Trip Reports - Sacramento, Oakland, Victoria on 3 airlines

08/21: ORD-PHX, AA 1197, 8:55a-10:30a
My upgrade did not clear in advance, so I got to the airport early (0715) to see what I could do there. Checked in at the Gold counter to find out that THREE seats in F were inoperable, and therefore with the dowgrades they were a little oversold in Y.

I decided to skip the Admiral's Club to see what I could do at the gate. I wanted to try and get rerouted ORD-SFO & SJC-PHX. My colleague Tasos lives near SFO and would be meeting me in SMF. If I could get rerouted, I could skip the second flight.

Got to the gate at 0740, and the agent was setting up. I heard her say with AAttitude that she'd start checking people in at 0800, so I went and got food. Was first in line at 0755 and waited. I explained my situation, and as soon as she heard SFO, she waved me off and sent me on my way. I sat at the gate for a while, then when the other agent got settled, went to her to gate-check my bulky garment bag as far as PHX. Turns out that she was Greek as well. We chatted about where our parents were from, and I told her my situation. She said to hang on a sec. She checked the next two SFO flights, but they were sold out. I thanked her and boarded a few minutes later.
The fight was ok, exit row 20D on a MD-80. I find 20D to be as good as F if nobody is in 20E. Unfortunately. there was someone...

Taxi took forever. Breakfast choice were cereal or yogurt, with a banana and muffin as well. I spent most of the flight reading, listening to my CDs. They did a second beverage service about two hours into the flight, which was pretty decent. Landing was OK, but 15 minutes late. My baggage was at the end... I collected my things and eventually found the bus for Terminal 4.

PHX-SMF, HP 2767, 1:31p-3:21p
With no status or club access, I decided to hang out at Gate A1 after getting some water. This flight was 95% full, and I was stuck with 19A. I gave them my NW#. Very busy for noon, with lots of calls for tardy pax about to miss their flight.

I picked up some lunch and boarded early, and I gate-checked my luggage again. The plane had been on the ground for an hour, and was steaming. The flight was rather uneventful. The drink service was rather leisurely, but we all got full cans. My head was grazing up against the little light above the window, so I couldn't really see a lot out the window. But what I saw was rather pleasant, mostly mountain landscapes. I basically just sat there stuffed into my seat trying not to inadvertantly smack my seat opponent.

An uneventful landing, mercifully short taxi, and longish wait for luggage later, I was in a $10 SuperShuttle heading for the Hyatt to meet my colleagues.

Hyatt Regency Sacramento (Mon 8/21):
This was an OK Hyatt, the room was nice enough for having no status, but the front desk staff was rather useless. Three of us had $125 AAA rates. Our forth (Tasos) was to stay with relatives originally, but had to switch because they had to leave town for a funeral and forgot to leave him a key for their place. So, Tasos tries to negotiate the same rate that we have - no luck. He's told the only rate he qualifies for is $209/night because he doesn't have a AAA membership. I tried to intervene and explained that three people in our party had AAA cards and why couldn't we pay for the rooms, but to no avail.

Next - On to the Bay Area

[This message has been edited by ElmhurstNick (edited 08-29-2000).]

A great meal and a bit of amazing luck by the Bay

After a day of meetings in Sacramento, Tasos, Brad (our manager) and I drove down in Tasos' car to Oakland, where our company has an office. Brad was scheduled to fly to our HQ in Boston (where he works) the next morning, so Tasos arranged a great dinner for us at a place in San Francisco called Scoma's. Tasos' fiance Judy joined us as well. It was the first time that I had met Judy and we had a great evening.

Scoma's had absolutely excellent seafood - calamari, crab, oysters, scallops... you name it, it was wonderful. Extremely highly recommended. It turns out that our waiter Ernie was a friend of Tasos, and that he grew up in the same tiny town in Greece as one of my aunts, and hadn't seen her for 47 years!!

I then spent three perfectly mediocre nights at the Holiday Inn Bay Bridge in Emeryville. The Oakland Marriott was sold out, and that's where I usually stay. I thought that a saving grace of the Holiday Inn would be that I'd get the companion ticket on AA that is advertised on the Bass web site, but this particular Holiday Inn insisted that they were not participating..... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Off to Victoria
8/25: OAK-SEA, AS 432, 1500-1645

First of all, a slight detour to thank the entire FT community. Thanks to FT, I figured out that I could start a September ORD-ARN business trip in Victoria on 8/27 and have the YYJ-ORD and ORD-CPH-ARN portions combined cost my client 200 $US less than the ORD-ARN direct flight! Plus, the OAK-YYJ flight in full Y was less than flying OAK-MDW on Southwest, which was my cheapest option on Friday afternoon. So, I get a sidetrip to Victoria for free!!! I had been to Victoria once before with my cousin (also named Nick, long story) for the day and loved it and had vowed to return. Now would be my chance.

First things first - it's Thursday afternoon and I'm checking on my flight. My flight is obviously way oversold, as they're not even selling Y space for it anymore. Since I'm on a full Y fare (it was only $30 more than the discounted fare, so I figured it was worth the flexibility), I hunted around the web site to find their upgrade policy. Turns out anybody can upgrade on AS 24 hours in advance. I called up and snared the upgrade for 1D for $40. Since I had a middle seat, this was an absolute no-brainer.

Get to the airport at about 2pm and have a nice conversation with the gate agent. I tell him this is my first AS flight and he asks me about flying American all the time. He tells me that they are extremely oversold and to go to the gate and they'll give me a free ticket on AS good for a year. I check my garment bag, as I'm likely going to have to fly OAK-PDX-SEA-YYJ if I get bumped and I don't want to deal with the bag. I go off towards the gate area in anticipation of my first successful bump.

I make it to gate 8 at 2:15 and explain my interest to the gate agent, who had a "trainer" badge on. Her eyes lit up and she eagerly took my ticket. She plinked away for a little bit, and a frown came up over her face...... "Mr ElmhurstNick, unfortunately I think you need to stay with the flights you have. See, all the flights to Victoria for Friday night and even Saturday morning are completely sold out. If I don't put you on this flight, you won't get to Victoria until Saturday afternoon." I was crushed.... A free golfing trip in Kelowna next summer in my grasp and suddently snatched away. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

I asked if they could route me through Vancouver and put me on the CP flight from Vancouver to Victoria, and she said that wouldn't work. My hotel had a 24 hour cancellation, otherwise I would have taken the voucher and the rebook, then going out to the desk and exchanging it for a OAK-PDX-YVR ticket and staying in Vancouver that night instead.

Boarding started about then, so I wandered into seat 1D with my liter bottle of water and some cashews. The FA came by immediately with a small bottle of water which I enjoyed. The F seats were ancient, and mine squeaked whenever I shifted in my seat. The 737 slowly filled up, and we actually pushed back on time. For a 100 minute flight at 3pm, I expected some kind of snack, but all they had were drinks and a mixed nut package that I couldn't eat because I'm allergic to peanuts. I really didn't care, because I was immersed in a Richard Marcinko counter-terroism novel. Landing was on time at D2.

SEA-YYJ, AS 2760, 1845-1925
I was dismayed to find out that the flights to Canada left from the South Terminal. I had hoped to hang out in the Admrials' Club near C17 until my flight. I found the agent at C2A that handled the transfer to the South Terminal and asked her when I had to be back to get the shuttle bus. She said 5:15, 90 minutes before departure because it was an international flight. That seemed dubious to me, and it turns out that it was dead wrong. But, since I couldn't risk missing the flight, I dutifully showed up at 5:15 for the shuttle bus.

I get to gate S16, and I thought I was back flying American - the agent had some serious AAtitiude.... She got mad at me for asking her simple questions like "when do you want to see my passport" and "what time would you like me to return to the podium." She didn't want to see me again at all, but 6:35 would be acceptable. Unfortunately, this now left me with 80 minutes in the South Terminal, where the dinner choice was Burger King, a submarine sandwich (which was my lunch), or alcohol. I opted for a plain Whopper, a Diet Coke, and a bottle of water for the plane, then sat and read my novel some more. The SAS plane at the next gate was badly oversold as well, and they were offering a hotel and an $800 voucher or $400 cash to go out the next evening on SAS or the next afternoon on BA via London. Several people went to go check the deal out.

My flight had a minor mechanical, so we boarded at 6:45 and left at 7pm. But first, the baggage handler brought up about 5 bags from the cargo hold and said that these had to become carryons for weight balance. The first time I've ever seen bags be UNchecked at the gate! A quick taxi later, we were in the air.

It was a great flight, even completely full. I found the Dash-8 to be much more balanced side-to-side than the Saab 340s or the ATR 42s that I've flown on American Eagle, or those awful Beechcraft that US Airways Express uses out of KC. We got up to 9,000 feet and there was a quick beverage service - cranberry juice or a glass of an Oregon ale that came in a giant bottle. All too soon, we were landing. A quick hit through customs and I was on my way to the airport shuttle bus (13 CAD) to the Holiday Inn.

Getting acclimated in Victoria
The Holiday Inn Victoria was not a great hotel. It should have been classified an Express, and it was about 23 blocks from downtown Victoria. They had no shuttle bus to the airport (that's ok) or to downtown (that's not). The rooms were motel style in the annex where I was, but I suspect that meant I had a larger room. It did have a small refrigerator and a 2-burner stovetop. For 139 CAD, however, I felt it was overpriced even during a peak weekend.

By this point it's 9pm and I'm starving but too tired to head into Victoria so I go for a walk to find where I'm going to catch my bus tommorrow morning to start sightseeing. Two blocks from my hotel is a small casino in what could have previously been a restaurant. I'm bored so I wander in. My style of blackjack playing is "cheap hit-and-run." $5US is too steep of a bet for me..... But they have $5 CDN tables, which is just right and I find an empty seat. I played for about 35 minutes, which is about my limit when I'm tired, and won $52.50 betting only the minimum. Thoroughly satisfied, I left in search of dinner. And found nothing useful - McDonalds or Denny's were the only options. I decided that a dinner salad at Denny's wouldn't kill me, then wandered back to my hotel.

Next - a day of sightseeing in Victoria