Luxembourg
While the original reason for this trip was to explore a new country, Luxembourg, the secondary reason was to make a specific flight: Captain Marc Champion, vice president of flight operations at United Airlines, was doing his retirement flight right at the tail end of my trip. There was a bit more flight shuffling than was planned, but in the end-- being there is what mattered.
Fellow frequent flier Steve is a friend of Captain Champion's, and was able to keep us looped in on all the festivities. Including Captain Champion's husband, Patrick, 46 friends and family were onboard UA 935, LHR-LAX, to celebrate, along with a handful of us #AVgeeks, so just over 50 people. The group was unusually organized-- got a group photo in record time-- and after a few speeches and many hugs, it was time to board N29984, a trusty Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, and start the journey back to Los Angeles.
My memory of the trip gets a bit fuzzier during the flight, as most of the party was up front. Got seated next to some Qantas employees in my exit row who were non-rev'ing home via what sounded like a pretty typical-yet-painful routing (I think it was LIS-LHR, LHR-LAX, LAX-SYD) and some other normal passengers, plus a flight attendant (Johnny) who clearly loved his job and was having a ton of fun after realizing he was working a special flight.
I had what is supposedly one of the better meals in economy, although being economy, it was not exactly delectable. Went up to premium economy (Premium Plus) a few times to talk to fellow frequent fliers Rob, Katy, and Thomas, who were also onboard to celebrate, and somewhere in there, got in a nap or two, given my day had started at 03:00 UTC+2 (02:00 in London). Pre-arrival meal was the usual mini-calzone and fruit, actually not bad, and then it was a smooth landing on runway 25L at LAX under Captain Champion's skilled hands.
The obligatory water cannon salute was a bit odd, being done way at the western edge behind Tom Bradley International Terminal's west gates, where almost no one could see it. Still, it was good that it was done, and then we taxied to the gate, where Captain Champion's friends and family gave him a rousing send-off in the jetbridge. More goodbyes were said as we made it off the airplane and jetbridge, into the terminal proper, then we all herded ourselves through immigration and baggage claim.
Once properly land-side at Terminal 6, one last crowd awaited-- United's representative from flight operations for LAX (Darren? Darryl?), along with many more friends and coworkers. Most notably, retired Captain Brian Petrovich made it down-- Captain Petrovich knows most of us #AVgeeks well from his constant presence on our SFO-SIN mileage runs. Had a few more speeches and finally a last send-off, at least for the #AVgeeks such as myself. It's still a few more months to official retirement for Captain Champion, but until then!