oopsz
Jun 5, 06, 6:34 pm
I recently had to fly to montreal at the last minute to take care of some paperwork, and after looking at the fares decided that 25k onepass miles would be a bargain! Even using miles, I figured it would be serious a waste to just fly up for a couple of days, so I decided to stop and visit some friends in kingston, ontario for a few days after my business was done. The only scheduled air service to YGK (almost exactly halfway between YUL and YYZ) is on air canada, so I booked an open jaw YUL/YYZ. I was fortunate to get regular award availability on the days I needed, NW on the outbound and CO coming home. There's no nonstop flight IAH-YUL, so I didn't mind having to connect in detroit, and the elite line CSRs are happy to check all partners to avoid RJ flights.
Flight 1:
IAH-DTW on NW1830
Departure time 12:21PM
Aircraft: A319
Assigned seat: 9-C (Exit Row)
Flown seat: 4-D (Domestic First)
It seems like every NW flight I take ex-IAH is seriously oversold. Word on the tarmac is that NW has a special agreement with CO that makes it attractive to protect bumped fliers on CO nonstops. Either way, my flight was oversold by four and when they asked for volunteers, I walked up to the podium and said sure. And I waited... and waited. I learned from a traveller sitting next to me that though the wi-fi in IAH terminal B isn't free, you can still connect to protected SSL sites without paying-- so I caught up on some email, and finally the GA called me up. As is often the case, by the time boarding had finished they didn't need any volunteers, and in gratitude (and because I was the only skyteam elite who had volunteered), she gave my exit row seat to another volunteer, and gave me the only F seat left. As I always say, the worst seat in F is better than the best seat in Y... ;)
That having been said, NW Domestic F is nothing to write home about. The seat is comfortable and there's a lot of legroom, but no IFE. I was served a simple lunch plate consisting of bread, assorted meats and cheeses, olives, and a little pasta. It wasn't a lot, and it was cold, but food is food. (and it was light-years better than those damn AA pizzas.) The FA plied me with a lot of free drinks (even though I prefer CO's canadian club reserve to NW's seagram VO), and very soon we were decending into Detroit. Service was excellent on this flight, and I will definitely consider flying NW again-- had I been on a revenue ticket, I'm sure I would have been EUA'd into that last F seat (which rarely happens on CO these days...)
Detroit is an interesting airport. I like how new and fresh everything is, but the service I received at airport stores (especially the duty-free) really soured me to the experience. I do a lot of duty-free shopping (consider it a perk of how much travelling I do ;)), and I will avoid an airport if the duty free shop sucks. DTW is now one such airport.
Flight 2:
DTW-YUL on NW1098
Departure time 5:11PM
Aircraft: DC9-50
Seat: 15-A (Exit Row)
With almost no chance of an upgrade on a reward ticket, I resigned myself into my exit row seat for this hour-long flight. Could be worse, I guess. I was interested to hear from the captain that we would be doing a powerback from the gate, an interesting perk of the DC9's tail mounted jets and the forward-swept windows of DTW's concourse. It was a short, uneventful flight with a simple drink service. FAs passed out customs forms before landing, as is standard for flights to canada.
I guess 6:45 on a tuesday is a busy time for YUL, because immigration was PACKED when we arrived. I saw an AF 747-400 and LH A340-300 at gates as we passed by, in addition to a zoom 767-300 and transat A330-200 taxiing to the gate, and all those people poured into YUL's immigration facility. Thank god it's been remodeled in the last few years, because that many people crammed into the 2002 immigration facility would have turned extremely ugly. After about 40 minutes of waiting I breezed through and caught l'aerobus to the holiday inn express (a great bargain at 10,000 points per night for a deluxe suite). Had a great (and cheap) dinner at chinatown's Maison VIP and crashed.
The next day I finished my business and caught the last train to Kingston, Via rail 069. Some of those Via rail seats are ridiculously uncomfortable-- by the time I got to the kingston rail station, my back was killing me, and later that night I had some lower back spasms (lessened by a few drinks on princess street ;))
Had a fantastic time visiting some old friends, and a few days later I drove to toronto, where I had an excellent Dutch Dreams sundae on st clair and an uneventful evening. The next day I had to get up early to catch the only 737 CO flies between YYZ and IAH, which leaves at 8:30. For a four hour plus flight, it's worth it to get up early and avoid the ERJ.
Flight 3:
YYZ-IAH on CO1867
Departure time 8:25AM
Aircraft: 737-500
Assigned seat: 14-F (Exit Row)
Flown seat: 1-F (Domestic First)
I was as pleasant as is humanly possible at 6:45 in the morning when I checked in, and for once, my inherent canadian politeness came in handy. As the agent looked at my passport, she said "Well now, what's a silver like you doing in coach? This flight is empty in F.. let's see if we can't put you up front where you belong." Maybe she didn't notice I was on a reward ticket, or maybe she was just having a good day. Either way, I lucked out! :) After hitting the duty free (the price of crown royal at YYZ is ridiculous, so I always grab a bottle or two ;)), I made my way through US preclearance and out to my gate.
On board, service was impeccable, as is usually my experience on CO. The flight was mostly empty; maybe thirty people in Y and three people in F (I'm guessing battlefield upgrades). The hot meal service was an omelette with cheese and sausage, croissants, jam, butter, and home fries. A good hearty breakfast and the eggs were surprisingly fluffy and light. Being an early morning flight, I slept most of the way, but the FAs roamed the cabin fairly often to check on us (in a very unobtrusive way). I woke up about an hour before landing and had a nice conversation with two FAs in the front galley, a young EWR based crew. I had an irish coffee before landing (or at least, the fake airplane version of one-- coffee, sugar, irish cream, and a little whisky). Had an easy, uneventful landing into IAH, the best kind in thunderstorm season :)
At IAH I took the airside train to terminal E to have a Pappadeaux lunch with a friend of mine, a pilot on layover. During lunch a flustered agent called my cell phone, saying my suitcase was at the baggage claim and had yet to be picked up, and asking if I had made my flight from toronto! I assured her I'd be down to pick it up after lunch, and finished my meal. I met a friend at IAH's rental car facility and she drove me to my house, a little disappointed that my impromptu vacation was over, but happy to be home.
Well, there's my first trip report. I know its kind of mundane compared to RTWs in J, but those will come in time :)
Flight 1:
IAH-DTW on NW1830
Departure time 12:21PM
Aircraft: A319
Assigned seat: 9-C (Exit Row)
Flown seat: 4-D (Domestic First)
It seems like every NW flight I take ex-IAH is seriously oversold. Word on the tarmac is that NW has a special agreement with CO that makes it attractive to protect bumped fliers on CO nonstops. Either way, my flight was oversold by four and when they asked for volunteers, I walked up to the podium and said sure. And I waited... and waited. I learned from a traveller sitting next to me that though the wi-fi in IAH terminal B isn't free, you can still connect to protected SSL sites without paying-- so I caught up on some email, and finally the GA called me up. As is often the case, by the time boarding had finished they didn't need any volunteers, and in gratitude (and because I was the only skyteam elite who had volunteered), she gave my exit row seat to another volunteer, and gave me the only F seat left. As I always say, the worst seat in F is better than the best seat in Y... ;)
That having been said, NW Domestic F is nothing to write home about. The seat is comfortable and there's a lot of legroom, but no IFE. I was served a simple lunch plate consisting of bread, assorted meats and cheeses, olives, and a little pasta. It wasn't a lot, and it was cold, but food is food. (and it was light-years better than those damn AA pizzas.) The FA plied me with a lot of free drinks (even though I prefer CO's canadian club reserve to NW's seagram VO), and very soon we were decending into Detroit. Service was excellent on this flight, and I will definitely consider flying NW again-- had I been on a revenue ticket, I'm sure I would have been EUA'd into that last F seat (which rarely happens on CO these days...)
Detroit is an interesting airport. I like how new and fresh everything is, but the service I received at airport stores (especially the duty-free) really soured me to the experience. I do a lot of duty-free shopping (consider it a perk of how much travelling I do ;)), and I will avoid an airport if the duty free shop sucks. DTW is now one such airport.
Flight 2:
DTW-YUL on NW1098
Departure time 5:11PM
Aircraft: DC9-50
Seat: 15-A (Exit Row)
With almost no chance of an upgrade on a reward ticket, I resigned myself into my exit row seat for this hour-long flight. Could be worse, I guess. I was interested to hear from the captain that we would be doing a powerback from the gate, an interesting perk of the DC9's tail mounted jets and the forward-swept windows of DTW's concourse. It was a short, uneventful flight with a simple drink service. FAs passed out customs forms before landing, as is standard for flights to canada.
I guess 6:45 on a tuesday is a busy time for YUL, because immigration was PACKED when we arrived. I saw an AF 747-400 and LH A340-300 at gates as we passed by, in addition to a zoom 767-300 and transat A330-200 taxiing to the gate, and all those people poured into YUL's immigration facility. Thank god it's been remodeled in the last few years, because that many people crammed into the 2002 immigration facility would have turned extremely ugly. After about 40 minutes of waiting I breezed through and caught l'aerobus to the holiday inn express (a great bargain at 10,000 points per night for a deluxe suite). Had a great (and cheap) dinner at chinatown's Maison VIP and crashed.
The next day I finished my business and caught the last train to Kingston, Via rail 069. Some of those Via rail seats are ridiculously uncomfortable-- by the time I got to the kingston rail station, my back was killing me, and later that night I had some lower back spasms (lessened by a few drinks on princess street ;))
Had a fantastic time visiting some old friends, and a few days later I drove to toronto, where I had an excellent Dutch Dreams sundae on st clair and an uneventful evening. The next day I had to get up early to catch the only 737 CO flies between YYZ and IAH, which leaves at 8:30. For a four hour plus flight, it's worth it to get up early and avoid the ERJ.
Flight 3:
YYZ-IAH on CO1867
Departure time 8:25AM
Aircraft: 737-500
Assigned seat: 14-F (Exit Row)
Flown seat: 1-F (Domestic First)
I was as pleasant as is humanly possible at 6:45 in the morning when I checked in, and for once, my inherent canadian politeness came in handy. As the agent looked at my passport, she said "Well now, what's a silver like you doing in coach? This flight is empty in F.. let's see if we can't put you up front where you belong." Maybe she didn't notice I was on a reward ticket, or maybe she was just having a good day. Either way, I lucked out! :) After hitting the duty free (the price of crown royal at YYZ is ridiculous, so I always grab a bottle or two ;)), I made my way through US preclearance and out to my gate.
On board, service was impeccable, as is usually my experience on CO. The flight was mostly empty; maybe thirty people in Y and three people in F (I'm guessing battlefield upgrades). The hot meal service was an omelette with cheese and sausage, croissants, jam, butter, and home fries. A good hearty breakfast and the eggs were surprisingly fluffy and light. Being an early morning flight, I slept most of the way, but the FAs roamed the cabin fairly often to check on us (in a very unobtrusive way). I woke up about an hour before landing and had a nice conversation with two FAs in the front galley, a young EWR based crew. I had an irish coffee before landing (or at least, the fake airplane version of one-- coffee, sugar, irish cream, and a little whisky). Had an easy, uneventful landing into IAH, the best kind in thunderstorm season :)
At IAH I took the airside train to terminal E to have a Pappadeaux lunch with a friend of mine, a pilot on layover. During lunch a flustered agent called my cell phone, saying my suitcase was at the baggage claim and had yet to be picked up, and asking if I had made my flight from toronto! I assured her I'd be down to pick it up after lunch, and finished my meal. I met a friend at IAH's rental car facility and she drove me to my house, a little disappointed that my impromptu vacation was over, but happy to be home.
Well, there's my first trip report. I know its kind of mundane compared to RTWs in J, but those will come in time :)