Trip 2

This trip would be exciting. I was to fly with my brother's friend. Although we knew each other I had no idea how we would manage 6 days sitting next to each other. Just hope for the best and we both agreed it would be very easy to get irritated at each other especially towards the end flights.. Still, flying with someone else is always a lot more fun than flying alone. But I was worried that I would have too many "MR-habits" like running back and forth in the airports. When flying I often get so excited that I find it hard to sit still and thus don't calm in the lounge for long. Well, off now for the next part of this report!


AB8921 29OCT 3 HELDUS 2115 2245 -A320

This would be the first time flying Air Berlin. My impression of them was very good; they offered free on board service, are bookable through the main booking channels and their fares are both low and from a TA's point of view well constructed. I worked until 19 and then took the bus to the airport. This time of the evening the airport was quiet and as I had already checked in online I was quickly at the gate. Air Berlin's web check in is pretty good, but I find it annoying that you can not change your seat online after you have completed your check in. Arriving at the gate I found that my flight was listed as "Last Call". No time for me to change money but instead I hurried to the counter. The time wasn't even 2040, i.e. more than 25 minutes to departure and last call already? As I boarded I was welcomed with a candy & plenty of newspapers and found the plane pretty full already. I had the bulk-head window seat and sat there watching more stressed people board for another 20 minutes. Very poor service to put last carl this early I think.
Talking about poor service; guess what poor seats were installed on this plane? That's right, my favourite hateseat named Recaro. We had a bumpy take off. And the bumps just continued and continued. With a headwind of 200 km/h and groundspeed of 650 km/h the flight attendants were unable to start the service. After an hour of flying things started to become smoother and the flight attendants started the service without carts, by bringing everything straight from the galley. Landing was smooth and after a bit of hassle (Dusseldorf airport sports several different exits on different levels to landside) I managed to find my friend who had just arrived from CPH. We went off to our hotel and had a well tasting beer.




DL8433 30OCT 4 DUSCDG 1050 1205 -A320 (operated by AF)

As many of you know, selecting seats on AF operated DL-marketed flights can be a real hassle. In this case, our reservation was made in Amadeus and though DL, AF and the travel agency where I bought the trip all had done what they could to assign seats, we had pending assignments only. Seeing that the flight Paris-Atlanta was pretty full I tried to check in online as soon as it was possible to get us any decent seats. Online check-in did not work for us :-( Instead we set out to be at the airport in good time to secure seat assignments there. We walked and took a short train ride to the airport which looks very fresh and clean. As there were some lines for the AF check-in we tried the machine which worked. However, for seat selection it gave us no choices: Paris-Atlanta we were given a middle seat each on separate rows in the back of the plane. Awful... I had done everything I could to avoid this, wouldn't even my Skyteam status help avoid these things?
We proceeded to the business check-in desk and ask the agent if he could help us but there were no other seats available. As we went away to get something to eat I got an idea... Surely it was impossible to get any seat assignments worse than the ones we currently had, and as the plane was full we could not change. So we went back to the check-in desk and asked that our check-in CDG-ATL was removed so that we were only checked in to CDG! This way, perhaps some other passengers would get our seats and if no other seats were available they would have to upgrade or IDB us! As we already had the worst seats possible, what could go wrong with this plan? The check-in agent was very reluctant to do this but eventually agreed and we were given a new BP to CDG only.
We went to the lounge which as pretty useless, the computers didn't work and only juice & coffee were on offer. Once onboard the plane we were given only a cracker to eat, what has happened Air France? Of course no jetway upon arrival but instead a minor sightseeing tour of CDG, followed by a bus transfer to our terminal. Already getting to our terminal was difficult, there was an immigration check before the bus transfer and they hardly wanted to let us through without a BP for our next flight.




DL8504 30OCT 4 CDGATL 1335 1830 -A340 (operated by AF)

Arriving at the correct terminal we proceeded to the security check (why is this needed? We were airside the whole time...). After having waited in line about 20 minutes it was our turn and we unpacked our laptops, put our belts in the machine etc. As we were about to walk through we were asked for our boarding passes. We told them we had none as we had only received a BP this far and would receive the next at the gate. We showed them the printouts of our itineraries (the one you get from the AF check-in machine). The agent argued with his supervisor for quite some time about whether we could go through or not. I dared not look back at the mob standing in a too hot room with too little air behind us... I could hear sighing as we stalled the line for several minutes. Eventually the verdict came: we were not allowed through but would have to go out again. So we quickly gathered our belongings, ran out, down, left and up to the check-in area. No free counters available so we ran on to the next but same situation there. Instead we went to the ticketing office were a kind lady helped us and after a lot of typing managed to find our reservation. This only to tell us that no, she can not check us in there... Gah. We ran on and came to the business class counters. We were not allowed to enter without showing the gold card and reservations (our stressed looks not helping) to an agent, who then pointed us to the right. We ran to the check in desk there only to be stopped and pointed to another desk 3 meters behind us; the security questions. On to that desk and we started answering the usual questions "Did you pack you bag yourself? Etc". With me completed and my friend answering the questions I noticed a Delta-sign above the desk.. No, this was not the Air France check-in! I grabbed my friend and we ran across the area to the AF-side, the agent at the entrance had pointed us in the wrong direction Once at the AF desks we were told to go back 3 meters to their security questions, "Did you pack your bag yourself?". With this completed we hurried back to the correct check-in. Time was now 1305, 30 minutes to departure.
The check-in agent looked at our flight and after several "No no no, flight closed" and help from colleagues, two boarding passes were produced. The very kind agent then escorted us to the security check where we arrived at 1315. The lines there were still humongous though. There was one line for people in no hurry, another for those with a little hurry and a third for those with extreme hurry. Our flight wasn't even listed at any of those lines anymore. Even the shortest still looked to have a 20 minute wait. Then there was the first class line which was empty... Our check-in agent started speaking to the guards in the first class line about letting us through, showing my gold card and short time before departure. Though I speak no French I did understand their "no, no, no"-answer. After more convincing by our agent they finally accepted us. We went through quickly and made sure to thank the security staff properly, but they just gave a big sigh and disappointed look back. Onwards we ran and found that there were still about 50 people in line to board when we arrived at the gate. We made it! Our new boarding passes had different seats than before, but still in economy and still in the back in separate rows. By now we were just glad to be on the plane though. As we boarded we asked about any other seats, but the agent showed me the seatmap: all seats taken. :-( My friend had been assigned an aisle seat a few rows in front of me, where I had a middle seat. We went onboard and I found the aisle seat next to me unoccupied - yippie! The nervous wait began..
When boarding seemed to be completed, no one still had come to sit there. Dared I hope? An announcement came in the loudspeakers that we would wait for a few connecting passengers before closing the doors.. Darn. We waited and waited, me biting my nails hoping. More passengers boarded, walked towards my free seat and ... passed! As if through a miracle, the magic announcement came: "Boarding completed"! One seat free and it was the one next to me! Whohoo! In the end, the plan had worked - we both were out of our middle seats and on the plane :-)
This aircraft also had Air France's new AVOD-system, which is a definite improvement over their last version. However, the screens had not been replaced so viewing was still a bit on the hard side. The food served was incredible, the best I've had in economy for years. Well done! Especially the dessert was heavenly, some kind of fig pannacotta. Asking the FA for seconds I was given one at the end of service, thank you! I like that the Air France flight attendants tell passengers to raise their seat backs during meal service, this makes it much more pleasant (and possible) to eat. Another good thing about flying Air France (especially compared to Delta) is that their blankets are of much better quality. From the Delta blankets you get shock after shock and their static makes them cling to you, while the AF blankets behave like a blanket should. Dinner served later was ok but not as magnificent as our lunch. Overall I find AF a good carrier across the Atlantic, though the English-skills can be a bit lacking at times.




DL5956 30OCT 4 ATLIND 2030 2205 -E170

Immigration in Atlanta was fairly quick and hassle free as it has been also the last times I have been there. We needed to check in again and did so using the machine located at the transfer desk (why only - 1 - working machine?). The machine told us our flight might be overbooked and so we made sure to hurry to the gate, as would gladly take an IDB-voucher. They needed 2 seats and the friendly gate agent took us right away, even before boarding had started. He then gave our seats to two crying ladies and told them to thank us for getting home tonight. I don't understand why it was so hard to find volunteers when the next flight departed only 1 hour later? Anyway we were given $400 each and seats in first class on the next departure.
We went to the lounge and had a a drink, feeling very good. Here we were travelling together, having scored both vouchers and upgrade. Life was good (though tired). Soon it was time to head off for our flight. Once onboard we had another drink and then both dozed off for the remainder of the flight. It wasn't nice having to wake up for deboarding, so we hurried to our hotel..




DL6668 31OCT 5 INDCVG 0700 0749 -CRJ7

We started the routine that would become our mantra for the this trip: Get up, brush teeth & pack, shuttle to airport, security, wait at gate. I was surprised at how many people were at the airport flying this early. Our flight was very short and left us no time to sleep.




DL5485 31OCT 5 CVGLEX 0855 0939 -CRJ2

It had been a while since my last visit to Cincinnati and the airport was still easy to get through. This flight was airborne for only 19 minutes, but the flight attendant still managed to make it an experience. With a relaxed attitude and using "own words" for the safety briefing, she made this flight memorable.


DL5447 31OCT 5 LEXCVG 1140 1224 -CRJ2

We needed to check in again here and a friendly gate agent printed our boarding passes, we got the usual comment about the route we were flying... :-) Many of the staff were dressed up in funyn costumes this day, something I doubt you'll see from a network carrier in Europe. Of course it was an equally short hop back, still none of the sought after sleep.


DL6244 31OCT 5 CVGTYS 1310 1415 -ERJ

It was nice flying an Embraer as a change to the Canadair jets. The Embraer has noticeably better placed windows, you don't have to sit as uncomfortably to look out of the plane. On the downside this aircraft could use some maintenance, my seat cushion kept on gliding.. I had had an ice-cream while waiting in Cincinnati and the sugar made it hard to sit still, should have learnt from my last trip.




DL5262 31OCT 5 TYSATL 1610 1708 -CRJ7

As soon as we arrived in Knoxville I saw the earlier flight to Atlanta boarding at the next gate. While DL supposedly does not allow you to waitlist for an earlier flight they gate agent was nice and we could continue straight on to Atlanta with this earlier flight. Time spent on the ground in Knoxville: less than 5 minutes, is this some kind of record?


DL1001 31OCT 5 ATLMIA 1922 2112 -B757

We did try to stand by for the earlier flight to Miami as well, but the gate agent refused. Ok, not much to do. Instead we popped over to the Continental lounge and some drinks there. I do prefer the Continental lounges over the Delta ones. Especially since they have free wifi. Come on Delta, you have your most frequent flyers who even pay to get access to the lounge and then they have to pay again for internet? Poor service.
Our aircraft to Miami was decorated in full, as were the flight attendants. One of them was retiring and there were many celebrations for him. The usual security briefing video was shown; the new one Delta produced not long ago. It is ok but I really dislike the girl presenting it. Why oh why did they have to go with someone looking so unnatural as she does? It looks like she has had tons of plastic surgery. At least on this flight we got some sleep; 10 minutes :-)




DL 982 01NOV 6 MIAATL 0600 0754 -B757

Again a very short night and it was time to start flying again. We had prebooked the bulkhead seats since long time, however once we got on the plane we discovered that our row (19) did not exist. Back to the gate where we were given new seats separate from each other. Turns out the seatmap at the gate did not match the actual configuration. Oh well, it was a very full flight so not much to do. Many more people had problems with their seat assignments so in the end a desperate flight attendant called out to the passengers to "please take any open seat". Our departure time came and went due to the boarding problems, what would happen to our 36 minute connection in Atlanta?
I wanted to watch the entertainment on the overhead screens but the picture was far too green plus my earplug jack didn't work. After landing we were actually in time but there was no one to open our gate for 10 minutes. Felt really frustrating just sitting at the gate with a short connection, usually this happens at CDG, not here..? We had arrived at the E-terminal and had our connection at A, so we had a long run ahead of us..


DL 104 01NOV 6 ATLLAS 0830 0956 -B767

I always found Atlanta to be a very easy airport, especially considering the size of it. Some things could be better, for example there are very few overview maps (say, if you are looking for the nearest lounge). Nowever now we only saw a lot of the underground sprinting from one side to the other but we did manage to do it time. Incredible that one can make a delayed 36 minute connection at the world's busiest airport, well done Atlanta!
We were lucky on this flight, as on almost all flights we had pre-assigned bulkhead (or exit row) and no one came to sit between us. Excellent to be able to spread out a little on this 4 hour flight. I had a sandwich to eat from the buy on board menu and it was alright but nothing special, still better I think than the minimal snack box they served last year. As usual I ordered a Ginger Ale but they were out of stock. As I later found out Delta had removed these from their offering (just like they did with the excellent Amarula liqueur).
It was fun seeing the Las Vegas buildings from the air and from the airport, pretty amazing to have a city like this in the middle of the desert. Though I have been in Las Vegas before (in the city, not the airport I ) we wished we would have stayed here a night now.


DL 622 01NOV 6 LASJFK 1144 2000 -B757

We had a little to eat and then sat down to watch a movie at the airport. To be on the safe side I checked our reservations online to see that we still had the exit row that we had pre-booked. Unlike earlier in the morning, these had now been changed. It turns out there had been an aircraft change again. And for some reason Delta had split our reservation. My friend and I were now on different pnrs (which means we could not change his seats anymore as he didn't have access to preferred seating without my gold card). What was worse, our seats had been changed! We had been given an aisle and middle on separate rows in the back. Argh, why does this happen to us? As soon as the gate opened we went there to inquiry about this. They could see no explanation as to why the reservation was split. They did however manage to reseat us together at the forward exit row (which does not recline), still at least this was something. We inquired if any row was available so we could have the middle seat free, but none were. Though after having boarded the middle seat (which had a broken armrest) remained free. Again the nervous wait began. And again we were lucky!! Though no recline, at least we had an exit row and the middle seat free for this 5 hour flight. We had two drinks each to sleep and I dozed off while listening to music for an hour. We arrived pretty early at JFK and got an announcement not to forget that what happened in Vegas stays in Vegas. Our flight didn't arrive at a gate but instead we got one of the mobile gates to pick us up. It took an eternity to get everybody on it, my friend and I stayed until last hoping to be less squeezed that way. We were wrong though and almost fell over a couple of times when the gate moved. Can this really be legal? We had no (literally no) place to hold on to when the gate was moving, there must have been more of us in it than it was designed for. Very poorly done by DL (or JFK?). From touchdown until I had my feet on firm terminal ground took 60 uncomfortable minutes.




DL6815 01NOV 6 JFKBUF 2100 2248 -CRJ

We grabbed some salads to eat on the plane and headed for the gate. Boarding began shortly thereafter and was a complete chaos. There were several flights boarding at the same gate and passengers were directed in the wrong directions. In the tunnel on the tarmac we met 20 people walking in the opposite direction after having been shown to the wrong flight. Gate agents came and screamed at us and collected another 30 passengers to another plane. I ate very quickly and then slept until arriving in cold Buffalo, luckily the hotel shuttle arrived pretty fast.


DL6827 02NOV 7 BUFJFK 0600 0740 -CRJ

Same morning routine and back to JFK. We got some well needed breakfast and then continued to the next gate, a flight like every other..


DL6533 02NOV 7 JFKBWI 0905 1030 -CRJ7

Originally I had wanted to go to DCA as that airport seemed more exciting but BWI was cheaper. At least it was a new one for me. The Canadair jet series -700 and -900 are definitely an improvement over the -200 and -100 but still not very comfortable, I prefer to fly the Embraer equivalent.




DL 733 02NOV 7 BWIATL 1125 1321 -B757

In Baltimore we had a bit to eat, what is the reason for making the burgers as big as they are in Wendy's? We got our food from a more normally sized outlet instead. It felt really good flying a mainline flight again, getting a bit of variety surely does makes the travel more interesting. For once the exit row was actually to warm, usually it is almost freezing there with me sitting with blanket covered legs. Don't know what was different on this aircraft, did they have more padding perhaps?


DL 995 02NOV 7 ATLMIA 1439 1633 -B757

This flight was funny as the inflight map kept showing an altitude of 0m, got me thinking about that South American B757 that crashed a few years ago when the gauge was taped over. We landed safely though and had a fun evening in Miami.




DL 988 03NOV 1 MIAATL 1111 1305 -B757

Time to start our home journey. Since we were continuing on separate tickets from Düsseldorf we were a bit worried about our short connection in Paris. It had not been bought this way but we ended up so due to schedule changes. I could still catch my connection from Düsseldorf even with a misconnect in Paris but my friend would be out of luck, so he was the one more nervous. It did not help by me reminding how difficult an airport Paris was or by seeing from Flightstats that our transatlantic flight had been around 30 minutes late the last two weeks.. We were hoping the transatlantic flight was overbooked, that way we might be able to negotiate a new itinerary all the way to our final destinations. In the small lounge in Miami (they had removed the breakfast available there not long ago) the friendly attendant told us that our connecting flight was "heavily overbooked". We went out to eat a bit and started hoping for the best, if no denied boarding perhaps an upgrade? The flight to Atlanta went fine but again no Ginger Ale, buhu.




DL 028 03NOV 1 ATLCDG 1540 0615+1 -B763

We had prebooked the bulkhead seats and also received those on our boarding passes. Once at the gate we inquired about overbooking and they told this was the case, but they had now switched to an higher capacity aircraft so no need anymore. They did however have our names on a list and took our boarding passes. Great! An upgrade perhaps? Nope. Because of the aircraft change we were given new seats: row 19AB. Nothing else available, at least we should be glad to be seated together (which indeed some people weren't anymore). I went online and saw that our row was the one just before the exit row = normal legroom and almost no recline for 8 hours . Gah. Not much to do but hurry off to the lounge to have as many drinks as possible to make sleeping easier. I noticed we had a prisoner transport with us as well on this flight.
Time then for boarding and we found our seats, indeed very limited recline. We started speaking to the couple who was sitting in the nice exit row behind us. It turns out that they too had received these new seats due to the aircraft change. I asked and they had no status, had not asked for exit row and not selected preferred seats in any way. I thought it was in situations like this, that Delta would take good care of status passengers but unfortunately this was not so.
The meal served was ok, but there was no appetizer nor dessert, only a very small salad and wrapped cookie. The programs shown on the IFE were very boring and why oh why are so many commercials shown? This feels like a very cheap thing to do by a full service airline. We also kept on freezing the whole flight and had difficulties sleeping as our neighbours spoke loudly for a good part of the flight. Breakfast served was a banana and bagel. Delta has been decent on my previous flight transatlantic but this was easily the worst transatlantic flight I've flown. At least my company was good :-)




DL8432 04NOV 2 CDGDUS 0715 0830 -A320 (operated by AF)

Paris airport was a zoo, more like I am used to seeing it. The queues for immigrations were horrendous and we stood in line what seemed to be forever. They did have a system where you went to different queues depending on your connection time, but still waiting time was long. After passing through immigration we ran ran and ran to our next terminal. Sweaty both from the warm passport queue and the sprint we arrived while the plane was still boarding, we made it! Again no breakfast served by Air France, what has happened? A croissant and tea was all that we got.




AB6442 04NOV 2 DUSTXL 1200 1310 -A320

Here my friend and I went separate ways as he was going back to Copenhagen. I had a 3 hour wait so after having checked in I went to try and find a good place not to fall asleep At first I tried getting access to the Air France lounge as I had arrived on a Skyteam flight, but they (correctly) refused me. It was just to walk the long, winding maze back.
At the gate I asked if it was possible to have a 3-seater so that I could lay down on the flight but was told none available. However upon boarding I found several to settle down in. On this flight we were served a cookies or crackers plus drinks, upon deboarding the usual chocolate (not very well tasting) was offered.




AB8308 04NOV 2 TXLHEL 1425 1720 -B737

This was my first time at this airport and getting around was pretty difficult. I had to exit to landside and then make my way past the different check-in areas. Space is tight and signage almost non-existent. Finally I found the right way, which was to exit the terminal and go outside to another one. It was nice feeling the fresh air.
At the gate I again inquired about changing my seats to a free 3-seater and was told not available, but again I easily found one on the plane. Why is this? Don’t they want to change or to they have many no-shows/blocked seats? An ok sandwich and drinks was served on this flight and I then dozed my way back home to Helsinki. I made it. I was home.