Trip 1

BT 330 17OCT 5 HELRIX 1635 1745 -AT42

Leaving work at 1500 I took a shuttle to the airport and was soon checked in using the self service machine. It is used for multiple airlines but each one has its own native system. My general preference is window for short haul and aisle for long haul and thus I selected windows in the front row both to Riga and to Copenhagen.

This first flight was operated by an ATR-42 leased from DAT (Danish Air Transport). It was funny to hear the clear Scandinavian accent on the pre-recorded safety instructions flying an airline that was not Scandinavian at all. Getting started on this trip with a turbo-prop felt excellent and passing through the clouds in my bulkhead seat life was good.




BT 139 17OCT 5 RIXCPH 1825 1855 -B737

This was my first time in Riga and it was a small and easy airport to navigate through. The 25 minute minimum connection time (MCT) is easily doable. It had the standard selection of tax free but also more exclusive shops that looked as uninteresting as can be. At the time I had a silver card with Star Alliance so no lounge access for me. Instead I waited and took a look at my boarding pass with 28D on it. 28D??? No, that couldn't be possible, I had clearly selected 4A for this B737. Gah, it was stupid machine that tricked me. As boarding started on this pretty full flight I waited until last to board the plane and found a window with the middle free at the row just before the emergency exit. Though limited recline I'd rather sit there than cramped in the back. Air Baltic belonging to the SAS-group offers nothing for free onboard. So I just read (of course I travelled loaded with books) for the duration. Landing in Copenhagen was nice, this used to be my home airport before I moved to Helsinki. Usually I would take the train to Sweden and sleep at my family's house there, but as my flight the next morning was so early I didn't feel it was justifiable to get home for just late evening to early morning only. Thus I had decided to sleep in the airport. I went to get a bite to eat (or rather, something really big so I would sleep better) and a drink in the Diners lounge. Then it was time so search for a good place to lay down. The resting-chairs were good candidates but soon I found leather sofas located in an almost deserted pier. After the last flight from this pier left around 23 I brushed my teeth and stretched out. Of course I came well prepared with ear plugs, an inflatable pillow and an eye mask (I never take a long flight without those 3 things). The couch was very very comfortable and except for waking up shortly from some cleaning noises I slept like a king. At 05 my alarm clock rang.




SN2268 18OCT 6 CPHBRU 0640 0820 -B737

The transfer desk wouldn't let me check in so I had to go landside and check in there. As the flight was not very full there was no line at check in and I was soon through security control. Copenhagen used to be an almost perfect airport. Unfortunately they have made some changes making it worse. Among these are that you end up in the middle of the tax free shop when you exit security. Furthermore, CPH has stopped displaying the gate information until about an hour (or less) before the flight. These two things makes the passenger wander around and does not fit someone like me who'd like to just sit down at the gate and wait (Diners lounge not open that early in the morning). I took a look if there were any pocket books to buy but was put off by the prices: about €16 also for old pocket books. At last I got to the gate and had an uneventful flight to Brussels. I noticed everyone were seated in row 22 and back so I took the emergency window. The only passengers in front of me were the two in the premium cabin. SN also charges for everything aboard the plane and I had a decent sandwich to eat.


DL 125 18OCT 6 BRUATL 1000 1340 -B763

In Brussels I had to transfer terminals which was relatively easy though a long walk was required, as was a new security check. Once at the gate I inquired if there were any free 2-seaters available. I had the emergency exit pre-booked but would prefer to have the seat next to me free. Unfortunately there were not but my boarding pass was still exchanged as I had to answer a few security questions and get a proper Delta boarding-pass. After this I headed for the lounge. Surprisingly Delta uses the Brtish Airways-lounge in Brussels! This was a very nice lounge with a good selection of breakfast offerings, as well as ample seating and computers.
Soon it was time to board and I was happy to find that my seat neighbour was a small built woman. Unfortunately though I couldn't talk to her as she had her headphones on from start until landing. The one thing I didn't like about her was the she smelled heavily from perfume. In my opinion you shouldn't really put on strong perfume for any flight as some passengers may be very sensitive to strong smells.
I could see a lot of passengers crossing aisles in front of the people in the bulk-heads, a flight attendant also told a passenger to do so. What was funny though was that later another flight attendant reprimanded a passenger that was crossing the bulkhead!
With DL you get a bottle of wine free with your dinner but any other alcohol will cost you. Of course I wanted a drink with my peanuts so had a whiskey drink only to remember I'm not too fond of it. Oh well. Lunch wasn't much to write home about; salad, main course, a cookie and bread. Way too little.. The flight attendants did frequent drink rounds and before landing a well tasting but small pizza-slize was served. Immigration wasn't very difficult. As usual I was honest: Purpose - miles, money - a little, stay - Denver..




DL 131 18OCT 6 ATLSLC 1640 1850 -B764

Before the flight I went to the lounge and discovered they had become stricter. A few years ago they would mostly have no clue what a Czech Airlines OK Plus card was and simply wave me through. However as I learned now (and my latter lounge visits) all lounge attendants had been well educated and required the BP of my same-day international flight. Luckily I was able to produce this and was allowed in.
On the flight I had the exit row and a wonderful flight attendant seated opposite of me. She kept on cracking jokes in a very relaxed manner to the passengers while at the same time being helpful. Flying in the USA is overall more relaxed than in Europe. This has both good and bad points; while I like a relaxed attitude I sometimes do appreciate whatever glamour is still left in flying. One funny episode on this flight was that a passenger went to the lavatory while the seatbelt sign was still on. The FA advised the pax about this and who asked if he has to sit down. The FA reply to this was that she can not tell any passenger to do anything. Strange I think, I'd expect the passengers to have to obey every word from the FA while on the plane... As soon as the seatbelt light went off I slept until it was time to land, excellent!




DL1272 18OCT 6 SLCDEN 1955 2117 -MD90

This flight was just wat a tired traveller needed: few passengers, dimmed lights, rows to stretch out on. I wasn't the only one to lay comfortably the whole flight.. I was at the hotel within an hour and got about 5 hours of sleep.


DL3901 19OCT 7 DENSLC 0615 0745 -CRJ9

This was going to be a long day; I had 9 flights and no bed access ahead of me. Check-in in was a hassle; as I was continuing on an AA-operated flight the machine insisted I needed a paper ticket. I for sure had an eticket only and the problem was left unresolved. I was checked in with a BP saying I needed a paper ticket for the flight out of Los Angeles.
There is something special about taking an early morning flight when you aren't too tired. I love walking the tarmac (though we had a jetbridge this time) to your awaiting plane and then taking off in the dark. This was the first time I saw first class on a CRJ and the seats looked quite ok. Still I was happy on my silent row 4.


DL1173 19OCT 7 SLCLAX 0825 0925 -MD90

It is seldom that I remember a pilot or that they stand out in any way. This pilot though was very talkative, made small jokes and gave the passengers praise for getting up so early and making it through the airport. He certainly did manage to make me feel better! I sat by the emergency exit and slept the whole way to LAX.


DL7570 19OCT 7 LAXSBA 1130 1219 -S340 (operated by AA)

In LAX I went to the lounge and was happily granted access (this time I was actually allowed). I inquired about the paper ticket thing and after a lot and lot of typing (this seemed to be a repeating issue) I received a paper ticket coupon for this flight. It wasn't the first time in this lounge for me and I always found the staff friendly.
I had expected an inter-terminal hassle to get to the AA-terminal but was impressed to find an inter-terminal bus straight from the DL-terminal to the small American Eagle terminal. Well done! Once onboard this plane the flight was pretty short and not bumpy enough (I usually do enjoy actually feeling that you are flying), it was fun flying a plane from my native country Sweden as well.




DL3886 19OCT 7 SBASLC 1255 1554 -CRJ

Santa Barbara airport was a really cute and small airport. The building looks different and southern with a rooftop café. It really impressed me in managing to be so charming, not at all like the rest of the wall-to-wall carpet airports in USA. With my hand luggage only I was outside the airport within 30 seconds of deplaning, wow! Here I walked around a bit, enjoying the airport and sun outside.
Though it was a bit a hard to find the correct entrance for my gate I followed some other people and was soon through the friendly security and ID-check. Unfortunately my seat neighbour on this flight turned out to be much less friendly. He did not answer my greeting, sighed heavily when he had to get up to let me in to my seat and shoved away my jacket sleeve that was touching his elbow. I decided to use reverse tactics on him and did my best to be friendly. My offer of using my tray (his was covered by his laptop) for his drink was rejected with a grunt. SLC approaches can often be a bit bumpy but this time not so unfortunately..




DL4134 19OCT 7 SLCIAH 1645 2045 -CRJ9

As always I was hoping for a bump voucher but although this (like many of my flights) was fully booked they did not need any volunteers.. I only had an 1h 10m connection time in Houston and a missed connection there would mean a forced overnight, which in turn would mean arrival at work one day later. Thus, this was the only connection on my trip that I actually wanted to make. Pushback for our flight was late due to maintenance, so I started worrying a bit. Soon we were on our way though and I had a good exit row window seat. Sometimes the exit door would creak loudly during flight, something I haven't heard much before. Other thing unusual was that for once I was actually too warm in the exit row! Normally I have a blanket over my legs in the window exit but on this flight that would have been much too much. Maybe it was because of this, maybe it was because of the big ice cream I had in SLC before departing, or maybe it was because of all the flying, but on this flight I got really restless legs. I had to go up and walk around a bit in the plane. Luckily the flight went fast and we landed in IAH 10 minutes early!


DL8313 19OCT 7 IAHCDG 2155 1425+1 -A330 (operated by AF)

Because I had been sitting so much I usually try to walk only when transferring on my segment runs (ie. no standing in walkways, escalators, using stairs instead of elevators, etc). Since we were early I decided to walk from the DL to the AF terminal in IAH. It was a pretty long walk taking 10-15 minutes and I arrived at an deserted AF check-in (DL had been unable to check me in beyond IAH). Luckily there was still an agent there who informed that although check-in closed 5 minutes ago she would gladly check me in. I had pre-booked 20D which offers a little more leg room but now asked for a 2-seater by the window for myself. As the flight was very empty (only 100 passengers) this was no problem. Unfortunately there was no time to visit the lounge and at this time everything in the terminal seemed closed.
Boarding was called and was a quick affair. I had the pleasure of flying with a really drunk man (you know the signs, walking unsteadily, breathing through his nose, sweating, and, above it all, smelling alcohol :-) ). I settled in my seat and gazed out at the impressive wing. Nothing can beat flying a wide-body. I really enjoyed eating good (yes, it was good) airplane food with a delicious dessert. The plane was equipped with AF's new AVOD, which is a big improvement from the old one where you would have to wait 15 minutes before you could see your movie. Still, the screens are pretty bad though. As soon as I had eaten it was shut-eye time and I didn't wake until lights were turned on for breakfast.




DL8428 20OCT 1 CDGCPH 1525 1720 -A320 (operated by AF)

Now this was a connection I really wanted to miss. As the following Air Baltic flights wouldn't earn me many miles I was hoping to instead get home early. Armed with a printout of available connections should I miss this flight I started to make my way through the dump that is Paris Charles De Gaulle. Normally, I schedule a layover time of 90 minutes minimum here, as previous experience has shown you usually need a minor miracle to succeed with anything shorter. There are usually long lines and chaos in both immigration and security, not to mention the ever delightful inter-terminal run. This time though (must be because we were arriving in the afternoon) there was absolutely no line at immigration. This combined with my flight from Houston arriving early and having a gate for once (no Tour de France in a bus around the airport) meant I stood a very good chance of making my connection! I tried walking as slowly as I could. Arriving at the security there was no chaos, nor queue. Buhu. I actually arrived at the gate with a good 45 minutes to spare, even before the gate agents were there! I couldn't fake missing this connection with a clean conscious. Who would have imagined this happening in CDG? The one time I actually wanted to miss my connection?
Time for plan B. I knew this flight was pretty full and I'd gladly accept a bump voucher in exchange for getting home early. Having asked the gate agent (am I entitled to ask that they understand English without having to speak . word . by . word ?) I learnt that there might indeed be a need for volunteers. The nervous wait began. A lot of passengers boarded, and boarded, and boarded. If not VDB surely I could hope for an op-up as an Elite Plus member? In the end neither happened though. I had to settle in my seat and take the long way home (or shall I say, longer :-) ).
This was the first time for me flying Air France short haul in two years and I was surprised to find that no food was served anymore! My impression of AF being a full service carrier had still remained and as a travel agent I happily book customers on them. But all we got was a drink service and nuts. Buhu. Oh well, it is pretty much the same I received on the same route and airline flying business last time.




BT 140 20OCT 1 CPHRIX 2035 2255 -B733

I was hoping not having to go landside (I had not been checked in on these flights yet) and proceeded to the transfer desk for them to check me in but no one was there. There was a machine there though which neglected to find my reservation. Thus I was left with going out and to the luckily empty check in area. With boarding passes in my hand I went through security and to the Diners-lounge. They had a massage chair on display and I can happily say I will not invest in any of those in the future.
Our Boeing 737 featured Recaro-seats. Only thing good about them is that they usually look modern. I can honestly say I try to avoid flying planes with those seats installed (AY seems to love them). It was impossible for me (normal height and built) to even try to cross my legs. I hate having the neck of the passenger in front of my within smelling distance. Talking about smelling, the whole plane had a scent of fish.




BT 327 20OCT 1 RIXHEL 2320 0030+1 -F50

I didn't know what to make of this 25 minute connection. As we landed early it was no problem. The Fokker 50 to Helsinki was really full but I managed to find two blocked seats at the very front. There I dozed off until a fun, bumpy descent to Helsinki started. I ran off the plane and just managed to catch a bus taking off. The driver cursed as I entered ("perkele") as the bus would have been empty hadn't it been for me, now he had to do another run to the city. He turned out to be very nice though and we talked the whole way to Helsinki (me being very impressed with my Finnish-knowledge ;-) ).




Keep reading for the next USA-trip with vouchers and lost seating!