May 01, 2015
Southwest Airlines Seattle to Dallas 100p – 625p 737-700 Coach Class
Southwest Airlines Dallas to Kansas City 755p – 920p Coach Class
Wow! I slept until 6:00am, which means I knocked off about 11 hours. That sure doesn’t happen too often anymore! More to the point, I felt great! Jetlag be damned!
I’m pretty sure Day’s Inn isn’t a favorite amongst the FT faithful, but for what it’s worth I got a clean, quiet room and a comfortable bed all for $64.00 and change. In the morning I enjoyed a hot shower via one of those multi-function shower heads which I interchanged between the massage and full blast functions. This was followed by a complimentary breakfast that included waffles, cereal and some half way decent coffee. Finally, as a longtime member of the Wyndham Rewards program, I added an additional 2700 points to my account which will eventually be cashed in towards additional points in Amtrak’s Guest Rewards program.
So today I’m flying to Kansas City. The impetus for this little side trip is the Kansas City BBQ Do, and I was looking forward to joining the gang for good food and drink later this evening at Jack Stack Barbecue’s Freighthouse location in downtown Kansas City.
My original plans were to fly from Seattle to Kansas City via Alaska’s single daily nonstop which would have put me in Kansas City at 3:35pm – just perfect for renting a car, checking into a hotel, showering and then heading downtown to join the festivities.
Alas, it was not to be. To start this trip off back on March 23rd, I’d booked a one way Saver Award ticket from Fairbanks to Kansas City with a stopover in Seattle. The plan was to fly the SEA-MCI portion today. The problem was that it never became available for the Saver Award rate. As originally booked I’d reserved the SEA-MCI portion for some distant date in September, fully expecting a Saver Award seat to eventually become available for today. Both Expertflyer.com and Alaska’s seat maps indicated plenty of space available so I liked my chances.
Unfortunately, it never happened. Quite the opposite happened, in fact. The required mileage redemption to travel between Seattle and Kansas City today rose from 20,000 to 30,000 miles. Now I’ve got quite a lot of mileage built up in my Mileage Plan account but as with my bank account, I didn’t get to where I am today by spending frivolously. I put a lot of hard work into earning those miles and while I would have been willing to ante up an additional 7500 to fly today, I wasn’t willing to part with an additional 17500.
During my layover in San Francisco yesterday, as it became clear I wouldn’t be flying on Alaska’s nonstop today, I looked into alternate arrangements. With only one day advance notice I wasn’t expecting any eye popping deals and was even prepared to bag the KC trip if need be. Imagine then my surprise and delight to find a one way fare of just $142.00 still available between Seattle and Kansas City on Southwest Airlines. It routed via Dallas’ Love Field where I’d have an hour and a half layover before arriving Kansas City at 9:20pm. Book it, Danno!
To offset the cost of buying a ticket to Kansas City, I cancelled my hotel reservation there and instead chose to sleep in the airport tonight. This was an easy decision to make given my late arrival and the fact that I know of a little hideaway at MCI may just be the best place I’ve ever found to sleep in any airport, anywhere.
As for Southwest, this isn’t the first time they’ve come through for me on short notice and so I always feel good about giving them a bit of business. I mean, look at this fare! They not only deserve the business, but they earn it honestly. Their fare today is 40 bucks cheaper than the closest legacy carrier and they don’t screw around like Spirit or Allegiant with a bunch of annoying ancillary fees.
Aside from that, what can I say about a couple of flights on Southwest that most of us don’t already know or suspect? The boarding process was civil and organized, the planes were clean and reasonably comfortable, the service on par with what most airlines offer in coach these days and the arrivals on time. During my layover in Dallas I purchased a pretty good burrito and upon arrival in Kansas City set up camp without issue and slept well throughout the night.
May 02, 2015
Kansas City Barbecue Tour
Southwest Airlines Kansas City to Las Vegas 710p – 825p 737-800 Coach Class
Following information posted on the BBQ Do’s thread, I knew that everybody (about 10 people as I recall) would be starting the day by meeting at a place called Oklahoma Joe’s. With the exception of
violist who I met briefly during a train ride in Alaska a couple of years ago, I wasn’t acquainted with any of the people involved in this get together but I wasn’t overly concerned. I figured I’d just show up and hope somebody might even be wearing a FlyerTalk hat or T-shirt.
After picking up a rental car, I headed out to the restaurant located on West 47th Avenue in Kansas City,
Kansas. The plan was for everyone to meet there at about 10:45am. I got there a few minutes early and noted a sign that indicated the place didn’t open until 11. No biggie – I’ll just hang out.
As things turned out, a fair number of people (Don’t know which ones were FTers) started showing up early and so the doors opened at 10:45. Hmm… I waited a couple of minutes and then went in myself. Wow! It wasn’t yet the official opening time and yet there were already about 30 people in the restaurant and more on the way! The barbecue must be pretty good, here! I took my place in line, ordered a pulled pork sandwich, picked up a copy of the KC Star and took a seat at an empty table. Mind you, I’m not one to make a big scene and holler “Any Flyertalkers in here?!” so I had a seat and kept a watchful eye and an open ear. I didn’t see any sign of
violist and, after about 30 minutes I gave up my table and headed out.
With no set itinerary posted on the MCI BBQ thread, I had no idea where the group had headed off to and so was effectively on my own. No problem! While it would have been nice to have met everybody, I’ve always been able to adapt to changing circumstances while traveling and so made plans to pick up a Kansas City Chiefs T-Shirt for a friend back home before proceeding with my own tour of Kansas City barbecue joints.
My first stop was the Jack Stack restaurant at Country Club Plaza. Jack Stack is one of the big names in Kansas City barbecue and while I’m sure the city has numerous independent barbecue restaurants, as a newcomer to the KC scene I figured I’d stick with the big names today.
Needless to say I was full by the time I left Jack Stack’s. The barbecued chicken lunch was superb, by the way. With four hours until I had to board my flight to Las Vegas I had plenty of time to head across town to another Kansas City institution, Arthur Bryant’s over on Brooklyn Avenue. There was a fair sized line extending out the door and up the block but I parked, joined it and within an hour was on my way to the airport with a nicely wrapped burnt ends sandwich to enjoy later on the flight.
Upon arrival in Sin City, I picked up a rental car and sped off to visit friends in Springdale, Utah, just outside Zion National Park.
My Home in Zion National Park