Doppy
Dec 3, 00, 11:42 pm
Well I needed a few frequent flyer status qualifying miles - 12,000 to be exact, so I decided to do a quick mileage run from New York City to London, via Dallas/Fort Worth. I just got back a few hours ago, and I have a bad headache.. so here's the story:
AA 739 - LGA-DFW - 2.Dec
My flight leaves at 12 noon out of LGA. I live in Manhattan so it only takes about 30 minutes to get to the airport. I figure I'll give myself about an hour and a half to get to the airport -- all of my flights in this mileage run have close connections so I can't miss any.
Unfortunately, I wake up late. Actually I woke up on time, hit the snooze button, woke up again, hit the snooze button, etc., for about an hour and a half. After finally dragging myself out of bed and showering, I begin to call Blockbuster stores in my area trying to locate a DVD copy of 'X-Men' to bring along on my trip. I finally find a close location with it, so I pack up all of my books and a laptop computer in a rolling carry-on and sprint over to Blockbuster.
I find the video, but then realize that I've never rented from Blockbuster before, so I have to fill out an account application. It's a relatively quick process and I'm on my way to LGA at 10:30, just like I had hoped.
I made my best time to the airport yet, 18 minutes! I was pretty amazed. After checking in I headed to the Admirals Club to cool my heels and watch the election hearing on CNN. Exciting!
The flight boards on-time, and I have seat 7D on a 757 -- bulkhead row with TONS of legroom. And there are only 2 seats on each side of the aircraft in row 7 because of the emergency exit. As icing on the cake, I don't have anyone siting next to me, so it was a really comfortable flight. And, AA seems to be improving it's food service because I got a super-hot cheese sandwich (as usual) with peanuts, pretzels and 3 kinds of cookies http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif There were also many, many drink services.
Since it was a 757, not the stupid Super 80s AA always flys, there was in-flight entertainment. No movie, but they did have CBS Eye on American short-interest programming. The also had a Simpson's cartoon music only channel! Fun the first time around, but 30 hours later it was really annoying.
The flight takes of and lands on-time (a first for LGA).
AA 78 - DFW-LGW - 2.Dec
I've got some time to kill, so I walk all the way from the far end of terminal C at DFW to my gate at terminal A. This leaves me just enough time to hit the restroom and get back to the gate for elite preboarding. We board on-time, I've got seat 25A, on an MD-11.
AA's MD-11s are old and cramped, as well as generally crappy. My seat did have a laptop power port (I made sure of this ahead of time), so I knew I was going to be in for some great music listening and DVD watching, especially if I didn't like the airline movie.
My seatmate and all of the people sitting around me just so happened to be traveling together. The were members of the US military going to be stationed outside of London. Nice and friendly.
The airplane door was closed. Just after, all of the plane power went out and the emergency lights came on. They're pretty visable, I was surprised. We got power back, only to lost it again, and get it back again. This went on for a little while.
The captain told us there was some problem with the auxillary power adapter. It was fixed within a couple minutes. We were towed away from the gate, only to find another mechanical problem. As we were sitting on the ramp we heard the very loud and annoying pumping and wurring sound. After at least 5 minutes of it, the captain told us that in the process of fixing the aux. power adapter, something went wrong with the hydrallic testing thingy. Though nothing was wrong, they couldn't get the test to run properly.
So we sat on the ramp for another 15 minutes waiting for this problem to be solved. And that noise got more and more annoying. Finally they supposedly "fixed" the problem - even though we still heard that pumping sound and we taxied over to the runway. While we were climbing to our cruising altitude the noise continued, at which point I was wondering whether I could make an 8.5 hour flight with that noise, especially since I knew I was going to have to turn right around and get back on the plane for a 9.5 hour flight back to Dallas. But, alas the noise finally stopped, about a half hour after it started.
AA's food service was exceptional for coach, though I didn't like either of the red wines I tried. Lots of desserts with the meals too. We also got to watch both "Walking Across Egypt" the movie feature, and the same 'CBS Eye on American' short-interest programming I had just seen on my previous flight. It's a lot better the second time around.
I broke out my laptop and threw in X-Men. It wasn't nearly as good as everyone said it was, or as good as I was expecting. It was also annoyingly hard to hear the conversation because the MD-11's 'shhhh' air noise was so loud. It was also hard to concentrate on the movie because everyone kept commenting on the computer, and I had to keep responding to them.
We pulled into Gatwick and after a really, really long walk to the transfer desk I made it to AA's security. (I was delighted that I didn't have to go through UK passport control or anything)
You have to get stamped by AA security before you can talk to the transfer desk. My security person was a nice young woman who had tons and tons of questions for me. I had to explain my complicated mileage run itinerary, how my laptop rental worked, what I did, ... anyway, it went on for a long time. She finally let me pass and I had my boarding passes printed for my flights home.
Off to the Admirals Club for some pretzels and cookies.
AA 51 - LGW-DFW - 3.Dec
By the time I found the Admirals club (the AA agent at the transfers desk gave me terrible directions - I would have been better off alone) I had just enough time to grab a quick snack and some water, put my contacts back in and head off to the gate. After talking to AA security again I was allowed entry to the gate area, for an interesting boarding process.
An AA agent opened the door to the jetway, and sent some families with small children down to preboard after checking their boarding passes. He then walked all the way to the opposite side of the room and called for preboarding. Everyone lined up at the gate doorway. Then he called first class - the line at the doorway grew bigger. Then he called business class and the line at the doorway was really getting long. No one knew what to do because they were all expecting the agent who opened the door to return and allow people to enter the jetway.
Finally someone walked down the jetway and everyone else followed. Since there was no agent working the door, everyone just decided to board at the leisure, rather than waiting to be called.
Back onto the MD-11, this time in 25H. Same row, aisle seat on the opposite side of the aircraft.
Nothing much to note about the flight, I did a lot of reading -- and of course watch the same CBS Eye on Amerian segments again. It's really, really good on the third time around, let me tell you. Especially when you've been traveling for 25 hours straight.
We take off on-time and have a quick flight - so we land early. I think there is a chance I might be able to get an earlier connection back to NYC (we got in around 2PM, my scheduled flight leaves at 4).
AA 736 - DFW-LGA - 3.Dec
Passport control was abnormally fast and friendly, no probing questions about where I went or why I went there, in fact the only question was "did you enjoy your trip" to which I gave an enthusiastic 'yes, very much so' as a response.
I hurried to customs, still hoping to hop on an earlier flight. Just as I was entering the customs line I heard an 'Excuse me' that was sufficiently loud to make me turn around. I saw a US Customs official approaching me. He asked me where I had come from, how long I was there, etc. I answered his questions, and then instead of letting me go, as I was expecting, he decided I needed to have a courtesy bag search performed.
I was happy to have my bags looked through to make sure there were no drugs or bombs acquired in the 2-3 hours I was in the UK. The officer didn't have much of a sense of humor, but his sidekick thought I was such an interesting person, so he kept asking me questions about this and that. Then he turned to a random page in a psychology text I had and began engaging me in a conversation about that.
I finally made it away from the customs people to find out that there was a flight leaving DFW immediately for LGA. Of course it was on the exact opposide side of the airport, and if you know DFW - it takes practically 10 minutes to walk from Gate 1 to gate 5.
I decide to walk instead of taking the TrAAin. Even though I knew the TrAAin would have been faster there was a feeling of control when walking I didn't want to give up. I finally made it to the gate where the flight was landing, to be told that I had just missed it by about 1 minute (thank you US Customs). I asked the AA agent if there were any other flights to LGA leaving soon. He told me there was one at 4PM.
Now I was glad I walked (to some extent) because on my way over saw another flight to LGA scheduled to leave at 2:15, delayed to 2:47. I asked the agent about it, but he told me it didn't exist. After pressing him some more he finally found the flight and told me there was 1 seat available and a long waiting list. He said it's only at C16 (we were at C37) "it's just right over there". As if it was only a stones' throw away. Yeah right, it was a good 10-15 minute walk between the two - I had just done it.
I went all the way back to C16 where I was told that I would be number 7 on the waiting list. I wasn't very optimistic, but the agent said that 8 people hadn't checked in, so my chances were pretty good.
I guess they were, because about 30 seconds after walking away from the desk the agent motioned for me to come over. She handed me my boarding pass and that was that.
The flight was delayed from 2:47 to 3:03 because the cleaning crew was taking forever.
We finally boarded the Super 80, I had seat 20F. While the seat didn't recline (exit row behind me) it was an exit row seat so I had so much legroom. Unfortunately there is no inflight entertainment system on a MD80, so I couldn't watch CBS Eye on American http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif
I slept most of the flight because I hadn't done much sleeping on the previous flights. All of my flight went really well though. I got a lot of reading done, saw a few movies and relaxed a bit. Not bad of a mileage run. Apartment Door to door the trip was 34 hours and 10 minutes, 12,320 base FF miles, plus various bonuses brought the total earned miles for the trip to just over 43,000 miles, all in a day and a half's sitting.
I did get a headache and a little disoriented when I came home tonight though. It seems that I was so used to the airplane 'shhh'ing wind noise that the peace and quiet of my apartment threw me off.
d
[This message has been edited by Doppy (edited 12-03-2000).]
AA 739 - LGA-DFW - 2.Dec
My flight leaves at 12 noon out of LGA. I live in Manhattan so it only takes about 30 minutes to get to the airport. I figure I'll give myself about an hour and a half to get to the airport -- all of my flights in this mileage run have close connections so I can't miss any.
Unfortunately, I wake up late. Actually I woke up on time, hit the snooze button, woke up again, hit the snooze button, etc., for about an hour and a half. After finally dragging myself out of bed and showering, I begin to call Blockbuster stores in my area trying to locate a DVD copy of 'X-Men' to bring along on my trip. I finally find a close location with it, so I pack up all of my books and a laptop computer in a rolling carry-on and sprint over to Blockbuster.
I find the video, but then realize that I've never rented from Blockbuster before, so I have to fill out an account application. It's a relatively quick process and I'm on my way to LGA at 10:30, just like I had hoped.
I made my best time to the airport yet, 18 minutes! I was pretty amazed. After checking in I headed to the Admirals Club to cool my heels and watch the election hearing on CNN. Exciting!
The flight boards on-time, and I have seat 7D on a 757 -- bulkhead row with TONS of legroom. And there are only 2 seats on each side of the aircraft in row 7 because of the emergency exit. As icing on the cake, I don't have anyone siting next to me, so it was a really comfortable flight. And, AA seems to be improving it's food service because I got a super-hot cheese sandwich (as usual) with peanuts, pretzels and 3 kinds of cookies http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif There were also many, many drink services.
Since it was a 757, not the stupid Super 80s AA always flys, there was in-flight entertainment. No movie, but they did have CBS Eye on American short-interest programming. The also had a Simpson's cartoon music only channel! Fun the first time around, but 30 hours later it was really annoying.
The flight takes of and lands on-time (a first for LGA).
AA 78 - DFW-LGW - 2.Dec
I've got some time to kill, so I walk all the way from the far end of terminal C at DFW to my gate at terminal A. This leaves me just enough time to hit the restroom and get back to the gate for elite preboarding. We board on-time, I've got seat 25A, on an MD-11.
AA's MD-11s are old and cramped, as well as generally crappy. My seat did have a laptop power port (I made sure of this ahead of time), so I knew I was going to be in for some great music listening and DVD watching, especially if I didn't like the airline movie.
My seatmate and all of the people sitting around me just so happened to be traveling together. The were members of the US military going to be stationed outside of London. Nice and friendly.
The airplane door was closed. Just after, all of the plane power went out and the emergency lights came on. They're pretty visable, I was surprised. We got power back, only to lost it again, and get it back again. This went on for a little while.
The captain told us there was some problem with the auxillary power adapter. It was fixed within a couple minutes. We were towed away from the gate, only to find another mechanical problem. As we were sitting on the ramp we heard the very loud and annoying pumping and wurring sound. After at least 5 minutes of it, the captain told us that in the process of fixing the aux. power adapter, something went wrong with the hydrallic testing thingy. Though nothing was wrong, they couldn't get the test to run properly.
So we sat on the ramp for another 15 minutes waiting for this problem to be solved. And that noise got more and more annoying. Finally they supposedly "fixed" the problem - even though we still heard that pumping sound and we taxied over to the runway. While we were climbing to our cruising altitude the noise continued, at which point I was wondering whether I could make an 8.5 hour flight with that noise, especially since I knew I was going to have to turn right around and get back on the plane for a 9.5 hour flight back to Dallas. But, alas the noise finally stopped, about a half hour after it started.
AA's food service was exceptional for coach, though I didn't like either of the red wines I tried. Lots of desserts with the meals too. We also got to watch both "Walking Across Egypt" the movie feature, and the same 'CBS Eye on American' short-interest programming I had just seen on my previous flight. It's a lot better the second time around.
I broke out my laptop and threw in X-Men. It wasn't nearly as good as everyone said it was, or as good as I was expecting. It was also annoyingly hard to hear the conversation because the MD-11's 'shhhh' air noise was so loud. It was also hard to concentrate on the movie because everyone kept commenting on the computer, and I had to keep responding to them.
We pulled into Gatwick and after a really, really long walk to the transfer desk I made it to AA's security. (I was delighted that I didn't have to go through UK passport control or anything)
You have to get stamped by AA security before you can talk to the transfer desk. My security person was a nice young woman who had tons and tons of questions for me. I had to explain my complicated mileage run itinerary, how my laptop rental worked, what I did, ... anyway, it went on for a long time. She finally let me pass and I had my boarding passes printed for my flights home.
Off to the Admirals Club for some pretzels and cookies.
AA 51 - LGW-DFW - 3.Dec
By the time I found the Admirals club (the AA agent at the transfers desk gave me terrible directions - I would have been better off alone) I had just enough time to grab a quick snack and some water, put my contacts back in and head off to the gate. After talking to AA security again I was allowed entry to the gate area, for an interesting boarding process.
An AA agent opened the door to the jetway, and sent some families with small children down to preboard after checking their boarding passes. He then walked all the way to the opposite side of the room and called for preboarding. Everyone lined up at the gate doorway. Then he called first class - the line at the doorway grew bigger. Then he called business class and the line at the doorway was really getting long. No one knew what to do because they were all expecting the agent who opened the door to return and allow people to enter the jetway.
Finally someone walked down the jetway and everyone else followed. Since there was no agent working the door, everyone just decided to board at the leisure, rather than waiting to be called.
Back onto the MD-11, this time in 25H. Same row, aisle seat on the opposite side of the aircraft.
Nothing much to note about the flight, I did a lot of reading -- and of course watch the same CBS Eye on Amerian segments again. It's really, really good on the third time around, let me tell you. Especially when you've been traveling for 25 hours straight.
We take off on-time and have a quick flight - so we land early. I think there is a chance I might be able to get an earlier connection back to NYC (we got in around 2PM, my scheduled flight leaves at 4).
AA 736 - DFW-LGA - 3.Dec
Passport control was abnormally fast and friendly, no probing questions about where I went or why I went there, in fact the only question was "did you enjoy your trip" to which I gave an enthusiastic 'yes, very much so' as a response.
I hurried to customs, still hoping to hop on an earlier flight. Just as I was entering the customs line I heard an 'Excuse me' that was sufficiently loud to make me turn around. I saw a US Customs official approaching me. He asked me where I had come from, how long I was there, etc. I answered his questions, and then instead of letting me go, as I was expecting, he decided I needed to have a courtesy bag search performed.
I was happy to have my bags looked through to make sure there were no drugs or bombs acquired in the 2-3 hours I was in the UK. The officer didn't have much of a sense of humor, but his sidekick thought I was such an interesting person, so he kept asking me questions about this and that. Then he turned to a random page in a psychology text I had and began engaging me in a conversation about that.
I finally made it away from the customs people to find out that there was a flight leaving DFW immediately for LGA. Of course it was on the exact opposide side of the airport, and if you know DFW - it takes practically 10 minutes to walk from Gate 1 to gate 5.
I decide to walk instead of taking the TrAAin. Even though I knew the TrAAin would have been faster there was a feeling of control when walking I didn't want to give up. I finally made it to the gate where the flight was landing, to be told that I had just missed it by about 1 minute (thank you US Customs). I asked the AA agent if there were any other flights to LGA leaving soon. He told me there was one at 4PM.
Now I was glad I walked (to some extent) because on my way over saw another flight to LGA scheduled to leave at 2:15, delayed to 2:47. I asked the agent about it, but he told me it didn't exist. After pressing him some more he finally found the flight and told me there was 1 seat available and a long waiting list. He said it's only at C16 (we were at C37) "it's just right over there". As if it was only a stones' throw away. Yeah right, it was a good 10-15 minute walk between the two - I had just done it.
I went all the way back to C16 where I was told that I would be number 7 on the waiting list. I wasn't very optimistic, but the agent said that 8 people hadn't checked in, so my chances were pretty good.
I guess they were, because about 30 seconds after walking away from the desk the agent motioned for me to come over. She handed me my boarding pass and that was that.
The flight was delayed from 2:47 to 3:03 because the cleaning crew was taking forever.
We finally boarded the Super 80, I had seat 20F. While the seat didn't recline (exit row behind me) it was an exit row seat so I had so much legroom. Unfortunately there is no inflight entertainment system on a MD80, so I couldn't watch CBS Eye on American http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif
I slept most of the flight because I hadn't done much sleeping on the previous flights. All of my flight went really well though. I got a lot of reading done, saw a few movies and relaxed a bit. Not bad of a mileage run. Apartment Door to door the trip was 34 hours and 10 minutes, 12,320 base FF miles, plus various bonuses brought the total earned miles for the trip to just over 43,000 miles, all in a day and a half's sitting.
I did get a headache and a little disoriented when I came home tonight though. It seems that I was so used to the airplane 'shhh'ing wind noise that the peace and quiet of my apartment threw me off.
d
[This message has been edited by Doppy (edited 12-03-2000).]