Kiwi Flyer

We boarded on time. I had managed to snag bulkhead seat, and thanks to my status boarded early (from reading FT I knew the US-based airlines you need to board early to ensure space to stow carry-ons near your seat unlike the asia, pacific and european airlines I am more used to).

The aircraft was a 757. Meal was a mediocre breakfast so I just had some water. Flight pushed back on time. There was total cloud cover most of the way - until about half an hour or so out from Dallas - but we were above the clouds most of the time and so of course I noticed lots of contrails glistening in the sun. We landed pretty much on time and had a long taxi towards the terminal but instead parked up at a remote stand while we waited for our gate to clear. The pilot announced a 5 minute delay. We waited some more. Then another 5 minutes, and another. Eventually about an hour after touchdown we pulled into the gate.

So my nice easy connection with enough time for a lounge visit had turned into a mad dash to the next flight - of course it had to be departing from the diagonally opposite terminal. I had made good use of the time spent waiting by looking up the map in the American Way magazine (having never previously visited DFW) so had some idea where to go and I ran and ran and ran. I was surprised given how many connecting passengers there were (many onward gates announced by the FA) that there was no one at the gate to assist those with tight or missed connections.

By the time I got to the gate for the flight to Fresno boarding had not long ago started so I hopped straight on - to another bulkhead seat on the MD80(?). Once doors closed there was a delay as some bags needed to be offloaded. Apparently they were hard to find as this took quite a long time. A light lunch was served. I cant recall it exactly so not memorable. We had great views of the southwestern plains before clouds again (and some turbulence) over the mountains. Fortuitously there was a clearance over Yosemite so nice views on descent before going back into the murk closer to Fresno. With our late departure and strong headwinds we arrived around the time the next flight was due to leave, so I hoped not having checked in wouldnt cause any issues. I quickly deplaned and went straight to the desk to collect my 2 return BPs - not a problem ^ Another mileage runner (FTer?) had passed through the day before so the GA was not in the least fazed by my turnaround. A couple of pax hoping to upgrade groaned however as I collected my BPs. This had been done so quickly that the aircraft was still being emptied of passengers from DFW-FAT. So I had time to wander around the small terminal. There is very little there - a placque announcing a fairly recent expansion, and several odd bronze disks in the floor. I'm not sure what they're for - perhaps for future concessionary stands?