I had to go to Florida on relatively short notice. I found a $282 RT DCA-CVG-TPA-ATL-DCA. I bought the ticket literally 6 minutes before the 5 pm sweep for GM upgrades started 4 days before departure. A few minutes later, I had confirmed upgrades for both outbound segments.

On the day of departure, DL's notification system contacted me with texts on my I-phone that the DCA-CVG departure would be an hour late, which ruined my connection at CVG (it was only 40 minutes). I got on the phone with a very competent and pleasant agent; not only did she get me rebooked on a new set of flights (via DTW), but somehow she got my upgrades to clear, so the net result was that I scored about 200 extra MQMs.

Here are a few things I noticed on this trip.

1. On the DCA-DTW segment, I was on an A319, N348NB. This aircraft was equipped with the new entertainment streaming capability. I had seen articles about this for the past couple of years but this was the first time I actually saw a sign about it on an aircraft. As the flight was short I didn't drag out my laptop to try it. I am not sure whether you have to pay for Gogo in order to use this.

2. TPA is my new favorite airport in the Delta system. This is only the second time in 31 years as a DL frequent flyer that I have actually flown to TPA (I've had lots of flights to JAX, MCO, PBI, FLL, MIA and RSW over the years). Nice, clean passenger terminal; big but easy to traverse; rental cars in the garage adjacent to the main building. Also, I really liked the Crown Room (I mean, er, Sky Club); it was the right size for this airport, very friendly staff, and still had some of the amenities that had been ripped out of other clubs, such as individual office carrels.

3. On the way back on Saturday afternoon, had a three hour layover in ATL; got a chance to visit the F Sky Club and the vaunted outdoor patio/observation deck--lovely mostly sunny afternoon; really enjoyed sitting outside. Now if they would only restore Sweetwater 420 as a complimentary beverage.

4. Also had dinner at P. F. Chang's. I'm really glad they opened this at ATL.

5. On the ATL-DCA segment, the equipment was an ex-Song 757. This was only the second time in months that I can remember having been on a Delta plane with operating video screens. Got a big kick out of the new "Back to the 80s"-themed safety video.