Short hair Francis

Thank You offerendum, but if you want my honest opinion.
I prefer the less distributed temples of Bagan over Chichen Itza


EDIT - Have been doing computer migration in the last couple days hence the delay.

Short hair Francis

Part 7 – Back to Normal flying, American Airlines J/Y CUN – JFK/LGA – YYZ

Time to leave the Paradise not so paradise for the Great White North, this time I took advantage of the American Award (North American Gateway Stopover, RIP) and go CUN – JFK – TYO – HKG.
The JL/CX First JFK – TYO – HKG saved for the last legs of course


Nov 20, 2013 – Wednesday
AA 1671 CUN – JFK 3:55pm – 8:45pm (738/J)

I ended up catching a shuttle van at 12:30pm back to Cancun Airport which took about 30 Minutes

Cancun Airport



American Airlines Business Class Check-In


As I was a bit early with no lounge access, time to walk in the concourse for a bit .

Who needs Tijuana, let’s pick up our prescription in Cancun


Sunwing Boeing 737-800, bringing Canadians down South


United Airlines Boeing 737-900ER


US Airways Airbus 321-200


Finally our plane, American Airlines Boeing 737-800



Inbound got in around 3:25pm which left us running around 30 minutes later than scheduled

Just prior to boarding, Mom I want a new toy this new toy for Christmas



*5th flight of the Trip, 12190 Miles Flown
American Airlines 1671
Cancun to New York Kennedy
Scheduled - 3:55pm – 8:45pm, 3 hr 50 mins flight
Delayed Departure – 4:21pm , Late Arrival of Inbound Aircraft
Delayed Arrival – 9:11pm
Business Class, Seat 6B
Food – Dinner
Equipment – Boeing 737-800 (16J/48Y+/96Y) “Non-BSI” Configuration



With not such a full load, boarding finally started at 3:57pm with no gate lice on a Kettle flights?

American Airlines Boeing 737-800 First Class Cabin



American Airlines Boeing 737-800 Economy Class Cabin

*Not for today

American Airlines Boeing 737-800 First Class Seat


Fully Reclined


What happened to the Signature Fugly Red Blanket?


Pre-Departure Beverage


Back ended up very full but front was only 12/16 with the entire Row 6 empty, Jackpot!

Running late, time to leave


3 Hours 15 Minutes flying time up to the New York Metro

At 4:45pm, Our turn off Runway 12R



Part 7 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

Bye Bye Cancun




Takeoff to the East than turning straight north over the Resort Zone








The Captain went through a slower take-off procedure which allowed for great photos.

And probably my finest photos of 2013






Good Night, time for a meal




AA 1671 Dinner

Salad
Mixed Green Salad with Carrots and Tomato on Creamy Dill Dressing

Main Course
Garlic Roasted Steak
Served with white rice and grilled tomato half in chimichurri sauce

Vegetable Gratin
Oven-roasted zucchini, eggplant and carrots with Provençal tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese

Dessert
New York Cheesecake

Writing this report in 2014 just makes me miss the old PM-AA catering and how we had it good in the Aprey and Horton days

The always tiny AA Hot Towel to start.


Hot Nuts



Part 7 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

Drinks up


And tray service dinner


Catering is slightly different than those from of US ports

Salad, Mixed Green Salad with Carrots and Tomato on Creamy Dill Dressing


Main Course, Garlic Roasted Steak
Served with white rice and grilled tomato half in chimichurri sauce


Dessert, New York Cheesecake

*Guess they don’t cater the sludge ice cream from Cancun

Drinks to end.


About time, gimme my Gogo, I need facebook after a 3 hour absence, LOL


New Streaming Entertainment, now this I’ve never noticed on AA before


And around 845pm, we started our descent into JFK near the Gateway area.



Landing at JFK at 9pm, definitely not my regular schedule

*Seriously can’t remember I’m on this pattern and I’m usually ADHD on patterns LOL

A good parking spot of Gate 6 tonight and no lines at the CBP meant I got to the jfkeze hostel in great time.

One overnight crash and it was up to the Why Why Zee land in the morning.


Nov 21, 2013 – Thursday
AA 3628 LGA – YYZ 9:05am – 10:45am (CR7/Y)

My early usual 3628 commute up to Toronto to see people, could be great if we stop changing flight numbers all the time.
This has by far become my most consistent flight of the year.

New York LaGuardia Airport

*Seems one of the spots I’m always in

You can’t see me

*This has also been Dougied since

An early bagel/coffee in the Admiral’s Club and a page for the shuttle ride from D to C and I was at C6 around 8:20am for the obligatory doc check at the gate counter prior to boarding

And welcome to the Dump that is Concourse C

*Vice President, please tear down this disgrace of a World City

American Eagle Canadair CRJ-700



*6th flight of the Trip, 12546 Miles Flown
American Airlines 3628
New York LaGuardia to Toronto Pearson
Scheduled - 9:05am – 10:45am, 1 hr 40 mins flight
On Time Departure – 8:58am
On Time Arrival – 10:42am
Economy Class, Seat 5B
Food – Beverage Service
Equipment – Canadair CRJ-700 (9F/56Y) Operated By American Eagle



*I’m sorry Detroit, but nobody loves you

American Eagle Canadair CRJ-700 Economy Class Cabin


God I love row 5 on this plane, great legroom


Sometime I wonder if I like the (9F/54Y) version or the (9F/56Y) version.
9F/56Y is the newer batch of Eagle CRJ and has a bigger washroom but the Y seatback are way too firm. In retrospect, 9F/54Y has more softer seats because they have been sat on more, BUT that lavatory even at 5’6” is a tight fit. Can’t imagine how a 6’5” person would relieve themselves in there, their arse is probably sticking out the door.

That said, we’re running regular LaGuardia programming on a weekday.
30 minutes from pushback to take-off at 9am, and that’s with clear skies.
Not bad but Good luck on a bad day

Just about at the end of Runway 13.

Welcome to the New American




Part 7 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

Finally rolling off at 9:40am, taking off towards the East around Citi Field then turning Northwest towards Upstate.





I always seem to have great luck of capturing the New York Skyline from my Eagle flying, today was no exception









Either take-off from Runway 13 or 31 and I get great snaps.

And with the ExecPlat amenity of free snacks in Economy, virtually no difference between First and Economy (Row 5) especially with no neighbor.

The not so healthy breakfast


3628 started descent around 10:25am over Lake Ontario and into gloomy YYZ.




Ya ya, Skyline not comparable to New York

Flying over Highway 427 and landing on Runway 24L at 10:33am

*Eh, where’s the snow, 45 degrees Fahrenheit in Nov?!?

Twin Color American Eagle paints


Time to catch up a bit with friends, god I need to spend more than 1 day each time back…

Next Part
Part 8 – Talk about a Crazy Reroute, AA F/Y YYZ – MIA – DCA

LH4116

Nice continuation of the report Short Hair Francis!

I'm always really impressed with the Hyatt Properties, all look so fancy with that big Atrium… As a loyalist of Club Carlson and AirBnB I should really up my game when it comes to accommodation, but then again I often times chose to cheap out on that in favour of flying in the pointy end. It's too bad about the little incident with the suite upgrade, and I would have been really frustrated if that happened to me. Hope Hyatt gave you some compensation for that!

American Airlines does look quite luxurious compared to Uninental, especially considering that they actually bother to serve up a proper meal. Though I agree with you that the old meal concept looks much nicer than the TV-dinners they serve up today. How comes you weren't able to use the lounge in Cancun?

Oh and also why didn't you get upgraded on the CRJ? I guess it doesn't really matter much anyway since it's just 1hr flight and the snacks being free, but still.

Looking forward to the rest!

Short hair Francis

Hyatt usually is pretty good but this was one of the worst ones I've seen.
No more Suite upgrades for me coming up

Sadly the new American is falling to the standards of Uninental.
American doesn't have a lounge contract in Cancun, only Priority pass which sadly I don't have.

CRJ was part of an Avios tickets.

I did AA miles CUN - JFK (stop) - TYO - HKG
BA Avios LGA - YYZ
AA paid YYZ - MIA - DCA - JFK

Short hair Francis

Part 8 – Talk about a Crazy Reroute, AA F/Y YYZ – MIA – DCA


After a full 28 hrs or so to catch up with the YYZ peeps, it was time to head down to DC.
With AA’s 75 dollar confirmed flight change, I was luckily able to change myself to go via Miami since the weather in NYC that day wasn’t looking too great.

Nov 22, 2013 – Friday
AA 1485 YYZ – MIA 2:40pm – 6:05pm (738/Y)
AA 1261 MIA – DCA 7:50pm – 10:15pm (738/F)

An early drop-off of the rental at 11am, got a Jetta this time.

Toronto Pearson Airport Terminal 3


American Airlines Check-In


Back into the home club, Toronto Pearson Admiral’s Club








Not the greatest of decorated décor, but it’s quite the heaven during the holiday season with kettles galore.
Say hello to AC Angel Ralph next time you’re by there!

And at 2pm, I made my way to gate A12 for boarding.
When I CFCed day of departure, there was 1 open F seat remaining.
Sadly someone bought that seat within 4 hours of departure.
Oh well, can’t win them all.

*7th flight of the Trip, 13778 Miles Flown
American Airlines 1485
Toronto Pearson to Miami Int’l
Scheduled - 2:40pm – 6:05pm, 3 hr 25 mins flight
On Time Departure – 2:36pm
On Time Arrival – 5:36am
Economy Class, Seat 15D
Food – Food For Purchase
Equipment – Boeing 737-800 (16F/48Y+/86Y) “BSI” Configuration



Boarding right on schedule at 2:10pm.

American Airlines Boeing 737-800 Economy Class “BSI” Cabin


I know it’s not Row 15, 2 girls (AA Plts) came right after me across the aisle.


Flight was relatively full, 15E/15F got picked up by 2 people who bought up Main Cabin Extra for the extra leg room.

And door closed at 2:36pm, for the 2 Hours 51 Minutes flight down to Miami.

Overall not many thoughts on this flights, seat neighbors were fine.
No armrest problems and Exit legroom was also non-issue.

Luckily the Old American treated EXPs in the back pretty well.
Like flying economy in the earlier days, free drinks and comped food.

Yes I was running out of room on my tray table.

Snack, Roast Beef Sandwich with Gardiniera Leaf Lettuce, Jalapeno Hvarti and Cheese Horseradish Mayo with Chips pack



An uneventful flight, yes uneventful, it’s not easy to make an US economy flight look eventful unless it’s filled with bad news right

And around 5:10pm we started our descent just pass West Palm Beach.

And finally got to the gate at 5:36pm, a 10 minute Airtrain ride later and I was at the D15 club for a little while.


Part 8 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

The 2nd leg was where I was a little scared. Going back to the CFC issue, Toronto – Miami – DC is hardly a normal routing except in the most crappy irrop situation and mine wasn’t.

I guess SABRE is smart enough to know, what in god’s name are you doing???
If you are familiar with the AA blue stock boarding pass, there is a white box in the bottom middle section where it will list your ticket number.

Guess what happened for my bp, the box was blank. Even conferring with jfkeze and SFO777, let’s just say I pissed off the gods!!!


*8th flight of the Trip, 14699 Miles Flown
American Airlines 1261
Miami Int’l to Washington Reagan
Scheduled - 7:50pm – 10:15pm, 2 hr 25 mins flight
On Time Departure – 7:43pm
On Time Arrival – 10:06pm
First Class, Seat 6F
Food – Dinner
Equipment – Boeing 737-800 (16F/48Y+/86Y) “Non-BSI” Configuration



Boarding started 7:20pm at Gate D19, I’ve still never used the D40-50s gate at MIA nor the Eagle E60 gates. Nah, I’m probably not missing too much out there anyway.

Again with the last minute CFC, only window First seat were available. Still it beats Row 15 after a 3 hr flight. You definitely miss those First Class upgrades

American Airlines Boeing 737-800 First Class “Non-BSI” Cabin


American Airlines Boeing 737-800 First Class Seat

*40 inch seat pitch on Domestic, can’t complain!

Pre-Departure Beverage of Water or Juice


Just a quick rain shower outside during boarding


Now here was a bet I had with jfkeze, who would be getting to our hotel, Hyatt Regency Crystal City first.
He left the NYC office at 530pm via Megabus, while I was doing a tour of the US East Coast and leaving Miami at 750pm.

Luckily gogo is always a good option for updating each other!

Full Thursday night flight but door closed at 7:43pm and push back at 7:48pm.
A quick 2 Hours 3 Minutes up to Washington Reagan, awaiting temperature at DC, 57 degrees and rain.
We would be wishing that was the temperature for the weekend.



A long taxi down to Runway 9R and take-off at 8:00pm from Miami

I know, my camera doesn’t take the greatest night take-off photos




Crew quickly jumped into action once we were above the clouds

AA 1261 Dinner

Salad
Caesar Salad served on Romaine Lettuce, Tomato Slice with Parmesan Cheese and Caesar Dressing

Main Course
Dijon Crested Chicken
Served with Port Wine Sauce, roasted potatoes, and green and yellow bean sauté

Cheese Tortellini
With spinach and pesto cream sauce

Dessert
Carrot Cake


Hot Nuts to start


Tray Dinner, god I miss PmAA quality catering


Salad, Caesar Salad


Main Course, Dijon Crested Chicken
Served with Port Wine Sauce, roasted potatoes, and green and yellow bean sauté


Pretty juicy too


Dessert, Carrot Cake


Just some gogo for the rest of the flight to make sure jfkeze and our schedules were good and we started our descent at 9:40pm into Washington Reagan.

But first flying over a lot of Clouds and rain first


Clearing up a bit over Northern Virginia


And finally at the gate at 10:06pm


Get to YYZ at 11am, and get to DCA at 10pm!
Ha, driving probably would’ve been faster but think of the miles!!!
Now where is jfkeze LOL

Next Part
Part 9 – Dulles, Northern Virginia, A Flying Enthusiast’s Paradise

arlflyer

Carrot cake looks good. I just love seeing any dessert on AA that isn't cookies - new, old, whatever, I'm sick of them all! Thumbs up for cake ^

LH4116

Damn the Pre-merger AA catering looks SO much better than the crap they're serving today. And it's quite sad to see that even on long haul the catering has gone downhill.

How comes you couldn't get an upgrade on the first flight?

Short hair Francis

I miss the cookies, the bake on board ones and not the supermarket ones nowaday.

Been resorting to cookie monster tactic and packing some from the Admiral's Club for flight.

Still the old Goblet "Made-to-Order" Ice Cream sundae were the best.


Now you see why I've been calling it the Dougie Diet.

worldtraveller73

Wow - those United Clubs in Guam and Hawaii are akin to stepping back into a time warp. They are nothing like the ones on the mainland.

Guam looked quite interesting. Worthy of a trip or a stopover one day. . .

Short hair Francis

Sorry for the late reply WT73, time warp?
Haha, looks like they come back from the Mid 80s, before I was born anyway LOL

Guam, I did like it, was a place to spend a day or two lying on the beach or exploring the islands.
Just expect US pricing though

Short hair Francis

Sorry for the huge delay, I've been on the lack of a better term all over the place.
Too much flying and the old SHF is back on Heavy Flying in Q1/Q2.

Will have the next section up very shortly!