January 14, 2010
Alaska Airlines Fairbanks – Anchorage 900a – 1003a 737-800 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Anchorage – Seattle 340p – 758p 737-800 Economy Class
9:00am sounds like a late start but it feels early in Fairbanks since the sun is still an hour away from rising. The thermometer on the sign welcoming people to Fairbanks International Airport read -24°, quite an improvement over just two days ago when the mercury dipped to -41° at FAI. Check in was speedy as always and minutes later I was through security and sipping hot coffee whilst perusing the day’s news in gate lounge 2.
Fairbanks International Airport Terminal
9:00am Departure at Fairbanks, AK
Despite the chilly temperatures, there was no precipitation and so we were not deiced. As we taxied out to the runway, I took in the large collection of DC-6s resting quietly at the western end of the field. Fairbanks International has one of the world’s largest collections of DC-6s, with Everts Air Cargo and Northern Air Cargo being the primary operators. Only about a quarter of the planes parked at FAI are flyable with the rest being used for spares. There are also a couple of DC-4s, a Convair and even an ancient Curtiss C-46. If you’re into piston powered propliners, FAI is one of the best airports in the world to spot them.
Fifty-three minutes later we landed on a snowy day in Anchorage. With five and a half hours before the departure of my flight down to Seattle, I joined a couple of old friends for lunch in town. The roads were a mess and we almost got stuck in the parking lot. Fairbanks may be cold, but we don’t have anywhere near the snowfall or traffic that Anchorage does. Once again I counted my blessings that I live on the north side of the Alaska Range where snowfall and low population levels make for a much mellower existence.
Those of you who’ve read my previous trip reports know that I log my flights, including the registration numbers on the aircraft. Because of this, I know that out of a fleet of fifty-one 737-800s operated by Alaska Airlines, I have flown just 33. Having logged 805 flights on Alaska since 1976, I’ve managed to fly all of their MD-80s, all of their 737-200s, -400s and -900s along with most of their 737-700s and 727-100 and 200s. A couple of the 727-200s I flew aboard with other airlines before Alaska purchased the same aircraft secondhand. It’s only natural then that I should want to complete my collection of 737-700s and -800s. Unfortunately, there is no prize for this accomplishment other than personal satisfaction and the ability to gloat some in these trip reports.
Over the course of this trip, I’ve got 13 flights scheduled aboard Alaska 737-800s, so if I can add just three or four new aircraft to my collection, I’ll be a happy logger. Unfortunately, today’s trip got off to an inauspicious start aboard ship 593, an aircraft I’d previously flown back in May of 2009. None of the other passengers seemed the least bit bothered by the choice of aircraft for today’s flight, and when boarding was called there were no anguished cries of “Noooo! Not ship 593 again!”
I was seated in row 6, on the “bulkhead” right behind First Class. Once upon a time there may have been a bulkhead on Alaska’s -800s but the only thing now separating the First and Coach Class cabins is a small curtain that hangs down just behind the last row of First Class. The legroom in row six is almost as good as an exit row and, as an added advantage, you can easily see what’s being served to those lucky stiffs up in First Class.
Today’s First Class offering was described as a “Flatbread Chicken Sandwich” with salad. I’ve been served this sandwich on a number of occasions and while I’m not saying it’s unappealing or inappropriate given today’s service standards, it is a definite play on words not unlike calling your garbage man a Sanitation Engineer. It’s basically a glorified chicken wrap with a slightly thicker tortilla.
Meanwhile, back in Steerage, Cheeseburgers were all the rage. All of us on my side of row 6 ordered them and Alaska sweetened the deal for me with a complimentary Alaska Amber. As an MVP Gold traveling in Coach, the first drink is always on the house. It’s one of the little things that Alaska does for its elite flyers that no doubt contribute to Alaska’s Mileage Plan being consistently voted the Best Frequent Flyer Program in the industry.
The best $6.00 Cheeseburger in the air
Flight time was described as being just a little over three hours. When we landed on a rainy night in Seattle, I looked at my watch and noted the flight time: 3:02. Well done, Alaska Airlines.
As we taxied in to the gate, I got my first glimpse of the “Spirit of Disneyland II”, a 737-900 painted to replace the original “Spirit of Disneyland”, a 737-400 that was recently returned to its owner at ILFC. I posted something about this at the Alaska Airlines forum and it immediately devolved into an excoriation of Disney’s corporate practices. These were all points well taken, so let me just say that if you really must paint up one of your jets in a Disney themed livery, I think Alaska has done a very nice job with
this airplane.
January 15, 2010
Horizon Airlines Seattle – Portland 900a – 950a DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Amtrak Cascades Portland – Tukwila 250p – 546p Business Class
I’m traveling out of Alaska on an award ticket that allows me one enroute stopover between Fairbanks and Denver. That stop will be Portland since that is where I’m basing most of my mileage running out of.
I collect old timetables and for this report I thought one or two of you might enjoy seeing the historic schedules between select city pairs from the November 15, 1970 edition of the North American OAG or Official Airline Guide.
Seattle to Portland Schedule Nov. 15, 1970
Starting with the Seattle to Portland schedule, note the size of the aircraft serving the route. There are lots of Boeing 720s from Northwest, United, Braniff, Western and Continental along with a couple of 707s and a DC-8 from United. These were all big, four engine aircraft with First Class cabins and even lounges aboard some of them. The smallest aircraft serving the route was a Hughes Airwest F-27 operating out of Boeing Field. That’s quite a far cry from the largest aircraft on the route today, a Dash 8-400.
Horizon has been looking to divest itself of its CRJ-700s and go with an all Q400 fleet. The Q400s, better known as Dash 8s and more correctly as DHC-8-402s, are substantially more fuel efficient than the CRJs and they actually carry six more passengers. Unfortunately for Horizon, the market for used CRJs coupled with the delivery schedule on new Dash 8s is not ideal, so it looks like the CRJs will be around a bit longer. Last month I logged four flights on Horizon CRJs, picking up two previously unflown aircraft along the way, including the OSU liveried airplane. Go Beavers!
I’d like to fly the rest of the CRJs before they’re completely gone, but the only morning CRJ down to Portland leaves at the ignominious hour of 6:30am. That’s a bit too early for my tastes so I booked the 9:00am Dash 8. And of course, I’m looking to collect all of Horizon’s Dash 8s as well, so I was pleased to see N420QX awaiting my patronage at gate C2K.
Flight time to Portland was a lengthy 43 minutes and we were served a choice of orange juice, coffee or water. Gone are the mini-breakfast bars that went so well with that good hot coffee. I had a great chat with seatmate, a Boeing engineer on her way down to Portland to commence a drive with her boyfriend down to the Bay Area. I didn’t envy her that drive as the forecast over the next few days was calling for rain, heavy at times, from Northern California all the way up into Southern BC.
The principal reason for my trip to Portland today is to drop off a bag containing changes of clothing that I’ll need over the next few days. I don’t want to be burdened with hundreds of dollars in checked baggage fees over the next two weeks and since I’ll be passing through Portland every two days, why not check my bag into storage with J&B Storage and pay just $5.00 a day with visitation privileges? Why not, indeed! I used to do this back in the Seventies when I logged over 100,000 miles in three weeks on Eastern Airlines’ Unlimited Mileage Fare. I’d pass through Atlanta every day and so I just kept a bag in a locker there and scheduled one day off every 7 days so I could do laundry. Locker fees were .75 cents back then, but then that was a kinder, gentler world where we didn’t have to worry quite so much about misguided religious extremists placing explosives in lockers.
Once I’d dropped off my bag, I caught the light rail from the airport down to the Chinatown stop where it’s only about a ten block walk to Portland’s Union Station. I stopped for lunch along the way at a – you guessed it – Chinese restaurant – before boarding Amtrak’s northbound Cascade for the three hour journey up to Tukwila. Prior to boarding, I tried to upgrade my ticket to Business Class but was informed that the train was sold out in both classes. Alas…
No doubt, some of you may be wondering why I’m going back to Seattle. The answer to that is in the first part of this trip report. My friends are flying in tonight from Kona and I’m planning to surprise them at the airport. As such, the first leg of this year’s mileage running departs from Seattle tomorrow morning.
January 16, 2010
Horizon Airlines Seattle – Portland 800a – 950a DHC-8-400 Economy Class
American Airlines Portland - Dallas 1225p – 605p DC-9-80 Economy Class
American Airlines Dallas – Tampa 640p – 1010p DC-9-80 Economy Class
Even though Alaska doesn’t fly to Tampa from Seattle, they do offer a fare in conjunction with American Airlines via Portland and Chicago. Normally this routing wouldn’t offer all that much extra mileage, but with an extra 1750 miles coming via a double mileage promotion between Portland and Chicago, it becomes substantially more lucrative.
After washing up downstairs and then enjoying a coffee and toasted bagel in Alaska’s Board Room, I headed over to gate C2D only to find that my 8:00am flight had been delayed until 8:20. Apparently, the inbound aircraft was unable to land due to localized fog. No worries, I’ve got an hour and twenty minute layover in Portland. As 8:20 approached, the departure time was changed to 8:45am. Still okay by me with a 10:10am departure out of Portland. About 8:35 the departure time was changed to 9:45am. Uh oh…
My friends were departing to Chicago aboard the 12:30pm flight and I briefly looked into seeing if I could get a seat on that flight. It was available in First Class which would have been fun since they were in steerage and I’d told them I was going to Portland and Tampa today. Unfortunately, there were no appropriately timed connecting flights to Tampa from Chicago and so I ended up flying down to Portland and then continuing on to Tampa via Dallas on American. Although I lost out on a couple thousand miles with the reroute, I was happy to fly the PDX-DFW route, a new one for me that would bring my unduplicated route mileage to near 800,000 miles. Of course, I’m going for 1 million. As well, I’d get to add a couple more MD-80s to my collection before the breed disappears altogether.
After my now 9:45am flight to Portland was further delayed to 10:15am, I decided the flight was cursed. I then called Alaska and was able to switch to the 10:00am flight. This was a good move since I later found out the 8:00am/10:15am had finally been cancelled. Apparently, the inbound flight from Yakima happened to be operated by one of the only aircraft in the fleet that was not equipped for category 3 landings.
From Portland I lucked out on seating with American, snagging a seat in the bulkhead row of the MD-80 which provided substantially better legroom and allowed me to observe the forward cabin as its occupants dined upon a steak salad, served from the cart. Back in Coach, I opted for a cheese and cracker packet, washed down with a gin and tonic.
My rerouted reservation called for a three hour layover in Dallas, getting into Tampa at 12:16am. Not if I can help it. I hopped the Sky Train over to gate A20 and, thanks to some no-shows off a late inbound flight from London, I managed to score not only a seat but a reclining exit row window seat. Oh yeah! Thankfully a barbeque place was located just across from the gate, so I purchased a pulled pork sandwich and headed onboard the MD-80. It’s worth noting here that American’s onboard food selections consist of either prepackaged comfort foods or overpriced sandwiches ($10.00). The cheese plate I purchased on the flight in from Portland cost me $4.00 and came with raisins, crackers and a bag of mixed nuts.
It was Saturday night and the mood onboard the airplane was festive to say the least, due in no small measure to a women’s Christian group returning home to Tampa from a convention in Dallas. They got about as loud and boisterous as Christian women can get (which is pretty loud) with big rounds of applause on takeoff and landing. Hallelujah!
The last time I spent a few nights at TPA, I was informed by the airport police that the prayer chapel would be a good place to sleep. It is, if only for the peace and quiet that it provides relative to the main terminal which has its music turned up way too loud, 24 hours a day. The only visitors to the chapel came between 6 and 7AM when two different airport employees of Muslim faith set up their prayer rugs and went through their morning prayer ritual.
January 17, 2010
Northwest Airlines Tampa – Detroit 815a – 1107a 757-200 Economy Class
Northwest Airlines Detroit – Los Angeles 1210p – 230p 757-200 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Los Angeles – Portland 545p – 808p 737-800 First Class
Because of the football games yesterday, I got fooled into thinking today was Monday and so was expecting longer lines at security. I could have slept a half hour longer! I didn’t realize it was Sunday until I stopped at the news stand and asked where all the Monday papers were. The gum chewing teenager working the counter looked at me like I was from, like, Mars or something and sold me a copy of the Sunday paper. Whatever.
As usual, I was one of the last people to arrive at the gate and so had to get creative with regard to storing my carry on. For late boarders like me, it was bad enough before the airlines started charging for bags. Now that they do, I guess it would behoove me to get down to the gate a couple minutes earlier. I’ve certainly got the boarding preference. Perhaps because I don’t carry a big roll aboard bag, I’ve yet to have a bag gate checked but I suppose it’s only a matter of time. On the other hand, I like to fly on planes, not sit around on the tarmac in them. All these people rushing to queue up so they can get on the plane with their bags just seems like a lot of stress I don’t need.
The only time I like to be amongst the first to board is when I have a suite in International First Class on a non-US airline. The service starts the moment you enter the First Class cabin, so why not start enjoying it as soon as possible?
Now that Northwest/Delta no longer offers complimentary upgrades to Alaska Golds, I’ve had to get acquainted with coach seating aboard Northwest’s fleet. Honestly, prior to the merger, I used to always get upgraded and this extended well into my flights last Spring. I first noticed a definite drop off in upgrades this Fall as Delta’s Medallions were integrated into the Northwest system. So, back to coach go I. The DC-9s and the A320 coach seats suit me just fine, but the seats on the 757 definitely do not agree with me. I’ve got some spinal issues and depending upon how you’re sitting and how hard the surface is, I can be relatively comfortable or in pain. Today, I was in pain. Nerve pain.
Although the captain talked up our early arrival into DTW (15 minutes early), by the time a gate crew showed up to guide us in, we were back to an on time arrival. I had an hour and ten minute layover and so headed over to the WorldCl – er – Sky Club for a Bloody Mary and some snack mix.
As a Priority Pass holder, I’m disappointed that Delta/Northwest no longer participate in the lounge program. The double whammy is that with Continental’s move to Star Alliance, my Presidents Club card will no longer gain me entrance to any Sky Club after January 31st. So, given the amount of flying that I do each year with Delta/Northwest, it looks like I’ll have to pony up $790.00 for a three year membership in Alaska’s Board Room while downgrading my Priority Pass from the unlimited visits to the 10 visit pass. By no longer paying $400.00 per year for the Priority Pass, I’ll actually be paying slightly less per year for lounge access than I do now. Between the Boardroom and Presidents Club cards, I’ll have domestic access to all lounges from Alaska, Continental, Delta, United and US Airways plus the American Admirals Club in Chicago. I’ll use my $99.00 Priority Pass membership for overseas lounges.
Some airlines, like Continental, like to advertise how young their fleet is. Now that Northwest has been merged into the Delta system, the average age of Delta’s overall fleet has jumped considerably. The 757 flying me down to Los Angeles today was delivered new to Northwest in 1987. The DC-9-30 parked next door was originally an Eastern Airlines machine delivered new to the airline in 1967. It was just the 169th DC-9 off the assembly line and I last flew that exact same aircraft as a Northwest flight between Minneapolis and Denver back in 1986. While many people would recoil in terror at the thought of flying somewhere on a 43 year old airplane, I would gladly trade in my seat on a new A320 for a seat on that old DC-9. Those old jets are for me a link back to the Golden Age of jet travel and I’m quite confident that Northwest wouldn’t put them in the air if they weren’t confident in their safety. On the other hand, were a 42 year old plane flying for the national airline of some third world African nation, I’d likely be taking the train.
Clouds covered most of America so I spent the majority of my four hour flight to Los Angeles reading or sleeping. The only sun I’ve seen over the past couple of days has been above the cloud layer. It’s always a beautiful world up there!
Sometime in the next few months Alaska airlines will move its LAX operations from musty old Terminal 3 over to the remodeled and much nicer Terminal 6. In the meantime, the transit between the two terminals requires s a long walk out to street level, then a five minute wait amidst the exhaust from all the busses and other traffic driving by. Finally, the inter-terminal bus dropped me at Terminal 3 where the main security check point was closed down and we were forced to head downstairs for a long wait through a small, cramped checkpoint. I think I’m going to dole out some money for a completely refundable, no change fee ticket on American Eagle to somewhere like SJC or LAS so I can ride the American Eagle shuttle between terminals.
In Alaska’s Boardroom, hot Cream of Asparagus soup and tepid Sierra Nevada Pale Ale accompanied me to a comfy chair in front of a big screen TV where I watched the Jets dismantle the Chargers in the AFC Divisional Playoff game. I had a feeling the Jets were going to win this game, though I’m confident they’ll have a harder time of it against a superior Colts team still stinging from a game that most observers felt they gave away to the Jets just four weeks ago.
Upon arriving at gate 31A, I was delighted to see 737-800 N514AS would be doing the honors up to Portland this evening. 34 down, 17 to go. As I took my seat in the forward cabin, I noted that most of this flight’s First Class clientele were surprisingly young, as in high school age young. Perhaps Beverly Hills High School is having a field trip?
Dinner was described as a Beef Short Rib with Salad. The meat included no rib bone but it definitely had the texture of short rib meat. At first I thought the meat was pretty tough as I tried to saw through it with my knife but as it turned out the meat was fine, the knife was dull. I accompanied dinner with a glass of red wine and prepared myself for lots more beef rib since I’m pretty sure Alaska cycles its meals only once a month.
AS LAX-PDX Dinner: Beef Short Rib with Salad
Upon arrival in Portland, I found a great place to sleep that was dark, quiet and surrounded by plants and trees. Unlike most people, I have no compunctions about sleeping in airports. A couple of FTers have sent me links to the website
sleepinginairports.net and I did take a look at it before flying into Portland. The problem for me with this website is that it seems designed for people who are stuck overnight in an airport rather than those people like me who actually plan to sleep in the airport. The difference is that people who are “stuck” overnight in an airport are usually not as well prepared to stay in that airport as those of us who plan to do so. Whereas people stuck in airports seem to gravitate to brightly lit lounges with carpeting and couches and endless cycled airport announcements, I can take any old floor in a darker, quieter area of the airport and ultimately get a much better night’s sleep. To that end, my “overnight bag” includes an inflatable Thermarest pad, a full sized wool blanket, a small pillow, a headlamp, eye shades and Melatonin tablets. In Portland, I spent about forty minutes strolling the airport before I found my spot and so I slept soundly until my alarm went off at 6:00am.
One of my typical airport campsites