After another busy week at work, it was time to hit the road again. Luckily, I wasn’t leaving until Sunday, so I had some time to catch up with friends and take care of few chores around the house to please my homeowners association. This is the last jaunt of my epic 4 week adventure, and it came courtesy of work. I had been scheduled for a one week training session in Washington DC, something I do several times a year. I have been fortunate to be able to attend these training sessions with the same group of people, who are all a lot of fun. So while the training can be a bit grueling (Seriously, who likes to sit in the classroom for 8 hours a day), it’s always a great time in DC.

For some time now, one of my best friends from high school and I had been plotting a trip to DC and New York City, since he hasn't been to either city other than connecting at their respective airports. This training session happen to fall on one of his weeks off, so it seemed to be the perfect time for us to go. So I began planning how I could make this into a cost effective side trip. I managed to find Delta flights from DCA to JFK and JFK to DFW for $160 all in, about $100 less than our contract fare from DCA to DFW, so I would not incur any extra cost as far as transportation goes. Score! And besides, I might well put my Delta Silver Medallion status to some use…ok stop laughing. It actually really did come in handy during this trip. As for my friend, he was departing out of New Orleans, so he was on a separate itinerary. He would meet me in DC on Wednesday of that week, and we would head up to New York on Friday after I finished work. With our transportation booked, I then looked for a hotel in New York. Needless to say, rates were outrageous since it prime tourist season. I finally settled on the Intercontinental Barclay. While the all in rate was still expensive ($345 per night all in), I could use my Ambassador BOGO certificate, which would break it down to about $86 per night for each us.

My flight to DCA would be on AA, since they are our contract carrier out of DFW. As I wrote about earlier in this TR, AA had called me to notify me of schedule change in early July. I had originally booked the 9:25 AM departure, but due to a change in schedule I had been rebooked on the 11:25 departure. On the Friday before the trip, I realized my beloved Saints would be kicking off the Hall of Fame Game at 7PM. Although it is a preseason game and it doesn’t count, I was yearning for any semblance of live action after the living hell of an off season we had endured. The 11:25 departure would get into DCA close to 3:30 in the afternoon, plenty of time before the game. But I wanted to have plenty of time to settle in to my hotel room, do some pre-course work, and workout before the game. So I consulted Expert Flyer and saw a few seats available on the 9:00 AM departure to DCA. After a quick call to AA, I was rebooked on the earlier flight, which would arrive at DCA at 1 PM. After I arrived in DC, I realized the game was actually at 8PM Eastern time, after I arrived in DC. Stupid me. Anyways, better safe than sorry.

At 6:30 AM on the dot, my trusty iPhone woke me up with a nice piano riff. I had been out late the night before, and ended up staggering home close to 1:30AM. With some difficulty, I dragged myself out of bed and made myself semi-presentable before the Super Shuttle arrived at 7:15. I even managed to squeeze in a quick breakfast of Nutella with toast, yogurt, and milk. Super Shuttle arrived on time and I was dropped off at DFW’s Terminal C after a 20 minute or so ride.

The terminal was busy, though not at the same level as when I departed for Chicago a few weeks early. There was only one person ahead of me in the Priority AAccess line, and I was called to a counter by an AAgent after a short wait. Though he was efficient, this AAgent wasn’t particularly friendly. But I was able to get my boarding pass and my bag checked after less than 2 minutes at the counter. I then made way to security, and cleared that after the usual imaging routine. But when I went to the belt to retrieve my laptop bag, a TSO asked if I minded if he tested my laptop. Well, can I really say no? After the TSO determined my laptop wasn’t a threat, I was sent on my way.

My flight had originally been scheduled to depart out of gate C24. I arrived at that gate to find our gate had been changed to C16, just a couple of gates down. After making that short trek, I settled in a quiet corner and finished up a few things for work. Just as I shut down my computer after I finished what I needed to do, the gate agent invited the First Cabin to board. As DFW-DCA is another EXP heavy route, I usually don’t even bother to request an upgrade, though I did this time. Expert Flyer showed this flight zeroed out at 24 hours out, so not surprisingly I did not clear, putting me at 8/10 on the year for upgrades. After EXPs and OneWorld Emeralds boarded, I marched up to the podium just as the gate agent uttered the word “Platinum”.

I was pretty excited about this flight, as it was my first time flying to DCA as a Platinum. When I was a lowly Gold, I boarded with the rest of the Priority AAccess passengers, and there are a lot of them on any AA flight to DCA since government YCA fares book into Y class, giving all of those passengers Priority AAccess privileges. Thus, boarding was always a bit of scrum with so many people boarding at the same time. This time around, the boarding lane was wide open and it was a nice leisurely walk down the jet bridge and into the aircraft.

AA 1600
Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW)-Washington-Reagan National (DCA)
Sunday August 5, 2012
Depart: 9:00 AM
Arrive: 12:59 AM
Aircraft: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-83 (N577AA)
Seat: 14F (Economy)

I was greeted by a cheery FA, who was preparing for PDB service, as I entered the aircraft and did the walk of shame through the first class. My seat today was 14F. AA’s Mad Dog coach cabins are configured in 2-3 setup , with the A-B seats on the “2” side. I like the A seats, since it feels a little roomier without the pesky middle seat. Unfortunately, all of the A seats in front of the exit rows were taken, and I refuse to sit anywhere behind the exit rows, since it gets noisy due to the rear mounted engines. Yes, I know I’m spoiled. So, I ended up in 14F. It was only a 3 hour flight anyways, so it wasn’t a big deal. Since most of y’all here are EXPs, here’s what the coach cabin looks like, in case you forgot.


Remember when…

I stowed my laptop bag into the overhead, and settled down in 14F to finish up a book I was reading on my iPad. The stream of boarding passengers soon turned from a steady trickle to a full on raging river. Of course, there were a few battles over overhead space, but no flying fists…yet. Although the seat map showed quite a few available seats the day before, it was quickly apparent this was would be a full flight. The middle seat next to me showed as empty when I checked in, but someone ended up taking it midway through boarding. Teenagers from a church group took up residence in the two rows in front of me. Other than an amusing conversation about the use of the word “bomb” on a plane while we were parked at the gate, they were very well behaved.

All of the hatches were buttoned up a few minutes before the scheduled departure time, and we pushed back exactly on time. The weather that day was absolutely beautiful with clear blue skies, though it was going to be another Texas scorcher. The temperature was already pushing the upper 80s at 9AM. After we pushed back, the Captain made his welcome aboard announcement and added our APU was inoperative so we would have to wait a few minutes for the air cart to get the engines cranking. As there was no air conditioning without the APU or engines running, it did get a little stuffy in the cabin, but an air cart did materialize rather quickly. The cabin cooled down immediately after the engines were started. There was no one in the take off queue, so we lined up, raced down Runway 17R, and were airborne after a rather lengthy take off roll.

We had taken off toward the south, so I got a nice a view of Rangers Ball Park in Arlington and Jerry World as we made a turn toward the northeast. FAs began their drink/buy on board service not long after we climbed through 10,000 feet. I ordered a ginger ale, which was served as a full can with cup of ice. Again, it’s the little things. I hate being served just a cup on longer flights, which I find many subpar crews do. I sipped on that while reading and intermittently watching the beautiful green landscape and rivers of the southeastern U.S. pass by. It’s quite a contrast to the desert and mountains of the southwest.



The rest of the flight was uneventful. FAs went on a second drink run. Trash was collected No bumps were hit. I managed to finish the book I was reading. We began descending over southern Virginia. About 15 minutes from landing, FA came around to collect trash again, and give their usual spiel about seat backs, tray tables, seat belts and electronics. We had descended to about 3,000 feet and leveled off and I could see we were flying along the Potomac River. Normally, we would turn to line up with the river and continue our descent into Runway 1. It didn’t seem like we were in a holding pattern since we were continuing on the same course, and not circling. Could it be… A few minutes later we passed to the west of Reagan National Airport, and I knew it was. RIVER VISUAL 19!

As I mentioned earlier, my two favorite approaches in the U.S. are in San Diego and Santa Ana (might as well toss in taking off at Santa Ana as well). San Francisco is definitely up there are far as views go. The River Visual 19 approach into DCA runs from north to south along the Potomac, offering great views of all of the monuments in DC on the left side and the Pentagon on the right. Also, there a few tighter than usual turns given the large amount restricted air space in the area. Despite my regular flights to DC, I had not flown this particular approach as the wind dictated using Runway 1 each time, so I was pretty excited.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t in my usual “A” seat on the left side, but I was able to get nice view of the Pentagon. Not a bad consolation prize. Touchdown was a bit firm, and we pulled up to gate 40 after a quick taxi. After deplaning, I hit up an ATM for some cash and headed down to baggage claim. The airport was very crowded due to summer traffic, so I had to fight my way to exit the terminal. One nice touch AA has at DCA is specific area for priority tagged luggage. It’s manned by one or two employees who take the orange tagged bags off the belt for you. Not a big deal, but again, it’s the little things. There was no one in the taxi line, and I was in a taxi headed to Arlington 20 minutes after I stepped off the plane.

Although this was a business trip, it doesn’t mean I can’t have a little fun. As I mentioned earlier, I attend these training sessions with the same group of people, so I’ve become good friends with all of them. We all work hard during the day listening to some guy droning about derivatives and interest rate risk models during the day and then doing whatever exercise they come up with. But when class is over, we’re ready to paint the town red. Though, we’re certainly a lot tamer than when we first started two years ago. It just so happens one of my friend’s birthday was during the week. She had wanted to go on a night cruise on the Potomac. It turned out to be a fantastic dea. At $14 a head, it wasn’t cheap for an hour long cruise, but it was a lot of fun and the views were great. We went to dinner at Founding Farmers in Foggy Bottom beforehand, and it was very good.






A United 757-200 on River Visual 19 approach







My high school friend from New Orleans had arrived during the middle of the week. He had gone sightseeing while we were in class so I’d thought I’d share a few of his pictures.











We’ve definitely calmed down over the past two years, but when you get a bunch of twenty something year olds together… Well, certain things just naturally happen. And besides, we couldn’t let our friend go home without celebrating her birthday properly.







We were all in class bright and early Friday morning and wrapped up around 11. I said my good byes to my work friends, most of who were scheduled to leave on early afternoon flights. I headed back to my room to finish packing and then checked out. I stored my bag and my friend’s bag at the hotel. Since our flight wasn’t until 5, we decided to go have lunch and do a little last minute sightseeing. We ended just having a quick look see at the White House and had lunch at the Old Ebbitt Grill, which was good. It took us just half an hour to take the Metro back to the hotel to grab our bags. Another 20 minutes later, we were getting out of the taxi at the airport at around 3:00PM.

I got a text from Delta notifying of a one hour delay, as we approached Reagan. Not one minute later, I got another one showing a 2 hour delay to 7:10PM. I had kind of expected this, as there had been bad weather up and down the East Coast that. Anyways, we entered the terminal after paying the cabbie and found a short line at the Delta desks.



Thanks to my Silver Medallion status, we were able to skip the line via the Sky Priority lane. One of the nice things about flying from out stations is the ability for Silver Medallions, or FO in Delta speak, to use the Sky Priority lane, since it’s not technically part of the FO benefits package. FOs aren’t allowed to use the Sky Priority lane in most hubs, unless they are upgraded. That never happens, right? We were quickly checked in by a friendly agent and our bags were tagged to JFK. I inquired about the delay and the agent told me not to worry about it, since it was probably not going to be delayed further. Mollified, we headed down to TGI Friday’s near the US/AA gates (Fate perhaps?) for a few beers. Not surprisingly, I ran into a couple of my work friends who were delayed. It’s kind of our traditional to pound a few pre-flight beers there before we go home.

They ended up leaving just before 5PM to clear security. A few minutes after that, I got another notification from Delta informing our flight was delayed until 9PM now. I can understand weather is an issue, but the weather was fine in DCA. Besides both the US Airways and American Eagle flights were departing to JFK/LGA without a delay, so weather must be fine there too. So it must be a system backlog from earlier today, but a 4 hour delay was a bit much. I told my friend to stay put and to be ready to leave at any time, while I tried to get us an earlier flight.

I ran back up to the ticket counters. By this time, there was already a long line in both the regular lane and the Sky Priority lane. Luckily, a lady marched up and told everyone in the Sky Priority line that there was another line downstairs. A number of people took her up on it and I ended up being number 2 line. I was called up by an exhausted looking Red Coat named Carol. She came off as a bit gruff at first, but quickly warmed up to me. I approached the counter with a sympathetic smile and asked,” Long day?” She smiled and said, “Yeah, what can I do for you?” I explained our situation and Carol got to work. She couldn’t find anything to JFK, but she was able to find two seats on the 6PM shuttle flight to La Guardia. Carol was able to rebook me with no problems, but she had trouble with getting my friend’s ticket reissued. “I just can’t get the computer to do what I want it do,” she said. I laughed and said “It could be worse, you could be working over there.”, while gesturing toward the United counters. She got a kick out of it and replied she’s heard many stories. Finally, she issued a paper ticket for my friend and told me she had sent a note down to rampers to reroute our bags on the new flight. I thanked her profusely, and ran down to grab my friend.

It was around 5:25 by the time I got back to TGI Fridays. I found my friend and told him that we needed to leave NOW since we still needed to clear security. But he had ordered a cheeseburger and told me to chill out. We could just wait until original flight if we missed. Dude, do you know how many hoops I had to jump through to get us on this flight. Ok…not really, but it did take some effort. Oy, the joys of traveling with infrequent travelers. Besides, we can find much better eating places when we get to New York. Finally, I was able to convince him to take the cheeseburger to go. We paid our tabs and headed to security. I spotted a sign listing FOs as eligible to use the priority lane and headed there. We cleared security within minutes, and made it to the gate area, 15 minutes before departure.

Except…we were delayed. Just by 45 minutes, so it wasn’t too bad. As this was a shared gate area with 4-5 other gates, it was a complete mad house due to the numerous delayed flights. Also, gate agents at each gate were making simultaneous announcements, so you really had to strain hear what they were saying. My friend was slightly pissed off at me for making him hurry to the gate for nothing, but hey if we missed this flight we wouldn’t get in until midnight. He soon found an empty seat and settled down to eat his prized cheeseburger, while I took a little walk around the terminal. During my stroll, I got this an email that would bring a smile to any FTer’s face.



Given the light load I had observed in recent on Expert Flyer, I had expected my upgrade to clear. But for it to clear more than 24 hours out was a real bonus. As soon as the delayed 5PM shuttle flight departed, our aircraft pulled into the gate. 10 minutes after the arriving passengers had deplaned, the gate agent began boarding our flight. However, after First Class had boarded, it was just a free for all. I grabbed a copy of Financial Times from the rack by the boarding door. All of the reading materials were complimentary for shuttle passengers. We finally made it up to the podium. I hurried to join my friend after the gate agent scanned my boarding pass, but the gate agent told me stay put for a second. He wordlessly handed me with a little slip of receipt paper with a F on it. What does it mean? It took me a second, but I finally realized my upgrade had cleared. Delta Shuttle flights have open seating so the only thing on the boarding passes to indicate what class you’re in is a Y or F on your boarding pass. I confirmed this with the gate agent and went on my merry way. My friend saw me grinning and asked what that was all about. So I told him, and he remarked, “Must be nice.” Oh yeah, it is. A First Class trip for $165 a/i…only on Delta. At least United makes you pay a little extra.

DL 5924 (Operated by Shuttle America)
Washington-Reagan National (DCA)-New York LaGuardia (LGA)
Friday August 10, 2012
Depart: 6:58 PM (Delayed 58 minutes)
Arrive: 8:05 PM
Aircraft: Embraer E175 (N212JQ)
Seat: 3D (First)

I had offered to switch seats with my friend, but he declined. By the time we boarded, the majority of passengers had already been seated. I stowed my bag in the overhead, and the gentleman seated in 3C let me in. In typical Delta fashion, bottles of water had been placed at each seat. Our purser seemed a bit frazzled, and spent quite a bit of time on the phone with the gate agent complaining that we had not been properly catered. Good for her. The carts were finally loaded after a few calls

Boarding began wrapping up soon after. Just before the door was closed, a young guy emerged from coach telling the purser there were no more open seats in coach. The FA working the rear confirmed this. After consulting with the gate agent, he was told to just take the open first class seat, which was 4D. Talk about a lucky break. The boarding door was closed soon afterwards, and the FAs began their manual safety demo as we pushed back. The purser then came around the F cabin to take post take off drink orders. While we were waiting to take off, the captain made his welcome aboard announcement and apologized profusely for the delay. He also added that we should be able to make up about 15 minutes in the air.

This was my first flight on an Embraer “E” Jet. While I absolutely loath the ERJ-145 series, I thought the E175 was very comfortable and quiet. In fact, it was quite comparable to most, if not all, mainline aircraft. Though, I wouldn’t want one on a transcon flight.

We took off on Runway 1 and flew south for a good 5 minutes before heading back to the north, giving DC a wide berth in our turn. FAs went into action as soon as we climbed through 10,000 feet. The FA working the coach cabin came around with the snack basket in First Class before beginning the drink service in the back. I chose a bag of Garden Salsa Sun Chips and packet of Craisins, enough to tide me over until a late dinner in NYC.

I passed time by reading the Financial Times and gazing out the window at the coast line. The flight was quick, and we were soon descending into the New York area. The FAs began tidying up the cabin for landing. As my seatmate was still sipping his red wine, the purser allowed him a few more minutes to finish it. However, she never came back to collect the glass, and he finally returned it as we were deplaning. Strangely, he didn’t take another sip of the wine after that interaction. Our final approach took us over Manhattan and we had great views all the way in. Touchdown was smooth and taxi was very quick. During the taxi, our purser thanked us for our business on this “difficult day for the entire aviation industry.” We parked at gate A5. The jet bridge was quickly attached and I was in the terminal within minutes.

I waited for my friend before heading to baggage claim. Not surprisingly, our bags didn’t make the flight. We filed a claim with the baggage office, and were provided with amenity kits to get us through the night. I had emphasized the point that we were leaving NYC on Sunday, so it was imperative our bags be delivered soon. The agent promised us the bags would be delivered to our hotel tomorrow. Satisfied, we hailed a cab to our hotel. Little did we know, how bad our baggage situation would become.