Loose Cannon

After the last tour of duty it would have been too long to stay home until after Thanksgiving holiday so I sought a short run or two to occupy some of my time. I was told that there was a truck available in Rockwood, TN going to Leeds, AL and another truck at the same location in Leeds, AL going to Bethel, CT near Danbury. I had the last half of a award ticket on DL plus a voucher on Southwest so I ended up getting the last half of the DL award ticket so I could fly to Knoxville, TN (TYS).

I got a shuttle to LAX, checked in, checked bags and was selected for secondary screening. I did not trigger the alarm and my carry-ons were not searched thoroughly but were mostly swabbed for explosives. However I was told that I was to be wanded. I was told I could request a private room and made that request. I was wanded and patted down in the private room then cleared and my boarding pass stamped. I saw on the monitor that my flight was late getting in from ATL. I had time to make the earlier flight #171 to ATL but no award tickets in F were available on that flight. I was disappointed because the earlier flight was a B-777 so I had to settle for a
B-767-400, still a great airplane.

Delta #152 LAX-ATL B-767-400ER Seat 6F Business Class Cruising altitude 39,000' Estimated flying time 3:30, actual 3:31 Scheduled departure 14h45, actual 15h22 Scheduled arrival 21h57, actual 22h13 Ticket cost: $50 change fee for award travel

Plane was late arriving from ATL due to serious headwinds. My boarding pass said Business Class and that more accurately reflected the level and quality of service than First Class though boarding for First Class was announced. There was a light load of about 80 pax or so plus a crew of 9. The configuration of the 764 was 36F/249Y for a total of 285. We boarded through door 2L and a pre-departure drink was offered. The door closed at 15h16 and 24 of 36 seats in F were occupied.

Pushback was 37 minutes late, taxi/hold 13 minutes followed by takeoff to the west and over the Pacific Ocean. There was a turn to the south then east. I saw Catalina Island and landfall was around Laguna Beach which was mostly covered with clouds. A short time later the clouds broke and I saw Temecula, Interstate 15, Rainbow Canyon then Borrego Springs and the Salton Sea. Seatbelt sign went off at 0:17. Announcement from flight deck was made that the flight would go over Prescott, AZ, Albuquerque, Amarillo, Oklahoma City, Memphis, Rome, GA into Atlanta. There was the Airshow showing where the flight was, the outside temperature, the wind speed and direction and the intended route.

Hot Towels were offered before the meal service. I saw Interstate 10, Desert Center, Blythe to the distance and the Colorado River. We were making up time with ground speed as high as 640mph and the outside temperature was between -58F and -72F. There was another drink offering and dinner was served as we entered New Mexico.

Dinner consisted of a roll with unsalted margerine, salad with two cucumbers and Balsamic Vingerette Olive Oil dressing. The main dish was a chicken breast with some sort of mushroom sauce (I scraped off the mushrooms). There were scalloped potatoes and broccoli. Dessert was some sort of cheesecake. The potatoes were surprisingly good, the broccoli was OK and the chicken breast was moist and tender. Seatbelt sign went on at 1:13 due to light chop and off at 1:37. Another ginger ale was served after dinner. There was a movie, Talladega Nights.

FA's came through with Snack Basket and I chose Biscoff cookies. Other choices included peanuts, cheese crackers, Sun Chips and Granola Bars. Ginger Ale was refilled. I had a brief chat with a FA and learned that there were cutbacks in service due to Delta's bankruptcy. I was given more Biscoff cookies.

Descent started at 3:05 and seatbelt sign went on at 3:10. There were some fairly good sized bumps and I saw what looked like rain during the descent NW of ATL. We broke through the clouds and circled around and I saw downtown Atlanta on final We landed east to west on a dry runway, there was reverse thrust and taxi was 7 minutes followed by arrival at gate 16 minutes late. I then took the train to the C concourse for the next flight.

Atlantic Southeast (Delta Connection) #4214 ATL-TYS CRJ-700 Seat 9D Cruising altitude 23,000' Estimated flying time 0:26, actual 0:26 Scheduled departure 23h00, actual 22h54 Scheduled arrival 23h49, actual 23h36

Raindrops started to fall as boarding was underway. We boarded at C33, down the Jetway, downstairs, outside, up the stairs onto the plane. There were some empty seats including the seat next to me. Pushback was 6 minutes early. Taxi/hold was 13 minutes followed by takeoff to west and turn north. I saw downtown Atlanta again and the Capitol on climb. Announcement was made there would be no beverage service and seatbelt sign would stay on due to short duration of flight. We got into clouds and there were some bumps. No real cruise, descent started 0:11. We landed north to south on a wet runway, taxi was 3 minutes and we arrived at gate 13 minutes early. Apparently our flight was the last to arrive for the night as TSA had to be summoned to let us out of the secure area. Bags started arriving as I reached baggage claim and I got the last of my bags at 23h48.
I took a taxi to nearby motel for the night.

Next morning I awoke to rain. I took a $105 cab ride to Rockwood, TN and got the truck.

Trip: Rockwood, TN to Leeds, AL 205 miles Routes: US27 to Interstate 24 to Interstate 59 to Interstate 459 to Interstate 20 to US784

It was raining when I started the trip and a light to moderate rain continued through all of Tennessee. There was a wreck on Interstate 24 in Chattanooga that held up traffic. I pulled into a truckstop in Rising Fawn, GA (northwest corner of GA) to take on fuel. There was moderate rain when I arrived but the rain quickly got heavier while I fueled and after I finished there was a torrential downpour in progress. I decided to park and stay put until the rain eased off. That took awhile and I monitored the Weather Channel inside the truckstop. Conditions were worse farther south with a tornado in Mississippi and a possible tornado in Montgomery, AL. Later a tornado in North Carolina claimed eight lives so I was fortunate. After the rain eased I continued and stopped in Ft. Payne, AL for the night. I finished this run the following day and picked up the next truck and got started for Connecticut.

Trip: Leeds, AL to Bethel, CT 1,014 miles Routes: US78 to US411 to Interstate 20 to Interstate 459 to Interstate 59 to Interstate 24 to Interstate 75 to Interstate 40 to Interstate 81 to Interstate 78 to Interstate 287 to Interstate 684 to Interstate 84 to Connecticut 53

This was a bad truck. The truck was almost 20 years old, there was only a lap belt for the seatbelt, the cover to the battery box was missing and the battery was weak and barely put out enough voltage to run the engine. The fan and defroster barely worked and the interior was absolutely filthy. I stopped at truckstop and got a bottle of Simple Green cleaner and a roll of paper towels and went to work cleaning the inside some so I would not get dirty just by touching the inside. The first day had some light rain and drizzle but that cleared off and there was no precipitation the rest of the trip. The truck was a slow truck doing a maximum of 55mph.

On Sunday morning I attended church at Valley View Baptist in Buchanan, VA (north of Roanoke off the 81) and I was taken to New Testament Baptist in Chambersburg, PA for evening service. There was rain and snow forecast for Monday but that did not happen on my route. I crossed the Tappan Zee Bridge and paid a toll of $12.25. Tuesday morning I delivered the truck at a residential address in Bethel, CT and a Baptist Preacher from Danbury, CT came and picked me up and took me for a quick tour of the city.

History Lesson

The church this preacher is pastor of started way back in 1790. I saw the original site of the church, next to a graveyard. I learned it was the Baptists from Danbury who wrote to Thomas Jefferson and Jefferson wrote back with his famous words regarding a wall of separation between church and state.

I had lunch with the preacher and got the rental car. I planned to see Hartford but aborted that plan after seeing heavy traffic. I got a room in Bethel for the night and that place had Internet access. I could have gotten a coach ticket nonstop JFK-LAX on AA for $239 and some change but decided to use miles and got a First Class on AA from JFK to LAX and I still have the other half of the award I need to use by next October. I went to Friendly's in Danbury and had a super ice cream sundae and the service was outstanding. I ordered, went to use the washroom and my order was waiting for me when I returned to my place. I was impressed.

The next morning I had continental breakfast at the hotel and then drove in to JFK. The trip to JFK went much better than expected. I had to stop to pay a toll at the Whitestone Bridge and there was a short work zone on the Van Wyck Expressway (Interstate 678) but aside from those two things I sailed right into JFK, turned in the car and that went quick and painless.

I took the Airtrain to Terminal 9 to check in for my flight. I checked in, checked my bags, and cleared security in less than 10 minutes. There was a very short line at security and the absence of large crowds surprised me especially since it was the day before Thanksgiving. I was not selected for secondary and none of my carry-ons were searched. It took longer to take the Airtrain to Terminal 9 than it did for me to check it and clear security. I was impressed with Terminal 9. I saw clocks showing the time in some different cities and on each side I saw different American Airlines corporate logos from years past as well as the current logo. I did notice that on the outside of each jetway there was advertising for HSBC Bank. I was granted access to the Admirals Club because I had a First Class Boarding Pass so I went in and looked around and had a few pretzels and a glass of water. I had a chat with another traveller and I saw raindrops start to fall. I exited the Admirals Club and went to the gate and saw more people waiting. Boarding for First Class was called and I was the third to board. I saw advertising for HSBC Bank inside the jetway.

American #117 JFK-LAX B-767-200 Seat 2J First Class Cruising altitude 38,000' Estimated flying time 5:27, actual 5:23 Scheduled departure 14h20, actual 14h30 Scheduled arrival 17h30, actual 17h30 Ticket cost: $5.00 plus 50,000 AS miles

I took my seat and 8 of 9 First Class seats were occupied. This was a very full flight with 165 passengers and 12 crew. This was my first flight on a
B-767-200 and the configuration of this plane was 9F/30J/128Y for a total capacity of 167. There is no Row 1 on this plane so I was in the front row. Nothing was offered during boarding but just before pushback a pre-departure drink was offered.

Rain was falling as we pushed back 10 minutes late. Taxi/hold was 19 minutes followed by takeoff to the north followed by an immediate turn to the east then south and southwest. I saw Jamaica Bay, JFK, and beachfront (I'm not familiar with the beaches in the NYC area) and Manhattan to the distance. Then we entered clouds and there were some bumps. At about 0:32 the captain came on the intercom and announced we reached cruising altitude of 38,000' and would later climb to 40,000'. Our path would take us just south of Pittsburgh, over Indianapolis, St. Louis, Liberal, Kansas, northern New Mexico north of Albuquerque, Winslow and Prescott, AZ and Twentynine Palms, CA on into Los Angeles and it was announced the seatbelt sign would stay on for about the next 40 minutes due to light chop.

Wine or Champagne was offered but I don't imbibe so I had Pepsi followed by Ginger Ale. Printed menus were handed out. The menu was eight pages in length not including the cover pages and after a few pages listing the wines and other beverages available. A detailed description of the Dinner Service followed and I quote that description below.

To Start

Warm mixed nuts or Marinated Cheese Antipasto

Appetizer

Prosciutto garnished with Parmesan Cheese, served with Cantaloupe Puree

The Salad Cart

Seasonal mixed Greens with creamy Cilantro Dressing or Castello Monte Vibiano Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar
Mozzarella Salad with fresh Basil, Cherry Tomatoes and Olive Oil

Bread Basket

Assorted Gourmet Breads

ENTREES

Beef Fillet

Tenderloin of Beef enhanced by a Miso Demi-Glace offered with Cilantro Potatoes, grilled Asparagus, and roasted Tomatoes

Salmon with Cranberry-Pecan Butter

Salmon served with a Sweet Potato Timbale with Boursin Cheese Crust and Orange Butter, accompanied by a medley of Carrots and Haricots Verts

Cheese Tortellini

Cheese Tortellini served with roasted Red Pepper Sauce, topped with a Smokehouse Vegetable Medley of Zucchini and Red Peppers

Lighter Fare

You may wish to create your own entree from the Salad Cart, which wil be followed by a Dessert

Dine Upon Request

In an effort to accommodate your individual preferences, American Airlines is pleased to offer any of the entrees listed below for your Dine Upon Request selection, presented all at once, at any time you wish during the flight

Beef Fillet Salmon with Cranberry-Pecan Butter Cheese Tortellini

Dessert Cart

Ice Cream Sundae
Breyers Vanilla Ice Cream with a choice of Hot Fudge, Butterscotch or seasonal Fruit Toppings, Whipped Cream and Pecans
or
Grand Mariner Fruit Dessert

To Finish

Assorted Lindt Chocolates

Light Refreshment

Freshly baked on board, Otis Spunkmeyer Cookies

Pre-Arrival Beverage

Chilled Sparkling Water with Fruit Garnish

I saw Pittsburgh and the surrounding area and the seatbelt sign went off at 0:45 and back on at 0:52. The FA named Richard addressed me by Mr. Parkes and took my order. I ordered the Beef. We passed just north ofColumbus and I saw part of Interstate 71, 270 and later Interstate 75. Hot Towels were offered and greatly appreciated. I saw Ft. Wayne to the north and later Indianapolis directly below. I had warm mixed nuts. The Appetizer was offered and was consumed with a white roll and real butter. Utensils were clear plastic and there was a blue tablecloth and a white cloth napkin and real china plates. The FA came through with the salad cart and made my salad to order. I had the Balsamic Vinagerette dressing and freshly ground pepper on the salad as we passed Interstate 57 north of Effingham, IL. The FA offered me a DVD so I could watch a movie but I declined. There was also a movie and other entertainment shown on the main screen throughout the flight but I did not pay much attention to that.

The main course was served with a small portion of beef. The beef was tender and quite satisfactory along with the asparagus and potato slices. I finished the main course as we approached Columbia, MO. Following the main course I had the Hot Fudge Sundae with a little whipped cream and some pecans and it was every bit as good if not better than the sundaes I had during my younger days. The movie started at 2:14 and ended at 4:09. I saw the Kansas Turnpike with the Flint Hills and Emporia in the distance. Shortly later I saw Interstate 135 with Salina in the distance. Seatbelt sign went back on due to bumps at 2:51. I took a little siesta. My seat reclined to almost but not quite a lie-flat position and the footrest went out so I could rest my feet.

I woke up over northeast New Mexico and saw Raton, NM, Interstate 25 and the Sangre de Christo mountains. I was offered chocolates and picked 3 with hazlenut fillings. At 3:27 there was an announcement for the FA's to take their seats and discontinue service. The turbulence was not too bad and the all-clear to resume duties came at 3:43. A small amenity kit no doubt sponsored by MasterCard was handed out and consisted of toothpaste, toothbrush, lip balm and lotion along with a plug for MasterCard. At 3:53 the seatbelt sign went off. At 4:24 cookies were offered and I had a chocolate chip cookie and a sugar cookie. At 4:55 sparkling water with lemon garnish was offered. The water tasted more like club soda. At 4:58 an announcement came to power down PC's and electronic devices as power ports would be turned off in 5 minutes in preparation for landing in 30 minutes. Descent started simultaneous with the seatbelt sign being illuminated at 5:00. Announcement was made we were 110 miles out. I saw Yucca Valley, Mt. San Gorgonio and Big Bear Lake in the gathering darkness. Later I saw Yucaipa, the lights of Redlands, Interstate 10 and other Inland Empire communities as the descent continued. Traffic was heavy on CA60 and Interstate 215 as well as Interstate 15 around the 10 going all the way up the Cajon Pass. I saw Ontario International Airport and saw a 737 taking off below. Shortly later I saw the lights of the San Gabriel Valley followed by Interstate 605, Interstate 5 and downtown Los Angeles. I noticed traffic was jammed both directions on Interstate 405 as we made our final approach at twilight's last gleaming. We landed east to west on a dry runway and reverse thrust slowed the plane. Taxi/hold was 17 minutes and a tug pulled the plane to the gate. We arrived right on time. I got my last bag at 17h50 (not quite as quick as Delta but no airline is perfect) then took a shuttle that delivered me home after three stops. I got home in time for Thanksgiving.

Observation: Based on my experience I believe American's First Class service JFK-LAX is as good as it gets for domestic flights. However I have never flown First Class on United so I don't know how United's p.s. service is on the same route. I told Richard the FA that American's First Class service beat Delta's First Class service hands down. I base that on my experience as I've never flown Delta on the JFK-LAX route; my experience was TPA-LAX and LAX-ATL. Based on my experiences I would say that American's First Class service does not just beat Delta; it blows Delta right out of the water.

I got word that I am needed in Burlington, Ontario for a safety meeting on Monday so I'm not spending nearly as much time as expected at home. But I did have a good Thanksgiving and hope that all of you did likewise. Tomorrow 25th November I will be taking UA #976 LAX-DEN followed by UA#8426/AC#1042 DEN-YYZ. I am looking forward to flying on the B-777 and the E-190. After the safety meeting there is a strong possibility that I will be put on a run from Montreal, QC to Florida though that is subject to change.

CarlTheWebmaster

Nice report! I like the timings of the seat belt light, and the truck segments -- not your average FT report!

-C

TrayflowInUK

Loose Cannon goes upmarket! Glad to see you getting a few premium flights in, you certainly have to endure your fair share of riding in the back of the bus!

How much did Delta charge you to issue the award ticket in the first place? I saw the $50 reissue fee but what about original taxes and surcharges?

Was surprised to see AS only charged you $5... that's CHEAP.

Loose Cannon

It was an Alaska award ticket $17.50 originally in taxes and fees; $2.50 tax per segment plus $10 for not using the Internet, that's for the first award. DL is a partner with AS.

Second award I did have access to the Internet (thanks Microtel!) and will no doubt get hit with another $50 change fee when I am able to use the last half.

Its to the back of the bus again on UA and AC today as I fly to YYZ. However I'm scheduled to fly aircraft types I've never been on before the
B-777 and E-190

Robt760

Hi Loose Cannon:

Good to have you back after your absence in tending to you family needs awhile back.

It's always interesting to hear your trip reports that contain travel on Planes, Trucks, and Automobiles in your Tour/Line of Duty.

Kudos to you for taking the occasional plunge into F/C. Everyone should enjoy something like this here and there.

It was interesting to hear about your F/C experience on AA, as I follow that forum and the #2 question is always something to do with "What's F/C like on AA's Transcon Flights?", and you pretty much confirmed what most folks are getting (or not getting)

Looks like they forgot part of your service...

Light Refreshment

Freshly baked on board, Otis Spunkmeyer Cookies

Pre-Arrival Beverage

Chilled Sparkling Water with Fruit Garnish

Have a safe "Tour" to Canada and a safe trip back home to So Cal.

Alinlondon

Another great report LC, wonderful detail.

onedog

Another excellent trip report. Thanks for sharing.

When you use your miles for flights to/from a delivery, how do you get reimbursed by the trucking company? Do they reimburse you a set amount or based on the going rate for airline tix on the route?

orlandodlplat

You know you're really comparing apples and oranges here... AA's transcon first class product is marketed as "flagship service," and costs much, much more than a mid-con F flight on DL.

freeupgrade

They did not forget the service re: cookies and chilled water. If you reread it, he had at least 2 cookies and commented that the water was like club soda.

Loose Cannon

I've never used miles TO a place to pick up a truck. Both times I burned miles was to get home and that's on me.

wahooflyer

Great trip report, as always, Loose Cannon! I found this one especially interesting as I spent part of my childhood in Bethel, CT (not a place you hear about too often on FT, and not a place where it's easy to find a Baptist church as the vast majority of the population is Catholic)!

Looks like you took advantage of what many Bethelites do to get to the airport...renting a car. Avis and Hertz don't charge an extra drop fee when you rent or return anywhere in the NYC metro area, so my parents always used Avis instead of a $100+ taxi ride or a few days' worth of expensive parking when flying on longer trips.

Loose Cannon

The Baptist Church was actually in Danbury.

No wonder it was cheaper to rent a car from Danbury to the NYC area as opposed to Hartford. Otherwise I might have used my voucher and flown home on WN.

LLZ

Great report. Odd the FAs waited until ~ one before landing to hand out the amenity kits