Seat 2A

PRELUDE

This is Part II of my Autumn travels Trip Report. This part of the trip involves numerous roundtrips flying the same DEN-SEA-ORD-MIA routing over and over again. Remember that movie Groundhog Day? Okay, okay - There is that Northwest/Continental trip out to Ft. Myers and back and some of the return flights from Miami to Seattle are on Alaska’s transcon nonstop, all of them in First Class. And just to spice it up a little bit, I’m flying up to Alaska for Thanksgiving. Then it’s back to Florida a couple of more times before I drive out to Las Vegas for three straight roundtrips on the $104.00 roundtrip special to Hartford. And then I’m finally done with this 108 flight Mega-Mileage Run. Grounded until Spring.

What’s to be gained from reading any of this? Oh, I suppose a bit of a sense of what it is like to be on a Mileage Run of this magnitude. And I reckon I might toss in a couple of insightful comments and memories now and then. Realistically, this is a story about flying, not traveling. It’s for those a five or six folk who, after reading Part I indicated that they were actually looking forward to Part II. It’s for that loony fringe element of FlyerTalk that actually enjoys flying every bit as much as they enjoy traveling and/or accumulating miles. Other than that, I actually enjoy writing about all this while cruising along 33,000 feet above South Dakota. It gives me something to do during long flights and layovers. The trick will be trying to find a way to write about such repetitive flights and routes in a halfway interesting way. I’ll get to read it again some dark and stormy night and enjoy reliving the trip. In the meantime, for those of you hard core Trip Report readers out there, enjoy!


*** ***** ***

November 1, 2004

The first winter storm of the season arrived in Denver Sunday evening bringing wind, snow and colder temperatures. On Monday evening the skies cleared and the temperature dropped even lower. It got down to 22º F according to the next morning’s news. My sleeping bag is rated to 0º F, so I was plenty comfortable in the back of my truck. Sleeping on top of a blanket covered mattress, I normally just throw my bag on top of me, like a big quilt. I keep another equally rated bag back there just in case but thankfully never needed it. For the record, the coldest night I ever spent in the back of my truck was about –10ºF outside of Watson Lake in the Yukon Territory. I only had my one bag back then.

The real problem I faced this evening was finding a decent, albeit legal place to park for the night. DIA is located about 20 miles from Denver and aside from farmland and a couple of desperate and forlorn looking housing tracts, there’s not a lot out there. At the Airport Road exit off Interstate 70 are a couple of hotels, some warehouses and a couple of gas stations, one of which is a truck stop. The non semi-truck section of the truck stop was very clearly signed “NO LOITERING or OVERNIGHT PARKING”. Aside from truck drivers, who would want to loiter or park overnight in a truck stop?! Oh yeah, prostitutes and serial killers. And me. Still, all that signage was intimidating and so I discretely eased into a remote corner of the Courtyard by Marriott parking lot and hoped that Security would decide it was too cold to go out inspecting the cars. Perhaps it was for I slept undisturbed through the night.


November 02, 2004
DEN-DTW NORTHWEST A320-200 N365NW First Class 755a – 1243p * Breakfast
DTW-IAH NORTHWEST A319-100 N343NB First Class 333p – 533p
IAH-RSW CONTINENTAL 737-800 N17245 Coach Class 655p – 1019p * Snack
TOTAL MILES FLOWN: 3060 * TOTAL MILES EARNED: 5260

With only two exceptions, all of my upcoming flights from Denver depart at 7:20am. Today’s departure to Detroit is one of the exceptions. It departs at 7:55am, so I get to “sleep in”. Oh boy! I set my alarm clock for 6:00 instead of 5:30. With so many early morning wake-up calls to look forward to, I decided to purchase a back-up alarm clock. Just in case. Then I went and promptly misplaced my original alarm clock.

Thanks to the recent switch from Daylight Savings Time, we now have light in the sky at 6:00am. I awoke to a beautiful morning, crisp and clear. After changing into a fresh pair of jeans and my new Stafford Oxford shirt (which I scored at a thrift shop yesterday for just $2.50!) I grabbed a cup of coffee and sped over to PCA Parking, located on 56th Avenue just a mile east of Tower Rd. They were offering a coupon special parking rate of just $4.50 per day, mere peanuts compared to the prices in most major cities. I found them by going to longtermparking.com, a great site with links to discounted parking at airports all over America. They advertise shuttle service every five minutes though from all the shuttle vans I saw coursing through the giant lot, that frequency might be even less than five minutes. At least in the early morning hours.

DIA’s two main security checkpoints have First Class and Elite lanes. They were deserted and I was on my way out to gate C-36 minutes later. Awaiting me was N365NW, one of the newer A320s in Northwest’s sizeable collection of the type. A pair of A319s heading to Minneapolis and Memphis flanked us on either side. Both were painted in the new silvery NWA livery while my relatively youthful A320 still wore the old “bowling shoe” livery. Surprisingly, despite having flown Northwest a good forty to fifty times since the new livery was introduced, I have yet to fly upon one of the newly painted jets. That’s alright – I like the old colors better.

Takeoff was to the north and as we climbed smoothly away from DIA, I got a better perspective on the width and breadth of the recent storm. Seemingly all of eastern Colorado and much of western Nebraska and Kansas was blanketed in snow. The Denver area only got about three inches of snow, most of which had melted off quickly. Interstate 70 was closed to the Kansas border much of yesterday and now I could see why.

I’d already decided before boarding that if offered a choice between eggs and cereal, I was going to go with the healthy choice for once and have the cereal. Surprise! Despite this being a 1,120 mile two and a half hour flight, the breakfast service was limited to just one choice, the cereal. Just for fun, here are the breakfast offerings in fancy Cathay Pacific style menu format:


Denver to Detroit

BREAKFAST

Juice Selection

Appetizer
Fresh Banana
Non Fat Strawberry Flavored Yogurt

Main Course
Rice Krispies

Accompaniments
Quaker Oat Moist Granola Bar

Bread Basket
Plain Bagel served with Cream Cheese

Tea and Coffee


It was actually a fairly decent breakfast, marred only by the absence of a fruit plate. A banana is all well and good but I miss my citrus, melon and strawberries.

Out my window the skies remained clear and I watched with interest as we followed the course of the Platte River flowing east-northeast through Nebraska toward a rendezvous with the mighty Missouri. I was really looking forward to seeing the confluence from 35,000 feet but clouds quickly gathered and deprived me of this view.

Drowning my disappointment in another cup of Northwest’s fairly decent Caravali Coffee, I closed my window shades and set to work on this report.

The descent into Detroit was pretty bumpy and when we landed, it was a gray and rainy day. I headed immediately for the sanctuary of Northwest’s WorldClub where I indulged in a coffee and Bailey’s.

My flight down to Houston was fairly full and especially popular in First Class. Thankfully Northwest has seen fit to outfit its little A319s with sixteen First Class seats. Despite being on the waitlist with two ahead of me, I cleared at the gate and was issued a window seat in Row 1. Somebody up there likes me!

Although we pushed back pretty close to on time, it seemed like we taxied out to the Wayne County line before we finally took to the skies at near 4:00pm. Up, up and away we sped and before long we were climbing above the cloud cover and into bright sunlight. This has always been one of my favorite parts of flying on cloudy or rainy days; the casting off of our gloomy earthly bonds and the emergence into the light and beautiful world above the clouds. I celebrated my last minute upgrade and improved vista with a nicely chilled James Page Lager, accompanied by a packet of Northwest’s delicious nut mix. I know many FTers have raved about Northwest’s Spinzels but I’m just not much of a pretzel fan except for the big hot ones with mustard that they sell on the street in Manhattan. Those mixed nuts sure are good though.

To avoid the rougher air below, our Captain took us all the way up to 39,000 feet. The one thing he couldn’t avoid was headwinds reaching velocities of 110 knots. Even so, once we reached cruising altitude the flight was surprisingly smooth and so I reclined my seat and snuck in a bit of a nap.

Because of the headwinds, we didn’t land in Houston until 6:10pm, almost forty minutes late. My onwards flight to Ft. Myers wasn’t due to depart until 7:00pm so normally this late arrival wouldn’t have been cause for concern. Tonight however we were directed to land on some runway out near Galveston and then taxi the rest of the way in. I’ve flown on flights shorter than the amount of time it took us to taxi in to our gate. Since the captain had warned us in advance of this remote landing, I set my stopwatch to time the taxi in. 12 minutes and 52 seconds. Flight time between Wrangell and Petersburg, Alaska is about 9 minutes. It’s even shorter between Lanai and Molokai. In any event, I had no time to visit one of the many Presidents Clubs at IAH and instead had to hoof it on over to my departure gate post haste.

Although my pocket flight guide indicated that this flight into Ft. Myers was to be operated with a 737-900, I was happy to find that a 737-800 was instead doing the honors. The only –800s I’d ever flown thus far have been on American and SAS, so I was looking forward to checking out the layout on Continental’s version. Despite the flight’s being in the final boarding process by the time that I arrived, I was still able to exchange my 31” pitch aisle seat at row 26 for a non-reclining exit row window. Is this my lucky day or what?!

It had been a couple of years since I’d last flown Continental, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the level of service. There was plenty of inflight entertainment available, both in music and video. And, despite this being only an hour and fifty-minute flight, there was even a meal service in Economy. The Flight Attendants announced the Main Cabin meal service as a dinner but realistically it was more of a snack. Here now, in dinner menu format, is a breakdown of the offerings:


DINNER

Appetizer
Baby Carrots, presented in a plastic bag

Main Course

Miniature Turkey Sandwich
Served on a little roll with a piece of lettuce

Condiment
A packet of Helleman’s Lite Mayonnaise

Dessert
A “fun size” packet of M & Ms


Dinner, snack, Bistro Box - whatever you want to call it, I was just happy that any food was served. There’d been no meal served on the flight down from Detroit and in my rush through the Houston airport I didn’t have time to stop and purchase any food.

Our arrival at Fort Myers International Airport (It used to be called Regional Southwest Airport, thus the RSW city code) was right on time. I hadn’t flown into RSW since 1986 and was surprised to see all the major airlines represented on the tarmac. There was even an aging Delta 767-200 in town! Back in 1986, the surrounding community didn’t warrant any wide-bodied service.

With no baggage to claim, I found a fairly quiet area over near the car rental counters and set up camp for the night. A police officer strolled by and assured me that there’d be no problem with either staying in the airport overnight or my location. I read a few pages of Robert K. Tanenbaum’s latest thriller and called it a night around midnight.

Seat 2A

November 03, 2004
RSW-IAH CONTINENTAL 737-800 N17245 Coach Class 650a – 809a
IAH-DTW NORTHWEST A319-100 N331NB First Class 900a – 1239p * Breakfast
DTW-MSP NORTHWEST A320-200 N317US Coach Class 316p – 408p
MSP-DEN NORTHWEST A320-200 N328US Coach Class 449p – 545p
TOTAL MILES FLOWN: 3160 * TOTAL MILES EARNED: 5460


Although I don’t like getting up at 5:45am, I sure do enjoy being up in the early morning. Years ago the only way I would have ever been up so early were if I had not yet gone to bed. These days I value my sleep and employ a $5.00 battery powered alarm clock for those early morning wake-up calls.

Back in Colorado it was 3:45am but having just recently spent an entire week in Florida I’d not completely adjusted from the Eastern time zone. The reality is I’m running around between so many different time zones that my body’s probably more adapted to somewhere between the Central and Mountain time zones. Or maybe the Twilight Zone. Regardless, I’ve always liked mornings more than evenings and today those of us who didn’t have our noses buried in the election returns were treated to a gorgeous South Florida sunrise.

Before boarding this flight, I mailed postcards off to two friends who aren’t currently aware of my travel plans. Starting today and continuing through tomorrow, I’ll be mailing them a postcard from each airport I pass through. This should confuse them to no end in consideration of my itinerary for today and tomorrow:

Today: Ft. Myers to Houston to Detroit to Minneapolis to Denver
Tomorrow: Denver to Seattle to Chicago to Miami

Just another couple of days in the life of your friendly neighborhood Mileage Runner.

Compared to last night’s bountiful “dinner” offerings, the Coach Class breakfast selection for this morning’s flight back to Houston was comparatively meager. After coffee and beverages were dispensed, we were each given a single packaged blueberry muffin measuring no more than two inches across the top. It was more cute than filling but otherwise tasty enough.

I considered getting a bite to eat in Houston but decided to wait and see if my upgrade cleared for the breakfast flight up to Detroit. Amazingly, despite there being only two open seats, I did indeed clear the waitlist. Thank you, Northwest! With my new boarding pass firmly in hand, I loped down the jetway and sank into seat 1A. Soon I was sipping hot coffee and listening to my seatmate snore as we pushed back and headed for the runway.

The meal service took awhile in developing, but when it finally did – about 45 minutes into the flight – we were offered the following hot breakfast:


Houston to Detroit

BREAKFAST

Juice Selection

Appetizer
Fruit Plate

Main Course
Scrambled Eggs accompanied by Potatoes O’Brien and Turkey Sausage Links

Bread Basket
Plain Bagel served with Cream Cheese

Tea and Coffee


Not surprisingly, Northwest appears to tailor its catering to whatever level the competition sets. I suspect since Continental offers a hot breakfast option to its First Class clientele on this route, so too does Northwest. By contrast, Northwest offers the only nonstops on the longer Denver and Detroit route, so the meal service is commensurate with the lack of competition, thus the cereal only option.

Those desiring a lighter breakfast could indulge themselves with a bowl of Cheerios and a banana. I went with the hot meal and was particularly impressed with the accompanying fruit plate, which consisted of pineapple, cantaloupe, orange, kiwifruit and a strawberry. If only I could order just a big bowl of fruit for my breakfast! I remember back in the mid-eighties that
United used to offer superb fruit plate breakfasts that could be special ordered in advance. Perhaps the nicest fruit plate I ever had was flying a short Denver to Salt Lake City flight with Western Airlines back in the early eighties. Those of us fortunate to be sat in the forward cabin were presented with a veritable bounty of fresh fruits accompanied by warmed Danish pastries and croissants, freshly warmed from the oven.

It was back to steerage on the Detroit to Minneapolis flight, but the WorldClub receptionist in Detroit raised my spirits when she informed me that I was second on the upgrade list for the flight into Denver. Unfortunately, by the time I’d arrived in Minneapolis an eleventh hour glut of Northwest Golds and Plats combined to overwhelmingly swamp my upgrade aspirations, meager though they were based upon my Alaska MVP Gold status.

Oh well. I still had one of the best seats in Coach in my bulkhead aisle. Lots of legroom and an excellent vantage point to observe the goings on in the forward cabin. As you might imagine, I
watched with envy as the folks up front were offered a choice of:

Asian Chicken Salad
or
Roast Beef and Cheddar Sandwich

Both entrees were accompanied by a fruit plate and a nice sized slab of cheesecake. I sipped on my Coke and munched Spinzels while taking a measure of consolation in the knowledge that tomorrow I held confirmed First Class seats from Denver to Seattle and on to Chicago.

In Denver I picked up my trusty Mazda and sped off to the nearby Flying J Truck Stop where laundry machines and a shower awaited me. Along the way, I also found an excellent place to park overnight that should work out quite nicely for the remainder of this trip. Things are falling into place and the mileage continues to accumulate in impressive amounts. I’ve now earned 137,610 miles since this trip began.

Seat 2A

November 04, 2004
DEN-SEA ALASKA 737-400 N767AS First Class 720a – 925a * Breakfast
SEA-ORD ALASKA 737-900 N307AS First Class 1100a – 455p * Lunch
TOTAL MILES FLOWN: 2740 * TOTAL MILES EARNED: 5480

Once upon a time, Alaska Airlines’ flights departed from DIA’s Concourse A. I liked this because Continental’s President’s Club was located on the 3rd Floor Mezzanine, just above Alaska’s gate. The Denver Presidents Club was designed for the hub operation that Continental once ran out of Denver. It’s a huge facility that’s never been fully utilized because Continental pulled the plug on its Denver hub just before DIA opened. Although half of the original club has now been leased to British Airways for its First and Business Class lounge, the half that Continental kept is still one of the nicest facilities in Continental’s system.

About a year ago Alaska relocated its gates to Concourse C. Fellow Mileage Plan partners American, Delta and Northwest also operate from there. As a result, I now do most of my lounging at Delta’s Crown Room Club. It’s a nice facility, though nowhere near as grand as Continental’s. As for morning munchies, there were no bagels or breakfast pastries, only crunchy Granola Bars. I wolfed down a granola bar with a cup of coffee, then headed down to my flight.

Only eight of twelve seats were taken in First Class and I was thankful to have one of the empty ones next to me. We took off to the West, made a slight adjustment to the Northwest, and then pretty much flew a straight line up to Seattle. It was a fine day for flying and passengers on both sides of the aircraft were treated to excellent views of Colorado’s Rockies, Wyoming’s Wind River Range, Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains and finally Washington’s Cascades, highlighted by a superb fly-by of Mt. Rainier.

Along the way, Alaska served us a hot breakfast. There were no choices given, just a single offering of what was described as a fritatta but looked and tasted more like a Quiche Lorraine. We were presented a tray plated with a single large wedge of Quiche accompanied on the same plate by an orange section, a chunk of pineapple and a strawberry. What it lacked in presentation, it more than made up for in flavor. Delicious! The only thing missing was some form of breakfast bread such as a scone or a muffin. Otherwise, I thought this was a pretty good breakfast.

We made our approach into SeaTac from the north and in the process I got to time how long it took us to get from downtown Seattle to the airport. I mean, how many of you Northwesterners have ever been stuck in traffic on I-5 while trying to get to or from the airport? How many of you have ever seen all those airplanes on final to SeaTac and wondered how much time it takes them to get there? None of you? Well, just for the record, I timed it at 4 minutes and 13 seconds.

I checked the TV monitors in the concourse and discovered that my onward flight to Chicago was running an hour late. No problem. I’ll just stop by the Boardroom, have some coffee and use the extra time to bring this report up to date. On the way there, I heard my name called and lo and behold, there were Tom and Ellen, a couple of friends from Alaska on their way to Montana. Tom’s got a couple thousand acre ranch up near Sweetwater, right below the Canadian border. It turns out they’re renting a cabin just over the ridge from mine so we made plans to get together when I head back up to Fairbanks in three weeks.

In the Boardroom, I noticed that my Chicago flight had now been pushed back to a 12:25pm departure – almost an hour and a half late. No way I was going to make my connecting flight down to Miami now. I called American and got rebooked on a later flight. Simple enough, n’est pas? I was later to find out that that quite the opposite was true.

I arrived at the gate to find that a 737-900 had been substituted for the scheduled –400. Great! More legroom in First Class! We took off into a clear Washington sky and almost immediately encountered turbulence that would stay with us until we were most of the way across Montana. It was annoyingly bumpy and I didn’t envy Tom and Ellen flying out to Great Falls in that little Dash 8.

This was my first time flying Alaska’s “new” Seattle to Chicago service and of course I was curious as to what sort of meal service was planned for the First Class cabin. It’s a three and a half-hour, 1,730 mile flight between the two cities and I expected the catering to be on a par with Alaska’s Seattle – Anchorage flights. This was a luncheon flight however, and given the quality of competitor American’s long distance First Class catering, Alaska’s standard SEA – ANC luncheon offering of either a sandwich or a salad just wouldn’t cut it.

Here are the First Class luncheon offerings for this flight:


Seattle to Chicago

LUNCHEON

To Begin
Hearts of Romaine with diced tomatoes, shredded Parmesan cheese and a pepperoncini.
Herb vinaigrette dressing

Main Course

Oriental Noodles with Sliced Chicken
Flavored with Teriyaki Sauce and served with stirfried vegetables

Roast Pork Loin with Sour Cherry Sauce
Accompanied by Tuscan mashed potatoes and buttered broccoli florets

** ***** **

Dessert
Midnight Madness Silk Pie




Meanwhile, back in steerage, the choices were announced as

Chicken and Rice
or
Beef Casserole with Mashed Potatoes


Our Flight Attendant was not provided with the usual catering sheet that has descriptions of the meal. As a result she was forced to improvise and so we were offered a choice of Sweet and Sour Chicken or Pork.

“How’s the pork prepared?” I asked.
“Uh, it’s a tenderloin with mashed potatoes.” was the reply.
“What about the chicken?”
“It’s served on noodles.”

When I think of “noodles”, I usually envision macaroni or shell noodles. This didn’t sound very appetizing, so I went with the pork while seatmate went with the chicken. I should note here that seatmate was engrossed in the latest Harry Potter movie, as seen on her Digi-Player which she kept on her seat table throughout the meal. Between making room for the player and the food tray she had quite a balancing act going as she ate.

As for the food, while my pork tenderloin was pretty good, I thought the Teriyaki Chicken looked to be the better, and more filling entrée. Whereas I only got a smidgen of mashed potatoes and three little broccoli florets, the chicken entrée consisted of four or five big slices of chicken breast served atop a mountain of Oriental noodles. As if this weren’t enough, some snow peas and red peppers were tossed on the side. I’ll be choosing this entrée next time it’s offered.

A little while after the meal was completed, a guy wandered up from Coach to use the forward lavatory and was sent back to Economy despite the fact that the forward lav was unoccupied at the time. He didn’t take well to this and began to argue the merits of his case with the Flight Attendant. She’d have none of it however. She pointed out that the coach aisles were free of carts and after politely entertaining his entreaties for a bit, adopted a sterner tone and sent him packing.

For sure these new regulations prohibiting Coach passengers from using the First Class lavatories must have been a difficult pill to swallow for the many Coach passengers who got used to traipsing through the First Class cabin whenever they liked. Having spent many years behind the curtain back in the seventies when Coach passengers were not allowed past the curtain for any reason, I’ve always believed that the First Class cabin and facilities should be available only to those actually traveling in First Class. To this end I had an interesting back and forth a couple of years ago with some of the folks over at FlyerTalk’s Alaska Airlines forum. Many of them did not see any sense in Coach passengers not being allowed to use the First Class lavs, particularly if they were seated in the forward part of the Coach cabin or if the beverage cart were in the aisle. I’ve always maintained that the ambience of the First Class cabin, especially when marketed as quieter and more luxurious was not well served by the constant intrusion of Coach passengers wandering through the cabin on their way to the lavatories. Many people disagreed, some quite strongly, and to this day I am perhaps still seen by some over at the Alaska forum as a bit of an elitist villain (Or total nerd) in serious need of a life for even taking a stand on such a frivolous issue. Oh well. Perhaps it’s my dark side that likes a bit of rabble rousing because I kind of got a kick out of the occasionally contentious repartee. Demagoguery holds no great appeal to me and to this day I remain thoroughly non-repentant in my views on this subject. Just as people who’ve bought $10.00 tickets to a baseball game shouldn’t be allowed to hang out and watch the game while standing around in the $75.00 a seat section, so too should Coach passengers not be allowed into First Class. Too bad that the reason they’re not allowed forward now has nothing to do with proper service standards but rather is the result of yet another mindless post 9-11 regulation designed to keep us safer.

Upon arrival at O’Hare, I checked at the podium to see about getting a boarding pass issued for my new flight down to Miami. The one I’d called about and confirmed from Seattle earlier in the day. The agent located my record, typed in a few entries, looked a bit perplexed, typed in some more entries, then solicited the assistance of a nearby supervisor.

“Is there a problem?” I asked.

Indeed there was. Although I had been rebooked on the 8:06pm flight to Miami, my original flight to Miami was never cancelled and so when I didn’t show up for that flight, the computerized reservations system automatically figured that I wouldn’t make any of my other flights. It cancelled all my downline flights, including my seat on the 8:06pm departure. Further complicating matters was the fact that the 8:06pm flight was now sold out.

No problem, Mr. Parks! We’ll just rebook you on tomorrow morning’s flight and since the error is ours, we’ll put you up in a hotel here in Chicago for the evening. This was great news since my original plans had me camping out in the Miami airport for the night. I was given a voucher and soon was relaxing in a comfortable room at the Wyndham – O’Hare. The hotel was located out on Mannheim Road, not far from the Rosemont Horizon. I knew this neighborhood well for back in 1989 me and about 5000 other people spent three nights camped in the Rosemont Horizon parking lot while the Grateful Dead were in town for a three night gig.

Worthy of note: The Wyndham’s Room Service menu offered a hamburger and fries for $9.95 plus tax, plus a 19% gratuity and a $2.50 cent delivery fee. All told, this would bring the cost of that hamburger to about $15.00.


November 5, 2005
ORD-MIA AMERICAN DC-9-80 N558AA Coach Class 818a – 1225p
TOTAL MILES FLOWN: 1200 * TOTAL MILES EARNED: 2400

It’s a good thing I brought my own alarm clock and set it as a back up because my 6:30am wake up call never happened. The 7:00am van was right on time though and by 7:30 I was checked in and chowing down on a pair of McDonald’s Egg McMuffins, the finest fast food breakfast sandwich ever created and the only food item I really like at McDonalds.

As for the flight, there’s not much to report. My seatmates were a couple of good looking (in a very urban kind of way) young ladies who, when they weren’t chatting excitedly with eachother, spent the rest of their time reading celebrity gossip magazines. Ohmygod! Look at those pants! Lots of giggles. I enjoyed two cups of coffee and an oatmeal bar before turning to my book for the remainder of the flight.

With no baggage to claim, I picked up my full sized Alamo rental car and sped off into the Everglades for a night with old friends from Denali.

Seat 2A

November 06, 2004
MIA-DFW AMERICAN 737-800 N968AN Coach Class 1147a – 152p
DFW-SEA AMERICAN DC-9-80 N9615W Coach Class 239p – 454p * Snack
SEA-DEN ALASKA 737-400 N764AS First Class 618p – 950p * Snack
TOTAL MILES FLOWN: 3800 * TOTAL MILES EARNED: 7600

Today’s flight over to Dallas was scheduled to depart from Gate E-4. Hey, great! There’s a Club America Lounge at the head of that concourse. I really like these Club America lounges. They’re comfortable and spacious, offer basic beverages, booze and snacks, and have free Internet access either via their own computer or your wireless or Ethernet connection. With a little over an hour before my departure time, I set right to work booking three more roundtrips on American. Here’s why:

I’ve been using American Airlines for most of my Mileage Runs this year. In conjunction with Alaska Airlines codeshare flights, AA offers me the best routings and thus mileage earning possibilities. While I’ve had excellent success in upgrading my codeshared Alaska Airlines segments, I’m unable to upgrade any of my flights on American because I am not an AAdvantage member. That ended as of today. I’ve decided that I’m tired of having to sit back in Coach whenever I fly American and watch all that nice service the folks up in First Class are receiving. As such, I’ve decided to accept American’s Platinum Challenge. Fly just 10,000 miles before the end of the year and become a Platinum AAdvantage member. I enrolled in the AAdvantage program, signed up for the challenge and booked myself three tickets on the $104.00 roundtrip special between Las Vegas and Hartford. All taxes included, these tickets priced out at about $145.00 each on average.

As you might imagine, the $145.00 tickets are considered deeply discounted fares and so only count for half of their actual mileage towards the 10,000 miles needed to complete the challenge. As such, I needed to find a way stretch those three Las Vegas to Hartford roundtrips into just over 20,000 miles. With routing possibilities from Las Vegas via LAX, SJC or LAX and then across the US via ORD or DFW, this was not a problem. Of course, this means I will have to drive out to Las Vegas and then hop on another twenty-one flights zipping back and forth across the country. Again, no problem. I like this stuff, remember?

The line at the E Concourse security checkpoint was surprisingly long and with only thirty minutes to go before my departure, I was beginning to get mildly concerned. Thankfully, the Miami TSA folks do a good job of identifying and expediting those passengers who’s flights are departing soon. I’ve been the beneficiary of this service on a couple of occasions now and again, am most appreciative of it.

In Dallas, I had to ride the train from the A Concourse over to the C Concourse. This train runs at about the speed of a children’s amusement park trolley and I’m not entirely convinced that I couldn’t have walked between the terminals faster. If you’ve a tight inter-terminal connection, I’d recommend either running or grabbing a cab.

Although the 1,660 mile, three and a half hour flight between Dallas and Seattle warranted a Bistro Bag, I decided I wanted something a bit more substantial. I stopped by a barbecue concession and bought their special of the day – a half chicken with two sides and a 32 oz. drink. Keep the drink and I’ll take corn on the cob and coleslaw thanks. Needless to say, as the piquant aroma of Texas barbecue wafted through the cabin, I caught more than a few hungry looks from my fellow passengers.

I don’t know why more Economy Class passengers don’t just buy their own meals before getting on the airplane. Perhaps some do, choosing to eat in advance of the flight at an airport eatery. However, based upon the looks and some of the comments I’ve gotten, many people wish they’d done what I do.

Let’s face it – American’s Bistro Bag, while better than nothing, is hardly an inspiring feed. Not that much domestic Coach Class airline food is these days but I want more than a very basic couple slices of turkey on a tiny roll with some chips and carrots. Most airports offer a good variety of affordable food ranging from salads and sandwiches to full take-away meals such as those offered by Panda Express or some Sbarro’s. Shelling out $6.00 or $7.00 for a nicer meal makes my flight that much nicer and so to me at least is well worth the comparatively minimal expenditure. In the meantime, I’ll pass on purchasing that $5.00 can of mediocre beer.

We had a smooth flight with clear skies for most of the journey northwest. This was good because American’s MD-80s are not equipped with any form of visual or audio entertainment. The view outside the windows more than made up for it however. We passed just south of Pueblo, Colorado and passengers on the starboard side of the aircraft had excellent views of 14,110’ Pikes Peak and the Arkansas River canyon. Unfortunately, our angle was such that we didn’t get to see the world’s highest suspension bridge, suspended 1,053 feet above the Royal Gorge. My seatmate used to live in Colorado and had more than a passing interest in the scenery below. I’ve driven all over Colorado and was only too happy to oblige her with an airborne tour. Then the people in the row behind us started listening in and before long I was giving an impromptu tour of south central Colorado. We saw the 14,000 peaks of the Collegiate Range just west of Buena Vista and further to the north the giant anthill that is Mt. Elbert, the tallest mountain in the state at 14,431’. Later we flew almost right over the top of the Eagle-Vail airport which meant people on the left got a nice view of Glenwood Canyon and further to the south, Aspen and the 14,000’ Maroon Bells. On the right, we could trace the canyons of the Colorado River back to its start at Grand Lake.

Alas, I lost my bearings over northwest Colorado while looking for the Green River and Flaming Gorge Reservoir, which we never did see, Perhaps we flew right over the top of it. In any event, it sure was a pretty flight and it was fun to point out all the sights to an interested audience.

In Seattle I stopped briefly at the Boardroom for a quick pint of Heineken before boarding the 737 that would take me down to Colorado, 1020 miles back to the southeast. It was dark, so I took an aisle seat at row one and accepted the first of three Bloody Marys from our downright effervescent Flight Attendant. She was a fun gal and if I didn’t know better, I might have guessed that she’d started partying an hour or two before we did.

First Class dinner service on Alaska’s West Coast and Denver flights ended about a year ago. What’s now served is still called a dinner by some but is in essence the same as the old luncheon and snack service, pre-2004. This trip Report from two years ago details, amidst a multitude of other observations, some of those West Coast First Class meals from the Good Old Days on Alaska.

As for us in the here and now, we were offered the following:


DINNER

To Begin
Two small bags of peanuts accompanied by your choice of beverage

Hot Grilled Chicken Sandwich
Accented with Provolone cheese and Marinara Sauce on sourdough bread
Served with a spicy corn salad

Garden Salad with Grilled Chicken Breast
Garnished with red peppers, cucumber strips and cilantro
Served with Creamy Peppercorn dressing

And Finally…
Minted Belgian Chocolate Square




Meal and drink orders were taken from the rear of the cabin forward, so all of us in row one got salads. I think Alaska serves a pretty nice salad but I’d like to see the addition of croutons and a less fatty dressing option.

By the time I was dropped off at my truck, it was almost 11:00pm. I sped off down the road to my secret spot for the night. The next day was Bronco Sunday and I slept well in anticipation of a Bronco victory.

Seat 2A

November 08, 2004
DEN-SEA ALASKA 737-400 N792AS First Class 720a – 925a * Breakfast
SEA-ORD ALASKA 737-400 N767AS Coach Class 1100a – 455p * Lunch
ORD-MIA AMERICAN DC-9-80 N516AM Coach Class 544p - 946p
TOTAL MILES FLOWN: 3940 * TOTAL MILES EARNED: 7880


After two losses in a row against supposedly “inferior” teams, the Broncos finally won! Serotonin levels were peaking as I strolled up to the MVP check-in area, picked up my boarding pass and headed on down to the Presidents Club for coffee and a bagel. So what if I was unlikely to get upgraded on the three and a half hour Seattle to Chicago flight. The Broncos won!

Truth be known, there’s plenty more to my life than football and flying but as a native Coloradoan, I grew up steeped in Broncomania from an early age. I’ve been planning my autumn Sundays around Bronco games since time immemorial and as the Broncs have been fairly competitive of late, each win and loss is felt that much more strongly.

A colorful assortment of airliners graced the C Concourse today. To the right of Alaska’s happy faced 737-400 was an America West A320. To our left was American’s 737-800 painted in the 1960s Astrojet livery. Across from us was a pair of Northwest A319s. Parked on the tarmac behind us was a Challenge Air 727-200.

Breakfast today was the same as three days ago but the fritatta on today’s flight was easily twice as big as the one served before. We’re talking 1” thick vs. ½” thick. It was very good but, as I mentioned earlier, could be inexpensively enhanced with the addition of some form of breakfast bread.

Then again, a few years ago American saved $40,000.00 per year by removing a single olive from its salads. How much does a year’s worth of breakfast breads such as a muffin or scone cost Alaska?

The flight up to Seattle was quite bumpy and the Captain apologized repeatedly over the PA. This early in the morning, we were one of the first aircraft flying in this part of the country and so could not go by the reports from pilots who’d flown through here earlier in the day. We had to make our own way. Eventually, the ride improved out over Western Idaho and Eastern Washington but by then we were practically there. At least nobody barfed.

When I was a kid, it seemed like those airsickness bags got a lot more use than they do today. In fact, I can’t honestly remember the last time I was on a plane and anyone within hearing or smelling distance got that urge to regurge. I suspect that even in turbulent conditions, all those computerized controls on modern jetliners help to keep the ride a lot smoother than it was when I was a kid. As for me, I am proud to say that I have yet to spew on an airplane.

Have you ever wondered just how long it takes from the time you take off in Denver to get to a point 35,000 feet over Idaho Falls, Idaho? I hadn’t yet either, but it took us exactly one hour. Exactly. I know because I set my stopwatch and the captain announced it. Alright, alright – I’m a geek – but hey! This stuff keeps me entertained aloft.

We landed in Seattle on what may well be the foggiest day I’ve ever seen at an airport where planes were still allowed to land. I know that Alaska has RNP flight guidance technology installed in all of its 737s to allow them to get into some of those Southeastern Alaska airports under less than optimal conditions but this was amazing. I would put visibility at about 250-300 feet. If that. In fact, SeaTac did indeed close later that morning.

On to the Windy City in seat 14F. If you can’t get upgraded, a seat in the exit row is the next best thing. I was sat next to a fifteen year Horizon Air mechanic headed out to Chicago for some union meetings. We had some fascinating conversations about anything and everything airlines, but also about ways to get to and from Alaska. He and his family were looking to drive up in the next year or two. For anyone considering a drive to Alaska, you MUST get a copy of the Northwest Milepost. They don’t call it the Bible of the North for nothing.

As one who hasn’t been served an old fashioned hot meal on anything less than a transcon for the past couple of years, I was both surprised and delighted by Alaska’s luncheon offerings on this flight. After a pass with the beverage cart, the luncheon choices were announced as:

Curried Chicken
Served over rice with green beans
-or-
Beef Stew
Served with Mashed Potatoes

Both entrees were accompanied by a small green salad with creamy peppercorn dressing, a packaged roll and a packaged chocolate chip cookie.

I had the curried chicken and was impressed by both the quantity and the flavor. Granted, I’m pretty easy to impress in this regard. Unlike the Hoity Toity amongst us that sniff derisively at even International First Class food because it wasn’t prepared fresh mere minutes before being served, I give a fair amount of latitude to the airline caterers. Given the limitations forced upon them, I think that they do a pretty fair job. For sure, they have their occasional disaster but generally the food’s more than edible.

We made a pretty approach into O’Hare as the sun sank below the Western horizon. Alaska’s gates are over on the L Concourse, which is great for me because Delta’s Crown Room Club is right across the hall from their gate. I stopped in for a couple tall glasses of Club Soda and then hurried on over to Gate K-8 where my MD-80 and a full load of sun worshippers awaited departure to sunny Florida. The Chicago Tribune weather page indicated that a cold front would arrive by Thursday, bringing temperatures down into the teens. Perhaps as a result of this knowledge, most of my fellow passengers seemed particularly giddy and excited to be flying south.

Despite the dinner hour departure and nearly three-hour flight down to Miami this evening, there was not even a Bistro bag offered. I remembered back to the first time I ever flew this route. It was aboard an Eastern A300B and we were served steak and a double baked potato. There was also a movie, listened to with those old rubbery plastic pneumatic headphones that you had to force into your ears. Ah… memories. I’ve got a lot of ‘em.

Back to the present however, I made a quick stop by the excellent food court at the Y between the H and K Concourses. There I purchased from Panda Express a plate of Kung Pao Chicken with Cashews and Orange Chicken over steamed white rice for the very affordable price of just $6.04. Such a deal and such a treat as I tucked into it thirty some odd thousand feet over Central Indiana.

Prior to our arrival in Miami, I’d had some concerns as to just how warm and humid the terminal might be. Perhaps it was a cool night in Miami because the terminal was just fine. After making a couple of phone calls to friends in Alaska, I found a nice cool and relatively quiet spot over by the B Concourse. After inflating my Thermarest Pad, setting my alarm clock for 6:30am and stashing my wallet deep in my daypack upon which I then placed my pillow, I lay down and read for a bit. The airport was cool enough that I actually needed my blanket and when I finally did fall asleep around midnight, I slept undisturbed until my alarm signaled the start of a new day of travel.


November 09, 2004
MIA-SEA ALASKA 737-700 N613AA First Class 800a – 1143a * Breakfast
SEA-DEN ALASKA 737-400 N786AS First Class 618p – 950p * Snack
TOTAL MILES FLOWN: 3740 * TOTAL MILES EARNED: 7480

After freshening up in a deserted downstairs restroom, I checked in at the tiny Alaska Airlines counter and then headed over to the Club America located at the entrance to the F Concourse. There are three Club Americas around the Miami airport and the F Concourse club is in my opinion the nicest of them all. It’s got comfortable leather seating, pleasant lighting, a tended bar and a quiet little work area complete with Ethernet hookups at each desk.

As I enjoyed a glass of orange juice and looked for more Mileage Runs over at FlyerTalk’s Mileage Run forum, it occurred to me that a year ago today I was flying back and forth between Boise, Spokane, Portland, Seattle and Reno in pursuit of 100,000 bonus miles. Many of my flights were in Coach Class aboard Horizon Dash 8s and the only lounges I had access to were Alaska’s Boardrooms in Seattle and Portland. Now, a year later, I’m in pursuit of even more miles but the flights are longer and I’m often in First Class. Today, for example, I will soon be found in seat 3A aboard Alaska’s 2,720 mile transcon flight to Seattle, followed by seat 1C on the 1020 mile segment down to Denver. Last year, my total daily distance flown between BOI-GEG-PDX-SEA-RNO amounted to just 1,260 miles. Then again, last year’s trip was all about segments in pursuit of the mileage prize whereas this years trip is all about the miles.

Down at the gate, boarding was announced first for those needing a little extra assistance followed by First Class and MVPs. After that it was a veritable free for all. I had forgotten to grab a newspaper and with none to be found lying around the lounge area, I cruised up to a nearby newsstand to purchase one. I expected to be back in time to board amongst the first Coach group called – early for me – but returned to find practically everyone in the gate lounge up and crowding towards the podium from a couple of different areas. Sigh. I sat and read my paper until the last of the horde had boarded. Once again, I was the last one to board.

It looked to be a nice day for flying – sunny with those big puffy clouds that humid South Florida is so famous for. We took off to the West and beelined it towards Naples before taking a northerly tack up along the Gulf Coast. Flight time was announced at a leisurely 5 hours and 41 minutes. I reclined my seat and awaited the nice breakfast service to come.

I waited for 47 minutes before I sniffed my first cup of coffee. This might be a record for a non-turbulent flight. The Flight Attendant was a very nice guy but also very slow in the initial beverage service. His presentation of the meal wasn’t much faster.

So, what’s for breakfast?

BREAKFAST

To Begin
A selection of fresh mixed fruits featuring cantaloupe, honeydew melon, and pineapple

Entrée Selections

Omelette Fines Herbs
Topped with a flavorful cheese and tomato sauce. Presented with roasted potatoes and a slice of Canadian Bacon

Waffles
Presented with warmed maple syrup and turkey sausage




A tray bearing the fruit plate was presented first. It also included the only breakfast bread we’d be offered during this flight – a fruit scone. I asked for and received a couple of limes to squeeze on the melon. The selection of fruit was nice enough but somewhat less in variety than I received on last year’s Seattle to Miami trip.

Alas, my omelet plate also showed clear signs of having been ravaged by the corporate budget cutters. The omelet was smaller than last year’s version, had no filling and no accompanying vegetables such as spinach, mushrooms or onions. The single slice of Canadian bacon looked somewhat forlorn sitting in the wide open spaces next to the potatoes. Still, the sauce was quite tasty and overall, this meal, while hardly an inspired creation, was adequate.

Digi-Players were actually distributed just prior to the breakfast service. Here is a list of the movie selections:

Current
I, Robot
Paparazzi
Alien vs. Predator
Harry Potter 3
The Princess Diaries 2
Shark Tale

Popular
The Sixth Sense
True Lies
Dave

Classic
The Santa Clause 2
Home Alone
Miracle on 34th Street

Television Shows
Good Time Golf (9 episodes available)
The Simpsons: Two Dozen and One Greyhounds
The X Files: Talitha Cuma
NYPD Blue: From Hare to Eternity

Cartoons
Baby Looney Tunes
The Year Without a Santa Clause
The Little Drummer Boy
Dr. Seuss’s “How The Grinch Stole Christmas”
Bugs Bunny’s Christmas Carol

Music & Music Videos
Top 40, Pop, R & B, Alternative Rock, Country, Jazz, Classical, Children’s and Soundtracks

Audio Book
Looking For Alaska


These movie selections seemed very heavily geared towards families with children. A quick look around the airplane revealed no school age kids, but a few infants. All the kids are in school and have been since September. Why Alaska can’t offer a more intelligent collection of movies is beyond me. I had hoped to watch Dave but for some inexplicable reason I suddenly became tired and dozed off for a couple of hours. Perhaps the cost-cutters had substituted Canadian Turkey for the pricier Canadian bacon and I was overcome by tryptophan. By the time I awoke, we were over Western Wyoming. In fact, we flew just a couple of miles south of the Grand Tetons, clearly visible off our port side. Clouds returned soon after and stayed with us for the remainder of the flight into Seattle.

Once upon a time, Alaska offered a fairly nice pre-arrival snack. No more. Today’s offering was a black plastic bowl of warmed mixed nuts. Warmed mixed nuts are not in themselves a bad thing but they are better served as an accompaniment to a beverage service, not as the main snack. I mean, if that’s all they’ve got to offer, why even bother with offering this so-called snack? Apparently the fruit and cheese plates of last year are now but a distant memory.

Seat 2A

Back in the good old days of lavish food and drink offerings in US domestic First Class, the only way to get up there was to buy a ticket. These days probably 85% of the First Class passengers on any given flight are either upgraded or award travelers. Airline executives moan about the lack of revenue from the forward cabin but they’ve been giving their First Class seats away to elite passengers for so long that any incentive to actually buy the more expensive First Class ticket is essentially gone on most routes. They could just remove those twelve First Class seats and replace them with eighteen smaller Coach Class seats, but they’d risk losing their top dollar flyers, many of whom now view those First Class upgrades as their due. As a result, most U.S. airline executives now view their domestic First Class product primarily as a frequent flyer perk and invest in it accordingly.

Couple with this the fact that in survey after survey, American flyers have indicated that when it comes to First Class inflight service, what they really want is a more comfortable seat and a couple of drinks. Meals hardly rate a mention. It’s hardly a wonder then that what were once full dinner services have become snacks and snacks have been reduced to a bowl of nuts or chips and dip.

Still, if this were the “Good Old Days” of inflight service, I’d probably be paying a lot more for my ticket and sitting in the back. So I guess I shouldn’t complain too stridently. At least not in domestic First Class. For my money however, the best First Class service offered in the U.S. is on American and Continental. Faced with actually buying a ticket on either of those carriers vs. one in Alaska’s First Class, I’d be on AA or CO.

My flight down to Denver was almost a carbon copy of my flight from three nights ago – same gate, same seat and same food offerings. The only difference was that this time the hot chicken sandwich was still available by the time row one orders were taken. I’m here to tell you that this is a worthy sandwich – it’s got a decent amount of chicken, a flavorful sauce, deliciously crunchy bread and a zesty corn salad. Check t out next time you’re on a dinner hour snack flight in the Western U.S. Who knows how long it’ll be around?


November 10th, 2004

Today was a much needed day off. When you’re doing this intensive of a mileage run, it’s important and indeed necessary to schedule a day off every few days. After being woken up at 5:30am and 4:00am MST the past couple of days, I got to sleep in until almost 8:00am today. Raindrops were pattering along the top of my truck and it was tempting to just lie there under the warmth of my sleeping bag for another hour or two.

But no. I had a lot to do today, starting with a quick shower down at the Flying J truckstop, followed by a bowl of cereal out of the back of my truck. Then I drove down to a place called Gasoline Alley to see if they could figure out why my truck had suddenly started making strange noises. It performed well enough but those fluttering noises coming from the engine couldn’t be good.

After dropping my truck off, I hopped an RTD bus downtown and strolled Denver’s wonderful 16th Street Mall before calling back to Gasoline Alley to hear the prognosis on my beloved Mazda. Some thingamajig and a spring that holds the timing belt in place had snapped and although most of the repairs would be covered under warranty, the job wouldn’t be completed until after 4:00pm.

No problem! I grabbed a pretty good burrito at Azteca’s Restaurant and then headed over to the Colorado Museum of History, followed by Capitol Hill Books. The rain had turned to sleet and occasional snow, so it was a good day for indoor activities. By the time I picked up my truck, it was near 5:30pm. And snowing harder.


November 11, 2004
DEN-SEA ALASKA 737-400 N756AS First Class 720a – 925a * Breakfast
SEA-ORD ALASKA 737-400 N795AS First Class 1100a – 455p * Lunch
ORD-MIA AMERICAN DC-9-80 N295AA Coach Class 544p - 946p
TOTAL MILES FLOWN: 3940 * TOTAL MILES EARNED: 7880

I awoke to 2” of fresh snow and iced over windows. 5:30am comes awfully early though and as I crawled out of the back of my truck and began to scrape the ice off the windshield, the crisp, cold air did wonders to accelerate the waking up process.

The scene at gate C-33 was mildly chaotic. At the gate across from us, Horizon’s 6:30am Portland bound CRJ was unable to properly close and seal its door. A quick fix had been ruled out and so the entire plane load was transferred over to our flight as stressed passengers battered the gate agents with a barrage of questions.

“What time will we eventually get into Eugene?”

“What about my gate checked baggage?”

“Does Alaska also offer free microbrews like Horizon?”

“I didn’t see my baggage being off loaded from the Horizon plane. Will it be transferred to this one?”

Finally, we got everyone on board, only to be informed by the captain that Seattle was quite foggy this morning and we’d have to load another 3,000 gallons of fuel. And of course, there was still all that baggage to be transferred over from the Horizon flight. When we finally did take to the skies, it was almost 8:00am.

What a fine day for a flight though! We banked out to the northwest, passing over Boulder, Colorado before turning due north and paralleling the Rockies up to about the Wyoming border before once again taking a more northwesterly heading. There were still plenty of dark gray clouds loitering over the central Rockies – evidence that the storm that hit Denver yesterday was still churning away up in the high country.

Once again, breakfast was the big fritatta. I wonder how often Alaska cycles its meals these days? I reckon I’ll find out soon enough. I’ve got four more of these early morning Denver to Seattle flights in the next three weeks.

In Seattle, the fog had dissipated nicely and we landed without delay. I grabbed a coffee and a half bagel at the Boardroom and settled in to book some of my spring travels. Last year’s trip will be hard to beat, but I’d like to think this year’s is shaping up to be a decent little adventure as well. Like last year’s, it will involve planes and trains, but also some ferries and a four-day boat trip.

My Seattle to Chicago flight departed from way out at D-12. On the way down to the gate, I stopped by Alaska’s Service Center to upgrade tomorrow night’s Seattle to Denver leg. Because I am traveling on an American Airlines marketed fare and my Alaska flights are AA codeshares, I cannot upgrade over the phone per a normal Alaska flight. Instead, I must upgrade at the airport. The seventy-two hour rule still applies for upgrading discounted fares and I must say I’ve enjoyed surprisingly good fortune thus far in getting upgraded. On this eastbound itinerary, the one flight you really want to be upgraded on is the Seattle to Chicago flight. Catering is the same as the longer flights up to Alaska, but with the added attraction of the Digi-Player.

Those of you who’ve read my Trip Reports before may recall that I log all of my flights. I’ve been logging them for as far back as I can remember, which is like three years old. Of course, I didn’t log any flights when I was three, but I do remember playing gas station attendant and filling up the car tank with water from the garden hose. As for the flight log, I first started keeping a home made one when I was about eleven years old. I’d only flown sixteen times by then, but I retained an excellent recollection of each of those flights in chronological order.

As I got older and began to accrue more flights, I started to take note of the registration number, or N-Number as we call it here in America. Over time, I’d flown so many different DC-10s of say, Continental, that I began to look into how many I hadn’t yet flown. The results were interesting – occasionally astounding. By the time Continental had traded in the last of its sixteen DC-10-10s, I’d flown every single one of them. Ditto Delta and United’s DC-8-61s. There was only one United 727-200 that I hadn’t flown by the time United parked the fleet out in Victorville, California. I’ve also been on a lot of airplanes that have subsequently crashed, including some rather famous crashes like the American DC-10 (N110AA) that went down at O’Hare in 1979 or the Alaska DC-9-83 (N963AS) that went down in January of 2000.

Getting back to happier flights however, as of this morning I had flown all but two 737-400s (N764AS and N795AS) out of Alaska’s fleet of forty. Short of going down to the airport, locating the aircraft and then buying a ticket to wherever it’s going, I am at the mercy of fate hopefully scheduling one of these two aircraft onto one of my flights. Drawing from a fleet of forty aircraft, I have about a one in twenty chance of flying aboard either one of these aircraft. With odds like that, I can’t get my hopes too high for any given flight.

But I can always hope. As I approached the gate today, I was thinking “C’mon 764 or 795! 764 or 795! Kind of like a fan rooting for a game ending touchdown or an inning ending double-play. Imagine then my surprise and delight to see none other than N795AS parked at my gate, loading passengers for my flight to Chicago. YES!!!!

One down, one to go. However, the odds against finding N764AS operating any of my future flights have just increased to 40 – 1. I wonder how long it’ll be until that aircraft falls into my lap? In the meantime, I’ve two of Alaska’s 737-900s and only one of the MD-80s left to fly.

Clear skies prevailed across the Evergreen State and as we climbed east out of Seattle, the views of the Cascade Mountains were simply magnificent. The rugged peaks and deep green valleys looked most inviting and I wouldn’t have minded one bit trading my seat in for a tent down along one of those high alpine lakes. Any of you who’ve ever backpacked deep into the Cascades, much less into any mountain range surely know where I’m coming from.

Luncheon was of course a choice between the specials of the week - Oriental Noodles with Sliced Chicken or Roast Pork Loin with Sour Cherry Sauce. You’ll find the menu version of this meal eleven flights back on November 4th. The chicken entrée looked so good last time that I just had to try it this time. The Flight Attendant did a nice job of presenting the menu information off her meal manifest, even adding her own personal and positive views on both entrees. Both seatmate and I selected the Oriental Noodles with Sliced Chicken along with a Bloody Mary. No bagged peanuts were loaded for this flight though later we were presented with a bowl of warm mixed nuts. Why later? Alaska ought to do like American and serve these tasty mixed nuts with its initial cocktail service. Speaking of which, here are this month’s First Class wine selections:


WINE LIST

Pepperwood Grove 2002 Chardonnay
This cool climate Chardonnay exhibits ripe tropical fruit notes and bright acidity, framed with layers of generous French Oak flavors. The use of sur lies aging and partial malolactic fermentation give this wine great depth and a long, soft finish.

Delicato 2002 Chardonnay
Presenting a soft nose of tropical aromas of pineapple, coconut and honeysuckle, with hazelnut, oak and spice nuances, this California Chardonnay opens up to flavors of green apples, bananas and hints of nectarine. It has a creamy texture and the finish is crisp, clean and well balanced.

Wente Vineyards 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon
This Cabernet Sauvignon has lush flavors of cherry and plum, with hints of cedar and violet in the nose, making this an enticing wine selection that rewards one with copious amounts of velvety varietal character.

Crane Lake 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon
This Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon has a nice depth of ruby color and good weight on the palate. It’s softly sweet in mid-mouth, with flavors of blackberries, raspberries and spice dominating this ready to enjoy wine.


Who writes these wine descriptions? I tried some of the Wente Brothers Cabernet Sauvignon and had absolutely no success in detecting even the slightest hint of cedar or violet in the nose. And that Delicato Chardonnay! Have any of you ever actually been able to discern the difference between nectarine and tangerine in your Chardonnay, especially when mixed in amongst hazelnut, oak and spice nuances?

The meal was pretty good and seatmate and I had a great time talking about everything from his work at J.P. Morgan to venomous snakes in North America to ATA and the Midway gate debacle to Chicago sports teams, good and bad.

We were just starting our descent over southern Wisconsin when the Captain came on and informed us that due to a disabled aircraft on the runway, nobody was being allowed to land at O’Hare. We’d circle until either we landed or had to land at an alternate airport. Whatever. Another Bloody Mary? Sure.

As things turned out, we only had to circle for another forty minutes before being cleared to land into the post-sunset glow of the western horizon. I never did see any disabled looking aircraft from out my window. Once on the ground, no one seemed to have any specifics either. Regardless, I hardly had time for a full investigation because my Miami flight was indicating an on time departure, twenty-two minutes away! I walked briskly from Alaska’s gate on the L Concourse to gate K-8 and arrived with plenty of time to spare.

In Miami I reclaimed my shady spot in the B-Concourse construction zone, laid out my Thermarest pad and blanket and was asleep by 11:00pm.

Seat 2A

November 12, 2004
MIA-ORD AMERICAN 737-800 N957AN Coach Class 755a – 1002a
ORD-SEA AMERICAN DC-9-80 N9305N Coach Class 1115a – 142p * Snack
SEA-DEN FRONTIER A318-100 N806FR Coach Class 830p – 1155p
TOTAL MILES FLOWN: 3940 * TOTAL MILES EARNED: 7880

Going to bed so early meant I was up a bit earlier than usual as well. After washing up in a deserted lower level restroom, I got checked in and was enjoying hot coffee and chocolate chip cookies in the Club America by 5:30am.

I slept through almost all of the flight up to Chicago. Aside from a granola bar, there’s no meal service on this flight, so I didn’t miss anything.

We landed in Chicago at about 10:00am and as we taxied in to our gate I was surprised to see an SAS A330 parked at the International Terminal. I didn’t think SAS had any morning departures to Copenhagen and the plane would have had to depart CPH at about 6:00am in order to have arrived in Chicago at this hour. Call it my mystery for the day.

The MD-80 operating my 11:15am departure to Seattle was an ex-TWA machine. While American has outfitted all of these aircraft to its MRTC seating standards, they do not all have the laptop power ports in Coach like the AA pedigree aircraft. Well, dang! Good thing my laptop had a fully charged battery good for about four hours. I also noted that the beverage service carts still bore the old TWA logos on them. I told the FA those carts might fetch a pretty penny at an airline collectibles show or over on eBay. She was not impressed.

Four hours to Seattle rates a Bistro Bag in Coach, but as always, I desired more. I really like that Panda Express chow, so today I went with Kung Pao Chicken and Chicken with Mushrooms on steamed rice. I’m telling you, when I open and setting up these nice meals on my tray table I get the most lean and hungry looks from my fellow passengers. Do most people still think it’s not good manners to bring food aboard an airliner? If the airline were serving a nice tray meal, I might agree but in these days of dinky Bistro Bags and/or a bag of pretzels with your drink on two to four hour flights, why not bring along something a little more substantial?

American now parks over at the relatively new A Concourse in Seattle. This is a beautiful facility! I really like the new airport architecture evidenced in so many of our most recently opened or remodeled airports here in America. Featuring wide spacious terminals with high ceilings and lots of windows combined with a nice variety of shops and restaurants, they really help make airports much nicer places to be in compared to years past. Consider some of the older airports like Memphis, San Jose (non-AA) or some of Miami’s old concourses – narrow corridors with low ceilings – it doesn’t take long to feel cramped and claustrophobic in these places. Big city railroad stations were comparable when railroads ruled our transportation options.

I had a four hour layover in Seattle and since Delta also operates from the A Concourse, I decided to check out its new Crown Club Lounge, located upstairs above Delta’s gates. Again, this is a beautiful facility complimented by cherry wood wall panels, bamboo floors and dark earth tone furnishings. Comfortable seats and low lamp lit end tables are situated next to nice big windows overlooking the concourse below. In the center of the lounge is an attractive bar serving the usual beers, wines and spirits plus some kind of African Amber. I ordered a glass of that and retired to one of the many workstations to fire off a couple of postcards.

Later, I relocated across the terminal to Alaska’s Boardroom where free wireless Internet allowed me to finalize my Spring air and land travel arrangements. As I left and started the long trek to my departure gate at the end of the C Concourse, I noticed on the TV monitor that my flight now showed CANCELLED. Hmm… this could mean a free night in Seattle. In a hotel!

It didn’t though. Frontier had an 8:30pm departure, arriving in Denver at about midnight. My day started at 3:00am Denver time and while I wasn’t overjoyed about the midnight arrival in Denver, I was nonetheless looking forward to my first ever flight aboard an A318. Denver based Frontier is the only U.S. airline that flies the Baby Airbus and since my travel plans generally don’t include Frontier, I was thankful to be getting this “free” ride on what for me was a new aircraft type. I’ll now have flown every member of the Airbus family except the A340-500. If Air Canada ever schedules it on a Montreal to Toronto run, I’ll be sure to fly it then. For sure I’ve no desire to fly any of those super long distance flights such as Singapore Airlines’ eighteen-hour New York to Singapore service. I’d rather take the six day Pan Am Clipper across the Pacific.

Frontier also boards from the A Concourse so back across the airport I trod to gate A-3. My aircraft tonight was N806FR, a shiny new A318-100 sporting a buffalo on its tail with the slogan “A whole different animal” emblazoned across the top of the silver FRONTIER billboard lettering on the fuselage.

Boarding was called by row number and, from the perspective of the boarding lounge at least, proceeded in an organized and orderly fashion. Headsets for the onboard satellite TV were available in a big box as you boarded the plane, much like AA’s Bistro Bag cart. Once on board however, any semblance to an orderly boarding process disintegrated into something more akin to a crowded cattle feed lot between meals. People were milling about, taking forever and a day to decide how to stow their carry-on luggage. It wasn’t just one or two knuckleheads, either. There were a variety of culprits. It was noisy, too. I was reminded of a second grade field trip.

Interestingly, it was like this when I flew JetBlue as well. Could it be that a greater percentage of passengers on the legacy carriers fly more often and as such are a little more experienced when it comes to stowing their gear and getting into their seats and out of the way? It’s hard for me to say as I’ve only had a handful of flights on the discount carriers. The Flight Attendants seemed unable to expedite matters and over all it was a frustrating experience.

I was sat next to a guy so large that he spilled over the edges of his seat into mine. I spent the entire seat pushed over to the right. Still, as uncomfortable as I was, I suspect he was even more uncomfortable. If flying Coach isn’t incentive enough to try and shed some of that extra weight, I don’t know what is.

TV was your basic cable package – ESPN, TNT, History Channel, Animal Planet, etc. The screens are decently sized – about 7” – and the cost for the service is $5.00. All of the channels were operational during the boarding process (could this have slowed things down?) so that hopefully you were hooked into some program by departure time and would fork over the $5.00. It all became pay TV while we were pushing back from the terminal. A simple credit card swipe would have you back on in no time.

Once airborne, drinks were served followed by a pass with the snack basket. I wasn’t hungry and so passed on the offerings, which looked to include a variety of potato and corn chips. I tried to recline my aisle seat but found the recline stiff and minimal. Even so, I did manage to sleep through about half the flight. I might add I was very impressed by how quiet the A318’s cabin was. Very nice. Another inch or two of seat pitch would be appreciated though. I’d estimate Frontier’s at 31”. Even JetBlue and Delta’s Song offer 33 to 34”.

Overall, this was a nice enough flight but given a choice between earning double miles and enjoying better legroom on AS, AA or UA, versus paying less money to fly Frontier or one of the other discount carriers, I’d still stick with majors, provided the difference in roundtrip fare was less than $50.00.

Seat 2A

November 15, 2004
DEN-SEA ALASKA 737-400 N765AS First Class 720a – 925a * Breakfast
SEA-ORD ALASKA 737-400 N782AS Coach Class 1100a – 455p * Lunch
ORD-MIA AMERICAN DC-9-80 N210AA Coach Class 544p - 946p
TOTAL MILES FLOWN: 3940 * TOTAL MILES EARNED: 7880



What a great weekend! I got to see a college hockey game between the University of Denver and Colorado College, ranked 11th and 4th nationally, then I got a night in Boulder with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band at one of my favorite venues, the Fox Theater. It’s been a great two days off and I am now ready to resume this marathon Mileage Run.

Guess what was for breakfast on Alaska Airlines this morning? That’s right. The Ham and Cheese Fritatta. As breakfasts go, I think it’s actually a pretty good meal, but I’m now coming into my third week of flying these Seattle flights out of Denver and can’t help but wonder if Alaska plans to stick with this breakfast entrée for the entire month or even year?

We landed on a windy and rainy day in Seattle – hardly surprising this time of year – and taxied into the C Concourse past a newly painted United 737-300. While United’s new livery is certainly brighter than the somber gray and blue colors of the nineties, I do think a tinge of red somewhere in the tail logo would make it look a lot nicer. After all, red has always been an attractive accent color in United’s liveries and/or logo since it first started flying. I must make a note to contact United on this.

Mondays are tough for upgrades on Alaska’s midday Seattle to Chicago flight. I was denied last Monday and again today. One couple in the boarding lounge complained that they’ve never been able to upgrade on this flight and what was the point of even flying Alaska? I thought perhaps that they might be disenfranchised 1Ks from United.

In chatting with some of Alaska Airlines’ employees, I’ve heard some fairly amusing as well as surprising recollections of passengers’ behavior when they find out they won’t be able to be upgraded. C’mon now – Coach ain’t all that bad! I grew up flying in Coach and as much as I enjoy the nicer space and service in First Class, my ego is not so inflated that I feel it’s my right to sit up there, especially if I’m not actually paying for it.

I remember going to one of Alaska’s MVP Gold luncheons and was shocked at some of the reactions from people when informed that if traveling on heavily discounted fares, they would now only be allowed to upgrade 72 hours prior to departure. More than a couple indicated that they would take their business to United or American if Alaska messed with its current policy allowing Golds to upgrade any fare at time of purchase. Like it’s their right to almost guaranteed travel in First Class despite traveling on a coach ticket worth much less.

Yes, it’s mildly disappointing to not get upgraded but in today’s case, I am traveling on a $160.00 roundtrip ticket. Since First Class on this flight was filled 72 hours beforehand, I know that the people who are sitting in First Class today are those who have paid a higher fare – either full fare F or Y or one of the less discounted roundtrips. They should be up there! I totally support Alaska’s policy to allow those who pay more for their tickets first shot at the forward cabin. Anyone else want a guaranteed First Class seat? Buy it!

So no, I don’t mind sitting in Coach today. I usually manage to procure an exit row seat anyway and even if I didn’t, it’s only a three and a half hour flight. It’s also worth noting that I’ve enjoyed excellent success in upgrading my Alaska flights. Out of nineteen flights with Alaska since September 21st, I’ve been able to upgrade seventeen of them.

American’s 5:50pm departure from Chicago to Miami must be a moneymaker. It’s been either full or very close to it every time that I’ve flown it. It connects nicely with all the late night South American departures so lots of Spanish is spoken onboard.

Whereas today the Chicago to Miami route is flown by a variety of narrow-bodied aircraft, my 1973 OAG shows that thirty one years ago, Delta used to fly this route with a 747 while Eastern plied it with a couple of L-1011s. Today First Class gets a basic domestic meal service while passengers in Coach receive beverages and pretzels. Back in 1973, the route was worthy of Delta’s enhanced Medallion Service, or Eastern’s Ionsphere Service. First Class passengers on Delta’s 747 could climb up the spiral stairway to the First Class lounge or, had they made arrangements in advance, be sat in the private penthouse which took up half the upstairs bubble. Eastern’s L-1011 Whisperliners offered lounges in both First Class and Coach. How long has it been since you’ve flown on a plane with a coach lounge onboard? How many of you have ever been on a plane with a lounge? The 1970s were a great time in our history to be an airline passenger!


November 16, 2004
MIA-ORD AMERICAN 737-800 N940AN Coach Class 708a – 915a
ORD-SEA AMERICAN DC-9-80 N599AA Coach Class 1115a – 142p * Snack
SEA-DEN ALASKA 737-700 N644AS First Class 218p – 545p
TOTAL MILES FLOWN: 3940 * TOTAL MILES EARNED: 7880

Back in the 1970s, National, Eastern and Pan Am operated hubs out of Miami. The Miami International Airport was cramped, often crowded and not very well air-conditioned. Although efforts are well underway to improve the airport, much of it still remains unchanged. This is particularly true of the ticket counters and Concourses C and G. These concourses are narrow, dark and smelly. The carpet bears the stains of numerous leaks from above and a damp aroma pervades the entire concourse.

By contrast, the A, D, E and H Concourses are beautifully redone with broad promenades, high ceilings and big windows.

Out on the tarmac, the parked aircraft represent a mix of new and old as well. Many of the Latin American and Caribbean carriers still operate older Boeing 727s and 737s, while in the general aviation area across the runway, old DC-8s and 707s still labor on as cargo aircraft for airlines from all over the world.

I like the Miami International Airport. It’s got a nice hotel located right in the terminal, the air-conditioning is much improved and the plane spotting is really hard to beat, especially if you like older aircraft. In town today were 727s from Falcon Air and Aeropostal along with a pair of bright yellow DC-8-73s from DHL, an old DC-8-51 from Fine Air and a DC-10-30 in Arrow Air’s attractive new blue and green colors. Also spotted across from my gate was a Varig MD-11 painted in the Star Alliance livery.

I didn’t have much time for plane spotting this morning because my 7:55am flight to Chicago had been cancelled and so I was rebooked on the 7:08am departure. I picked up a cup of Starbucks with a scone and then headed straight down to gate E-2, where departure of my 737-800 up to Chicago was imminent.

Starbucks caffeine content notwithstanding, I still managed to get a couple more hours of sleep on this flight before landing on a gray and drizzly day at O’Hare. With a two hour layover, I headed next door to Terminal 2, then down the E Concourse to Continental’s Presidents Club.

Like Alaska’s Boardrooms, Continental’s Presidents Clubs offer free wireless Internet access. Delta’s Crown Clubs require a $29.00/month subscription to T-Mobile. In any event, while logging on to FlyerTalk’s Mileage Run forum to scope out Mileage Run leads for next year, I came across an interesting thread:

Do you ever feel slightly silly doing a mileage run?


I’m glad this question was asked because I think a lot of people get needlessly self conscious about the very idea of flying across country or ocean just for the miles. I mean, it’s not like you’re hopping around out in the middle of the street, dressed only in your underwear while singing old Boy George songs! Focus on the rewards, people! Lots of extra miles, SWUs or similar First Class upgrades, less lines to wait in, your very own personalized gold or platinum card…

The author of the thread suggests that a Mileage Run would be “sane” or make more sense if you work in an acceptable reason for taking the trip in the first place, such as spending the weekend at a nice hotel with dinner and dancing. The miles gained would be a nice side benefit to the trip.

I say that’s all well and good, but I think she’s got it backwards. As described, her trip would be nothing more than a weekend junket to the big city. Sure, she’d get some miles flying out there and back (Would she fly nonstop or follow keithguy’s expert routing advice?) but then we earn miles every time we fly anyway, whatever the reason.

Personally, I think a Mileage Run is a trip wherein the primary motivation for and benefit of the trip is the accrual of mileage. Sight seeing, relaxation or business meetings are all secondary to the primary decision to make the trip. A Mileage Run is all about miles. That’s not to say you can’t throw in some time and activities at your destination, but it is saying that the original motivation for taking the trip is the accrual of mileage. Dinner and dancing would be secondary.

It’s worth noting that for many people a Mileage Run represents an expenditure they hadn’t probably planned on making. But – as they got closer to a mileage program level or a promotion came along with rewards that made its attainment worth the expense of the extra airline ticket, they bought that ticket. For the miles.

Anyone who reads the Mileage Run forum knows that there’s an emphasis on using the lowest fares possible when doing a Mileage Run. That’s why $104.00 LAS-BDL gets posted and responded to while $302.00 LAX-CVG does not. For most of us, money is an issue. I think the reason why so many people’s Mileage Runs don’t include a stay at the other end is because in most cases the Mileage Run itself is an unplanned expense. When you throw in the additional expense of a hotel and activities in London, New York or wherever, those can often add up to more than the cost for the tickets themselves.

So what about these quick turnaround Mileage Runs, so far from the accepted norm for travel that some feel “silly” or “embarrassed” about doing them? Just because most people in society can’t appreciate the rewards or economic logic behind taking a Mileage Run and instead focus only on the quick turn around at the destination city or “mindless” hours spent on planes, should Mileage Runs be considered a form of deviant behavior, worthy of shame and embarrassment by its practitioners?

If everyone in society behaved only in a fashion that suited the tastes of the socially compliant, we’d have a pretty boring existence. Those of you old enough to remember may recall that it wasn’t that many years ago that Elvis and the Beatles took music to places that much of society was uncomfortable with. Holding hands in public was once frowned upon. Snowboarders were once demonized. Although it’s the nature of the human condition for most people to follow rather than lead, thank God for the free thinkers out there who could give a rip and just carry on in their own merry way.

So I say to all of you who enjoy a good Mileage Run or two (or three), go forth and hold your heads high. Ignore the catcalls of those who just don’t get it. Go get those extra miles and enjoy those free trips, First Class upgrades and shorter lines while your detractors continue to wait in long lines, fly coach and miss out on some nice weekend escapes with all those extra miles. Now that’s silly.

Now back to our regularly scheduled Trip Report.

Uh, where was I? Better yet, where am I? At present, I’d guesstimate I’m thirty some odd thousand feet over central Montana. It’s been a nice smooth flight so far and now that I think of it, I’ll be in about this same location tomorrow, heading back to Chicago.

You know, as much as I rant about the unfair perception that we Mileage Runners are a bit whacked, I must admit to having always taken flying beyond the boundaries of what most people would consider normal. But then Jetliners and flying have been a passion for me since I first ever saw an airplane. And we’re not talkin’ Cessnas and Beechcraft here either. Nor do I have any interest in Military aircraft. It’s all about airlines and airliners. It’s been a hobby since I was young enough to collect postcards (over 25,000), menus and timetables.

And not just planes either. I’ve ridden every name train in America that’s route is longer than 400 miles. Not to mention lots of trains in other countries on other continents. Then there’s American back roads and old motels and coffee shops.

People who have hobbies often exceed the boundaries of normal behavior in pursuit of those hobbies. Just as a stamp collector will fly to Evergreen, Colorado for that First Day issue or a bird watcher will sometimes go to incredible lengths to get a sighting of that rare phalarope, I will go to considerable lengths to get myself back into the First Class cabin of that 747. Consider the travels of which I presently write. This isn’t just a weekend Mileage Run. It’s a one hundred flight Mega-Mileage Run. Sure, I’ll enjoy all those extra miles but at the heart of it, I just enjoy going places both on the Mileage Run and later with the award miles. And what a great side benefit those destinations often are! Argentina, Tahiti, Finland, Tasmania – the list goes on.

To many of you, I probably qualify as a total geek just for writing these flight based Trip Reports. Do I feel silly about any of this? Nah! Call me a willful geek.

I landed back in Denver just after sunset. With five hours to spare before bedtime, I was able to drive out to West Denver and join a couple old friends for dinner.

Seat 2A

November 17, 2004
DEN-SEA ALASKA 737-400 N778AS First Class 720a – 925a * Breakfast
SEA-ORD ALASKA 737-700 N613AS First Class 1100a – 455p * Lunch
ORD-MIA AMERICAN DC-9-80 N450AA Coach Class 544p - 946p
TOTAL MILES FLOWN: 3940 * TOTAL MILES EARNED: 7880

Whereas Monday morning’s flight was almost filled to capacity, the gate lounge for this morning’s flight was sparsely populated. Boarding was a breeze and this time I was amongst the first to board. Although First Class had five unoccupied seats, next to me sat a fellow Fairbanks resident and safety and security manager for the Alyeska Pipeline. He was a font f information about Alaskan geology and glaciology. I learned a lot in a very short time. Fascinating guy.

The breakfast order went like this:

“Would you like some breakfast?”
“Ya, sure, you betcha!”
“Okay.”
“Hey, wait! What’s for breakfast, anyway?”
“Uh… I think it’s a Tuscan Fajita.”

Oh cool! Italian – Mexican fusion! And most importantly, something new for breakfast. Alas, what we ultimately received was the same old fritatta that’s apparently the breakfast entrée of the month. Fritatta, Fajita – whatever. I was reminded of that old Far Side cartoon that shows the two dogs being presented with their dinner bowls and the dogs thinking, “Oh boy! Dog food again!!” I’m glad that I like this fritatta.

Once again, Seattle was foggy enough that there were concerns about our ability to land, but land we did and taxied on in to D-12, the farthest gate from the Boardroom. I was greeted warmly by the ever ebullient Deb and was delighted to find that Boysenberry scones have returned to the Boardroom. But napkins were gone, replaced by paper towels. How gauche!

On the flight out to Chicago, the entrée choices once again were chicken or pork. Sigh… Okay, make it chicken. Again. I’ll next be on this flight in early December so I’m hoping that the current entrée choices are for November and not for the quarter or the year.

The man sitting next to me suffered all kinds of unintentional abuse at the hands of the Flight Attendant. First, she spilled water on him. Then, as she was removing his luncheon tray, some dirty silverware slid off the tray into his lap. Finally, a blanket cascaded down upon him as she reached into the overhead bin. He took it all in good spirit but it was like a collection of scenes from a Woody Allen movie.


November 18, 2004
MIA-SEA ALASKA 737-700 N607AS First Class 800a – 1143a * Breakfast
SEA-DEN ALASKA 737-700 N617AS First Class 215p – 545p
TOTAL MILES FLOWN: 3740 * TOTAL MILES EARNED: 7480

Due to a security breach in Seattle last night, this flight – along with many others – was delayed by about two hours. Departure from Miami was rescheduled for 10:00am and passengers were given Alaska’s Air Care Kit. This was a nice gesture on Alaska’s part since the delay was not their fault. The Air Care Kit includes a phone card good for a ten minute call, a voucher good for $5.00 towards a meal in the airport and your choice of 1000 miles credit to your Mileage Plan account or $25.00 off your next flight.

I filled out the card for the 1000 mile bump to my account, then headed off in search of a bite to eat. My first choice was the Miami International Airport Hotel. This hotel is located right in the terminal, at the head of the E Concourse. The restaurant is located on the top floor and commands sweeping views of the airport grounds. I was able to watch a DC-10 freighter take off followed by a 727 of indeterminate origin while the hostess trotted off to ascertain the validity of my $5.00 certificate. Alas, it was deemed worthless in the hotel’s restaurant. Even so, the view and ambience were such that I decided to pay my own way. You’ll hardly enjoy a finer view of airport operations than from this restaurant. I was shown to a window seat and settled for a fruit plate and a cup of coffee while observing the miasma of exotic jetliners that routinely roam about MIA’s tarmac. The man at the table next to mine was presented with a delicious looking omelet and I resolved to save my money and return here again someday for the full breakfast. As it was, my fruit plate and coffee set me back a mere $9.00 with tip, but on this sunny South Florida morning, the view was worth it.

The inbound flight from Seattle arrived in Miami at 9:30am and Alaska did an impressive job of getting the aircraft unloaded, reloaded and serviced. We were off the chocks at 10:08am and airborne scant minutes later.

Breakfast this morning was the usual offering of a Cheese Omelet or Waffles. For variety’s sake, I opted for the waffles. I’d never had a waffle on an airplane before and if today’s example was representative of this breakfast delight, I’d recommend you all avoid them. It was dry, grainy and chewy – closer to Navajo Bread than a proper waffle. The fruit plate was the high point of the meal and even that has suffered a considerable drop in quality compared to last year’s fare. That said however, our Flight Attendant was a real sweetheart and did a top notch job of looking after our needs throughout the flight. I hope Alaska sends its inflight catering department on a First Class transcon aboard American or Continental (and perhaps even United these days) to see how proper First Class catering is done.

In Seattle, I picked up a Chicken Caesar salad transferred onto another 737-700 back down to Denver. Unfortunately, the northwestern quadrant of the country was pretty well socked in today so there was little point in keeping the window shades up. Both seatmate and I pulled out our laptops – he to watch a Clint Eastwood western and I to deliver unto you this Trip Report.

In Denver, I picked up my truck and sped off into the mountains in advance of the coming storm.

Seat 2A

November 23, 2004
DEN-PDX ALASKA 737-700 N615AA First Class 1120a – 1230p * Lunch
SEA-ANC ALASKA 737-400 N764AS First Class 345p – 630p * Dinner
ANC-FAI ALASKA 737-200 N745AS Coach Class 730p – 820p
TOTAL MILES FLOWN: 2730 * TOTAL MILES EARNED: AWARD TICKET

After four great days in Colorado and a really expensive brake job, I arrived at DIA expecting huge crowds at check-in and long lines at security. All morning the TV news radio stations had been warning people to arrive at least two to three hours early but I arrived an hour and a half early to find perhaps five people at Alaska’s counter and very short lines at security. Tomorrow (Wednesday) and Sunday are supposed to be the record setting days. It's good to see people out flying in such large numbers but I’m thankful I’m not flying on either of the busy days.

I’m traveling on an award ticket today, so no First Class seat for me. Inflight service up to Seattle consisted of Salt & Vinegar Chips with a Chocolate Chip Cookie. I bought a pretty decent burrito in the airport cantina and enjoyed that instead. My seatmate was working on his Master’s degree in Forensic Psychology at the University of Denver. I really enjoyed chatting with him and time just flew by until we kissed the runway at SeaTac. A very nice landing indeed.

The first two and a half hours of the flight up to Anchorage were like riding in the back of a pick-up truck on a bumpy country road. The Captain tried valiantly to find a smoother altitude, climbing into the high thirties before ultimately descending for awhile to 29,000 ft. After awhile we climbed again and finally settled into a smooth journey somewhere in the mid-thirties. Inflight sustenance consisted of a hot chicken and cheese sandwich with the ubiquitous chocolate chip cookie for dessert.

The short forty-minute flight from Anchorage up to Fairbanks was aboard Alaska’s convertible 737-200. The aircraft for tonight’s flight was N730AS, Alaska’s first of the type and an aircraft I first became acquainted with on the ANC-CDV-YAK-JNU milk run back in August of 1984. Alaska’s 737-200 combis will soon be retired and replaced by 737-400s, so I’m thankful for any flights I can log on these old workhorses in their final days with Alaska.

I’ll be in Alaska for six days, including a trip down to my land in the mountains just south of Denali. Once I return to Colorado, I’ll have two more trips down to Florida and back, then it’s off to Las Vegas to complete American’s Platinum Challenge with three roundtrips to Hartford.
After that, this mega-Mileage Run will be officially over and I will drive my trusty Mazda back up to Alaska, in the dead of winter no less. I’ll be home just in time for Christmas.

The temperature upon our arrival in Fairbanks was a wonderfully dry and crisp –9F. It sure is good to be home again!

ss278

Thanks, Seat 2A. A great way to spend the evening after stuffing myself this Thanksgiving -- reading one if your marvelous reports. I look forward to reading about the finish of your mega-run, and ultimately next spring, reading about your adventures to another far off corner of the world I'll probably never get to see.

Travel safely and have a great holiday season.


jm

Gardyloo

Thanks indeed for helping improve post-prandial blood flow to my brain. Great stuff, seriously.

Some time I'll relate a story about one of the 737 combis on the ANC-OME-OTZ loop from days of yore, involving reindeer, tourists, and phantom miners from up the Kobuk. But not now.

More, they cried...

MikeLaw

You are crazy, but my kind of crazy. I am always delighted when I see a new report from you and once again you did not dissapoint.

Seat 2A

There are some great tales spawned from travel around Alaska. Alaska Airlines' infamous Flight 90 rule comes to mind... I'm sure I speak for many when I say we look forward to the above referenced story at your earliest convenience!

Gardyloo

My friend was working for a State agency and for a time was condemned to going out to Barrow, Nome and Kotzebue several times a month, riding on AS's combis (soon after the Wien livery had been painted over I think.) I alternated between the northwest arctic and the Aleutian chain at the time, so this is his story; I have plenty of my own from those sun-dappled chunks of Paradise of the North Pacific...

On a stop at OTZ (to or from OME - I never figured out which one they'd land at first) he stayed on the plane while a group of tourists boarded, fresh from their visit to the Frozen Arctic. One of them, an older lady, sat next to him.

Meanwhile, the airline had loaded some reindeer (not caribou) into the front half of the plane, either going to or coming from one of the State's brave little agribusiness/economic development projects in the region. The tourist lady had not seen them.

As such creatures will, when confronted with ropes and restraining tack and the prospect of a prayer being brought with their lunch, the reindeer were scuffling around and grunting and snorting and banging into the bulkhead, and generally behaving like large confined mammals.

Upon one such bang/grunt/snort event, the wide-eyed tourist lady turned to my friend and said, "Excuse me, do you know what's causing that noise?"

To which he replied, "Well, ma'am, you see there are some working gold mines up the Kobuk river and those miners are away from civilization for months on end. It takes them a little while to get used to human company, so the airline likes to keep them apart from the rest of us. It's best for everyone that way."

Then he shut up, while the snorting and bumping continued. The lady sat there quietly staring at the bulkhead for the rest of the flight.