Apr 4, 2024I chickened out and decided to go with the safe bet of wide open flights on NW. So, I reluctantly left HNL earlier than I had wanted - but I suppose erring on the conservative side most of time (hey... I can be unpredictable and spontaneous - despite what my psycho exgirlfriend says) has gotten me where I am in life at such a young, ripe and scandalous age - so I decided to keep with tradition.
Monday 9/23. Fell alseep on the beach that morning I guess that's what getting up at 630am to take my dad to work does to me. So, I got nicely burned - so the getting ready factor was a bit painful and tedious. I hadn't shaved in 5 days and had amassed a bit of a beard - which is very painful to shave when sun burned. TAKE NOTE. Despite my mothers disapointment I refuse to shave when I don't have to - and I didn't have to... so I didn't!! PLus, it makes me actually look my age. So in a panic I got ready and my mom and I rushed to school to pick my dad up early enough to fight Honolulu traffic to the airport. It actually worked out perfect and I arrived at HNL at 345pm as planned... not bad for leaving the house 15 min late.
Breezed through security and got some water and a post card for a friend and joined the check in line for NW936 to LAX at gate 12. As I was walking away from security they all sorta yelled at me and asked me why I didn't sign my name off as a crew member on their list of crews. I explained that I wasn't working - but traveling in uniform. That seems sorta odd that they have to do that... never seen that before. Got signed up for the jumpseat and then got a boarding pass immediately for 17A. I saw 2 Dutch couples that were on my flight out to HNL last week and chatted with them about their journey. Got on the plane and said hi to the crew. It turned out the Captains son went to UND and works on the ramp in MSP for Mesaba... There were about 80 open seats on this plane and my seatmate moved to be with his wife when the door closed. Again, this was NW936 HNL-LAX flying time was 4:47 and it was ship 1232 - a 1977 Cinco de Mayo vintage ex Thai DC10-30. Pushed ontime and since we were having "Kona" weather that day (winds out of the west) we taxiied to 22L for departure. FUnny, the AA 763 to ORD or DFW went all the way to 26L. Roared down the rwy and were on our way. Great views of the city as we turned crosswind and proceeded down the Waikiki shoreline slight left turn at Koko Head and then down the north side of Molokai and into the vast pacific ocean. THe movie - "About a Boy" was started shortly after t/o due to the short duration of the flight. The first drink service started with SPinzels and the full can - I had an apple juice. Soon after the meals started - choice of Cheese Tortellini or Chicken Kiev. I think i've had to Chicken a thousand times... but it is so good so I had it again. It came with peas, wild rice, roll, and salad. Man, my salad was very heavy on the radishes - which meant trouble on the flight from LAX-MEM - but we won't go there. After the meal there were tea and coffee walks. The movie continued and was quite good. After that they screened currents which had E- Behind the scenes with "About a boy" and after that I don't remember because I drifted into a nap. Startd the decent into LAX and touched down rather firmly on 6R at 1245am and arrived at gate 26 at 1250am a few minutes early. Something that just boggles my mind is why NW keeps this LAX flight timed to arrive only to connect with DTW and MEM. MSP pushes at 1235am making double connections necessary or taking the 115pm to SEA, 535pm nonstop the only options right now. NOw that the DC10-30s are doing HNL flying regularly and their not flown domestic this a/c sits for 12 hours in LAX. They rotate the planes via MSP with a MSP-HNL-LAX-HNL-MSP routing. Might I suggest to NW retiming the HNL-LAX portion to a 130pm departure or so - that way peope can arrive in LAX at a reasonable hour should they be making LAX a final destination and this timing also allows for MSP, DTW and MEM red eye connections. Or even better, retime the flight back to LAX to a red eye - that way people can get to LAX in the morning and should they connect they can leave on the early morning MSP, DTW, MEM flight and still make serveral connection banks in all cities. This would also provide available connections to LAS, PHX, ABQ and even SFO. Anyway... I digress. Deplaned and went over to check in for MEM. This flight was wide open as well and was assigned 25C. FLight 552 LAX-MEM A320 ship 3218 3:08 flying time. Boarded and had a nice chat with a very friendly cabin crew and said hi to the pilots and thanked them for the ride. Made my way to 25C and stored my things. They scope dout some other seats for us folks assigned to 25 and 26 and I relocated to the first exit row - to have the whole row to myself. I think they wanted 25 and 26 blocked off for some reason. Pushed a couple minutes late due to the need for more fuel and were quickly on our way. During climb out there appeared to by a HUGE forest fire somewhere on the northern borders of the city. I fell asleep but was slightly woken when the very nice FA was leaving me spinzls and shortbread. I noticed she did that for everyone who was sleeping. I got up intime for a cup of coffee and went back to sleep only to awake on approach into MEM. A beautiful morning it was and we touched down nicely on the newly opened 36L and parked on B43 about 20 min early. Deplaned and was on my way home for more sleep.
A nice journey home after a much needed lazy break in perfect weather HAwaii. It's always sad to leave the islands and my parents, but I know I'll be back soon. Good NW flights as usual... you gotta love consistancy that's for sure.
I'm sorry it wasn't more exciting with FC menus and tales of exotic adventure... maybe next time.
AZJ
edited to correct incorrect info... thanks Mr. Mayhem!
[This message has been edited by azj (edited 09-26-2002).]
Monday 9/23. Fell alseep on the beach that morning I guess that's what getting up at 630am to take my dad to work does to me. So, I got nicely burned - so the getting ready factor was a bit painful and tedious. I hadn't shaved in 5 days and had amassed a bit of a beard - which is very painful to shave when sun burned. TAKE NOTE. Despite my mothers disapointment I refuse to shave when I don't have to - and I didn't have to... so I didn't!! PLus, it makes me actually look my age. So in a panic I got ready and my mom and I rushed to school to pick my dad up early enough to fight Honolulu traffic to the airport. It actually worked out perfect and I arrived at HNL at 345pm as planned... not bad for leaving the house 15 min late.
Breezed through security and got some water and a post card for a friend and joined the check in line for NW936 to LAX at gate 12. As I was walking away from security they all sorta yelled at me and asked me why I didn't sign my name off as a crew member on their list of crews. I explained that I wasn't working - but traveling in uniform. That seems sorta odd that they have to do that... never seen that before. Got signed up for the jumpseat and then got a boarding pass immediately for 17A. I saw 2 Dutch couples that were on my flight out to HNL last week and chatted with them about their journey. Got on the plane and said hi to the crew. It turned out the Captains son went to UND and works on the ramp in MSP for Mesaba... There were about 80 open seats on this plane and my seatmate moved to be with his wife when the door closed. Again, this was NW936 HNL-LAX flying time was 4:47 and it was ship 1232 - a 1977 Cinco de Mayo vintage ex Thai DC10-30. Pushed ontime and since we were having "Kona" weather that day (winds out of the west) we taxiied to 22L for departure. FUnny, the AA 763 to ORD or DFW went all the way to 26L. Roared down the rwy and were on our way. Great views of the city as we turned crosswind and proceeded down the Waikiki shoreline slight left turn at Koko Head and then down the north side of Molokai and into the vast pacific ocean. THe movie - "About a Boy" was started shortly after t/o due to the short duration of the flight. The first drink service started with SPinzels and the full can - I had an apple juice. Soon after the meals started - choice of Cheese Tortellini or Chicken Kiev. I think i've had to Chicken a thousand times... but it is so good so I had it again. It came with peas, wild rice, roll, and salad. Man, my salad was very heavy on the radishes - which meant trouble on the flight from LAX-MEM - but we won't go there. After the meal there were tea and coffee walks. The movie continued and was quite good. After that they screened currents which had E- Behind the scenes with "About a boy" and after that I don't remember because I drifted into a nap. Startd the decent into LAX and touched down rather firmly on 6R at 1245am and arrived at gate 26 at 1250am a few minutes early. Something that just boggles my mind is why NW keeps this LAX flight timed to arrive only to connect with DTW and MEM. MSP pushes at 1235am making double connections necessary or taking the 115pm to SEA, 535pm nonstop the only options right now. NOw that the DC10-30s are doing HNL flying regularly and their not flown domestic this a/c sits for 12 hours in LAX. They rotate the planes via MSP with a MSP-HNL-LAX-HNL-MSP routing. Might I suggest to NW retiming the HNL-LAX portion to a 130pm departure or so - that way peope can arrive in LAX at a reasonable hour should they be making LAX a final destination and this timing also allows for MSP, DTW and MEM red eye connections. Or even better, retime the flight back to LAX to a red eye - that way people can get to LAX in the morning and should they connect they can leave on the early morning MSP, DTW, MEM flight and still make serveral connection banks in all cities. This would also provide available connections to LAS, PHX, ABQ and even SFO. Anyway... I digress. Deplaned and went over to check in for MEM. This flight was wide open as well and was assigned 25C. FLight 552 LAX-MEM A320 ship 3218 3:08 flying time. Boarded and had a nice chat with a very friendly cabin crew and said hi to the pilots and thanked them for the ride. Made my way to 25C and stored my things. They scope dout some other seats for us folks assigned to 25 and 26 and I relocated to the first exit row - to have the whole row to myself. I think they wanted 25 and 26 blocked off for some reason. Pushed a couple minutes late due to the need for more fuel and were quickly on our way. During climb out there appeared to by a HUGE forest fire somewhere on the northern borders of the city. I fell asleep but was slightly woken when the very nice FA was leaving me spinzls and shortbread. I noticed she did that for everyone who was sleeping. I got up intime for a cup of coffee and went back to sleep only to awake on approach into MEM. A beautiful morning it was and we touched down nicely on the newly opened 36L and parked on B43 about 20 min early. Deplaned and was on my way home for more sleep.
A nice journey home after a much needed lazy break in perfect weather HAwaii. It's always sad to leave the islands and my parents, but I know I'll be back soon. Good NW flights as usual... you gotta love consistancy that's for sure.
I'm sorry it wasn't more exciting with FC menus and tales of exotic adventure... maybe next time.
AZJ
edited to correct incorrect info... thanks Mr. Mayhem!
[This message has been edited by azj (edited 09-26-2002).]
#2
Montys_Mayhem , Sep 26, 2002 2:00 am
Good report. Some corrections on the aircraft info, though: Ship 1232 was delivered on 5/5/77, and was with Thai prior to NWA. This ship was never with Swissair. It is also not a DC10-30ER --the only three in NWA's fleet are 1238-40. The -ERs were only made in the late 1980s, just before the introduction of the MD11. Ship 1232 has the higher rated CF6-50C2 engines, but this does not make them into DC10-30ERs.
My bad... I was going from memory at 1am whilst writing the report. I'll make the corrections for 1232 - not being a Swissair -ER a/c. I flew 1238 out to HNL (see the report) and that one was the -ER. I knew one of them was!!
AZJ
[This message has been edited by azj (edited 09-26-2002).]
AZJ
[This message has been edited by azj (edited 09-26-2002).]