sletohdarnoc
Jun 15, 09, 11:33 am
Introductions
Hello all, this is my first 'real' TR-- comments are appreciated, but go easy on me :D
First some background... I just graduated high school and am heading to university in the fall. I read FT all the time and am a huge commercial aviation fan. My dad, who is traveling to Paris for the Air Show, invited me to come along sort-of like a graduation gift. Loving to travel, I jumped at the chance. I decided to take the opportunity to visit a friend who lives in northern Germany as well. I wanted to use miles for the ticket so my options were UA and US. Naturally, I would have flown US because of 1) I am SP and 2) last time I flew them TATL to FCO it wasn't too bad, and they have AVOD. When I checked, I laughed at the price tag of 100,000. Not worth it. :p I went over to UA they were 100,000 as well. Hope dwindled as I started to look at buying a ticket outright. Prices of $1500 made me have that sinking feeling that this trip was not going to happen. About two weeks later, as I was brushing my teeth @:-) I remembered that AC was *A. I called almost immediately and they had a ticket for 50,000 miles! :D I didn't really care where I had to go through, so I hung up, bought a few US DD miles, called back, and booked it! A few weeks later I booked CDG-HAJ with LH for $117 roundtrip. I paid about $600 in taxes/fees/miles for the IND-CDG flights. Not bad for Paris in June. I had been extremely excited for the trip because this is my last international trip for awhile as I'll be a poor college student and my US SP would expire during the trip. Now the actual trip...
The trip started on Saturday, June 13. We left for IND at 11:30am. We live about an hour away from the airport, but light Saturday traffic only made the drive 45 minutes. After being dropped off at the terminal from the parking shuttle, we made our way to the Premier Desk at the UA counter. Because I had three different record locators, the chicken couldn't check me in. So the surly UA staff-- err Skywest staffer checked me in. (Side note here-- UA pulled mainline operations out of IND so we now have Skywest staff. I miss the UA staff.) After getting our bags tagged, we made our way to security. After going through the full body scanner, my Dad and I had lunch at the Wolfgang Puck Express. I had some sort of pesto chicken sandwich and it was very good. Later we headed down to the gate after buying some water.
United Airlines 7848
Dep: IND 2:29p
Seat 7A - CRJ
Boarding started on time and I was the first on the plane. Our aircraft had the new UA livery. When I walked onboard, the FA was sitting in a seat but sprang to life when I greeted her. Everything was on time, FA was nice, and we even got a beverage service. The plane was only about half full. After landing at IAD (I have never been here before) 25 minutes early, my Dad and I set out to find our connecting gate because we only had a 40 minute connection. Another side note-- I am very thankful for the IND airport. IAD is a dump. I thought those terminal bus things were funny-- I wondered what would happen if one crashed with a plane. :D While walking through the concourse, a kid probably 13/14 stepped in front of me and I nearly smacked into him and I fell down. I looked back to see him dancing and was annoyed for him to be horsing around in a busy terminal packed with people. :mad: Shortly after we found our gate and had a sit. I decided to go spotting in the B terminal with all of the international aircraft. As I made my way back in the opposite direction, there was a circle of people crowding in on someone. I looked as I passed and saw that it was the kid who ran into me earlier. He was passed out and there was a pool of vomit on the floor. I then realized he had had a seizure. :( I hope everything turned out OK. My plans of spotting were squashed by the lack of good opportunities. I couldn't see much of anything from any angle. :mad: Oh well. Maybe at YYZ. I went back to the gate and waited for the flight to begin boarding. That time came and went. About twenty minutes later, they announced the aircraft was late from New York. We boarded 15 minutes after that. We were at gate A4 and I must say it is a mess calling 5 or 6 different flights for boarding at the same time and same gate! :eek:
United Airlines 7849
Dep: IAD 5:00p
Seat 5A - CRJ
This plane was exactly the same as the last one. This flight was fuller as well. Another beverage service. I got some good shots of Niagara Falls from the air as well. The FA was good looking. She was very nice. ;) We landed about 30 minutes late at YYZ but had a comfortable 3 hour connection.
This was my first time in Canada. YYZ was an excellent experience. AC staff, security staff, and immigration staff were all friendly. Modern and clean as well. Different from when I usually connect in PHL. :D We made our way to the international terminal in no time. I thought those express walkways were great! I went to the AC service desk and asked them to reprint my BP as I wanted it on AC stock. They happily obliged but I was disappointed to get it on plain, white stock with the *A logo-- no different than UA at IND. We went to have dinner at some Casey's Via Della something rib joint. I had a good bison burger. I tired to get my first legal beer here-- but was denied when they saw my ID and realized that I was only 18. Oh well-- I can wait till France. :D After dinner, we had 20 minutes until boarding. After it started a little late, our section was finally called. We were both in Y and my Dad's *Gold status expired a month earlier, so no priority boarding/lounge access. As we were waiting to board in the long lines, a GA came over and pulled us out. She said she saw our Gold UA Ticket Jackets and said we could priority board. :cool:
Air Canada 880
Dep: YYZ 9:00p
Seat 33K - 77W
After passing through the C cabin with jealousy, I found my seat near the bulkhead. The seat itself didn't look that bad. I settled in and got comfortable. The legroom, while not generous, was much better than US's A330's. Width was comfortable too. Boarding didn't take long and soon my seat mates arrived-- a couple teens back packing through Europe-- and we had nice conversation. I explored the seat some more and was surprised to see a USB port (which I used to charge my iPhone) and power port at EVERY SEAT (but not my window seat)! The AVOD worked perfect except the map was not accurate about halfway through the flight. Every FA I met was friendly and nice to talk to. They really seem to be enjoying their jobs. They provided excellent customer service-- especially for it being Y class-- and I know good customer service when I see it (I've been a front desk agent at a Hilton for 3 years now). The meal was not bad-- I've had MUCH worse on US. I had the pasta with meat sauce. The rest of the meal consisted of corn/lima bean mixture, a ciabatta roll with butter, and chocolate mousse. It also came with a water bottle. AND--- FREE WINE! US, did you hear me?! I had my first legal glass of wine on the plane and it wasn't bad. I was mostly surprised to see it was free-- AC is just one pleasant surprise after another! After dinner, I used the lavatory and it was clean, AND pleasant smelling. I returned to my seat to watch "Taken" and then put on the noise canceling headphones to get some rest. I only got about two hours sleep and passed the rest of the time with some "30 Rock" episodes. AC kept its promise of water runs every 30 minutes, as well. There was some light turbulence halfway through and the seat belt light was flipped on. Prior to landing, we were given a breakfast box of a muffin (halfway frozen), yogurt, and orange juice. They also came through with a drink run. Overall, this being my first time flying AC, it was an excellent experience throughout and will go out of my way to fly them again-- even if it is a paid ticket.
Hello all, this is my first 'real' TR-- comments are appreciated, but go easy on me :D
First some background... I just graduated high school and am heading to university in the fall. I read FT all the time and am a huge commercial aviation fan. My dad, who is traveling to Paris for the Air Show, invited me to come along sort-of like a graduation gift. Loving to travel, I jumped at the chance. I decided to take the opportunity to visit a friend who lives in northern Germany as well. I wanted to use miles for the ticket so my options were UA and US. Naturally, I would have flown US because of 1) I am SP and 2) last time I flew them TATL to FCO it wasn't too bad, and they have AVOD. When I checked, I laughed at the price tag of 100,000. Not worth it. :p I went over to UA they were 100,000 as well. Hope dwindled as I started to look at buying a ticket outright. Prices of $1500 made me have that sinking feeling that this trip was not going to happen. About two weeks later, as I was brushing my teeth @:-) I remembered that AC was *A. I called almost immediately and they had a ticket for 50,000 miles! :D I didn't really care where I had to go through, so I hung up, bought a few US DD miles, called back, and booked it! A few weeks later I booked CDG-HAJ with LH for $117 roundtrip. I paid about $600 in taxes/fees/miles for the IND-CDG flights. Not bad for Paris in June. I had been extremely excited for the trip because this is my last international trip for awhile as I'll be a poor college student and my US SP would expire during the trip. Now the actual trip...
The trip started on Saturday, June 13. We left for IND at 11:30am. We live about an hour away from the airport, but light Saturday traffic only made the drive 45 minutes. After being dropped off at the terminal from the parking shuttle, we made our way to the Premier Desk at the UA counter. Because I had three different record locators, the chicken couldn't check me in. So the surly UA staff-- err Skywest staffer checked me in. (Side note here-- UA pulled mainline operations out of IND so we now have Skywest staff. I miss the UA staff.) After getting our bags tagged, we made our way to security. After going through the full body scanner, my Dad and I had lunch at the Wolfgang Puck Express. I had some sort of pesto chicken sandwich and it was very good. Later we headed down to the gate after buying some water.
United Airlines 7848
Dep: IND 2:29p
Seat 7A - CRJ
Boarding started on time and I was the first on the plane. Our aircraft had the new UA livery. When I walked onboard, the FA was sitting in a seat but sprang to life when I greeted her. Everything was on time, FA was nice, and we even got a beverage service. The plane was only about half full. After landing at IAD (I have never been here before) 25 minutes early, my Dad and I set out to find our connecting gate because we only had a 40 minute connection. Another side note-- I am very thankful for the IND airport. IAD is a dump. I thought those terminal bus things were funny-- I wondered what would happen if one crashed with a plane. :D While walking through the concourse, a kid probably 13/14 stepped in front of me and I nearly smacked into him and I fell down. I looked back to see him dancing and was annoyed for him to be horsing around in a busy terminal packed with people. :mad: Shortly after we found our gate and had a sit. I decided to go spotting in the B terminal with all of the international aircraft. As I made my way back in the opposite direction, there was a circle of people crowding in on someone. I looked as I passed and saw that it was the kid who ran into me earlier. He was passed out and there was a pool of vomit on the floor. I then realized he had had a seizure. :( I hope everything turned out OK. My plans of spotting were squashed by the lack of good opportunities. I couldn't see much of anything from any angle. :mad: Oh well. Maybe at YYZ. I went back to the gate and waited for the flight to begin boarding. That time came and went. About twenty minutes later, they announced the aircraft was late from New York. We boarded 15 minutes after that. We were at gate A4 and I must say it is a mess calling 5 or 6 different flights for boarding at the same time and same gate! :eek:
United Airlines 7849
Dep: IAD 5:00p
Seat 5A - CRJ
This plane was exactly the same as the last one. This flight was fuller as well. Another beverage service. I got some good shots of Niagara Falls from the air as well. The FA was good looking. She was very nice. ;) We landed about 30 minutes late at YYZ but had a comfortable 3 hour connection.
This was my first time in Canada. YYZ was an excellent experience. AC staff, security staff, and immigration staff were all friendly. Modern and clean as well. Different from when I usually connect in PHL. :D We made our way to the international terminal in no time. I thought those express walkways were great! I went to the AC service desk and asked them to reprint my BP as I wanted it on AC stock. They happily obliged but I was disappointed to get it on plain, white stock with the *A logo-- no different than UA at IND. We went to have dinner at some Casey's Via Della something rib joint. I had a good bison burger. I tired to get my first legal beer here-- but was denied when they saw my ID and realized that I was only 18. Oh well-- I can wait till France. :D After dinner, we had 20 minutes until boarding. After it started a little late, our section was finally called. We were both in Y and my Dad's *Gold status expired a month earlier, so no priority boarding/lounge access. As we were waiting to board in the long lines, a GA came over and pulled us out. She said she saw our Gold UA Ticket Jackets and said we could priority board. :cool:
Air Canada 880
Dep: YYZ 9:00p
Seat 33K - 77W
After passing through the C cabin with jealousy, I found my seat near the bulkhead. The seat itself didn't look that bad. I settled in and got comfortable. The legroom, while not generous, was much better than US's A330's. Width was comfortable too. Boarding didn't take long and soon my seat mates arrived-- a couple teens back packing through Europe-- and we had nice conversation. I explored the seat some more and was surprised to see a USB port (which I used to charge my iPhone) and power port at EVERY SEAT (but not my window seat)! The AVOD worked perfect except the map was not accurate about halfway through the flight. Every FA I met was friendly and nice to talk to. They really seem to be enjoying their jobs. They provided excellent customer service-- especially for it being Y class-- and I know good customer service when I see it (I've been a front desk agent at a Hilton for 3 years now). The meal was not bad-- I've had MUCH worse on US. I had the pasta with meat sauce. The rest of the meal consisted of corn/lima bean mixture, a ciabatta roll with butter, and chocolate mousse. It also came with a water bottle. AND--- FREE WINE! US, did you hear me?! I had my first legal glass of wine on the plane and it wasn't bad. I was mostly surprised to see it was free-- AC is just one pleasant surprise after another! After dinner, I used the lavatory and it was clean, AND pleasant smelling. I returned to my seat to watch "Taken" and then put on the noise canceling headphones to get some rest. I only got about two hours sleep and passed the rest of the time with some "30 Rock" episodes. AC kept its promise of water runs every 30 minutes, as well. There was some light turbulence halfway through and the seat belt light was flipped on. Prior to landing, we were given a breakfast box of a muffin (halfway frozen), yogurt, and orange juice. They also came through with a drink run. Overall, this being my first time flying AC, it was an excellent experience throughout and will go out of my way to fly them again-- even if it is a paid ticket.