new air travelers.

Here is the first Boeing 247 built. It was one of many models that were launched by the airline that Sarah now calls home. (And just a few days ago, I flew on the last of that long lineage - the Boeing 777.) Early on, it competed in the England-to-Australia air race, before returning to United duty.

Notable is the United route map of the era, which ran east from Chicago to New York, and west to Denver and San Francisco, and from there up and down the West Coast. The current United network still uses Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, and San Francisco as key hubs, though the main East Coast hub is now Washington-Dulles, and New York is only a minor footnote.

This section is also populated by a number of other aircraft. One is the nose of an American DC-7 with the registration number of N334AA. That registration was re-used on a Boeing 767 in 1987, but that 767 was the first plane to be hijacked on September 11, 2001. Another noteworthy exhibit - and a new sight to me - is the nose of N601US, Northwest's first 747, which flew from 1970 to 1999. The cockpit is open to the public, but due to the height of the 747, entry is from the upper level rather than the ground level.

The gift shop has these flight attendant pictorial books for sale. The middle one is discounted to $8.

I picked up both books. The photos certainly hark back to an era when the profession of air stewardess was considered very desirable and prestigious. Unfortunately, the reality was that flight attendants of the era were little more than sex objects, especially noted in the micro-miniskirt uniforms of the late 1960s. I did see a photo of United flight attendants wearing early 1970s colorful minidress uniforms; mercifully, those minidresses were of respectable length.

It is a nice era when a tall transgender woman in her 30s, in a lesbian marriage, is more than able to get and keep her flight attendant position, and even climb up the seniority ladder, using nothing more than her expertise and friendly personality. All the best to Sarah!

I didn't buy this one, but I took a photo anyway. It is a United Airlines Boeing 737-300 in the airline's current "Rhapsody in Blue" paint job. The 737s are being phased out due to fuel costs, however. And if I needed a scale-model United airliner, I'd pick the 777 instead, preferably in the 1990s "Battleship Gray" paint job and sporting the "Worldwide Service" slogan on the nose. After all, that's how I often showed up in some of the world's greatest cities - including Washington, DC this time.

I soon caught up with Karen afterwards. She told me that her transgender cousin, Aaron Raz Link (whose memoir, What Becomes You, gives a very fresh angle into the trans experience), is now based in Southern California. Maybe I need to meet him, say hi, and talk about various trans issues.

In addition, I had a blast in Arlington, visiting its Unitarian church and meeting up with my trans lesbian contact there. I ended up visiting Freddie's, northern Virginia's greatest LGBT hangout, with a group of lesbians. I'll be returning to Freddie's one more time, for its weekly karaoke night, before my time in the area is up.

In Virginia now

Too much stress, not enough progress on novel or anything, since my last post. I hope that changes over the next week, however.

I spent today flying from Los Angeles to Washington, DC. I had made sure to book on a United Airlines Boeing 777 - Sarah's favorite aircraft to work in, and my own favorite to travel in. No signs of Sarah today on board - among the eight flight attendants, six were men, and the women were a blonde and an African-American - but this was my first flight on a United 777 since starting to write about Sarah. My only regret was that I was flying on that 777 to show up in a familiar city, rather than a faraway exotic locale, as I used to do quite a bit in the past.

The 777 today was an XI - meaning three-class seating and international amenities (including personal video and air show) but merely a standard 777 rather than the Extended Range version. I did note the crew rest area in the right front of the Economy Plus cabin - complete with extra legroom. Due to the flight being a mere domestic run, the crew rest area was being used as extra revenue seats, though I wasn't allowed to get a seat assignment there, and had to settle for a standard Economy Plus seat on the left side (which is, nevertheless, a nice improvement).

It certainly was not a perfect flight (the plane was in bad need of a paint job), but it was nice to be on a plane that is an icon for both Sarah and me. I'm hoping there will be another flight on a United 777 later this year, to take me back to Europe and to ensure that I keep my Premier status. (When I return to California in a week, I'm downsizing to an A319.) In the meantime, I'll see what kinds of inspirations I can get for Sarah.