Congrats and good morning - I mean good afternoon. How was your nap?

Next time, maybe we can make a deal and you and BL JR can do MRs together. It will be fun, trust me - all she does is sleep. Well, you need to color with her for the first 30 minutes, but then you're golden (pun intended). Plus1 is picking up Freddie Jr. right now and we'll pass him off to another Fter to fly him across the world.

The EWR AirTrain really is the most poorly planned and executed airport people mover built in this country in the last 10 years. It's ridiculously slow, the cars are tiny, the doors to the cars are too small… and God help you if someone in a wheelchair gets in your car because then you're screwed. Nobody's getting out of that thing until the wheelchair passenger gets off; more than once I've had to climb over a wheelchair or miss my stop because of that. That system should have been built similarly to the AirTrain at JFK.

On the other hand, a lot of major hubs have very efficient people movers — ATL, IAH (TerminaLink; the underground subway is old and slower but gets the job done and really doesn't have to move large crowds), DEN, DFW, PIT, SFO, MSP, DTW, MCO, and LAS all seem to get the job done quickly, efficiently, and reliably and most of those are all either major hubs, or non-hubs that handle a huge amount of traffic.

What EWR really should have done was build a system that uses better technology, and build two sets of tracks; one that covers the current AirTrain route, and another running parallel to it just between the three terminals that's behind security, allowing easier transit behind security between the terminals. Of course, getting something like that done in New Jersey and getting it done well is probably something that will never happen.

I disagree about PIT, that is one of the worst systems I've seen. It's not the cars, they're fine, it's the fact that you have to get on then to go the 1000 ft from security to the gates.

Add to that all of the stairs and tiny escalators and it is just a mess.

EWR Airtrain had two things going against it. One was the lowest bid stuff. They take curves really slow but in the 10 seconds they have straight track they are fast. The biggest problem is that the terminal buildings were orginally designed with the Airtrain in mind. Back then the thought of EWR being so popular was a pipe dream so they designed the buildings for the tiny little things we have now. Trust me, the people at the PA whould have put in somthing larger as the people who managed the project make you look like a short skinny guy and they personally hate the size of those cars becasue they barely fit.

That red bulls eye at the end freaks out a lot of people too. If people don't know PIT has an alternative security area (not always open, if TSA standing at top of esculator, that usually mean it's open) instead of going down the esculator, you go out the doors and walk across the street to a near empty security area.

I would add TPA to the list of places that get it right also.

And yes, in New Jersey reason and common sense take a 134th row seat to bribes and corruption, so there's no hope of ever getting a correctly sized people mover system in there.

I didn't find JFK to be that much better than EWR. It felt only a little less cramped in the cars. I can't comment more than that because I've only used it once and that was to attend the TrueBlue T5 Do; I wasn't even flying.

Got a call from a real hotel today - here's to hoping.

TPA is one of my favorite airports. I am headed there on Friday.

Seriously? Why?

It is a nice airport IMO. I am going TPA-EWR-DUB.

Plus1. It is airy, intelligently laid out and very passenger-friendly to say the least. As lucky9876coins says, the outside is another story and it looks like a bad 70s movie. But the function of it is great.

ETA: The TSA that I've dealt with are nice and they are very proactive people. Can;t say that about lots of places.

CO has a program for advising the GA (gate agent) that you are interested in volunteering to take the bump on overbooked flights. Once a flight is determined to be in an overbooked situation, this OverSale Management Program kicks in, at the T-24 hour mark, and you will be asked if you wish to volunteer at check-in. If you say yes, your name will be placed on a list.

That being said, most GAs might not look at the list. I know I rarely do since I prefer to make gate area annoucements for volunteers. The reason I do this is because I want to make sure that I announce all of the terms of the bump. Plus I need to hold onto each volunteers boarding pass, to make sure that they do not board when boarding begins incase I need to use their seats. I also want to make sure (again) that they understand what they are getting into and what they want, in terms of a later flight. Sometimes I discover that I can not use certain volunteers because of their final destination.

Anyway, to make a long story shorter: If you want to volunteer, RUN, don't wait until the annoucements begin, to volunteer with the GA. As far as playing let's make a deal, sometimes this can backfire with a GA, unless you are advising the GA that the dollar amount isn't big enough for you to take the bump but you will take it for X dollars. Just remember that the routes with the most flights to will not get top dollar since we can put you onto the next flight within 1-2 hours. I often will not up my price but what I will do is give you lots of rebooking options. Let's say the next flight is in 2 hours but you really want to spend 2 more days in the current city, I will do that for you at no extra cost. Sometimes if you ask to not take the money but get an upgrade to Fclass, that can be done if seats are available. I had a gentleman that took a bump, not to long ago, and he refused the voucher because any vouchers had to be returned to his company but he did ask for the Fclass seat instead. I said fine, we had the space and it cost me/CO nothing.

If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask.

I got to try a Shipley's donut this past Friday morning. It was better than Krispy Kremes, which I detest. My donut was a bit greasy but not bad. My favorite donuts are from at King's Bakery in Honolulu.

Everyone, thank you for your kind words, thoughts and prayers. The kids and I are doing fine. We have moments of sadness but my dad lead a full and long life, it was time for him to let go. I sincerely believed that he waited to die until he saw us, since we had not been to visit him in quite some time.

Huh. Okay, I don't have any fond memories of TPA but I'll take your word. Looking forward to a trip report :D