Trip Reports - Lots of US shorthauls: PoP trips with no 500 mins

0709
1819 BOS PHL 1030 1157 E90 3F
Had a really weird day the day before and hadn't got much
sleep and was quite out of sorts, especially when the bus
to the airport (there is direct MBTA service to the airport
to and from Salem and Marblehead at certain times of the day
- most convenient and $1.50 for what would be a $40+ cab
ride) was 15 min late. I was at a stop on a recently added
part of the route and went into anxieties, thinking that
they might have changed the route back. Anyhow, the bus
came, and I was at the airport by 0920. The 0930 had shown
not departed yet.

The priority line at BOS-B1 is way off to the right, by
the monitors. It's not signed well, and anyhow the drone
checking ID shunted me off into another one. I climbed over
a rope to get to the right lane, which got me a dirty look
from the second ID checker. Still missed the 0930, which
left around 0945.

More delicious pound cake trio at the club (if I'd made the
earlier flight, the only difference would have been that I'd
have gotten salty snacks and beer at the PHL club).

BP said boarding at 10, so I presented myself at 10, but of
course they didn't board until 1015. I always fall for this.

In the gate area a youngish cutish woman wearing a
sweatshirt saying "[my college] Alumni." I thought to ask
her, if you're a [my college] alumna, why would it be
necessary to wear a sweatshirt saying so, ungrammatically
at that?

Turned out to be a full flight, as they'd cancelled the next
one, also a jungle jet. I slept through the drink service,
but they must have catered the booze cart, as when I woke
shortly before landing, the guy next to me had a Bailey's
bottle. I asked for a thing of cranberry nut mix, but there
wasn't any, so I got the consolation prize of a Biscoff.

3651 PHL BWI 1320 1405 CRJ 8A

There'd been two empties on this flight, but at the last
moment they put a guy next to me. He appeared not to speak
English. The FA came to ask if we were willing to assist
her in an emergency, and two of us responded verbally, and
this guy nodded.

No ground power at the gate so no air movement and a very
hot plane. And as it was 18 min only in the air, no time
to cool down in flight. The good part of course was that
it was only 18 min.

I popped in to the US Airways Club, but none of my favorite
agents was there; Kathie was being subbed for by Adele, and
so I chatted with her for a while before running off to the
RCC to do some t-mobilization.

==
0714
3278 DCA PVD 1015 1139 E75 16C
was
3804 DCA PVD 0730 0853 CRJ 8D
was
0713
3676 BWI PHL 2055 2135 CRJ 8A
3274 PHL PVD 2250 2359 E75 2A

Got to the airport early on the news that a big bad storm
front was coming through; unfortunately, my alternate
choices weren't going, either. Camped out at the US Airways
Club, where Kathie was kept busy dealing with the CLT, PHX,
and LAS people, whose flights kept getting later and later,
and with a slew of clever AirTran pax who bought one-time
passes to avoid the hellish gate area.

Between Kathie and this guy glued to his laptop giving us
all the blow-by-blow on our incoming equipment, we were
all kept well abreast of our flights. The guy was so
intense about this all that I had to ask if he was an FTer.
He gave me this withering look and said no.

I amused myself by making weird combinations of Flavia
packets. I'd just about gotten to green tea with creamy
whipped topping when Kathie told me my flight, delayed upon
delayed, had finally cancelled, the poor little CRJ having
made numerous forays out onto the taxiway at LGA and been
called back each time. She put me on the next available,
a nonstop from National next day. As it was a weather thing,
I wasn't entitled to any kind of accommodation, so I stuck
in the club as long as I could (Kathie stayed 3 hours past
closing time to accommodate as many pax as possible) and
then camped out in the hall by the RCC for the night (the
T-Mobile router stays on all night).

It was raining heavily when I made my way to the train
station, but the first MARC arrived right on time; then it
was easy work to get from Union Station to DCA on the Metro.

Security was tighter and more obnoxious than usual, I
thought; still, I was through in ten or less and up to the
club, where the usual breakfast of OJ and pound cake
awaited. Attempted to work a couple hours, then straggled
to the monitor to make sure that the flight was still going.
It wasn't. The helpful agent up front got me the last seat
on the 10:15, an aisle in the wayback. Three more hours,
but at least there was the relatively comfy club to sit in,
and I wasn't about to complain.

The flight itself, though crowded, was unremarkable. I
forget my seatmate, which is probably a good thing; the
air, though stuffy, wasn't oppressive; and the FA was fine.

0718
1955 PVD PHL 0720 0842 733 2F

My bud got me to the airport just after 6. The place was
chaos - it couldn't have been that much more crowded if
they were giving away free seats. A lot of people trying
to get onto the 6:40 CLT. Fat chance, thought I.

Who knows what was going on. There were probably fifty in
line in the regular line and quite a number stacked up in
the first-class line. But there was also a bank of idle
machines, so I asked the people closest to me whether the
things were inoperative, to which the answer, perhaps
surprisingly, was uniformly "I don't know." I went up to
the front (people looked at me questioningly but not
challengingly), and about 12 keystrokes and 30 seconds
later was on my way, boarding passes in hand. I thanked
those whose places I had skipped, but none of them seemed
eager to go up and do the same. They didn't seem, by and
large, to have checked bags, either.

Security was slow, the bottleneck being at the ID check
station. The guy into whose line I shunted had a pleasantry
for each customer, which, in addition to being neighborly
probably was a preliminary sniff test for suspicious
behavior. It took an extra maybe ten seconds a pax. Later
on I heard some guys complaining about him and how he was
delaying entire flights.

The 6:40 CLT ended up going a little late to accommodate a
bunch of runners.

Ours loaded and pulled away on time.

A lot of women in this cabin. 5 out of 12; I originally
thought 1A was a woman (the person had longer hair and was
at the far end of my field of vision), upon which I remarked
that perhaps this was a sign that parity was upon us, which
earned a fist bump from my seatmate. She was an entertaining
woman, a Chairman's, on her way to a textbook sales meeting
in Chicago. I inquired about why she wasn't taking the UA
nonstop, which earned a sort of FTer answer. Her traveling
partner was "my Language Arts consultant," a little guy
across the aisle whom she had clearly upgraded and who
clearly idolized her. We talked about the old days mostly,
from the change in the traveling atmosphere to the change
in the dating atmosphere (our taxi out took us to a place
overlooking a field where she said she used to park several
decades ago) to the future of the airlines to the future of
publishing and back to the world of travel. Soon it was time
to land, which we did expeditiously, belying our mutual
feeling that Philly was the most delay-bound airport
imaginable. We did, however, have to wait 15 or so to dock.

Which was in the far reaches of A, and of course I had a
connection out of F. I ran down to A1 and just missed the
A-F shuttle. Luckily it was going at all: a fun thing,
as it takes you out around all the piers, so you can see a
variety of aircraft from a bug's-eye view. Eventually, we
made it to F (a long ride, during which I heard two very
attractive women talking about something called Options,
which apparently is a Christian cult or sect or something)
and I rolled into my gate a few minutes before boarding.

3031 PHL BWI 0930 1038 ER4 12A

There was more legroom than I expected in this plane
All in all a triumph. Oh, this is in fact the exit
seat, and the exit showed signs of having been used: some
cords sort of stuffed back, not neatly, into their housing
(up by the handle), and there was a big gash in the frame
as of a door hitting it. The flight, as always, was okay.

0725
1406 BWI PHL 1835 1932 734 2F

I arrived at the airport a bit early to visit with the
staff at the clubs, both of which are closing this fall,
owing to the stupid shortsightedness of the headquarters
both of US and UA. The gate area for this flight was packed,
so I wondered why there are so many signs of cutback or
perhaps even abandonment by US and UA at this airport.

The 18-minute flight was fine, and I had time for a glass of
mediocre red wine. On landing the concierge at the big BC
club sniffed at my Red Carpet card but softened considerably
upon seeing my goldness and my row 2 boarding pass. There
was nothing to be done to my reservation, but had there
been, she would probably have been very helpful. Had half
an hour there; the delicious catering was snack mix or
Tillamook cheese and crackers. I passed. The next flight was
at the way end of the B concourse, and I got there just as
the boarding scrum was gaining momentum.

1258 PHL BDL 2100 2223 319 2A

We pushed off a little late (enough time for me to have a
glass of cheap red before departure) but didn't have to wait
long to take off. Pretty good service. I switched to
Glenlivet after takeoff. Owing to the modern miracle of
schedule padding, in which they allow an hour and 23 for a
300-mile flight, we arrived half an hour early.

Nice report. Sounds like you had some fairly-decent trips on US.

0729
3257 BDL PHL 1131 1247 E75 2A

I lollygagged at home until Dave brought me to my senses,
and moments later we were on our way to Bradley: checked in
at about 10:15, was through security at 10:30, tried with
scanty success to use the free airport wi-fi (T-Mobile kept
trying to horn in), and boarded with zone 4 around 11.

The flight was quick and painless; my seat had great
legroom, as there was no 1A on this aircraft. We got in a
few shakes early.

3651 PHL BWI 1320 1405 CRJ 12F
was 4247 1525 1610 DH8 4A

I decided to stand by for the earlier flight, as there was
plenty of time. Went to the gate, where a ramp worker was
doing something at the computer. He seemed bright and well
informed, and in fact he helped a bunch of passengers find
themselves or at least their flights, politely and
efficiently. I approached him, and he said that a real
gate agent would be by shortly, but it appeared that there
would be space on the plane.

At length, someone showed up and immediately issued me
seat 12F, which is in the way wayback of this aircraft.
Boarded up and found that in fact the plane was quite
heavily booked, with just two exit row seats empty (I guess
if I'd asked I could have had one of these). My seatmate
was a pleasant if rather large woman who had a US Air
ticket from Philly to Baltimore and then to Cleveland,
this latter flight on Continental. By this routing she
managed to save over a hundred bucks over the US Air
nonstop. We had a pleasant chat, mostly about food.

Landed on time.

0731
4960 BOS SYR 1520 1705 SF3 7A

The commuter gates at Boston are not unlike those at most
of the airports I've seen - insufficient seating, lighting,
and airflow. I don't see why the airlines don't realize
that the Kettles do provide in aggregate a fair amount of
dosh despite their not flying very often, and it shouldn't
be a great leap of faith to provide them with at least a
tolerable place to hang out before their flight. I've flown
commuter flights from hubs on American, Continental, Delta,
Northwest, United, and US Air recently, and other than Delta
in Cincinnati, the airport experience has been an ugly one.

This was a thoroughly nasty flight owing to the aircraft
being unbelievably hot on the tarmac and quite warm
even in the air. That being that, I slept through it and
was pleased to find that despite our taking off a little
late, we landed a little early. Row 7 does have a fair
amount of extra legroom, but the emergency exit door
doesn't provide an armrest.

0804
4061 SYR PHL 1640 1743 CRJ 3F

I presume this flight went okay, as I fell asleep when we
were on the ground, and I awoke as we were on final approach
to a different airport from where we started. Had to hustle
hustle from the far end of the F terminal to the F-to-C
shuttle and then to the very far end of the C terminal,
where I arrived as they were boarding zone 2 or 3 or so.
There was a big old crush; when I got past and to my seat, I
found that I had two seats to myself and a whole lot of
pillows, most of which I stuffed into the overhead. The
flight attendant, seeing my bedraggled condition, got me a
Heineken at once. They no longer serve Courvoisier on US.

1569 PHL BWI 1825 1935 733 3C

The flight took off pretty full, with 2D and 3A open (why
didn't they honor my window request?) but most of the back
chockablock. A 20-minute trip, which means we landed quite
a bit early (though hung around a bit before they let us
taxi to the gate). We were at the gate and in the building
20 early. During the flight, coach didn't get feed or water,
though the purser offered buy-on-board snack boxes to
whoever rang the call button: nobody did. For us nobs, a
drink service with one round of refills and one pass of the
snack basket. I had another Heineken.

Adele was at the US Airways Club, the last day forever of
which was the next day. The place was like a tomb. I left
a note for Susan and Phyllis, the morning crew, had a final
cup of Flavia decaf, and went away, never to return.

0806
4164 BWI LGA 1300 1411 DH8 4F

I got to the airport at 11, and it was my instinct to try
for the 11:45, but instead I decided to get a burger at
Bill Bateman's (outside security). The bartender was
singularly glum but got my order right: burger rare, fries
well done. The sandwich was surprisingly good, the meat
seasoned with a Montreal-type seasoning, well browned and
quite pink inside. The fries were pale but extremely crisp.
A Sam hit the spot. Went through security in about 2 and
discovered that 4532 was just closing ... didn't think it
was worth the trouble to run for it ... did some surfing
at the RCC before going to the gate. Passed the site of
the US Airways Club, which was being cleared out - sad
feeling. We loaded a hair late for our flight but took
off on time and landed a little early. A shock: they are
charging for drinks - $1 for coffee or tea, $2 for soft
drinks or water, a whopping $7 for beer, wine, or booze.
I put my eyeshades on and snoozed. My connecting flight,
for which I had a good seat, was cancelled, so I went to
the Club; 15F with a blocked middle was the best they could
do for me.

2134 LGA BOS 1645 1733 319 15F
was 1600 1711
was
2132 LGA BOS 1500 1610 319 2A

Apparently there were thunderstorms up and down the coast.
We sat around for a while, endangering the connection of the
couple across the way, who were going to Madrid on IB. The
FAs, though hard-edged and quintessentially New Yorky, were
as helpful as they could be, finding people up front who were
willing to switch with the uneasy couple in flight.

We landed only 15 late, which I guess is a triumph of sorts.

One good thing about being bumped back to coach - I can
verify that beer and wine are still complimentary on
Shuttle flights.

I decided to take the bus to the north shore, which meant
walking to Terminal C; in the B-C passageway, there's a
display of works by Jamaica Plain artists, some of which
are very good. I saw one multimedia thing that I thought
quite disturbing and unattractive yet that arrested me; so
I stopped and read the card - the artist turned out to be
someone I dated about 15 years ago. H'm.

Nice report. Sounds like you had some fairly-decent trips on US.

Thanks for reading. One of my reasons for writing is to underscore
that the line personnel are generally good, despite the company
being in the toilet.

It sounds as if US has been okay lately. I have no major complaints against the airline as it usually fulfills my expectations. Well done.