September 28, 2006
MIA-CLT 12:45p – 2:45p US AIRWAYS 737-400 N445US Economy Class
CLT- PHL 3:45p – 5:17p US AIRWAYS A321-200 N167US Economy Class
PHL-YYZ 7:55p – 9:26p US AIRWAYS 737-300 NXXXUS Economy Class


Although American and Air Canada combine to offer four daily nonstops between Miami and Toronto, US Airways offered a lower one way fare along with numerous multi-stop itineraries. After logging over 3.3 million miles aboard more than 3,600 flights, the adult in me just wants to get to Toronto. The kid in me says I’ve never flown a 767-200 with US Airways before. There’s a perfectly timed 767 departure between Charlotte and Philadelphia and the connecting flight up to Toronto is aboard a CRJ-200, another type that I’ve flown before but not with US Airways. As well, I’ve never flown the Philly-Toronto route, so add another line to the already overcrowded Routes Flown Map and another 350 miles to my over three quarter of a million miles of Unduplicated Route Mileage.

Given such impeccable logic, the kid always wins these arguments. The fact that I’ve flown plenty of 767s on other airlines is irrelevant because as any of you who’ve flown a lot know, it’s the airline – not the manufacturer – that determines the interior layout of its aircraft. I grew up during the sixties and seventies when airlines differentiated themselves from one another not by lower fares but rather by the comfort and service offered on board their aircraft. For a while during the early seventies, TWA had a mid-cabin stand up bar lounge with buffet seating on its narrow bodied 707s. Back in the 1960s, Continental offered the first domestic Business Class with five across 2-3 seating on its 707 and 720 Golden Jets. Braniff introduced the wide-bodied interior look on its 727s with fold down middle seats. American had a piano lounge onboard its 747s. To this day I’m still curious when I see an aircraft or an airline that I haven’t flown before – What’s the plane look like inside?

Other reasons to get excited about a flight on a US Airways 767-200 include the possibility that it might be an ex-Piedmont Airlines machine - only two 767s ever wore the livery of that fine carrier. As well, the 767-200 entered service in 1982 (I was on the inaugural flight) and many of the earlier models are soon to be retired. Many already have been.

No doubt some readers will think it’s just plane crazy to pick an airline for these reasons, but unless one really enjoys flying and airline history in the first place, very few of my travels or reports will ever make much sense. Many FTers were born in the 1970s or 80s and I’ve seen occasions where more than a few of them have groused that they have little or no interest in hearing about the “Good Old Days”. They live in the here and now, and there’s no point dredging up the past. Why ever study or even discuss history then? I’m not pining for a return to what I consider the “Good Old Days” but it’s fun to remember them as a point of reference against what we have today. For what it’s worth, history becomes more interesting once you’ve lived long enough to relate to it in your own life experience. In the meantime, thank goodness for modern day inventions like the Page Back button or the Delete key

Now uh, where was I? Oh yeah… Florida. Must be getting’ old…

Upon checking in at Miami International, I was disappointed to learn that the 767-200 scheduled to operate the 5:25pm CLT-PHL flight had been replaced for today at least by a 757. Thankfully, I was able to switch to an earlier flight operated by an Airbus A321, another type that I’ve flown upon but not as US Airways metal. Adding insult to injury, due to a schedule change the CRJ between Philly and Toronto had been switched to a relatively mundane 737-300. On a more positive note, I asked for and received exit rows on each flight. I must be living a charmed life.

US Airways flights depart from the nicely refurbished H Concourse at Miami International. Any of you who’ve flown out of Miami on airlines like Continental or Northwest know how dark, narrow and musty those older concourses are. The H Concourse has a clean, modern look to it with high ceilings, wide corridors and spacious gate lounges. A multitude of windows up in the roof and throughout the gate areas let in lots of natural light. Assuming the rest of the concourses will look this nice when reconstruction and refurbishment is finally complete, Miami International will be one of the finest facilities in the country. Supposedly the work will be completed by 2008 but I wouldn’t hold my breath for it to be done anytime before 2010.

Delta also operates from the H Concourse and thankfully has seen fit to provide a Crown Room for its loyal flyers along with us Priority Pass holders. My CO Presidents Club card will also get me into the Crown Room but only if I were flying Delta that day. No such strings are attached for Priority Pass members.

Surprisingly, the entrance to the Crown Room is via a plain gray utility door – rather spartan given such a nice concourse. The lounge itself may be the smallest one in the Delta system. I’d estimate that the entire room measured 20’ x 40’. Still, it offered tables, comfortable chairs, a couple of workstations and the usual drinks and lounge snacks so it certainly beat sitting out in the gate area. The only drawback was a TV in the corner that one guy had turned up so he could hear the entire debate over whether mercurial football player Terrell Owens did or did not try to commit suicide last night. Inquiring minds want to know…

Just prior to boarding, I stopped by the food court and tried to purchase a Chicken Caesar Salad from Pizza Hut. Unfortunately, none of the employees present could figure out how to ring up a salad. It brought to mind a recent report that Florida ranked as having the third least intelligent population amongst the fifty states. How do you rank statewide intelligence outside of high school SAT scores? Anyway, after the third employee had gotten nowhere with this ostensibly simple everyday transaction, I decided I’d better return the salad to the display case and get down to my gate. Buying a salad at Pizza Hut… what was I thinking?

Miami International is a great airport for plane spotters. All kinds of colorful, exotic aircraft visit or are stored at MIA. During our taxi out to the runway, the following aircraft stood out:

Arrow Air DC-8-62
BWIA 737-800
Centurion DC-10
American Trans Air L-1011 Old Colors
Falcon Air 727-200
Santa Barbara 757-200

On the subject of colorful liveries, I really like US Airways’ new look. The livery isn’t so much colorful as it is stylish. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for US Airways’ aircraft interiors, which remain battleship gray throughout.

Although it was overcast in Miami, the skies cleared by the time we’d reached Daytona. Those of us on the right hand side of the aircraft were treated to pretty views of the Florida coastline along with a full can of Sprite and a bag of mini pretzels. We landed in Charlotte right on time and parked right next door to the Airbus A321 that would be operating my flight up to Philadelphia.

I first flew into Charlotte in 1978 aboard an Eastern Airlines DC-9. Back then, a long and narrow single story red brick concourse served Eastern and Delta’s operations. There were no jetways. Eastern had recently commenced wide-bodied L-1011 service from New York and numerous posters throughout the concourse advertised its arrival. When’s the last time you saw airline marketing specifically related to aircraft?

US Airways offers twenty-eight First Class seats aboard its A321s. That’s only two less than Eastern offered on its big 250 passenger L-1011s. Unfortunately, my lot was back in steerage but my exit row seat was roomy and I had a good time discussing football with my seatmate, a longtime Atlanta Falcons fan. Poor guy.

My onward flight to Toronto was due to depart from gate A-24, located in the new west wing of Terminal A. The US Airways Club located upstairs on the fourth level is every bit as nice as the terminal it serves. Lots of dark woods, beige upholstered furniture and large windows made it a pleasant place to hang out until the departure of my Toronto flight. That flight was scheduled to depart at 7:55pm but the TV monitors showed a delay until 9:20pm. The inbound flight from Norfolk was scheduled to arrive at 8:47pm. No biggie. I either wait here or wait in Toronto where I’d be spending the night in the terminal before continuing on to Ottawa and Halifax the next day at noon. I bought a $5.00 beer from the bar, found a workstation and settled in for the wait. Little did I know that from that point on, my evening would be headed steadily downhill.

At a little before nine, I checked the TV monitor and noticed that the inbound from Norfolk still wasn’t showing AT GATE but it still showed an 8:47pm arrival. I decided to head down to the gate anyway since it was the very farthest one down the concourse. Along the way I checked a couple more monitors. No change.

Well imagine my shock and dismay upon arriving at gate 24 to find that my flight had been cancelled. Not only that, it had been cancelled as of about twenty minutes ago according to the gate agents. Why? Weather. Geez, don’t cha think it’d be considerate if they were to post that in a timely fashion on the monitors? Sorry sir, you’ll have to speak with the ticket agents at the counter. As in on the other side of security? Yep. US Airways has no service centers on the concourse.

Sigh. I turned around and trudged back up the concourse, through security and down to the counter. It was 9:20pm when I arrived. Seven other passengers were in line ahead of me. One agent was serving us while two other agents were dealing with passengers checking in. There weren’t many people checking in at 9:20pm. Three or four maybe. But it sure seemed to take a long time to check them in and meanwhile, fifteen minutes later the single agent serving those of us in line was still working on the same guy who was there when I arrived.

To try and make a long story shorter, I called US Airways reservations and rebooked myself on a 6:30am flight to Toronto via Pittsburgh. My Air Canada flight to Ottawa was scheduled to depart at 12:10pm and this one would get me in at 10:00am. When I finally got to the counter at a little past 10:00pm, the agent at first couldn’t find my newly booked flights and then finally found them further down the screen. It took her about a minute to figure out that scrolling through the PNR might be a good idea. I’m thinking she needed more training, and then she surprised me by offering me a seat on the Air Canada nonstop to Toronto at 6:20am. Sure, that’d be fine.

Meanwhile, the agent working on two guys at the next counter position kept coming over for help. Then the agent working about twenty feet down the counter to my left came by with some questions. I’ve got a 6:20am flight coming up and I want to get some sleep. Sorry to interrupt, I said, but if my Air Canada ticket’s electronic, can I just go? No no – we’ve got to issue you a new ticket. Fifteen minutes later I was finally out of there. I didn’t get the impression that any of these agents seemed very competent and in my case at least, that suspicion would prove true early the next morning.

Understandably, there was no complimentary hotel as the flight had been cancelled due to weather. The agent did offer a discount at some hotel across the river in New Jersey but I’d have to pay for my own transport there and back as the hotel had no shuttle service. I was told there was no way they could retrieve my backpack either, so I headed off to try and find someplace warm and reasonably quiet to get a bit of sleep. That’s asking a lot in most airports these days. It was asking too much at PHL. Had I had my Thermarest Pad and sleeping bag, at least I would have been comfortable and warm. As it was, I got about three hours sleep in twenty minute increments while lying on the floor of Terminal B.

Anyway, the next morning at 5:00am I head over to Terminal D where Air Canada is located. Check in was handled by United at their counter, though there was a designated line for Air Canada passengers. The line wasn’t too long when I arrived, but with only one agent very slowly checking in the AC passengers, the line began to grow at a prodigious rate. Soon there were twenty-three people lined up for a flight that was due to depart in forty-five minutes. Finally, at 5:50am, thirty minutes before departure, I get to the counter. There were seventeen people behind me but by now another United agent had come over to help. Meanwhile, the agent helping me called over a supervisor, conferred with him a moment, and then they both told me that I had neither a reservation nor a proper ticket for the Air Canada flight. I’ll need to go back to US Airways in Terminal C and get it all redone. So what are these things the US Airways agent gave me that look like tickets? The US Airways agent didn’t issue you a ticket. We don’t even show you reserved on this flight.

Grrr. By now I’m thinking of the letters I’m going to write that will hopefully bring about the downfall of US Airways or at least insure that those morons working the International Check-in counter last night never again work in anything more challenging than a landfill. By the time I get to the Terminal C check-in counters, it’s 6:05am. I explained my situation and that I needed to be in Toronto with adequate time to clear customs and get over to Air Canada’s domestic terminal for a 12:10 departure. The only nonstop flight that would accomplish that was sold out, so the agent hurriedly booked me on the 6:30am connection via Pittsburgh – the one that I’d originally booked the night before – and sent me on my way as fast as my gimpy right leg will take me. Unfortunately, a fair crowd had gathered at the security checkpoint and the TSA official there was unsympathetic to my request to use the Elite lane. You should have gotten here earlier then, she said. Lady, if you only knew…

By the time I got to the gate, the plane was still there with jetway attached but my seat had been given away. Once again I was chastised - You need to be in the gate area twenty minutes before flight time. Right…

Back to the counter limp I. Now I’m confirmed on the 9:45 nonstop (that gets in too late to make my connection) and added to the standby list for the 8:30 departure. Your flight departs from Terminal F. Oh, geez. Three hours of intermittent sleep and all this early morning nonsense – I’m a wreck. Terminal F or X or whatever the heck it is might as well be in New Jersey. Thankfully, I discovered a shuttle bus from Terminal C because I’m walking like Frankenstein about now.

I know I tried to shorten this tale of woe about a page ago, but let’s just cut to the chase here. After clearing standby, then having it denied, and then clearing it again, I was finally allowed to board the 8:30am nonstop up to Toronto. I got the very last seat. Pray that my backpack has also been put on this plane I hoped as I lapsed into unconsciousness until our landing in Toronto.


September 29, 2006
PHL - YYZ 8:30a -10:00a US AIRWAYS CRJ-200 N440AW Economy Class
YYZ-YOW 12:10p – 1:10p AIR CANADA ERJ-190 C-FFYM Economy Class
CLT - PHL 1:55p – 4:30p AIR CANADA 319-100 C-FZUL Economy Class

Thankfully my backpack had been rerouted onto the 8:30 flight to Toronto. That saved me a lot of hassles down the line as my plan upon arrival in Halifax was to pick up a car and head out towards Cape Breton. By now I’m not feeling quite so wrathful towards US Airways though I will probably avoid flying them if it ever means having to go through Philadelphia again. And I probably will write a letter addressing the incompetence of the agent who served me at the international ticket counter that night. I certainly don’t fault the airline for a weather cancellation or not offering a hotel or even not retrieving my baggage, but to bumble along as this agent did and then tell me I’m booked and ticketed upon a flight that I’m not is egregious in the extreme. Working a Rule 240 involuntary reroute is no big deal and probably a lot easier with today’s computers than it was when I was in the industry back in the eighties. Clearly this agent was not ready to be put on the counter, especially an international counter where tricky tickets, reissues and exotic linear fare calculations are more likely to be encountered. Really, the fault here would seem to lie with US Airways for poor training and putting this person out on the counter without adequately ensuring that she was capable of handling even a simple weather related reroute and reissue.

A lot has changed since I last passed through Toronto’s Pearson International Airport in
2002. The new Terminal One has opened and once I’d collected my pack and cleared customs, I headed straight over there via the new inter-terminal train. Once inside the cavernous building, I discovered that Air Canada provides one bank of counters for travelers flying westbound and another bank of counters for those flying eastbound. A moderate sized queue awaited me at the eastbound lanes but there were plenty of agents on duty and soon I was in possession of boarding passes for flights to Ottawa and on to Halifax.

I’d been looking forward to the short flight into Ottawa for two reasons. First and foremost, it was to be operated by an Embraer RJ-190 and this would be my first flight upon that type. Last year I flew United Express’ version of the RJ-170 and came away very impressed. Its wider interior and large windows are definitely much more passenger friendly than any other regional jet except perhaps the Avro RJ-85s, though only Northwest Airlink operates those and they aren’t long from being retired.

For those who fly out of small or medium sized cities that used to be served by DC-9s and 737s, the comfort of a cabin wide enough to offer both Coach and First Class is all but disappearing as many of these cities are now being served by CRJs and the smaller Embraers such as the RJ-140s. For today’s frequent flyers, the ability to upgrade to First or Business Class has always been a most cherished perk. Aboard Embraer’s RJ-170 and 190, the Economy Class section has nice wide seats and, in the case of AC and UA at least, better legroom. Given a choice between flying an Embraer 170/190 or any other regional jet, I’d definitely take the larger Embraer.

Air Canada’s 190s featured three rows of 2-1 configured grayish green Business Class seating and 21 rows of blue upholstered 2-2 Economy Class seating. I settled into exit row 19F and fell asleep soon after take off. Not the optimal way to enjoy a first flight, but I still had a long day ahead of me and needed to make up for lost sleep.

The second reason I wanted to fly via Ottawa was that I’d never flown into Ottawa before. YOW was to be the sixteenth Canadian and three hundredth overall airport that I’ve flown into. I was immediately impressed by the architecture of the terminal building with its attractive combination of wood, steel and large glass windows overlooking the tarmac.

My flight into Halifax was aboard an A319 and try though I might, I was unable to procure an aisle or window seat. The flight was completely full – oversold in fact – and Air Canada was offering two volunteers a $200.00 voucher towards future travel if they’d take a later flight. I was eighty feet away buying a newspaper when I heard the announcement and saw one guy literally stop what he was doing and run towards the podium. Oh well ~ maybe next time.

My pocket flight guide showed this flight as offering a snack service though in Economy that translated into light snacks and sandwiches for sale. I declined both food and drink and instead reclined my seat, which allowed me to better drift in and out of consciousness for the duration of the flight. Clouds had gathered as we flew east towards Halifax and by the time we landed, the airport looked well and truly socked in. Low fog and persistent drizzle were the order of the afternoon and all I could do was hope that tomorrow’s drive around Cape Breton would see better weather. As things turned out, it did. Here’s a link to some pictures in addition to what you’ll find at my Fotki site.

CAPE BRETON HIGHLANDS NATIONAL PARK

Anyone considering a visit to Canada’s Maritime Provinces, particularly Nova Scotia, should be sure to take the drive along the Cabot Trail around Cape Breton Highlands National Park. What a spectacular drive up, down, over and around a magnificent landscape. My only regret is that I couldn’t spend more time here but that can easily be remedied in the not so distant future.