UA 1463 (TED) PBI-ORD
I awoke around 7am on the comfortable but short couch. I had put my backpack on backwards and attached the waist strap and slept in the fetal position. The only thing that had moved during the night was my glasses, they were on the floor next to the couch.
I went to the bathroom to clean up a bit and change clothes. I then proceed over to the small business center that I had seen the night before. They had a computer for rent and would print pages for $1.00 each. I had 3 boarding passes from online check-in that I needed to print. They were not open yet. I found Starbucks, got my caffeine fix and returned at 8:05am and they still weren’t open. I had to get to the gate so I went up to Ticketing and told them that I had checked-in online but didn’t have my boarding documents. They were only able to print the PBI-ORD segment for some reason. The agent called over a supervisor and they discussed it and tried a few things. I told them it would be ok and that I could get the boarding passes at ORD.
I made it through security and found the gate. As I sat in the gate area, I noticed a 20’s something woman wrapping something up in fabric and for some reason I thought it strange. I boarded and took my seat next to the woman I had noticed in the gate area. After a little bit of chatter she told me of her encounter with TSA. She apparently was not aware of the Ziploc 1 Qt bag regulation. She made sure that nothing she had was over 3oz, but had placed nothing in the baggie. The TSA agent dumped out her purse and “crammed” everything into the baggie. She was upset because there were two bottles of $125+ perfume and he was clanking them around she said. She told me that she had started crying in the gate area due to her treatment. I guess I wasn’t paying enough attention to understand what was emotionally traumatic about the process or she didn’t go into detail. We chatted for about a half the flight, the middle half was silent as we both listened to the IFE and looked at magazines. It was another fun flight for conversation, I like these the best and I can normally tell within 5 minutes if my seatmate is going to be chatty. I normally don’t mind chatting and I don’t mind silence either. My Ipaq 6315 is always there at the ready to provide me with news, movies, music, Podcasts, Avantgo, MobilePlay or whatever else I have loaded or updated before getting on the plane.
UA6926 (Skywest) ORD-FSD
I scooted along inside ORD to the service center and had my boarding passed for the last two segments printed. Then, it was off to F1. I asked the gate agent if there were any upgrades available for the FSD to DEN segment on the ExpressPlus flight. She said that it was full and everyone had already checked in. I had an aisle for that flight so I was happy where I was.
This short 1 hour flight was a first for me. This would be my first flight in which the entire crew was female: Captain, First Officer and Flight Attendant. The FA said it was her first as well. I asked and they all agreed to let me take their photo outside the aircraft.
(SkyWest) FSD-DEN
This next segment was my last for this MR. It would prove to be exciting prior to departure. This flight was overbooked. And there were 8 people standing in line at gate desk trying to go standby. DEN was my final destination, I didn’t have any checked bags so I thought I was a VDB for sure! The GA started her announcement. I was next to the desk leaning up against the seats with my BP in hand. She barley got out “we are asking for vol…. – I threw my BP on the desk in front of her and she smiled and then continued with her announcement. As soon as she was through, I told her DEN was my final and I had no checked bags and if it were possible, I would prefer a credit voucher. She said “you’re easy!”
An elderly couple had also volunteered. I thought I had it. About 30 minutes passes as the GA tries to figure out who’s going and who’s not. It finally comes down to 4 people for 2 seats. I’m dead. The other single traveler has a connection in DEN. I and the two others don’t. She has to send the connecting pax and that leaves one seat. The couple trump me…… She hands me my BP and says to take what is left on the plane. I lost my aisle seat. Oh well. I’m ready to be home.
It has been hard for me to determine what the actual RDM for this trip is because I don’t know if the trip to PHX on Tuesday will get me double mileage for the one segment that qualified for double or 1k bonus. I don’t know which I signed up for first or if both segments had to qualify. I also don’t know if I will pursue the difference in mileage for the cancelled DEN-ORD segment that caused me to fly direct to BWI. Anyway, it looks something like this:
9,066 EQM
4,000 Online Booking Bonus
4,000 Online Check-In Bonus
5,000 5,15,25 Bonus (1st trip of the promotion for me was PHX)
45,000 DYMTWTU Miles
(I had 14 credits prior to this run-this run netted 10 for me-The difference is 45k)
67,066 miles gross fare/mile = .013 CPM (RDM)
The trip also gave me enough segments to make premier after the outbound DEN-BWI so I will be getting the 25% RDM bonus on everything after that and I have not included it in the miles or calculations above.
This was my first multi-day, multi-ticket MR. How did I do?
One consequences of this MR - My legs and ankles are swollen! What do I do! LOL!