Trip Reports - 2 Days 13 Segments - and I even get to sleep at home.

Preface

So I am pushing to 1K by segments. I booked all my travel through the rest of the year and I would have been at about 62 segments – so I decided, for the SWUs, CR1s and confirmed same-day standby I would press to 1K by segments. In fact, the latter reason is probably one of the biggest because I am constantly flying standby out of Vegas. I like to book a later flight than I usually take because it is normally a little cheaper than the flights in the 2-6pm range and then if I am done with work I just leave work to the airport. The ability to call from my desk at work and be confirmed on this earlier flight would be very nice.

So I needed 38 segments and I had a decent amount of time to do it. The only problem is that most of my weekends were booked with the fiancée in Orange County so now my free weeks I’d have to Segment Run. In addition, I’d want to leave a few weeks at the end of the year to make a quick run in case of WX or other cancelations on the segments.

I actually did my first SR last weekend on Saturday from SNA when I was at my fiancée’s house because she had to work on Saturday. I did a quick SNA-SFO-SMF-SFO-LAX-SNA trip (about 11 total hours), however, even that got interesting because of the first leg of the flight being cancelled due to weather. I am still curious about the cancelation because it was cancelled due to “weather” 18 hour prior. Regardless, no biggie – I just lost my F seat on SNA-SFO and my exit row on the Brazzy SFO-SMF for an exit row on SNA-LAX and an RJ segment from SMF-LAX.

So this weekend was my first big weekend. I have 8 segments on Saturday and another 5 on Sunday. I leave Vegas both days at 6am and get back in just before midnight. I debated booking the 8 segment trip on Saturday vs. the 7 segment trip in this MR discussion thread here and just decided to do the 8. Worst case it was $3 more (segment taxes) and I end up with 7 segments if there are Irr-ops.

For my routing info on Saturday I am on: LAS-SFO-ONT-LAX-SBP with a 20 minute turn (same aircraft) to SBP-LAX-ONT-SFO-LAS. This is 8 segments: 2 on Ted A320s, 2 on CRJ200s (mine, and most peoples, most hated equipment UA flies) and 4 Brazzy EMB120 segments. I am in the “real” exit row, row 9, on all the Brazzys and my normal TED seat of 4C on the TED segments. On the CRJ I am in whatever seat looked like there wouldn’t be anyone next to me :). FYI, all layovers are at least an hour with the exception of the SBP turn, but since it is on the same airplane I am not concerned at all.

Thankfully the weather today looks lovely – at least out west. On Friday I had great plans to get a nice good night sleep so I would be overly tried on the run, but I got a call at 7pm that my buddies softball team needed a player at 8, so I decided to play and didn’t get home until about 1030. After getting a few things together and charging all the necessary electronics I was in bed at a little past 11 with the alarm set for 5am.
And let me tell you that 5am came quickly. After getting up and having a quick glass of water and checking flyertalk real quick (hey you can never miss a good mistake fare) I headed to the airport at 515am for my 610pm departure to SFO.

Let me tell you guys I love being about 4 miles off final for 25L at LAS. It means I can get to the airport at this time of the morning in about 8 minutes (and about 12 minutes normal times). On the way to the airport I called LAS parking to see what was open in hopes that the “overflow” lot was open. The overflow lot is free and is not much more of a ride on the shuttle bus than the economy lot – however, the overflow was not open so I was out of luck.

After parking, taking the shuttle and getting to the airport at about 5:40 I meet MrpAlert to head through the D gates security. Security took a grand total of about 2 minutes from when I got my ticket checked to when I was through the scanner with all my belongings back together. However, I had to give MrpAlert a hard time because it took him nearly 4 minutes to clear.

After a quick tram ride to the D gates and a quick conversation with MrpAlert, I hear my name called from gate D37 to board the plane. On MrpAlert’s phone we looked up the loads on LAX-ONT at 11am, but with it showing only Y1 this foiled my plans to try to hop on the flight with MrpAlert to LAX at 620am. Looking at my watch and seeing 5 till 6 I decided it was time to board and wished MrpAlert a good trip to LAX (and then TUS) for the MR seminar that VJ is putting on.

LAS-SFO, A-320, N453UA, Seat 4C
Scheduled Departure Time: 0610, Departure Time: 0614
Scheduled Arrive Time: 0734, Arrival Time: 0725

After being paged I gave the GA my boarding pass and he said, “He knew I’d show up.” I told him I was a local and knew when I needed to leave my house to get to the airport. He looked at my BP and saw I was a 1P and thanked me for my business and told me that it was people like me that made the airline run. It was really thoughtful and I want to give a shout out to “Henry” at LAS for his kind remarks.

Getting on the airplane it was a bit more full than I thought for a 6am out of LAS on Saturday morning. Now, I am not saying it was super full, most middles were open – but I suspected that it was going to be more than ½ of E+ open. Regardless, I didn’t have anyone next to me and it made for a very comfortable ride to SFO.
After the normal safety video and pushback I tuned into Ch. 9 to listen to ATC and was quite surprised. If you ever get to listen to ATC in LAS at 610am you will see what I mean. I am so used to LAS being so busy, however, no one was really squawking. In fact we were the only plane that I heard ATC talking to from pushback, taxi and takeoff. Quite unusual, but due to the low traffic we were airborne just 4 minutes after our scheduled departure time.

The purser quoted flight time at a long 1 hour 15 minutes. I heard nothing interesting from ATC. We had the normal 25R departure and then we got clearance direct to Modesto. At one point we got handed off to a center than I had never heard of. It was Joshua center and by the communications between the Pilot and ATC I assume it might have been in NTTR airspace or the corridor just West of NTTR (and East of the Ft. Irwin range). The pilot did ask the ATC controller if they would be “open for business” in two hours because they were headed back and the controller replied that he had no guarantees because he didn’t know when the military or which planes would show up.

The flight overall had great service with quick beverage service where I had a water and black coffee. I finished both because the forward FAs were done with row 11, and they refilled both on the way back to the front. So I guess those “small cups” don’t matter when you get a good FA and can have it refilled.
The flight was a bit turbulent at times. It seemed like FL340 was the best altitude to be at, but out of LAS until about 8500 was steady moderate turbulence and the climb through FL300 was light to moderate turbulence.
Into SFO I was also surprised that the pilot had the runway in sight at over 30 miles out. This is when we were cleared for landing on runway 28R. We touched down at 0725 beating our quoted flight time b y four minutes and arrived at the gate just about 3 minutes later.

SFO Airport

After deplaning at the normal TED gate of 74 I decided to give MrpAlert a call to see if I beat him in landing. I didn’t but we had a decent conversation until he realized that he left his rollerboard on the aircraft. Good news was he got it back. Passing by the main security area I decided that a smoke wouldn’t be a good option because it was a mad house. Is it too much to ask to have smoking areas in airports? I choose my normal connecting airports based on the available smoking areas (i.e. LAX over SFO).

I needed to find an EasyChicken to get my return boarding passes. I was already checked in, but didn’t check in at work (and I prefer real boarding passes anyway because I keep the stubs) so I didn’t have a printer to print off the passes. After finding a chicken near gate 81 I couldn’t print passes for the return flights, all it would let me do is print them for the outbound flights. However, since I was at a Customer Service Center and there was no line I went to the agent to get the boarding passes. This really shouldn’t have been a hard task but it took the agent almost 5 minutes to print out the return passes. I would hate to see how long a real problem would have taken the one agent to fix. Anyway, I actually had a good conversation with the agent (she was a very nice lady, just not well trained) – she made a comment about all these flights in one day and I said I liked to fly. She said that was cool and gave me props on finding the fare that I did at the low cost.
After the meeting with the agent I went ahead and filled up my water bottle with water (since I forgot to do that in Vegas) and sat down by gate 82, plugged in the laptop and worked on this report. I guess this would be a good time to discuss what I take with me on Mileage/Segment Runs.

I have seen many threads about what people take with them and most “novice” runners want to bring everything they can think of. I have seen lists that would fill a whole roller-board and a backpack. This, IMHO, is way more stuff that you need. To start with let me discuss bag. I have a Samsonite Computer roller board that I picked up at Office Max for a respectable $80. It fits in all overheads, including a “tight fit” on a CRJ200 (this is key). It had 3 main pockets with zippers (on the top of the bag) and then one front pocket with areas for pens, cell phones, cards, etc. One of the pockets is actually for clothes and would probably fit two days of clothes if you were stingy with what you packed – perfect for a weekend overnight trip. The middle pocket is for the laptop with a separate flap to insert the laptop and then 3 Velcro pockets for items. The last pocket is for files, and has three separate compartments. The front pocket is has 3 pen slots, one more Velcro pocket, three business card slots, one clip for a key ring and plenty of room for other “junk”. But here is how I pack the bag for a MR:
1) Front Pocket: 3 Pens in the pen slots – my wallet and cell phone in the Velcro pocket, my car keys clipped to the clip and my 1K drink chits in the business card slots. I also put my chap stick, Dramamine and pain pills in here.
2) File Folder Pocket: One DVD of a TV series (this provides multiple hours of watching and you only need one DVD case), a spreadsheet (printed out) timetable of all the cities that I am flying through incase of Irr-ops, a printout of my current (and future) itineraries and a few sheets of paper for writing on (I like to track my flights for FlightMemory).
3) Main CPU Pocket: In one of the Velcro pockets I have Smokes and Matches, another pocket has my camera battery charger and cell phone charger, the last pocket is currently not in use. The CPU goes in the CPU flap.
4) Clothes Pocket: This has a few clothes, normally (and in this case) a change of underwear, socks and a new shirt. I also put my digital camera, CPU charger and my Bose QC3 Headphones (with a Nano and USB charger in the outside pocket of the headphone case) in here.

The only other thing I carry is a one liter bottle to fill with water (empty through security). This is because I hate paying for water, but it also keeps the cost per mile (or segment) down just a tad. Also, water is critical when you are running. Not only is it more exercise than most people get when they sit on a desk all day, it is also drier on planes than most people are used to (but not too bad for someone from Vegas) so it is critical to stay hydrated when you fly. I naturally drink a lot of water, so these numbers may seem high to most of you, but I try to drink a liter of water every flight (or on a segment run, about one per 2-3 hours).

So after sitting down and catching up with this report I had about 15 minutes to kill before my light to ONT boarded. I looked at some standby options for the trip home (to get me home a little earlier) on my United PC TravelDesk program on my computer but my plan of going through either FAT or PSP home was foiled by the Saturday schedule. I also looked for a McDonalds, but none was to be found. There is just too many “high class” eateries in SFO for me – I’m a simple guy and when I want breakfast I want my Egg McMuffin :).

After a quick walk from Gate 82 to 77A I was ready to board to ONT. At the ticket counter I noticed the paint scheme on the Airplane wasn’t either UA or the traditional SkyWest paint – instead it was a white scheme and the CRJ had winglets. I have never seen a UA CRJ200 with Winglets so I was hoping they had some an equipment swap into a 700 and I could get E+. On one of the video monitors behind the GAs it said the plane had economy plus seating so this really got me excited. But after asking the GA he informed me this was wrong and not the case. Too bad.

SFO-ONT, CRJ-200, Nyyyxx, Seat8B
Scheduled Departure Time: 0903, Departure Time: 0915
Scheduled Arrive Time: 1021, Arrival Time: 1014

It was nice to board the CRJ in SFO from a Jetway that is a big plus and one of the reasons I used to love connecting in DTW, because their concourse C had Jetways for all small aircraft (Saabs and RJs), but on the same hand I love walking on the tarmac and boarding the “old fashioned” way.

Quickly after I got on the plane I noticed the Delta Connection cloths on the headrests. I got settled in 8B (exit row with maybe 1.5 inches more legroom) and I noticed no one was going to be next to me. After going the W/B calculations the FA made an announcement for 6 people in rows 1-4 to move behind row 5. A couple got up from row 2 and walked back towards the back and the FA asked me if I minded sitting in the empty 8C (8D was occupied) and I said I minded. Perhaps that was a dick-ish move, but after I explained to her that as a 1P I liked the exit row block and I did not want to give up the empty seat she understood my reasoning (more than just not wanting someone sitting next to me). In fact, row 8 on the RJ is really no better than any other, besides that row 7 can’t recline so the only reason I book row 8 is because only 1P and above can book it before day of departure – thus the normal result is that it goes out with an empty seat next to me.
After we got the W/B issues figured out we pushed back on time. The pilot announced flight time at a brisk 47 minutes. After an on time pushback we taxied out to runway 1L for a take off about 10 minutes later.

Once airborne it was a nice ride at FL270, just normal RJ “chop”, with a nice beverage service. The only issue I really had with the flight was the fact that my window did not have a shade to put down thus making me increase the brightness on the CPU monitor to make up for the sunlight coming in. No biggie, because I wasn’t going to run out of battery on a 47 minute flight, but would have been annoying on a longer flight or if I didn’t have a layover of 1+ hour in ONT. During the flight I just watched an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm and I was glad the seat in front of me couldn’t recline because there was plenty of room for the laptop.
We landed in ONT on the normal runway 25R at 1014am. This was over the quoted flight time by about 10 minutes – I’m not sure why they were so off.

ONT Airport

Soon after landing I tried to get the tail number for the SkyWest jet I just flew on but I still couldn’t see it, all I could find was a number under the left front pitot tube of 7101 (or 7107 maybe). If anyone has any help to figure out the Registration Number of this bird please do help.

Since I had a 1h45m layover in ONT and I would be on 4 flights between noon and 5, I decided that finding some food would be a good thing. After walking Terminal 2 for a while I decided food would not come cheap and went to Carl’s Jr. and got the cheapest thing on the menu to try to hold me over until I could get to some sort of Lounge. I picked up a Spicy Chicken Sandwich for about $1.80 and it was much bigger than I suspected it would be. It was a good find, the size of all the normal burgers, for about ½ the cost.

After eating I decided to clear security and sit outside – have a smoke, some water and catch up on this trip report. The weather here is very nice right now, probably high 70s or lower 80s with the sun brightly shining and hardly a cloud in the sky. Something cool about ONT for people with pets, there is a pet area right next to me on the west side of Terminal 2 as well as a large grass field. It’s always nice to see certain amenities at airports and even the smaller things really make a big difference sometimes.

After a second smoke at about 1115 I decided to head about through security but because it was “amateur hour” at the x-ray machines it actually took like 15 minutes to get through, so it thwarted my attempt to watch an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Instead I just charged the laptop for a bit.

The inbound aircraft arrived at the gate right on time at 1135 and SkyWest did their usual quick 20 minute turn of the Brazzy. This is the perfect time for a layover on a segment run – it provides ample time in case of delays and if there is none then it provides more than enough time to head out of the terminal, walk around and get some fresh air.

I do love the quick turns on the Brazzy. When people don’t realize that boarding really doesn’t start until like 15 minutes prior you always get people running up a good 20-25 minutes prior to departure thinking they are missing the flight (especially if the aircraft is at the gate). These running people provide amble entertainment for waiting in the gate area.

ONT-LAX, EMB-120, N295SW, Seat 9B
Scheduled Departure Time: 1200, Departure Time: 1204
Scheduled Arrive Time: 1238, Arrival Time: 1222

According to the EasyChicken the plane looked pretty wide open on the seating chart, perhaps just 15 of the 30 seats taken however seat 9C was supposed to have someone in it. Perhaps this would be a good time to brag about how good the seats in 9B and 9C are. They have about 4-5 feet of legroom (think C class type pitch). They provide ample room to put the carry on in the seat in front of you and not even have your feet hit it no matter how hard you might try. It also provides enough room to cross your legs and do about anything. That said the only downside is that there is no tray table.

This flight was uneventful to say the least. Someone was sitting in 9C – the only 1K to board. Even though all the seats behind us and the row in front of us were open, neither of us opted to move. We both know that row 9 is better than anything else. Cruising Altitude was 4000 feet to LAX. A take off to the west, slight turn to the left and then slight turn to the right (to put us into the LAX approach) and before we knew it we were landing on 24R at LAX. Total flight time was a little over the quoted 15 minutes at 18 minutes. In those short 18 minutes 1 more segment was added to my total for the year as well as 1000 more miles.

LAX Airport

After the “long taxi” from 24R to Terminal 8 (though in this case it was only like 8 minutes) we parked and I got off the plane at about 1238. I talked with the FA during the flight and found out that the Ontario plane was continuing to SBP so I knew my plane was on-time. However, not I was in a bit of a dilemma. I had just 23 minutes until the flight was supposed to board and 43 until it was leaving and I was hungry and wouldn’t have a shot to get anything in SBP with just a 20 minute turn (not that there is anything there anyway – in fact there is nothing insides security). The CO club had free cheese, granola bars and crackers and was in Terminal 6. This is about a 7 minute walk. There is also a smoking lounge right across from the Club so I should be able to kill two birds with one stone – smoke and eat for free.

So I power walked to the CO club. Quickly went to the restroom, grabbed 6 packets of cheese and crackers, 4 granola bars and ordered a Bud Light from the bar. I also took this chance to refill my water bottle with good filtered water. In the time it took me to drink the beer I quickly hopped onto FT and post the first part of this report and then headed out of the club at about 5 till 1. I walked across the way to the smoking cage and had a 4 minute power smoke before heading back to Terminal 8 land.

I arrived at the gate at about 1307 and boarding hadn’t even begun. All this rush was for nothing. Boarding started at 1311 and we were done with the door closed by 1318.

LAX-SBP, EMB-120, N295SW, Seat 9B
Scheduled Departure Time: 1321, Departure Time: 1338
Scheduled Arrive Time: 1419, Arrival Time: 1417

Well, same plane and as suspected no real new story. The FA greeted me with a “long time no see.” I was in my normal 9B with no one in 9C. There were 18 out of 30 seats filled. The FA had to move the couple that was behind me in 10BC up to 7BC for W/B reasons. I am glad she didn’t ask me to move, but I don’t think FAs can get many people in 9B or C to move.

After a 14 minute taxi to runway 24L (for the northbound departure) we were airborne and on our way to SBP. There was no quoted flight time on this flight so I don’t know where the flight plan was taking us but I assume it is something to the effect of out over SBA, SMX and then up to SBP. Quickly after takeoff a beverage service was offered and I had a diet coke. It was brought in the normal “little cup” but that was fine because it sat on the seat next to me fine. When I asked for a refill the FA told me she would just refill it a little at a time instead of bringing me a can because it was sitting so well on the seat next to me.

There was little to no turbulence on this flight – that is the way that I like it. I used to get sick on the EMBs and the RJs, but now it isn’t an issue – however, the Brazzy is a nice ride on a clear day.
After we got settled and in a nice cruising altitude, I caught up on this trip report and then put some Curb Your Enthusiasm on and had all my cheese and crackers and one granola bar.

Upon decent the final 8 minutes were pretty bumpy before the landing. We deplaned at about 1421.

SLO Airport

Well my 20 minute turn didn’t go quite as planned. Fortunately there was a crew change preventing a 10 minute turn. The reason I say this is because SBP doesn’t deplane into a secure area – it is a one “gate” airport and deplaning passengers go into baggage claim and the non-sterile area. However, due to this crew change and because I was outside it allowed for a quick smoke before clearing into the secure area. There was no line at TSA and even after the smoke and re-clearing security they weren’t boarding the flight to LAX yet.
On the flight to LAX there was a grand total of 7 people and this number includes the 2 pilots and 1 FA. It was like a chartered flight – except for the free booze. We boarded the airplane at about 1435 and left on time.

SBP-LAX, EMB-120, N295SW, Seat 9B
Scheduled Departure Time: 1441, Departure Time: 1448
Scheduled Arrive Time: 15xx, Arrival Time: 1528

Well with the light passenger load there was nothing to report. The climb out (to be expected because of the conditions on the decent in) was bumpy, but after about 3 minutes (and I presume 5000 ft) it cleared up. I quickly caught up on the report, ordered a diet coke and started the DVD.

Quick flight, before I knew it we were on the downwind leg just north of LAX at 1520 getting ready for landing. We got cleared to land on 25L which was a surprise to me and pretty rare by my experience. They let us fly the whole base leg past the 24 runways and land on the south runways – which of course cuts the taxi time to the gate in more than half.

LAX Airport (again)

With a little more of a layover this time I did the same thing as before and did the T8 to T6 shuffle to get a beer and some internet access. I made a quick update to this post, had a cold beer and some peanuts then a smoke and it was back to T8 land. I got to gate 88A and the flight to ONT was just beginning boarding.

LAX-ONT, EMB-120, N295SW, Seat 9B
Scheduled Departure Time: 1628, Departure Time: 1635
Scheduled Arrive Time: 1709, Arrival Time: 1657

Yet again I was on the same SkyWest Brazzy – so much for diversity today. Again there was a crew swap so the FA didn’t recognize me. This was just your standard LAX-ONT flight. We did get to taxi from the gate to the end of the runway without anyone else in front of us for a quick departure from runway 25L.

One thing I did notice is that we turned to the south before the coastline. I know this is prohibited, but I am curious if there are exceptions to this rule (like this LAX-ONT route). The flight plan took us parallel to the coast before a left turn over Long Beach and then following Route 91 into Riverside before a turn base to final and a landing on the right ONT runway.

The flight was only a little bumpy on climb out of LAX until I’d say 1500 feet. Other than that is was smooth sailing on the short 22 minute flight.

ONT Airport (Again)

Wow, this is a ghost town on a Saturday evening. There is like 3 planes sitting at the whole airport and a total of 4 ExpressJet departures and 2 more UA departures for the evening – that is it for Terminal 2 tonight. Thankfully Carl’s Jr. was still open until at least 6 so I got two more of the Chicken Sandwiches for like $3.60 total. After getting the sandwiches I decided to head outside and eat dinner, while enjoying the weather and the evening Sunset. Oh yeah, and of course, I caught up on the report.

I re-cleared security a little after 6pm and watched ESPN news on TV in the bar before the flight started boarding over 10 minutes early.

ONT-SFO, CRJ-200, Nxxxyy, Seat 8B
Scheduled Departure Time: 1858, Departure Time: 1858
Scheduled Arrive Time: 2017, Arrival Time: 2004

After starting boarding early, the GA must have actually done what would have logically made sense – and shut the door early, rather than have us sit on the RJ for an extra 15 minutes. So we pushed early and had wheels up at scheduled departure time.

This was a typical RJ ride – much like the one on the way down with the only difference being that the sun was set. So I got a look at the LA Basin on the way out from the left side of the aircraft then after we cleared the LA area I plugged in the DVD and ordered an OJ and a Black coffee.

The ride was nice and there was a great sunset once we got up to our cruising altitude. It was one of those sunsets you can only see from 30000+ feet – marvelous.

Our decent bought us in over the south bay area, passing just to the west of SJC and in for a northern landing on runway 29L. After a nice long deceleration we made an easy left turn off the runway and were at the gate in about 45 seconds.

SFO Airport (Again)

This time I had a layover of about two hours. My flight home to LAS is scheduled to leave at 2220 with an arrival just before midnight. I was pretty pooped at this point, with my upper back (neck area/shoulders) and quads hurting and my lower back stiff I just walked over the Gate 74 and parked at the SFO Workplace stations. I refilled my water, plugged in the laptop and watched my DVD until boarding for Vegas was announced.

At 30 minutes prior to departure boarding was announced for the flight to Vegas. There were no 1Ks on the flight and I was the only one to board with Zone 1 – kind of weird… It felt like I was on the red carpet.

SFO-LAX, A-320, N496UA, Seat 4C
Scheduled Departure Time: 2220, Departure Time: 2240
Scheduled Arrive Time: 2347, Arrival Time: 2339

A quick boarding provided an on-time door closure and we pushed back from the gate right on time. After a longer taxi than normal (we ended up by the US Airways, NWA, Air Tran terminal) I think we took off from 29L.
The pilot announced flight time at 1h10m, but said that the winds in Vegas were out of the north at 30 gusting to 45. This is the worst wind situation for LAS because the primary runway is 25. The pilot mentioned that there might be delays if they have to funnel in all the arrivals on Runway 1.

However, at this point I was pooped and slept pretty much the whole flight to LAS. I woke up to an announcement from the pilot that we were 70 miles from LAS. Minutes later I looked out the left window and the valley looked a little weird and I quickly realized we were flying the northern approach for arrivals on runway 1L, a true rare experience. The only time I have ever landed on 1L is on flight out of SoCal and once from MSP.
The flight was a little bumpy due to the high winds but not too bad a ride especially considering I had just ridden 6 props/RJ’s in a row. The landing was good and the arrival on runway 1L saved about 10 minutes of flight time as we landed at 2339.

Vegas

After we arrived I quickly took the tram to the main terminal and quickly hopped on the shuttle to economy. I was home just after 1215am and in bed by 1245.

Vegas (Cont)

Just as quick as I went to bed the alarm went off at 505 and I was headed out of the house by 525 to the airport. I got to parking about 10 minutes later and was into the terminal area by 545. This is when things got interesting. The D gates security line was queued way up and I tried to walk to the elite line. There were barricades set up to direct the line and when I tried to walk by the lady standing guard said I had to wait in the normal line before I could go in the elite line. This is different than everything I’ve ever done at McCarron for the last two years. After speaking with the sup he said the same thing even after I explain to him I was a local and I had never been told to do this before, and I would miss my flight if I had to wait in the normal line.

So I went down to the baggage claim level, walked over to an elevator and went up a floor (back to security level) and by passed the barricade. I then walked past a guy on the left side of the security line (where you would walk to the elite line) and when he said something I said I was going to the elite line – of course he tried to stop me, but I didn’t stop – I just kept walking. About 30 feet later I walked right by the sup I had talked to and within 100 feet I was in the 8 person elite line. While waiting in the line to have my ID and BP checked the sup made a snide comment to me by saying, “I guess you just think you are better than everyone else and don’t need to wait,” to which I replied, “I suppose.” I am going to have to call McCarron about this. It seems if this is the policy they won’t enforce it, and I have never seen this in the past.

After getting through security and the debacle (it wasn’t with TSA some sort of other airport organization) I got to the gate at about 605 for my 620am flight to LAX. I guess it would be a good time to tell you my itinerary for today. I am flying LAS-LAX-SBP/SBP-LAX-SFO-LAS with a 6 hour stopover in San Luis. I also have a 3 hour layover in LAX in the morning so I am going to meet up with the fiancée for breakfast at some local place around LAX. After that I plan to standby back on the first flight out of SBP and try to get home a little earlier than the 10pm SFO flight.

After getting to the gate area and figuring it would be empty because boarding should have started 15 minutes prior and the monitors showed the flight in a final board, I was surprised to see everyone around the gate area and the boarding door not open. After about 1 minute an announcement was made that the 4th FA wasn’t there so we were waiting on him/her. Being the FTer that I am, I immediately get on the phone with the elite line and try to work a re-route but the Elite agent I talk with says she shows the flight on-time and can’t do anything anyway unless there is a cancelation. Next I call the fiancée and tell her the news. I say that if the FA is late (and not just 5-10 minutes) there is probably a good chance they have to call in a reserve so we’ll be delayed a minimum of an hour. A deadheading pilot hears my conversation and nods at it in concurrence, so I figured it was a good assumption. So I cancel breakfast with the fiancée and tell her about my plan to standby out of SBP and be back to LAX by 1230.

Well, I just sit in the gate area and enjoy the free wifi. Since my layover in LAX was 3 hours the chance of a misconnect for me is very slim, but there are people bothering the GA about their connection issues and she says she will not rebook anyone and that people will have to visit a CSC in LAX if they miss their connection. I was a little bothered by this comment and was curious if, when I get 1K, a 1K went up there with a connection problem she would work it and that if I needed to make a trip in vein then I would obviously have to work it with her in Vegas.

Boarding started 30 minutes after scheduled departure. It’s kinda funny, the one flight I wanted to be on-time, after 8 on-time flight yesterday, is the flight that is going to be late. Doesn’t it always work that way? I used all my on-time arrivals yesterday I guess.

LAS-LAX, A-320, N470UA, Seat 4D
Scheduled Departure Time: 0620, Departure Time: 0723
Scheduled Arrive Time: 0737, Arrival Time: 0804

After about a twenty minute boarding process we pushed back at about 10 after 7. During the boarding process the pilot came out and personally apologized to the front part of E+ for the delay and said that it was because someone didn’t show up for work. He also said that they didn’t know why they didn’t show up yet and action would be taken, assuming there was no emergency. Something I found interesting about our Purser was that she specifically said that noise-cancelling headphones had to be turned off. I know they are electronic devices, but the only way I can even listen to Channel 9 (regardless of the noise-cancelation) is to have them on. She specifically told me to turn them off. I have never had a FA ask me to turn them off in over 100+ flight with them on. Is there any specific regs about headphones – or was this FA just being too by the book?

After a taxi to runway 1R we took off to the north at just over 1 hour past scheduled departure time. The time quoted in route was a quick 41 minutes. Quickly after takeoff we had a beverage service. I tried to use a drink cert and order a Bailey’s-Coffee but was told they didn’t have any left. Boo, but no biggie (if you haven’t noticed I am hard to annoy on a flight) I just had black coffee and sat their content to listen to Channel 9 for the short ride to LA. Every seat was filled on this plane and when I got on I actually faked myself out because I always book 4C on TED flights (for numerous reasons, but I think it is the best non-exit E+ seat – PM me if you want my reasons) but I had 4D today. It was nice to see a 100% full flight after all the 15-60% full planes yesterday.

During the quick flight we got cleared to LAX on the CIVET arrival onto 25L and were cleared to land on a visual approach. We touched down only 45 or so minutes late, but it did blow breakfast with my fiancée because I wasn’t too sure when we’d leave LAS so I had told the fiancée to go back to sleep.

LAX Airport (Part Three)

I finally have a normal layover in LAX now. My plane for SBP doesn’t leave until 10am so I had about 1.5 hours to burn before boarding. You guess where I headed – the PC club. After getting to the club and settled – I caught up on this report, had a coffee, bagel with crème cheese and refilled my water. I tried to order a Mimosa, but they don’t have any bubbly so I had to get a screwdriver. The rest of the time in the club I just surfed the net and watched CNN.

After the visit to the club I headed to the gate at about 930 for the 938am boarding. The inbound aircraft from San Diego was delayed due to weather and didn’t arrive until 9:44, however we started boarding by 951 and were pushed back just 2-3 minutes late.

LAX-SBP, EMB-120, N292UX, Seat 9B
Scheduled Departure Time: 0958, Departure Time: 1029
Scheduled Arrive Time: 1059, Arrival Time: 1104

After the extremely quick turn of the aircraft we pushed back about on time with 14 people on the aircraft. However there was a traffic jam in the Terminal 7/8 alleyway and we didn’t make any taxi progress until about 1020. After finally getting to the main taxiway and making the dreaded right turn we were headed to 24L for takeoff. However, our pilot was apparently in a hurry and not concerned about his hourly pay and managed to taxi all the way from the terminal 8 alley to the end of a 4 aircraft like for takeoff on 24L in like 3 minutes – it was amazing.
After the quick taxi and a wait of only about 4 airplanes to takeoff we were on our way at about 1030. As always this flight has great views. Just west of Malibu I think there was a fire or something (or really heavy fog) in a mountain valley on the shore there. A pretty uneventful and clam flight until the last 8 minutes on the final into SBP.
During the last 8 minutes I think it might have been the worst turbulence I have been in in many years. It is normally pretty turbulent in and out of SBP, but the surface winds were pretty bad today, and couple that with a direct crosswind of 10-15 knots on the primary landing runway and you are in for a bit of a wild ride in a Brazzy. Needless to say I wasn’t feeling too well at the end of it and I didn’t even take any Dramamine after the good reaction to the 6 Brazzy/RJ flights of yesterday.

SBP Airport
After landing I had one lady say that was the most she has ever been scared on a flight before and she had another couple agree this was the case for them as well. Quickly after deplaning I was going to walk up to the ticket counter and try to standby for the immediate return flight so I could see the fiancée for lunch. By the time I got to the ticket counter and saw the 4 person line I decided that a quick bathroom break was a must and couldn’t wait and that I would clear security with the Boarding Pass I already had for the 525 return and try to get on the current flight at the “gate”.
When I got into the security line there were a grand total of 3 people ahead of me (and I was the 4th). It must have taken a good 6 minutes to get through security. During all this I can see the guy calling first, last and final boarding in front of me. Finally I clear security and without my shoes ask the guy if he is done with the paper work for the flight yet and if I can standby – he says I can and accommodates me. Thank goodness.

SBP-LAX, EMB-120, N292UX, Seat 11A
Scheduled Departure Time: 1113, Departure Time: 1137
Scheduled Arrive Time: 1219, Arrival Time: 1224
On the return flight I got seated in row 11 (all to myself) and choose 11B (the one with “infinite” aisle legroom). On the quick climb out it was about as bumpy (moderate to heavy turbulence) as decent but just didn’t last as long – however, without an air vent directly on me and having eaten nearly nothing all day and drinking 4 Liters of water up to this point my stomach wasn’t feeling well. Wow. I was going to get sick. I know that feeling and quickly moved to 11A and put both air vents on me.
I started to feel marginally better until the base to final leg into LAX. Somehow the pilot made the landing feel real similar to the SBP approach. We were cleared to land on 24L and at somewhere over the 405 I decided to make use of the “barf bag”. Wow, I can’t believe I am admitting to this on FT, but it happens I guess. I have to come to the conclusion that the First Officer was plying both legs and his lack of experience was the reason for the horrible landings.
But I digress. We landed a few minutes late making the pretty short flight seem like an eternity (you know how it feels when you are sick in the air). After another “speeding” taxi from 24L to Terminal 8 we were at the gate in no time. Hopefully the airport cops aren’t out any time soon to ticket my pilots for speeding.

LAX Airport (Part 4)
Quickly after landing, and having my “ground legs” back under me I went to the Easy Chicken by gate 81 to get my last two boarding passes. I was booked in F on the 8pm LAX-SFO and the 1020pm (same flight as last night) SFO-LAS. I called my fiancée and she was already at the airport circling so I met her quickly.
After picking me up we were looking for a place to eat. We settled on taking the 405 South down like 2 exits and found a Denny’s by an Office Depot and Best Buy. Lunch was good with the fiancée and we also went to Office Depot to look at some invitations to our “extra” wedding reception (due to a destination wedding we want people at home to party with us as well after).
At about 235pm we headed back to the airport because I wanted to just try to standby back to LAS on the 345pm. I know it would cut out a segment, but at this point I just wanted to get home. After quickly clearing security and a quick walk to Gate 71A I talked to the GA about standby on the more direct routing home. This is when we ran into a disagreement.
He said I could not do this – I said yes I can – he said no you can’t, the screen says invalid connection – I say that standby is permitted on a more direct route – he says the computer says no – I tell him to look up the standby policy – he says no – I ask for a Sup – he says that the sup is at the CSC – I tell him this is unacceptable, b/c the CSC has a line of like 20 people with 1 person working – he says I’m out of luck… I am now pissed…
However, not letting it get me down I look at the gate next door and see the GA has no one there. I walk over and it is a delayed flight from LAX-SFO (301 departure - it is like 258pm right now). I decide to address the standby issue with the Gate 71A agent later and am ready to get home so I tell the GA to put me on standby for the SFO flight. She says she hasn’t cleared it but it doesn’t look good.
After hanging out for about 10 minutes they are done boarding and I get a page. I get the one and only seat on the flight in 22A (E-, 2nd from last row) – but it could be worse – I am now half way home.

LAX-SFO, B737-300, N370UA, Seat 22A
Scheduled Departure Time: 1501, Departure Time: 1526
Scheduled Arrive Time: 1617, Arrival Time: 1623
After I get settled the FAs quickly shut the door and make the normal “portable electronic devices” announcement. This is normally meet with little issue, but the lady in front of me in 21B didn’t seem to care. The FA asked her to turn both her computer and cell phone off and her response back to the FA was that she was “busy” and would “get to it in a bit.” The FA told her that she was now going to have to call the captain and tell him not to post the aircraft back because of this lady and that she was making the already late flight even later. After a little argument between the lady in 21B and the FA (who was being very nice and just informing her of the FAA requirements) the lady finally turned off her stuff and we got pushed back, I’m guessing 20 minutes late of scheduled time. The lady in 21B was not happy with this, but I put on my QC3s and listened to Channel 9.
The flight was uneventful as is normally the case. On taxi the Captain quoted a flight time of 57 minutes and shortly after we took off on 25L and had next to no wait time on taxi-out. The FAs were extremely rushed to try to get drinks out on the short flight and didn’t bring the cart down the aisle, instead just took orders and brought the drinks out two rows at a time. When I finally got my cold beer it was about 20 minutes before we were supposed to land. Our flight path took us mostly just to the west of the coast. I had a seat on the left side of the plane, with the sun and no view (just the blue ocean) I decided to close my shade for most of the flight.
On approach to SFO we were cleared to land via the “tiptoe” approach on runway 28L and touched down at the exact quoted time of 57 minutes or 4:23 pm. After a short taxi we were parked at the gate and I got to wait a long 7 minutes to get off the plane from the back.

SFO Airport (again...)
After getting off the plane, filling up my water bottle and using the restroom I was ready to walk over to the gate that the 530pm SFO-LAS TED flight was going to be departing from. At about 4:40pm the gate area was already a mad house, and I hopped in line to talk to the GA about standby waiting behind 3 people. Thankfully the three people in front of me just wanted seat changes and the GA could answer her quickly and told them they couldn’t because the flight was full. After this the GA announced about 10 people to give seat assignments to (who were confirmed without one) and then helped me.
I asked to be placed on the standby list and she told me she wouldn’t put me on the list because the flight was oversold by like 10 and they were going to have to ask for volunteers. I told her I wanted to be put on the list anyway because I would have to be on the list for the 730 flight anyway because I wasn’t confirmed until 1030pm. She finally “gave in” and put me on the list, saying she was only doing it because I was a Premier Executive member. I guess she felt like she was doing a “favor” for me by putting me on the standby list (of course which I should always be able to get on anyway). Perhaps UA needs to clear-up the standby rules with their Gate Agents. The last two flights I have had issues with standing by.
After a little wait, boarding started 30 minutes prior and about 15 minutes before departure it was complete. The GAs paged 5 passengers to board immediately (so much for the volunteers they were going to “need” as they never asked). After about 3 minutes, two people showed up and then the GA let us look to see where we were on the list. I was #2 after another 1P on a W fare (I am on an L fare) and then #3 was just a general member. After two more minutes, the GA released the final three seats to standby’s and I made it on the flight. I was given a BP for 7D – a nice E+ aisle seat.
On the way onto the Jetway I passed the original GA that only put me on the standby list because she was “doing me a favor” and (as she was talking on the cell phone), I said to her (somewhat sarcastically) “thanks for putting me on that standby list.”

SFO-LAS, A-320, N460UA, Seat 7D
Scheduled Departure Time: 1729, Departure Time: 1741
Scheduled Arrive Time: 1902, Arrival Time: 1849
I quickly settled into my seat as the last person to board this flight again. I doubled checked with the Captain on the way on board that he would have Channel 9 on and he told me he would. This flight was handled very well by the GAs – and after clearing the three standbys at the 10 minute window we shut the door and pushed back on time.
The FAs on this flight were the same ones from the LAX-SFO flight just an hour before and they played the United safety video instead of the TED video. Come to think of it, they did the same thing on the SFO-LAS 1030pm flight last night. I hadn’t noticed it until a little later – but how often does this happen?
On taxi out we got cleared for takeoff on runway 1L and an Air Canada winglet-ed airbus took off (presume a 330) on 1R at the same time at just after 540pm. There was no quoted flight time other than the captain saying that at one point we were 330 miles from LAS but there was a military training zone between us and them so we would have to fly around it. During the flight the service was good and I ordered two Jack’s, with a cup of ice and a coke. The flight, of course, was completely full and it was a bit of a struggle to get the computer (15.5 inch screen) and the coke on the tray table. I am so used to the TED flights I take to be empty with a middle open next to me. No harm though and I managed to get some of the report done while having my double and listening to Channel 9.
On the approach to Vegas we came in a way that I have never done before and landed on a runway that I have never landed on. We were cleared to land on 1R – now, I have landed on 1L numerous times (of course not as much as 25L), but for 1R it was a first. Because we were coming from the north we had to fly the downwind leg to the east of the airport. This meant coming over the Stratosphere and flying due south about 3 miles east of the airport. Channel 9 provide ample entertainment on this short flight as when we were flying at 7000 feet ATC asked us how fast we could get down, to which the pilot responded, “Like an elevator.” After the base to final turn there was an aircraft cleared to takeoff when we were on short final (about 2.5 miles from the runway) and we touched down with no incident on 1R before the long taxi back to the D gates.

Updated through Sunday morning after flight 1. 9 Down, 4 to go... I hope ya'll are enjoying the report. It is my first attempt at a report and it is giving me something to do besides watch Curb your Enthusiam.

FYI, just an update. I got the report finished at work before I headed to the airport for a weekend trip to see the fiancee. However, I forgot to email it home to post it so I'll have the rest up monday.

Finally done. I hope everyone enjoys and I am looking forward to documenting my SNA-LAS 7 segment MR next Monday/Tuesday (via CMH) for everyone.

Awesome trip report! Sorry to hear that you got airsick.


I quickly settled into my seat as the last person to board this flight again. I doubled checked with the Captain on the way on board that he would have Channel 9 on and he told me he would.

Was the Captain standing there greeting the passengers as they boarded? Or did you poke your head into the cockpit?

Awesome trip report! Sorry to hear that you got airsick.

It happens, that flight was really rough on approach and the pilot was a real rookie... ;)



Was the Captain standing there greeting the passengers as they boarded? Or did you poke your head into the cockpit?

No, I usually poke my head into the cockpit or ask the FAs that are standing there greeting passangers if he will have it on and they stick their head in there... I can't remember what happened on that specific flight... If the pilots aren't busy pre-flighting I will usually ask myself...

Glad to finally get a read at your report - it was well written and entertaining. A quick correction for you in post #2, you refer to your final flight as SFO-LAX not SFO-LAS. SFO-LAX, A-320, N496UA, Seat 4C

Are we still on for our kinda-annual run in January?

Glad to finally get a read at your report - it was well written and entertaining. A quick correction for you in post #2, you refer to your final flight as SFO-LAX not SFO-LAS.

Are we still on for our kinda-annual run in January?

Of course - but I'm thinking something east coast - leave Friday redeye, stay over on Saturday see the city, pick up a rental car and come home Sunday... How does that sound?

very good trip report.i am sorry to hear you got sick.

SFO Airport

... After finding a chicken near gate 81 I couldn’t print passes for the return flights, all it would let me do is print them for the outbound flights. ...

Was it a service chicken (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=757579) or an emotional support chicken (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=757541)? ;)