January 19, 2012
Horizon Airlines Seattle – Portland 900a – 950a DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Delta Airlines Portland – Atlanta 110p – 839p 737-800 Economy Class
Express Jet Atlanta – Nashville CRJ-700 1050p – 1106p Economy Class
With my first flight of the day not scheduled to depart until 9:00am, it sure was nice to be able to sleep in. As such I set my alarm clock to 7:30 and knocked off about seven much needed hours of continuous sleep. Since I carry a Thermarest pad along with me, I can sleep on cold, hard surfaces like linoleum or even concrete and still be quite warm and comfortable. Additionally, I can set up for the night in some sections of the airport that most casual airport sleepers never could or would. The sections I’m talking about are usually away from the crowded public areas and not affected by the endless cacophony of airport announcements throughout the night. That’s why I sleep so much better in airports than the average traveler and as a result am far more willing to do so than most other travelers.
The first sign of trouble came when I tried to check in via the kiosk. It was unable to display my reservation and directed me to an Alaska counter agent. Hmm... The departures board showed my 9:00am flight to Portland was still operating on time, so at least that was good. Otherwise, the lines at the check-in counters were all quite long, especially the line at the MVP Gold and First Class counter. By the time I made my way up to an agent, my 9:00am PDX flight had indeed been cancelled. The good news was that I’d been protected aboard Alaska’s 9:15am nonstop to Atlanta which was now scheduled to depart at 10:00am. Additionally, I’d been upgraded to First Class. Well alrighty, then...
So, off I went to the Boardroom for coffee and a bagel. At about 9:15am I glanced at the departures screen and saw that flight 742 was boarding out at N-1. What? Ohmigod, they’re trying to get out a bit early! I quickly collected my gear and hustled on over to the North Satellite train. Along the way I encountered a fellow Denali driver on his way back up to Alaska. Of all the times to meet someone you know in the airport. We said a quick hello and goodbye and I continued my rush to the gate. Upon arrival however, I found a normal gate lounge with no sign of boarding. Sigh… it’s one of those days.
This flight to Honolulu has boarded and was being deiced. An hour later however, it still hadn’t departed.
At about 9:45am, an announcement was made over the PA that AS 742 was on a weather delay and that the next update wouldn’t come until 10:30. Five minutes later though, a lady rushed to the podium claiming she’d just been texted a massage from Alaska Airlines indicating that AS742 had been cancelled. The Alaska agent had not heard anything along those lines and so the lady showed him her phone. I was reminded of those television commercials about some new phone with G4 speed: “That’s so 46 seconds ago!” A phone call was made and moments later it was verified – AS 742 was no more. Please proceed to a Customer Service Desk for further assistance and rebooking. My first instinct was to avoid the lines at the Customer Service desks and make any changes through Alaska’s MVP Gold reservations line. Unfortunately, the response on it, the normal line and even the partner desk line was an automatic disconnect. I quickly got in line at the nearest Customer Service Desk for what turned out to be about an hour’s wait.
Passengers destined for Atlanta were being told that it might be a day or two before Alaska could get them there. My final destination was Nashville, and so my approach with the Customer Service agent was based upon getting out of Seattle on any Alaska flight to a city where I could connect to Delta. Soon I’d gotten myself rebooked on Alaska’s 2:05pm departure to Washington National with an onward connection to American Eagle into Nashville the next morning. Had I not been able to rebook a flight out of SEA this afternoon, I would have had to cancel this trip to Nashville as well as tomorrow’s return trip. With fuel prices projected to climb later in the year, it’s unlikely I could have gotten this trip rebooked at a later date for the same great fare. My sincere thanks go out to the Alaska Airlines agent who worked quickly and efficiently with me towards getting this unfortunate situation resolved.
The flight to Washington was scheduled to depart from gate C-16 at 3:15pm. That left me plenty of time to get lunch at Anthony’s Fish Restaurant on the SeaTac commons, and then head back over to the United Club for a little R&R before my flight. The SeaTac commons, known as the
Pacific Marketplace, provides one of the best tarmac views of any airport I’ve ever been in.
Making a long story just a wee bit shorter, we ultimately boarded AS 2 to DCA at about 4:15, then waited more than an hour for the de-icing truck to make its way over to us. By the time we finally took to the air, it was 5:45pm. Once inflight, it was discovered that the hot BOB meals had only been catered per the original load which was about 50 passengers. On a cold, rainy day like today, those meals sold out long before the cart ever made it back in the exit row, where I and 60 or 70 passengers behind me were sat. Thankfully, we had a great tailwind which enabled us to speed across country from takeoff to touchdown in just under four hours.
By the time I stepped into the terminal it was 1:00am. My flight tomorrow morning was due to depart at 7:35am. That didn’t leave me much time to sleep. On the advice of a fellow Denali Driver I found a fairly quiet place over in the old terminal and knocked off about five hours.
January 20, 2010
American Eagle Washington DC - Nashville 735a – 840a ERJ-140 Economy Class
Delta Airlines Nashville – Atlanta 1200n – 220p DC-9-50 First Class
Delta Airlines Atlanta – Portland 455p – 725p 757-200 Economy Class
Horizon Airlines Portland – Seattle 830p – 920p DHC-8-400 Economy Class
The last time I flew out of DCA was 1983 and the airport was called Washington National and Ronald Reagan was in his first term as president. Now, twenty-nine years later, his presidency has come and gone, as has his time with us here on planet earth. His name however lives on at Washington Reagan National Airport.
The airport’s a lot nicer now than the facility I used to transit back in the seventies whilst flying the likes of Allegheny, Eastern and TWA. There’s a shiny new terminal and a lot more airplanes than there ever used to be. I was particularly impressed by the spacious well lit promenade and the nice variety of eateries on either side of the security check points. The lounges looked pretty nice too – that is what I could see of them from the outside since I didn’t have time to visit during this trip. Thankfully I’ll have plenty of time to visit during any one or all of my five booked trips to DCA next month.
Back in 1983, the smallest jet flying out of DCA was probably a DC-9-10. The aircraft operating my flight down to Nashville this morning would make that little DC-9 of yesteryear seem positively spacious. I ducked my head as I entered the doorway and made my way down the aisle of the Embraer RJ140 assigned to this morning’s American Eagle flight. Thankfully I’d managed to procure an exit row seat upon the little Jungle Jet and so was able to get somewhat more comfortable in those tiny seats that are better designed for Beech 1900s. Exit seats notwithstanding, I’m not a fan of the ERJ-135/145 series. They’re too narrow. If and when American Eagle re-equips its fleet, I would hope they purchase some of the larger and more spacious ERJ-170/190 family of jets.
An hour and forty-five minutes later I was able to stand tall again as I strode up the jetway into Nashville International Airport. With a three hour layover before my flight down to Atlanta, I stopped by the food court for a breakfast burrito before heading down to Delta’s Sky Club for a comfortable chair and some internet time.
My flight down to Atlanta this afternoon was aboard a DC-9-50. Unlike some, I go out of my way to fly these old birds. Delta is one of the few airlines left in the world that operate the -50s. Most of its fleet is comprised of ex-North Central Republic Northwest machines but there are a few ex-Alitalia, Allegheny, Eastern and Swissair planes in the mix as well. The aircraft operating my flight down to Atlanta this afternoon was N773NC, built in 1978 for North Central Airlines. I remember flying a few of these planes when they wore the North Central livery. The seats were upholstered in light blue and gold and the meals served were quite good, particularly the picnic basket luncheons which featured filling sandwiches with tasty side salads on the longer flights. Since those days, this particular plane has worn six different liveries ~ two from Republic Airlines, three from Northwest and now Delta’s most recent colors. The original seats have long since been replaced with newer lighter weight models but I still find them the most comfortable in Delta’s fleet.
Due to strong headwinds, the flight between Atlanta and Portland took all of five hours and ten minutes. The result was I and four or five other passengers missed our 8:30p connection to Seattle despite an impressive hustle from the Delta gates over on the D Concourse all the way across the airport to Horizon’s gates over on the A Concourse. Thankfully, the 9:30pm departure had plenty of seats. As an added bonus, it was operating on time. The worst of the storm had passed.
Tomorrow’s 6:30am departure from Seattle would require me to set my alarm for 5:30am, but since that was the equivalent of 8:30am on the east coast where earlier this morning I’d gotten up at 6:15am, I felt like I was actually sleeping in.
January 21, 2012
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Los Angeles 800a – 1032a 737-800 First Class
Horizon Airlines Burbank – Portland 507p – 724p CRJ-700 Economy Class
Horizon Airlines Portland – Seattle 930p – 1020p DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Sleep in, I did. I don’t know how but either I slept through the alarm or inadvertently set it for 5:30pm. Either way, the end result was I didn’t wake up until 6:30am – just as my flight to Los Angeles was departing. We’ve all done this in one form or another and the adrenalin rush is considerable. No grogginess for me this morning. I got my gear folded up and packed away in record time, then proceeded to the Alaska ticket counter to determine my fate.
Originally I was scheduled to arrive LAX at 9:05am. Now, well… let’s see what’s available. The counter agent was able to offer me standby on the 8:00am flight and confirm me on the 9:30am flight. The 8:00am flight was showing sold out with three people yet to check in. The 9:30 flight wouldn’t arrive until just after 12:30pm and I was planning to leave LAX by 1:30pm in order to catch a flight out of Burbank back up to Portland and Seattle. More on that later, though.
By the time I showed up at the gate for the 8:00 flight, there was just one seat showing not having checked in with one person ahead of me on the waitlist. I came
that close to bagging it and heading on down to Anthony’s for a bit of breakfast, but since we were just a couple of minutes away from the 20 minute limit, I decided to wait. Who knows, perhaps someone had checked in online and then overslept as well…
Well it’s a good thing I stuck around because not only did I get on that flight; I bagged a First Class seat as well. Is this my lucky day or what? Breakfast was a plate of mini-quiches – essentially the same as the transcon meal but with the accompanying fruit served on the same plate with the quiches instead of being separately plated. We landed in LA on a gorgeous winter day – you could clearly see the San Bernardino Mountains in the distance – and I caught a shuttle van over to the Embassy Suites South where the convention was being held.
Quiche and Fruit on the SEA-LAX run
The reason for today’s trip down to LA was that I wanted to spend some time at the Southern California Airline Collectibles Convention, put on by a couple of friends of mine from way back in the day when I used to be a vendor at these shows as well. These days I’m merely an attendee but it’s always nice to go back and renew old acquaintances while also having time to browse through the assortment of airline paraphernalia.
Now I realize most FlyerTalkers don’t care about airplanes so much as they do free travel, preferably in premium accommodations, so I won’t go into overt detail about the airline collectibles convention except to say that it’s a big ballroom full of airline paraphernalia – everything from timetables to models to ticket jackets to china table settings to t-shirts to books to pilots wings. Just about anything related to airlines – even emergency exit cards and air sickness bags – can be found and purchased. There are about ten of these conventions per year around the U.S. and a few overseas as well. There are no stuffy, pragmatic business flyers like you occasionally find in the FlyerTalk forums, just a bunch of airplane geeks, many of whom work or have worked in the airline industry, and really like commercial airliners. I had a great time visiting with old friends and looking over some of the offerings. My baggage space is limited, so I ended up purchasing only a couple of old Pan Am menus and some airline issue postcards that I hadn’t yet procured.
I’ve been flying for six straight days, so at this point I really should have taken a few days off, rented a car and sped off into California for a spell. To this day, I don’t know what I was thinking or why I didn’t. Maybe there were no good fares out of LA on later days. In any event, the flying continues with no rest in sight until the 25th when I spend most of the day on a train. In the meantime, the best fare I could get out of the LA area today ended up being out of Burbank to Nashville, allowing me an overnight in Seattle. So, my next challenge was to get cross town from LAX over to Burbank in time for a 5:07pm departure up to Portland.
As ever, I’m not on some two week vacation here, so I’ve got to watch my budget. There are shuttles available from LAX direct to Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport but they run about $30.00 one way and would only save me about 45 minutes over the less expensive option, which involved leaving LAX on the 1:30 Fly Away bus to Union Station ($7.00), then catching Amtrak’s northbound Pacific Surfliner up to the Burbank Airport stop ($7.20). This was accomplished easily with just a half hour layover between bus and train at Union Station. From the Burbank Airport train station, it’s about a 400 yard walk to the terminal or you can call for the free shuttle bus which will quickly come and deliver you and your baggage to the terminal.
Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner at the Burbank Airport Station
I’d only flown into the Burbank Airport once before, back in 1991 aboard a United 737-500. I didn’t get much of a chance to check out the terminal back then, but my 3:25pm arrival allowed plenty of time to do so this afternoon. The terminal looks pretty old fashioned, which I rather like. We had to walk out onto the tarmac to board the CRJ-700 up to Portland. The 818 mile flight up to Portland was my longest ever in a regional jet, edging out the previous longest flight between Detroit and Jacksonville by 3 miles. The differences between these two flights however were manifest.
The DTW-JAX flight was aboard Northwest AirLink’s ERJ-175, operated by Compass Airlines. There was a First Class cabin and I was sat in one of its big seats on the way down. On the way back I sat in Coach. In both cabins, the seats were spacious and had good recline. By comparison, the seats aboard this ex-Horizon CRJ-700 now operated by Sky West were hard and narrow with minimal recline. There was no First Class cabin. I don’t mind sitting in coach on a two hour flight, but I expect the seat to be a little more comfortable. Those ex-Horizon seats are fine for something like SEA-BOI but I will try to avoid flying aboard AS/SkyWest’s CRJs for anything longer.
Pretty view out my window while enroute to Portland