THE FLIGHTS HOME


April 27, 2017
American Airlines Denver to Chicago 217p – 550p DC-9-80 Economy Class

My award ticket on Japan Airlines was routed TPE-NRT-ORD-SEA-FAI. Chicago was treated as a free stopover city and you’ll recall that after I arrived in Chicago, I then boarded the California Zephyr for the journey west. I now needed to get back to Chicago in order to resume my return flights home.

No problem! Not only did I manage to find a great one way fare but I also found myself a seat aboard a 30 year old MD-80. Now I realize that for any number of reasons many FlyerTalkers don’t like to fly aboard MD-80s. I’ve read any number of desultory comments about this aircraft – none of which have any relevance to my experiences with the airplane.

My first flight aboard an MD-80 came back in June of 1983 aboard a Hawaiian Air machine between Honolulu and Lihue. Back in those days many airlines still referred to the airplane as a DC-9-80. It was after all the latest stretched derivative of McDonnell Douglas’ successful DC-9 family of jetliners.

Following the 1979 crash of an American Airlines DC-10 in Chicago (Itself coming on the heels of two other DC-10 incidents/crashes that pointed to design flaws), the U.S. domestic DC-10 fleet was grounded. Questions were asked, investigations were launched and ultimately it was alleged that McDonnell Douglas had taken short cuts in the DC-10 design in an effort to enjoy the competitive edge gained from being able to get the DC-10 into service before Lockheed’s L-1011.

Of course, the mainstream media put the DC-10 story front and center. The result of all this was that a lot of negative publicity was generated towards not only the DC-10 but all McDonnell Douglas products. Just like that, the successful legacy of the “DC” brand evaporated. Some people refused to fly upon any plane that started with a “DC”.

At the same time, McDonnell Douglas was working hard towards generating orders for its new DC-9-80. All this negative publicity towards McDonnell Douglas in the aftermath of the DC-10 incidents was not helping sales at all. So – starting with the DC-9-80 and extending to all future commercial aircraft, the “DC” was replaced by “MD”. It’s worth noting that the Douglas Aircraft Corporation had become McDonnell-Douglas some years before the DC-10 entered service, but given the success of the “DC” brand with such stars as the DC-3, DC-6, DC-8 and DC-9, it was decided to stick with “DC” for the ten.

Had there not been any problems with the DC-10, the MD-80 would still be a DC-9-80 and the MD-11 would likely have been a DC-10-50.

In the 34 years since that first flight with Hawaiian Air, I’ve logged a further 342 flights aboard MD-80s on 15 airlines totaling 321,490 miles. I’ve always found the airplane to be reliable and – in most configurations – comfortable. This afternoon’s flight over to Chicago was no different. As an elite level flyer with American’s partner airline Alaska, I was able to secure a roomy Main Cabin Extra seat at no additional charge. As for inflight sustenance, I stopped by the Schlotzky’s Delicatessen on the A Concourse. I first discovered Schlotzky’s back in 1981 and, after a brief but intense love affair that saw me eating there every day for about two weeks, my ardor has since cooled to the point where now I eat there maybe four or five times a year – most of those coming whenever I have a flight departing from Denver’s A concourse.

Landing in Chicago was right on time and one hour later I was relaxing in a nice quiet room at the Super 8 O’Hare.


April 28, 2017
Alaska Airlines Chicago to Seattle 320p – 445p 737-900 First Class
Alaska Airlines Seattle to Fairbanks 735p – 1027p 737-400 First Class


It’s been exactly a month and a half since I soared into the late winter skies above Fairbanks and commenced this 60000 mile around the world odyssey. It’s amazing to me just how fast this trip has gone by. And - with the exception of my purloined wallet, it’s equally amazing just how smoothly everything has gone. And now here we are – down to the final two flights totaling 3,250 miles back home to Fairbanks.

I guess in some ways I should be happy to finally be returning home, and indeed I am looking forward to getting back because I’ve got plenty of chores to accomplish before reporting back to work at Denali National Park in a couple of days. At the same time I could just as easily hop on a plane to Europe this evening, make my way to Moscow and reboard the Trans-Mongolian for another seven day journey across Asia before continuing on to wherever in the style in which I’ve just done. This has been one fantastic trip and quite frankly – far from being exhausted or tired from all the travel – I’m energized and ready for more. I love this life on the road!

I also love my life and work in Denali National Park. Not many people are as fortunate as I to live and work in a place like I do – and get paid for it. It’ll be good to get back, see old friends and new and get back to work. So then – hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work I go!


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Alaska Airlines flights out of Chicago now depart from gate H8. This is a huge improvement from when Alaska operated out of the tired old L Concourse, mainly because H8 is conveniently located just a short walk from American’s Admirals Club located in the Y between the H & K Concourses.

Although the ORD Admirals Club is quite large and convoluted in its layout, it is an otherwise attractive and well-tended facility. Attendants do a marvelous job collecting empty plates and glasses, restocking soup and salads, cleaning the bathrooms. They are seemingly everywhere! I helped myself to a bowl of American’s ubiquitous Tomato Bisque and took a seat over in the Business Center where I spent the next hour catching up on emails I should have addressed or deleted weeks ago.

Come 2:45 I made my way down to H8. Being as I was seated in Row 1, I probably should’ve headed down a bit earlier to take advantage of the limited overhead space above that row. Still, when it comes to your basic everyday domestic flights around the U.S., I’ve generally always maximized my time in the lounge and been amongst the last to board regardless of class traveled. I just can’t bring myself to hustle and bustle my way onto the plane just to secure a better position for my cabin baggage – as much sense as it might otherwise make to do so. If my bag ends up a couple of rows behind me, I’m not at all bothered. The minor inconvenience of retrieving it after we land is much more acceptable to me than getting all stressed out while trying to be amongst the first to board.

Today my gambit had played out particularly well as the First Class flight attendant had managed to save the forward overhead compartment for those of us seated in the first row. I suspect most of this was accomplished by simply closing the lid. There is after all a small sticker on the outside indicating the compartment is reserved for passengers sat in row 1 – as if anybody takes the time to actually read it. No - I wouldn’t be surprised if my FA actually ran off a couple of lazy, no-good scoundrels from row 2 or worse – from Coach! She was pretty attentive.

Flight time to Seattle was just a couple minutes under four hours. Sitting in a chock·a·block full 737-900 that had yet to benefit from Alaska’s new more spacious First Class seating configuration, this was not particularly good news. By contrast, I remember back in the early 1970s when I flew a similarly timed departure between Chicago and Seattle aboard a lounge equipped 747 on United Airlines. Yeah, Baby! Bring on those head winds! Even in Coach, those widebodied flights of old were a joy to fly.

Hot towels and cocktails were efficiently dispensed with, followed by this afternoon’s dinner service. At least I thought it was supposed to be a dinner service. What we were served was a small plate of tri-colored cheese tortellini with an uninspired side salad. Mind you, this was a four hour dinner time departure on a route where Alaska competes with American and United and soon, Delta. It was so disappointing I couldn’t even bring myself to take a picture of it. I’ve had this meal before but on a much shorter flight – I think the mid-afternoon snack service on the 2 hour, 1020 mile flight between Seattle and Denver. Who knows, maybe the 3:20pm departure was downgraded to a snack service. Here’s a picture of the meal from my Denver flight earlier this year:



Alaska’s Tri-Colored Cheese Tortellini


In every other respect this was a very nice flight with excellent service from our flight attendant and some entertaining sports and travel chat with seatmate. In Seattle we landed to the south which resulted in like, a ten minute taxi to our gate on the D Concourse. We had to go all the way up and around the North Satellite before finally pulling into D2. I was thankful for the gate location though because a friend of mine from Alaska was flying up to Fairbanks on the same flight. Although I was unable to score him an upgrade into First Class, I figured the least I could do was guest him into the Alaska Lounge during our time in Seattle. From D2 I had only a short walk to meet him at the lounge entrance and soon we were enjoying cold beers and rehashing our travels over the past couple of weeks – or in my case – months.

Alaska 117 to Fairbanks was departing from C20, a five minute walk from the main terminal Alaska Lounge. Soon those C gates will be right outside Alaska’s new C Concourse lounge, currently slated to open on June 14th. The aircraft operating this evening’s flight was N713AS, a 737-400 that - with the exception of the combi aircraft - is quickly becoming a rare bird around Alaska’s system. Once the backbone of Alaska’s fleet with a total of forty aircraft operated, there are now just fourteen aircraft still bearing the smiling Eskimo on their tales. The rest have been returned to lessors and/or sold off to such diverse airlines as Turkey’s Tailwind, South Africa’s Safair or the U.S.’s Vision Airlines.

Tonight’s aircraft first flew back in June of 1999, making it eighteen years old – not especially old by airframe standards, but not new and modern either. Compared to the 737-900ERs that Alaska usually assigns to this flight, this -400 looked like a museum piece with old, undersized overhead luggage compartments and small, skimpily padded First Class seats that are easily the worst in the industry. Aside from that, this is a perfectly good airplane that just needs an interior refurbishment and perhaps a good C check before moving on to provide safe reliable transport for some second or third tier air carrier somewhere in the world.

My seatmate was particularly uncomfortable in the old seats – not so much because of their construction but rather because of their seat pitch. He was 6’ 8” tall. Fortunately he was still young and reasonably flexible but even so I didn’t envy him his inside window seat.

It was a beautiful evening for flying as we took off to the north and climbed away from the airport, speeding north over the Puget Sound and the peaks of Vancouver Island before cloud cover obscured the beautiful landmass below. Drink orders were taken and I requested a Woodford Reserve – on the rocks, please. Would you care for a double, Sir? Sure, why not? I declined Alaska’s offer of Biscoff Cookies (an odd accompaniment for a cocktail!) and instead pulled out my packet of Blue Diamond Smoked Almonds which I’d been saving just for this flight.

Tonight’s meal did not disappoint either. Although the flight attendant described it simply as Chicken and Wild Rice, I believe its correct title is Chicken Marsala. I’ve enjoyed this meal on a couple of occasions earlier this year and per my tastes it’s quite flavorful and filling.



Alaska’s Chicken Marsala


My friend was seated back in row 8 on the window, so after dinner I went back and paid him a quick visit. He works up on Alaska’s North Slope and most years earns enough mileage to attain MVP and occasionally even Gold status. I have tried many times to get him to do a mileage run or two to ensure Gold status for the next year but his mind doesn’t seem to accept my peculiar logic. He’s a pretty pragmatic guy who’s satisfied with the money he makes, the flights he flies and the service he receives – which includes more than a few upgrades. He patiently listens to my talk of benefits including what I consider the best one of all – the waiving of all change and refund fees – and then politely ignores me. It used to drive me crazy how anyone could come so close to improving the quality of their travel and benefits and then just let them slide away but hey – he’s happy with his lot and there you have it. I gave him the packaged lemon square dessert from my dinner and we agreed to meet for lunch the next day at the Taco King down on the Old Steese Hwy.

The skies had cleared somewhat by the time we commenced our gradual descent into Fairbanks. Despite the late hour, our northern latitudes still allowed for plenty of daylight – a source of much excitement to the couple seated across from me. Perhaps they were making their first trip north to Alaska. Either way, I couldn’t help but share in their excitement ~ albeit for different reasons. Spring has sprung here in the far north and with it the warmth of the midnight sun. Although we were still about three weeks away from true midnight sunlight in Fairbanks, the late night daylight at this time of year is impressive and is a sure sign that the excitement of another summer season is just around the corner.

Seatmate and I watched out our windows as the University of Alaska campus passed beneath us, followed by the Parks Highway and then Pike’s Landing and the Dale Road suburbs. We touched down smoothly, slowed down with an impressive deployment of reverse thrust and then taxied briskly to our gate.

As I walked up the jetway for the final time on this trip, I remember thinking that everyone should be so fortunate as I to have been able to embark upon a trip of this length and breadth. It was truly one of the best trips I’ve ever put together and one that may well set the bar for future excursions around the planet. Then again, there was that 2005 trip to South America, Canada and Australia… Or the Six Trains on Six Continents trip I did in 2010… Or the trip to Chile and South Africa that I took two years ago… Or the – Oh what the heck - they’ve all been fantastic journeys!

I am truly blessed to have been able to take these spectacular trips and especially grateful to all of you who’ve taken the time to endure my verbose narratives and rambling detours down memory lane to essentially ride along with me on this adventure. Given the overwhelming popularity of photo-reports and the relative ease and speed with which they’re enjoyed, I am doubly appreciative for the small but fervent readership I enjoy here at FlyerTalk. After all of the time you’ve invested in reports of the length I typically submit, the fact that any of you would still find time to sally forth with a kind comment or two about it all is a wonderful bonus.

So thank you all for riding along with me on this trip. I hope that if only vicariously you’ve still managed to have had as good a time as I have and – should any of you be so inspired to cobble together a similar trip of your own – please PM me if you decide to submit a trip report about it all. I’d love to read about it.

Thanks again, everyone!

Happy Contrails!