Seat 2A

Finally, I could take no more. After reading yet another of SFO777’s beautifully photographed tales of First Class decadence aboard Star Alliance carriers Lufthansa and Swiss, I decided I have got to try out some of that for myself!

Usually this is the time of year when you’ll find me traveling about in First Class aboard the likes of Cathay Pacific or British Airways. This spring however is dedicated to putting in the work to allow me to once again return to international First Class with a flourish. Already I’ve booked and ticketed First Class suites in the fall aboard a collection of Emirates 777-300s and A380s down to South Africa and back. Hopefully I’ll then be able to work out a good side trip to Madagascar. Until then, I’ve got 141000 miles of flying to do in the coming weeks aboard both Alaska and United, broken up by the occasional train ride and laundry break.

I live in Alaska and given the amount of flying I do aboard Alaska Airlines, it makes sense that my primary frequent flyer program participation is with Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan. It’s a fine program with award travel possible aboard nine foreign airlines. However, international First Class travel is only available aboard four of those foreign carriers and given the near impossibility of securing anything more than an Economy Plus seat aboard longtime partner Qantas, realistically I am limited to First Class award travel aboard just three airlines – British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Emirates.

Those of you who’ve read my trip reports over the years are well aware of the many fine flights I’ve enjoyed in First Class aboard British Airways and Cathay Pacific. You’ve reveled along with me through marvelous lounges, comfortable suites and many a spectacular meal served atop Royal Doulton china and finished off with delicious cheeses and ports and perhaps even a Godiva chocolate or two.

I live in a cabin without water and drive a bus along a ninety mile dirt road for a living. Not many others who share my lot in life have been able to enjoy the style of travel that I have, so I am most appreciative to Alaska’s Mileage Plan for making this all possible. That said however, as good as Cathay Pacific’s First Class service is, at the end of the day it is what it is: Cathay Pacific’s First Class Service – an excellent product with which – after twenty-two flights – I am very familiar.

I want to try out some of the world’s other great services as well. After all, who amongst us hasn’t admired the quality of the new First Class suites aboard Lufthansa or salivated just a little bit over those beautifully photographed plates of Singapore’s caviar with all the trimmings or Lufthansa’s three tiered hors d’oeuvre stand or perhaps an artistically plated serving of Veal Zurichoise whilst comfortably ensconced aboard a Swiss A340?

As one who truly enjoys flying, I more than most have a real love for and appreciation of a quality First Class service. I love everything about it from the lounges to the suites to the six and seven course meals. I especially love the meals, for that is – to me at least – the best part of any long flight. A nicely prepared and presented international First Class meal is the ultimate form of inflight entertainment. I know, I know… I could just as easily go to a nice earthbound restaurant and pay a lot less for a meal that would be a bit fresher but - it’s simply not the same. For me at least, there’s just something special about being wined and dined with style and flair while cruising comfortably along through the troposphere. It’s not enough to simply read about the great service aboard these other airlines. I want to try it out for myself.

So it is that I’m taking United Airlines up on its Premier Status Challenge. I am ever so thankful that United has seen fit to match my MVP Gold 75K status at Alaska with Premier Platinum status at United. This is absolutely fantastic inasmuch as it puts me in an excellent position to earn some big time mileage aboard United flights which of course I’ll then be able to cash in on quality First Class travel aboard some new airlines. Ideally, by years’ end I’ll have logged at least 75000 miles on United though, if I can swing it, I’m going for 1K. If anybody out there can do that in addition to flying 90000 miles on Alaska and its partners, I can. The end result of course is that all of you who’ve become bored with my endless reports of yet another First Class flight aboard Cathay Pacific can now rejoice if only for variety’s sake.

As for Alaska’s Mileage Plan, I fully intend to maintain my Gold status in years to come. After all, during the winter months Alaska’s the only game in town and overall, we’ve enjoyed a good relationship. I’ll just have to work a bit harder to maintain upper crust elite status on two airlines rather than just one. Again, if anybody can do it, I can.

So – if you’re ready to continue, I know I sure am. Let’s head on out to the airport and start rustling up some mileage!

Seat 2A

March 01, 2013
Alaska Airlines Fairbanks – Seattle 450p – 927p 737-800 Economy Class

Everyone knows the old adage about March weather: In like a lion, out like a lamb. Or vice versa. Today I’d say we were somewhere in between. Truth be known, the last few days of February have been just wonderful – sunny and warm with temperatures in the twenties during the day and just below zero at night. As mid-winter goes in Alaska’s Interior, it just doesn’t get much better than that. Today was cloudy and warm – in the high teens – with snow flurries. It wasn’t really either lion or lamb like. It was just nice. I found myself wishing I could stick around a week longer. Oh well – at least I have a round trip ticket. It’s always a good feeling when leaving Alaska to know that I’ve got a ticket back home and that I’ll be returning soon.

I was thankful that some last minute award seats had become available on the 4:50pm nonstop to Seattle. Spring break is just around the corner and already flights Outside are filling rapidly. My original schedule had me flying from Fairbanks down to Seattle via Juneau. I didn’t mind the Juneau connection so much but I wasn’t overly enamored of the 6:00am departure time. I probably would have gone down and camped out at Fairbanks International the night before but now I got to sleep in and take a leisurely day before catching a ride out to the airport with my neighbor.

Waiting at the gate was N531AS, one of ten Alaska 737-800s that I’d not yet flown. That makes 52 flown out of a fleet of 61, and with 36 more flights aboard Alaska -800s coming up in the next couple of months, I’d like to think I can pick up two or three more by summer. By then I’ll also have logged just over 450,000 miles on 737-800s. The most I’ve ever logged on a single aircraft type is just over 474000 miles aboard the 727-200, and that took 32 years to accomplish. I should eclipse that total on the 737-800 sometime next year. My first flight on an -800 was less than twelve years ago.

I’ll add 1530 miles to that total on this three hour and thirteen minute flight down to Seattle. As I settled in for the ride, an announcement was made informing us that the hot meal option for this afternoon’s flight was the Angus Cheeseburger. Well dang! If I’d known that I wouldn’t have stopped off at Subway for a foot long sandwich earlier this afternoon. I really like those burgers and at $6.00 each including chips they’re very attractively priced. Oh well. At least I could take some solace in the fact that my Subway Club sans Mayonnaise and Dressing was a healthier meal than the burger.

It was a nice clear evening as we made our approach into Seattle Tacoma International Airport. Landing softly, we taxied briskly to our slot at D3, conveniently located just up the concourse from the entrance to the train that serves the North Satellite and C Concourse. The purpose of my visit to those locales was to scope them out in hopes of finding a decent place to sleep airside. I’ve got a couple of early morning departures on this run and if I don’t have to deal with security in the morning, I’ll have that much more time to sleep in.

Nice, dark and quiet is what I’m looking for and the North Satellite offered some absolutely perfect places to crash behind the large podiums of some gate lounges that wouldn’t see their first flight until after 8:00am. Unfortunately, the Satellite closes down at around midnight and doesn’t reopen until 4:00am. Sigh… On to the C Concourse. Aside from the fact that Alaska’s got some late night arrivals and early morning departures out of the C, the cleaners wouldn’t get started in there until after 1:00am. Not good. Alright then, how about the D Concourse? Old and narrow, the gate areas are shallow and/or brightly lit. Additionally, there was music playing in there that I didn’t hear around the N or C gates.

My spot on the land side of security is so much better than anything airside that I guess I’ll just try to get to bed a bit earlier most nights. On this particular run, I’ll be spending seven nights on the floor at SeaTac. Returning to my favorite little nook in the airport, I set up camp, got a good start reading my latest novel and managed to pick up about five hours of undisturbed sleep.


March 02, 2013
United Airlines Seattle – San Francisco 729a – 943a 757-200 First Class
United Airlines San Francisco – Austin 1055a – 424p A319-100 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Austin – Seattle 630p – 855p 737-800 First Class

The idea behind Premium Lanes at security checkpoints is to speed First Class and Elite travelers through a bit faster. It is a perk that’s been well earned and is well appreciated by all of us who qualify. That said however, there’s hardly any point in having Premium Lanes if the TSA isn’t going to provide a dedicated ID checker. Today at both the D/N and C gate checkpoints, the TSA had two agents checking lines of everyday coach passengers and one agent split between coach and premium passengers. Needless to say the coach lines were moving much faster.

This certainly isn’t the first time I have seen this set up and to me at least, it is just incredibly stupid and shortsighted by the TSA. To suggest that they’re doing it out of spite towards the rich “fat cats” in First Class would be giving them too much credit. They’re not that smart. But enough complaining. I’ll drop them a line about it along with copies to Alaska and United Airlines and hope for the best - hope most definitely being the operative word.

On a more positive note, I’ve managed to get upgraded on the very first leg of my challenge – a 680 mile flight down to San Francisco. A bit of research over at United.com revealed that the only sustenance First Class passengers could expect to receive aboard this one hour and fifty minute flight would be a “made from scratch” blueberry scone. Were this a British scone with proper clotted cream and preserves, I might have gotten excited but since its basically just a small pastry, I made a point of stopping in at the United Club where a bowl of cereal and a tub of yogurt awaited.

It’s been awhile since I’ve flown aboard a 757. I used to fly them all the time to the tune of 293 flights totaling 380,460 miles aboard United, Northwest and American. Now that I’ll be logging a few more flights aboard United, I ought to be able to push that total up over 400,000 fairly easily.

My last flight on a United 757 was way back in January of 2002. United had recently installed some new First Class seats, upholstered in attractive dark blue patterned cloth covers. What I remember most about those seats is that they were really soft and comfortable! The airplane I flew on this morning was freshly painted in its fourth livery since being delivered new to the airline in 1992. The seats had been re-upholstered in dark blue leather just like every other airline in America except American. I sure do miss those colorful cloth seats from the sixties and seventies. The cabins looked a lot warmer and I personally felt the seats really were softer and more comfortable. Perhaps it’s telling that most of the world’s finest airlines don’t use leather on their First Class suite seats.

As one who logs most of his mileage aboard Alaska Airlines, I was totally taken aback when a flight attendant stopped by to ask if she could bring me anything to drink before takeoff. All Alaska ever offers is water, as if we were changing sides in a tennis match rather than flying in First Class. Soon I was sipping from a cup of nice hot coffee as the last of the passengers boarded, the doors were closed and we pushed back from the gate.

Flight time to San Francisco was announced as one hour and fifty minutes. Service consisted of the aforementioned blueberry scones, doled out in small paper sacks. They were about half the size of the ones you see at Starbucks and given that the Seattle – San Francisco route sees First Class competition from Alaska and Virgin America, I’m surprised United wasn’t offering something a wee bit more substantial. Even Alaska offers a bowl of cereal topped with strawberry slices up front.

My connecting flight to Austin was conveniently parked right next door to us at gate 89. Unfortunately the United Club was not so conveniently located, especially given the short one hour connecting time which realistically allowed just thirty minutes or so before boarding. Instead I stopped off at a deli just up the concourse and purchased a turkey sandwich with all the trimmings for just under $10.00. That's a pretty good deal by SFO standards, an airport which has some of the highest priced eateries in the nation.

United was using an A319 for this midday flight down to Austin. In United’s configuration this plane offers only eight First Class seats, all of which were taken as of last night. My Economy Plus aisle seat at row 11 was quite comfortable though. United markets the heck out of the up to 5” of extra legroom and that’s worth a lot to be sure; but I also give credit to United for providing a nicely padded, comfortable seat.

The flight itself passed quickly. Three hours will do that when you’ve got a good book, a good sandwich and a trip report to keep you occupied. I found it interesting though that this airplane had no Wi-Fi. Neither did the 757 I flew on earlier in the day. American, Delta and Alaska have had Wi-Fi practically fleet wide for some time now. Amongst main line aircraft, only Delta’s DC-9-50s and Alaska’s 737-400 Combis aren’t equipped. Personally, I can live just fine without inflight Wi-Fi but I don’t know how many others feel that way. United’s website indicates that Wi-Fi is being installed in the rest of the fleet at the rate of 25 planes per month.

At Austin I stopped in for a visit to American’s Admirals Club. I love the size and layout of this club. There’s a small but comfortable seating area with big windows overlooking the concourse below. Lighting is a combination of natural light from the windows and the warm glow cast by tableside lamps. Off to one side of the lounge is an attractive bar lounge with seating at both the bar and tables. I was going to order a beer until I saw that the complimentary selections were limited to Budweiser and Miller products. No thanks.



Admirals Club Bar at Austin

The reason for my trip down to Austin today was so that I could practically guarantee that I’d be in First Class for this flight on Alaska. For a guy who does as much flying around in coach as I do, no doubt some of you must be wondering why this flight in particular for that First Class upgrade?

In May of 1976, I logged my very first flight on Alaska aboard a red and gold liveried 727-100 that, fittingly, delivered me up to Alaska for the very first time. Today, almost thirty-seven years later, I’ll be logging my one millionth mile aboard Alaska. Because that total is tallied from both revenue and non-revenue (award) based mileage, I wasn’t expecting any ceremony or other tangible forms of recognition from Alaska Airlines. I just think it’s kind of neat to actually know when something like this happens. These days, lots of people have flown a million miles either in total or on a specific airline, but I imagine only a tiny percentage of them actually knew when they crossed that monumental barrier. Alaska is the second airline upon which I’ve logged a million miles – the first being United back in 1997. In any event, I sent a letter to the Alaska’s corporate headquarters thanking them for the flights and the memories along with a printout from my Excel based log showing all of the 1080 flights it took to accomplish the feat.

Based upon the total mileage I’d accrued on Alaska prior to today, I estimate I became an Alaska million miler about two hours into the flight, cruising high over northwestern Colorado. Alaska doesn’t serve Champagne onboard, so I silently hoisted a nicely chilled glass of Jack Daniels on the rocks to commemorate the event. I didn’t tell seatmate because he was sick – coughing every couple of minutes and generally not looking well at all. Indeed, I gave some serious consideration to moving back to an open seat in coach and if this flight hadn’t carried the significance that it did, I might well have done just that. When we landed in Seattle, I downed a few eyedroppers worth of Echinacea with Goldenseal; then started in on a regimen of water and Cold-Eze.

Although I spent tonight in the airport, I had tomorrow free which worked out perfectly for a night in a hotel. Hotwire was offering a one day $20.00 off promotion, so I booked a room at a Ramada Limited in nearby Tukwila for just $34.00. After checking in, I quickly showered and then caught a bus over to Bellevue for the final day of the annual WinterGrass Festival.

Seat 2A

March 04, 2013
United Airlines Seattle – Washington DC 117p – 910p 737-900 First Class
United Airlines Washington DC – Orlando 1012p – 1229a A320-200 First Class

Given the three hour time differential between the U.S. west coast and east coast, it’s a rare thing indeed that my first flight of the day isn’t until after noon, when it’s already 3:00pm back east. This is especially true considering that upon my arrival back east (Washington DC), I’m then looking forward to yet another flight that’ll take me two hours and 760 miles further south to Orlando.

Mind you, I’m certainly not complaining. If it were my choice, I’d much prefer waking up each day at a leisurely hour (7:30am) and lazing around the hotel before heading out to the airport at 11:00am as I did today. As it is, I’m usually in the air by 8:00am – often earlier – while looking forward to one or two connecting flights enroute to my east coast destination du jour.

Today I was particularly impressed with the hotel’s shuttle van driver who delivered me to the airport. Even though English was not his first language and he clearly was not comfortable with extended conversations as a result, he did take time to explain the drop off scenario at SeaTac and took time to point out the elevators and explain how I’d get over to United check-in from his drop off point. Of course, he had no way of knowing that I’d travelled through SeaTac over 1,200 times and could probably make my way to United’s check-in counters walking backwards through waist deep water while blindfolded. I really appreciated his effort. It’s nice to see someone who tries to do well at their job, especially if it’s of the more menial variety. As one whose job might also be considered menial by many out there (I get paid by the hour) and is also subject to tipping, I appreciate the value of a good and sincere effort. I tipped him $5.00 – quite a bit more than my usual $1 or $2 for such service but again, I felt he deserved it.

Had I bothered to check my email this morning, I would have gotten the email from United informing me that my 1:17pm flight to Dulles was delayed by about 45 minutes due to the delay if the inbound aircraft from Chicago where it was presently snowing. Oh well. It’s a good thing I’ve got access to four different lounges here at SeaTac. After clearing security, I headed straightaway to the North Satellite United Club where hot coffee and a buttered English Muffin awaited.

I’ve got five flights aboard United’s 737-900s coming up in the next ten days – all but one of them transcons. Clearly this is the plane that will be replacing United’s aging fleet of 757-200s and along with the 737-800 will be doing the bulk of the heavy lifting on United’s domestic route network. The airplane operating my flight today was a one year old ex-Continental bird that looked quite fetching in the midday sun. Credit is due to United’s post-merger management team for getting the fleet properly painted in such short order. The old United introduced its beautiful new multi-hued blue livery back in 2003 and seven years later there were still plenty of those depressing grey liveried airplanes from the Stephen Wolf era.

I had just gotten well and truly settled into my exit row aisle seat at 21D when a gentleman showed up and said “Excuse me, but I believe you’re in my seat.” Hmm… well, it’s possible I might have been in 21C across the aisle and so I was just standing up to retrieve my boarding pass from my jacket when a flight attendant appeared, addressed me by name and suggested I remain standing as I’d been upgraded to 4A. Well now, I’m really beginning to like this Platinum status! Aside from this flight I’m also upgraded on three of my next five flights – one of which is a prop with no forward cabin. Right on.

I unsettled myself as quickly as possible while seatmate waited patiently to take over my old seat.

“You fly a lot, do you?” he asked.
“About 100000 miles per year,” I replied, “and this year it’s looking like a bit more than even that.”

In the interests of time, I didn’t tell him that over the past ten years I’ve averaged just over 171,000 miles flown per year and that I’ve already booked and paid for over 220,000 miles of air travel this year. Those kinds of tidbits can never just be rolled out there without some kind of response, and that would require further conversation by way of the inevitable explanation, which I’d be happy to offer under different circumstances. Perhaps if we were both seated together with a five hour flight to look forward to, but alas, it would not be today.

Re-settling into my new locale at 4A, I took a moment to say hi to my new seatmate before taking stock of my surroundings. The first thing I noticed as I sat down was how comfortable these seats were relative to the hard, stiff ones I’d been used to in Alaska’s fleet of 737-800s. Two other features of these seats also impressed me – the 10” seatback television screens and the AC outlets for laptops and the like. The TVs were equipped to broadcast Direct TV – all 100 some odd channels of it. There were like – fifteen different sports channels alone!

It was a gorgeous day for flying with high clouds and excellent visibility. Mt. Rainier was exceptionally clear as we drove into the airport and as we taxied out to the runway I took in the pretty view of the Olympics to the west. By the time we finally took to the air, it was 2:15pm. With a projected flight time of four hours and twenty-nine minutes, I was facing a fairly tight connection at Dulles. Oh well – nothing I can do about it now. In the meantime I’ll pray that my connecting flight is parked at a gate nearby us.

As we leveled off at our cruising altitude of thirty some-odd thousand feet, I reclined my seat a bit and awaited the menu presentation. This was, after all, a transcon flight. Alas, it was not to be…

We were 24 minutes into the flight when our flight attendant stopped by to take drink orders, followed immediately thereafter by our luncheon selections. I ordered a Jim Beam Black Label on the rocks and awaited the menu description. Today’s offerings were a Spinach Pasta or a Tenderloin Steak. That’s it? No descriptive enhancements such as “Today we have a Spinach Pasta with Vegetables in a White Wine and Garlic Sauce or a Beef Tenderloin with Madeira Sauce accompanied by Garlic Mashed Potatoes and a Vegetable Medley. Yes, I know this is 2013 but there’s no harm in at least trying to make things nice. Seatmate and I both ordered the tenderloin and then returned to our respective forms of entertainment – a televised hockey game for him and this trip report for me.

Drinks arrived 40 minutes into the flight and were accompanied by a small ramekin of warmed mixed nuts. I should note here that while I don’t intend to time every single meal I’m served on United, it’s been over ten years since I’ve flown up front regularly with them and I’m curious to see how the service unfolds on this transcon flight. On most airlines, the quality of the inflight service is directly correlated to the length of the flight, so as domestic flights go, four to five hour transcons should be about as good as it gets. Or so my past experience has led me to believe…

Hot towels were delivered shortly after our drinks were delivered. Don’t hot towels usually get presented first? Despite lacking the scent of a proper Oshibori towel, these towels were probably the finest hot towels I have ever received on any U.S. airline. They were full sized wash cloths, steaming hot and moist enough to truly appreciate the rejuvenating effects of the heat and the water. Well done, United.

Our meals were presented an hour and ten minutes into the flight. Salad, appetizer, main course – all of these were placed together on a tray. The salad and the shrimp appetizer were in small bowls rather than plates, suggesting that they were never designed to be served course by course. Even the main entrée dish was small and rectangular in shape, and overall – in terms of quantity - this meal was no different than coach meals I used to be served back in the 1970s. That’s not to say it was bad however – the steak was cooked medium, and tasted good. The salad had a nice variety of vegetables to complement the head lettuce (there was even an expensive olive!) and the popcorn shrimp appetizer was tastefully presented with a nice lemon wedge. The sauce, potatoes and veggies all complimented the meal nicely. Mainly though, this meal was a far cry from United’s First Class service of yesteryear and is indicative of just how far the catering standards have fallen on United. Even Alaska, which runs a pretty bare bones First Class these days, manages a course by course presentation of its transcon meals.



Tenderloin Steak with Mashed Potatoes and Veggies

Dessert was the ubiquitous ice cream sundae, offered with a choice of strawberry or chocolate topping. What we were really served however was two scoops of rock hard vanilla ice cream topped with either strawberry compote or chocolate syrup. There were no nuts nor any whipped cream – both essentials to any “sundae” presentation. Otherwise, it’s just a bowl of ice cream.

Since this is my first meal flight on United in over ten years, I’ll refrain from passing judgment just yet. Suffice to say however that as transcon meals go, I was a bit disappointed with both the presentation and the portions. I’ll be back in First tomorrow night between Washington DC and Seattle, so we’ll see if the dinner service is any better on that flight.

After a flight of four hours and twenty-three minutes, we touched down nicely on the cold hard concrete of runway 19L and taxied into our gate at D21. A glance at my watch upon exiting the aircraft indicated that I had just twenty-seven minutes until the departure of my next flight, which was assigned gate D3 – about a five minute walk up the non-people mover equipped concourse.

The A320 operating my flight down to Orlando this evening was one of the newer ones in United’s fleet, having been delivered to the airline back in December of 2001. After boarding a few last minute and out of breath stragglers, closed her up and quickly took to the air for the short one hour and fifty minute flight down to Orlando. Service in First Class consisted of a pass of the snack basket, which contained such goodies as apples, bananas, miniature CLIF granola bars, packets of an almond-walnut mixture and small bags of some healthy brand of potato chips. I opted for a packet of the almonds to go with a sour tasting glass of red wine. Seatmate downed three bourbons over the course of the flight while watching a movie on his laptop.

We landed on a chilly night in Orlando (Temperature of 39°F according to the captain) and I can’t imagine that anyone on board was any happier than I at the fact that we arrived thirty minutes ahead of schedule. I’ve got an early departure tomorrow morning – well, early for me at least since by my west coast body clock it’ll be 5:50am and I’ll be waking up at 4:30 or 7:30 local time. In order to maximize sleep, I decided to crash on the air side of security. Even though Orlando has a beautifully dark and quiet area down on the lower baggage level on the A side, it also has one of the consistently busier and slower security checkpoints that I’ve encountered. By staying airside, I could take an additional forty-five minutes of sleep and that was worth its weight in gold – or platinum as the case may be on this run.

Checking the departures board, I located a couple of gates that weren’t being used until almost 8:00am. That was important since there’s no point sleeping at a gate where the commotion and announcements generated by an early morning departure will wake you up that much earlier. Secondly I was looking for a nice dark area. I found the perfect spot over at gate 31 where a small hallway led to a fire extinguisher. After performing a set of back exercises, I read for a bit and called it a night.


March 05, 2013
United Express Orlando – Ft. Lauderdale 850a – 955a SAAB 340 Economy Class
United Airlines Ft. Lauderdale – Washington DC 1145a – 214p A320-200 Economy Class
United Airlines Washington DC – Seattle 544p – 832p 737-900 First Class

I awoke to blue skies and sunshine which highlighted beautifully the United 757 parked right outside the floor to ceiling picture window beside me. It only takes me about ten minutes to break camp which consists of removing the batteries from my alarm clock, folding up my blanket, deflating and rolling up my Thermarest pad and then repacking it all into my suitcase. My little nook was secluded enough that I even changed shirts for the new day before heading off to a restroom to clean up a bit more. By 8:00am I was taking coffee and yogurt whilst perusing this morning’s Orlando Sentinel in the United Club. The Orlando club is not large, but its wooden walls, large windows and potted plants make it a very pleasant place to while away the time before your flight.

My United Express flight down to Ft. Lauderdale was operated by Silver Airways, which handles most of United’s intra-Florida services with a fleet of SAAB 340s. I’ve yet to see any of these aircraft bearing the United Express livery. All of them wear Silver’s colors including a pair of hot pink engine cowlings. This will be my first flight with Silver, making it my 166th airline flown overall.

Walking out to the aircraft, I noted the registration - N442XJ. Hey, that sounds familiar! A check of the N number on airfleets.net revealed that this aircraft had originally flown for Mesaba under the Northwest Airlink banner. The SAAB I’d flown with them back in 2003 was registered N424XJ, not 442, but hey – pretty damned close. I don’t know why I’ve got a memory for such things but I just do. I remember N numbers off airplanes I flew back in the 1970s. I also remember a lot of the meals I was served.

With an hour and a half layover at Ft. Lauderdale, I headed straight for the old Continental Presidents Club, now United Club. A bowl of cereal and a latte hit the spot while I brought this trip report up to date. It’s a lot easier for me to stay current on these reports when all I’m doing is flying. Renting cars, visiting friends and seeing the country is definitely not conducive to timely reporting.

By contrast to the comparatively youthful A320 that delivered me down to Orlando last night, the bird I flew up to Dulles this morning was one of the oldest in the fleet, having been delivered twenty years ago, back in 1993. Inside the cabin however, she didn’t look a day over four and given the vim and vigor with which she thundered down the runway, I’d say the old gal’s still got a few good years in her yet.

Faced with a two and a half hour layover in Washington, I stopped in at a Mexican food concession for a pretty decent burrito. This place had about a dozen exotic hot sauces available to heat up your meal, including Dave’s Insanity Sauce. For those of you who may not be familiar American hot sauces, Dave’s Insanity Sauce is some seriously hot Hot Sauce, made from concentrated habanero peppers. It is one of the hottest commercially available hot sauces in the world. Some might even say this sauce is dangerously hot. There’s a warning on the bottle advising people with heart conditions and bad backs to use this sauce extremely sparingly, if at all. They’re not kidding! I tried a tiny little match head sized drop once and was sucking wind for about fifteen minutes afterwards. I’d never put it on a personal sized meal but adding a few drops to a tureen of soup might work.

United has three United Clubs at Dulles, one of them conveniently located right next door to the departure gate for my flight to Seattle. After checking in, I took a few minutes to check out the news coverage of the major winter storm headed straight for Washington DC. It’s supposed to dump 8-12” of snow in and around the capitol, including out at Dulles. The storm is supposed to arrive later tonight and United has already cancelled most of tomorrow’s flights out of Dulles and National. Tomorrow’s travelers are being advised to leave today if they possibly can, which may explain why the United Club looked like Grand Central Station at rush hour. That and two large banks of flights departing to Europe and the western U.S. had the lounge looking busy enough to attract the attention of the Fire Marshall. I was lucky to snag a work station just as its former occupant was leaving.

On the internet I gathered a little more information about the projected storm track. I am scheduled to fly from Seattle to San Francisco to New York to Cleveland tomorrow and so far at least it looks like Cleveland and New York will get brushed by the storm rather than hit by it. That means rain and some snow but hopefully not too much of it.

The gate lounge was packed when I arrived and so I wasted no time in heading right on board. I was ever so thankful to have been upgraded into First Class on this flight two days ago. It’s always extra nice to get that upgrade on these longer westbound transcons but it’s particularly nice tonight given the sold out airplane. Indeed, the mass of humanity waiting to board took so long to do so that there was no time for a pre-departure beverage service. The Captain came on for a quick hello and indicated a flight time of five and a half hours across the country to Seattle. Our route of flight would take us right over the top of the aforementioned storm and so some turbulence was expected early on in the flight.

Shortly after we’d reached cruising altitude, the service began in earnest. I accepted a glass of Jim Beam Black Label which, prior to yesterday I’d never had before. By my tastes at least, I think is more flavorful than regular Jim Beam. Delta still takes top honors for serving Woodford Reserve in its forward cabin, but the JB Black label ain’t half bad.

Tonight’s dinner choices were a Penne Pasta with Vegetables and Marinara Sauce or Beef and Noodles with Hoisin Sauce. I ordered the beef and in terms of flavor was generally pleased with the meal. The beef had the consistency of a pot roast, so it was moist and tender and very nicely accented by the Hoisin sauce. The appetizer was two small prawns with a smattering of cocktail sauce and the salad included plenty of veggies. The problem was that there just wasn’t very much of anything. My portion of meat could not have been any more than 3 oz. I’ve certainly had larger appetizers on many occasions.



Beef and Noodles with Hoisin Sauce
With the proper lens and camera angle, I could make that little piece of beef look like a 10 pound slab!

United redeemed itself somewhat with dessert – this time a proper ice cream sundae with all the trimmings including a choice of three toppings, walnuts, whipped cream and even a maraschino cherry. I asked for Bailey’s Irish Cream on mine and promised myself to purchase a small single serving bottle of Amaretto this weekend to employ on future sundaes.



Ice Cream Sundae with Baileys Irish Cream

It was a little after midnight eastern time when we landed in Seattle. It had been a long day and, faced with a 7:10am departure tomorrow morning, I headed straight out to my campsite and called it a night.


March 06, 2013
United Airlines Seattle – San Francisco 710a – 924a 757-200 First Class
United Airlines San Francisco – Newark 1110a – 740p 757-200 Economy Class
United Airlines Newark – Cleveland 821p – 959p 737-700 Economy Class

I’ve actually been looking forward to flying into Cleveland. Not many people I know would say that. Of all the cities in the east, Cleveland is saddled with perhaps the worst reputation. It and Detroit. Like most of these places, I’m sure if you spent a few weeks in Cleveland you’d probably find some redeeming qualities even more worthwhile than the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. While I’m not quite ready to spend a few weeks in Cleveland, I wouldn’t mind giving the place a proper visit someday. Alas, it will not be on this trip however.

I spent a night at Hopkins International back in 1977 but since then I’ve only flown through there twice, both occasions involving short connections that never allowed me enough time to get out of the concourse and have a look around. So this time I’m looking forward to seeing what’s new at CLE.

It all got started bright and early this morning at gate N14 where a shiny old United 757 was taking on passengers bound for San Francisco. I was one of them, assigned seat 3A up in First Class. As usual I arrived fashionably late at the gate. By this time passengers in coach were being required to gate check their carry-on baggage, but thankfully there was still a bit of room up in front.

My seatmate was a real nice guy from Sweden, over here on business before returning to Europe next week. As we got to talking, it turned out he was a bit of an airplane fan ~ not an out and out foamer per se, but he had the interest and knew enough from personal experience to be conversant on airlines all the way back to the sixties and seventies. We had a lot of fun talking about everything from airplanes to Alaska to Norwegian ferry adventures whilst munching on complimentary blueberry scones accompanied by hot coffee.

On the subject of coffee, I remember when United used to serve Starbucks coffee. Whatever they’re serving now doesn’t taste nearly as good.

During my layover in San Francisco I took a stroll up to the food court and paid $10.00 for a breakfast burrito that tasted okay but certainly not worthy of $10.00. Oh well – fool me once… I’ll be through SFO quite a few times this fall and I think I’ll limit my food purchases to Klein’s Deli which offers some pretty good sandwiches for under $9.00 – cheap by SFO standards.

The aircraft operating my flight to Newark this morning was an ex-Continental 757-200, complete with Rolls Royce engines and all tricked out with ER and ETOPS ratings. It also sported the international BusinessFirst cabin which meant there were only 16 rather than 24 First Class seats available on this flight. On comfort alone this plane is much nicer than the 737s and 757s that United operates on most of its transcons and, since it’s a Continental bird, it’s still staffed by Continental crews and catered to Continental’s standards which include menus and plated appetizers. I should imagine then that amongst the cognoscenti who travel regularly between SFO and EWR, this is a popular flight to book. Unfortunately, there was no chance of an upgrade for me. I was number 13 on the list.

My seat was back at 21D, a reclining exit row aisle seat that was about as good as it gets for those of us relegated to a seat behind the curtain. Pushback was as punctual as a Swiss train and, after following a big green and white EVA 747 out to the runway, we took to the skies. Flight time was announced at four hours and fifty minutes but within minutes of reaching our cruising altitude it was readjusted to a much more amenable four hours and twenty-seven minutes. Arrival into Newark was predicted to be a half hour early at 7:10pm. Awright!!!

About halfway into the flight I decided to check out United’s snack menu. The Thai Chicken Wrap sounded pretty good. Described as a collection of chicken, romaine lettuce, carrots and red and green peppers wrapped in a tortilla and served with Thai Aioli Sauce, it priced out at $8.59. Well, let me tell you – the wrap showed promise but that Thai Aioli Sauce could definitely be improved upon. Unfortunately it’s a mayonnaise based sauce which translates into 15 grams of artery clogging fat. When I want to clog my arteries, I’ll do so with a proper cheeseburger (which was also available) but for items that are presented as ostensibly healthy, I think United might have done better to offer this wrap with a light Asian Sesame dressing.

After the flight, I did manage to snag a copy of the First Class menu. Since we’re on the subject of food, here’s what I missed out on:


DINNER

To Begin
Chilled Appetizer

Fresh Seasonal Greens
Tomatoes, Kalamata olives, bell pepper, baby mozzarella and croutons with balsamic vinaigrette dressing

MAIN COURSE

Tenderloin of Beef
Asiago broth, brown butter gnocchi and green asparagus

Spice Rubbed Breast of Chicken
Mustard barbecue sauce, steamed rice, mixed vegetables and pickled cabbage

Tri-Color Ravioli
Cherry tomato sauce and herbed butternut squash with Parmesan cheese

DESSERT
Ice cream with your choice of toppings


Since this aircraft was a Continental issue 757-224, it had a different seat back television and programming than the DirecTV I’d experienced aboard United’s 737-900s. While it’s hard to beat DirecTV for variety of programming, Continental’s programming offered an impressive selection of movies, TV shows, music and games. It also had a Sky Map which I always look forward to. As much as I appreciate the many programming options on DirecTV, having a Sky Map available definitely tilted the tables in Continental’s favor. Oh wait – they’re United, now. Well, kind of… One of the flight attendants told me that for the time being, both companies are being operated separately under the United banner.

Remember all those weather concerns yesterday? I imagine they’re still valid for Washington DC but up in Newark, just 200 miles to the north, the conditions were not bad at all. There were clouds, a few showers, maybe a flurry or two but otherwise nothing worthy of any major delays.

As things turned out however, whatever hoped for time we might have saved was apparently lost somewhere enroute. Actual flight time turned out to be closer to the original four hours and fifty minutes, leaving me with a forty minute connection for my flight to Cleveland.

There were two open seats in First Class on the 737-700 but alas, I was number three on the waitlist. So, once again it was back behind the curtain for me. G’wan, now. Honestly, I’m never all that disappointed if I don’t get upgraded these days. Unlike most people, I’m more into the service than the extra space and having logged almost two thousand flights in First Class, I can tell you on some authority that while it’s nicer than coach, these days it ain’t all that much nicer. Besides, I fit quite comfortably into any and all coach seats and with my elite status on all the airlines I fly, I almost always am assured of a good seat even if I don’t get upgraded.

Now I remember many years ago when I was younger and First Class was quite a bit nicer. The disappointment of not getting upgraded and having to sit back in coach was palpable because there was a distinct difference in service between First Class and Coach, even on shorter flights. I remember early morning flights on Western from Denver to Salt Lake City where they’d get a sweet roll in coach while in First Class we dined on these beautifully prepared and presented fruit plates. And this was after they’d downgraded the service from a hot breakfast. I remember a short hour and twenty minute flight from Dallas to Albuquerque when Continental served us a steak and baked potato for lunch. The steak was a good 8oz cut too. Back in those days, there were no upgrades except to airline and travel industry employees. Those of us flying non-rev had to be dressed properly or we wouldn’t get on the plane period. For guys that meant a coat and tie, no jeans and decent shoes.

If ever there were a jet to try and get upgraded upon regardless of the flight, it’s United’s 737-700. Those coach seats are rock hard and Economy Plus does little to improve the situation. I was thankful that our flight time over to Cleveland was only an hour.

Not having spent a proper amount of time in the Cleveland airport since flying in on an Eastern DC-9-30 back in 1977, a bit of research was required to find a good place to crash for the night. Now a lot of folks might suggest that all the help I need can be found at the website sleepinginairports.net. For the most part, I disagree. That site appears to be most helpful to those who are stuck in an airport rather than people like myself who routinely sleep in airports and come prepared to do so. The sleepinginairports.net site is filled with reviews from people who describe places they found with padded benches to sleep on even though many of those places are in brightly lit high traffic areas. I on the other hand, outfitted with a Thermarest pad, blanket, alarm clock, pillow, headlamp and eyeshades, can stay on most any hard, cold floor well away from the bright lights and food courts that seem to attract so many others. Here’s how I usually go about finding a good spot:

Before I can even begin to bother reconnoitering the terminal, I need to first verify where I’m actually allowed to stay. For this I seek out the counsel of the TSA and/or the airport police. Both of them can usually be found at the security checkpoint.

Upon learning that staying airside is allowed at Cleveland, the next important task is to find out which gate or gates are NOT going to have late night arrivals and/or early morning departures. I don’t like sleeping around busy traffic areas any more than people like having to walk around me as I snooze oblivious to them all. Upon finding some suitable gates, I then look for which ones that provide me the darkest, quietest environment.

On Cleveland’s C Concourse I found a great spot down in the rotunda. There were two gates down there that weren’t being used at all. As such, they didn’t require late night cleaning and better yet, because they weren’t being used the overhead lights were turned off. Unfortunately, the one thing I couldn’t escape was the annoyingly loud music being played all night. The airport had created its own soundtrack with music interspersed with commercials about the airport shops and restaurants. The music was like the kind of stuff that plays when the credits are rolling after a romantic comedy. Light jazz would’ve been a much better choice in my estimation. Thankfully I had a couple of earplugs that cut the noise level down to somewhat more tolerable levels. I set up camp and, since my next flight wasn’t until 3:00pm the next afternoon, I got a good seven hours of quality sleep, waking up at a little after 9:00am.

March 07, 2013
United Airlines Cleveland – Newark 308p – 454p 737-800 First Class
United Airlines Newark – Seattle 716p – 1000p 757-200 First Class

I awoke to a cold and blustery day. The forecast called for wind chills in the teens and some afternoon snow flurries. With six hours to burn until my next flight, I decided to get some breakfast and hang out in the airport. After first cleaning up and then considering the culinary options, I made the mistake of buying breakfast at the Manchu Wok concession. The price was certainly right with a pile of scrambled eggs, potatoes, bacon and toast going for just $4.39. By appearances, it looked like a good breakfast. Unfortunately it was cooked on a grill and in pans which had been used to cook Chinese food and that flavor carried over to the scrambled eggs and potatoes. In the future I’ll limit my meals at Asian eateries to lunch and dinner.

By now it was 10:00am and I still had four and a half hours until my first flight of the day would begin boarding. On a positive note, both of today’s flights had already been upgraded into First Class, so what better place to go and celebrate my good fortune than CLE’s United Club, located just off gate 14 on the C Concourse.

I first visited this lounge during a short layover at CLE back in 2002. Back then it was a Continental Presidents Club and I remembered it as being a pleasant place to spend that layover, what of it there was. Honestly, my layover was so short back then that I only got to spend about fifteen minutes in the lounge. Today I had considerably more time, so I started with a coffee and Baileys before retiring to a work station to put in some time on this report.

I’ve mentioned before that these reports are a lot of work, but – if you’re into it – they’re a great way to pass the time during long layovers or long flights. Even though the words don’t always flow or I occasionally get up to a week behind, I actually enjoy writing these reports. That’s a big factor in why I write the way I do. I truly enjoy doing what I do, even sitting in coach or sleeping in the airports. It’s all good.



Cleveland’s United Club lounge



Cleveland’s United Club Bar

It was about 1:30 when I headed out into the concourse in search of some lunch. Just down the way was Cleveland’s very own Great Lakes Brewing Company. During my summers in Alaska’s Denali National Park, my neighbor – originally of Cleveland – has turned me on to bottles of Burning River Pale Ale and Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, so named for the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, an ore freighter that went down on Lake Superior during a storm in 1975. The ship was made famous in a Gordon Lightfoot song, and now is remembered with a fairly decent porter. The old labels used to show a good looking artist’s rendition of the ship battling huge Lake Superior storm waves while beneath it was printed the epitaph “Goes Down Easy”. The new label doesn’t have that slogan anymore, probably due to some politically correct nonsense…

Well, the Great Lakes Brewing Company may make good beer but when it comes to service, their airport location failed miserably. It took two or three minutes just to get seated – the hostess seemed to be distracted with too many chores – and then when I did get seated, I never got served. Actually, after sitting there for about three minutes without being acknowledged in the least, I set my stop watch and decided to give them five more minutes. Five minutes came and went, so I came and went. Instead I ended up getting this awesome roast beef sandwich from a take away place down in the rotunda.

I and about a dozen others enjoyed a quick transit aboard United’s 737-800 over to Newark’s Liberty International Airport. We were served drinks and a pass of the snack basket before commencing our descent into EWR.

United’s got three clubs here at Newark – two of them ex-Presidents Clubs at United’s main operations base at Terminal C and one ex-Red Carpet Club over at rickety old Terminal A. The ex-Presidents Clubs are far and away the nicer lounges with the larger of the two offering shower facilities. That’s the one I headed to.

Now freshly showered and clothed, I headed over to the other United Club as it was located a lot closer to my departure gate at C-83. This club, while not exactly small, is quite a bit smaller than the big C-100 gates club. I rather liked it for that reason. Small and intimate. I like that in women as well as airline clubs.

My flight to Seattle this evening was operated with a 757. Prior to this trip I’d only flown twelve 757s over the past two years. Now that may sound like a lot but when you consider that over that same period I’ve flown 368 flights aboard commercial airliners, the 757 is beginning to come up a bit short. Introduced thirty years ago by Eastern Airlines, it’s now considered old and relatively inefficient compared to the next generation 737s that are increasingly replacing it. 757 fans rest assured! Those old 757s still have a lot of years left to fly out on the far flung corners of the Third World. They may spend a year or two out in some southwest desert storage facility but then they’ll be repainted and then, like the fabled Phoenix, they’ll rise from the desert sands and return to the skies over Bolivia or Burundi. Or maybe even Botswana!

So – as of tonight this is my 275th flight aboard a 757-200, totaling out at 351810 miles. Hopefully I can log another 50000 miles on them before they disappear into Third World skies. I settled into my comfortable old seat and gladly accepted the proffered cocktail of my choice. I couldn’t help but be amused at how the airline service brochures always mention offering you the drink “of your choice”. Shouldn’t that go without saying? What if there wasn’t a choice? Sorry – we’ve only got guava and vodka cocktails. Do you want one or what? Yeah, well, thankfully we haven’t descended to that level quite yet. I requested a Bloody Mary and had commenced a nice chat with seatmate, a communications and marketing specialist from New Jersey.

It was a good night to leave Newark. Out my window was a combination of rain, some snow and mist. In Seattle it’s only rain and mist. Regardless, my mind’s already in sunny southern California where tomorrow at this time I’ll be cruising through the lovely Ojai Valley in search of a good Mexican restaurant or a steakhouse – whatever comes first.

Dinner tonight was the same as we were offered two nights ago out of Washington – Penne Pasta or Beef with Hoisin Sauce. I later found out the beef is actually spare-rib. Well that explains the weird consistency then! Whatever, it tasted pretty good but my seatmate’s pasta looked a lot more presentable. I made a mental note to check that out the next time I get upgraded.

After dinner, the guy in front of me reclined his seat all the way back. It was a serious imposition on my ability to use my laptop. Now unlike some, I’m not prone to a hissy fit over seat reclining. That’s what they’re designed to do and it’s an enjoyable function to employ now and then. From where I sit, the only times you really should be a bit judicious about reclining your seat are during boarding and meal services. Otherwise, recline on! If I got any problem with this, it’s with United’s seat designers for allowing these seats to recline so far back. Otherwise, I can’t believe these whiners and malcontents that litter our forums with plaintive bleats about the seat being reclined into their personal spaces. What – were they overly coddled by their mothers or something? Who knows. Big babies!

Now coughers and sneezers are a completely different story. These people are right up there with screaming babies and snorers for inflight disturbances. I posted my complaints about them apparently not using cough suppressants or masks over in the Travel Buzz forum and was surprised to see how many people disagreed with me. Practically a cheerleading section full of kind hearted souls who regardless of the noise and potential germ transmission say there's nothing to be done but just bear with it. If someone got on the plane all hot, sweaty and smelly we'd expect them to use anti-perspirants and yet we don't seem to expect the coughers and hackers to use a cough suppressant. I have a hard time accepting that out of all the coughers and hackers I've heard over the past few days, none of them or even 50% of them couldn't have taken a cough suppressant to some effect, but then I had always assumed - if only from personal experience - that OTC cough medications taken before the flight would have a beneficial effect. People who work in the medical field posted to say that's not always the case. If so, I guess I stand corrected. In any event, my post as well as myself were roundly lambasted. Who knows - maybe I'll get banned and have to write these reports for some desperate little magazine in Bolivia, and even then - for free. There's a pretty limited audience for this kind of stuff, especially a report like this that focuses on domestic travel. Honestly though, it's all good. I'm hardly going to go and confront coughers and sneezers on my flights, much less present them with cough drops. I hope they get better soon and in the meantime, hopefully they can get that cough treated, preferably before the flight.

Alrighty then, where was I? Somewhere over Idaho, I guess. It felt like Idaho even though this plane wasn’t equipped with a Sky Map. In fact, it didn't really have anything – Wi-Fi, seatback TV, in seat power - nothing. Just the ceiling mounted drop down TV which was showing some bland network TV program, the ones where they’re not allowed to even swear mildly. I had relocated back to the exit row aisle seat because it offered way more space than my First Class seat, especially with the guy in front of me reclined. No big deal. Thankfully this plane was only half full in back. Maybe less. That is so rare these days! It was like a flashback to flying in the seventies. I’ll tell you, it was great! Now if it had been a full flight, I probably would have just read for awhile. But as it were, I think the flight attendants felt bad for me because I’d moved out of First Class and so they were very attentive with regard to offering me cocktails, especially after they’d gotten over the shock of hearing that I’d be sleeping in the airport. First Class passengers just don’t do that was the unspoken implication. Oh yes they do! Pleased to meet you. I’m ________. Two of the ladies had worked for United since back in the mid-sixties and I had flown United since the mid-sixties, so we had some fun back there trading old war stories! I also happened to have some older photos and airline ads stored in my laptop that added to our collective stroll down memory lane.

Time flew by and suddenly we’re cruising over the western slope of the Cascades and Captain Flanagan is on the PA sayin’ we’re a mere 50 some odd miles out of SeaTac. Man, this flight just flew by! Time to head on back up front I guess. Truth be known, I was doing pretty good back there in 21D. First Class seats may be wider but I fit just fine into Coach seats. I’m more into leg room than width anyway. The best thing about First Class for me has always been the meals and service and these days that’s only a shadow of what it used to be. But enough prattling on. More than a few readers here weren't even born back when U.S. airlines offered the finest domestic service in the world. By far. No contest. Not even close. Now we’re the worst.

Seat 2A

March 08, 2013
Horizon Air Seattle – Portland 1100a – 1145a DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Horizon Air Portland – Burbank 1235p – 240p CRJ-700 Economy Class

Whenever I put together a mileage run like this, I make a point of scheduling a day or two off every five or six days. There are many reasons for this, not the least of which is mental health. Even for a guy like me who, more so than most, actually enjoys spending lots of time in airports and onboard airplanes, there’s a limit. It’s like running wind sprints. You need to stop and catch your breath every once in a while. Ideally I’d stop every three or four days but the ultimately it all comes down to expenses. It costs me a lot more money to stay on the ground than it does to be flying around. There are hotel costs as opposed to sleeping for free in airports. There are also food costs to consider. On the ground I’m purchasing three meals a day whereas a Super Duper Diamond Encrusted Kryptonite level flyer like me will get the occasional free meal via First Class upgrades. I also get breakfast in the lounges most days. There are the costs of activities, be it a museum, a movie or a rental car. Another big item – not so much in terms of cost but rather hygiene is laundry. I only bring enough clothing for about six or seven days, so that drives the day off planning as well.

This is a layover of three days and I’ll be accomplishing a lot. First I’m gonna fly down to Burbank where I’ll rent a car, check out a few sites of personal interest in the hills above Burbank before heading up to Ventura for the evening. I’ll do laundry at the hotel. Then it’s on to Ojai for breakfast and a drive up to Meditation Mountain before turning in the rental car at Burbank in time to catch Amtrak’s Thruway bus to Bakersfield. There I’ll board the San Joaquin for a six hour ride up the big valley to Stockton and then west to Antioch where I'll meet an old friend from the seventies and we'll head down to the hills above Los Gatos for the night.

But I’m getting way ahead of myself here. Let’s rewind to Friday morning, March 8th. I awoke to clouds and light rain. It’s now 10:00am. The clouds are starting to break and beautiful bright sunlight is illuminating the expansive tarmac between the C and D concourses magnificently. Across the way over at the North Satellite, a United 777 looks quite handsome in its new post-merger livery. Much as I loved the old United’s most recent blue and white livery, I guess I’m finally getting used to CO colors. Meanwhile, I’m sitting here in Alaska’s Boardroom enjoying coffee and a bran muffin whilst pecking away at this report.

Arriving at the Horizon section of the C Concourse for my 11:00am departure to Portland, I noted there were only three Dash 8s on the ramp. What made the scene stand out is that all of them were painted in collegiate liveries – Montana State Bobcats, University of Montana Grizzlies and the San Diego State Aztecs. I was flying aboard ship 403, the MSU airplane. Having logged over one hundred flights aboard Horizon’s Dash 8-400s, including multiple flights on most of the aircraft, I was surprised to find that this was only my second flight aboard 403, the first having come almost ten years ago in November of 2003. Nice to meet you again, old buddy. Go team!

The thirty minute flight down to Portland featured a beautiful close up view of Mt. St. Helens. You could clearly see steam venting from the lava dome in the crater but unfortunately condensation on the inside of my window prevented me from getting what would have been a really nice shot.

Next up was an hour and forty-five minute hop down to Burbank aboard Sky West’s CRJ-700. Despite having an exit row aisle seat, it was not a comfortable flight. For some reason which I’ve yet to fathom, both aisle and window seats in the exit row have minimal seat bottom padding. It was like sitting on a stone bench. Having recently flown United Express’ CRJ-700 on a 770 mile flight between Denver and Austin, my eyes have been opened as to how nice and comfortably a CRJ can be configured. These ex-Alaska Horizon jets are lamentably poor. In the future I think I’ll put a little more effort into finding ways to avoid flying them. Now that I’ve got some status on United, they’ll provide a viable and certainly more comfortable option on some of the routes up and down the west coast.

At Burbank I picked up a nice Nissan Altima, rented through Advantage Rent A Car for just $22.75 all in for the day. After a quick drive up through Tujunga and Sunland, I headed north to Castaic Junction before turning west towards Santa Paula and Ojai. I hadn’t been on the road to Santa Paula since back in the seventies and was shocked at how much the area had grown over the years. I remembered it as a rural two lane road but now it was four lane all the way with lots of business along the way. The road between Santa Paula and Ojai was as rural and beautiful as it was forty years ago, especially driving west into the setting sun.

As much as I would have liked to have stayed overnight in Ojai, the cost of doing so in the town’s boutique hotels was prohibitive. Years ago, two of those hotels were much more affordably priced but alas, no longer. Nowadays, if I want to stay in Ojai I’ll just have to bring my sleeping bag. Tonight however, I settled for a nice motel room down in Ventura.


March 09, 2013
Amtrak Bakersfield – Emeryville 345p – 943p San Joaquin Economy Class

One could not have asked for a more beautiful day in Southern California. Sunny, not a cloud in the sky and a temperature in the low sixties – absolutely idyllic. Following breakfast in a classic California coffee shop, I got on the 101 and, being as it was Saturday, enjoyed relatively smooth sailing all the way down into the LA basin. That is to say I got caught in only two small traffic jams. Driving the 101, I’ll bet I saw more cars in a single minute than I’d see all day in and around my neck of the woods.

After turning the car in at Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport, I had about a half hour wait for the Amtrak bus that would take me up to Bakersfield and a 300 mile ride on the San Joaquin up to Antioch, California. First however, I wanted to purchase a bottle of water for the two hour bus ride. What’s that? $4.28 for a bottle of water? Where’s it bottled – on Mars? Not all of us flying out of this airport have movie star incomes. I settled for a water fountain and a newspaper.

The last time I rode a train out of Bakersfield was back in 1984. In the twenty-nine years since that ride, the city has built an attractive new train station that also serves as the bus terminal. As for Amtrak’s San Joaquin, it’s evolved from a collection of older single level Heritage fleet coaches to modern bi-level Superliner style equipment with more comfortable and spacious seating, electrical outlets at each seat and a dedicated café/lounge car.



Amtrak F59 Locomotive at Burbank



Amtrak’s San Joaquin is ready for boarding at Bakersfield



Seating aboard Amtrak’s San Joaquin


When it comes to rail travel, the most popular train between Southern California and the Bay Area is the Coast Starlight. It’s a full service train complete with first class sleepers and lounge, a diner, a café/lounge and long distance superliner cars. It also travels along 113 miles of beautiful California coastline.

In its own way, I think the San Joaquin is just as nice a ride. The scenery is more bucolic than dramatic, but something about rolling through the broad expanse of the San Joaquin Valley under the late afternoon California sun is just alright by me. Along the way we make stops in places like Hanford, Corcoran, Fresno, Madera – farming centers all. Many of the passengers are Hispanic and in my car at least, Spanish was the predominant language.

It was about 6:00pm when I headed back to the café car for a bite to eat. Wow! This was without question the nicest café/lounge car I’d ever seen on an Amtrak train. Well, except maybe the Talgo trains that operate on the Cascades between Eugene, Oregon and Vancouver, BC. What I liked most about this car was the layout. Seating was comprised of single tables, double booths and separate little coves that would seat from four to six. Rather than being all lined up along the walls like most lounge cars I’ve seen, these seating areas were spread out around the car on both sides of the central food service area. As for the food offerings, it was the usual collection of sandwiches and light meals that you’d expect to find in most any Amtrak café. I ordered a turkey pesto Panini, took a single table and watched as the sun set over fields of everything from lettuce to artichokes to tomatoes.



Nuclear sunset over California’s San Joaquin Valley

Our arrival into Antioch was right on time. I was met by an old friend from my high school days and after a quick stop for pizza and beer, we sped down to the hills above Santa Cruz for the night.


March 10, 2013
Alaska Airlines Oakland – Seattle 105p – 307p 737-800 Economy Class

My friend is a single dad and one of his daughters had to be at a horse riding competition up in Palo Alto at noon. I had a 1:00pm flight out of Oakland up to Seattle, followed by an appointment at a Laundromat up in Burien. It worked out nicely to drop me off at the Fremont BART station where $6.65 put me at Oakland International just an hour later.

Normally there wouldn’t be much to comment on about a flight such as this flown in coach. Two things stood out, however. First – the boarding process. It was really well handled with clear, concise announcements that left no room for misunderstanding. Passengers were specifically requested to stay back from the boarding area until their section was called, and MVP Gold 75Ks got called separately rather than with the usual big glut of Golds and partner airline elites.

Secondly, I had a nice chat with my seatmate who used to be a US Airways flight attendant but had recently switched over to Alaska. The main issue with her leaving US Airways was seniority. Because of the merger with American, including all of those American flight attendants, she’d likely be looking at reserve duty for a long, long time. Alaska offered a much better opportunity, even starting at zero seniority.

Oh – and thirdly, the two General Electric CFM56-7B26 High Bypass Ratio turbofan engines, rated at 26,300 pounds thrust each, got us up and on our way after a takeoff roll of just 22 seconds. Way to go, GE!

Seat 2A

March 11, 2013
United Airlines Seattle – Newark 705a – 320p 737-900 Economy Class
United Airlines Newark – Cleveland 616p – 805p 737-800 First Class

5:30am came way too early this morning – I could’ve easily slept another three hours. Yawn… Alright then, time to break camp and head out to gate N-16 for my 7:05am departure to Newark. The flight was showing completely full, including First Class. By the time I stepped off the train at the North Satellite, boarding was well underway so rather than purchase a cup of Starbucks in advance I headed right on board. It was either that or risk checking my bag to Cleveland where I’d really rather stay airside tonight.

As I entered the aircraft I heard someone call out my name – it was my seatmate from my flight out the other night. She was up in First. We exchanged quick pleasantries before I slouched on down the aisle to take my place amongst the great unwashed back in Steerage. At least I had an exit row aisle. Truth be known, unless one is a really large person those exit row aisles are not any less comfortable (to me at least) than the First Class seats and they offer better leg room.

As for the meal, the $5.95 hot meal option was a Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sandwich. When it comes to breakfast sandwiches, I think the gold standard is McDonalds’ Egg McMuffin. If that’s a 10, I’d rate Jimmy Dean’s not very warm and rather dry breakfast sandwich as served on today’s flight a five. On a more positive note, I’ll be on this same flight the day after tomorrow and I’ve already been upgraded so I’m looking forward to seeing how the other half will eat.

We landed on a murky afternoon at Newark. The sun was trying mightily to break through the cloud cover but only brief interludes of diffused sunlight ever made it through. Newark’s Terminal C has an excellent food court and so I stopped by the Wok & Roll concession for a plate of spicy chicken and rice. I used to order the two entrée dish, very affordably priced at just $6.99, but I’m just not as hungry as I was twenty years ago. One entrée and rice is plenty enough for me these days.

The United Club provided blissful sanctuary from the noisy masses down on the concourse. The bar has complimentary Sam Adams on tap, so I indulged in a couple of those while catching up on email and bringing this report up to date. I also set the framework in motion to disengage from Facebook. I signed up three years ago at the behest of my sister. At the time, Facebook seemed like a good place to post pictures from my Six Trains on Six Continents trip from 2010. Since then I’m hardly ever on Facebook. Maybe it’s just me but most of what I see posted is pretty mundane stuff like “The kids and I went out for a walk today. It was beautiful” or “I finally fixed my leaky faucet. Life is good!” Somehow, the need for all of my friends and family to know all about the minutiae of my day to day life or vice versa just isn’t there for me. I know, I know – something must be wrong with me relative to today’s society. Oh well. I’m not looking for a cure. I've still got a phone and email, not to mention a P.O. Box.

Flight time to Cleveland was one hour and seven minutes, much of it like riding down a dirt road in the back of a pick-up truck. The approach was particularly bumpy as we descended through wind and rain but no snow. We parked at C-10 and I headed down the concourse to the rotunda and the unoccupied gate I’d found last week. Tonight it was occupied but thankfully would not be seeing its first flight of the day until 8:30am tomorrow.
I read for a couple of hours and slept for several more.


March 12, 2013
United Express Cleveland – Washington DC 1015a – 1136a ERJ-170 Economy Class
United Airlines Washington DC – Denver 305p – 503p 737-800 First Class
United Airlines Denver – Seattle 657p – 852p 757-200 First Class

My favorite regional aircraft used to be the BAe-146. It featured a DC-9 sized cabin that allowed for 2-3 seating in coach and wide, spacious 2-2 seating in First. The 146 would still be my favorite regional aircraft were there still any available to fly here in North America. Unfortunately, most of the remaining 146s are in Europe and Africa so I’ll be lucky if I can log another two or three flights on them before they’re relegated to air cargo duty in some third world backwater.

These days, my vote for best regional jet goes to Embraer’s E-170/190 family of airliners. Like the BAe-146, they offer a wide fuselage that will comfortably accommodate a two-cabin configuration. And, I’m happy to report, they are commonly found around the U.S. and Canada, serving with the regional arms of Delta, United, US Airways and Air Canada as well as the mainline fleets of Frontier and Republic. The E-170 operating my flight to Washington this morning still wore United’s beautiful four tone blue and white livery. A small “Operated by Shuttle America” sticker adorned the forward fuselage. Although I didn’t score a First Class upgrade on this flight, I was plenty comfortable in my Economy Plus window seat.

Happiness is knowing that your next three flights have been upgraded. As I took my seat in the attractive forward cabin of United’s 737-800, I took a moment to log the aircraft’s N-Number into my flight log. A quick check of United’s fleet list revealed that unlike Alaska on which I’ve flown all but nine of the sixty-one 737-800s in the fleet, on United I’ve thus far flown just four of the one hundred and thirty in the fleet. Check back with me in ten years and maybe I can deliver a more impressive number.

Interestingly, our dinner choices this afternoon were exactly the same as those offered on my two transcon dinner flights. Also included on my tray was the diminutive two-shrimp appetizer. So – short rib and vegetables or penne pasta with veggies and marinara sauce? My seatmate had the pasta dish the other night and I thought it looked pretty good then, so that’s what I ordered now.



Penne Pasta and Veggies with Marinara dinner

Alas, the pasta looked better than it tasted. The sauce was very low sodium and worst of all, about 20% of the pasta was undercooked. Some of it was dry and inedible while other parts of it were just chewy. I believe I’ll stick with the short rib from now on. Dessert was a chocolate chip cookie, served in a small paper bag. What it lacked in presentation it made up for in taste.

The rest of the flight passed surprisingly quickly, due in no small measure to a new author I’ve discovered who possesses one of the most intelligent and engaging writing styles it’s been my pleasure to read. Anyone who likes a good espionage thriller a la LeCarre or Forsythe should check out a guy named David Stone. I really enjoyed his first book, The Echelon Vendetta, and before I’d even gotten a quarter the way through it I went out and bought all of his other novels. (A total of four to date).

Ah, it’s nice to be back in Denver. I’m from Colorado originally and I still own property in the state. Although I’ve flown into or out of Denver over eight hundred times, I never tire of the view or the airport. I do miss the old Stapleton a lot. I loved that old terminal building and the location, relative to the city, couldn’t be beat. Still, it’s hard to find fault with DIA except for its location halfway out to Kansas. We’ll all be a lot happier when RTD finally gets the light rail out to DIA.

United operates two United Clubs on DIA’s B Concourse. They are virtually identical and the United Club East was conveniently located right next door to my gate at B-42. Having flown between Denver and Seattle at least forty times over the past ten years – all of those flights aboard Alaska and most of them in First Class – I was looking forward to seeing how United’s First Class dinner service would compare to Alaska’s on this route . Let’s find out…

Shortly after taking my seat, my jacket was hung and I was offered a pre-departure beverage. United offers anything you’d like. Alaska offers only a glass of water. I requested a Jim Beam Black Label on the rocks. I then reclined just a tad and sunk back into the foam rubber ecstasy of my First Class seat which was much more comfortable than the hard, thinly padded seats that Alaska has chosen for its 737-800s and most of its -900s.

About twenty-five minutes into the flight, hot towels were offered. They were hot, moist and refreshing. Shortly thereafter drink orders were taken and drinks were then presented with a small ramekin of warmed mixed nuts. By comparison, Alaska offers just the drinks and a packet of pretzel based party mix.

Dinner was a choice between a Chicken Caesar Salad and a Hot Chicken Chipotle Wrap, both of which were served with a bowl of Cream of Mushroom Soup. I’ve flown Alaska’s First Class twice between Seattle and Denver over the past five months and in both cases there was no choice of entrée. I was offered a skinless chicken breast topped with a dollop of pesto salsa and accompanied by a side of mesclun greens with shredded carrots and a tomato or two. Both the Alaska and United entrees tasted just fine to me but of course United’s was a bit more filling.



Hot Chicken Chipotle Wrap with Cream of Mushroom Soup

Dessert was a warmed cranberry and white chocolate cookie as opposed to Alaska’s offering of a small but very tasty piece of chocolate from the Seattle Chocolate Factory.


March 13, 2013
United Airlines Seattle – Newark 700a – 315p 737-900 First Class
United Airlines Newark – Tampa 701p – 1006p 737-800 Economy Class

I must say that I’m very impressed with the number of times that I’ve been upgraded on my United flights. I’m a Premier Platinum level flyer and of the seventeen flights upon which I was eligible to have been upgraded, I’ve sat in First Class on eleven of them. I’ve been upgraded on four out of six transcons, including this morning’s. No complaints here.

Flight time to Newark was announced as four hours and thirty-three minutes, putting us into Newark Liberty International Airport a whole thirty minutes early – unless ATC has other ideas. I think getting into any New York airport early is a pretty impressive feat. Back in 1970, while flying between Denver and New York on a Convair 880 with a stiff tailwind, we touched down at JFK forty minutes early. I was probably the only disappointed passenger on the plane. It was only my second flight on Convair’s speedy 880, so named for the number of feet it flew per second. At one point the captain mentioned that we had a ground speed of about 720 mph.

It’s been twelve years since I last flew United First Class between Seattle and New York. Back in the good old days - which extended all the way into the nineties - this flight used to start out with menus and a nice hot breakfast. About an hour before landing, the flight attendants would wheel out this incredible deli cart complete with a nice variety of meats including salmon lox, a variety of cheeses and veggies, three or four different types of breads including bagels and finally a choice of Dijon, stone ground or regular old French’s mustards. It was awesome!

Alas, times have changed – rather drastically so. Today I was offered a choice of either cereal or an omelet. Of course, I went with the omelet and was pleased to receive not only a small cheese omelet but also a decent sized portion of broccoli quiche. It was accompanied by a small cherry tomato and a 3” round portion of turkey sausage. By 1970’s standards this would have been a decent coach meal. By today’s standards it’s a fairly decent First Class meal.



Cheese Omelet and Broccoli Quiche Breakfast

One of these days I really ought to take advantage of the free movies on the seatback TV. Still, I reckon I can always rent them at home for next to nothing and watch them on my old 27” television screen. Funny, my neighbor’s always on me about when am I going to get a new flat screen TV. For sure, I could certainly afford one but jeez – why get rid of a perfectly good TV – even one that’s almost twenty years old - that I’m perfectly content watching? I’m the same way with my cars. I kept my last truck through three engines and 493000 miles.

Rather than a movie I watched a bit of the NFL channel before dedication to task forced me to turn my attention to this report. I’m only a couple of days behind so I figure I’m doing pretty good. There’ve been times where I’ve gotten as much as a week or more behind. Good thing I’ve got a good recall for the details. Heck – I could probably write reasonably detailed trip reports from thirty or forty years ago. In fact I have. I got a good memory for this kind of stuff.

So you know how it is – you get busy doing stuff you like and time just flies by. Soon enough the captain came on and advised that we’d soon be commencing our descent into Newark. I was thankful if only for the fact that for much of the flight the First Class cabin sounded like a damned pneumonia ward. There were at least four different people coughing and hacking away as well as an unhappy child in the forward section of coach.

I regretted not having a window seat as we made our approach into Newark. Any of you that have done so before may recall the excellent views to be had of downtown Manhattan; including that new building they’re building to replace the World Trade Center.

Following a rather rough landing at Newark, we taxied into gate 100 some odd and I made my way to the United Club serving that section of the terminal. This would be the old Presidents Club that recently won Priority Pass’ North American Lounge of the Year Award. It is now the largest and certainly the nicest of United’s three lounges at Newark, primarily due to lots of comfortable seating and huge windows that let in lots of natural light and provide superb views of the ramp. I sequestered myself in one of the many attractive work stations, brought my flight log up to date and then took advantage of the shower facilities available at this lounge.

I haven’t flown all that often between New York and Florida, and most that I have done was years ago engaging the services of Eastern or National Airlines. I have fond memories of both the Ionosphere Club and the Sun King Lounge at New York’s Kennedy and Miami International airports. Those of us traveling in coach aboard Eastern’s L1011s were treated to full length feature films and steak with double baked potatoes. The lucky few up in First Class received a larger steak and a seafood appetizer. While National’s coach class catering wasn’t quite as good as Eastern’s; their attractive airplanes, bright interiors and beautiful stewardesses had you feeling like you were in Florida the moment you boarded the airplane.

These days of course the overall experience and inflight service is much more utilitarian, especially if you’re sat back in coach as I am on tonight’s flight. I would compare the legroom at my exit row seat aboard this 737-800 to that of a standard coach seat aboard the DC-8s and 727s that used to ply this route back in the days before deregulation. As for inflight meal service, well, I’ve brought my own food tonight – a good looking roast beef and horse radish sandwich that just seemed a bit more filling than anything on the inflight menu.

Arrival in Tampa was right on time, practically to the minute. I know the Tampa Airport well and over the years have discovered a great spot to crash for the night. I headed over there now and by 8:30pm Pacific Time had already called it a night


March 14, 2013
United Express Tampa – Key West - Ft. Lauderdale 8:30a – 1130a SAAB 340 Economy Class
United Airlines Ft. Lauderdale – Newark 1258p – 409p 737-900 First Class
United Airlines Newark – Seattle 716p – 1007p 757-200 Coach Class

By the time I woke up this morning at 7:00, I’d managed to knock off a good seven hours of sleep. For sleeping in an airport that’s about as good as it gets. In fact, I’d say it’s even a fair bit better than it gets most of the time. Most nights I’m happy if I can get five to six hours of quality sleep.

In any event, I woke about as refreshed as you can get after sleeping in an airport. After breaking camp, I took the train out to the A Satellite and stopped in for breakfast at a nice looking full service restaurant called the Green Iguana. I took a seat by the window and ordered coffee and a Western Omelet to accompany the morning newspaper. Wes Welker had signed with the Denver Broncos and some bishop from Argentina had been elected the new pope. In these times we live in, it’s debatable as to what the bigger news story was.

I was originally scheduled out on a 10:45am flight down to Fort Lauderdale but here it was just after 8:00 and I saw there was an earlier flight departing at 8:35. Better yet, this flight made an enroute stop at Key West – an airport I’d yet to fly into. To my way of thinking, why sit around Tampa when I could be enjoying an air tour of Florida? It looked to be a pretty nice day for flying – not cloudless but pretty damned close. I headed down to gate A1 and made the change.



Your SAAB awaits…



Exit row view

Although I snagged an exit row window seat aboard the SAAB 340 operating this flight, the large engine cowling rendered quality inflight photography a moot point. Still, the extra legroom was appreciated and as things turned out I was on the wrong side of the airplane for the best shots anyway. That’s alright. Key West would be my 323rd airport flown in to and I was looking forward to at least seeing the terminal building. Back in the 1970s, Key West used to be served by National Airlines with 727-100 jets. Although I had thought that the largest plane serving EYW these days was a regional jet, I have it on good authority that both Delta and Southwest fly down there with 737-700s.



Welcome to the Conch Republic ~ Key West Terminal



Key West Tower

I’ve driven US 1 down to Key West on a couple of occasions and if you’re not caught in weekend traffic, it’s a really pretty drive. Old town Key West has an attractive charm as well, though it’s been sixteen years since I’ve been there so who knows what it’s like today. Flying in, I was amazed to see just how built up the whole area has become over the years. It’s way too built up if you ask me. It’s harder to appreciate the beauty and get into the rhythm of the tropics when you’re surrounded by so much manmade kitsch. Hawaii and most of the Mexican beach resorts are the same way. I count myself lucky that I was able to visit them all back in the early seventies before they got overdeveloped. These days I’ll take a tent on a deserted beach in Mangareva or Rurutu any day over the big, shiny eyesores we call beach resorts today.

At Fort Lauderdale I relocated from the cramped confines of the SAAB into the cramped confines of the United Club. Originally designed as a Continental Presidents Club, this lounge was plenty spacious when it catered only to Continental clientele. Add United’s flights to the mix and I think Fort Lauderdale could use a larger lounge. Given the layout of the concourse however, I don’t see anywhere to put it except maybe up on the roof.

High winds around Newark had resulted in an ATC hold on our flight. The new departure time was an hour and a half later at 2:30pm. Sigh… Back to the lounge. By the time I returned to the gate a large crowd had developed and seemed more anxious than usual to board. Pre-board took longer than usual because there were about a half dozen wheelchair bound travelers. Gate lice were everywhere and after boarding for group 1 was clearly announced, I noticed the couple ahead of me had boarding passes clearly marked Group 3. I figured they musta been a coupla dang farners who dint speak no English, but then I overheard a snippet of conversation that indicated they were native English speakers. The gate agent just let them on through without comment. Maybe the trick is to just play stupid. It works well so long as the gate agents fail to enforce it for whatever reason.

This flight was completely sold out so I was doubly thankful to have a First Class seat aboard this almost new 737-924ER. It sported the new Sky Interior and five rows of grey leather upholstered First Class recliners. Soon I was sipping Jim Beam Black Label on the rocks while seatmate feverishly scratched off lottery and bingo tickets. He had a real intensity about him that was impressive to witness with the occasional sideways glance.

What a great day for a window seat! For starters we followed quite a colorful collection of aircraft out to the runway, each of them from a different airline. In order, we followed a Southwest 737-700, an AirTran 717, a US Airways A321, a Sunwing 737-800, an Air Canada A320 and finally, leading up the procession was a Delta 757-200. The bright yellow livery of Canada Sunwing’s 737 brought back memories of Hughes Airwest and its bright yellow “Flying Bananas”. The white and grey fuselage of our 737-900 was really rather bland by comparison.

Once airborne, we climbed out over the Atlantic and made a broad sweeping turn to the north. We stayed out over water for some time and those of us with windows on the right hand side of the airplane were treated to some pretty views of the Bahamas and the beautiful multi-hued waters below.



A beautiful afternoon at 37000’ off Florida’s East Coast

The luncheon service commenced as soon as we’d leveled off. Orders were taken by status first and then from front to back. Being a lowly Premier Platinum sat way back in 5F, mine was the very last order taken. The choices were between a salad topped with gulf prawns or a cheeseburger. Both dishes were accompanied by cream of potato soup. Amazingly, there was still a choice of entrees available when the flight attendant finally made it back to me. With our late 2:30pm departure, some folks must’ve given up and eaten at the airport. I’ve always preferred a hot meal inflight, so I went with the cheeseburger. It was… okay. Next time I'll get the salad.



First Class Cheeseburger with Cream of Potato Soup

Once again I took advantage of the shower facilities at the Newark United Club before heading down to gate 83 where my Seattle bound 757 awaited. Unlike last week when I also flew upon this very same flight, I’d not been upgraded to First Class so I took a moment to stop by the Wok & Roll concession for a plate of rice and bourbon chicken with extra packets of hot mustard. One nice thing about the bourbon chicken is that while it’s certainly flavorful, it’s not a saucy dish and so gives off a fair bit less odor than most of the more traditional entrees.

Once again, Captain Molly Flanagan was in the left hand seat. Who could ever forget such a lyrical Irish name? After a little more than an hour’s delay whilst attempting to repair some unknown “minor” issue, we finally took to the air for the projected five hour and fifty minute flight. I was comfortably ensconced in row 21 where I had seats D, E and F to myself. Due to the delay, the first round of drinks was on United. Following that up with my dinner and a couple more rounds, I was sittin’ pretty in the friendly skies and this near six hour flight flew by in a seemingly much shorter time. We landed in Seattle on a cool, rainy evening – just perfect for a bit of reading followed by a good night’s sleep.


March 15, 2013
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Juneau 750a – 945a 737-400 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Juneau - Anchorage 2:20p - 3:35p 737-400 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Anchorage – Fairbanks 345p – 434p 737-400 Economy Class

Years ago, I would have looked forward to flying back to Fairbanks through Juneau and Anchorage. Indeed, I would probably have even tried to get on the milk run up to Juneau - adding Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg to the mix. Back then, it was all about flying as much as possible, regardless of any miles which weren’t offered anyway. These days, after having spent over 10000 hours aboard over 4600 flights, and especially after having just spent the past fourteen days adding another 77 hours and 32,000 miles to that total, I just want to get home. Besides, in just two weeks I’ll be back down here again with another 108000 miles of flying to look forward to.

In any event, I tried hard to find saver award space on a more direct route between Seattle and Fairbanks but alas, it was not to be. Its spring break for Alaska’s schools and business is brisk into and out of the state. As such I was pretty darned happy to have a seat at all, even though this flight was tagged with a 45 minute delay. No worries – I had a three hour layover scheduled for Juneau so now I had time to pop into the Boardroom, say hi to the girls, have a yogurt and then hit the surprisingly un-crowded Starbucks concession on my way to the gate. By the time I strode onto my Juneau bound 737, I was accompanied by a tall cup of dark roast coffee, a biscotti, two newspapers and the latest issue of The Economist.

Alaska’s Buy On Board menu included a delicious hot breakfast sandwich comprised of eggs, sausage and provolone cheese on sprouted wheat bread with maple butter. The eggs actually looked and tasted like real eggs and overall it was a big upgrade over the previous breakfast sandwiches I’ve had on Alaska.



The best Breakfast Sandwich I’ve ever had in the air

The forecast for Juneau this morning called for snow – lots of it. There was concern amongst both passengers and crew that visibility might be below minimums. It must be pretty snowy then because Alaska’s probably the world’s best equipped airline for dealing with such conditions.

Alaska became the first airline to use the Head-Up Guidance System which enables its planes to land in Category 3 weather such as dense fog. The system uses a head-up display that superimposes a holographic image of the approaching runway on a transparent screen positioned between the pilot and the cockpit windshield. Flight data from the instrument panel also is displayed on the screen.

As if that weren’t enough, Alaska was also the first airline to integrate GPS (Global Positioning System) with the latest in Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) technology. GPS employs a network of 24 orbiting satellites to triangulate a plane's position in three dimensions. EGPWS takes that information, compares it to an onboard computer database of contour maps from around the world, and then continuously updates the pilot on the aircraft's location relative to nearby terrain.

Using GPS and EGPWS, Alaska pioneered Required Navigation Performance (RNP) to fly contoured approaches and departures with pinpoint accuracy into and out of rugged Alaskan airports. Today, RNP technology is used at numerous airports in Alaska and is also spreading to airports in the contiguous states and throughout the world.

So – with all that going for us, I was curious to see what kind of weather might keep us from landing. On second thought however, maybe not. With the clouds being so low and with all the surrounding mountains, I think I’d be more comfortable just hanging out at 15000 feet or higher.

From a passenger’s perspective, our landing in Juneau didn’t seem at all out of the ordinary. We flew north past the airport, did a big sweeping turn and then lined up for the runway. As we dropped below the cloud cover I could see that it was indeed snowing pretty hard but the crew powered us in and put ‘er down just as if it was sunny and 80°.

As we were taxiing into the gate I looked at my watch to note the total flight time and saw that it was 10:45am local time. Who knows why these things come to me but it occurred to me that just 24 hours ago, at 2:45pm EST, I was flying through an entirely different environment. Let’s compare the two, shall we?



March 14 2:45pm EST ~ Just off Florida’s East Coast



March 15 10:45am AST ~ Taxiing into the gate at Juneau, Alaska

What a difference a day makes!

The same storm that was affecting Juneau was also making life difficult down the coast in Wrangell and Petersburg. Alaska 65, the flight I was due to connect to, was sitting in Ketchikan waiting for conditions to improve at WRG and PSG. At present, the estimated time of departure out of KTN was 1:30pm, almost five hours behind schedule. There goes my connection in Anchorage. I got on the free airport Wi-Fi and checked the forecast for the region. Not good. 100% chance of snow in Juneau all day and through tonight. I began to think about where I might stay tonight if I got stuck here.

Truth be known, sure – I was anxious to get home but what the heck – there are worse places to be stuck than Juneau, Alaska. If it came to it, I could get an affordable room and have a pretty nice night in town so, one way or the other, things would work out just fine.

It was about noon when the snow stopped, and by 12:30 there were even a few small patches of blue sky off in the distance. Further good news arrived with the announcement that AS 65 was on its way and was expected to land here in Juneau at 1:37pm. Awright! The way things were going, I might even make my connecting flight out of Anchorage.



March 15 2:05pm AST ~ A nice late winter day in Juneau

As things turned out, I did. AS 65 arrived right on its new time, we loaded up and got outta town with all the alacrity of a Southwest Airlines flight. Because the weather had cleared sufficiently, we didn’t even have to de-ice. One more interesting point – at least on a personal note – was that this was my 25th flight aboard N793AS, the aircraft operating AS 65. Although I’ve logged double digit flights aboard many specific aircraft over the years, there are only a handful upon which I’ve logged more than twenty flights. Ship 793 leads the pack with 25.

Upon arrival in Anchorage we parked right next door to the Fairbanks bound flight. There were about twenty of us making the connection and everything went very smoothly, including baggage transfer. Alaska really shined today – be it flying safely in less than ideal conditions to insuring that connections were met with only a small delay for all concerned parties. Well done, Alaska!

We arrived into Fairbanks – Alaska’s Golden Heart City – on a beautiful late winter afternoon. The skies were clear, the sun was out and the temperature was 28°F. It don’t get much nicer than that this time of year. God, it’s good to be home!

* * * * * * * * *

As to my experiences onboard United – I felt they were generally pretty good. I’ve logged over 1.2 million miles aboard United prior to these most recent flights. There’ve certainly been a lot of changes in United’s overall product over the past eleven years. From where I sit, the hard product has improved immensely with comfortable seats, easier upgrade possibilities and some nice onboard improvements like in more in-seat power outlets and seatback Direct TV. Unfortunately, the soft product in the form of meals has dropped off considerably, but then what U.S. airlines' hasn’t over the past ten years?

As a Premier Platinum level member of Mileage Plus, I’m quite pleased with both the points I’ve earned and the service I’ve received. I realize a lot of people here at FlyerTalk have not enjoyed the same quality of experience that I have – at least not in their minds. I’m a pretty forgiving guy these days for most airline related things. For example, I can’t imagine getting all bent out of shape because the flight attendants never referred to me by name during the flight. They can call me Mr. Magoo for all I care so long as they do their jobs well. As to United’s personnel, be they gate agents or flight attendants, I thought they all did a nice job. No doubt in the coming months I’m sure to encounter a less than stellar employee, but then I’ve encountered them now and then on all airlines - never with enough frequency to absolutely define the airline.

So – over the next nine months I look forward to putting in the miles to maintain my Platinum status for next year and perhaps I’ll even go the extra 25000 miles and go for 1K. Whatever happens, the real prize will be a First Class suite aboard the likes of Lufthansa, Swiss, Asiana or maybe even Singapore. I’m already looking forward to both the flights and the ensuing trip reports.

Thanks for reading along and Happy Contrails!

SPBanker

Wow, awesome!

FlyingDoctorwu

As always Seat2A truly epic...

Your way with words is much more descriptive than any picture...

FDW

want2fly4less

Wow, another epic and fantastic Seat2A trip report.

jv66

Another wonderful TR Seat 2A. The only downer was the relative length of it . Cannot wait for those :-: A first class TRs!

ND76

I enjoyed it too. That's how I'd like to travel; just try to get into F class as much as possible, relax in the lounges, and find a comfy place to sleep in a deserted corner of a gatehouse in an airport.

vecta

Another great read sir, love your way with words.
Keep it up!

HawaiiTrvlr

Another great trip report. That was a whole lot of flying for sure. I live where the old Stapleton used to be. In fact, I live across the street from hanger that has been converted to a TV studio station. I can see the old ATC tower from my yard. Next time you are in Denver, hit me up.

allset2travel

Thanks for another good read!

Congrats for achieving million miler status with AS.
Thanks for sharing a bit of your colorful life.
Most grueling flight schedule even by FT standards.

AKCuisine

Thanks for allowing us to catch a ride on your journey, Seat 2A. And congratulations on passing the Million Mile mark with good ol' Alaska Airlines. Cheers!

gba

Great report Seat 2A ^ I was in F on United 77 on March 4 with you and am sorry I didn't get to hear your stories in-person