violist
Feb 18, 08, 4:28 pm
My Arkansas orchestra (NASO) was doing the Bartok Concerto
for Orchestra, so, despite its being slightly inconvenient
this time around I cancelled other plans and made time to
play the piece, which I enjoy a lot. My modus operandi for
this gig has been to use miles, as the fares, thank you very
much, Wal-Mart, are crushingly high for what you get; AA
used to give the group free tickets to fly in key players,
but that went by the wayside a year or two ago. Cashed in
for a mixed F/Y itinerary, starting in F, as it was more
time-critical that I get there than that I get back.
NW1409 IAD DTW 1615 1756 D93 3A
I hadn't had a flight in some five days and couldn't wait to
get out, so I showed up at the airport over 3 hours ahead,
figuring I could go to the RCC and do some work. But my
membership had just expired, and I'm not scheduled to do any
domestic United flying for a while, so instead I opted for
the $45 WorldClub day pass, figuring I could use it three
times this day. I presented myself at the IAD club, where
Walt the attendant did a very deft upsell to the 60 day pass
for an additional $40: I'm scheduled to fly NW several times
more in the next month, so that sounded fine. The club is
perfectly okay, and the staff are friendly, and there's free
booze, although a woeful selection. Tapped away using the
wi-fi for a while, did some work, had a couple Heinekens,
and mulled over the idea of defecting.
We loaded a little late onto a fairly clean though clearly
elderly bird, took off a hair late, and had an okay though
bumpy ride with very fine service from a quite senior crew.
A double Courvoisier in a tumbler and King Nut Co. snack mix
- like what US Air used to serve, only it has almonds as
well. US Air has gone to cranberries, which is just weird.
We landed right near the south tram stop, just about on
time. I hustled right to the train and went directly to
the club, which is at the north tram stop. The club was
overcrowded and somewhat nasty, the same food and beverage
selections as at Dulles, somewhat stronger wi-fi.
I logged onto FT and found a pair of PMs from fti, who
had been at my arrival gate with a sign waiting for me,
and I must have whizzed right by him! Also he had had me
paged at the north club, but that was probably when I was
in transit. Sorry, fti!
I stayed huddled in my cubicle until boarding time, when I
did the walk through the club to look for yellow tags and
then out at the gate did the same thing.
NW 755 DTW MSP 1905 2011 D94 2A
The crew was on a delayed inbound, so we actually ended up
taking off after the subsequent scheduled flight. At
boarding I did one last failed look for FT tags (bear in
mind my vision is not great). Decent service though not a
patch on the previous flight; there was a quite pretty
brunette who seemed abstracted, but her inattention was made
up for by the other FAs. Rosemount Cab-Merlot in a glass.
We came in a bit late (Flightaware has touchdown at 2039)
and pulled in at F13, right at the end of the concourse.
The deadheading pilot next to me opined that it would be
close but that I'd probably make my connection out of the
B gates. That was before the dance of the ramp personnel,
which cut my margin to approximately negative five minutes.
At deplaning I encountered fti very briefly (he had been
in the same row, other side) but had to be a little brusque,
as time pressure was pretty hideous. Once out, the monitors
showed the unwelcome news that my flight now was out of A.
So I ran and ran to gate A14 (the very last gate in the
airport) only to find that boarding hadn't started yet.
NW5616 MSP XNA 2105 2315 CRJ 8A
Got to the gate at just after 9; the agent said, once I'd
panted out my name, "we've been looking for you," and
tapping on his computer expressed admiration at the speed
with which I had traversed the airport. It was at this
point, by the way, that I found that the flight had been
rescheduled to leave at 2130, so all that running had been
for nought, and I could have been a tad more civil on the
plane. We boarded up at about 2130 only to find that the
heat wasn't working; a mechanic was summoned, and shortly
the problem was fixed, and we were on our way.
The exit row, contrary to popular belief, does appear to
have an inch or two more space than the regular seats.
Pleasant FA; bumpy ride. Storms in the our route precluded
our shaving any time, so we landed about 30 late.
My ride was out front asleep; she had just called, and the
airline had told her that the flight hadn't taken off yet.
==
The concert itself was surprisingly uneventful. Several
rehearsals, starting off with a desperately hopelessly bad
one, ending with a fairly optimistic one (we can pull this
together!). We did okay on the piece; its companion was
the Liszt 2nd, performed by the university competition
winner, a kid named Christopher Davis. He did a bang-up
job, if you will pardon the term.
==
NW2996 XNA DTW 1700 2010 CRJ 3B
I was caught out by having a carryon and a personal item,
which according to Pinnacle Airlines counts as two carryons,
so I had to gate check something. No biggie I guess, except
that the ground staff at XNA were about as rude as they
could be - sort of atypical for this area. The flight was
bumpy, the plane nearly empty. FA was good. We landed in
good time, way off at the end of concourse C I think, and it
was a goodly trek to the end of A where the connection was.
I had just a few minutes to "enjoy" the WorldClub that I had
so disliked before. A tot or two of CC helped, of course.
NW1065 DTW IAD 2133 2259 319 14F
A quite empty flight, about which the purser (who looked a
bit like Steve Martin and tried to act in accordance) made a
joke or two. In fact, the only notable thing about this leg
was my being periodically wakened by unnecessary, bad jokes.
Landed a few ahead of schedule, as usually happens if and
only if I don't have anywhere to be immediately.
for Orchestra, so, despite its being slightly inconvenient
this time around I cancelled other plans and made time to
play the piece, which I enjoy a lot. My modus operandi for
this gig has been to use miles, as the fares, thank you very
much, Wal-Mart, are crushingly high for what you get; AA
used to give the group free tickets to fly in key players,
but that went by the wayside a year or two ago. Cashed in
for a mixed F/Y itinerary, starting in F, as it was more
time-critical that I get there than that I get back.
NW1409 IAD DTW 1615 1756 D93 3A
I hadn't had a flight in some five days and couldn't wait to
get out, so I showed up at the airport over 3 hours ahead,
figuring I could go to the RCC and do some work. But my
membership had just expired, and I'm not scheduled to do any
domestic United flying for a while, so instead I opted for
the $45 WorldClub day pass, figuring I could use it three
times this day. I presented myself at the IAD club, where
Walt the attendant did a very deft upsell to the 60 day pass
for an additional $40: I'm scheduled to fly NW several times
more in the next month, so that sounded fine. The club is
perfectly okay, and the staff are friendly, and there's free
booze, although a woeful selection. Tapped away using the
wi-fi for a while, did some work, had a couple Heinekens,
and mulled over the idea of defecting.
We loaded a little late onto a fairly clean though clearly
elderly bird, took off a hair late, and had an okay though
bumpy ride with very fine service from a quite senior crew.
A double Courvoisier in a tumbler and King Nut Co. snack mix
- like what US Air used to serve, only it has almonds as
well. US Air has gone to cranberries, which is just weird.
We landed right near the south tram stop, just about on
time. I hustled right to the train and went directly to
the club, which is at the north tram stop. The club was
overcrowded and somewhat nasty, the same food and beverage
selections as at Dulles, somewhat stronger wi-fi.
I logged onto FT and found a pair of PMs from fti, who
had been at my arrival gate with a sign waiting for me,
and I must have whizzed right by him! Also he had had me
paged at the north club, but that was probably when I was
in transit. Sorry, fti!
I stayed huddled in my cubicle until boarding time, when I
did the walk through the club to look for yellow tags and
then out at the gate did the same thing.
NW 755 DTW MSP 1905 2011 D94 2A
The crew was on a delayed inbound, so we actually ended up
taking off after the subsequent scheduled flight. At
boarding I did one last failed look for FT tags (bear in
mind my vision is not great). Decent service though not a
patch on the previous flight; there was a quite pretty
brunette who seemed abstracted, but her inattention was made
up for by the other FAs. Rosemount Cab-Merlot in a glass.
We came in a bit late (Flightaware has touchdown at 2039)
and pulled in at F13, right at the end of the concourse.
The deadheading pilot next to me opined that it would be
close but that I'd probably make my connection out of the
B gates. That was before the dance of the ramp personnel,
which cut my margin to approximately negative five minutes.
At deplaning I encountered fti very briefly (he had been
in the same row, other side) but had to be a little brusque,
as time pressure was pretty hideous. Once out, the monitors
showed the unwelcome news that my flight now was out of A.
So I ran and ran to gate A14 (the very last gate in the
airport) only to find that boarding hadn't started yet.
NW5616 MSP XNA 2105 2315 CRJ 8A
Got to the gate at just after 9; the agent said, once I'd
panted out my name, "we've been looking for you," and
tapping on his computer expressed admiration at the speed
with which I had traversed the airport. It was at this
point, by the way, that I found that the flight had been
rescheduled to leave at 2130, so all that running had been
for nought, and I could have been a tad more civil on the
plane. We boarded up at about 2130 only to find that the
heat wasn't working; a mechanic was summoned, and shortly
the problem was fixed, and we were on our way.
The exit row, contrary to popular belief, does appear to
have an inch or two more space than the regular seats.
Pleasant FA; bumpy ride. Storms in the our route precluded
our shaving any time, so we landed about 30 late.
My ride was out front asleep; she had just called, and the
airline had told her that the flight hadn't taken off yet.
==
The concert itself was surprisingly uneventful. Several
rehearsals, starting off with a desperately hopelessly bad
one, ending with a fairly optimistic one (we can pull this
together!). We did okay on the piece; its companion was
the Liszt 2nd, performed by the university competition
winner, a kid named Christopher Davis. He did a bang-up
job, if you will pardon the term.
==
NW2996 XNA DTW 1700 2010 CRJ 3B
I was caught out by having a carryon and a personal item,
which according to Pinnacle Airlines counts as two carryons,
so I had to gate check something. No biggie I guess, except
that the ground staff at XNA were about as rude as they
could be - sort of atypical for this area. The flight was
bumpy, the plane nearly empty. FA was good. We landed in
good time, way off at the end of concourse C I think, and it
was a goodly trek to the end of A where the connection was.
I had just a few minutes to "enjoy" the WorldClub that I had
so disliked before. A tot or two of CC helped, of course.
NW1065 DTW IAD 2133 2259 319 14F
A quite empty flight, about which the purser (who looked a
bit like Steve Martin and tried to act in accordance) made a
joke or two. In fact, the only notable thing about this leg
was my being periodically wakened by unnecessary, bad jokes.
Landed a few ahead of schedule, as usually happens if and
only if I don't have anywhere to be immediately.