ON THE ROAD AGAIN ~ 106,000 miles via plane, train, boat, bus, truck and thumb PART 3
Jun 5, 2003, 1:21 am
#1
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Join Date: Apr 2001
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ON THE ROAD AGAIN ~ 106,000 miles via plane, train, boat, bus, truck and thumb PART 3
PART 7: MILE 62890 - 70630
By Air: 7740 Miles
Photo Album Reference: BA 285 LHR-SFO
Address: [email protected]
Password: readme
This flight between London and San Francisco will be my 3000th. Lots of people have flown 3000 times, but how many were aware of it at the time? How many even cared?
People have always quantified the things they care about. How old am I? How long have I been married? How much money do I have? How many times did the Mariners beat the Yankees last season?
I’ve loved air travel for as long as I can remember. I filled out my first flight log when I was in 7th grade. At the time, I’d flown a grand total of sixteen times aboard four different airlines. As the number of flights and airlines flown grew, it became interesting to consider statistics such as how many times I’d flown on 727-200s, how many miles I’d flown on Continental Airlines, how many flights and miles I’d flown aboard Continental 727-200s, etc. As the total number of flights grew larger and larger, the numbers began to take on a life of their own.
I flew my 1000th flight on July 17th, 1982. It was in First Class aboard a Western Airlines DC-10 between San Francisco and Honolulu. I flew my one millionth mile on September 4th, 1985 aboard a United DC-10. I flew my 1000th flight with United Airlines on April 24th, 1997. It was on an Anchorage to San Francisco flight and United made it a memorable occasion. They put on a little party at the departure gate with cake and Starbucks and then the Anchorage station manager and sales rep presented me with a plaque and a nice leather travel bag. Six days later, I flew my one millionth mile with United.
Originally, I’d planned my travels so that this 3000th flight would take place four weeks ago aboard British Airways between London and Singapore. A First Class suite aboard a world class airline on one of their premier routes – I couldn’t have choreographed it any better. Unfortunately, the ear infection that forced me to cancel one of my Seattle to Nashville Mileage Run tickets changed all this and it was only sheer luck that my 3000th flight should now occur on this British Airways flight to San Francisco as opposed to on, say, Air Botnia yesterday between Helsinki and Copenhagen.
I’ve had a great run so far! Three thousand flights on one hundred seven different airlines through forty three countries and 289 different airports. Over 1300 flights and 1.2 million miles of that have been in First Class. Here’s lookin’ forward to the next 3000 flightsl!
** ** **
British Airways has a wonderful First Class check in area at Heathrow’s Terminal 4. It is completely separate from the main check in area and access to it is authorized by an agent at the entrance whose job it is to redirect any idle curiosity seekers, aimless wanderers, Club World scammers and other garden variety riff raff . Today’s guard agent was trim of figure but stern of stance. As I trundled towards her with my big old backpack and recently trimmed beard, I had to stifle a chuckle as she stiffened in anticipation of exercising her authority.
On trips like this, my travel outfit consists of a pair of black Levi 501s, a nice blue button down oxford shirt, my nice tweed jacket with leather elbow patches that I scored on sale in a thrift shop for $10.00, and my tweed cap that I bought in Ireland some years ago. I’ve been told that I look like a deranged English professor in this get up, which may well be true. Even so, it’s comfortable and more presentable I think than some of the attire I see in First Class cabins these days.
After receiving clearance to proceed, I was quickly checked in and given a Fast Track clearance sticker on my boarding pass. This allowed me to bypass the substantial queue at the main security area and go through the much less crowded Fast Track lanes. All carriers that offer an international First Class product should make arrangements with airport security to offer this service at their larger gateways. It’s amazing to me that some still don’t.
An International First Class boarding pass on BA entitles the bearer to enter the refined elegance and sanctuary of the Concorde Room. I’ve detailed this wonderful lounge in previous reports but allow me to reiterate that amongst Heathrow’s numerous First Class lounges, the Concorde room has few, if any peers. Light classical music was playing as I entered. As a former chamber group musician, it was quite nice to settle into a comfy chair and sip champagne to Bach’s Air On A G String.
I had a couple of hours before my 1:25pm departure and decided a bit of a snack would be in order. While most First Class lounges provide a food service area offering a variety of hot and cold hors d’oeuvres and finger sandwiches, the Concorde Room offers an entire menu from which you may select everything from a light breakfast to delicious sandwiches and salads. Many people have asked about this menu in response to past Trip Reports, so here it is.
CONCORDE ROOM MENU
BREAKFAST ITEMS
Chilled freshly squeezed orange juice
Freshly prepared smoothies
Natural Greek Yogurt
Topped with cereal, organic honey or strawberries
Selection of Cereals
Cornflakes, Branflakes, Rice Krispies or Alpen
Plain, Cinnamon and raisin or Poppy seed Bagels
Served with garden herb or organic blueberry cream cheese
Hot Toast
Selection of Pastries
Orange marmalade, honey and preserves
Grilled Back Bacon Baguette
Sautéed Mushroom and Tomato Baguette
** ** **
Fresh Soup of The Day
Served with a variety of continental breads
** ** **
SANDWICHES
Traditional Selection
Egg mayonnaise and watercress on white bread
Traditional prawn Marie Rose with mixed leaves on whole meal bread
Pastrami and horseradish on rye bread
Flaked tuna in mayonnaise with cucumber on whole meal bread
Hand Cut
Chicken in Caesar dressing with Parmesan and salad leaves on olive bread
English gammon with plum tomatoes and mustard dressing on white bread
Smoked salmon and soft cheese on whole meal bread
Port-salut, spinach and pine nuts on tomato bread
** ** **
SALADS
Caesar Salad
Cardini’s traditional dressing, curls of Parmigiano Reggiano, croutons and crisp cos lettuce
Chinese Prawn Salad
Fresh prawns on rocket and Chinese leaves with julienne of peppers and dressed with sweet chili sauce
Mediterranean Garden Salad
French beans and red chard with red onion and feta cheese, dressed with olive oil and vintage balsamic vinegar
Dip Platter
Fresh vegetable crudités and tortilla chips, accompanied by a selection of dips
** ** **
Dessert
Seasonal fresh fruits with a piquant raspberry sauce
Cheeseboard
Stilton, Cheddar, Cheshire and Wensleydale with biscuits, celery and grapes
** ** **
AFTERNOON TEA
Your choice from a range of tea sandwiches and traditional English cakes served with a pot of freshly brewed tea
Although it certainly was tempting to order a sandwich or a salad from off this menu, I also wanted to save room for whatever culinary delights awaited me aboard the ten hour flight out to San Francisco. The champagne was Pol Roger, 1986, Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill. This being the occasion of my 3000th flight, I ordered a glass along with a plate of the Chinese Prawn Salad.
Cheers!
At about 12:30pm, an announcement was made that due to a problem with our aircraft’s toilets, our departure would be delayed. At 1:15pm, we were advised that the problem had still not been corrected and might necessitate an aircraft switch. At this time, the siren call of a nice cold Guinness became just too alluring to ignore.
06 May
LHR-SFO British Airways 285 First Class
747-436 G-BYGG Seat 1A
125p-515p Flight time: 9:56
3000th Flight
The call to board finally came at about 2:25pm and as I approached the gate and the aircraft came into view, I recognized the Chinese calligraphy on the tail and the registration number of my old friend, G-BYGG. I flew this aircraft last year between Melbourne and London. Today’s flight would be my third aboard G-BYGG, for a total of 15,860 miles. It is positively uncanny how despite having flown 19 flights with BA totaling 84,430 miles, 59,660 miles of that have been flown on just four different aircraft. BA’s fleet totals well over 300 aircraft.
Today’s First Class cabin crew was certainly a cheerful bunch. Our cabin purser, Caroline, made a point of stopping by each seat to introduce herself and chat for a bit. Upon learning I was from Alaska, she immediately recounted how much she’d enjoyed the long Anchorage layovers from “the good old days”. The FA working my side of the cabin was Linda and she was a real charmer as well. The load was light – only seven of us were making the trip in First Class today - and the mood amongst both passengers and crew was happy and relaxed. I accepted a glass of Krug and a plate of nuts, reclined my seat a bit and perused the movie selections. Hey! Scent Of A Woman with Al Pacino! One of my all time favorite movies! Well, that that would be something to look forward to after lunch.
Our captain welcomed us aboard and explained that the delay was due to a clog in the toilet system. No doubt we’d all agree, he continued, that with a ten hour flight ahead of us, it was imperative that the system be functional. The cause of the problem was a plastic bag that some knucklehead had flushed and getting to the point of the clog had required considerable effort. In any event, we were now ready to go and could look forward to a speedy crossing of the Atlantic as headwinds were so minimal as to be irrelevant. Flight time was projected at ten hours and three minutes, cruising at 35-39000 feet. Plates and glasses were collected and hot towels were dispensed with as we made our way over to Runway 27R. After a take-off roll of just 32 seconds – surprisingly short for a 747 loaded with enough fuel to fly over 5000 miles - we were airborne at 3:05pm.
It was a beautiful afternoon in London – sunny with a few scattered clouds. Perfect flying weather! We climbed out of Heathrow and headed northwest, flying past Manchester and Glasgow before taking a more westerly tack across the North Atlantic towards Iceland and southern Greenland. After crossing over the top of Hudson Bay, we’d adopt a southwesterly course across Manitoba and Saskatchewan, crossing into US airspace just above Malta, Montana. Arrival in San Francisco was planned for 5:10pm and we were informed that the weather was very much like London’s – sunny and about 60 degrees. Just perfect!
Menus were handed out, along with a small plate of canapés. These canapés, though insubstantial in size, are one of my favorite parts of the First Class meal experience. They’re a wonderful teaser for the gastronomic pleasures that await. I munched on them at leisure and perused the menu selections.
London to San Francisco
LUNCHEON
Appetizer
Richard Corrigan’s foie gras terrine with fig compote and toasted brioche slice
Or
Baby peppers filled with roast Mediterranean vegetables, lemon and oregano dressings
Soup
Chilled cherry tomato soup
Salad
Mixed Seasonal Salad served with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinaigrette or Caesar dressing
** ** **
MAIN COURSES
Roast Cannon of Lamb
Accented with wild mushroom and mint stuffing, natural jus
Vineet Bhatia’s Crab Coconut Cream Curry
Served with fragrant rice
Grilled Spatchcock Quail
Presented with citrus dressing
Freshly Cooked Pasta
Offered with your choice of tomato and basil or creamy mushroom sauce
Served with freshly grated Grana Padano cheese
Lemon and Herb Chicken Caesar Salad
** ** **
CHEESE, DESSERT & FRUIT
Cheeseboard Selection
Fountains Gold, Stilton, Bougon Chevre, St. Nectaire and Kirkham’s Lancashire
Dessert
White chocolate, dark chocolate and caramel torte with Earl Gray crème Anglaise
Vanilla panna cotta, almond wafer and summer berries
Selection of fresh fruit
Chocolates
** ** **
ALWAYS AVAILABLE
Sandwich Selection
Smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber on whole meal triangle
Gammon ham, spinach and tomato on malted triangle
Sliced mature Cheddar cheese and Branston pickle on croissant triangle
Warm Fruit Scones
Presented with clotted cream and strawberry preserve
The Great All Day English Breakfast
Chicken Tikka Masala
Hot Bacon Roll
** ** **
I love foie gras! The last time I remember having it inflight was in First Class aboard a Continental DC-10 between Sydney and Honolulu. The flight attendants were serving massive slabs of it from the cart and we gorged ourselves like French royalty. BA’s portion was substantially smaller but no less tasty. I also ordered the chilled tomato soup. Linda stopped by to advise me that while the menu said chilled, the soup really was much better heated. I heeded her advice and was quite pleased – as I always am with BA’s soups – to enjoy a soup that was both hot and spicy. Good stuff, that.
For my main course, I chose the Roast Cannon of Lamb. The wild mushroom and mint stuffing sounded too good to pass up. Chef Bhatia’s Crab Coconut Cream Curry sounded quite sublime but after my experience with his Pan Fried Spiced Halibut on the London to Singapore flight, a dish that wasn’t very spicy at all, I decided to go with something that would likely be more flavorful. As it happened, the lamb was not only flavorful but tender and juicy as well. A good choice. Ah, dessert. Jeez, they both looked so good! I went with the torte, which was simply sublime with a cup of BA’s fine black coffee. A glass of port and a small plate of cheese, grapes and celery brought this repast to a delicious conclusion. The SkyMap indicated that we were just south and a tad west of Iceland, cruising along at 38,000 feet. I reclined my seat and savored the fine old port. Now this is First Class!
By the time the final credits rolled on Scent Of A Woman, we were just passing over the southwest coast of Greenland. Although the cabin was darkened and people were sleeping, I just had to raise my shade for a moment to check out the amazing views of rock, ice and water. The landscape was harsh yet strangely beautiful and I found myself wishing I could someday see those icy fjords from a boat.
Iqaluit, near the northeastern entrance to Hudson Bay, was the half way point of this flight. Although there’s never been a scheduled service between Iqaluit and San Francisco, if there were you’d be looking at a flight of about five and a half hours. Cruisin’ along at 584 mph whilst battling a 4 mph headwind, we’d make the journey in about five hours even.
For an Economy Class passenger, ten hour flights seem much longer. The meal and beverage service is over before you know it and you still have eight and a half more hours to go, squeezed into your little seat surrounded by a sea of people. Movies and books offer some distraction but sleep is probably the best thing you can do to keep from going stir crazy.
Not so in First Class. For starters, the pace of the service is so much nicer. In BA’s First, you choose the pace at which you’d like to dine. While meal trays are being distributed back in Economy, and appetizers in Business, you’re relaxing over a nice glass of wine and munching on canapés. While trays are being cleared and movie selections perused back in Economy, you’ve just finishing your soup or salad and are looking forward to the main course. By the time you’ve finished your meal, you’d be about three hours into the flight. Perhaps some cheese and port with the movie? But of course!
High clouds covered all of the Hudson Bay. In fact, I didn’t see land again until we were over Lake Winnipeg. While flipping through the 18 channels of prerecorded TV shows, documentaries and movies, I settled on a movie called Maid in Manhattan with Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Fiennes. Maid in Manhattan is what most guys would call a “Chick Flick” and is not a movie I would normally make an effort to see. I’d never seen a Jennifer Lopez movie before. She has beautiful eyes and a sweet voice. And that butt certainly is prodigious in its proportions. Still, the movie had a nice storyline and I found it surprisingly enjoyable. By the time it was over, we were just over southern Saskatchewan, approaching Montana. It was 10:00pm back in London, 2:00pm in San Francisco. Only three hours to go.
The second meal service began for me about an hour and a half out of San Francisco. BA offers an “Available Anytime” menu, which for this flight included the traditional afternoon offerings of tea sandwiches and scones with jam and clotted cream. However, if there are any leftovers from the main meal service, they too are available. As such, for my second meal I tried out the stuffed baby peppers for an appetizer, followed by a plate of the grilled spatchcock quail. Truth be known, I wanted more of that terrine of foie gras but it was long gone. Linda explained that it was one of the most popular appetizers that BA offered. The baby peppers were OK, though nothing special. Bring on the spatchcock! Alas, I’ve had some bad experiences with inflight meals featuring small game birds, most notably a serving of pheasant on Aerolineas Argentinas that was drier than old shoe leather. Today’s quail was quite good though. What it lacked in presentation, it more than made up for in flavor. Really a delicious entrée. Too bad it appeared to have just been dumped on the plate amidst the vegetables.
Our approach into San Francisco was a little bumpy but we made what felt like a textbook landing and parked at gate A4. I said my good byes and thanks to the crew and headed off the aircraft. I had no more First Class flights with BA to look forward to and despite an enticing itinerary for the upcoming week that included First Class flights back to Alaska followed by a weekend in Florida and a quick visit to the Nevada and Utah, my immediate travel future still felt a bit bleak. BA’s First Class is that nice! If only I could relive the past month!
I’ve got enough miles in my Alaska Mileage Plan account to book another BA First Class Award to anywhere and believe me, I was sorely tempted to get right back in line to take that ride again. Still, Cathay Pacific has joined the Alaska Mileage Plan and I’m looking forward to checking out their vaunted First Class service on a trip to South Africa. And, if I should perhaps win big on a game show, I’d even like to take a ride on the famous Blue Train. Ah well, that will be fun to dream about and plan in the months ahead.
In the meantime, I was exhausted and ready for bed. Thankfully, one awaited me at the Doubletree SFO where I’d gotten a room via Priceline for a bid of $31.00 on what must’ve been a slow night. I slept for almost ten hours!
07 May
SFO-SEA Alaska Airlines 589 First Class
737-4Q8 N779AS Seat 1A
1255p-315p Flight time: 1:43
While Priceline may have been helpful in procuring a great room rate, they were unable to help me out in the hotel restaurant where breakfast prices were in the $10.00-13.00 range. So, I walked across the street to the café next door at the Red Roof Inn and ordered one of the finest Eggs Benedicts that I’ve ever eaten for a mere $7.50. Including coffee.
As I was waiting for breakfast to arrive, it occurred to me that two days ago at this very same time, 9:05am PDT, I was eating dinner aboard a Maersk Air jet between Copenhagen and London. Yesterday at this time, I had just finished lunch somewhere between Iceland and Greenland. Tomorrow at this time, I’d be eating breakfast in the Bush Pilot Grill while awaiting departure of my flight between Fairbanks and Seattle. Two days from now, at 12:05pm EDT I’d probably be eating lunch in Florida. The arrival of my breakfast snapped me back to the present, so I stopped thinking and started eating
*** *** ***
“Excuse me, sir? Excuse me? Can I just have a moment of your time?” begged the starry eyed religious convert from behind her desk.
“Please report any unattended baggage or suspicious activity to the airport police. Unattended vehicles will be impounded at the owner’s expense.” intoned the voice from the airport loudspeakers.
Welcome back to the world of air travel, American style. I don’t recall ever having been approached by Hare Krishnas or other religious types at airports outside of America. As for the airport security announcements, they just seem a bit more insistent here in America. I know it certainly can’t hurt to be a bit more alert and vigilant these days, but I find the insistent, prerecorded reminders a tad annoying.
At the gate for my flight to Seattle this afternoon was my old friend N779AS, the same aircraft upon which I started my South Pacific odyssey last year. This was my seventh flight for a total of 7210 miles on this aircraft. There was one empty seat in First Class and thankfully it was next to me. It was a nice sunny day in the Bay Area and as we followed a United 777 out to the runway, I thought man, those colors sure are gloomy. If and when United gets out of bankruptcy and starts making money again, I would hope that they’d change that horribly drab color scheme into something a little brighter and more promising.
Though I have no idea what runway we took off on, we took an easterly heading as we climbed straight out over San Francisco Bay. As we approached the eastern side of the bay, I watched with interest as a Fed Ex DC-10 climbed out of Oakland International. The aircraft was maybe 3000 feet below us, its markings clearly visible. I also noted the time it took us to reach the shoreline of the east bay after from take off from SFO: 2 minutes and 48 seconds. To date, the shortest flight I have ever been on was aboard an Alaska MD-80 between San Francisco and Oakland. I believe the route is credited at 9 miles, which may well be once ATC Oakland gets through with you. In a straight line however, I think it’s more like 5 miles. Regardless, if Alaska still flew the route you’d receive a minimum of 500 miles to your Mileage Plan account. Applications can be found in –
Right – where was I… Ah, lunch time! Alaska is the only airline offering meals in any class between San Francisco and Seattle. Today’s choices were described as either a Club Salad or a Chicken Sandwich with wild rice. What’s a Club Salad? Well, it was described as a club sandwich without the bread on top of a salad. OK, I’ll take it. Alaska’s sandwiches have always been more bread than filling anyway.
In a word, the Club Salad was excellent. Basically, it was a big bowl of salad topped with generous portions of bacon, turkey and tomatoes accompanied by shaved Parmesan cheese. With the addition of Lite Ranch dressing, it was probably the best salad I have ever had on Alaska Airlines, and I’ve had a few.
Although MacTarnahans Ale was offered, an offer which I accepted by the way, the flight attendant returned with a can of Tecate beer, a poor substitute for the Mac but still superior to the other choices of Miller Lite and Budweiser. No nuts of any kind were offered.
This was a fairly quick flight up to the Emerald City. Cruising at 35000 feet, we were treated to a very nice view of 14,110 foot Mt. Shasta, the southernmost of the Cascade volcanoes. Clouds obscured the rest of the Cascades and we landed nicely in Seattle after a flight of just one hour and 36 minutes. As we taxied to our gate we passed N784AS, the Disneyland promotional plane. This was my first sighting of this aircraft and I must say it certainly brightened up the tarmac!
07 May
SEA-ANC-FAI Alaska Airlines 91 First Class
737-4Q8 N774AS Seat 1D
449p-901p Flight time: 3:18/:44
I was already at the gate when the aircraft operating our flight up to Fairbanks arrived late from Oakland. It was N774AS, the Alaskaair.com aircraft. I flew this plane just last November. Despite the colorful exterior, there is nothing to distinguish the interior from any other Alaska jet. Some of you may remember N308AS, the 727-200 also known as “Seahawk 1”. There were several small plaques denoting the player’s names on the seatbacks. The Seahawks were a good team back then. The current crop of players may wish to remain anonymous.
My seatmate arrived with headphones on beneath a white baseball cap. The headphones stayed on for the entire flight except when he once got up to use the lavatory. Interesting…
Awright, what’s for dinner:
Seattle to Los Angeles
DINNER
Salad
Seasonal mixed greens complimented by carrots, tomatoes and cucumbers. Offered with Creamy Cilantro Dressing
Entrees
Chinese Prawn Stir Fry
Ginger-soy marinated shrimp and vegetables served over noodles
Southern Chicken
A breaded and fried chicken breast topped with a zesty Fiesta Sauce.
Accompanied by a corn and polenta cake with spinach and carrots
** ** **
Dessert
Wedding Cake with Marion Berry Filling
Orders were taken from the front, starting with 1A. All of us in row 1 ordered the chicken. The two people immediately behind me also ordered the chicken. I’m not sure what percentage of this flight’s First Class passengers were MVPs, but I’m tellin’ you informed passengers know to stay away from Alaska’s prawn entrees. They’re just too skimpy! Meanwhile, the aroma of fried chicken wafting through the cabin only served to heighten the anticipation of the meal to come. Indeed, it did not disappoint. The polenta cake was a nice addition and I would rate this chicken dish second only to Alaska’s Breast of Chicken Baked in Puff Pastry with Bordelaise Sauce, which seems to be served only out of Washington Dulles.
The so called wedding cake dessert is also one of my favorites. Light and delicious as opposed to heavy and delicious like the cheesecakes, it made a nice ending to a large meal like tonight’s.
A bit of residual jet lag got the best of me for the remainder of this flight up to Anchorage and on into Fairbanks. I slept off and on until about fifteen minutes out of Fairbanks. I was glad to have awoken because I always enjoy the approach into FAI over the Tanana Flats. Despite the late arrival at 9:50pm, the sun was still an hour away from setting. It was good to be home, if only for ten hours.
[This message has been edited by Seat 2A (edited 06-23-2003).]
By Air: 7740 Miles
Photo Album Reference: BA 285 LHR-SFO
Address: [email protected]
Password: readme
This flight between London and San Francisco will be my 3000th. Lots of people have flown 3000 times, but how many were aware of it at the time? How many even cared?
People have always quantified the things they care about. How old am I? How long have I been married? How much money do I have? How many times did the Mariners beat the Yankees last season?
I’ve loved air travel for as long as I can remember. I filled out my first flight log when I was in 7th grade. At the time, I’d flown a grand total of sixteen times aboard four different airlines. As the number of flights and airlines flown grew, it became interesting to consider statistics such as how many times I’d flown on 727-200s, how many miles I’d flown on Continental Airlines, how many flights and miles I’d flown aboard Continental 727-200s, etc. As the total number of flights grew larger and larger, the numbers began to take on a life of their own.
I flew my 1000th flight on July 17th, 1982. It was in First Class aboard a Western Airlines DC-10 between San Francisco and Honolulu. I flew my one millionth mile on September 4th, 1985 aboard a United DC-10. I flew my 1000th flight with United Airlines on April 24th, 1997. It was on an Anchorage to San Francisco flight and United made it a memorable occasion. They put on a little party at the departure gate with cake and Starbucks and then the Anchorage station manager and sales rep presented me with a plaque and a nice leather travel bag. Six days later, I flew my one millionth mile with United.
Originally, I’d planned my travels so that this 3000th flight would take place four weeks ago aboard British Airways between London and Singapore. A First Class suite aboard a world class airline on one of their premier routes – I couldn’t have choreographed it any better. Unfortunately, the ear infection that forced me to cancel one of my Seattle to Nashville Mileage Run tickets changed all this and it was only sheer luck that my 3000th flight should now occur on this British Airways flight to San Francisco as opposed to on, say, Air Botnia yesterday between Helsinki and Copenhagen.
I’ve had a great run so far! Three thousand flights on one hundred seven different airlines through forty three countries and 289 different airports. Over 1300 flights and 1.2 million miles of that have been in First Class. Here’s lookin’ forward to the next 3000 flightsl!
** ** **
British Airways has a wonderful First Class check in area at Heathrow’s Terminal 4. It is completely separate from the main check in area and access to it is authorized by an agent at the entrance whose job it is to redirect any idle curiosity seekers, aimless wanderers, Club World scammers and other garden variety riff raff . Today’s guard agent was trim of figure but stern of stance. As I trundled towards her with my big old backpack and recently trimmed beard, I had to stifle a chuckle as she stiffened in anticipation of exercising her authority.
On trips like this, my travel outfit consists of a pair of black Levi 501s, a nice blue button down oxford shirt, my nice tweed jacket with leather elbow patches that I scored on sale in a thrift shop for $10.00, and my tweed cap that I bought in Ireland some years ago. I’ve been told that I look like a deranged English professor in this get up, which may well be true. Even so, it’s comfortable and more presentable I think than some of the attire I see in First Class cabins these days.
After receiving clearance to proceed, I was quickly checked in and given a Fast Track clearance sticker on my boarding pass. This allowed me to bypass the substantial queue at the main security area and go through the much less crowded Fast Track lanes. All carriers that offer an international First Class product should make arrangements with airport security to offer this service at their larger gateways. It’s amazing to me that some still don’t.
An International First Class boarding pass on BA entitles the bearer to enter the refined elegance and sanctuary of the Concorde Room. I’ve detailed this wonderful lounge in previous reports but allow me to reiterate that amongst Heathrow’s numerous First Class lounges, the Concorde room has few, if any peers. Light classical music was playing as I entered. As a former chamber group musician, it was quite nice to settle into a comfy chair and sip champagne to Bach’s Air On A G String.
I had a couple of hours before my 1:25pm departure and decided a bit of a snack would be in order. While most First Class lounges provide a food service area offering a variety of hot and cold hors d’oeuvres and finger sandwiches, the Concorde Room offers an entire menu from which you may select everything from a light breakfast to delicious sandwiches and salads. Many people have asked about this menu in response to past Trip Reports, so here it is.
CONCORDE ROOM MENU
BREAKFAST ITEMS
Chilled freshly squeezed orange juice
Freshly prepared smoothies
Natural Greek Yogurt
Topped with cereal, organic honey or strawberries
Selection of Cereals
Cornflakes, Branflakes, Rice Krispies or Alpen
Plain, Cinnamon and raisin or Poppy seed Bagels
Served with garden herb or organic blueberry cream cheese
Hot Toast
Selection of Pastries
Orange marmalade, honey and preserves
Grilled Back Bacon Baguette
Sautéed Mushroom and Tomato Baguette
** ** **
Fresh Soup of The Day
Served with a variety of continental breads
** ** **
SANDWICHES
Traditional Selection
Egg mayonnaise and watercress on white bread
Traditional prawn Marie Rose with mixed leaves on whole meal bread
Pastrami and horseradish on rye bread
Flaked tuna in mayonnaise with cucumber on whole meal bread
Hand Cut
Chicken in Caesar dressing with Parmesan and salad leaves on olive bread
English gammon with plum tomatoes and mustard dressing on white bread
Smoked salmon and soft cheese on whole meal bread
Port-salut, spinach and pine nuts on tomato bread
** ** **
SALADS
Caesar Salad
Cardini’s traditional dressing, curls of Parmigiano Reggiano, croutons and crisp cos lettuce
Chinese Prawn Salad
Fresh prawns on rocket and Chinese leaves with julienne of peppers and dressed with sweet chili sauce
Mediterranean Garden Salad
French beans and red chard with red onion and feta cheese, dressed with olive oil and vintage balsamic vinegar
Dip Platter
Fresh vegetable crudités and tortilla chips, accompanied by a selection of dips
** ** **
Dessert
Seasonal fresh fruits with a piquant raspberry sauce
Cheeseboard
Stilton, Cheddar, Cheshire and Wensleydale with biscuits, celery and grapes
** ** **
AFTERNOON TEA
Your choice from a range of tea sandwiches and traditional English cakes served with a pot of freshly brewed tea
Although it certainly was tempting to order a sandwich or a salad from off this menu, I also wanted to save room for whatever culinary delights awaited me aboard the ten hour flight out to San Francisco. The champagne was Pol Roger, 1986, Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill. This being the occasion of my 3000th flight, I ordered a glass along with a plate of the Chinese Prawn Salad.
Cheers!
At about 12:30pm, an announcement was made that due to a problem with our aircraft’s toilets, our departure would be delayed. At 1:15pm, we were advised that the problem had still not been corrected and might necessitate an aircraft switch. At this time, the siren call of a nice cold Guinness became just too alluring to ignore.
06 May
LHR-SFO British Airways 285 First Class
747-436 G-BYGG Seat 1A
125p-515p Flight time: 9:56
3000th Flight
The call to board finally came at about 2:25pm and as I approached the gate and the aircraft came into view, I recognized the Chinese calligraphy on the tail and the registration number of my old friend, G-BYGG. I flew this aircraft last year between Melbourne and London. Today’s flight would be my third aboard G-BYGG, for a total of 15,860 miles. It is positively uncanny how despite having flown 19 flights with BA totaling 84,430 miles, 59,660 miles of that have been flown on just four different aircraft. BA’s fleet totals well over 300 aircraft.
Today’s First Class cabin crew was certainly a cheerful bunch. Our cabin purser, Caroline, made a point of stopping by each seat to introduce herself and chat for a bit. Upon learning I was from Alaska, she immediately recounted how much she’d enjoyed the long Anchorage layovers from “the good old days”. The FA working my side of the cabin was Linda and she was a real charmer as well. The load was light – only seven of us were making the trip in First Class today - and the mood amongst both passengers and crew was happy and relaxed. I accepted a glass of Krug and a plate of nuts, reclined my seat a bit and perused the movie selections. Hey! Scent Of A Woman with Al Pacino! One of my all time favorite movies! Well, that that would be something to look forward to after lunch.
Our captain welcomed us aboard and explained that the delay was due to a clog in the toilet system. No doubt we’d all agree, he continued, that with a ten hour flight ahead of us, it was imperative that the system be functional. The cause of the problem was a plastic bag that some knucklehead had flushed and getting to the point of the clog had required considerable effort. In any event, we were now ready to go and could look forward to a speedy crossing of the Atlantic as headwinds were so minimal as to be irrelevant. Flight time was projected at ten hours and three minutes, cruising at 35-39000 feet. Plates and glasses were collected and hot towels were dispensed with as we made our way over to Runway 27R. After a take-off roll of just 32 seconds – surprisingly short for a 747 loaded with enough fuel to fly over 5000 miles - we were airborne at 3:05pm.
It was a beautiful afternoon in London – sunny with a few scattered clouds. Perfect flying weather! We climbed out of Heathrow and headed northwest, flying past Manchester and Glasgow before taking a more westerly tack across the North Atlantic towards Iceland and southern Greenland. After crossing over the top of Hudson Bay, we’d adopt a southwesterly course across Manitoba and Saskatchewan, crossing into US airspace just above Malta, Montana. Arrival in San Francisco was planned for 5:10pm and we were informed that the weather was very much like London’s – sunny and about 60 degrees. Just perfect!
Menus were handed out, along with a small plate of canapés. These canapés, though insubstantial in size, are one of my favorite parts of the First Class meal experience. They’re a wonderful teaser for the gastronomic pleasures that await. I munched on them at leisure and perused the menu selections.
London to San Francisco
LUNCHEON
Appetizer
Richard Corrigan’s foie gras terrine with fig compote and toasted brioche slice
Or
Baby peppers filled with roast Mediterranean vegetables, lemon and oregano dressings
Soup
Chilled cherry tomato soup
Salad
Mixed Seasonal Salad served with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinaigrette or Caesar dressing
** ** **
MAIN COURSES
Roast Cannon of Lamb
Accented with wild mushroom and mint stuffing, natural jus
Vineet Bhatia’s Crab Coconut Cream Curry
Served with fragrant rice
Grilled Spatchcock Quail
Presented with citrus dressing
Freshly Cooked Pasta
Offered with your choice of tomato and basil or creamy mushroom sauce
Served with freshly grated Grana Padano cheese
Lemon and Herb Chicken Caesar Salad
** ** **
CHEESE, DESSERT & FRUIT
Cheeseboard Selection
Fountains Gold, Stilton, Bougon Chevre, St. Nectaire and Kirkham’s Lancashire
Dessert
White chocolate, dark chocolate and caramel torte with Earl Gray crème Anglaise
Vanilla panna cotta, almond wafer and summer berries
Selection of fresh fruit
Chocolates
** ** **
ALWAYS AVAILABLE
Sandwich Selection
Smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber on whole meal triangle
Gammon ham, spinach and tomato on malted triangle
Sliced mature Cheddar cheese and Branston pickle on croissant triangle
Warm Fruit Scones
Presented with clotted cream and strawberry preserve
The Great All Day English Breakfast
Chicken Tikka Masala
Hot Bacon Roll
** ** **
I love foie gras! The last time I remember having it inflight was in First Class aboard a Continental DC-10 between Sydney and Honolulu. The flight attendants were serving massive slabs of it from the cart and we gorged ourselves like French royalty. BA’s portion was substantially smaller but no less tasty. I also ordered the chilled tomato soup. Linda stopped by to advise me that while the menu said chilled, the soup really was much better heated. I heeded her advice and was quite pleased – as I always am with BA’s soups – to enjoy a soup that was both hot and spicy. Good stuff, that.
For my main course, I chose the Roast Cannon of Lamb. The wild mushroom and mint stuffing sounded too good to pass up. Chef Bhatia’s Crab Coconut Cream Curry sounded quite sublime but after my experience with his Pan Fried Spiced Halibut on the London to Singapore flight, a dish that wasn’t very spicy at all, I decided to go with something that would likely be more flavorful. As it happened, the lamb was not only flavorful but tender and juicy as well. A good choice. Ah, dessert. Jeez, they both looked so good! I went with the torte, which was simply sublime with a cup of BA’s fine black coffee. A glass of port and a small plate of cheese, grapes and celery brought this repast to a delicious conclusion. The SkyMap indicated that we were just south and a tad west of Iceland, cruising along at 38,000 feet. I reclined my seat and savored the fine old port. Now this is First Class!
By the time the final credits rolled on Scent Of A Woman, we were just passing over the southwest coast of Greenland. Although the cabin was darkened and people were sleeping, I just had to raise my shade for a moment to check out the amazing views of rock, ice and water. The landscape was harsh yet strangely beautiful and I found myself wishing I could someday see those icy fjords from a boat.
Iqaluit, near the northeastern entrance to Hudson Bay, was the half way point of this flight. Although there’s never been a scheduled service between Iqaluit and San Francisco, if there were you’d be looking at a flight of about five and a half hours. Cruisin’ along at 584 mph whilst battling a 4 mph headwind, we’d make the journey in about five hours even.
For an Economy Class passenger, ten hour flights seem much longer. The meal and beverage service is over before you know it and you still have eight and a half more hours to go, squeezed into your little seat surrounded by a sea of people. Movies and books offer some distraction but sleep is probably the best thing you can do to keep from going stir crazy.
Not so in First Class. For starters, the pace of the service is so much nicer. In BA’s First, you choose the pace at which you’d like to dine. While meal trays are being distributed back in Economy, and appetizers in Business, you’re relaxing over a nice glass of wine and munching on canapés. While trays are being cleared and movie selections perused back in Economy, you’ve just finishing your soup or salad and are looking forward to the main course. By the time you’ve finished your meal, you’d be about three hours into the flight. Perhaps some cheese and port with the movie? But of course!
High clouds covered all of the Hudson Bay. In fact, I didn’t see land again until we were over Lake Winnipeg. While flipping through the 18 channels of prerecorded TV shows, documentaries and movies, I settled on a movie called Maid in Manhattan with Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Fiennes. Maid in Manhattan is what most guys would call a “Chick Flick” and is not a movie I would normally make an effort to see. I’d never seen a Jennifer Lopez movie before. She has beautiful eyes and a sweet voice. And that butt certainly is prodigious in its proportions. Still, the movie had a nice storyline and I found it surprisingly enjoyable. By the time it was over, we were just over southern Saskatchewan, approaching Montana. It was 10:00pm back in London, 2:00pm in San Francisco. Only three hours to go.
The second meal service began for me about an hour and a half out of San Francisco. BA offers an “Available Anytime” menu, which for this flight included the traditional afternoon offerings of tea sandwiches and scones with jam and clotted cream. However, if there are any leftovers from the main meal service, they too are available. As such, for my second meal I tried out the stuffed baby peppers for an appetizer, followed by a plate of the grilled spatchcock quail. Truth be known, I wanted more of that terrine of foie gras but it was long gone. Linda explained that it was one of the most popular appetizers that BA offered. The baby peppers were OK, though nothing special. Bring on the spatchcock! Alas, I’ve had some bad experiences with inflight meals featuring small game birds, most notably a serving of pheasant on Aerolineas Argentinas that was drier than old shoe leather. Today’s quail was quite good though. What it lacked in presentation, it more than made up for in flavor. Really a delicious entrée. Too bad it appeared to have just been dumped on the plate amidst the vegetables.
Our approach into San Francisco was a little bumpy but we made what felt like a textbook landing and parked at gate A4. I said my good byes and thanks to the crew and headed off the aircraft. I had no more First Class flights with BA to look forward to and despite an enticing itinerary for the upcoming week that included First Class flights back to Alaska followed by a weekend in Florida and a quick visit to the Nevada and Utah, my immediate travel future still felt a bit bleak. BA’s First Class is that nice! If only I could relive the past month!
I’ve got enough miles in my Alaska Mileage Plan account to book another BA First Class Award to anywhere and believe me, I was sorely tempted to get right back in line to take that ride again. Still, Cathay Pacific has joined the Alaska Mileage Plan and I’m looking forward to checking out their vaunted First Class service on a trip to South Africa. And, if I should perhaps win big on a game show, I’d even like to take a ride on the famous Blue Train. Ah well, that will be fun to dream about and plan in the months ahead.
In the meantime, I was exhausted and ready for bed. Thankfully, one awaited me at the Doubletree SFO where I’d gotten a room via Priceline for a bid of $31.00 on what must’ve been a slow night. I slept for almost ten hours!
07 May
SFO-SEA Alaska Airlines 589 First Class
737-4Q8 N779AS Seat 1A
1255p-315p Flight time: 1:43
While Priceline may have been helpful in procuring a great room rate, they were unable to help me out in the hotel restaurant where breakfast prices were in the $10.00-13.00 range. So, I walked across the street to the café next door at the Red Roof Inn and ordered one of the finest Eggs Benedicts that I’ve ever eaten for a mere $7.50. Including coffee.
As I was waiting for breakfast to arrive, it occurred to me that two days ago at this very same time, 9:05am PDT, I was eating dinner aboard a Maersk Air jet between Copenhagen and London. Yesterday at this time, I had just finished lunch somewhere between Iceland and Greenland. Tomorrow at this time, I’d be eating breakfast in the Bush Pilot Grill while awaiting departure of my flight between Fairbanks and Seattle. Two days from now, at 12:05pm EDT I’d probably be eating lunch in Florida. The arrival of my breakfast snapped me back to the present, so I stopped thinking and started eating
*** *** ***
“Excuse me, sir? Excuse me? Can I just have a moment of your time?” begged the starry eyed religious convert from behind her desk.
“Please report any unattended baggage or suspicious activity to the airport police. Unattended vehicles will be impounded at the owner’s expense.” intoned the voice from the airport loudspeakers.
Welcome back to the world of air travel, American style. I don’t recall ever having been approached by Hare Krishnas or other religious types at airports outside of America. As for the airport security announcements, they just seem a bit more insistent here in America. I know it certainly can’t hurt to be a bit more alert and vigilant these days, but I find the insistent, prerecorded reminders a tad annoying.
At the gate for my flight to Seattle this afternoon was my old friend N779AS, the same aircraft upon which I started my South Pacific odyssey last year. This was my seventh flight for a total of 7210 miles on this aircraft. There was one empty seat in First Class and thankfully it was next to me. It was a nice sunny day in the Bay Area and as we followed a United 777 out to the runway, I thought man, those colors sure are gloomy. If and when United gets out of bankruptcy and starts making money again, I would hope that they’d change that horribly drab color scheme into something a little brighter and more promising.
Though I have no idea what runway we took off on, we took an easterly heading as we climbed straight out over San Francisco Bay. As we approached the eastern side of the bay, I watched with interest as a Fed Ex DC-10 climbed out of Oakland International. The aircraft was maybe 3000 feet below us, its markings clearly visible. I also noted the time it took us to reach the shoreline of the east bay after from take off from SFO: 2 minutes and 48 seconds. To date, the shortest flight I have ever been on was aboard an Alaska MD-80 between San Francisco and Oakland. I believe the route is credited at 9 miles, which may well be once ATC Oakland gets through with you. In a straight line however, I think it’s more like 5 miles. Regardless, if Alaska still flew the route you’d receive a minimum of 500 miles to your Mileage Plan account. Applications can be found in –
Right – where was I… Ah, lunch time! Alaska is the only airline offering meals in any class between San Francisco and Seattle. Today’s choices were described as either a Club Salad or a Chicken Sandwich with wild rice. What’s a Club Salad? Well, it was described as a club sandwich without the bread on top of a salad. OK, I’ll take it. Alaska’s sandwiches have always been more bread than filling anyway.
In a word, the Club Salad was excellent. Basically, it was a big bowl of salad topped with generous portions of bacon, turkey and tomatoes accompanied by shaved Parmesan cheese. With the addition of Lite Ranch dressing, it was probably the best salad I have ever had on Alaska Airlines, and I’ve had a few.
Although MacTarnahans Ale was offered, an offer which I accepted by the way, the flight attendant returned with a can of Tecate beer, a poor substitute for the Mac but still superior to the other choices of Miller Lite and Budweiser. No nuts of any kind were offered.
This was a fairly quick flight up to the Emerald City. Cruising at 35000 feet, we were treated to a very nice view of 14,110 foot Mt. Shasta, the southernmost of the Cascade volcanoes. Clouds obscured the rest of the Cascades and we landed nicely in Seattle after a flight of just one hour and 36 minutes. As we taxied to our gate we passed N784AS, the Disneyland promotional plane. This was my first sighting of this aircraft and I must say it certainly brightened up the tarmac!
07 May
SEA-ANC-FAI Alaska Airlines 91 First Class
737-4Q8 N774AS Seat 1D
449p-901p Flight time: 3:18/:44
I was already at the gate when the aircraft operating our flight up to Fairbanks arrived late from Oakland. It was N774AS, the Alaskaair.com aircraft. I flew this plane just last November. Despite the colorful exterior, there is nothing to distinguish the interior from any other Alaska jet. Some of you may remember N308AS, the 727-200 also known as “Seahawk 1”. There were several small plaques denoting the player’s names on the seatbacks. The Seahawks were a good team back then. The current crop of players may wish to remain anonymous.
My seatmate arrived with headphones on beneath a white baseball cap. The headphones stayed on for the entire flight except when he once got up to use the lavatory. Interesting…
Awright, what’s for dinner:
Seattle to Los Angeles
DINNER
Salad
Seasonal mixed greens complimented by carrots, tomatoes and cucumbers. Offered with Creamy Cilantro Dressing
Entrees
Chinese Prawn Stir Fry
Ginger-soy marinated shrimp and vegetables served over noodles
Southern Chicken
A breaded and fried chicken breast topped with a zesty Fiesta Sauce.
Accompanied by a corn and polenta cake with spinach and carrots
** ** **
Dessert
Wedding Cake with Marion Berry Filling
Orders were taken from the front, starting with 1A. All of us in row 1 ordered the chicken. The two people immediately behind me also ordered the chicken. I’m not sure what percentage of this flight’s First Class passengers were MVPs, but I’m tellin’ you informed passengers know to stay away from Alaska’s prawn entrees. They’re just too skimpy! Meanwhile, the aroma of fried chicken wafting through the cabin only served to heighten the anticipation of the meal to come. Indeed, it did not disappoint. The polenta cake was a nice addition and I would rate this chicken dish second only to Alaska’s Breast of Chicken Baked in Puff Pastry with Bordelaise Sauce, which seems to be served only out of Washington Dulles.
The so called wedding cake dessert is also one of my favorites. Light and delicious as opposed to heavy and delicious like the cheesecakes, it made a nice ending to a large meal like tonight’s.
A bit of residual jet lag got the best of me for the remainder of this flight up to Anchorage and on into Fairbanks. I slept off and on until about fifteen minutes out of Fairbanks. I was glad to have awoken because I always enjoy the approach into FAI over the Tanana Flats. Despite the late arrival at 9:50pm, the sun was still an hour away from setting. It was good to be home, if only for ten hours.
[This message has been edited by Seat 2A (edited 06-23-2003).]
Jun 5, 2003, 1:23 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: East Ester, Alaska
Programs: Alaska Million Miler, United Million Miler, Wyndham Rewards Diamond, Choice Hotels Diamond
Posts: 12,148
PART 8: MILE 70630 - 80540
By Air: 9380
By Car: 530 Miles
Photo Album Reference: MAGNOLIA BALL
Address: [email protected]
Password: readme
May 08, 2003
FAI-ANC-SEA 834a-244p Alaska DC-9-83 N947AS Coach Class * Lunch
SEA-DFW 520p-1101p American DC-9-82 N274AA Coach Class * Snack May 09, 2003
DFW-JAX 651a-1009a American DC-9-82 N000XX Coach Class
It is not possible to fly from Fairbanks straight through to Jacksonville, Florida in one day unless you take one of the late night departures to Seattle and connect from there the next morning. Flying at any other time of day will involve an overnight layover enroute. I have flown that 1:00am departure from Fairbanks because it’s less expensive than using the daytime departures. It’s only three hours down to Seattle and if you’re lucky you’ll get two and a half hours of that quality sleep one gets while strapped upright into an airline seat. You arrive in Seattle at 5:30am a complete wreck. Whether Seattle is your destination or you’re connecting onwards, you’re in a poor way to deal with the rest of the day. Not for me, thanks. I’d sooner pay more for the daytime flights and overnight enroute along the way, even if it means crashing on the airport floor.
Despite having gotten only six hours of sleep on the floor of my friend Rich’s cabin, I still felt surprisingly good when I checked in this morning at 7:00am. After being deemed safe and secure by the local TSA folks, I grabbed a cup of hot coffee and one of Marie’s mushroom and onion omelets at the Bush Pilot Grill. Properly sated and ready to take on the day, I boarded my waiting MD-80 and headed back to exit row 22.
Although I’m traveling on an award ticket, as an MVP Gold I still could have purchased an upgrade to First Class for this flight. A seat was available. Still, it’s hard to see $100.00 worth of difference between the space and comfort of Alaska’s First Class vs. an aisle or window seat in the Economy Class exit row. Add to that the fact that Alaska’s First Class luncheon offerings on the 1448 mile Anchorage to Seattle run are no different than what you get on the 678 mile San Francisco to Seattle run and it was an easy decision to keep my exit row seat.
We took off behind an Evarts Air Fuel DC-6 and made it down to Anchorage in 42 minutes. Coffee and orange juice in the Boardroom were followed by a chef salad lunch 35000 feet above Glacier Bay. Interestingly, there was no choice of meals like there usually is on Alaska’s flights between Alaska and the Lower 48. Oh well. The salad was OK as tiny chef salads served in cardboard containers go. Meanwhile, our Captain kept us entertained with occasional commentary on the various mountains, glaciers and communities clearly visible along the way. As we passed by the Malaspina Glacier – at over 2000 square miles, the largest in North America, the captain did a nice job of putting its size into perspective. The Malaspina is bigger than Rhode Island, he informed us. Unfortunately, it was just a bit hazy or I’d have added a couple of pictures to this report.
The same tail winds that slowed us down on last evening’s flight into Anchorage pushed us down to Seattle in just 2 hours and 49 minutes. We pulled into Gate C-12 at 2:15pm, almost half an hour early.
With a three hour layover in Seattle, I had plenty of time to catch the 174 bus down to Larry’s Market (An excellent Seattle supermarket chain featuring regular and gourmet foods) where I created a great blend from their wide assortment of coffees. I also picked up a small salad to compliment whatever AA was offering in their infamous Bistro Bag on this evening’s flight down to Dallas.
I arrived at the gate twenty minutes prior to departure and found it deserted except for the two gate agents. Where is everybody? Onboard. Cool. Perhaps the load would be light. I grabbed a Bistro Bag and headed down the jetway. Although I had scored an aisle on the exit row, I was surprised to find all five seats of the bulkhead row wide open. Could one of those be mine? I asked the FA. No problem. We’re talking serious legroom here, folks, plus an unobstructed view of the First Class cabin and service.
We pushed back early and, with nobody ahead of us on the runway, left the ground at 5:28pm, two minutes before our scheduled departure time! I was hungry so as soon as we’d leveled out, I pulled out my Bistro Bag and examined the contents:
BISTRO BAG DINNER
· Turkey and Cheese Sandwich (Made with Perdue Turkey!)
· Small packet of Bunny Luv Classic Cut and Peeled Baby Carrots
· Lays Classic Potato Chips
· Love and Quiches Double Chocolate Crunch Bar
In conjunction with my small deli salad, this constituted a reasonably filling meal. For an airline that’s been teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, I was surprised that we were fed at all. Where American really impressed me though was with their First Class meal service. American no longer closes the curtain between First Class and Economy, thus from my perch in Seat 7C, a bulkhead aisle seat, I was in the perfect position to observe the proceedings. The service unfolded as follows:
· Drinks were delivered along with a ramekin of mixed nuts
· Hot towels were distributed
· The dinner tray was presented with a nice looking salad in a large glass bowl
· A bread basket containing two types of bread was offered
· A choice of three entrees was delivered. The entrees were:
Fillet Mignon with mashed potatoes and sautéed vegies
Chicken Breast with rice and vegies
Something that came in a big bowl – A stew of some type perhaps?
· Dessert was served. The choices were an ice cream sundae or a fruit and cheese plate
The portions were large and the service gracious. The flight attendant had a pretty smile and she smiled often. Certainly, this service looked to be every bit as good as Alaska’s First Class transcon service. Considering the ramekin of nuts, the hot towels, a choice of three entrees and two desserts, I would say it’s better. Add to this more comfortable First Class seats that offer better leg room, MRTC, laptop connections and IFE for all passengers on most of its long distance fleet and I’d say American makes Alaska look like a bit of a pretender in the transcon market. Thankfully for Alaska, the only transcon market in which it and AA both offer nonstop flights is SEA-BOS.
Arrival in Dallas was right on time. Despite the late hour, the temperature was 84 degrees and the baggage claim area was not air conditioned. By the time I’d claimed my pack, it was almost 11:30pm. My connecting flight on to Jacksonville wouldn’t depart for another seven hours. Getting a room at an airport hotel was a consideration, albeit a brief one. By the time a van would deliver me to the hotel and I’d get myself checked in and asleep, it’d be 12:30am or later. I’d have to be up the next morning at 5:00am in order to be back at the airport and checking in an hour before departure. Shelling out $50.00 for four hours of sleep just didn’t seem like good value for money.
Any of you who’ve read some of my earlier reports know that I’m completely shameless about sleeping in airports and am better prepared than most to get a good night’s sleep what with my Thermarest pad, sleeping bag and a pillow. If people see me camped out on the floor and think I’m a bum, let ‘em. Getting a good sleep and living within my means is more important than impressing a few people I don’t know and will likely never see again.
The next morning’s flight into Jacksonville was inconsequential. No meal service and I slept through most of it. I did however find it interesting that I managed to travel 4290 miles from Fairbanks, Alaska to Jacksonville, Florida entirely aboard DC-9-80s.
MAGNOLIA BALL
”Let’s go get high and sit under a tree”
Overheard as I was walking from the amphitheater back to our campsite. Ah… the simple life.
If you drive one hundred miles west on Interstate 10 from Jacksonville, Florida to the town of Live Oak, then proceed north on US 129 for about seven miles, you’ll come to the Spirit Of Suwannee Music Park and Campground. The park is administered by the Florida Parks and Recreation Department and is one of the finest music venues I have ever been to. At its center is a beautiful amphitheater set amidst a forest of oak trees. For the big festivals, the park offers a total of three separate stages, including the amphitheater. The northern boundary of the park is the Suwannee River and camping is available either by campsites with hook-ups or primitive camping, as in find yourself a spot in the forest somewhere. There’s a small general store selling things like ice, cigarettes and your usual sundries. A couple of big bath houses supply toilets and hot showers.
In a big meadow you’ll find food vendors selling everything from alligator stir fry to vegan veggie burritos. One stand, selling basic hamburgers and hot dogs, advertised itself as the place where vegetarians go when they cheat. Beyond the food vendors are folks selling everything from imported clothing made in Indonesia and Guatemala to beautifully carved woodwork to paintings to the ever present tie dyed clothing. We’ve got everything we need to survive here for the weekend and beyond.
I’ve made six or seven pilgrimages down here for two big festivals called the Magnoliafest and the Suwannee Springfest. The Magnoliafest highlights local and national jambands. The Springfest is more bluegrass, newgrass and jazz grass. I meet up with a couple old friends of mine who live over towards St. Augustine in a trailer on five acres that they call the “Four Winds Ranch”. I also meet up with about a dozen other friends who I’ve come to know over the years – folks that drive down from Georgia, North Carolina and Mississippi as well as Tallahassee. I’m the only person that comes all the way from Alaska. Heck, that’s nothing though. Back in 1987, I came all the way from Bangkok, Thailand on a whim to join the Grateful Dead in Worcester, Massachusetts for the rest of their Spring Tour. Once, I came up from Chile. And, since I was in northern Finland only a week ago, one could say…
This is the inaugural Magnolia Ball and it is a tribute weekend to the Grateful Dead. Although the bands here won’t be playing only Dead tunes, you would definitely expect to hear more Dead covers than anything else. The featured band is the Dark Star Orchestra, a band that recreates past Dead concerts in their entirety.
People attribute a lot of different things to the Grateful Dead but above all else, they were a band. They weren’t interested in being cultural icons or leaders of any hippie movements. They just wanted to play their music. Garcia put it best when he said “If you get confused, listen to the music play.” While mainstream America has never really been able to see past the name, the drugs, the tie dyes and the hippies, the Dead’s contemporaries in the music industry certainly recognized and applauded the band’s incredible talent and versatility. There is NOTHING like a Grateful Dead concert! As a veteran of almost one hundred fifty Dead concerts between 1976 and 1990, I consider myself most fortunate to be a part of this big happy family of free spirited, creative folk.
In any event, I’ll spare you all any further explanations of my musical and cultural tastes or why I go to these events. Like Mileage Runs, you either get it or you don’t. I grew up with this music and I’ve been on the road since I was sixteen. I’ve no intention of ever living any differently, though I’ve certainly had plenty of experience on both sides of the tracks. What a long strange trip it’s been
My friends Paul and Patti always park in the same area – a nice little clearing about 50 yards into the woods in the primitive camping area. Paul drives a bright yellow Volkswagon van, one of a few that he’s reconditioned over the years. He always comes out early to get a good place and that van is easy to spot. Since this isn’t a full weekend festival – only Friday evening and all day and night Saturday – the crowds are less and there’s a lot more room in the woods. We all camp in the woods. It’s way nicer in there. The numbered sites with water and electricity are better suited to the motor home crowd, some of whom stay in the park all winter. As such they are located on the far side of the park, away from all the music. Rich and Kelli showed up in their old station wagon with a great new bumper sticker: One nation under God with a side of fries and a large coke. My vehicle was a brand new Ford Taurus from Budget Car Rental. Not too many of those parked out in the woods.
This being a Trip Report and not a music review for Relix or An Honest Tune, I won’t bore you with all the musical details. Suffice to say that we had an excellent weekend and I’ll most certainly be looking forward to my return in mid-October for the Magnoliafest.
May 11, 2003
JAX-MIA 123p-307p American Eagle ATR-72 N499AT Coach Class
MIA-LAS 350p-619p American 757-223 N696AN Coach Class * Snack
My AS/AA award ticket between Fairbanks and Jacksonville allows me one enroute stopover, so I decided to take it in Las Vegas. I’ll only have about twenty hours there but that’ll be more than enough time to pick up a rental car and drive up to southwest Utah. I love the desert around Las Vegas and I particularly like speeding across it in a big car at sunset.
I only recently managed to find award space on this early afternoon connection through Miami to Las Vegas. I originally booked this itinerary through Alaska’s Partner Desk in January and the only available space was on an 7:55am departure through Dallas. Having to drive one hundred ten miles at the crack of dawn after a long night of music didn’t sound at all appealing to me and I tried early and often to get a later flight. Although AA showed most flights between JAX and LAS to have a fair amount of seats available, none of those seats were allocated to Alaska Airlines award travel. Finally, last Wednesday, on the day I arrived back in America, I called and got this later departure.
Normally when I’ve flown out for these visits to north Florida, I fly into Miami, spend a couple of days in the Everglades, then drive up US 27 past Lake Okeechobee and on through Kissimmee and Deland. I hadn’t flown into Jacksonville since 1980 and I must say that today’s JAX is a very nice medium sized airport. The access from the city is excellent and the terminal is open and spacious with plenty of shops and restaurants. I bought a sandwich at the Budweiser Lounge and awaited my 1:23pm departure.
An ATR-72 was scheduled to take us down to Miami today. American Eagle operates a huge fleet of Embraer and Canadair regional jets but alas, most of the intra Florida operation is with the ATRs. As prop jets go however, the ATRs certainly beat a seat on a Beech or a smaller Embraer prop. Especially if you score an exit row seat as I did. Our route of flight took us right down Florida’s east coast, about two miles off shore all the way so we got excellent views of the coastline. I watched with interest as we passed by the clearly visible airports of Melbourne, West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale. After landing in Miami, we taxied by the cargo area where DC-10s from Gemini, Varig Log and STAF were parked amongst L-1011s from Fine Air and a UPS 757 sporting a new color scheme. I only saw the rear half of the aircraft but I liked what I saw. That thick brown cheatline was getting kind of old.
American Eagle parks out amidst an orgy of ATRS at the end of the D Concourse. A bus took us across the tarmac to gate D-8 and from there it was only about a half mile walk through a labyrinth of Heathrow like hallways to my connecting flight at A-7. I’d never been in Miami’s A Concourse before. It looks fairly new – lots of steel and glass, not to mention air conditioning. I liked it. TACA had four Airbuses parked at the gates, Avianca three plus a 767. Down the hall were 747s from Air France and BA. Tossed in amidst this potpourri of foreign jetliners was my 757 bound for Las Vegas.
If American has refurbished the interiors of any of its 757s a la its 737 and MD-80 fleet, I’ve yet to fly on one. This aircraft bore the same bland beige leather seats in First and robin egg blue seats in Coach that served American through the 90s. The flight was about 80% full and as we taxied out, I saw three 727-200s bearing the liveries of Aeropostal, Sol Air and Miami Air. Also of interest was a Polynesian Airlines 737-800 parked over at the Miami Air hangar. The highlight of my MIA plane spotting was a big, beautiful DC-8-71 from cargo stalwart Tampa Colombia.
Once we got airborne, everything about this flight was fairly ordinary. Flight time of 5 hours and 10 minutes, cruising at 39000 feet. Interestingly, despite the long flight, there was no hot meal offered in economy. The same Bistro Bag that sustains you on the 2 hour 50 minute LAX-DFW run also has to do the trick on this near transcon length flight. A movie was shown – some medieval tale starring William Hurt. Not today, thanks. High cloud cover along most of the route prevented any worthwhile viewing out my window as well, so I closed my shade and worked on this report. Be it work or play, having a power source that allowed me nonstop use of my computer during this five hour flight was very much appreciated. Thank you, American Airlines!
We landed on a pretty evening at Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport. I picked up a nearly new Chevy Impala and sped off into the desert.
May 12, 2003
LAS-SEA 140p-416p Alaska 737-4S3 N786AS Coach Class
SEA-ANC 552p-821p Alaska 737-4Q8 N782AS Coach Class * Dinner
ANC-FAI 938p-1035p Alaska 737-4Q8 N783AS Coach Class
Yesterday at this time, I was driving along Interstate 10 through lush Florida greenery enroute to Jacksonville. Today I was cruising along an unnamed two lane blacktop climbing up through the Mormon Mountains out of Littlefield, Arizona. The Impala performed admirably as I accelerated through 85 mph at one point before noting the speed and backing off a bit. These big new cars are so quiet compared to my little Mazda pick-up. Anything over 65 in “Old Blue” and I know it! The Allman Brother’s Brothers And Sisters CD offered fine accompaniment as I blasted along through the clear desert air. Lord, I was born a ramblin’ man! This is the life!
Although I had hoped to have time to get up to Zion National Park, I only managed a brief visit through the Utah towns of Virgin and Toquerville, I returned to Las Vegas on Interstate 15 via the beautiful Virgin River canyon. To only have one day out here is just torture! The perfect scenario would have me taking a day in Zion National Park, then heading down past Lake Powell and on across the northern Navajo Nation to Monument Valley in southeastern Utah. Buttes, washes, shady canyons, bright sunshine and big skies. From there, it’s only a short drive through Four Corners country into my old stomping grounds of Durango, Colorado. Then I’d make my way back to Las Vegas through Utah’s canyon lands. Ah well, that’ll be just one more trip to look forward to.
Don’t be late for your Alaska flights out of LAS! Boarding for this flight had begun a half hour in advance of our scheduled departure time of 1:40pm. There would be no meal service so I grabbed a big chicken burrito at the Taco Bell next to the gate. A couple of gates over, a US Airways 757 was in the final boarding process for Philadelphia. If facial expressions were any indication, the remaining passengers in the gate area didn’t look too happy over the prospect of returning back east. I think it was raining back there. Better them than me. Poor devils!
Push back was at 1:31pm – nine minutes early! It was a relatively cool day in Las Vegas – only about 85 – and after a takeoff roll of less than half a minute we were airborne right at 1:40pm. Departure times take on a new meaning down here! Two hours and seven minutes was the plan to Seattle where it was cloudy and 56 degrees. So what else is new? True to their name, the Sierra Nevadas were snow capped, in striking contrast to the dry brown desert below. We landed at 3:51pm, twenty five minutes early, and I headed on down to the Boardroom for the layover.
When I’d made this reservation five months ago, this flight was a DC-9-80 and I was assigned an exit row window. Alas, now it was a 737-400 and seat 22C was back in the pack. As well, the flight was jam packed. And, despite having an aisle seat, I was jam packed as well. My seatmate was huge woman whose bulk caused her arms to overflow into my seating area. While it seemed terribly unfair that a person of her size should end up crammed into a middle row, I wasn’t about to offer my aisle seat because in the window seat beside her sat her daughter who, while not quite as prodigiously proportioned as her mother, was hardly a svelte creature herself.
For a short time, Alaska was the only airline offering coach passengers full tray meals with hot entrees on non-transcon flights. All the majors had gone to Bistro Bags or hot sandwiches, if they offered anything at all. Alas, such is now the case at Alaska as well. Gone are the hot dinner entrees like pesto pasta or whitefish with dill sauce. Tonight’s choices were:
Cheeseburger with pickle relish
Or
Turkey and Pesto sandwich
Both entrees were presented in Alaska’s wicker basket with potato salad and a lemon Snicker Doodle cookie. I went with the turkey pesto and washed it down with a can of Sprite. Although the pesto part of this sandwich required some imagination, it was nice to at least have something hot.
Clouds obscured the beautiful coastal views for the entire journey and this flight was mercifully over after three hours and twenty two minutes.
Although I’d been told in Seattle that the flight between Anchorage and Fairbanks was also full, I found plenty of seats open, including both exit rows. I took a seat in 14A and enjoyed not one but two chilled apple juices as we whisked up to Fairbanks in what may have been my fastest time ever – only 37 minutes. The forecast for this evening in Fairbanks was scattered showers with snow above 2000 feet. Ah… it’s good to be home!
Tomorrow, I throw my life into the back of my truck and relocate to my summer home of Denali National Park. It’ll be nice to have my own bed again, not to mention regular paychecks. I’ll have the next nine days on the ground and then, depending upon how the first and second period route bids go, I may be adding the final chapter to this trip report. I’ve already bought the non refundable tickets and if I can’t get off and must work, I’ll make up their value by working days I would not have otherwise planned upon working. So, we’ll know in the next few days if there is to be an epilogue to this story.
In the meantime, if you have read this far – Thank you for your time and patience! I hope you found this trip report worthy of the time it took you to read it and I certainly welcome any and all comments, questions and feedback.
** ** ** ** **
The final installment of this trip, Part 9 comprising the final 26000 miles, can be found HERE
[This message has been edited by Seat 2A (edited Jan 08, 2004).]
By Air: 9380
By Car: 530 Miles
Photo Album Reference: MAGNOLIA BALL
Address: [email protected]
Password: readme
May 08, 2003
FAI-ANC-SEA 834a-244p Alaska DC-9-83 N947AS Coach Class * Lunch
SEA-DFW 520p-1101p American DC-9-82 N274AA Coach Class * Snack May 09, 2003
DFW-JAX 651a-1009a American DC-9-82 N000XX Coach Class
It is not possible to fly from Fairbanks straight through to Jacksonville, Florida in one day unless you take one of the late night departures to Seattle and connect from there the next morning. Flying at any other time of day will involve an overnight layover enroute. I have flown that 1:00am departure from Fairbanks because it’s less expensive than using the daytime departures. It’s only three hours down to Seattle and if you’re lucky you’ll get two and a half hours of that quality sleep one gets while strapped upright into an airline seat. You arrive in Seattle at 5:30am a complete wreck. Whether Seattle is your destination or you’re connecting onwards, you’re in a poor way to deal with the rest of the day. Not for me, thanks. I’d sooner pay more for the daytime flights and overnight enroute along the way, even if it means crashing on the airport floor.
Despite having gotten only six hours of sleep on the floor of my friend Rich’s cabin, I still felt surprisingly good when I checked in this morning at 7:00am. After being deemed safe and secure by the local TSA folks, I grabbed a cup of hot coffee and one of Marie’s mushroom and onion omelets at the Bush Pilot Grill. Properly sated and ready to take on the day, I boarded my waiting MD-80 and headed back to exit row 22.
Although I’m traveling on an award ticket, as an MVP Gold I still could have purchased an upgrade to First Class for this flight. A seat was available. Still, it’s hard to see $100.00 worth of difference between the space and comfort of Alaska’s First Class vs. an aisle or window seat in the Economy Class exit row. Add to that the fact that Alaska’s First Class luncheon offerings on the 1448 mile Anchorage to Seattle run are no different than what you get on the 678 mile San Francisco to Seattle run and it was an easy decision to keep my exit row seat.
We took off behind an Evarts Air Fuel DC-6 and made it down to Anchorage in 42 minutes. Coffee and orange juice in the Boardroom were followed by a chef salad lunch 35000 feet above Glacier Bay. Interestingly, there was no choice of meals like there usually is on Alaska’s flights between Alaska and the Lower 48. Oh well. The salad was OK as tiny chef salads served in cardboard containers go. Meanwhile, our Captain kept us entertained with occasional commentary on the various mountains, glaciers and communities clearly visible along the way. As we passed by the Malaspina Glacier – at over 2000 square miles, the largest in North America, the captain did a nice job of putting its size into perspective. The Malaspina is bigger than Rhode Island, he informed us. Unfortunately, it was just a bit hazy or I’d have added a couple of pictures to this report.
The same tail winds that slowed us down on last evening’s flight into Anchorage pushed us down to Seattle in just 2 hours and 49 minutes. We pulled into Gate C-12 at 2:15pm, almost half an hour early.
With a three hour layover in Seattle, I had plenty of time to catch the 174 bus down to Larry’s Market (An excellent Seattle supermarket chain featuring regular and gourmet foods) where I created a great blend from their wide assortment of coffees. I also picked up a small salad to compliment whatever AA was offering in their infamous Bistro Bag on this evening’s flight down to Dallas.
I arrived at the gate twenty minutes prior to departure and found it deserted except for the two gate agents. Where is everybody? Onboard. Cool. Perhaps the load would be light. I grabbed a Bistro Bag and headed down the jetway. Although I had scored an aisle on the exit row, I was surprised to find all five seats of the bulkhead row wide open. Could one of those be mine? I asked the FA. No problem. We’re talking serious legroom here, folks, plus an unobstructed view of the First Class cabin and service.
We pushed back early and, with nobody ahead of us on the runway, left the ground at 5:28pm, two minutes before our scheduled departure time! I was hungry so as soon as we’d leveled out, I pulled out my Bistro Bag and examined the contents:
BISTRO BAG DINNER
· Turkey and Cheese Sandwich (Made with Perdue Turkey!)
· Small packet of Bunny Luv Classic Cut and Peeled Baby Carrots
· Lays Classic Potato Chips
· Love and Quiches Double Chocolate Crunch Bar
In conjunction with my small deli salad, this constituted a reasonably filling meal. For an airline that’s been teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, I was surprised that we were fed at all. Where American really impressed me though was with their First Class meal service. American no longer closes the curtain between First Class and Economy, thus from my perch in Seat 7C, a bulkhead aisle seat, I was in the perfect position to observe the proceedings. The service unfolded as follows:
· Drinks were delivered along with a ramekin of mixed nuts
· Hot towels were distributed
· The dinner tray was presented with a nice looking salad in a large glass bowl
· A bread basket containing two types of bread was offered
· A choice of three entrees was delivered. The entrees were:
Fillet Mignon with mashed potatoes and sautéed vegies
Chicken Breast with rice and vegies
Something that came in a big bowl – A stew of some type perhaps?
· Dessert was served. The choices were an ice cream sundae or a fruit and cheese plate
The portions were large and the service gracious. The flight attendant had a pretty smile and she smiled often. Certainly, this service looked to be every bit as good as Alaska’s First Class transcon service. Considering the ramekin of nuts, the hot towels, a choice of three entrees and two desserts, I would say it’s better. Add to this more comfortable First Class seats that offer better leg room, MRTC, laptop connections and IFE for all passengers on most of its long distance fleet and I’d say American makes Alaska look like a bit of a pretender in the transcon market. Thankfully for Alaska, the only transcon market in which it and AA both offer nonstop flights is SEA-BOS.
Arrival in Dallas was right on time. Despite the late hour, the temperature was 84 degrees and the baggage claim area was not air conditioned. By the time I’d claimed my pack, it was almost 11:30pm. My connecting flight on to Jacksonville wouldn’t depart for another seven hours. Getting a room at an airport hotel was a consideration, albeit a brief one. By the time a van would deliver me to the hotel and I’d get myself checked in and asleep, it’d be 12:30am or later. I’d have to be up the next morning at 5:00am in order to be back at the airport and checking in an hour before departure. Shelling out $50.00 for four hours of sleep just didn’t seem like good value for money.
Any of you who’ve read some of my earlier reports know that I’m completely shameless about sleeping in airports and am better prepared than most to get a good night’s sleep what with my Thermarest pad, sleeping bag and a pillow. If people see me camped out on the floor and think I’m a bum, let ‘em. Getting a good sleep and living within my means is more important than impressing a few people I don’t know and will likely never see again.
The next morning’s flight into Jacksonville was inconsequential. No meal service and I slept through most of it. I did however find it interesting that I managed to travel 4290 miles from Fairbanks, Alaska to Jacksonville, Florida entirely aboard DC-9-80s.
MAGNOLIA BALL
”Let’s go get high and sit under a tree”
Overheard as I was walking from the amphitheater back to our campsite. Ah… the simple life.
If you drive one hundred miles west on Interstate 10 from Jacksonville, Florida to the town of Live Oak, then proceed north on US 129 for about seven miles, you’ll come to the Spirit Of Suwannee Music Park and Campground. The park is administered by the Florida Parks and Recreation Department and is one of the finest music venues I have ever been to. At its center is a beautiful amphitheater set amidst a forest of oak trees. For the big festivals, the park offers a total of three separate stages, including the amphitheater. The northern boundary of the park is the Suwannee River and camping is available either by campsites with hook-ups or primitive camping, as in find yourself a spot in the forest somewhere. There’s a small general store selling things like ice, cigarettes and your usual sundries. A couple of big bath houses supply toilets and hot showers.
In a big meadow you’ll find food vendors selling everything from alligator stir fry to vegan veggie burritos. One stand, selling basic hamburgers and hot dogs, advertised itself as the place where vegetarians go when they cheat. Beyond the food vendors are folks selling everything from imported clothing made in Indonesia and Guatemala to beautifully carved woodwork to paintings to the ever present tie dyed clothing. We’ve got everything we need to survive here for the weekend and beyond.
I’ve made six or seven pilgrimages down here for two big festivals called the Magnoliafest and the Suwannee Springfest. The Magnoliafest highlights local and national jambands. The Springfest is more bluegrass, newgrass and jazz grass. I meet up with a couple old friends of mine who live over towards St. Augustine in a trailer on five acres that they call the “Four Winds Ranch”. I also meet up with about a dozen other friends who I’ve come to know over the years – folks that drive down from Georgia, North Carolina and Mississippi as well as Tallahassee. I’m the only person that comes all the way from Alaska. Heck, that’s nothing though. Back in 1987, I came all the way from Bangkok, Thailand on a whim to join the Grateful Dead in Worcester, Massachusetts for the rest of their Spring Tour. Once, I came up from Chile. And, since I was in northern Finland only a week ago, one could say…
This is the inaugural Magnolia Ball and it is a tribute weekend to the Grateful Dead. Although the bands here won’t be playing only Dead tunes, you would definitely expect to hear more Dead covers than anything else. The featured band is the Dark Star Orchestra, a band that recreates past Dead concerts in their entirety.
People attribute a lot of different things to the Grateful Dead but above all else, they were a band. They weren’t interested in being cultural icons or leaders of any hippie movements. They just wanted to play their music. Garcia put it best when he said “If you get confused, listen to the music play.” While mainstream America has never really been able to see past the name, the drugs, the tie dyes and the hippies, the Dead’s contemporaries in the music industry certainly recognized and applauded the band’s incredible talent and versatility. There is NOTHING like a Grateful Dead concert! As a veteran of almost one hundred fifty Dead concerts between 1976 and 1990, I consider myself most fortunate to be a part of this big happy family of free spirited, creative folk.
In any event, I’ll spare you all any further explanations of my musical and cultural tastes or why I go to these events. Like Mileage Runs, you either get it or you don’t. I grew up with this music and I’ve been on the road since I was sixteen. I’ve no intention of ever living any differently, though I’ve certainly had plenty of experience on both sides of the tracks. What a long strange trip it’s been
My friends Paul and Patti always park in the same area – a nice little clearing about 50 yards into the woods in the primitive camping area. Paul drives a bright yellow Volkswagon van, one of a few that he’s reconditioned over the years. He always comes out early to get a good place and that van is easy to spot. Since this isn’t a full weekend festival – only Friday evening and all day and night Saturday – the crowds are less and there’s a lot more room in the woods. We all camp in the woods. It’s way nicer in there. The numbered sites with water and electricity are better suited to the motor home crowd, some of whom stay in the park all winter. As such they are located on the far side of the park, away from all the music. Rich and Kelli showed up in their old station wagon with a great new bumper sticker: One nation under God with a side of fries and a large coke. My vehicle was a brand new Ford Taurus from Budget Car Rental. Not too many of those parked out in the woods.
This being a Trip Report and not a music review for Relix or An Honest Tune, I won’t bore you with all the musical details. Suffice to say that we had an excellent weekend and I’ll most certainly be looking forward to my return in mid-October for the Magnoliafest.
May 11, 2003
JAX-MIA 123p-307p American Eagle ATR-72 N499AT Coach Class
MIA-LAS 350p-619p American 757-223 N696AN Coach Class * Snack
My AS/AA award ticket between Fairbanks and Jacksonville allows me one enroute stopover, so I decided to take it in Las Vegas. I’ll only have about twenty hours there but that’ll be more than enough time to pick up a rental car and drive up to southwest Utah. I love the desert around Las Vegas and I particularly like speeding across it in a big car at sunset.
I only recently managed to find award space on this early afternoon connection through Miami to Las Vegas. I originally booked this itinerary through Alaska’s Partner Desk in January and the only available space was on an 7:55am departure through Dallas. Having to drive one hundred ten miles at the crack of dawn after a long night of music didn’t sound at all appealing to me and I tried early and often to get a later flight. Although AA showed most flights between JAX and LAS to have a fair amount of seats available, none of those seats were allocated to Alaska Airlines award travel. Finally, last Wednesday, on the day I arrived back in America, I called and got this later departure.
Normally when I’ve flown out for these visits to north Florida, I fly into Miami, spend a couple of days in the Everglades, then drive up US 27 past Lake Okeechobee and on through Kissimmee and Deland. I hadn’t flown into Jacksonville since 1980 and I must say that today’s JAX is a very nice medium sized airport. The access from the city is excellent and the terminal is open and spacious with plenty of shops and restaurants. I bought a sandwich at the Budweiser Lounge and awaited my 1:23pm departure.
An ATR-72 was scheduled to take us down to Miami today. American Eagle operates a huge fleet of Embraer and Canadair regional jets but alas, most of the intra Florida operation is with the ATRs. As prop jets go however, the ATRs certainly beat a seat on a Beech or a smaller Embraer prop. Especially if you score an exit row seat as I did. Our route of flight took us right down Florida’s east coast, about two miles off shore all the way so we got excellent views of the coastline. I watched with interest as we passed by the clearly visible airports of Melbourne, West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale. After landing in Miami, we taxied by the cargo area where DC-10s from Gemini, Varig Log and STAF were parked amongst L-1011s from Fine Air and a UPS 757 sporting a new color scheme. I only saw the rear half of the aircraft but I liked what I saw. That thick brown cheatline was getting kind of old.
American Eagle parks out amidst an orgy of ATRS at the end of the D Concourse. A bus took us across the tarmac to gate D-8 and from there it was only about a half mile walk through a labyrinth of Heathrow like hallways to my connecting flight at A-7. I’d never been in Miami’s A Concourse before. It looks fairly new – lots of steel and glass, not to mention air conditioning. I liked it. TACA had four Airbuses parked at the gates, Avianca three plus a 767. Down the hall were 747s from Air France and BA. Tossed in amidst this potpourri of foreign jetliners was my 757 bound for Las Vegas.
If American has refurbished the interiors of any of its 757s a la its 737 and MD-80 fleet, I’ve yet to fly on one. This aircraft bore the same bland beige leather seats in First and robin egg blue seats in Coach that served American through the 90s. The flight was about 80% full and as we taxied out, I saw three 727-200s bearing the liveries of Aeropostal, Sol Air and Miami Air. Also of interest was a Polynesian Airlines 737-800 parked over at the Miami Air hangar. The highlight of my MIA plane spotting was a big, beautiful DC-8-71 from cargo stalwart Tampa Colombia.
Once we got airborne, everything about this flight was fairly ordinary. Flight time of 5 hours and 10 minutes, cruising at 39000 feet. Interestingly, despite the long flight, there was no hot meal offered in economy. The same Bistro Bag that sustains you on the 2 hour 50 minute LAX-DFW run also has to do the trick on this near transcon length flight. A movie was shown – some medieval tale starring William Hurt. Not today, thanks. High cloud cover along most of the route prevented any worthwhile viewing out my window as well, so I closed my shade and worked on this report. Be it work or play, having a power source that allowed me nonstop use of my computer during this five hour flight was very much appreciated. Thank you, American Airlines!
We landed on a pretty evening at Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport. I picked up a nearly new Chevy Impala and sped off into the desert.
May 12, 2003
LAS-SEA 140p-416p Alaska 737-4S3 N786AS Coach Class
SEA-ANC 552p-821p Alaska 737-4Q8 N782AS Coach Class * Dinner
ANC-FAI 938p-1035p Alaska 737-4Q8 N783AS Coach Class
Yesterday at this time, I was driving along Interstate 10 through lush Florida greenery enroute to Jacksonville. Today I was cruising along an unnamed two lane blacktop climbing up through the Mormon Mountains out of Littlefield, Arizona. The Impala performed admirably as I accelerated through 85 mph at one point before noting the speed and backing off a bit. These big new cars are so quiet compared to my little Mazda pick-up. Anything over 65 in “Old Blue” and I know it! The Allman Brother’s Brothers And Sisters CD offered fine accompaniment as I blasted along through the clear desert air. Lord, I was born a ramblin’ man! This is the life!
Although I had hoped to have time to get up to Zion National Park, I only managed a brief visit through the Utah towns of Virgin and Toquerville, I returned to Las Vegas on Interstate 15 via the beautiful Virgin River canyon. To only have one day out here is just torture! The perfect scenario would have me taking a day in Zion National Park, then heading down past Lake Powell and on across the northern Navajo Nation to Monument Valley in southeastern Utah. Buttes, washes, shady canyons, bright sunshine and big skies. From there, it’s only a short drive through Four Corners country into my old stomping grounds of Durango, Colorado. Then I’d make my way back to Las Vegas through Utah’s canyon lands. Ah well, that’ll be just one more trip to look forward to.
Don’t be late for your Alaska flights out of LAS! Boarding for this flight had begun a half hour in advance of our scheduled departure time of 1:40pm. There would be no meal service so I grabbed a big chicken burrito at the Taco Bell next to the gate. A couple of gates over, a US Airways 757 was in the final boarding process for Philadelphia. If facial expressions were any indication, the remaining passengers in the gate area didn’t look too happy over the prospect of returning back east. I think it was raining back there. Better them than me. Poor devils!
Push back was at 1:31pm – nine minutes early! It was a relatively cool day in Las Vegas – only about 85 – and after a takeoff roll of less than half a minute we were airborne right at 1:40pm. Departure times take on a new meaning down here! Two hours and seven minutes was the plan to Seattle where it was cloudy and 56 degrees. So what else is new? True to their name, the Sierra Nevadas were snow capped, in striking contrast to the dry brown desert below. We landed at 3:51pm, twenty five minutes early, and I headed on down to the Boardroom for the layover.
When I’d made this reservation five months ago, this flight was a DC-9-80 and I was assigned an exit row window. Alas, now it was a 737-400 and seat 22C was back in the pack. As well, the flight was jam packed. And, despite having an aisle seat, I was jam packed as well. My seatmate was huge woman whose bulk caused her arms to overflow into my seating area. While it seemed terribly unfair that a person of her size should end up crammed into a middle row, I wasn’t about to offer my aisle seat because in the window seat beside her sat her daughter who, while not quite as prodigiously proportioned as her mother, was hardly a svelte creature herself.
For a short time, Alaska was the only airline offering coach passengers full tray meals with hot entrees on non-transcon flights. All the majors had gone to Bistro Bags or hot sandwiches, if they offered anything at all. Alas, such is now the case at Alaska as well. Gone are the hot dinner entrees like pesto pasta or whitefish with dill sauce. Tonight’s choices were:
Cheeseburger with pickle relish
Or
Turkey and Pesto sandwich
Both entrees were presented in Alaska’s wicker basket with potato salad and a lemon Snicker Doodle cookie. I went with the turkey pesto and washed it down with a can of Sprite. Although the pesto part of this sandwich required some imagination, it was nice to at least have something hot.
Clouds obscured the beautiful coastal views for the entire journey and this flight was mercifully over after three hours and twenty two minutes.
Although I’d been told in Seattle that the flight between Anchorage and Fairbanks was also full, I found plenty of seats open, including both exit rows. I took a seat in 14A and enjoyed not one but two chilled apple juices as we whisked up to Fairbanks in what may have been my fastest time ever – only 37 minutes. The forecast for this evening in Fairbanks was scattered showers with snow above 2000 feet. Ah… it’s good to be home!
Tomorrow, I throw my life into the back of my truck and relocate to my summer home of Denali National Park. It’ll be nice to have my own bed again, not to mention regular paychecks. I’ll have the next nine days on the ground and then, depending upon how the first and second period route bids go, I may be adding the final chapter to this trip report. I’ve already bought the non refundable tickets and if I can’t get off and must work, I’ll make up their value by working days I would not have otherwise planned upon working. So, we’ll know in the next few days if there is to be an epilogue to this story.
In the meantime, if you have read this far – Thank you for your time and patience! I hope you found this trip report worthy of the time it took you to read it and I certainly welcome any and all comments, questions and feedback.
** ** ** ** **
The final installment of this trip, Part 9 comprising the final 26000 miles, can be found HERE
[This message has been edited by Seat 2A (edited Jan 08, 2004).]
Jun 5, 2003, 7:25 am
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2000
Posts: 15,788
I'm looking forward to the next installment!
I think I have a source for that port you like so much. Drop me an e-mail (in profile) and I'll send you the info.
[This message has been edited by birdstrike (edited 06-05-2003).]
I think I have a source for that port you like so much. Drop me an e-mail (in profile) and I'll send you the info.
[This message has been edited by birdstrike (edited 06-05-2003).]
Jun 5, 2003, 2:45 pm
#5
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Maine
Posts: 634
Just got through reading all the installments so far, what an enjoyable read! I really hope that you reconsider your statement about not writing any more trip reports, they have inspired me more than you can ever know! I would read 'em even if you only wrote about flying between ANC and FAI for the next 5 years!
Thanks so much for all the time and effort you've put into them!
[This message has been edited by DEK (edited 06-05-2003).]
Thanks so much for all the time and effort you've put into them!
[This message has been edited by DEK (edited 06-05-2003).]
Jun 6, 2003, 10:05 pm
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: East Ester, Alaska
Programs: Alaska Million Miler, United Million Miler, Wyndham Rewards Diamond, Choice Hotels Diamond
Posts: 12,148
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by yyzflyer:
Did I miss something or did Part 3 get reposted without all the previous comments?
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Did I miss something or did Part 3 get reposted without all the previous comments?
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Jun 21, 2003, 3:45 am
#9
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: MUC
Programs: LH Sen // HH Dia; Bonvoy LTTE
Posts: 3,205
That IS planning: 3000th = First Class on BA. It was a nice move by UA/Anchorage station manager to celebrate your 1000th flight 
.
The last installment is already waiting. What a great report!
Just a suggestion: you supplied the user and password for the pictures only in the first thread. It would be helpful if you add it in all threads. Thanks.
.The last installment is already waiting. What a great report!
Just a suggestion: you supplied the user and password for the pictures only in the first thread. It would be helpful if you add it in all threads. Thanks.