Hi All,
After almost two years of non flying (1 flight in 2009, made PM by March 2008,last flight for 08 was in may 2008).
I started back into the routine, my first flight was last Sunday.
I'm back to FO status.


Flight was from JAX to BOS with a change in ATL.
Observations:
Jax Sky club ok, was able to enter (D Reserve holder), no problems.
Little crowded because of a earlier flight experiencing a 6 hour MX delay.
People and drinks/snacks were plentiful and enjoyed my time there before boarding.

I boarded Zone 2, A lot of irrops made this a absolute zero chance for an upgrade 22/28 on the list, the night before I was 6/8 with 4 empties.
After Zone 1 the plane was 25% full. Yes for those wondering they did board FC, special needs, zone 1 and then zone2.
Was on a 737-700 and noticed only 3 rows of FC, Last time I flew a 737 it had 4 rows, but that was a -800. AVOD working but too short of a flight to pay.Noticed sky priority baggage carts there and it looks like the get there first (separate tug).

Arrived in ATL and went to the sky club. Same old same old (A17) , the club was crowded, had to wait in line for drinks and no food .
I like how jax did the setup, where they had pitchers of tea/water for self service, but not here.

My Flight was delayed , not leaving till 6:25. I departed the club at 5:45 and went to my gate( 2 minute walk). When I got there, it was chaos.
The changed the equipment and were issuing new tickets for 8 people. There was one GA there to handle the confusion as she boarded
(by now Zone 3, with no announcement in the sky club) and try to assign seats to these 8 people.
Well the computer system was giving her trouble and after waiting 5 minutes in line, zone 3 boarded. After almost an hour everyone was on board (6:45).
Then there was a problem. A passenger was in the wrong seat because the GA scanned his ticket but gave him back the wrong one. SO when the person arrived to take his seat the passenger had to vacate. By this time his original seat was reassigned. They told him to take a seat anywhere. He was going to take an exit seat
but demanded an apology from the gate agent for messing this up (taking away his seat). As the GA refused, he decided I 'm just going to take my exit seat.
As he was going to take the exit seat, the FA said "since we are arguing, you can not sit in the exit seat because I need to clearly communicate with you".
the lead flight attendant then said we are not taking him and the passenger was booted off the plane, or so we thought. Thirty minutes later he returned and took the exit seat.
We pushed back at 7:15 and made it to the runway when guess what.. a person in the exit row had to go to the bathroom(not the same person as before), we waited another 5 minutes on the runway before we took off.
The flight was ok, minimal service (unable to get food boxes EATS?), no AVOD in a 757-200 (ceiling and bulkhead monitors gone, covers over the holes where there was something.)
Landed in Boston 1 hour late. Found out later that the cabin crew was former NWA.


Came back to Boston on my return flight. Went to the sky club and was impressed, last time I saw something like this was in Swiss Air Business/SAA business lounges.
Staff were friendly, food and drinks great, not too crowded. Just fantastic.
My flight to ATL got in late, BOS agents were already ahead of the curve and started to gate check bags for those in Zone 4+. Took off a little late and landed only 10 minutes behind schedule. Played the gate lottery in ATL and finally deplaned with just 30 minutes to spare before my next flight (originally 50).
The last leg was pleasant , talk with some FA's deadheading. Thought only :42 minutes we had full beverage service. Last Time I took the flight
It was "express service" choice of OJ, Coke, Diet coke or water. The Fa's explained since jax was over 250 air miles it had to be full service.
Only half the plane had drinks

Overall I enjoyed the flights but at the start I was wondering if I should take CO,UA or WN back home , but I remembered
that I had 1 or two of these situations when I use to fly 120K/yr. I just wished the 757's had AVOD , but the itunes movie rental worked.

VS
Upgrade percentage 2010
UA - No status- 2/2(pd $125 total, 1 XPLUS,1FC)
DL- FO- 0/4 (H fares)