The wife and I decided to visit the Mall of America and needed to get there. Here comes the trip report:

Saturday September 18, 2004
HP Flight #757
Aircraft 902 Boeing 757-200
Scheduled Departure: 0915
Actual Departure: 0912
Scheduled Arrival: 1414
Actual Arrival: 1342
Departure Gate: A14
Arrival Gate: C9
Seats: 2AB

The flight was booked at 138Y (176 cap) and 10F (14 cap). We had listed in First and there were 5 other people listed in F class. Approximately 15 minutes before departure, I approached the podiium to see if standby passengers had been cleared. The friendly gate agent gave us boarding passes with seats 22DE. I asked if First was still open and she said ther was only one seat and someone listed above us. With that, we conceded we would be flying coach (perfect to try Buy-On-Board! ). After we took our seats, another gate agent approached us in row 22, gave us two new boarding cards with 2AB, so up we went.
No time for a pre-departure beverage because they were ready to close and push by now. We left the gate a few minutes early and were airborne in less than 7 minutes.
About 15 minutes into the flight, the first class attendant came by taking beverage orders and asking what our lunch preference wold be. The two choices were cold pasta salad with chicken or cold pasta salad with shrimp. My wife had the chicken and I opted for the shrimp. I must tell you--this salad with shrimp was BETTER than ones I have had in San Francisco and even Boston. The shrimp were HUGE! I am so glad that the First Class meal service has improved so much. Another three rounds of beverages and we were on final in MSP--30 minutes early.
Off the plane, on the train, on another train, in our Alamo car (FF miles ) and off to the hotel and eventually the Mall of America. If you have never seen it, you wond believe it! It is amazing!!! After spending the night, we were back at MSP early this morning:

Sunday September 19, 2004
HP Flight #27
Aircraft 915 Boeing 757-200 (Nevada paint scheme)
Scheduled Departure: 0745
Actual Departure: 0740
Scheduled Arrival: 0917
Actual Arrival: 0903
Departure Gate: C16
Arrival Gate: A13
Seats: 2CD

On the return, we had a wait at Alamo to drop the car--only one employee who was very slow. I ended up leaving everything at the counter and telling them to mail me the receipt. Arrived at MSP at 0540 to drop car and didn;t get to checkin counter until 0620. I knew the flight was booked at 140Y and 4F so a First Class upgrade didn't seem to be too much of an issue. Sure enough, got to gate C16 and waited for them to release seats. At about 0720, seats were released and we were in fact in First Class. We took our seats and had the same flight crew we had on the way out. This was nice because they were GREAT! After a quick pre-departure beverage, we were airborne headed home. Breakfast consisted of granola, a full plate of fruit and a croissant with slices of cheddar cheese. The meal was great, yet lite for 745 in the morning. Coffee cup was never empty! It was also nice to see that the real glasses, coffee mugs and silverware (plastic knives) have returned to First Class ^ . The pre-departure beverage was served in a plastic cup for convenience.
Because of the remnants of tropical storm Javier, it was a bit bumpy for the last 30 minutes. Bumpy enough that the captain had the flight attendants prepare for landing about 30 minutes early, all in the name of safety.

In closing, even though I work for HP, I am still continually impressed with how things are done. We have flown other carriers (WN, B6, DL, UA, AA) and are not always impressed. I know things are not perfect at HP but we have come a LONG way under Doug Parker and there are better things to come.

I sum it up like this:
Mall of America $150.00
Dinner last night: $ 50.00
Parking at PHX $ 10.00
Two First Class tickets
to MSP on HP PRICELESS! ^

Thanks for reading...