Hammertoad
Nov 10, 99, 6:14 pm
Scene I, Acts I, II, III
Miles, miles – I needed more miles so booked my trip MCO-ORD-PHX; PHX-DFW-MCO on the return. The flight from MCO was great! An MD80, of course, but even so, it had the new seats and some of the best service I’ve had in a long time. But, back to the beginning. Using the AA dial-in to request my upgrades, I called several days in advance. Couldn’t fool the system, though, and had to deal with the 24 hour window. Here’s the weird part about AA – the 24 hour window is per segment (and it is 24 hours from your flight time). So at 12:01 PM on Monday, I was able to confirm the MCO-ORD leg. I couldn’t get a confirmation on ORD-PHX until 4:00 PM EST (since my flight left at 3:00 PM CST). All’s well that ends, though, and I was able to confirm both segments. Still, it seems silly that I can’t confirm my whole itinerary at once.
Back to the MD80. Seat 6E, which I really like on this plane. The closet is right across the aisle, so if the crew decides to put the A/C on frigid, it’s easy to grab your jacket. Got a choice of drinks on the ground (none of that oj or water tray) and was even allowed to finish it before we took off. BTW, AA stocks Chivas Regal on their flights – none of that JW rotgut. Into the air we went and a smoother flight I’ve never had from MCO. Nary a bump. My seat mate was a flight technician/pilot. He was very surprised that the FA asked him what his choice of meal was; so he then figured that I was an employee. (Yah, I get that all the time). Must’ve been the rare and unique “Hammertoad” tag on my briefcase. Anyway, my choice was the corned beef sandwich. The meat and cheese were great…the bread left a lot to be desired (soggy in some spots; hard in others). Salad was a pseudo-Caesar that was actually pretty good. Dessert was milk & cookies (I skipped the milk – didn’t want it to curdle). 10 minutes late into ORD because of ATC. Of course our gate was at the very end of the H concourse; connecting flight was in L. Nice walk. Not.
Quick trip outside to feed my nicotine habit and then hiked to L6. On my way, I saw signs advertising the Fox Sports bar at L8. Didn’t have time for a drink, but I did check it out and it looks impressive! They have DirecTV (as everybody should so’s they can watch the Cowboys every Sunday) and will be showing all the games each week. That will definitely be a factor when I choose airport connections in the future! Awesome idea. Alas, no smoking section.
The ORD-PHX leg was on a very tired, very old 757. Old seats with the right armrest cut out to make room for a phone. Not comfy at all. Ground service was the OJ & water tray. Perhaps my expectations had been raised too much from the previous MCO-ORD flight, but this flight was TERRIBLE. Best part about it was the warm nuts (which beats the heck out of the bagel chips in a sealed bag I got on the BA MCO-LGW flight). Seconds on the nuts were offered and accepted. The meal was a choice of pasta shells (out); Sea Bass or some kind of chicken part with sauce. I went for the Sea Bass and was pleasantly surprised. Portion was pretty ‘skimpy’ but what there was was tasty. The salad, OTOH, was nasty. Wilted lettuce and some other leaves and twigs that looked like they were plucked from around the tarmac. There was a movie, but the only screen was the little 12” overhead screen. I watched anyway (Runaway Bride). Pretty sappy. Too bad I don’t know how it ends since the FA’s decided to make that the first thing on their check-list that got checked off – 20 minutes before we started our descent! What is with that? Seems to happen more and more… The flight itself was very very very choppy. Not a cloud in the sky but I felt like I was on a roller coaster. Worst part was the shades were all drawn so I couldn’t see to tell how far we feel each time. On time arrival into PHX.
It’s been a few years since I was in the PHX airport. Last time I could’ve sworn I was walking down the halls with a cigarette hanging from my lip. Now all I saw was no-smoking signs – even in the bars. Gonna be a bummer if my flight is delayed on Friday. Made the long trek to the Budget counter and… once again my name did not appear on the Fastbreak list. So I wait. While waiting I hear one of the best sales pitches ever to a young girl that was renting a convertible. She wound up paying for the LW, CDW and whatever else; I think it came to an extra 17.90 per day. Plus she prepaid the gas and only had a 2 day rental. Free enterprise. Gotta love it. I was supposedly ‘upgraded’ to a Mercury Sable. I’d really hate to think what I was upgraded from. Off to the Buttes.
Found the hotel easily enough. It was the parking that was rough. I’m a self-sufficient guy, and I really don’t need anyone to park my car for me. Finally found a spot about ½ mile from the lobby. 642 stair steps later and I arrived at the desk. Reservation was totally hosed up. They had me down for a non-smoking room and then tried to get me to sign a liability agreement that said I would pay a 75.00 cleaning charge if I was found to have smoked in the room! Fuggetaboutit. Wound up in a 1st floor ‘smoking’ room. A bit of a misnomer. It’s an ashtray room; because that’s ed-zachary what it smells like. Even I, as a smoker, am disgusted. Leaving the window open isn’t helping. “Sorry sir, it’s all that we have available”. Hmmm. Maybe $75 isn’t such a high price to pay. The room itself is something like Motel 6 meets Gilligan’s Island. Very strange décor. Bathroom is very very very small; the shower even more so. Speaking of the shower, it had a leak. So I used my trusty vice-grips to fix it. Something fell out, too. Almost looked like one of those water-pressure regulator things. Oops. The rest of the hotel (i.e., common areas) are very nice. The pool area is amazing! Reminds me of the Grand Cypress in Orlando.
(Blessing or curse? I got the Blue Screen of Death while writing this; luckily(?) it recovered).
Stay tooned….
Cheers,
‘toad
(Oh yah, this is OW carrier #4 in my 100k quest)
[This message has been edited by Hammertoad (edited 11-10-1999).]
Miles, miles – I needed more miles so booked my trip MCO-ORD-PHX; PHX-DFW-MCO on the return. The flight from MCO was great! An MD80, of course, but even so, it had the new seats and some of the best service I’ve had in a long time. But, back to the beginning. Using the AA dial-in to request my upgrades, I called several days in advance. Couldn’t fool the system, though, and had to deal with the 24 hour window. Here’s the weird part about AA – the 24 hour window is per segment (and it is 24 hours from your flight time). So at 12:01 PM on Monday, I was able to confirm the MCO-ORD leg. I couldn’t get a confirmation on ORD-PHX until 4:00 PM EST (since my flight left at 3:00 PM CST). All’s well that ends, though, and I was able to confirm both segments. Still, it seems silly that I can’t confirm my whole itinerary at once.
Back to the MD80. Seat 6E, which I really like on this plane. The closet is right across the aisle, so if the crew decides to put the A/C on frigid, it’s easy to grab your jacket. Got a choice of drinks on the ground (none of that oj or water tray) and was even allowed to finish it before we took off. BTW, AA stocks Chivas Regal on their flights – none of that JW rotgut. Into the air we went and a smoother flight I’ve never had from MCO. Nary a bump. My seat mate was a flight technician/pilot. He was very surprised that the FA asked him what his choice of meal was; so he then figured that I was an employee. (Yah, I get that all the time). Must’ve been the rare and unique “Hammertoad” tag on my briefcase. Anyway, my choice was the corned beef sandwich. The meat and cheese were great…the bread left a lot to be desired (soggy in some spots; hard in others). Salad was a pseudo-Caesar that was actually pretty good. Dessert was milk & cookies (I skipped the milk – didn’t want it to curdle). 10 minutes late into ORD because of ATC. Of course our gate was at the very end of the H concourse; connecting flight was in L. Nice walk. Not.
Quick trip outside to feed my nicotine habit and then hiked to L6. On my way, I saw signs advertising the Fox Sports bar at L8. Didn’t have time for a drink, but I did check it out and it looks impressive! They have DirecTV (as everybody should so’s they can watch the Cowboys every Sunday) and will be showing all the games each week. That will definitely be a factor when I choose airport connections in the future! Awesome idea. Alas, no smoking section.
The ORD-PHX leg was on a very tired, very old 757. Old seats with the right armrest cut out to make room for a phone. Not comfy at all. Ground service was the OJ & water tray. Perhaps my expectations had been raised too much from the previous MCO-ORD flight, but this flight was TERRIBLE. Best part about it was the warm nuts (which beats the heck out of the bagel chips in a sealed bag I got on the BA MCO-LGW flight). Seconds on the nuts were offered and accepted. The meal was a choice of pasta shells (out); Sea Bass or some kind of chicken part with sauce. I went for the Sea Bass and was pleasantly surprised. Portion was pretty ‘skimpy’ but what there was was tasty. The salad, OTOH, was nasty. Wilted lettuce and some other leaves and twigs that looked like they were plucked from around the tarmac. There was a movie, but the only screen was the little 12” overhead screen. I watched anyway (Runaway Bride). Pretty sappy. Too bad I don’t know how it ends since the FA’s decided to make that the first thing on their check-list that got checked off – 20 minutes before we started our descent! What is with that? Seems to happen more and more… The flight itself was very very very choppy. Not a cloud in the sky but I felt like I was on a roller coaster. Worst part was the shades were all drawn so I couldn’t see to tell how far we feel each time. On time arrival into PHX.
It’s been a few years since I was in the PHX airport. Last time I could’ve sworn I was walking down the halls with a cigarette hanging from my lip. Now all I saw was no-smoking signs – even in the bars. Gonna be a bummer if my flight is delayed on Friday. Made the long trek to the Budget counter and… once again my name did not appear on the Fastbreak list. So I wait. While waiting I hear one of the best sales pitches ever to a young girl that was renting a convertible. She wound up paying for the LW, CDW and whatever else; I think it came to an extra 17.90 per day. Plus she prepaid the gas and only had a 2 day rental. Free enterprise. Gotta love it. I was supposedly ‘upgraded’ to a Mercury Sable. I’d really hate to think what I was upgraded from. Off to the Buttes.
Found the hotel easily enough. It was the parking that was rough. I’m a self-sufficient guy, and I really don’t need anyone to park my car for me. Finally found a spot about ½ mile from the lobby. 642 stair steps later and I arrived at the desk. Reservation was totally hosed up. They had me down for a non-smoking room and then tried to get me to sign a liability agreement that said I would pay a 75.00 cleaning charge if I was found to have smoked in the room! Fuggetaboutit. Wound up in a 1st floor ‘smoking’ room. A bit of a misnomer. It’s an ashtray room; because that’s ed-zachary what it smells like. Even I, as a smoker, am disgusted. Leaving the window open isn’t helping. “Sorry sir, it’s all that we have available”. Hmmm. Maybe $75 isn’t such a high price to pay. The room itself is something like Motel 6 meets Gilligan’s Island. Very strange décor. Bathroom is very very very small; the shower even more so. Speaking of the shower, it had a leak. So I used my trusty vice-grips to fix it. Something fell out, too. Almost looked like one of those water-pressure regulator things. Oops. The rest of the hotel (i.e., common areas) are very nice. The pool area is amazing! Reminds me of the Grand Cypress in Orlando.
(Blessing or curse? I got the Blue Screen of Death while writing this; luckily(?) it recovered).
Stay tooned….
Cheers,
‘toad
(Oh yah, this is OW carrier #4 in my 100k quest)
[This message has been edited by Hammertoad (edited 11-10-1999).]