Trip Reports - A Girl and a Mileage Run

It was a dark and cold night.....okay so no, my mileage run wasn't that dramatic. But I say it's worth reading! (And *ahem* a certain someone owes me a drink for writing this. You didn't believe I'd write it, ye of little faith!)

The quick summary for you impatient people: a red-eye flight, AWOL crewmembers, overbooking, American Airlines, flying in a circle, FIRST CLASS seating, home!
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My friend(an active lurker here on FlyerTalk, whom I'll call R) and I are university students with a bit of an itch for flying. Well, I should amend that. My friend is an all-things aeronautics fan, but I myself am a travel bug. If I can get a cheap ride to somewhere new, I'm there. So, the benefits of a mileage run for us:

a) Travel cheaply. What kind of college student can afford to visit 4 different cities over a span of two days? With an airport/plane for a hotel, I also save on hotel costs! At 3 cents a mile, who can beat it?

b) Benefits add up. While unfortunately I haven't managed to save up enough points(or enough places to use them), R has managed to uses points for upgrades of various types.

c) It's an ADVENTURE! No mileage run is ever the same-as my tale will show you how.

So. Now that we've established that my friend and I are poverty-stricken(*ahem*) college students, let us move on to the important bit: the itinerary.

R and I booked this itinerary back in February: SNA-SFO-CLE-MCI-IAH-SNA for the week of May 14th. With everything planned, the night of our mileage run started warm and clear and we start off for the SNA-SFO flight which departed at 7:45pm.

...........and we almost missed it. *cough* How is that possible? Well, you see, although R and I are originally from the Los Angeles County area, neither of our universities are anywhere near our hometown, and we've sort of...forgotten :rolleyes: how bad LA traffic can be. So, numerous lane changes a la middle finger salutes later, we make it to SNA with 30minutes till departure. Fortunately, SNA has always been great about multiple security lines. Now, I don't know if it's just the fact that I'm a girl, or the fact that I travel lightly, but I've never failed to go flying and not get some sort of detailed TSA inspection.

Now, most people get the evil eye, and maybe a pat-down before being allowed (grudgingly) through the barrier. Me? With no blaring indicators(I remember the change in my pocket!) from the all-seeing machines, I get a pat-down AND swabbed. What's a swab, you say? Well, that's when they swab your palms and analyze your sweat to see if you've been playing with naughty chemicals.

Hmm. Good thing we finished messing with Anthranilic Acid in organic chemistry lab two weeks ago, eh?

With TSA out of the way, R and I nip into the door with plenty of time to spare and take off for San Francisco! One hour later, we arrive in SFO and promptly make our way to the food court where I use this God-given opportunity to stuff myself with Boudin's Clam Chowder bread bowl. Mhmmm. Oh, don't look like that! Tasting the local speciality is also part of travelling! This was only possible due to the hour layover till our Cleveland flight boards, but hey-a clam chowder bread bowl? Barring that you hate clams(or God forbid, soup) I don't think there's a soul on earth who would take an hour to finish that delicacy. Stomachs full(and myself a hefty $12 lighter) we make our way to the gate, and wait for boarding.

...where it turns out, our flight crew hasn't arrived yet! They're AWOL somewhere far up in the skies. So we wait....and wait....

[TO BE CONTINUED! I've gotta go to sleep so I can get to class tommorrow. Night all!]

Hmm. Good thing we finished messing with Anthranilic Acid in organic chemistry lab two weeks ago, eh?

Good thing the TSA machines are only supposed to detect explosives and not narcotics. I actually had to ask them that, as I frequently would work double-time in my lab before heading to the airport for a trip out-of-town.

I have had to do a bit of a clean up in this thread. Please can we keep the tone civil.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Moomba
Moderator:Trip Reports

:confused: Call me crazy, but I don't know what was deleted from my post. Sorry, didn't mean to be (very) crude! I blame it on late night writing.

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A bit over an hour after our scheduled departure time, we finally hit the skies. Perhaps it's because I don't normally fly red-eyes, but I've never seen such a late flight so completely full. I'm not sure, but I think this was the last flight East for the day; that on top of the delays and cancellations for other flights seems to increase the desperation exponentially. There were a few guys on standby who looked desperate enough to stand for the whole flight if it meant getting out of SFO. Actually, if they ever offer standing room on airplanes, I'd probably buy it. Anything to cheapen the ticket!

I'd like to tell you that I spent the entire flight playing(and paying) for the various cable selections on the DirectTV module but...I fell asleep. So, the most descriptive thing I can say about this flight was...I didn't drool or snore(so R says!)

I'd also like to tell you United offered compensation in the form of some small freebie, but that didn't happen either. It turns out that the plane was delayed only just enough so that although some of my fellow passengers had tight connections(read:10minutes to disembark and get to another terminal and onto the plane before take-off) United said it was still technically possible and so....no freebies :(

Touchdown in Cleveland. Did you know that about two-thirds of all astronauts from the United States are from Ohio? Even in a plane, NASA's influence is a bit hard to miss. When there are buildings the size of small cornfields emblazoned with NASA all over them, it's hard to miss. And this is just near the airport. Cleveland's airport is actually quite small. It may be an international airport, but in truth it's more like a single terminal in the older section of SFO. Definite perk: if you want a place to sleep on your layover, Cleveland is quiet enough to hear a pin drop. And a large iced coffee for $2 at the airport? It's not a bad place for someone without any club access.

This brings me to the next thing: my own stupidity. You see, when I saw hours of layover(R and I had about ~5hours) I thought to myself "Excellent! Here's the opportunity to see a different part of America!" I blissfully assumed that there would be an abundance of public transportation to and from the airport, with a small metropolitan to ramble through. I just magically assumed all this would happen.....until I actually set foot in Cleveland. All the tourist-y spots(Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, Cod Submarine, steamship etc.) were all at least twenty miles from the airport. The place is so quiet, finding transportation in general can be tricky. I suppose any normal person going on a trip would plan things better, but I am a very scatter-brained person. Why else would I be posting my Trip Report a full month after the trip?

Anyway, I digress. As previously mentioned, there was no feasible way for R and I to publically transport ourselves 30+ minutes to get to the attractions, see an attraction or two, return to the airport and get through security in time for our flight cheaply. So with that unhappy discovery in mind....we promptly decided to see if we could move our flight up!

In sheer research and knowledge, R has significantly more experience with the ticketing agents. Needless to say, I volunteered R for the job of wrangling with the ticketing agent. In return, I promised a coffee(see, that $2 iced coffee deal comes in handy now! Especially since R wasn't paying attention :p) Exactly five paces away from the counter, the ticketing agent, Sue M. announced over the speaker "The flight to Kansas City, Missouri is overbooked. We need two volunteers-nevermind, we have two volunteers." R was literally right in front of her when she came on the overhead speaker. How's that for promptness? I may have lost a coffee, but for a voucher? You bet it's worth it! Especially when said coffee was a couple of bucks....Anyway, Sue got us on an American Airlines flight leaving in twenty minutes to Dallas, Texas....and a $300 flight voucher with an additional $10 meal voucher for us both. Unfortunately, United's Continental computer system decided that right then was an excellent time to go haywire, so with our vouchers in-hand, we boarded the American Airlines flight with no guarantees beyond our flight to Dallas.

[TO BE CONTINUED...tomorrow after class :D]

kutorei,

I'm one who got my posts deleted. Respectfully, a trip to places like Cleveland and Kansas City is hard to get excited about. There are no pics; pics are almost required for a good TR.

I'm hoping for an interesting TR!

Flubbie

kutorei,

I'm one who got my posts deleted. There are no pics; pics are almost required for a good TR.

Flubbie

Really....???? Most of my trip reports contain no photos and yet, people still read them. Kutorei, keep up the great work. I for one, am looking forward to reading, even if you do include Cleveland and Kansas City (I've been to Kansas City but not CLE). Ignore the naysayers...

Really....???? Most of my trip reports contain no photos and yet, people still read them. Kutorei, keep up the great work. I for one, am looking forward to reading, even if you do include Cleveland and Kansas City (I've been to Kansas City but not CLE). Ignore the naysayers...

+1,

And I think its very interesting to get to read another point of view about traveling and MR from someone my age. (I assume) Please keep'm coming!

It's about the story, not the photos. No you don't necessarily need them.

Look forward to the next installment!

I echo that!

While business travel to CLE or good ole KC can be quite a bore, I can usually find something interesting/fun to see while on mini vacation or MR. And if not, sometimes its not the destination, its the journey.

Having moved around the US a bit when I was younger, I've had the opportunity to see just how big and diverse a country we travelers in the US have. While international travel has quite a bit of glamour, there is still much to be discovered in our own backyard.

I'm glad you're sharing this trip with us! Keep it coming.

None of my trip reports have ever contained photos yet they have been read and enjoyed by people on this forum, indeed one of the legendary report writers, Kiwiflyer doesnt post pictures.

As for going to Cleveland, i flew all the way from England to visit and had a great time. The rock and roll hall of fame is a fantastic visit for anyone into classic rock.

I made a friend in Cleveland who invited me over to see an NFL game with him the following year.

Its worth pointing out that not all FT members are Americans, to those of us from other countries, trips to places like Cleveland and Kansas city can and will be of interest.

I look forward to rading the rest of your report

Respectfully, a trip to places like Cleveland and Kansas City is hard to get excited about. There are no pics; pics are almost required for a good TR.

I'm hoping for an interesting TR!

Flubbie

With all due respect, it's Cleveland and Kansas City. Do you really want photos of an airport that was probably last built(and updated) somewhere in the 80s? Do you need to see yet another picture of the interior of an A320? Or an MD-80? Or of UA Expressjets?

Mileage runs(especially on a shoestring budget with no money for even the ordinary 'luxuries') isn't glamourous by far.

Everyone else: Thanks for the support! I really am amazed anyone is interested in this Trip Report; it's very much an ordinary journey from one side of the US to the other. All the same, thanks for reading! Oh, and thomas, is that a none to subtle reference on trying to find out my age? :p

And above all, thanks for patience!

-----------------------------------

As I last left off, R and I ended up flying blind to Dallas, Texas because the computers were down in Cleveland. When I say flying blind, I mean blind. For the entire flight, we had no idea how we were going to get home. We didn't even know if Sue M. would be reliable enough not to simply forget that we didn't have a flight home. R spent the a good portion of the flight to Dallas wondering if it had been smart to have faith in Sue. What if she didn't input our flights correctly? What if the system continued to be a black hole and our flights never register? What if she deletes our entire itinerary and assumes we were making a one way trip to Missouri? The questions kept whirling in our heads even as an engine of the MD-80 hummed away next to our seats.

What? Oh yes, we had the very last seats at the end of the MD-80; we couldn't recline our chairs because right behind us is the lavatory.....and of course, the only view out of our window was the engine cover. Fortunately, with my mind so occupied on the problems after our impending landing, a view(or in this case the lack of one) was far from my mind.

The Dallas airport(DFW) is not nearly as shiny as the Houston Intercontinental airport. It's quite a bit like Ontario International airport(ONT for reference). It's small, but updated enough to be a pretty good layover stop. The terminals are all off a main road that runs right through the airport.

In case anyone doesn't know, the official name of the Dallas airport is actually Dallas/Fort Worth International airport. As the name implies, a lot of military personnel arrive through here and it's not a July 4th parade. Many of the men and women arrive scarred mentally and physically. Around them, the atmosphere is dark and sombre; some jump a miles in the air at unexpected sounds. Not a few are in wheelchairs or are missing limbs. Generally, all of them have the kind of expressions I'd see at a funeral. In a sad sort of a way, DFW is like the forgotten airport-although it's an international airport, all the excitement for both the people and the flights now seems to go into Houston. Upon my arrival I only hoped that I wouldn't also be one of the forgotten.

Immediately on arrival, R and I rushed to the United ticketing desk to explain our situation and find out our fate. Sue M. had apparently done a great job. She had somehow wrangled the computer system to accept the changes to our itinerary to an amazing degree. Our remaining routing now looked a bit like a circle: after flying into Kansas City, we would double back to Houston and then head home. To top it off, she wrote us into the system as full-fare tickets, and upgraded yours truly into first class with R first on the Upgrade list for our leg home. After resolving our ticketing situation at the external ticketing counter(which involved me diving back though to get an official ticket and going through security again-ugh!) R and I hopped back into a plane bound for Kansas City. It was a bit close though-Dallas' TSA security lines are limited in number and fairly thorough. I didn't get swabbed though. *whew*

[*cough* some readers were right to point out that DFW isn't physically a small airport. I suppose it just seemed like it was small while I was there. However, I stand by my feelings that it seems to be an overlooked airport]

With all due respect, it's Cleveland and Kansas City. Do you really want photos of an airport that was probably last built(and updated) somewhere in the 80s? Do you need to see yet another picture of the interior of an A320? Or an MD-80? Or of UA Expressjets?

Mileage runs(especially on a shoestring budget with no money for even the ordinary 'luxuries') isn't glamourous by far.

Everyone else: Thanks for the support! I really am amazed anyone is interested in this Trip Report; it's very much an ordinary journey from one side of the US to the other. All the same, thanks for reading! Oh, and thomas, is that a none to subtle reference on trying to find out my age? :p

And above all, thanks for patience!

-----------------------------------

As I last left off, R and I ended up flying blind to Dallas, Texas because the computers were down in Cleveland. When I say flying blind, I mean blind. For the entire flight, we had no idea how we were going to get home. We didn't even know if Sue M. would be reliable enough not to simply forget that we didn't have a flight home. R spent the a good portion of the flight to Dallas wondering if it had been smart to have faith in Sue. What if she didn't input our flights correctly? What if the system continued to be a black hole and our flights never register? What if she deletes our entire itinerary and assumes we were making a one way trip to Missouri? The questions kept whirling in our heads even as an engine of the MD-80 hummed away next to our seats.

What? Oh yes, we had the very last seats at the end of the MD-80; we couldn't recline our chairs because right behind us is the lavatory.....and of course, the only view out of our window was the engine cover. Fortunately, with my mind so occupied on the problems after our impending landing, a view(or in this case the lack of one) was far from my mind.

The Dallas airport(DFW) is not nearly as shiny as the Houston Intercontinental airport. It's quite a bit like Ontario International airport(ONT for reference). It's small, but updated enough to be a pretty good layover stop. The terminals are all off a main road that runs right through the airport.

In case anyone doesn't know, the official name of the Dallas airport is actually Dallas/Fort Worth International airport. As the name implies, a lot of military personnel arrive through here and it's not a July 4th parade. Many of the men and women arrive scarred mentally and physically. Around them, the atmosphere is dark and sombre; some jump a miles in the air at unexpected sounds. Not a few are in wheelchairs or are missing limbs. Generally, all of them have the kind of expressions I'd see at a funeral. In a sad sort of a way, DFW is like the forgotten airport-although it's an international airport, all the excitement for both the people and the flights now seems to go into Houston. Upon my arrival I only hoped that I wouldn't also be one of the forgotten.

Immediately on arrival, R and I rushed to the United ticketing desk to explain our situation and find out our fate. Sue M. had apparently done a great job. She had somehow wrangled the computer system to accept the changes to our itinerary to an amazing degree. Our remaining routing now looked a bit like a circle: after flying into Kansas City, we would double back to Houston and then head home. To top it off, she wrote us into the system as full-fare tickets, and upgraded yours truly into first class with R first on the Upgrade list for our leg home. After resolving our ticketing situation at the external ticketing counter(which involved me diving back though to get an official ticket and going through security again-ugh!) R and I hopped back into a plane bound for Kansas City. It was a bit close though-Dallas' TSA security lines are limited in number and fairly thorough. I didn't get swabbed though. *whew*

[To be continued.... tomorrow night. I have class late today!]

Great report so far! However, I disagree with some of your comments about DFW. While I believe some of the terminals are a little dated, there are some terminals that are extremely nice and modern-looking. My experience with IAH is the same--there are some nice parts, there are some rather ugly parts. Also, my experience is that DFW has one of the best USO operations today. There are two locations, both post-security (terminals B and D, if I remember correctly). I haven't seen any major troop arrivals there, but I'm sure if there was a large group inbound and the USO knew about it, they would put something on.

I'm not sure why you say that DFW is a "forgotten airport," and that "all the flights seem to go into Houston." According to the 2010 statistics, DFW had almost 57 million total passengers, while IAH had about 40.5 million passengers. I'm sure the numbers have changed slightly for 2011, but to claim that DFW is a forgotten airport seems a little over the top. I'm guessing you probably ended up in one of the older terminals, and didn't get to experience the new terminals.

It was a dark and cold night.....okay so no, my mileage run wasn't that dramatic. But I say it's worth reading! (And *ahem* a certain someone owes me a drink for writing this. You didn't believe I'd write it, ye of little faith!)



With all due respect, it's Cleveland and Kansas City. Do you really want photos of an airport that was probably last built(and updated) somewhere in the 80s? Do you need to see yet another picture of the interior of an A320? Or an MD-80? Or of UA Expressjets?

Mileage runs(especially on a shoestring budget with no money for even the ordinary 'luxuries') isn't glamourous by far.

Everyone else: Thanks for the support! I really am amazed anyone is interested in this Trip Report; it's very much an ordinary journey from one side of the US to the other. All the same, thanks for reading! Oh, and thomas, is that a none to subtle reference on trying to find out my age? :p

And above all, thanks for patience!

-----------------------------------

As I last left off, R and I ended up flying blind to Dallas, Texas because the computers were down in Cleveland. When I say flying blind, I mean blind. For the entire flight, we had no idea how we were going to get home. We didn't even know if Sue M. would be reliable enough not to simply forget that we didn't have a flight home. R spent the a good portion of the flight to Dallas wondering if it had been smart to have faith in Sue. What if she didn't input our flights correctly? What if the system continued to be a black hole and our flights never register? What if she deletes our entire itinerary and assumes we were making a one way trip to Missouri? The questions kept whirling in our heads even as an engine of the MD-80 hummed away next to our seats.

What? Oh yes, we had the very last seats at the end of the MD-80; we couldn't recline our chairs because right behind us is the lavatory.....and of course, the only view out of our window was the engine cover. Fortunately, with my mind so occupied on the problems after our impending landing, a view(or in this case the lack of one) was far from my mind.

The Dallas airport(DFW) is not nearly as shiny as the Houston Intercontinental airport. It's quite a bit like Ontario International airport(ONT for reference). It's small, but updated enough to be a pretty good layover stop. The terminals are all off a main road that runs right through the airport.

In case anyone doesn't know, the official name of the Dallas airport is actually Dallas/Fort Worth International airport. As the name implies, a lot of military personnel arrive through here and it's not a July 4th parade. Many of the men and women arrive scarred mentally and physically. Around them, the atmosphere is dark and sombre; some jump a miles in the air at unexpected sounds. Not a few are in wheelchairs or are missing limbs. Generally, all of them have the kind of expressions I'd see at a funeral. In a sad sort of a way, DFW is like the forgotten airport-although it's an international airport, all the excitement for both the people and the flights now seems to go into Houston. Upon my arrival I only hoped that I wouldn't also be one of the forgotten.

Immediately on arrival, R and I rushed to the United ticketing desk to explain our situation and find out our fate. Sue M. had apparently done a great job. She had somehow wrangled the computer system to accept the changes to our itinerary to an amazing degree. Our remaining routing now looked a bit like a circle: after flying into Kansas City, we would double back to Houston and then head home. To top it off, she wrote us into the system as full-fare tickets, and upgraded yours truly into first class with R first on the Upgrade list for our leg home. After resolving our ticketing situation at the external ticketing counter(which involved me diving back though to get an official ticket and going through security again-ugh!) R and I hopped back into a plane bound for Kansas City. It was a bit close though-Dallas' TSA security lines are limited in number and fairly thorough. I didn't get swabbed though. *whew*

[To be continued.... tomorrow night. I have class late today!]

Where I think you went wrong is your initial claim that "...it's worth reading..." Your most recent post stating that you traveled to some dated airports in Y on a shoestring budget makes that an unlikely claim. What I have learned is that you have questionable planning skills and got bumped and got an upgrade. Even as a low milage kettle, I've gotten upgrades. I'm not a student or retired so I have a tighter schedule but I could have been voluntarily bumped many times.

So, why is this "worth reading?" Would you like to hear about my next trip from DCA to IAD in Y on UA? If I posited that my post was "worth reading", would you take issue with my claim?

PS As cmn.jcs said, DWF is not a forgotten airport. It is the 9th busiest airport in the world.

Where I think you went wrong is your initial claim that "...it's worth reading..." Your most recent post stating that you traveled to some dated airports in Y on a shoestring budget makes that an unlikely claim. What I have learned is that you have questionable planning skills and got bumped and got an upgrade. Even as a low milage kettle, I've gotten upgrades. I'm not a student or retired so I have a tighter schedule but I could have been voluntarily bumped many times.

So, why is this "worth reading?" Would you like to hear about my next trip from DCA to IAD in Y on UA? If I posited that my post was "worth reading", would you take issue with my claim?

PS As cmn.jcs said, DWF is not a forgotten airport. It is the 9th busiest airport in the world.

"It's worth reading" is a rather subjective evaluation, sure. As evidenced by other comments, some people do find it worth reading (myself included!). Is this TR in the same category as those written by matthandy or eightblack or Seat 2A? Nope. Is it unique? Definitely. Does kutorei have her own writing style? Yup. So even if you don't want to read it, others do. And you are more than welcome to simply not read this thread any longer and peruse those threads which you enjoy or benefit from.

Where I think you went wrong is your initial claim that "...it's worth reading..." Your most recent post stating that you traveled to some dated airports in Y on a shoestring budget makes that an unlikely claim. What I have learned is that you have questionable planning skills and got bumped and got an upgrade. Even as a low milage kettle, I've gotten upgrades. I'm not a student or retired so I have a tighter schedule but I could have been voluntarily bumped many times.

So, why is this "worth reading?" Would you like to hear about my next trip from DCA to IAD in Y on UA? If I posited that my post was "worth reading", would you take issue with my claim?

PS As cmn.jcs said, DWF is not a forgotten airport. It is the 9th busiest airport in the world.

I enjoy reading trip reports like this one (^ to the OP) and from what I understand nobody is forcing YOU to read it either!:td:

Where I think you went wrong is your initial claim that "...it's worth reading..." Your most recent post stating that you traveled to some dated airports in Y on a shoestring budget makes that an unlikely claim. What I have learned is that you have questionable planning skills and got bumped and got an upgrade. Even as a low milage kettle, I've gotten upgrades. I'm not a student or retired so I have a tighter schedule but I could have been voluntarily bumped many times.

So, why is this "worth reading?" Would you like to hear about my next trip from DCA to IAD in Y on UA? If I posited that my post was "worth reading", would you take issue with my claim?

PS As cmn.jcs said, DWF is not a forgotten airport. It is the 9th busiest airport in the world. I really don't get the negativity. If you are not enjoying it, then stop reading. Accept your viewpoint is different from the OP and move on. There are enough of us agreeing with the OP that her trip report is worth reading to show you don't have universal agreement for your viewpoint now, so you are not going to get her (or those who have enjoyed the read) to agree with you. It's now starting to seem just a little bit mean. We get you didn't like it. We're all different. Belabouring the point seems OTT though.

Keep up the TR, kutorei. Plenty of us are reading and enjoying. For the rest ... there's the "Ignore" function ;)

Though DFW isn't small, it's actually larger than the island of Manhattan :p

So, why is this "worth reading?"

The trip report is significantly more "worth reading" than some of the replies. :rolleyes:

Frankly, I find this kind of report much more interesting than the usual stuff we get on this forum. There's only so much caviar and champagne that one can stomach.

I enjoy reading trip reports like this one (^ to the OP) and from what I understand nobody is forcing YOU to read it either!:td:

+1 I'm enjoying this TR (although the sideshow it appears to have attracted I could do without).

I can see that the people have spoken and I am a minority of one.

In her first post, kutorei set up high expectations and, IMO, didn't deliver. I'm entitled to my opinion too.

I am ejoying this report and writing style very much indeed.
Flubber you did it again you could have walked away yet you had to have one last word to bring the OP down. We get it you got your hopes up and in your opinion you were let down, your like the one person at a wedding that doesnt enjoy themselves.

To the OP, welcome to FT, and welcome to getting flamed. It is part of the culture of FT for us to flame each other (sad to say, but true), so please don't take it personally. I have been flamed beyond belief--to the point that people have personally insulted me (and I had a moderator remove his post) over what kind of food I eat! Just ignore these flamers; many of them are just trying to get a rise out of you.

With regards to your TR, the important thing is that you put a product out that that you yourself are proud of. I personally, do like photos in my TR, but that's just me. If you don't want to put photos in it, then don't feel pressured by other people to put photos in. Write your story and let the chips fall where they may.

I can see that the people have spoken and I am a minority of one.

In her first post, kutorei set up high expectations and, IMO, didn't deliver. I'm entitled to my opinion too.

Flubber, if someone asked you for your opinion, then yes you are "entitled", however no one asked you. Not too sure why people think they are "entitled" to voice thier opinion when not asked. FLubber didn't your parents teach you, if you have nothing nice to stay, then keep your mouth such. If not, practice it you might find it helpful.

FN

Where I think you went wrong is your initial claim that "...it's worth reading..." Your most recent post stating that you traveled to some dated airports in Y on a shoestring budget makes that an unlikely claim. What I have learned is that you have questionable planning skills and got bumped and got an upgrade. Even as a low milage kettle, I've gotten upgrades. I'm not a student or retired so I have a tighter schedule but I could have been voluntarily bumped many times.

So, why is this "worth reading?" Would you like to hear about my next trip from DCA to IAD in Y on UA? If I posited that my post was "worth reading", would you take issue with my claim?

First, it's pretty clear that I said I think it's worth reading. And to me it is. Unlike a lot of folks here, I don't get upgraded very often(total number=2 now) and I rejoice in vouchers perhaps more than most here. Do you think it's worth reading? Clearly not. But you have only yourself to blame. I even gave a summary(and itinerary) in my opening post, and clearly it was not going to be more "exciting". What did you think would happen? That I would get on the wrong flight and end up in first class to Hong Kong? Stay in the realms of reality and use your head.

By the way, I love how you never responded to my point about photos. And yes, if you did post a trip report from DCA to IAD, I would most certainly consider it worth reading if it were interesting and/or entertaining in any way.

I'm not sure why you say that DFW is a "forgotten airport," and that "all the flights seem to go into Houston." According to the 2010 statistics, DFW had almost 57 million total passengers, while IAH had about 40.5 million passengers. I'm sure the numbers have changed slightly for 2011, but to claim that DFW is a forgotten airport seems a little over the top. I'm guessing you probably ended up in one of the older terminals, and didn't get to experience the new terminals.

I was actually thinking in terms of how when people think of nice airports, they don't think of DFW. I don't know if you've ever been to Ontario Intl, but I actually think it's pretty nice. Beats the old Bangkok airport anyway.

And I think I was indeed at an older terminal.

To the OP, welcome to FT, and welcome to getting flamed. It is part of the culture of FT for us to flame each other (sad to say, but true), so please don't take it personally. I have been flamed beyond belief--to the point that people have personally insulted me (and I had a moderator remove his post) over what kind of food I eat! Just ignore these flamers; many of them are just trying to get a rise out of you.

Yep, I can see it. And I used to wonder why my friend only lurks. No matter, I'm a big girl =) Thanks for the welcome!

(will post another installment of trip report in next post)

Arrival in Kansas City, Missouri was notable only in the sense that for some odd reason....it was the only stop where the weather was not sunny at all. Call me a fair weather traveller, but I like my vacations(no matter how small) to have lots of sun. Not that I was going to let a few clouds stop me.

KC's international airport design reminds me a lot of SFO. They've got a saucer-shaped main road, which in turn branches off to smaller loops which houses the terminals. The entire design was clearly build for travelling efficiently-it's clearly dated, but it was built well. How many airports in the mid-west have tornado cellars in them?(I have no idea) However, in a post-9/11 world, this has clearly not worked out so well.

If you have any kind of connection flight, you should probably avoid KC like the plague. The airport itself may be a bit dated, but the real issue is that every time you want to go from one gate to another, you have to go through security again. For some odd reason, few gates have walkways connecting them. And if you want to go to another terminal? You'll have to catch the Red line bus(I think it was red, it might have been blue-one of 'em goes to parking only) that takes you from terminal to terminal. These come every 5 minutes, but what really slows things down is how the bus stops to pick up passengers at almost every stop along the way. This time consuming exercise, coupled with having to go through security again, makes short layovers here a miserable experience.

Also, UA lovers? UA has two entirely separate terminals here. If I recall correctly, one is at A and the other at C. It isn't that bad....until you remember you have to also go through the security again. And sometimes security really backs up here.

However, as the bus system will attest to, transportation options aren't terrible. There's the various public bus transportation options, and there are plenty of rentals and hotel-associated transportation available.

On a slightly off-topic note-I don't know if it's because of the skewed sampling and/or low observation times, but it seems people in the City of Fountains really like foreign car companies. If there were 100 cars that drove into MCI, I'd say maybe 5 of them were made by an American company. It's not just your major asian brands either-it's Audi, Volkswagen, and even the odd BMW. This is just a bit odd to me if you consider that this is a city with a steadily increasing crime rate and a general air of slow deterioration.

That's not to say there are some good parts-as the MCI airport loves to rub it in, KC is home to a few Fortune 1000 companies. But from a tourist point of view? Be careful! Travelling to downtown Kansas City is like travelling to Downtown Los Angeles from Long Beach-it's close, but as you get closer it gets worse....and then it gets better at the tourist area. Something that makes me laugh-I have yet to be in a city that's not in LA or New York that has the same amount of traffic. And for that, I really like Kansas City.

Kansas City, Missouri for all it's metropolitan woes is much like LA-without the traffic. I know I cited an increasing crime rate previously, but hey in terms of crime, California has more cities in the top 30 than any other state in the United States. It has the all the usual metropolitan characteristics, and quite a few odd ones too. The city library is literally styled on the exterior of books lined up on a bookshelf. Titles I saw as the bus went by-A tale of two cities, Lord of the Rings, and the Invisible Man. There also seemed to be statues in random places-there was this one bull statue seeminly in the middle of nowhere on a sidewalk. And for a city in the middle of the midwest, having a moniker of 'City of Fountains' is definitely on the more eccentric side. (But it's a nice eccentricity!)

The City of Fountains as far as tourism goes might as well be called the City of Museums. Within a ten mile radius of the downtown, the names of the museums I recall go something along like this: City Museum, Airline History Museum, Federal Reserve Museum, TWA Museum, Steamboat Museum, Textiles Museum, Baseball Museum, Art Museums(emphasis on plural!) and of course the World War I museum(Liberty Memorial). In the interest of brevity(and the fact I still need to do my homework) I'll just list relevant points about the places I dropped by(they're all close together):

1. Sealife aquarium at Crown Plaza: It's like the Las Vegas Monterey Bay shark exhibit. You walk though an almost identical layout, with a similar range in creatures and a stingray touch pool. VERY expensive. I do not recommend at all!

2. World War I Memorial: A very nice tower museum with park and fountains around it. It's quite nice, but then this is the first world war I museum I've ever been to. I kind of ran through the museum because I was running out of time.

3. Federal Reserve: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED It's not really for kids(and the decor reflects it) but I had a great time on the tour and designing my own "money". The tour is quite detailed-they show you the actual printers and a glimpse of the vault itself. Make sure you bring photo ID Security is for obvious reasons quite strict.

4. Hallmark Center: Museum and tour of how they make greeting cards and bows, with a side art gallery. It's more entertaining than it sounds-really!

And then it was time to get back to the airport for my flight to Houston, Texas. As far as tourism on layovers go, I highly recommend KC. Lots of history and places to see for people of all interest! But it does have all the dangers of a dense metropolitan area. I do not recommend going at night, as it can be very easy to get lost(with no safe places to ask for help like a gas station in some areas)

Flubber, if someone asked you for your opinion, then yes you are "entitled", however no one asked you. Not too sure why people think they are "entitled" to voice thier opinion when not asked. FLubber didn't your parents teach you, if you have nothing nice to stay, then keep your mouth such. If not, practice it you might find it helpful.

FN

This is an anonymous public bulletin board governed only by the moderators. I understand that personal attacks are not permissible and, ultimately, those who run this excellent board can decide what is acceptable "behavior" and what is not.

From the posts, it appears that my transgression was to offer my unsolicited negative opinion about the inherent quality of this TR. I commented on the TR; I did not cast aspersions on kutorei herself. I do not think that is unacceptable or inappropriate. While not explicit, the OP's bold assertion that this TR is "worth" reading opens the door for people to comment on the assertion.

Please note that, while I critiqued the Trip Report (an inaminate object), apodo77 felt free to make a minor personal attack on me. And ,while I offered an unsolicited opinion about the TR, flightnurse offers unsolicited advice.

While I have problem with neither (again, this is an anonymous public bb where people might comport themselves differently from real life), I note that impugning my parenting or my ability to recall my parenting or my character is more obnoxious than criticizing a TR.

Thanks for sharing your trip report with us! ^

This is an anonymous public bulletin board governed only by the moderators. I understand that personal attacks are not permissible and, ultimately, those who run this excellent board can decide what is acceptable "behavior" and what is not.


While I agree that some of the responses of other posters to your critique were inappropriate, your original comments failed the test of common courtesy, and were quite simply rude. The moderators get to determine whether your continued presence is desirable, but other members of FT do get to comment as to whether a poster's comments are rude.

Would you, for instance, if invited to someone's home, criticize your host's cooking? Probably not. So why do it here? Just because you can? That's a sad statement about your views of appropriate behavior in society today, if so.

While not explicit, the OP's bold assertion that this TR is "worth" reading opens the door for people to comment on the assertion.

Are you suddenly Matlock? Do the rules of civil procedure allow you to cross-examine a poster because of something they said on "direct examination" in their original post.

One of the things that I believe distinguishes FT from, say, airliners.net, is that there is no "correct" format for trip reports. The OP put plenty of time into the report, and that in and of itself is worthy of praise. People should be encouraged to post reports, and while Flubber has the right to do so, posting comments like Flubber's do nothing to further the community. It's unfortunate.

Greg

So, why is this "worth reading?" Would you like to hear about my next trip from DCA to IAD in Y on UA? If I posited that my post was "worth reading", would you take issue with my claim?

No- and I don't think anyone else would.
If you stated that you feel that your TR is worth reading, and we find out it isn't, then we click the back button on our browser and continue reading.

What was the point of you telling OP that you didn't like her post?
"You said it would be good, and in my opinion it isn't. I was scammed! Give me my money back!" (oh wait...) :confused:

Some people can be so impolite these days.

But it does have all the dangers of a dense metropolitan area. I do not recommend going at night, as it can be very easy to get lost(with no safe places to ask for help like a gas station in some areas)

KC is just the same as any other large city - common sense and you should be fine. It looks like you explored the downtown area - that's a strange place - part redeveloped like the Power & Light entertainment district (now that's an area to be avoided, just because it's so shite, not dangerous!) and part looking a little run down and empty in places. But exercising common cautions, and avoiding areas like the east side, and it's absolutely no worse than anywhere else!

Keep up the good report - ignore the grumpies.....! :-)

kutorei aka OP - just wanted to add a word of encouragement here as well!

While the TR isn't exactly my cup of tea either, people belittling others who take the time to post what they find to be an interesting TR have no place here. We've all got different interests, priorities, and levels of experience...and to put someone down for taking the time to share theirs...well, shame.

Keep posting...I might even consider an MCI trip :D

Kutorei....I've also been enjoying your trip report.

i'm sure that all this bickering over the rights & wrongs of what should be posted has only positively cemented your name into the minds of people in this forum.

looking forward to reading your contibutions in the future.

Welcome to flyertalk.

I enjoyed your trip report. It is far from the high life of our fellow moderator of this forum, when he circles the world in First :D but we do not have reports of flying in the back - and I think the most people registered at this board fly back in Economy - are not so much written. In so far it is a welcomed report especially for the people with less experience in the premium cabins or less money to spend for an Business / First Class ticket and not status to upgrade. And I have quite often been in the back as well and even routes a few flights to the Westcoast from Europe criss crossing the US (at the time the routing rules allowed this) in Economy. And since even I as Star Gold with LH usually have my seat in the back enjoyed your trip report even more.

Regarding DFW I think you are right, if you are not in the (main) international terminal but let's say in the terminal, where United flights leave, it is not as nice as the terminal, where the international flights arrive and leave. But like mentioned by other it is still a busy and large airport.

Can we just end the chest thumping and post monitoring and let the OP post her report, please(which I too am enjoying)?

For clarification: yes my tourism in KC, Missouri was indeed limited to the downtown area. Everything I visited was just about ten minutes apart each other at most, before I had to hop back to the airport.

Thanks for the encouragement =) I'm glad(and somewhat surprised really) that so many of you are interested in what amounts to a Midwest tour. Thanks for reading!

---------------------------------
Landing in Houston was wonderful in the sense that I returned to sunny weather. I've been in Houston before-I actually have an uncle and a couple of cousins there. But at this point, my energy level was flagging as I had now been up and about for just a bit over 24 hours. So, needless to say I was not exactly enthused to try and meet my relations and do the whole song-and-dance about how nice(not!) it is to see them again(since about ten years ago *cough*). Therefore I reassessed my goals and abandoned my relations in favour of a voucher for the United Club!

George Bush Intercontinental Airport(why can't they just call it a regular airport like everywhere else?) had been modernised to the point where it kind of resembles George H.W. Bush's presidency: trying to make sense of it takes some serious time and energy. The layout is large and spacious, but finding and using the navigational signs was a bit like I Spy. You had to not just find one, but multiple signs in order to make sure you were going in the right direction. What's nice-all the terminals are fairly close to each other. It's only when you're changing airlines/going to shops etc. that navigation becomes an issue. I really did love the selection of shops though. One thing IAH has that is definitely unique: the size of (and the attitude around) the walkways. While the walkways are enormous, trying to walk near the centre is like walking in the middle of a major road and hoping there are no cars coming. Because for some odd reason, IAH loves having those carts running around, and they go fast. It's literally "*beep beep Beeeeeeeep* Coming through-get outta the way~!" Supposedly, these carts are for maintenance, late (probably elite) passengers, and the disabled. For some reason it doesn't hold true at IAH. Literally everyone(or in the case of this one lovely dog) uses these carts. After walking around there, let's just say I think I now know how roadkill feel.

Anyway, after navigating around to find my gate for my next flight back home, I then made my way to the United lounge.....which turned out to be closed. With great disappointment, I started looking around for another that was apparently on the opposite side.....and then I got sidetracked by a clothing store. *cough* Hey, I'm a girl-it's not totally unheard of, you know. It turns out the store(and the outfit I was oggling) was one of those pricey retailers that to buy anything would pretty much be the cost of my ticket. But by the time I was done drooling(and whimpering over the prices), to finally return to finding the other United Club lounge, there was only an hour and a half left before boarding. :rolleyes: There went my United Club experience :( (or non-experience I suppose)

Before I continue with the first class experience, let me tell you something quick about me. I am young(as previously established) and unfortunately I look even younger on top of that. I'm about 5 feet tall, and look about 15 years old. So with this in mind, imagine the priority boarding line: there are a bunch of business and other clearly adult individuals all lined up, with their priority boarding/Global elite/whatever status and then also right there....is a kid with a backpack that looks like she just came out of Middle School(Secondary School for ye overseas). And then, when the first boarding section is called, this kid goes straight through....and sits right in front of the plane in Seat 1A.

So, as you can probably easily imagine now, everyone who got on board that A320 saw this kid, in seat 1A, as they walk onto the plane. In retrospect, I wish I had a camera. The expressions on some faces were priceless. Two that stand out in my mind: one lady stared straight at me, and stood there until the flight attendant ushered her further into the plane. The second was a well-dressed businessman. He walked onto the plane in a very nicely pressed suit, looked straight at me, and I'd swear the thought going through his mind was along the lines of "THIS is who beat me to the upgrade list?" with perhaps a few well-chosen swear words added.

Even the flight attendant for the first class cabin seemed a bit surprised. Fortunately, the gentleman next to me was a pretty heavy drinker, which kept the attendant busy. Before take-off, he polished off no less than one scotch and two whiskeys. After take-off....well, let's just say I'm surprised there was any alcohol left for anyone else! There's nothing like being (probably) the youngest person in first. Definitely youngest looking. If I ever get upgraded again, I'll leave my phone camera on for photos.

About the flight: so as I had Seat 1A, there was a lot of leg room. It was a bit incongrous seeing how small I am, but I still appreciated the stretching room! (But I swear every time I stretched, the gentleman across from me sent an evil eye in my direction.) I really enjoyed the in flight meal, mostly because I didn't have to pay for it. There was macaroni salad, grilled chicken, a fruit salad, a brownie and cheese and crackers. I'm no food critic, but while the food was definitely good, it was more akin to the in-flight meal I used to get in steerage ten years ago. Still, I never say no to free food-especially when I didn't even pay for the upgraded ticket! Food, coupled with the much more comfortable seating meant that I was definitely a happy flier. So I was just a bit sad when we finally landed home at SNA.

I love SNA. It's small, quiet, well-run and above all clean. They're remodelling part of SNA now for more shops, parking and food, so I suppose it'll get better and busier. But now it's the end my my trip....but hopefully not for long!

Remember that flight voucher? It was for $300. The price of this mileage run was a bit under $250. I hope to be back in the skies soon!

But until then....school. *sigh* :(

Great report kutorei ! Thanks for taking the time to write it up and letting us enjoy your experience along with you.

I'm a university student as well, Its so nice to see trip reports on here by students. I wish I knew more university students who are on Flyertalk and love to travel.

Sadly I'm based in Canada now and there aren't that many great credit card options to help with mileage accumulation

So, as you can probably easily imagine now, everyone who got on board that A320 saw this kid, in seat 1A, as they walk onto the plane. In retrospect, I wish I had a camera. The expressions on some faces were priceless. Two that stand out in my mind: one lady stared straight at me, and stood there until the flight attendant ushered her further into the plane. The second was a well-dressed businessman. He walked onto the plane in a very nicely pressed suit, looked straight at me, and I'd swear the thought going through his mind was along the lines of "THIS is who beat me to the upgrade list?" with perhaps a few well-chosen swear words added.

Even the flight attendant for the first class cabin seemed a bit surprised. (

Growing up my older brother (he is 17 yrs old than I) worked for AA, so I was able to enjoy the fruits of his labor, flying Non-Rev and being in FC, a lot. Of course 25 yrs ago it much easier to fly FC non-Rev then it is today, but I remember many times sitting in FC and having people look at me with a look like, "How in the hell is THAT kid in FC" But never had a problem with the FA's.. Since the younger people don't give them problems....