January 22, 2012
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Atlanta 915a – 459p 737-800 Economy Class
Delta Airlines Atlanta – Nashville 840p – 853p DC-9-80 Economy Class

Over the past five consecutive mornings, I have started my day by flying to – in chronological order - Boston, Washington, Nashville, Los Angeles and now Atlanta. Nothing like a little geographical diversity to get the day started. Unfortunately, my seat today will be back behind the curtain as First Class has checked in full. Of course, one of the nicer benefits of elite status with most major airlines is the ability to select a good seat in economy at the time of booking, so even though my lot is back with the great unwashed today, I do have a great seat at the exit row aisle.

One downside to flying today is that I’m going to miss a couple of potentially great football games, those being the AFC and NFC Championship games. I suppose I could follow the play by play off the internet inflight but I should be able to catch the end of the AFC game in Atlanta as well as the end of the NFC game upon arrival in Nashville. And, I do have Super Bowl Sunday off.

I had hoped to meet up with a friend who was flying into Atlanta this afternoon on United. Since United’s flights operate out of the T Concourse, I headed over there to await their flight in Delta’s Sky Club. What a nice facility this is! Well appointed, not too big, not too small – it might just be my favorite ATL Sky Club. As things turned out, I never did connect with my friends as their flight from Chicago was delayed. I did however manage to catch the end of the New England – Baltimore game and was able to watch most of the first half of the NFC game before heading out to my Nashville flight over on the B Concourse.

Sleeping at Nashville International Airport is a breeze in the airport’s Meditation Room. Many airports have facilities like these and in years past I had always avoided sleeping in them because I assumed it wouldn’t be allowed or appropriate. It wasn’t until the airport police recommended them on two or three separate occasions that I’ve started using them more often. Generally, after 1000p I’ve found them to be deserted, except for the odd overnighter like myself. I’m generally up and on my way by 7:30 at the latest and always take care to leave the room looking as if I were never there.


January 23, 2012
Delta Airlines Nashville – Atlanta 1200n – 220p DC-9-50 Economy Class
Delta Airlines Atlanta – Portland 455p – 725p 757-200 Economy Class
Horizon Airlines Portland – Seattle 830p – 923p DHC-8-400 Economy Class

Has anyone ever seen that movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray? I can’t help but notice the similarities considering that I was in Nashville just three days ago flying these exact same flights. And, in retrospect, there really weren’t any differences worthy of note between that day and today. As such, let’s call it a day and move on to the excitement of navigating Detroit’s city transit system which I’ll do tomorrow as I make my way from Detroit Metro Airport to the Dearborn Amtrak station and thence northward to Pontiac, Michigan for the night.



Pretty sunset seen while flying between Atlanta and Portland


January 24, 2012
Delta Airlines Seattle – Detroit 705a – 236p 737-800 Economy Class
Amtrak Detroit – Pontiac 646p – 745p The Wolverine Economy Class

I set my alarm to go off at 5:45am and this time didn’t sleep through it. Still, since I didn’t get to sleep last night until around midnight, I didn’t exactly awake full of vim and vigor. These mileage runs have me traveling through all of the time zones, often departing at hours that don’t permit me a whole lot of sleep, especially quality sleep such as you’d enjoy in your own bed back home. What I’d give to get a full eight hours of undisturbed sleep…

In any event, it took me a little bit longer to get my act together this morning, so by the time I stepped off the Airport train at SeaTac’s South satellite, there really wasn’t enough time to visit Delta’s Sky Club. Instead, I visited the Runway Grill, located in the central food court. From my recent flights upon Delta, the pictures I’d seen of their BOB breakfast sandwich didn’t look all that appealing, and of course when you consider that the pictures used in advertising usually represent the ideal, and even that still didn’t look good to me, well, I really had no choice but to purchase a breakfast sandwich at the Runway Grill. This was a mistake. Four year olds playing at cooking could have made a better breakfast sandwich than the sorry mess of eggs, cheese, bacon and bread that I was presented.

Flight time to the Motor City was an expeditious three hours and thirty-two minutes, only one minute off from the Captain’s stated prediction. We parked way down at the very end of the now ten year old Edward H. McNamara Terminal (It seems like only yesterday that it opened!) and, for the first time ever, I actually exited the terminal instead of connecting to another flight.

My mission this afternoon was to make my way to the Dearborn Amtrak station ~ as inexpensively as possible. Doing so entailed utilizing Detroit’s SMART bus. I had figured SMART was an acronym for something like Southeastern Michigan Area Rapid Transit but I wasn’t even close with that one. SMART actually stands for Suburban Mobility Authority for Rapid Transit. Huh?!

Getting to the designated airport bus stop was the first challenge. That involved heading over to the Westin Hotel and catching an inter-terminal bus over to the old North Terminal. From that bus stop it was up the escalators to the sky bridge across the road into the terminal building, then down to the main floor, walk about one hundred yards and then take another escalator down to the arrivals level, out the door and down the sidewalk about 70 yards to the SMART bus stop.

Once on board the bus, things went pretty smoothly. I rode the #280 to Middlebelt and Michigan, ever vigilant to make sure I didn’t miss my stop, then caught the #200 down Michigan Ave. to the Henry J. Ford Museum where I alighted and walked another third of a mile along some side street with broken pavement and crumbling sidewalks until I reached the train station. This was not an architecturally stunning train station but rather a small brick building sitting rather forlornly back behind the police station. Still, it’s warm and well lit interior was in stark contrast to the cold, blustery day outside.

The northbound Wolverine arrived at 7:10pm, nearly an hour late. About a dozen of us boarded and without further ado we were off, rolling up to Detroit and beyond to Pontiac at about 60 mph. About fifteen minutes out from Pontiac I called a local taxi company who said they’d have a car there at the station to meet me. When we arrived however, the station was closed, the wind was blowing and there was no cab. It was just me, a stray dog and some drunk guy that teetered up the street and into the parking lot. He bellowed out something unintelligible but otherwise took scant notice of me as he continued on to wherever it was he called home for the night – hopefully somewhere indoors.

My home for the night was a room at McGuire’s Motor Inn, located just about three miles away in Waterford. I’d discovered it while researching accommodations on the internet. Built in 1957, it had been recently renovated and offered a clean, quiet room at just $45.00 per night.


January 25, 2012
Amtrak Pontiac – Chicago 1040a – 416p The Wolverine Business Class
Alaska Airlines Chicago – Seattle 740p – 1020p 737-800 First Class

I love days like this. Here I am waking up in cold, blustery Michigan secure in the knowledge that I’ve got a ticket out of town, heading all the way to the west coast. My day would start with Business Class accommodations aboard Amtrak’s Wolverine. Upon arrival in Chicago, I’ll make my way over to O’Hare where a First Class seat awaits me aboard Alaska’s 7:40pm departure to Seattle. I am and always have been very positively oriented towards traveling west so starting the morning in the east with the promise of being in the west that night is always a good feeling in my book.

Although I’ve ridden portions of Amtrak’s Wolverine before, until today I’ve never ridden the train in its entirety between Pontiac, Michigan and Chicago, Illinois. The Wolverine is also the last of Amtrak’s Michigan lines that I’ve not yet ridden. After this, I’ll have just four short lines to ride before I’ve managed to ride every mile of rail in the Amtrak system. Those short lines would be Oklahoma City to Ft. Worth, Chicago to Quincy, Orlando to Tampa and Boston to Portland, Maine.

With my train not departing until 10:40am, I was able to sleep in until 9:00am (6:00am PST), enjoy coffee and conversation with the owners down in the lobby, then catch a taxi back to the Pontiac Transportation Center at 10:00am. Little did I know that the Transportation Center wouldn’t be open until 11:00am. Whaaaat? Why not?! Who knows… Things look pretty tired and run down in Pontiac. Its namesake automobile is no longer in production and the city just seems depressed. The unemployment rate is just over 25%. It’s really quite sad to see this in any place, large or small. The cold, gray day only served to emphasize the fact that Pontiac is going through hard times. I hope the city rebounds nicely someday soon.

Since Pontiac is the end of the line, our train was parked for the night just a hundred yards or so up from the Transportation Center. The five of us huddled outside watched as the engineers did a walk around inspection, then climbed up into the locomotive. The lights came on, the horn blew a few times and then the bells started clanging as the train slowly began to approach the station.



Amtrak’s Wolverine pulls into Pontiac Station

Today’s consist was fairly typical for the Wolverine: Four Horizon Coaches and one Amfleet Café Car were braced by a pair of GE P42 “Genesis” locomotives – one on each end. The Business Class section is located in the rear third of the Café Car. It comprises 18 seats configured in six rows of 1-2. On the other end of the Café Car is the lounge/dining area – four rows of buffet style tables and seating. Plugs are available at each seat in the lounge, so for those like me who like a table to type upon, this worked out just fine. It should be noted that seat side plugs are also available throughout the train in all classes. Wireless Internet is not available.



Business Class on Amtrak’s Wolverine

We pulled out of Pontiac right on time, as punctual as a Swiss watch. Unfortunately, no service from the café would be available until after we’d left Detroit because that’s where the crew who manned the café would board. Once past Detroit though, we had full service until about half an hour out of Chicago.

I must say I quite like the convenience of simply getting up from your seat and walking twenty feet to the café. It’s especially nice not having to carry hot coffee back to your seat through two or three cars while rockin’ and rollin’ down the tracks. I purchased a breakfast sandwich and took full advantage of the free coffee and newspapers offered to Business Class travelers. Taking a table in the lounge, I put in some work on this report while glancing occasionally at the wintertime scenery of southern Michigan which was not particularly dramatic or memorable. Later, I got caught up in a rousing debate in the café car over the relative strengths and weaknesses of this year’s Superbowl contenders that eventually spilled over to include the Bears and the Lions.

A little bit of research prior to departing on this trip had me well prepared to get from Chicago’s Union Station to O’Hare Airport for the least amount of expenditure. First, take the Clinton Street exit from the Great Hall, then walk down about a block and a half to the Blue Line MTA station. Hop on the train marked O’Hare Airport. It was that simple. The journey took about 45 minutes and cost $2.25. A taxi would run about $30.00 and might take longer depending upon traffic.

This evening’s flight from Chicago to Seattle will be my first “Mid-Con” flight of the trip. I’ve been looking forward to it because it will feature Alaska’s new upgraded catering in First Class. Over the past few years Alaska has really cut back on the quantity and quality of its First Class catering to the point where often the better and more filling meal option on these Mid-con flights was back in Economy. Case in point was the last time I flew ORD-SEA this past autumn. On the four hour dinner time departure to Seattle, First Class was served a small bowl of penne pasta with cheese accompanied by a small side salad and a wrapped piece of chocolate. Back in Coach they had the option to purchase a delicious Beef Fajita Skillet consisting of beef, green peppers, onions, rice, salsa and a couple of tortillas for just $6.00. A few of us wrote to Alaska Airlines, many more complained at Flyer Talk’s Alaska Forum and eventually Alaska management responded with an upgraded meal service for Mid-con dinner flights. Luncheon and breakfast flights will not be affected.

The service commenced about thirty minutes into the flight with a round of cocktails and mixed nuts. Jack Daniels on the rocks, please. Make it a double. When dinner was served, it was presented all at once on a single tray containing the salad and the main course. There are no entrée choices on Alaska’s Mid-cons, but I thought both the meal and the presentation were quite good. The salad was presented in a separate bowl and included shredded carrots and cherry tomatoes. The main course was a seasoned chicken breast of medium size accompanied by a nice portion of lentils and a couple of baby carrots. The chicken was nicely cooked and the lentils were flavorful. I was impressed. Dessert was a pair of cookies, freshly baked onboard. They were served about an hour out of Seattle. The aroma permeating the cabin must have been tortuous for those sat in Coach who wouldn’t get to have any of them. Overall I think Alaska’s made a very nice improvement here and I look forward to seconds when I once again fly this route in a couple of days.



Alaska’s Mid-Con dinner service between Chicago and Seattle


January 26, 2012
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Oakland 610a – 810a 737-800 First Class
SkyWest Airlines Oakland – Los Angeles 949a – 1115a CRJ-200 Economy Class
Delta Airlines Los Angeles – Atlanta 1215p – 733p 767-300 Economy Class
Delta Airlines Atlanta – Chicago 945p – 1100p DC-9-50 Economy Class

From my experience it’s pretty rare that an MVP Gold 75K – the highest elite level at Alaska – doesn’t get upgraded into First Class on a flight up or down the west coast. Indeed, I’ve flown LAX-SEA on more than a couple of occasions with empty seats next to me in First Class. Not today, though. I took my seat on the exit row window and proceeded to sleep through most of the hour and a half long flight down to Oakland.

My original plans for today would have had me visiting friends in Indiana. As things turned out however, I had an opportunity to sell off some of my airline postcards at a location that was very affordable to get to from Chicago. That location was at the Oakland Airport, through a gentleman I know who lives just down the road in San Leandro. He’d contacted me representing another buyer and I made arrangements to have the cards in question – all of my Russian and ex-Russian satellite countries – close to 900 cards – sent down from Fairbanks with the understanding that if the buyer approved, I’d cover the cost of that shipment. If he decided against purchasing the cards, he’d reimburse me the cost to ship them back to Alaska. Normally I would not want to sell off any part of my collection piecemeal, but I’ve never been a big fan of the Russian jetliners or airlines, even though I’ve maintained most all of the latest cards published through the years. To make a long story short, I departed the Oakland Airport $800.00 richer. Although I’d actually paid more than that for the cards, pages and books they were displayed in, it was an amenable deal for both sides, especially since it would be extremely unlikely that I’d have another offer for just my Russian cards in my lifetime.

Right, then, back through security and on to Los Angeles aboard SkyWest’s CRJ-200. Thankfully it was a quick flight as seating is tight aboard SkyWest’s CRJs. During the layover I had just enough time to visit the Sky Club, print off a couple of documents, and head on down to gate 57 where an exit row seat aboard Delta’s midday 767 to Atlanta awaited.

Ahh… much nicer. Coach ain’t bad if you’ve got some decent legroom. These exit row seats on Delta’s 763s are just about as nice as it gets behind the curtain with the exception of row 17 on American’s 763s. Those American seats are wider and have greater recline in addition to extra legroom. American designates them as crew rest seats on their international flights, but on most domestic operations they’ll put them up for assignment to the coach roaches.

I’m pretty sure I ordered something off the Buy On Board menu, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what it was. I do however remember that while on layover in Atlanta I stopped by a Manchu Wok or some such place and ordered this delicious combo of Mango Chicken and something else doused in hot pepper sauce. Man, was that ever good! Then it was off to the Sky Club for a drink.

Chicago lies 610 miles north northwest of Atlanta and back in 1974 was the beneficiary of nonstop 747 service on Delta. Can you imagine boarding a plane that large for such a short domestic flight today? Tonight, I stepped aboard my 35 year old DC-9-50, settled into my comfortable and spacious exit row aisle seat and relaxed all the way to Chicago in just one hour and twenty-one minutes.

I have a friend up in nearby Deerfield but he lives in a house that he and his temperamental and occasionally tempestuous brother inherited when their father died. Given the late arrival time of my flight (11:00pm), I thought it best to get a hotel for the night. Travelocity has these Secret Hotel deals that I’ve used a few times with good results. Tonight was no different as I scored a room at the Holiday Inn O’Hare for just 51.00 all in.


January 27, 2012
Alaska Airlines Chicago – Seattle 335p – 608p 737-800 First Class
Alaska Airlines Seattle – San Francisco 845p – 1054p 737-800 First Class

What a leisurely day! I slept in until almost 10:00am Chicago time, then enjoyed a nice long shower. At about noon I met my friend from Deerfield for lunch. We went to Harry Caray’s Restaurant in nearby Rosemont where we dined on 10oz Holy Cow burgers washed down with copious quantities of good, cold locally produced Goose Island Ale. Seriously, that Holy Cow burger is one of the best burgers I’ve ever eaten – right up there with this big burger with the lot that I got at this little stand out in Quindallup, Australia. The Aussies definitely know how to make a good burger and as such, should any of you Aussies be in Chicago, I think you’ll appreciate both the beer and the burgers at Harry’s.



Bust of Harry Caray at his restaurant


Back to the airport and on to Alaska’s 3:35pm departure to Seattle where I enjoyed another serving of chicken, lentil and carrots along the way. Interestingly, there was a prayer card on my meal tray tonight after I’d just received an email from Alaska Airlines stating that this 30 year tradition would now come to an end. I was never raised with any religion and so tend to lean towards spirituality more so than organized religion. Still, it’s been interesting to watch the rather heated debate on this over at FlyerTalk’s Alaska Airlines Forum. Personally, I could care less if Alaska wants to put prayer cards on their meal trays. I mean, it’s not like the flight attendants are making us all stop before the meal so that they can say grace over the P.A. before we’re allowed to eat. Some people are saying that so long as Alaska places those little prayer cards on the meal trays, they will refuse to fly Alaska. It would seem that for some the religious right is taking over America via these passive prayer cards on Alaska’s meal trays. Man oh man, it just seems like there are bigger fish to fry out there… at least for some heathen like me. Now if the Religious Right ever acts up and truly does get in my face, then I’ll be singing a different, much more reactionary and proactive tune, but for now, it’s all cool.

By the way, this flight between Chicago and Seattle represents the 300,000th mile I’ve flown aboard a 737-800. My all-time leader (so far…) is Boeing’s once ubiquitous 727-200 upon which I’ve logged 713 flights totaling 474,240 miles. Still, to have logged over 300000 miles aboard the -800 in just ten years is fairly impressive if I do say so me self.
Following a short layover in Seattle, it was on to San Francisco, 678 air miles to the south. I was a bit disappointed to see ship 549 doing the honors as I’ve now flown this plane 13 times for 19680 miles. While it’s a perfectly good aircraft, I’m looking for ships 564, 566 and 594 in addition to all the newer ones numbered in the 530s. And, being as I’m coming right back up to Seattle on the 7:00am departure tomorrow morning, I should imagine it’s quite likely I’ll see ship 549 operating that flight as well. Sigh… The things we airplane geeks gotta put up with…

Upon arrival at San Francisco International, I was thankful that the authorities there allow properly documented passengers who are flying out the next morning to stay overnight on the airside of the airport. This is great in two ways. One – it’s a lot quieter on the airside as you don’t have to listen to those endless security announcements all night, and two – you don’t have to go through security in the morning. I found a nice dark corner of an unused departure lounge to crash in and slept comfortably through the night.


January 28, 2012
Alaska Airlines San Francisco – Seattle 700a – 903a 737-800 First Class
Horizon Airlines Seattle – Portland 1100a – 1147a DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Horizon Airlines Portland – Seattle 1230p – 120p DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Orange County 230p – 507p 737-700 First Class
Alaska Airlines Orange County – Seattle 555p – 842p 737-700 First Class
Horizon Airlines Seattle – Portland 1100p – 1147p DHC-8-400 Economy Class

You know, I’ve really been looking forward to this day. I don’t know why, exactly, because all I’m doing is just flying up and down and up the west coast, punctuated by short hooks down to Portland. I think it may have something to do with the fact that I get to get on and off so many airplanes instead of be stuck in a single plane for a long transcon flight. In between flights I can hang out in lounges, visit a good airport restaurant or two and visit with a couple of friends who are themselves in the midst of a shorter mileage run (two roundtrips between Charlotte and LA). Honestly though, I like getting on and off a lot of planes during the day. I’ve done it often, and often to extremes. For example, one day, while flying about on Eastern Airline’s Unlimited Mileage fare, I flew the following routing over 24 hours: TPA-ATL-EWR-IAH-CLT-PIT-ATL-STL-PDX. Only the ATL-PDX flight offered same plane service via STL. Everything else was a connection to a different aircraft.

Breakfast on this one hour and thirty-eight minute flight up to Seattle consisted of a bowl of granola topped with sliced strawberries and accompanied by a small carton of milk. I thought it was alright until I could smell the nice hot skillets of waffles and scrambled eggs being doled out in steerage for the bargain basement price of just $6.00. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Shouldn’t we be getting served the hot breakfasts up in First Class with the cold breakfasts being offered for sale back in Coach?



Alaska’s Granola Breakfast

Arriving in Seattle right on time at 9:03am, I had to hang around until 11:00 before I could return to the skies aboard a pair of Horizon Dash 8s down to Portland and back. Then it was off to the Boardroom where I had a nice rendezvous with my friends from Indiana who had flown in from Charlotte and Atlanta. Their flight to Los Angeles wasn’t until later in the afternoon while my flight to Orange County was just forty minutes from boarding. Still, it was good to see them if only briefly and hopefully our paths will cross later this spring before we return to work in Alaska.



Rainbow over the Alaska ramp at PDX

On the flight down to Orange County I was served one of Alaska’s ubiquitous turkey sandwiches accompanied by the small side salad. More than any other meal I can think of, this one has been a standard on Alaska Airlines for a few years now. Still, for a flight of this length, I think it’s a pretty darned good meal, especially since I’d been expecting something along the lines of the cheese plate for this 2:30 departure.



The ever popular turkey sandwich

It was 81° as we stepped off the plane at SNA. I hadn’t been in temperatures this warm since last July, and indeed only yesterday was dealing with a wind chill in the 20s while in Chicago. It would have been nice to have gone outside the terminal building to enjoy the nice day during my layover but I didn’t want to deal with security again so instead I visited the United Club, located just three gates down from my gate. I was the only patron on this Saturday afternoon and since I’d had a beer on the way down and desired only a glass of water for this visit, the bartender was left to literally pace the seating area in front of his bar due to the lack of patronage. Only… three… more… hours… until… closing..!



The United Club at SNA

After that nice sandwich on the flight down from Seattle, I was curious what would be offered for “dinner” on the 5:55pm departure back to Seattle. Something equally filling or… Oh no! It’s the Macaroni and Cheese! Truth be known, it’s not actually macaroni noodles but rather penne pasta. Aside from that, it is what it is – a simple bowl of pasta with melted cheese and something crunchy on top. As pasta and cheese goes, it tastes okay but honestly, it’s not a very First Class offering. I mean, the way First Class is marketed, with flowery descriptions of enhanced dining, a small bowl of pasta and cheese is not what comes to mind. Maybe a Chef’s Salad or even a hamburger. When you consider the cost of bulk pasta and cheese, I doubt if a portion of this meal costs Alaska Airlines even 50 cents. I shouldn’t imagine Alaska Airlines or its employees will ever reference the “Macaroni & Cheese” meal when describing highlights of their First Class service.

On the other hand, Alaska was offering a pretty good deal to its Economy Class passengers in the form of a hot “Philly Cheese Steak” sandwich for just $6.00. Served on a 6” roll, this sandwich offered lots more flavor than the macaroni dish. Thankfully First Class passengers may request the Economy Class meal and if there are any left over, they will be offered to First Class patrons at no cost. I took advantage of this and enjoyed a nicer dinner as a result.

Perhaps it was the sandwich that sparked a comment from my seatmate, but from that grew a conversation between us that lasted the remainder of the flight. Seatmate claimed that he usually never talks to anyone on flights, but he was a pretty talkative guy nonetheless. I also enjoyed chatting with him. Sometimes you just hit it off and conversation flows. Most of the time on airplanes however, aside from a perfunctory greeting, I don’t get involved in much conversation either. It’s interesting because it’s not like I’m particularly taciturn but I do think that for many people, especially business professionals who’ve perhaps been dealing with people all day, airplanes are one of the few places where they can finally enjoy some peace and quiet. Additionally, there are those who fear that they’re going to get the hyper-talkative seatmate and so avoid getting into any conversation whatsoever. Either way, I’m fine with it and I suppose if I had a preference, I rather like it on the quiet side. A bit of conversation, okay, but not the whole flight. But each situation unfolds differently and as things turned out tonight, I think we both enjoyed talking the flight away.

The last time I flew upon the Horizon Dash 8 (N439QX) operating this evening’s flight down to Portland, it was painted bright green to better promote Horizon’s Comfortably Greener initiative utilizing the Dash 8-400s. These propjets burn 30 to 40 percent less fuel and produce 30 to 40 percent less carbon emissions than comparable jet aircraft, making them comfortably greener and thus likely to be more popular with all those environmentally conscious folks who live in the Pacific Northwest. It also helps that the planes seat 76 passengers in a much more spacious environment than that offered by the competition which is flying tiny little Embraer EMB.120 Brasilias. In any event, ship 439 and its sister ship 438 have both been repainted with the current corporate logo featuring the eskimo on the tail and the fuselage titling “Alaska Horizon”. Either way, it’s a good looking airplane.


January 29, 2012
Horizon Airlines Portland – Seattle 930p – 1020p DHC-8-400 Economy Class

Finally, a day off from flying! I have been in at least one airplane every single day since January 16th. Just being able to sleep in will be nice. Of course, you can never sleep in too long in an airport, what with all the hustle and bustle that starts early in the morning, but if you pick your spots wisely, you can avoid most of the noise until later. I managed to sleep well until 7:30am.

By 9:00am I’d picked up a rental car to whisk me more efficiently around Portland. The weekend rate of just $15.78 for a full sized car was more than amenable to me and I managed to complete a myriad of small tasks, including laundry and finding some great used CDs over at Music Millennium on Burnside. Later that evening, I met up with fellow FlyerTalker and Portland Do organizer extraordinaire opushomes and his lovely wife who treated me to a delicious barbecued dinner at Famous Dave’s BBQ located in the nearby Cascade Mall. I look forward to returning the good times in kind on a future visit through Portland.

Although I was booked on a 5:30am flight to Seattle tomorrow morning, thence to connect to an 8:57am flight to Boston, Alaska was kind enough to let me fly up to Seattle tonight on the 9:30pm departure. This was really great because now, instead of having to get up at 4:45am, I could sleep in and arise at 7:00. Swwweet!


January 30, 2012
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Boston 857a – 520p 737-800 First Class
Alaska Airlines Boston – Seattle 620p – 938p 737-800 First Class
Horizon Airlines Seattle – Portland 1100p – 1147p DHC-8-400 Economy Class

Following a quick shower over at Delta’s Sky Club, I caught three trains from the South Satellite over to the C Concourse, emerging from the escalator just sixty feet from where my flight to Boston was boarding. I stopped to pick up a couple of newspapers and a copy of The Economist before striding down the jetway and settling into my seat at 2D.

Today’s itinerary calls for me to fly 2,490 miles across the country to Boston, have a drink in the nearby Sky Club, then reboard the exact same plane and fly all the way back to Seattle where yet another flight awaits me down to Portland. If anybody asks why, I’ll just say I forgot my toothbrush. And here’s the really weird part ~ tomorrow I’ll be doing it all over again! Thanks to Alaska’s $100.00 one way fares being offered between Portland and Boston back in December, I can afford to do this. I particularly like the idea of being able to return “home” to the west coast each night, even though it means I’ll have to be up at 4:45am tomorrow.

Up in First Class the festivities commenced with a glass of water, followed by the presentation of menu cards. Some of you may remember that the choices this month are a pair of mini-quiches or something called a Caramelized Onion Strata. It’s high time I discovered what exactly that is.

Following coffee, orange juice and a delicious serving of assorted melon, pineapple and berries, I was presented a plate bearing a large wedge of egg and onion pie accompanied by three pieces of asparagus and a couple links of chicken sausage. On appearance alone this plate looked much better than the mini-quiches which were accompanied by a single lonely wedge of tomato, sitting forlornly off to the side of the plate. Truth be known, I’ve always thought the mini-quiches tasted alright but they really ought to have a proper accompaniment, perhaps some roasted potatoes or even a few stalks of asparagus. As for the onion strata, it was delicious, as was the chicken sausage.



Caramelized Onion Strata

On the flight back to Seattle I opted for the chicken breast over the pork shank and was rewarded with a piece of chicken cooked just about as nicely as it could possibly be regardless of where the oven was located. The meat was actually moist and juicy which is saying a lot for airline chicken. I spent the remainder of the flight nursing a couple glasses of Jack Daniels while putting in some work on this trip report. I’m still about four days behind but being the diligent and dedicated reporter that I am, I won’t let it get too far behind.

The Dash 8 operating my flight down to Portland this evening was ship 425, the 25 Year Celebration airplane. As celebratory liveries go, this one is, I think, one of the better ones.



Horizon’s 25th Anniversary Livery


January 31, 2012
Horizon Airlines Portland – Seattle 530a – 620a DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Boston 857a – 520p 737-800 First Class
Alaska Airlines Boston – Seattle 620p – 938p 737-800 First Class
Horizon Airlines Seattle – Portland 1100p – 1147p DHC-8-400 Economy Class

For best results, rinse and repeat.

That’s right, this is pretty much the exact same itinerary as yesterday with the only real difference being that this time I had the pork shank for dinner.

Actually, there was one amusing moment when I boarded the flight. We had the same crew working it who’d flown with me on the eastbound flight yesterday. They thought it was pretty impressive that I’d flown out to Boston with them yesterday and was now flying back to Seattle so soon. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell them that since yesterday afternoon, when their day had ended in Boston, I had flown all the way back to Seattle, then down to Portland, slept four and a half hours, and then flown back up to Seattle and all the way back to Boston whence I now stood before them ready to fly back to Seattle again, and then onwards to Portland. And then tomorrow…