Background
Starting in May I had my whole summer planned out. On April 29th I flew to Ontario, CA to be with a girl who I’d dated a year previously. Things hadn’t gone well and she’d returned to her home in Hemet, CA, but the spark had remained so we’d gotten back together after one of the best days of my life. Then, in late May, I returned to California and the weekend went like those oft played videos of early aviators crashing their attempts at aircraft. With the relationship having been somewhere between being as bad as Independence Air’s business plan and the condition of a plane after a fourteen hour flight, I decided to rejuvenate myself the only way I knew how. That’s how I came up with the four trips in four weeks plan. The first weekend would be spent in Atlanta seeing two baseball games with my father, brother William and my father’s best friend. The second weekend would be up in Northern California with my friend and world trip veteran Josh. The third weekend would be a homecoming to Durham, NC to see the rest of my family and the final weekend would be a homecoming to my hometown of Rye, NY during which I’d stay with my good friend Nick who works with jetBlue. Here’s the break down:

Weekend One:
+ June 15: F9 PHX-DEN
+ June 16: AA DEN-STL-ATL
+ June 18: AA ATL-DFW-DEN, UA DEN-PHX

Weekend Two:
+ June 23: HP PHX-LAS-SNA, AA SNA-SJC
+ June 25: AA SJC-SNA
+ June 26: HP SNA-PHX

Weekend Three:
+ June 30: HP PHX-LAS
+ July 1: AA LAS-DFW-RDU
+ July 4: AA RDU-ORD-LAS, HP LAS-PHX

Weekend Four:
+ July 7: HP PHX-SAN, AA SAN-JFK
+ July 10: AA EWR-BOS-DFW-PHX

The four week extravaganza would feature horrible weather and mechanical delays, some of the worst turbulence I’ve ever seen, amusing seat mates and a mad run from gate L4 to H18 at O’Hare. On the Non-aviation side, I’d see some great baseball games, rekindle friendships with some of the best men I know and eat some great meals. So were the best four travel weeks of my life.

Pictures are here:
Atlanta: [http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cmk102...=15a8&.src=ph]
Northern California: [http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cmk102...cbscd&.src=ph]
Las Vegas and Durham: [http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cmk102...d3scd&.src=ph]
New York and Connecticut: [http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cmk102...1escd&.src=ph]

Trip 1: Baseball and Bonding in Hotlanta

Trip Background: When my father had told me he had Red Sox/Braves tickets for June and I was invited, I would have literally jumped at the idea, but I was driving my car and I figured jumping was a bad idea. Annoyingly, fares were uncharacteristically high with AA, HP, US, UA, F9 and DL showing flights in the $600 range from Phoenix. However, by combining F9, AA and UA with an overnight in Denver, I knocked $100 off the fare and ended up with a more fun jaunt, that is if you’re off your rocker as I am and you think fun is defined as “as many flights as possible.”

Preflight
THURSDAY JUNE 15, 2006
Frontier Flight 864
PHX-DEN
Scheduled Departure: 6:05 PM
Scheduled Boarding: 5:35 PM

The week had been a depressing one as I’d been working at a worldwide company which did event planning for college Deans and the company’s tenure at ASU was coming to an end. After four months, the office I often ran had been besieged by those who were replacing me and the others who worked for my company and I’d been in charge of packing and throwing away papers that since February had been important. Thankfully, at 4 PM a large blue Supershuttle rolled up at the Community Services Building and I was headed off to the airport with the list of things to do on Monday safely locked up in the office.

This was my first time flying Frontier and as I have no status with them, I had printed my boarding pass online and so my time landside at PHX was limited to vaulting the escalator and heading through security. Being a perennial American flyer, I’m used to the other pier in Terminal 3 so I pulled out my Sherlock Holmes hat and magnifying glass to study this foreign concourse. I noted the Wendy’s and old Delta logos as well as poor gate areas for Frontier and lack of lighting between gates while muttering phrases like “naturally” and “elementary my dear Watson” to myself. Detectiving aside, I still had 45 minutes until my flight, so I happily dropped $25 to access the Crown Room for the day. I’m trying to see each PHX Lounge and this one is one of my favorites so far. The agent on duty was very friendly and the lounge was large with good lighting, lots of seating, and a $300 Nike Putter I could test my skills with on the miniature green. However, after three-quarters of an hour sinking amazing eight foot putts, I headed down to the gate to board:

Flying
Gate 20
Seat 15A – Main Cabin
N802FR – A-318 – (Stag)
Actual Boarding: 5:40 PM
Actual Departure: 6:05 PM – On Time
Take off 14 minutes after departure

I sat down on my first ever A-318 and if someone put a gun to my head I’d be hard pressed to say how the aircraft felt different from an A-319. That aside, Frontier gives the passengers a free preview of the DirecTV services while on the ground and I idly flipped through the channels until I discovered a baseball game on ESPN. As it was in the early innings, I happily paid the $5 for the service as soon as our full flight lifted off from Phoenix. After some issues swiping my credit card, I settled back to listen to Joe Morgan narrate the epic battle between the hated Boston Red Sox and the no comment Minnesota Twins.

The flight was enjoyable enough as the crew was very friendly and hot chocolate, a Charles Kunz favorite, was available, though any form of food was not. After an hour and fifteen minutes, we were told that because of high winds in the Denver area, we had to enter a holding pattern which meant we spent forty minutes making slow doughnuts over southwestern Colorado. However, I wasn’t really bothered as I was happily watching David Ortiz not come through for once as we made lazy circles. Eventually, we were cleared to land and I watched our little icon on the moving map head towards Denver until we were parked at the airport. My first Frontier flight was over and enjoyable as it was, I think I’ll stick to Ted as at least with them, my miles go into an account that I can use for better things.
Scheduled Arrival: 8:50 PM
Actual Arrival: 9:17 PM
Gate: A33

June 15-16, 2006 – Aurora, CO
After a salty snack at McDonalds, I headed out through security and boarded an off site parking lot bus which doubled as the shuttle for the Comfort Inn. The ride to the hotel was a ten mile affair through barren fields until I’d reached my lodging, by far the longest ride I’ve ever had to an airport hotel. The hotel turned out to be a rather nice affair with a comfortable enough room (not defying the stereotype it’s name implied in any way) in which I was very happy for the eight hours I stayed at the hotel. After three hours of sleep, I was in the lobby at 4:30 AM and I packed myself into the mostly full shuttle bus to get back to the airport. This hotel was $70 with the Hampton Inn being $110 and while I lost out on some HHonors points, I think the $40 I saved beats a few points.

Preflight
FRIDAY JUNE 16, 2006
American Connection (Trans States) Flight 5336
DEN-STL
Scheduled Departure: 6:00 AM
Scheduled Boarding: 5:30 AM

Despite feeling like I’d been thrown off a moving train and having eaten nothing that morning, I managed to impress the check-in agent by pointing out that the last time I used AA at Denver (2002) the check in desks had been elsewhere. With boarding passes in hand and yet another woman wowed by my amazing charm, I waltzed through security and rode the monorail to the empty C Concourse. Once there, I picked up another fatty treat at McDonalds which I smuggled into the Admirals Club and ate quickly while casting furtive glances around to make sure the agent hadn’t shown up. With calories safely inside me, I headed down into the concourse where I waved to the PSA heritage A-319 before boarding:

Flying
Gate C35
Seat 12A – Main Cabin – Exit Row
N818HK – ERJ-145
Actual Boarding: 5:30 AM
Actual Departure: 6:03 AM – 3 Minutes Delayed
Take off 8 minutes after departure

I had previously flown Trans States once, three years ago, and somehow I managed to end up on the exact same aircraft. With that coincidence playing over in my head, our mostly full flight taxied off and took off towards the rising sun. Two minutes after takeoff, I fell asleep where I remained until landing in St. Louis. Now that’s what I call a successful ERJ flight, being so comatose you don’t have time to complain you weren’t able to upgrade a two hour plus flight.
Scheduled Arrival: 9:10 AM
Actual Arrival: 9:05 AM
Gate: C21

Preflight/Transit
American Connection (Chautauqua) Flight 5376
STL-ATL
Scheduled Departure: 10:58 AM
Scheduled Boarding: 10:28 AM

Frankly, I don’t think a man should connect at STL without having a few belts of alcohol in him. Sadly, the previous flight hadn’t contained any and I was too asleep to have even drank any. Therefore, I walked past aging gate areas, manually fed departure boards, poor concessions and low ceilings while completely sober. Thankfully, I was able to escape to the one part of STL that I rather like, the well appointed Admirals Club. Once there, I munched on a cookie and drank some much needed juice and soda. After sufficient time to read my second newspaper of the day and watch the scant AA operations on this mid-morning, I headed back into the concourse to find chaos at my gate. AA was training new agents this morning and my flight had six trainees and one supervisor working it. Sadly, they weren’t trained too well yet as I had to instruct the agent how to acknowledge I was ok for the exit row. Following that, they forgot to bring the gate check tags down to the bottom of the Jetway so I and a fellow Plat had to shout back to the gate “Hey! You forgot the tags!” After accepting an apology I boarded:

Flying
Gate C9
Seat 11A – Main Cabin – Exit Row
N379SK – ERJ-140
Actual Boarding: 10:35 AM
Actual Departure: 10:50 AM – 8 Minutes Early
Take off 8 minutes after departure

This flight was not one a terrorist would want to try and take control of. Of the 44 passengers, ten were uniformed Army personnel, all of which could have thrown me across the state of Rhode Island without breaking a sweat. They made for a colorful bunch as the one in 10B kept up a banter with a member of the St. Louis Rams front office in 10A that was interesting to the casual observer in me. After a brisk taxi, during which the flight attendant made everyone hold up their safety cards saying “we will not take off until I make sure everyone has one”, we took off for the skies.

Despite me actually being conscious on this flight, it was again easy as I enjoyed a can of Dr. Pepper and kept up with the latest aviation news through the clippings my father sends me. A run through of AC/DC’s The Razor’s Edge album on my CD player capped off the flight as who doesn’t want to rock out to “Moneytalks” while at 33,000 feet? The connect answer is “no one”. Of course, all good things must come to an end and 43 other people and myself were soon deposited in a very peachy state.
Scheduled Arrival: 1:33 PM
Actual Arrival: 1:18 PM
Gate: T9

June 16-18, 2006 – Atlanta, GA
When I had informed my father of my routing, he had scoffed at me and told me I was going to be delayed causing me to ruin the entire trip for everyone involved and why couldn’t I take a single flight like most sane people? Therefore, it was with a small amount of glee that I replayed the voicemail he left on my phone saying his nonstop flight from Raleigh-Durham was delayed three hours due to the slide pack being knocked off its mount. To make a long story short, DL mechanics at RDU had rushed to a local Home Depot and had bought Duco cement with which they reattached the slide pack. Therefore, my father arrived a mere two and a half hours late during which I explored the E Concourse and managed to gain access to the LH Lounge by showing my Red Carpet Club card and telling my tale of woe to the lounge attendant. That night we watched my Dad’s Bo Sox confound the Braves in a 4-1 victory before I settled into well deserved sleep in the Atlanta suburbs.

The next day featured breakfast at Steve’s well appointed house (it was like being in an Ethan Allen catalog and I was terrified to touch anything lest I break it and have to write a $400 check) followed by a slow crawl through traffic on I-85 into Atlanta. My Father was once again gleeful as his cursed Red Sox took another game from the hapless Braves, this time 5-2. Thankfully, I have hated the Braves as that whole chop thing has always irked me. After the game, Steve and his lovely wife took my Father out for an expensive meal while William and I manned the fort eating Papa Johns Delivery and watching movies. After they arrived back home, we all agreed it had been a lovely weekend and we prepared for our last night in Jaw-juh.

Preflight
SUNDAY JUNE 18, 2006
American Flight 1381
ATL-DFW
Scheduled Departure: 1:05 PM
Scheduled Boarding: 12:35 PM

In one of my dumber moments, I had let my mind forget that my Dad enjoys getting back home as soon as he can and so I’d said “hey Charles, let’s book ourselves an early afternoon flight so no one has to get up early to drop you off at the airport.” Then my Dad informed me his flight left at 8:45 and there would be only one trip to the airport and I began to kick myself. Still, I figured with my status I could attempt to do some standing by. Once at the airport, my Dad headed off to get his DL boarding passes while I went to AA to see about getting onto an earlier flight. I was told there were nine empty seats but if I paid them $25 I could get a window seat at that very second. I chose to take my chances and I collected my boarding pass for the 1:05 PM flight and a Priority Verification Card for the 10:00 AM flight.

After waiting with my Dad and William for their empty flight to board, a couple of hands were shook and I walked back to the horrid monorail which whisked me back to the T Concourse. A little aside here, I really hate the Atlanta Airport. The concourses have low ceilings and crowded gate areas, decent places to eat are hard to find, the monorail is old and reminds me of the now deceased TrAAin in Dallas and the T Concourse looks like what they show before the first commercial break on “Extreme Makeover Home Edition”. The ceiling panels are no more and everyone gets a nice view of exposed duct work and wires. Still, I had shiny cards in my wallet to get me into two sanctuaries. First I visited the Admirals Club where I was told I should make the earlier flight without breaking a sweat. Next I went to the Red Carpet Club where I enjoyed breakfast consisting of an awful packaged bagel, some yoghurt and a granola bar. This still beat the AC where I’d only had a granola bar and a muffin. After sitting in the fifty seat lounge which didn’t even feature a bar, I went back to the gate and was given a window seat for:

Flying
American Flight 1657 – Scheduled Board: 9:30 AM – Scheduled Departure: 10:00 AM
Gate T10
Seat 16F – Main Cabin
Ex-TWA MD-83 – N951TW
Actual Boarding: 9:44 AM
Actual Departure: 10:06 AM – 6 Minutes Delayed
Take off 7 minutes after departure

Despite all MD-80’s still featuring the defunct More Room Throughout Coach in front of the exit row, this ex-TWA machine had seat pockets which jutted out sufficiently into my legroom and scraped my knees. To try and stem the tide of negativity against Atlanta I will admit that I was impressed by the quick boarding process and quick taxi time before we took off to head west. Now three years ago when I thought flying was two steps more enjoyable than sex, I would have stayed awake the whole flight savoring every bite of my bistro bag and refusing to sleep until I was dead or not on an airplane. But this is 2006 and I am a jaded, hardened individual so I happily nodded off until two minutes before landing. After a picturesque view of downtown Dallas, I back at DFW for my first time since May, definitely too long of an absence.
Scheduled Arrival: 11:21 AM
Actual Arrival: 11:20 AM
Gate: A26

Preflight/Transit
American Flight 2154
DFW-DEN
Scheduled Departure: 3:25 PM
Scheduled Boarding: 2:55 PM

Having nothing to do and all day to do it, I walked at my slowest pace to the Concourse A Admirals Club. Once there, I did my best to convince the agent to rebook me DFW-LAX-DEN as I had so much time, but as I was on an N for uNbeliveably Cheap Fare ticket, the agent told me to get my head out of the clouds. Therefore, I settled for a shower in the amazing shower facility and a new seat in the bulkhead of the 738. After plenty of time lolling around the lounge, I took a walk over to the D Concourse where I treated myself to some overpriced, yet very tasty BBQ. Following that, I headed into the D Concourse Admirals Club because apparently Denver is located in another country and therefore, flights to it must leave from the International Terminal. After an hour or so of laughing at my hilarious lampooning of the International Terminal for hosting flights to Denver, Greensboro and Orange County, I headed to the gate to find my flight would now be twenty minutes delayed. As I had three hours of wandering around in Denver to look forward to, I couldn’t even pretend to care. Eventually, the aircraft was serviced properly and I boarded:

Flying
Gate D16
Seat 7F – Main Cabin
N921AN – 737-800
Actual Boarding: 3:23 PM
Actual Departure: 3:44 PM – 19 Minutes Delayed
Take off 11 minutes after departure

Perhaps it was because of the tight confines of the MD-83, but I think Seatguru is absolutely wrong for saying the bulkhead of the 738 would have restricted legroom. I was very happy in 7F and I remained thrilled with my additional legroom as we taxied out after a very quick boarding and headed west towards Denver. As the 738 is my favorite AA narrow-bodied aircraft, I was ready to enjoy what I hoped would be a fun flight. Luckily, it was as beverages and pretzels were distributed with smiles and extra pretzels were offered to those who craved salty goodness. Meanwhile, I happily read my futuristic Naval thriller while using Classic Rock via my earphones to block out the chatter from my 12 year old seatmate and his father. After an easy descent into the mile high city[‘s very inconveniently located airport], my time on this beautiful next generation jet was over.
Scheduled Arrival: 4:23 PM
Actual Arrival: 4:35 PM
Gate: D39

Preflight/Transit
United for Ted Flight 1455
DEN-PHX
Scheduled Departure: 7:31 PM
Scheduled Boarding: 7:01 PM

The trend from this trip of long connections would continue as I found myself with 2 ½ hours on my hand before scheduled boarding. My first stop was the Admirals Club where I watched ASU and New York’s beloved Phil Mickleson blow up on the 18th hole of the U.S. Open. Feeling sufficiently saddened, I rode the tram over to Concourse B where I sat in the East Red Carpet Club for a while before eating my third McDonalds meal in four days. Once again filled with salty foods, I parked myself at the West Red Carpet Club where things began to deteriorate. I was sitting by the window and I noticed the sun was still in the sky, but it was pouring rain and it was being blown against the window at a frightening pace. I also noticed takeoffs and landings had ceased and I began to become worried.

After another tram ride, I found myself at the gate where bad news was confirmed. Microbursts had occurred at the Denver Airport and the FAA had ceased landings. Therefore, several inbound aircraft, including mine, had been forced to divert to Colorado Springs and they were idling there awaiting fuel and clearance to continue to Denver. This turned into a 90 minute ordeal before our aircraft was allowed to resume its path to Denver. Still, the gate agents handled the situation very well offering attempts at rebooking and plenty of reassurances and information. Once we finally got our aircraft, arriving passengers from Midway trooped off and then we boarded in as fast a fashion as possible:

Flying
Gate A48
Seat 11A – Economy Plus – Exit Row
N469UA – A-320
Actual Boarding: 9:35 PM
Actual Departure: 10:00 PM – 2 Hours 29 Minutes Delayed
Take off 7 minutes after departure

With boarding quickly accomplished on this nearly full flight, I was finally able to tune into Channel 9 as I was on my first IFE equipped United flight since February. After takeoff, I mused that this was my longest delayed flight since I started keeping records 4 years ago, but at least I’d used up the rest of my bad luck for the year (or so I hoped). The flight was not as enjoyable as the Frontier leg up as Ted Vision can’t quite compete with DirecTV and while I used drink coupons to buy me and my row alcohol (gotta spread the cheer), the flight attendants were rude and when I offered drink coupons instead of $15, I was greeted with an exasperated sigh, a wonderful way to treat an elite member. Finally, after an hour and twenty minutes of reading and enjoying my ample legroom, we touched down in Phoenix and I was allowed to not be at airports for a whopping four days.
Scheduled Arrival: 8:23 PM
Actual Arrival: 10:37 PM
Gate: 5

Trip 2: Northern California Where Giants Roam

Trip Background: Back in May I’d been scheduled to fly PHX-DFW-MIA-RSW on a Friday and RSW-CLT-RDU on a Saturday. Sadly, I misconnected in Miami because of a maintenance delay and I’d had to cancel the US portion. Therefore, when I found fares from PHX-SFO/SJC/OAK were in the $300 range, I used the residual ticket credit on HP to SNA and I got a $160 AA roundtrip to SJC, saving me some serious cash. This would be the first time Josh and I had hung out since we took an eleven day sojourn from California to London to Rome to Brazil to Mexico and back to California. While this trip wouldn’t quite match that one, this one would feature a Giants/A’s game, clam chowder and Josh’s bizarre family.

Preflight
FRIDAY JUNE 23, 2006
America West Flight 710
PHX-LAS
Scheduled Departure: 3:10 PM
Scheduled Boarding: 2:40 PM

After sitting through yet another agonizing Romanticism Studies class, I piloted my car from the confines of Lot 59 at ASU to the bright terminal 2 parking garage at PHX. After a short bus ride, I’d arrived at Terminal 4 where I picked up a pair of boarding passes. Once through security, I ducked into the cool confines of the Low A USAirways Club where I was greeted by one of the very friendly agents who informed me that sadly, First Class to Las Vegas had checked in full and I’d been denied my first upgrade of the year. After drowning my sorrows in Diet Coke and trying not to cry, I headed down to the gate to board the very full Airbus to Las Vegas:

Flying
Gate A12
Seat 10F – Main Cabin – Exit Row
N818AW – A319 (New Colors)
Actual Boarding: 2:38 PM
Actual Departure: 3:29 PM – 19 Minutes Delayed
Take off 7 minutes after departure

I cast a longing look at the large First Class seats as I shuffled with my head down to my first America West mainline economy flight of the year. Sad as this was, there was a silver lining as because I had 10F on the A-319, I had no seat in front of me and I had more legroom than any person in First Class which was the crutch I needed. As had been promised at the gate, the flight boarded “completely full”, so full in fact that there was so much baggage, we became delayed as they loaded the last few bags. Eventually, we taxied out past a former Song 757 going to Atlanta before a standard takeoff to the west.

One thing America West is quite good at is serving full beverage services on full flights. Today they had completed 98% of the cabin with only three seats remaining not served before we hit turbulence and the plane took a huge dip that seemed to last for minutes. With that, the beverage cart was put away, and those in 10D E and F were left clutching napkins with no beverages to go along with them…just my luck. The remaining twenty minutes of the flight were some of the most turbulent I have ever sat through as we bounced around like a dice in a box until the pilot slammed our airbus back onto land (land I was tempted to kiss) and we were allowed to roam Sin City.
Scheduled Arrival: 4:18 PM
Actual Arrival: 4:36 PM
Gate: B24

Preflight/Transit
America West Flight 130
LAS-SNA
Scheduled Departure: 5:20 PM
Scheduled Boarding: 4:50 PM

My connection time had been cut down to very little, so after losing one dollar in a slot machine and being told that no, they didn’t need volunteers, I was allowed to reboard the exact plane I’d just stepped off of:

Flying
Gate B24
Seat 2D – First Class
N818AW – A319 (New Colors)
Actual Boarding: 4:52 PM
Actual Departure: 5:25 PM – 5 Minutes Delayed
Take off 11 minutes after departure

Finally I was back where I belonged, the front cabin of an America West short haul flight. Once again I was able to lovingly sip at a cold orange juice while watching the teaming masses shuffle back to economy and I could blissfully pretend that I was not one of them! All kidding aside, I was just happy this upgrade had cleared as this was another completely full flight. My massive amount of flying (62 year to date flights) was put into perspective by the passenger next to me who shared with me how he routinely flew 120-125 America West flights a year, and the only possible routing home for him today had been OAK-PHX-LAS-SNA, I informed him he was my hero and I begged him to make me his apprentice.

Once airborne, this became another barely worth mentioning flight as the pilot decided it would be too bumpy for beverage carts so only First Class received a beverage. My Cran-Apple and Vodka was washed down well with the snack mix and me and my seat mate played a drinking game where each time one of us got a Cranium question wrong, we had to take a sip of our drink. He beat the pants off me and luckily this wasn’t a longer flight or they’d have had to cut us off. As empty glasses were collected, I noted how smoggy the air was today, though we deftly cut through it and I was back in Southern California since my ill-fated trip a month prior to this landing.
Scheduled Arrival: 6:24 PM
Actual Arrival: 6:21 PM
Gate: 7

Preflight/Transit
American Eagle Flight 3194
SNA-SJC
Scheduled Departure: 7:30 PM
Scheduled Boarding: 7:00 PM

After making the short walk to the Admirals Club, I found myself presented with a unique predicament, there was no one manning the desk. I and a fellow traveler had to stand waiting for five minutes while the phone rang endlessly until the lone agent returned from letting the dishwasher repairman through security. She arrived just as me and the other traveler had been about to implement our plot to take over the Club, perhaps next time. Once checked in and being given a boarding pass, I requisitioned some McDonalds which I greedily ate before making the long walk down to the shack that handles Eagle gates. To reach said shack you must go outside into the elements, down a flight of stairs and then up a ramp into what is basically a doublewide trailer. However, it still got me onto:

Flying
Gate 14B
Seat 11C – Main Cabin – Exit Row
N851AE – ERJ-140
Actual Boarding: 7:00 PM
Actual Departure: 7:28 PM – 2 Minutes Delayed
Take off 7 minutes after departure

This was my first time sitting in the two-side exit row with someone next to me and it was really cramped. This is despite the fact that neither me nor my seatmate contained much girth, but you still couldn’t slide a ruler between us. Luckily, he was a genial sort who was bursting to tell anyone who would listen how he’d scored World Cup tickets for the next week to watch his beloved Germany play at Dortmund. I played nice man and gave him the sports section to my Arizona Republic which he gleefully accepted. The trip continued to be rather routine as I did the crossword puzzle in the paper during this one hour flight while sipping on the Cran Apple I’d been presented with. On this flight, in addition to the snack box, $2 packs of Cashews were sold and tempted as I was, I do retain both dignity and a memory of when Eagle gave out free snack mix so I passed. Even without snack mix inside me, I was able to enjoy the picturesque descent over downtown San Jose before we were docked in Silicon Valley.
Scheduled Arrival: 8:40 PM
Actual Arrival: 8:38 PM
Gate: A14

June 23-25, San Jose/San Francisco, CA
Josh was waiting for me at the exit to security with a plastic cup marked “Donations for Varig Airlines” in which he’d put a penny he’d found on the ground. We had a hearty laugh at this and bemused how the carrier we’d taken a mere five months before was in danger of disappearing forever. After a stop at Coldstone, we’d arrived back at Casa de Cohn where I set up camp and bonded with his family before we bedded down for the night.

On Saturday I leaped out of my pullout couch in an amazing mood. I was headed to one of my favorite places on earth, AT&T (nee Pac Bell, nee SBC) Park to watch my beloved Giants do battle with the cursed and hated Oakland Athletics. I quickly donned my Giants jersey with my name on the back and 2002 World Series patch and we piled into Josh’s father’s car for the ride to the Mountain View Caltrain Stop. After an hour ride, we were deposited at the Fourth Street and King Station for the quick walk with a massive wave of people to the park. Once there, I purchased a new Giants hat and we headed inside. Prior to the game, I downed a delicious clam chowder in a bread bowl (the best chowder is here in San Fran, not Massachusetts!) and then began to enjoy the game.

Of all Giants games I’ve been to (and I’ve seen them play in seven parks) this was the best. On a 3-0 pitch in the bottom of the first, Barry Bonds drove a home run deep to center causing the place to shake with fans (including me) jumping up and down. Sadly, this appeared to be the highlight of the day as coming into the 9th inning, those putrid A’s were winning 7-5. However, the first two runners reached and Ray Durham, who was batting 0 for 4 with four left on base (he’d ended four different innings) drove a 3 run home run to right to win the game. Flushed with adrenaline, we walked for miles down the Embarcadero and up into Chinatown before ending up back by the game and having a meal of Thai Food. With that coursing through our veins, we headed back on the train to the suburbs and crashed Josh’s younger brother’s graduation party. Once that was done, we dropped off to sleep.

The next day could not possibly be as good as the one before it, but we were able to get “I Was There: Bonds HR” pins by showing our tickets at a Giants team store. With those in our possession, we went to the Winchester Mystery House which was a really fun time before having a last dinner with the Cohn Clan. After I made all my goodbyes and gave some words of advice to Bryan Cohn who’s heading to college in the fall. After a short trip down I-880, Josh had me back at the airport for my late night flight to Santa Ana. I’d volunteered to fly out Sunday night and stay the night in So-Cal so Josh wouldn’t have to take me to the airport too early before he went to work, what a benevolent guy I am.

Preflight
SUNDAY JUNE 25, 2006
American Eagle Flight 3197
SJC-SNA
Scheduled Departure: 9:02 PM
Scheduled Boarding: 8:32 PM

Once through security, I walked past the packed Southwest gates to the quieter and emptier American pier. As AA has given SJC the old slice and dice, there are no more red eyes so all that was left were two Eagle flights to the south. Therefore, I had the entire Admirals Club to myself where I had a nice conversation with the proprietor of that Club before I headed down to the gate. As I sat waiting to board, I enjoyed watching the sun set before we were called to board:

Flying
Gate A16
Seat 11A – Main Cabin – Exit Row
N813AE – ERJ-140
Actual Boarding: 8:38 PM
Actual Departure: 9:12 PM – 10 Minutes Delayed
Take off 10 minutes after departure

We boarded past a smiling flight attendant who greeted everyone and who had also set up a display showing the snack box for purchase as well as the alcohol selection on today’s flight. I had never seen anything like this and it left me very impressed very early. As we sat waiting to depart, Magdalena the amazing FA, came and chatted genially with each passenger and informed us in the exit row “aren’t you lucky this isn’t Northwest or you’d have to pay $15 to sit here”. I did inform her that if we were elites we could have the seat on NW for free, but she still seemed to have enjoyed her cutting remark. Our flight ended up delayed slightly due to passengers who chose to be rebooked from the delayed LAX flight which caused us to fill up, but as I had no plans for my Santa Ana night, I didn’t mind.

Again this would be a routine flight, but because Magdalena was such a competent FA, everyone received as many beverages as they wanted, all of which were dispensed with smiles and conversation if someone desired it. I chose instead to read my book and listen to my AC/DC CD, but I still appreciated the effort she gave, it sure beats most of the FAs I encounter who seem to only care about getting their job done as fast as possible. Soon we began our descent into the plethora of lights that marked the sprawl of Southern California and after a lengthy taxi across the SNA ramp, we were docked among the jumble of other overnighting aircraft.
Scheduled Arrival: 10:19 PM
Actual Arrival: 10:34 PM
Gate: 14A

June 25-26 – Santa Ana, CA
After walking through the mostly deserted concourse, I headed out and boarded the minivan doubling as the shuttle bus to the Comfort Suites SNA. This hotel was a bit of a comedown from Comfort Inn I’d enjoyed in Colorado as a “suite” seemed defined by a couch with a waist high wooden divider next to the bed. The room was barely bigger than a normal hotel room and the loud guests most of which who seemed to walk around barely clothed and the mildew in the bathroom left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Still, I only spent $70 and the Hampton Inn was again $40 more, so I stole some pens and soap and called it a night. The next day I enjoyed the bagels, juice and cereal that was offered for breakfast and I grabbed the 8 AM shuttle back to the airport.

Preflight
MONDAY JUNE 26, 2006
America West Flight 650
SNA-PHX
Scheduled Departure: 9:35 AM
Scheduled Boarding: 9:05 AM

Once back at the airport, I entered into a very confused check-in area. It seemed my flight was delayed, though the actual departure time was not yet known, and as most passengers were connecting onward, there was a hubbub of activity trying to help people. I was wondering if I had any chance at my upgrade which hadn’t cleared yet, but I elected to leave the harried agents to their task and I went through security without asking any questions. Once past the usual security checks, I headed to the Red Carpet Club which, although filled with more harried travelers trying to get help on their connections as the United flights were also delayed, did have a good breakfast spread. After forty minutes, I headed back to the gate and was told the aircraft was now going to arrive in another half hour and we’d have a scheduled departure of 11 AM.

With that in mind, I chose to go to the Admirals Club which, in addition to having internet access through their computer, also was emptier and quieter. After killing the half hour there I went to the gate and was told that my upgrade had not cleared but two seats were left, I asked for assurances from the gate agent to come get me in my exit row seat if the upgrade did in fact clear. After being promised this, I boarded:

Flying
Gate 7
Seat 10A – Main Cabin – Exit Row / 3D – First Class
N903AW – 757-200 (Old Colors)
Actual Boarding: 10:38 AM
Actual Departure: 1:23 PM – 3 Hours 48 Minutes Delayed
Take off 5 minutes after departure

Originally, this plane boarded to around 95% capacity as at first, very few connections hadn’t been protected. However, right when we were about to depart, the Captain informed us that all the brake fluid had been drained from one of the brakes and maintenance was now going to take a look at it. With that, the exodus began as half the plane emptied out as all connections that weren’t after 3 became in serious jeopardy. While the pilots were rather unhelpful during this delay with an update every forty-five minutes or so saying “twenty more minutes”, the cabin attendants were amazing. They reassured everyone who needed it and dispensed water and other drinks. Sadly, for many people, like those going to Baltimore who were now offered Dulles as an alternative, the news was rather grim.

After forty minutes in 10A with no sign of the gate agent, I went up to the forward cabin and asked the Flight Attendant if she would mind upgrading me herself. She checked the upgrade list to make sure I was an elite and then granted me a seat in 3D. She was also sporting a San Francisco Giants pin on her blouse so we got along great. After a few orange juices and conversation among the fellow F cabin passengers, one of whom claimed loudly he deserved “at least 100,000 Dividend Miles for this mess”, we were finally allowed to push back. The load factor on the plane had dropped from nearly full to just under half full though those that stayed were offered a free beverage, compliments of America West, though if you wanted a second you were told to pay for it. Thankfully, once airborne, this flight proceeded quickly as I was now very late for a lunch in Phoenix. After a couple more drinks by the very competent flight crew, we landed in Phoenix where I was thanked for passing out Above and Beyond Certificates. So ended my most delayed flight in recent memory.
Scheduled Arrival: 10:51 AM
Actual Arrival: 2:27 PM
Gate: B11