Autumn Perigrinations ~ 50000 Miles of Air and Rail Travel Around America
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#1
Yesterdayper•e•gri•nate (perigrəˌnāt). To journey or travel from place to place, often with the suggestion of a roundabout route.
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The word “peregrinate” is not commonly utilized in our everyday vernacular, but it is perhaps the best word to describe my upcoming travels around the continent. In most any thesaurus, the closest synonym to peregrinate is “wander”, and though for many that word suggests moving about tinged by a degree of insouciance to the point of outright aimlessness, I prefer J.R.R. Tolkien’s take on wandering:
Not all who wander are lost.
While I appreciate the ambiguity of a good wander as much as anyone and indeed more than most, for this trip I’ve managed to weave fifty-four flights, nine train rides and four thousand miles of road travel into a cohesive month long itinerary. Aimless meandering this is not.
As ever, mileage will be accrued and status will be earned. Along the way I’ll fly on nine different airlines aboard fifteen different types of aircraft. Skillfully blended in will be Business and First Class travel aboard a variety of Amtrak trains as I continue in my quest to ride over every route in the United States.
All told, this trip will total out at close to 50000 miles. It will include 42,380 miles of air travel, 2820 miles of rail travel and a little over 4000 miles of highway travel. I’ve also scheduled flights aboard two new airlines rarely reported upon here, bringing my total number of airlines flown to 156. With two exceptions, the trains that I’ll be riding upon will cover distances from 100 to 320 miles through twelve states.
Autumn Perigrinations
The best thing about leaving Alaska is having a return ticket. I’ll be home on Halloween, just in time for winter. For those of us who live here, especially in the interior, Alaska is a cool place in the winter. There’s no place I’d rather be. Alaska has been my home for over 20 years and I love it up here all year long.
Although this is no glamour trip involving First Class travel to exotic destinations halfway around the world, I really like the mix of planes, trains and automobiles that this itinerary offers and fully look forward to a really good time. The trick will be trying to write about it all in such a way that you'll find it both entertaining and perhaps even informative.
There is however one caveat: This is not a trip report about how to create mileage runs. It might give you some good information about how to do a mileage run once you’ve gotten the tickets purchased but for anyone looking to gather information about building a good mileage run, I refer you to the Mileage Run Deals forum here at FlyerTalk.
I'm not a regular daily contributer to FlyerTalk, so it’s been a while since I’ve been over to the Trip Reports Forum. I’ll bet I’ve posted less times this summer than some FTers post in a single day. In the meantime, it looks like there are some great new reports to read here, so while you're reading mine, I'll be reading yours as well. That said, let's go fetch ourselves a good drink and settle in for the ride. This trip report is cleared for takeoff and rollin’ down the tracks.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The word “peregrinate” is not commonly utilized in our everyday vernacular, but it is perhaps the best word to describe my upcoming travels around the continent. In most any thesaurus, the closest synonym to peregrinate is “wander”, and though for many that word suggests moving about tinged by a degree of insouciance to the point of outright aimlessness, I prefer J.R.R. Tolkien’s take on wandering:
Not all who wander are lost.
While I appreciate the ambiguity of a good wander as much as anyone and indeed more than most, for this trip I’ve managed to weave fifty-four flights, nine train rides and four thousand miles of road travel into a cohesive month long itinerary. Aimless meandering this is not.
As ever, mileage will be accrued and status will be earned. Along the way I’ll fly on nine different airlines aboard fifteen different types of aircraft. Skillfully blended in will be Business and First Class travel aboard a variety of Amtrak trains as I continue in my quest to ride over every route in the United States.
All told, this trip will total out at close to 50000 miles. It will include 42,380 miles of air travel, 2820 miles of rail travel and a little over 4000 miles of highway travel. I’ve also scheduled flights aboard two new airlines rarely reported upon here, bringing my total number of airlines flown to 156. With two exceptions, the trains that I’ll be riding upon will cover distances from 100 to 320 miles through twelve states.
Autumn Perigrinations
The best thing about leaving Alaska is having a return ticket. I’ll be home on Halloween, just in time for winter. For those of us who live here, especially in the interior, Alaska is a cool place in the winter. There’s no place I’d rather be. Alaska has been my home for over 20 years and I love it up here all year long.
Although this is no glamour trip involving First Class travel to exotic destinations halfway around the world, I really like the mix of planes, trains and automobiles that this itinerary offers and fully look forward to a really good time. The trick will be trying to write about it all in such a way that you'll find it both entertaining and perhaps even informative.
There is however one caveat: This is not a trip report about how to create mileage runs. It might give you some good information about how to do a mileage run once you’ve gotten the tickets purchased but for anyone looking to gather information about building a good mileage run, I refer you to the Mileage Run Deals forum here at FlyerTalk.
I'm not a regular daily contributer to FlyerTalk, so it’s been a while since I’ve been over to the Trip Reports Forum. I’ll bet I’ve posted less times this summer than some FTers post in a single day. In the meantime, it looks like there are some great new reports to read here, so while you're reading mine, I'll be reading yours as well. That said, let's go fetch ourselves a good drink and settle in for the ride. This trip report is cleared for takeoff and rollin’ down the tracks.
#2
September 22, 2011
Alaska Airlines Fairbanks - Anchorage 310p – 413p 737-800 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Anchorage - Seattle 710p – 1130p 737-900 Economy Class
It’s a good thing my first flight of the day wasn’t until 3:10pm, because I needed every bit of the morning and early afternoon to complete a myriad of pre-departure tasks intrinsic to a worry free month away from home. Finally, heat turned down, door locked and porch light turned on, I gathered my gear and headed across the road to my neighbor’s cabin where a ride awaited to the airport.
Fairbanks International is a wonderfully relaxed airport to fly out of. We only have about a dozen jet flights per day and even during the holiday travel crush, one rarely encounters crowds large enough to warrant an early trip out to the airport. There is an elite passenger lane at the security checkpoint, but more often than not it’s use is not necessary.
Today, all flights down to Anchorage and Seattle were either sold out or very close to it. The counter agent explained that between the final cruise ship tours of the season, the end of hunting season and normal travel patterns for this time of year, most flights out of Fairbanks had been sold out for the past three days. Regardless, when I reached the security checkpoint there were only five or six people in line.
Veteran readers of my trip reports will recall that I log each of my flights and have been doing so since I could first write in a straight line. Having now logged 142 flights totaling 182500 miles solely aboard Alaska’s 737-800s, I can also tell you – by virtue of having faithfully recorded all of the registration numbers for each flight – that I have currently flown 46 of Alaska’s 58 737-800s. Collect them all, I say! Unfortunately, that could take a good number of years. Short of going down to the airport and targeting individual aircraft – an expensive proposition as I’d be forced to purchase tickets at that day’s fare – I am limited to relying on pure chance. At present there’s about a 1 in 5 chance of my getting a “new” aircraft on any given flight aboard an Alaska 737-800. Of course, the more previously unflown aircraft I fly, the higher the odds get until finally, with just one aircraft left to fly, the odds will be 1 in 58. Granted, those aren’t very good odds but I’m not too worried. After all, I knocked off each and every one of Alaska’s 737-200s, 400s, 700s, 900s and MD-80s completely by chance so I’m confident that in the next six or seven years I’ll likely complete the circuit on Alaska’s -800s as well. Today marks my 939th flight aboard Alaska Airlines.
My quest got off to a fine start aboard ship 590 on the 39 minute flight down to Anchorage. One down, only eleven more to go! During the three hour layover in Anchorage I met up with a couple of fellow Denali employees who were flying down to Dallas aboard American’s 8:30pm nonstop. I treated them to a visit in Alaska’s Boardroom where hot bowls of Beef Barley soup and cold glasses of Alaskan Summer Ale awaited.
In addition to logging all of my flights, I also keep some pretty detailed statistics. Amongst them are things like how many flights and miles I’ve flown aboard a specific aircraft type (737-900), how many flights and miles I’ve flown aboard that aircraft type by airline (Alaska 737-900s) and how many flights and miles I’ve flown aboard that specific aircraft (i.e. N305AS). My flight down to Seattle aboard Alaska’s 737-900 took me over the 100,000 mile mark flown aboard this aircraft type and coincidentally the aircraft operating this flight, N305AS, was not only the first 737-900 I’d ever flown upon but was also the -900 upon which I’d currently logged the most miles upon (12260). I celebrated this minor bit of personal esoterica with an Alaskan Amber and set to work in writing this trip report.
23, 2011
Horizon Airlines Seattle - Portland 900a – 948a DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Delta Air Lines Portland – Atlanta 1240p – 843p 737-800 Economy Class
Delta Air Lines Atlanta – Nashville 1048p – 1050p A320-200 Economy Class
One of the best breakfast deals in all of Seattle has to be the Breakfast Taco sold at Anthony’s Fish Restaurant located just off Concourse C in the main airport commons. A mere $4.00 will get you a soft taco shell filled with a generous portion of scrambled eggs, cheese, bacon and salsa served with a side of fried potatoes. I passed on the potatoes in exchange for some extra salsa and then headed down the concourse to gate C2B where Horizon’s DHC-8-400 awaited, resplendent in its new blue and green Alaska livery.
I filled in the final squares of the inflight magazine crossword puzzle just as the Captain shut down the engines at our gate in Portland. Fifteen minutes and a quarter mile walk later I was relaxing over hot coffee and a copy of the Oregonian at United’s Red Carpet Club. This facility is conveniently located at the entrance to the E concourse, just a three minute walk from Delta’s gates across the way on the D Concourse. Delta operates a Sky Club at Portland but its only windows look down over the concourse interior. United’s Red Carpet Club provides large picture windows that offer outstanding views of the ramp below and the countryside beyond. Additionally, they flood the clubroom with lots of natural sunshine.
Despite the huge crowd overflowing from the gate lounge, boarding of the ten year old 737-800 operating Delta’s Atlanta flight proceeded smoothly. Indeed, I was surprised to note that we even began our pushback a couple of minutes early. Following a surprisingly short taxi, we thundered down the runway and verily leapt into the air, climbing smoothly out over the verdant Oregon countryside while ever so gradually turning towards the southeast.
One of the highlights of many longer flights aboard Delta Air Lines is their excellent “Delta on Demand” inflight entertainment system. Displayed through a 7” screen mounted in the seatback, the system offers 18 satellite networks including HBO, 28 films, a choice of 4100 songs across 14 music categories and a variety of games including my favorite, an interactive trivia game that pits you against any fellow passengers who might also be playing. Each trivia game has twenty questions covering a broad variety of topics and after not having flown Delta since last April, I was pleased to see lots of new questions.
After kickin’ butt on my fellow passengers for a couple of hours, I signed off and had a look at the inflight food offerings. The flight attendants had distributed menus outlining the various options - a fairly standard collection of snack boxes and a couple types of sandwiches. I’m not much of a snack box guy, so I went with the eastbound sandwich selection, a set of three roast beef sliders costing $8.50. They were okay, though hardly outstanding. I think Alaska’s $6.00 hot meal selections are still the best meal for purchase options available.
Arrival in Atlanta was ten minutes early, and with a scheduled two hour and fifteen minute layover, I was left with more than enough time to take advantage of a proper shoe shine. Now I realize that many if not most of you prefer a more casual approach to inflight attire that very likely does not include wearing shoes that might require the occasional shine. What can I say? I’m a throwback to the sixties and seventies when the very notion of stepping aboard a jet plane was still exciting and novel enough that most folks deemed it worthy of getting dressed up for. While I generally could care less what my fellow passengers choose to wear, I still tend to dress business casual, i.e. black Levi 501s, a button down oxford, a $10.00 thrift shop sport jacket and a decent pair of shoes. For some odd reason, despite having logged over 4000 flights, I still find flying exciting enough to not show up in a T-Shirt and shorts. There is no cure for my affliction, but I'm hardly complaining!
Delta operates a whopping nine Sky Clubs at Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport. Some are large, some are small. The club on the C Concourse is a medium sized facility that sports a good looking bar, attractive seating areas and a nicely sized business center with about a dozen work areas. I was immediately taken by the dimmed lighting and cocktail lounge like ambience. As such, I ordered a Jack Daniels on the rocks, accompanied it with a small bowl of mixed nuts and retired to a comfortable seat by the windows. Airport interludes really don’t get much better than this.
As major airlines go, Delta operates a fairly old fleet. Prior to its merger with Northwest, Delta’s domestic fleet was peppered with older DC-9-80s, 757s and 767s. What’s old, you ask? I would say anything over 17-18 years old. In other parts of the world, like Asia, that assessment would likely be considerably younger. Delta’s merger with Northwest added a large number of comparatively ancient DC-9s, 757s and A320s to the fleet.
The A320-200 assigned to my flight up to Nashville this evening was N320US, the very first A320 I ever flew upon, having logged a flight on it between Miami and Memphis back in April of 1993. A check at airfleets.net indicated that this aircraft first flew on May 21, 1991, making it 20.5 years old. The old gal still had plenty of get up and go though, rocketing down the runway with considerable alacrity and whisking us up to Nashville in just 34 minutes.
Given that my departure out of Nashville wouldn’t be until 12:00n tomorrow, I considered getting a hotel but decided that as late as it was, I might as well just crash in the airport. Unlike most travelers who tend to get “stuck” in airports overnight, I’m well prepared with a Thermarest pad that I inflate for a nice soft but firm sleeping surface. I also pack a pillow along with a warm wool blanket and a pair of eyeshades. I’ve got a headlamp for reading and a small alarm clock so that I don’t oversleep. After a bit of reconnaissance, I found a nice dark corner of the airport, set up camp and slept comfortably until 7:30am.
September 24, 2011
Delta Air Lines Nashville – Atlanta 1200n – 218p DC-9-50 First Class
Delta Air Lines Atlanta – Portland 435p – 652p 757-200 First Class
Horizon Airlines Portland – Seattle 930p – 1020p DHC-8-400 Economy Class
It’s a good thing I bring an alarm clock because I get so comfortable that I could easily oversleep, and indeed I have on a couple of occasions. After breaking camp, I got cleaned up and changed in a deserted restroom off the baggage claim area. The first flights of the day rarely arrive before 8:00am so as long as you stay on the lower level, you’re almost guaranteed complete privacy. Heading back upstairs and through security, I found a surprisingly good breakfast burrito at the Wendy’s concession in the food court. Then it was off to Delta’s Sky Club, conveniently located right at the head of the concourse.
I suppose I could have stood by for an earlier flight but my noon departure down to Atlanta was scheduled to operate with a DC-9-50, an aircraft that’s not long for North American skies. I’d like to fly as many of these older jets as reasonably possible before they’re put out to pasture in some South American or African backwater. The Sky Club provided hot coffee and a Wi-Fi connection until it came time to head down to the gate at 11:30. Upon my arrival, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I’d been upgraded five feet forward, from my bulkhead seat in Economy to the last row of First Class. Upgrades for Alaska elites are few and far between on our partner carrier, so thank you, Delta!
If last night’s A320 seemed middle aged at 20.5 years old, the DC-9-50 operating today’s service down to Atlanta was positively geriatric, having first flown back in 1976 – thirty-five years ago! While some people have concerns about flying old birds like this, I go out of my way to fly on them. They bring back fond memories of a time when a flight – even on a U.S. domestic airline - was something to look forward to rather than to endure.
I must admit to having been mildly taken aback when a flight attendant stopped by to inquire if I’d care for a pre-departure drink or cocktail. I do most of my flying on Alaska where First Class passengers are generally offered only a cup of water. Though I view this as a real shortcoming on Alaska’s part, most die-hard supporters of Alaska will lamely counter that Alaska has the friendliest people in the industry. Well isn’t that nice, and while I would agree that Alaska’s personnel are very personable and quite possibly do a nicer job of offering a glass of water than anyone else in the industry, at the end of the day they’ve offered no more than a simple collection of hydrogen and oxygen molecules while everyone else is offering their First Class clientele a proper cocktail.
I ordered a Bloody Mary and then reclined my seat a bit to savor the drink’s delicious bite while Atlanta ATC decided what they wanted to do with us. Finally we were assigned a departure time of 12:39 and thirty minutes later we were on our way, climbing smoothly through the muggy skies above Nashville enroute to a cruising altitude of thirty some-odd thousand feet. Another Bloody Mary followed and, after a short but enjoyable flight of just thirty-nine minutes, we landed in Atlanta and taxied briskly to our gate. I spent my two hour layover in the B-25 Sky Club where I put in a bit of time on this report before heading down to gate B32 for another five hours of flying across the country to Portland.
As I was walking down the concourse, I considered stopping to purchase some food at one of the many eateries along the way. At the same time, I had this niggling little premonition that I might actually get upgraded. Even though that rarely ever happens for a lowly Alaska MVP 75K in Delta’s upgrade pecking order, especially on a longer flight, it was Saturday and I liked my odds.
Christian based religions are strong in the South, and most any Sunday I expect you’ll find a higher percentage of Southerners in church than you will in other parts of the country. Ranking a very close second to Christianity is College Football, particularly the brand played in the SEC (South Eastern Conference), whose teams have won the national championship every year for the past five years. Saturdays are like a religious holiday to fans of SEC schools and no self-respecting football fan would ever fly during game times unless there was absolutely no other option. Additionally, golf’s Tournament of Champions was being played this weekend in Atlanta and with the final round set for tomorrow, it seemed likely that a good number of the Delta elites commonly encountered during the week would be at home in front of their televisions today.
Sure enough, as I arrived at the gate and checked the TV monitor, there was my name on the upgrade cleared list. Yes!!! You’ll be in seat 5B, Sir. Have a nice flight!
Once onboard and settled in, I joined seatmate in a round of cocktails while we tuned in to the Arkansas-Alabama game. Thankfully the aircraft was equipped with “Delta on Demand” which allowed us to view not only the football game but also check out the golf on NBC and the scores on ESPN. I love it!
Dinner was a choice of “Chicken or Pasta”. Hmm… Where’s the beef? Seatmate, a Diamond Medallion flyer, recommended the chicken, so chicken it was. Dinner arrived complete on a single tray with main course, salad, bread roll and dessert.
Delta’s First Class Chicken Dinner between Atlanta and Portland
While thankful to be sitting in First Class and enjoying a complimentary meal, I couldn’t help but reminisce to the last time I flew First Class between Atlanta and the Pacific Northwest. It was back in 1980 aboard an Eastern Airlines A300 and the dinner service was presented from the trolley, starting with a seafood appetizer followed by a salad and then a choice of three entrees. Dessert was an ice cream sundae complimented with fruit and cookies as well as the usual toppings. The seats were wide, deep and well-padded and the overall service, branded as Ionosphere Service, was superb.
The dinner we were served tonight would have been a coach meal on no more than a short flight back in the 1970s. That said, by 2011 standards it was fairly decent. The flight attendants were friendly and attentive and overall I thought it was a pretty good flight. By today’s standards.
Upon arrival in Portland I bid adieu to seatmate and headed across to the other side of the airport where my Dash 8 awaited for the short but bumpy flight to the Emerald City. This had been a good day with two unexpected upgrades and a confirmed seat in First Class to look forward to aboard Alaska’s 9:15am nonstop to Atlanta tomorrow morning.
September 25, 2011
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Atlanta 915a – 458p 737-800 First Class
Delta Air Lines Atlanta – Nashville 840p – 852p DC-9-80 Economy Class
According to flightmemory.com which keeps track of such things, I’ve flown into or out of SeaTac over 1,150 times. Over the course of those many trips, I reckon I’ve spent at least 70 to 80 nights comfortably camped out in my little airport hideaway. Indeed, I actually look forward to staying there. Besides being dark and quiet and out of the way, it’s lack of furnishings and cold linoleum floor are completely unattractive to the average traveler stuck overnight in the airport. Instead, most folks gravitate to the bright and noisy airport lounges in search of chairs or, if they’re lucky, a couch. Meanwhile, I’m snoozin’ like Rumplestiltskin.
How to sleep well in an airport. I put the pillow atop my daypack.
I awoke at the leisurely hour of 7:30am, refolded and packed my Thermarest pad, blanket and overnight accoutrements, then headed for Ken’s Baggage Storage where I keep my suitcase packed with extra clothing and books. I exchanged a couple of days of old for a couple days of new, then cleaned up and headed for security.
Alaska’s nonstop to Atlanta was scheduled to depart from gate N-7 over on the North Satellite, so I headed over to United’s Red Carpet Club for a mug of coffee before the flight. Word is that United’s supposed to be moving out of the North Satellite in the next couple of years, clearing the way for Alaska to totally take over the facility and build a new Boardroom up above the gate level. While that’s certainly something to look forward to, I’ve quite enjoyed United’s Red Carpet Club in the meantime. Located downstairs at train level, the lounge is only an escalator ride away from flights departing the N gates upstairs. Alaska flights departing from gates at the far end of the C concourse are only a two minute train ride away.
Judging by the large crowd assembled at the gate, everybody and their cousin were booked to fly aboard Alaska to Atlanta this morning. With no evidence of an oversell situation, I joined the crowd in the jetway. At my seat were one of Alaska’s plain white menu cards along with a seatmate who looked like he hadn’t gotten much sleep last night. A flight attendant stopped by to relieve me of my jacket and shortly thereafter returned with a tray of water.
Water? Water?! Do I look like I’ve just crawled in from a few days in the Mojave Desert? Are we changing sides in a tennis match? The flight’s not due to push back for another twenty-five minutes. How about a cup of coffee or a glass of orange juice? Sorry, those won’t be offered until after takeoff.
Flight time was projected to be four hours and twenty minutes, cruising at over thirty thousand feet. Shortly after we’d leveled off, drink orders were taken and soon I was savoring a nicely chilled glass of orange juice along with a hot cup of coffee. The breakfast choices were a Northwest Salmon Benedict or a Scrambled Egg Popover. I asked the flight attendant what a popover was and she replied that it was like eggs in a pastry shell. Hmm… I’ll have the Northwest Salmon Benedict, please.
The meal started on a positive note with the presentation of a nice fruit plate bearing a colorful variety of berries and fruits. This was accompanied by a choice of three different options from the bread basket – a croissant, an apple turnover or a blueberry Danish. I selected a turnover and thoroughly enjoyed my fruit plate.
Fruit Plate Starter
Like most of you, I’ve enjoyed a few servings of Eggs Benedict in my time. Generally, when I think of Eggs Benedict, I picture two English Muffin halves, each topped with a slice of Canadian bacon and a poached egg, then smothered in Hollandaise Sauce. Of course, there are many variations on the theme, such as Eggs Florentine or even Alaska’s Northwest Salmon Benedict.
Having been told that breakfast would be served on this 2,180 mile long, four and a half hour flight to Atlanta, I held off from eating anything beforehand. I fully expected that on a flight of this length, which benefits from transcon catering standards, we’d be offered a reasonably sized breakfast, much as you’d receive in most any coffee shop. As such, I requested the Northwest Salmon Benedict fully expecting a normal English muffin, sliced in half, and topped with two poached eggs, enough salmon to at least impart some salmon flavor to each bite, and a bit of Hollandaise sauce. What I received was a single untoasted muffin half, topped with a small 2” wide scoop of scrambled eggs and doused under a bit of Hollandaise sauce. The only accompaniment on the plate was a small slice of tomato with some parsley sprinkled on it. Adding to the insult of this entree was the fact that I was unable to discern any salmon flavor in the first bite. Using my fork, I explored the miniscule mass of scrambled eggs and found a few tiny flecks of salmon towards one side of the muffin.
Alaska’s Northwest Salmon Benedict
As transcon meal entrees go, this serving of Alaska’s Northwest Salmon Benedict was, in a word, pathetic. A little harsh, you say? Consider that back in Economy Class they were being offered – at the bargain basement price of just $6.00 – a much nicer and more filling breakfast entrée called a Mexican Breakfast Skillet consisting of scrambled eggs, grilled onions and peppers, crumbled chorizo, cheddar cheese and breakfast potatoes. I thought First Class catering was supposed to be superior to that offered in Coach… On most airlines it is.
Later in the flight, when my seatmate wanted to use the lavatory, he was requested by the flight attendant to wait until a couple of coach passengers who had been waiting in line at row six had gone first. Now that is just plain wrong, especially in light of my seatmate letting on that he’d paid $599.00 for this ticket as a last minute purchase. I realize that in this ultra-permissive, anything goes society that we live in, many if not most of you will feel that of course he should wait anyway regardless of how much more he may have paid. Coach passengers have equal right to the First Class lavatory, and besides, deferring to those already in line – even if from Coach – would be the decent thing to do.
I disagree. No doubt part of my stance is due to the fact that I logged my first 2000 flights during a time when coach passengers simply weren’t allowed into the First Class cabin for any reason. I never had any problem with that as a coach passenger (even when the cart was in the aisle, which we were often advised of a few minutes in advance anyway) and as an occasional First Class passenger I definitely appreciated the quieter, less crowded cabin. These days, while I have no complaint with coach passengers using the First Class lavatory if there are carts blocking the aisle in back, First Class passengers should still take precedence in their own cabin. They’ve either paid for or earned the right to a nicer level of service that includes a dedicated First Class lavatory they and their fifteen fellow passengers and crew can use without having to wait in line behind the additional collection of folks from the main cabin.
I’ve seen a few debates about this issue around FlyerTalk’s forums and there’s no doubt that my position is a long ways from popular. Who knows now how many readers will heap scorn and derision on ol’ 2A because he’s such a hard hearted SOB. Well bring it on, gang. I’m just stating my point of view, however out of place it may be in this day and age.
My MD-80 arrived in Nashville just as the second half of the Steelers-Colts game got underway on Monday Night Football. Great game – great finish. Unless you were a Colt’s fan.
September 26, 2011
Delta Air Lines Nashville – Atlanta 800a – 1015a DC-9-80 Economy Class
Delta Air Lines Atlanta – Seattle 1107a – 133p 767-300 Economy Class
Horizon Airlines Seattle – Portland 400p – 448p DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Portland – Santa Ana 730p – 953p 737-700 First Class
Alaska Airlines MVP Golds and 75Ks enjoy some great benefits when flying Delta. We can choose from premium seats at the time of reservation and can check-in using the Sky Priority status which entitles us to Zone 1 boarding and the use of the elite lane at most security checkpoints. Additionally we’re eligible for complimentary upgrades, though the chances of getting one are not high on most mainline routes during the week. Still, these are nice perks that have definitely swayed a lot of my business from American over to Delta or on to code share flights where Delta’s involved.
Unfortunately there are no elite or First Class lanes at BNA’s security check points, but thankfully the crowds were light this morning and I was through security after just a few minutes. It was a grey and rainy day which made the warm ambience of Delta’s Sky Club that much more inviting. Hot coffee and oatmeal rounded out the morning until it came time to board my MD-80 down to Atlanta.
As of today’s flight I’ve logged 325 flights and 315760 miles aboard MD-80s. In its day, the MD-80 was a great little workhorse for the U.S. airline industry. Once flown by airlines like Alaska, Continental, Frontier, Midwest Express, Ozark, PSA, Republic, TWA, Spirit and Hawaiian Air, today it is operated only by American, Delta and Allegiant. As newer more fuel efficient 737s and Airbuses are delivered, MD-80s are being retired. Hopefully I’ll be able to log at least 350 flights on MD-80s before they disappear from North American skies altogether.
My connection in Atlanta was a short 52 minutes. Thankfully we arrived on time and my bulkhead seat allowed me expeditious egress from the aircraft. My connecting flight to Seattle was aboard a 767-300 upon which I’d booked an exit row seat. I don’t get to fly aboard 767s all that often as most of them have been relegated to international, transcon or Hawaii flights. Additionally, many of the 767s flying for American and Delta are starting to get up there in age, some of them now exceeding 20 years old. It seems hard to believe that the inaugural 767 flight was on September 8, 1982 – almost thirty years ago. I remember it well. I was on it.
Thankfully the 23 year old 767 operating this morning’s flight over to Seattle was equipped with “Delta On Demand” allowing me to have some fun on the interactive Trivia game. There are over fifty different games with twenty questions each, so it’s not like one can remember all the answers. I scored in the high 6000s through the six or seven games that I did play.
Delta’s Buy On Board Menu offers the usual selection of boxed snack items along with a sandwich special. I shelled out $8.50 for the Deli Sliced Roast Chicken Sandwich. It was described as follows: “This deli-inspired creation starts with slices of Boar’s Head EverRoast Chicken topped with sliced Asiago cheese, roasted red peppers, fresh arugula, and herb aioli, piled on a fresh rosemary focaccia roll.” Alas, it sounded better than it actually tasted. There was plenty of chicken but the flavor was a bit odd. Maybe it was the combination of aragula and herb aioli…
A two and a half hour layover in Seattle allowed me the perfect opportunity to visit Delta’s new South Satellite Sky Club, located upstairs from the gate level across from British Airways’ Terraces Lounge. I’d read very positive reviews about the new facility at the Delta forum and had been looking forward to checking it out. Well, it’s definitely more spacious than the old club but the middle of the lounge is dominated by this huge block of weird compartmentalized seating that looks like something out of a science fiction movie. Each seat is in its own little cubicle with a small table installed that can swing into or out of the cubicle. Perhaps these were designed to replace the business zone work areas as there were only four or five seats offering a proper desk with the ergonomic chairs. Light blue, dark blue beige and grey are the predominant colors and overall, I didn’t feel like the place exuded much warmth. Maybe some plants would help, along with a fireplace for those drizzly winter days in Seattle.
The Delta Sky Club I like most is the old Northwest World Club on the C Concourse at Minneapolis. I also like the similarly designed ex-World Clubs at Detroit, Memphis and San Francisco along with the Sky Club at Orlando. I also really liked the old Crown Room that Delta used to operate in Seattle when it was located out on the A Concourse.
One thing does stand out at the new Seattle Sky Club. It has perhaps the best stocked domestic airline bar I’ve ever seen with such notable spirits as Johnny Walker Blue and Gold Label, Avion Tequila, Lagavulin 16 year old and Talisker 18 year old scotch. This is Delta’s new Luxury Bar concept, planned for all Sky Clubs with full-service bars in the next year. In addition to the usual complimentary pours, the Luxury Bars will offer premium wines, champagne and spirits for purchase.The drinks are certainly not cheap, however. A menu lists a variety of “Mixologist Custom Designed Cocktails” at $15.00 apiece, followed by the finer spirits ranging in price from $12.00 to a whopping $60.00 for a glass of Johnny Walker Blue. Dom Perignon may be had for just $199.00 per bottle. I reckon I’ll have to wait until the next time I fly First Class aboard Cathay Pacific or British Airways for my complimentary servings of JWB.
I flew down to Portland aboard a Horizon Dash 8 wearing the livery of the Montana State Grizzlies. Now if only I can log a flight aboard that Portland Timbers liveried 737-700… I’ve actually logged eight flights aboard that particular aircraft (N607AS), just not in its striking new livery.
Waiting at the gate was ship 624, upon which I’ve now logged ten flights for 12,110 miles. Flight time down to Orange County’s John Wayne International Airport was a quick two hours and three minutes, during which we were presented a plate of pot stickers. As late night snack entrees go, I think Alaska’s got a winner with this dish. Most people seem to like it, perhaps because it’s served hot or perhaps because it’s more substantial than a cheese plate.
Pot Stickers Snack
September 27, 2011
Alaska Airlines Santa Ana – Portland 645a – 925a 737-700 First Class
Horizon Airlines Portland – Seattle 1030a – 1120a DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Chicago 1250p – 645p 737-800 First Class
American Eagle Chicago – Omaha 905p – 1030p ERJ-145 Economy Class
My alarm went off at 5:30am, which wasn’t so bad since only the day before I’d gotten up at the equivalent of 4:30am PDT. Either way, I got about six hours of sleep and that’s sufficient for me on these mileage runs.
Alaska doesn’t have a catering contract at SNA, which meant that this morning’s breakfast sandwich had been flown down last night, stored on ice, and then heated up and served this morning. It looked better than it tasted since the “egg” was some prefabricated thing that didn’t taste very egg like at all. Once again, the Mexican Breakfast Skillet back in coach was the better option. Next time I’m going to order it.
Alaska’s First Class Breakfast Sandwich
It occurs to me that I’ve been sounding a bit negative about the inflight meal service of late. Any of you who’ve read my trip reports know that I’m not one of those stuffy old gourmands who automatically assume that all airline food is bad. I’ve had some fantastic meals on airplanes and not just in Cathay Pacific’s First Class either. Aside from some great meals back in the 70s and 80s, I’ve had some pretty tasty Buy On Board selections even right here in the good old U.S. of A.
It wasn’t so many years ago that Alaska Airlines offered what I think was the finest First Class meal service in America on short to medium range flights. I remember large omelets served with all the trimmings on 727 flights between Phoenix and Seattle, or three course dinners on flights as short as Seattle to Ketchikan. Still, the cost of providing such nice meals was considerable and starting in late 2003 we began to see cutbacks in both the quantity and quality of Alaska’s inflight services.
Like all airlines over the past few years, Alaska has committed to an aggressive cost cutting campaign. Unfortunately, meals are a good place to start since passengers have continually indicated in survey after survey that airline food ranks at or near the bottom of what contributes to a good flight. Mostly they’re interested in an affordable fare, accruing miles, getting upgraded and getting off the airplane on time. For a guy who's always enjoyed inflight meals, the past few years have been frustrating as more and more of the quality so evident in years past has been whittled away until now we’re left with a product that’s so meager and unremarkable that to call it “First Class” is just downright ludicrous.
To be sure, my viewpoint is affected by the fact that I’d logged over 1000 flights in domestic First Class by 1990, well before all these cuts were implemented. First Class neophytes such as the occasional leisure traveler and/or those who were born after about 1985 still gush over domestic First Class simply because it’s better than anything they’ve previously experienced in the back of the plane.
My complaint, especially with Alaska, is that they often offer better food in coach than they serve in First Class. Check out the description of Alaska’s First Class meal service on their website:
“We have always set ourselves apart for our attention to quality food and a commitment to providing a First Class complimentary service to look forward to.
Whether it is a three course meal including wild Alaska salmon on one of our transcontinental routes, or a selection of quality cheeses and fresh vegetables served on a shorter flight, you've come to expect our food to be a cut above the competition.”
Unfortunately, if you go over to airlinemeals.net and compare Alaska’s offerings to those of other airlines, Alaska’s First Class inflight meal service is definitely not "a cut above the competition". Indeed, they may very well be the worst in the industry. While I’ve no doubt that Alaska's Executive Chef Clifton Lyles is blessed with considerable creative culinary ability, I suspect those abilities are severely shackled with the budget constraints imposed on him by Alaska Airlines. It’s hard to imagine a chef of any ilk being proud of a First Class dinner offering on a four flight consisting of no more than a bowl of pasta and cheese or a tiny chicken breast topped with a simple sauce and accompanied by a pile of salad greens. In general, the meals I’ve been served in Alaska’s First Class have tasted decent enough. They just don’t seem very “First Class”.
*** *** ***
It was a beautiful day for flying as we sped northward past the rugged granite peaks of California’s Sierra Nevadas. The Captain took time to point out such notable features as Yosemite’s Half Dome and El Capitan, Mono Lake and Lake Tahoe. Unfortunately clouds gathered as we continued north, and by the time we landed in Portland it was raining lightly.
I could have stood by successfully for the 9:30am departure up to Portland but as it was being operated by one of the 33 Dash 8s that I’d already flown with Horizon, I decided to hold out for a chance that one of the 15 Dash 8s I hadn’t yet flown would be operating my scheduled flight at 10:30am. Good fortune shined on me as ship 405 taxied up to the gate for my flight.
On the three hour and forty-two minute flight to Chicago, Alaska’s First Class passengers were offered a small bowl of Tomato Basil Soup accompanied by a roll and a spinach leaf salad. Dessert was a small piece of chocolate. I washed it all down with a double serving of Jack Daniels on the rocks, and then put in a bit of time on this report.
Alaska’s First Class Soup and Salad Meal
Alaska uses gate L1 exclusively at O’Hare, so unless you get lucky and your connecting American flight is departing from one of American’s four gates on The Ell, you’ll be in for a fairly long walk. This is especially true for those of us like me making connections to flights operated by American Eagle flights which generally depart out of the G Concourse, located 3.6 miles away. Okay, okay, it’s not thaaaat far, but it’s a good long walk as airport transfers go. I limped over there in about 12 minutes.
I remember when flights between Chicago and Omaha used to rate a wide-bodied aircraft. Indeed I’ve flown into Omaha’s Eppley Field on both 767-200s and DC-10s. These days regional jets proliferate the ramp at OMA, with the largest jet in town being an MD-80 up from Dallas. I took some solace in the extra space afforded by the exit row seat aboard my ERJ-145 out to Omaha.
September 28, 2011
American Eagle Omaha – Chicago 1200n – 130p ERJ-145 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Chicago – Seattle 330p – 555p 737-800 First Class
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Santa Ana 742p – 1019p 737-700 First Class
One of the best things about flying out of Omaha’s Eppley Field is breakfast at the Hangar Restaurant. The wooden chairs and tables lend a down home ranch house ambience and the blueberry pancakes with sausage patties and a pot of hot coffee are a great way to start the day.
A two hour layover at O’Hare allowed me plenty of time to visit American’s smaller G Concourse Admirals Club, conveniently located directly across the hallway from my arrival gate at G6. Large picture windows ran the length of the lounge and provided excellent views of the ramp. A variety of alcoholic drinks and food were available for purchase, but complimentary items were limited to cookies and nut mix.
Over on the L Concourse, jets from Alaska, American, Virgin America, Jet Blue and Spirit made for a colorful lineup of airliners. The narrow concourse was teeming with humanity and Alaska’s flight to Seattle appeared to be the most popular flight of all. I took advantage of priority boarding if only to escape the crowd.
A couple of Bloody Mary’s got this flight off to a nice start. I supplied my own sleeve of Blue Diamond Roasted Almonds because Alaska’s Snack Mix is 90% pretzels. Shortly after leveling off, we were offered dinner consisting of a tiny chicken breast smothered in Alfredo Sauce accompanied by a small side salad. Alaska’s First Class passengers may request the Buy On Board meal from Economy, but those meals are subject to availability after they’ve been offered to all Economy passengers. I requested the steak fajita dish from the back and was ever so thankful when the Flight Attendant presented me that dish along with the plated side salad from First Class.
Alaska’s Steak Fajita Economy Meal with First Class Salad
With the assistance of a good book, time just flew by on this most pleasant of flights. When the captain announced our initial descent, I glanced out my window to see the rugged peaks of the Cascades gliding by beneath us. I put the book down for a bit. Landing was to the north and we parked at C-16, perfectly positioned for me to catch the train to baggage claim.
Rather than check a bag every day and risk loss or misplacement through late flights or interline transfers, I store a single suitcase at Ken’s Baggage Storage, located by Alaska’s baggage claim on the lower level of SeaTac. The cost is $7.50 per day, but visitation privileges are allowed at no cost. I check in every couple of days to exchange old clothing for fresh clean clothes. I also schedule a few days off every six or seven days not just because I need the break but also because it gives me an opportunity to do laundry.
Ken’s is a surprisingly lucrative business because they not only store baggage and other items but they can arrange to mail them as well. As we all know, the post 9-11 era has brought all kinds of restrictions on what can or cannot be brought aboard airplanes. As frequent flyers, we’re quite well versed in these rules. Much of the flying public is not however. Besides all the usual stuff like knives, lighters, scissors and liquids in any amount greater than 3 oz., the TSA also denies things like Leathermans, sharp or pointy tools like screwdrivers and improperly packed weapons. Mail it or lose it, Sir. At SeaTac, if you don’t want to lose it, you take it to Ken’s.
Although Alaska’s 7:42pm flight to Orange County’s John Wayne International Airport was operated with a 124 seat 737-700, I suspect a 70 seat CRJ-700 could have easily handled the light load tonight. Not that I’m advocating any such thing, however! I’m no fan of regional jets for flights over 500 miles, although Embraer’s ERJ-170 and 190 jets are far more tolerable with cabins that are almost two feet wider than those of the CRJs.
After six straight days of flying, I’m ready for a break. Tonight I’m staying at the Crown Plaza, booked via Travelocity’s Top Secret Hotel function for just $53.02 all in. Tomorrow I’ll pick up a full sized car from Alamo and head for San Francisco where I can’t imagine a better way to spend four days off than at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park.
September 29-October 3, 2011
What a marvelous weekend! Terrific weather, great music, good food and lots of friendly folks all happening in the verdant eucalyptus forests of Golden Gate Park. This was surely one of the best music festivals I’ve ever been to and it was all free, thanks to the generous philanthropy of local billionaire (and banjo aficionado) Warren Hellman. Even for those who don't particularly care for bluegrass music, this festival is a great opportunity just to get outside and do something you don't normally get to do every day ~ like hang out with a few hundred thousand fun loving people, many of whom had flown in from all over the U.S. and Canada to be there.
Now when it comes to bluegrass music, I’m not much of a traditionalist. Rather, my tastes tend to lean more toward new grass, jazz grass and jam grass but as the name says, this is hardly strictly a bluegrass festival. There were also plenty of non-bluegrass acts to enjoy including John Prine, Robert Plant, Charlie Musselwhite, Southern Culture On The Skids, Irma Thomas and Dark Star Orchestra to name just a few. In general, I’d say the line-up was a lot more representative of American Roots music. Check it out:
The Line Up
There were so many great bands ~ some that I wouldn’t hesitate to have spent good money to see and others that I’m thankful to have discovered here. The six stages were well separated from one another and between them all were lots of food and beverage kiosks serving everything from crab cakes to vegan burgers to corn on the cob to barbecued salmon. Notably absent was alcohol of any type – no complaints there though as there were plenty of other delicious options.
Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures because all I took down to the park each day was money. I intentionally left my daypack, camera and wallet all back at the hostel. Here are a couple of reviews (including pictures) from the local papers:
REVIEW ONE
REVIEW TWO
On Monday I took a leisurely drive down the coast along Highway 1, stopped for dinner at my favorite Thai restaurant in Ventura, then returned the car to the airport in Santa Ana. Once things finally quieted down about 11:00pm, I got a decent night’s sleep in a nice alcove on the upper level. All in all, this was a fine weekend. I am re-energized and ready for the next four days which will include thirteen flights on six airlines.
Alaska Airlines Fairbanks - Anchorage 310p – 413p 737-800 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Anchorage - Seattle 710p – 1130p 737-900 Economy Class
It’s a good thing my first flight of the day wasn’t until 3:10pm, because I needed every bit of the morning and early afternoon to complete a myriad of pre-departure tasks intrinsic to a worry free month away from home. Finally, heat turned down, door locked and porch light turned on, I gathered my gear and headed across the road to my neighbor’s cabin where a ride awaited to the airport.
Fairbanks International is a wonderfully relaxed airport to fly out of. We only have about a dozen jet flights per day and even during the holiday travel crush, one rarely encounters crowds large enough to warrant an early trip out to the airport. There is an elite passenger lane at the security checkpoint, but more often than not it’s use is not necessary.
Today, all flights down to Anchorage and Seattle were either sold out or very close to it. The counter agent explained that between the final cruise ship tours of the season, the end of hunting season and normal travel patterns for this time of year, most flights out of Fairbanks had been sold out for the past three days. Regardless, when I reached the security checkpoint there were only five or six people in line.
Veteran readers of my trip reports will recall that I log each of my flights and have been doing so since I could first write in a straight line. Having now logged 142 flights totaling 182500 miles solely aboard Alaska’s 737-800s, I can also tell you – by virtue of having faithfully recorded all of the registration numbers for each flight – that I have currently flown 46 of Alaska’s 58 737-800s. Collect them all, I say! Unfortunately, that could take a good number of years. Short of going down to the airport and targeting individual aircraft – an expensive proposition as I’d be forced to purchase tickets at that day’s fare – I am limited to relying on pure chance. At present there’s about a 1 in 5 chance of my getting a “new” aircraft on any given flight aboard an Alaska 737-800. Of course, the more previously unflown aircraft I fly, the higher the odds get until finally, with just one aircraft left to fly, the odds will be 1 in 58. Granted, those aren’t very good odds but I’m not too worried. After all, I knocked off each and every one of Alaska’s 737-200s, 400s, 700s, 900s and MD-80s completely by chance so I’m confident that in the next six or seven years I’ll likely complete the circuit on Alaska’s -800s as well. Today marks my 939th flight aboard Alaska Airlines.
My quest got off to a fine start aboard ship 590 on the 39 minute flight down to Anchorage. One down, only eleven more to go! During the three hour layover in Anchorage I met up with a couple of fellow Denali employees who were flying down to Dallas aboard American’s 8:30pm nonstop. I treated them to a visit in Alaska’s Boardroom where hot bowls of Beef Barley soup and cold glasses of Alaskan Summer Ale awaited.
In addition to logging all of my flights, I also keep some pretty detailed statistics. Amongst them are things like how many flights and miles I’ve flown aboard a specific aircraft type (737-900), how many flights and miles I’ve flown aboard that aircraft type by airline (Alaska 737-900s) and how many flights and miles I’ve flown aboard that specific aircraft (i.e. N305AS). My flight down to Seattle aboard Alaska’s 737-900 took me over the 100,000 mile mark flown aboard this aircraft type and coincidentally the aircraft operating this flight, N305AS, was not only the first 737-900 I’d ever flown upon but was also the -900 upon which I’d currently logged the most miles upon (12260). I celebrated this minor bit of personal esoterica with an Alaskan Amber and set to work in writing this trip report.
23, 2011
Horizon Airlines Seattle - Portland 900a – 948a DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Delta Air Lines Portland – Atlanta 1240p – 843p 737-800 Economy Class
Delta Air Lines Atlanta – Nashville 1048p – 1050p A320-200 Economy Class
One of the best breakfast deals in all of Seattle has to be the Breakfast Taco sold at Anthony’s Fish Restaurant located just off Concourse C in the main airport commons. A mere $4.00 will get you a soft taco shell filled with a generous portion of scrambled eggs, cheese, bacon and salsa served with a side of fried potatoes. I passed on the potatoes in exchange for some extra salsa and then headed down the concourse to gate C2B where Horizon’s DHC-8-400 awaited, resplendent in its new blue and green Alaska livery.
I filled in the final squares of the inflight magazine crossword puzzle just as the Captain shut down the engines at our gate in Portland. Fifteen minutes and a quarter mile walk later I was relaxing over hot coffee and a copy of the Oregonian at United’s Red Carpet Club. This facility is conveniently located at the entrance to the E concourse, just a three minute walk from Delta’s gates across the way on the D Concourse. Delta operates a Sky Club at Portland but its only windows look down over the concourse interior. United’s Red Carpet Club provides large picture windows that offer outstanding views of the ramp below and the countryside beyond. Additionally, they flood the clubroom with lots of natural sunshine.
Despite the huge crowd overflowing from the gate lounge, boarding of the ten year old 737-800 operating Delta’s Atlanta flight proceeded smoothly. Indeed, I was surprised to note that we even began our pushback a couple of minutes early. Following a surprisingly short taxi, we thundered down the runway and verily leapt into the air, climbing smoothly out over the verdant Oregon countryside while ever so gradually turning towards the southeast.
One of the highlights of many longer flights aboard Delta Air Lines is their excellent “Delta on Demand” inflight entertainment system. Displayed through a 7” screen mounted in the seatback, the system offers 18 satellite networks including HBO, 28 films, a choice of 4100 songs across 14 music categories and a variety of games including my favorite, an interactive trivia game that pits you against any fellow passengers who might also be playing. Each trivia game has twenty questions covering a broad variety of topics and after not having flown Delta since last April, I was pleased to see lots of new questions.
After kickin’ butt on my fellow passengers for a couple of hours, I signed off and had a look at the inflight food offerings. The flight attendants had distributed menus outlining the various options - a fairly standard collection of snack boxes and a couple types of sandwiches. I’m not much of a snack box guy, so I went with the eastbound sandwich selection, a set of three roast beef sliders costing $8.50. They were okay, though hardly outstanding. I think Alaska’s $6.00 hot meal selections are still the best meal for purchase options available.
Arrival in Atlanta was ten minutes early, and with a scheduled two hour and fifteen minute layover, I was left with more than enough time to take advantage of a proper shoe shine. Now I realize that many if not most of you prefer a more casual approach to inflight attire that very likely does not include wearing shoes that might require the occasional shine. What can I say? I’m a throwback to the sixties and seventies when the very notion of stepping aboard a jet plane was still exciting and novel enough that most folks deemed it worthy of getting dressed up for. While I generally could care less what my fellow passengers choose to wear, I still tend to dress business casual, i.e. black Levi 501s, a button down oxford, a $10.00 thrift shop sport jacket and a decent pair of shoes. For some odd reason, despite having logged over 4000 flights, I still find flying exciting enough to not show up in a T-Shirt and shorts. There is no cure for my affliction, but I'm hardly complaining!
Delta operates a whopping nine Sky Clubs at Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport. Some are large, some are small. The club on the C Concourse is a medium sized facility that sports a good looking bar, attractive seating areas and a nicely sized business center with about a dozen work areas. I was immediately taken by the dimmed lighting and cocktail lounge like ambience. As such, I ordered a Jack Daniels on the rocks, accompanied it with a small bowl of mixed nuts and retired to a comfortable seat by the windows. Airport interludes really don’t get much better than this.
As major airlines go, Delta operates a fairly old fleet. Prior to its merger with Northwest, Delta’s domestic fleet was peppered with older DC-9-80s, 757s and 767s. What’s old, you ask? I would say anything over 17-18 years old. In other parts of the world, like Asia, that assessment would likely be considerably younger. Delta’s merger with Northwest added a large number of comparatively ancient DC-9s, 757s and A320s to the fleet.
The A320-200 assigned to my flight up to Nashville this evening was N320US, the very first A320 I ever flew upon, having logged a flight on it between Miami and Memphis back in April of 1993. A check at airfleets.net indicated that this aircraft first flew on May 21, 1991, making it 20.5 years old. The old gal still had plenty of get up and go though, rocketing down the runway with considerable alacrity and whisking us up to Nashville in just 34 minutes.
Given that my departure out of Nashville wouldn’t be until 12:00n tomorrow, I considered getting a hotel but decided that as late as it was, I might as well just crash in the airport. Unlike most travelers who tend to get “stuck” in airports overnight, I’m well prepared with a Thermarest pad that I inflate for a nice soft but firm sleeping surface. I also pack a pillow along with a warm wool blanket and a pair of eyeshades. I’ve got a headlamp for reading and a small alarm clock so that I don’t oversleep. After a bit of reconnaissance, I found a nice dark corner of the airport, set up camp and slept comfortably until 7:30am.
September 24, 2011
Delta Air Lines Nashville – Atlanta 1200n – 218p DC-9-50 First Class
Delta Air Lines Atlanta – Portland 435p – 652p 757-200 First Class
Horizon Airlines Portland – Seattle 930p – 1020p DHC-8-400 Economy Class
It’s a good thing I bring an alarm clock because I get so comfortable that I could easily oversleep, and indeed I have on a couple of occasions. After breaking camp, I got cleaned up and changed in a deserted restroom off the baggage claim area. The first flights of the day rarely arrive before 8:00am so as long as you stay on the lower level, you’re almost guaranteed complete privacy. Heading back upstairs and through security, I found a surprisingly good breakfast burrito at the Wendy’s concession in the food court. Then it was off to Delta’s Sky Club, conveniently located right at the head of the concourse.
I suppose I could have stood by for an earlier flight but my noon departure down to Atlanta was scheduled to operate with a DC-9-50, an aircraft that’s not long for North American skies. I’d like to fly as many of these older jets as reasonably possible before they’re put out to pasture in some South American or African backwater. The Sky Club provided hot coffee and a Wi-Fi connection until it came time to head down to the gate at 11:30. Upon my arrival, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I’d been upgraded five feet forward, from my bulkhead seat in Economy to the last row of First Class. Upgrades for Alaska elites are few and far between on our partner carrier, so thank you, Delta!
If last night’s A320 seemed middle aged at 20.5 years old, the DC-9-50 operating today’s service down to Atlanta was positively geriatric, having first flown back in 1976 – thirty-five years ago! While some people have concerns about flying old birds like this, I go out of my way to fly on them. They bring back fond memories of a time when a flight – even on a U.S. domestic airline - was something to look forward to rather than to endure.
I must admit to having been mildly taken aback when a flight attendant stopped by to inquire if I’d care for a pre-departure drink or cocktail. I do most of my flying on Alaska where First Class passengers are generally offered only a cup of water. Though I view this as a real shortcoming on Alaska’s part, most die-hard supporters of Alaska will lamely counter that Alaska has the friendliest people in the industry. Well isn’t that nice, and while I would agree that Alaska’s personnel are very personable and quite possibly do a nicer job of offering a glass of water than anyone else in the industry, at the end of the day they’ve offered no more than a simple collection of hydrogen and oxygen molecules while everyone else is offering their First Class clientele a proper cocktail.
I ordered a Bloody Mary and then reclined my seat a bit to savor the drink’s delicious bite while Atlanta ATC decided what they wanted to do with us. Finally we were assigned a departure time of 12:39 and thirty minutes later we were on our way, climbing smoothly through the muggy skies above Nashville enroute to a cruising altitude of thirty some-odd thousand feet. Another Bloody Mary followed and, after a short but enjoyable flight of just thirty-nine minutes, we landed in Atlanta and taxied briskly to our gate. I spent my two hour layover in the B-25 Sky Club where I put in a bit of time on this report before heading down to gate B32 for another five hours of flying across the country to Portland.
As I was walking down the concourse, I considered stopping to purchase some food at one of the many eateries along the way. At the same time, I had this niggling little premonition that I might actually get upgraded. Even though that rarely ever happens for a lowly Alaska MVP 75K in Delta’s upgrade pecking order, especially on a longer flight, it was Saturday and I liked my odds.
Christian based religions are strong in the South, and most any Sunday I expect you’ll find a higher percentage of Southerners in church than you will in other parts of the country. Ranking a very close second to Christianity is College Football, particularly the brand played in the SEC (South Eastern Conference), whose teams have won the national championship every year for the past five years. Saturdays are like a religious holiday to fans of SEC schools and no self-respecting football fan would ever fly during game times unless there was absolutely no other option. Additionally, golf’s Tournament of Champions was being played this weekend in Atlanta and with the final round set for tomorrow, it seemed likely that a good number of the Delta elites commonly encountered during the week would be at home in front of their televisions today.
Sure enough, as I arrived at the gate and checked the TV monitor, there was my name on the upgrade cleared list. Yes!!! You’ll be in seat 5B, Sir. Have a nice flight!
Once onboard and settled in, I joined seatmate in a round of cocktails while we tuned in to the Arkansas-Alabama game. Thankfully the aircraft was equipped with “Delta on Demand” which allowed us to view not only the football game but also check out the golf on NBC and the scores on ESPN. I love it!
Dinner was a choice of “Chicken or Pasta”. Hmm… Where’s the beef? Seatmate, a Diamond Medallion flyer, recommended the chicken, so chicken it was. Dinner arrived complete on a single tray with main course, salad, bread roll and dessert.
Delta’s First Class Chicken Dinner between Atlanta and Portland
While thankful to be sitting in First Class and enjoying a complimentary meal, I couldn’t help but reminisce to the last time I flew First Class between Atlanta and the Pacific Northwest. It was back in 1980 aboard an Eastern Airlines A300 and the dinner service was presented from the trolley, starting with a seafood appetizer followed by a salad and then a choice of three entrees. Dessert was an ice cream sundae complimented with fruit and cookies as well as the usual toppings. The seats were wide, deep and well-padded and the overall service, branded as Ionosphere Service, was superb.
The dinner we were served tonight would have been a coach meal on no more than a short flight back in the 1970s. That said, by 2011 standards it was fairly decent. The flight attendants were friendly and attentive and overall I thought it was a pretty good flight. By today’s standards.
Upon arrival in Portland I bid adieu to seatmate and headed across to the other side of the airport where my Dash 8 awaited for the short but bumpy flight to the Emerald City. This had been a good day with two unexpected upgrades and a confirmed seat in First Class to look forward to aboard Alaska’s 9:15am nonstop to Atlanta tomorrow morning.
September 25, 2011
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Atlanta 915a – 458p 737-800 First Class
Delta Air Lines Atlanta – Nashville 840p – 852p DC-9-80 Economy Class
According to flightmemory.com which keeps track of such things, I’ve flown into or out of SeaTac over 1,150 times. Over the course of those many trips, I reckon I’ve spent at least 70 to 80 nights comfortably camped out in my little airport hideaway. Indeed, I actually look forward to staying there. Besides being dark and quiet and out of the way, it’s lack of furnishings and cold linoleum floor are completely unattractive to the average traveler stuck overnight in the airport. Instead, most folks gravitate to the bright and noisy airport lounges in search of chairs or, if they’re lucky, a couch. Meanwhile, I’m snoozin’ like Rumplestiltskin.
How to sleep well in an airport. I put the pillow atop my daypack.
I awoke at the leisurely hour of 7:30am, refolded and packed my Thermarest pad, blanket and overnight accoutrements, then headed for Ken’s Baggage Storage where I keep my suitcase packed with extra clothing and books. I exchanged a couple of days of old for a couple days of new, then cleaned up and headed for security.
Alaska’s nonstop to Atlanta was scheduled to depart from gate N-7 over on the North Satellite, so I headed over to United’s Red Carpet Club for a mug of coffee before the flight. Word is that United’s supposed to be moving out of the North Satellite in the next couple of years, clearing the way for Alaska to totally take over the facility and build a new Boardroom up above the gate level. While that’s certainly something to look forward to, I’ve quite enjoyed United’s Red Carpet Club in the meantime. Located downstairs at train level, the lounge is only an escalator ride away from flights departing the N gates upstairs. Alaska flights departing from gates at the far end of the C concourse are only a two minute train ride away.
Judging by the large crowd assembled at the gate, everybody and their cousin were booked to fly aboard Alaska to Atlanta this morning. With no evidence of an oversell situation, I joined the crowd in the jetway. At my seat were one of Alaska’s plain white menu cards along with a seatmate who looked like he hadn’t gotten much sleep last night. A flight attendant stopped by to relieve me of my jacket and shortly thereafter returned with a tray of water.
Water? Water?! Do I look like I’ve just crawled in from a few days in the Mojave Desert? Are we changing sides in a tennis match? The flight’s not due to push back for another twenty-five minutes. How about a cup of coffee or a glass of orange juice? Sorry, those won’t be offered until after takeoff.
Flight time was projected to be four hours and twenty minutes, cruising at over thirty thousand feet. Shortly after we’d leveled off, drink orders were taken and soon I was savoring a nicely chilled glass of orange juice along with a hot cup of coffee. The breakfast choices were a Northwest Salmon Benedict or a Scrambled Egg Popover. I asked the flight attendant what a popover was and she replied that it was like eggs in a pastry shell. Hmm… I’ll have the Northwest Salmon Benedict, please.
The meal started on a positive note with the presentation of a nice fruit plate bearing a colorful variety of berries and fruits. This was accompanied by a choice of three different options from the bread basket – a croissant, an apple turnover or a blueberry Danish. I selected a turnover and thoroughly enjoyed my fruit plate.
Fruit Plate Starter
Like most of you, I’ve enjoyed a few servings of Eggs Benedict in my time. Generally, when I think of Eggs Benedict, I picture two English Muffin halves, each topped with a slice of Canadian bacon and a poached egg, then smothered in Hollandaise Sauce. Of course, there are many variations on the theme, such as Eggs Florentine or even Alaska’s Northwest Salmon Benedict.
Having been told that breakfast would be served on this 2,180 mile long, four and a half hour flight to Atlanta, I held off from eating anything beforehand. I fully expected that on a flight of this length, which benefits from transcon catering standards, we’d be offered a reasonably sized breakfast, much as you’d receive in most any coffee shop. As such, I requested the Northwest Salmon Benedict fully expecting a normal English muffin, sliced in half, and topped with two poached eggs, enough salmon to at least impart some salmon flavor to each bite, and a bit of Hollandaise sauce. What I received was a single untoasted muffin half, topped with a small 2” wide scoop of scrambled eggs and doused under a bit of Hollandaise sauce. The only accompaniment on the plate was a small slice of tomato with some parsley sprinkled on it. Adding to the insult of this entree was the fact that I was unable to discern any salmon flavor in the first bite. Using my fork, I explored the miniscule mass of scrambled eggs and found a few tiny flecks of salmon towards one side of the muffin.
Alaska’s Northwest Salmon Benedict
As transcon meal entrees go, this serving of Alaska’s Northwest Salmon Benedict was, in a word, pathetic. A little harsh, you say? Consider that back in Economy Class they were being offered – at the bargain basement price of just $6.00 – a much nicer and more filling breakfast entrée called a Mexican Breakfast Skillet consisting of scrambled eggs, grilled onions and peppers, crumbled chorizo, cheddar cheese and breakfast potatoes. I thought First Class catering was supposed to be superior to that offered in Coach… On most airlines it is.
Later in the flight, when my seatmate wanted to use the lavatory, he was requested by the flight attendant to wait until a couple of coach passengers who had been waiting in line at row six had gone first. Now that is just plain wrong, especially in light of my seatmate letting on that he’d paid $599.00 for this ticket as a last minute purchase. I realize that in this ultra-permissive, anything goes society that we live in, many if not most of you will feel that of course he should wait anyway regardless of how much more he may have paid. Coach passengers have equal right to the First Class lavatory, and besides, deferring to those already in line – even if from Coach – would be the decent thing to do.
I disagree. No doubt part of my stance is due to the fact that I logged my first 2000 flights during a time when coach passengers simply weren’t allowed into the First Class cabin for any reason. I never had any problem with that as a coach passenger (even when the cart was in the aisle, which we were often advised of a few minutes in advance anyway) and as an occasional First Class passenger I definitely appreciated the quieter, less crowded cabin. These days, while I have no complaint with coach passengers using the First Class lavatory if there are carts blocking the aisle in back, First Class passengers should still take precedence in their own cabin. They’ve either paid for or earned the right to a nicer level of service that includes a dedicated First Class lavatory they and their fifteen fellow passengers and crew can use without having to wait in line behind the additional collection of folks from the main cabin.
I’ve seen a few debates about this issue around FlyerTalk’s forums and there’s no doubt that my position is a long ways from popular. Who knows now how many readers will heap scorn and derision on ol’ 2A because he’s such a hard hearted SOB. Well bring it on, gang. I’m just stating my point of view, however out of place it may be in this day and age.
My MD-80 arrived in Nashville just as the second half of the Steelers-Colts game got underway on Monday Night Football. Great game – great finish. Unless you were a Colt’s fan.
September 26, 2011
Delta Air Lines Nashville – Atlanta 800a – 1015a DC-9-80 Economy Class
Delta Air Lines Atlanta – Seattle 1107a – 133p 767-300 Economy Class
Horizon Airlines Seattle – Portland 400p – 448p DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Portland – Santa Ana 730p – 953p 737-700 First Class
Alaska Airlines MVP Golds and 75Ks enjoy some great benefits when flying Delta. We can choose from premium seats at the time of reservation and can check-in using the Sky Priority status which entitles us to Zone 1 boarding and the use of the elite lane at most security checkpoints. Additionally we’re eligible for complimentary upgrades, though the chances of getting one are not high on most mainline routes during the week. Still, these are nice perks that have definitely swayed a lot of my business from American over to Delta or on to code share flights where Delta’s involved.
Unfortunately there are no elite or First Class lanes at BNA’s security check points, but thankfully the crowds were light this morning and I was through security after just a few minutes. It was a grey and rainy day which made the warm ambience of Delta’s Sky Club that much more inviting. Hot coffee and oatmeal rounded out the morning until it came time to board my MD-80 down to Atlanta.
As of today’s flight I’ve logged 325 flights and 315760 miles aboard MD-80s. In its day, the MD-80 was a great little workhorse for the U.S. airline industry. Once flown by airlines like Alaska, Continental, Frontier, Midwest Express, Ozark, PSA, Republic, TWA, Spirit and Hawaiian Air, today it is operated only by American, Delta and Allegiant. As newer more fuel efficient 737s and Airbuses are delivered, MD-80s are being retired. Hopefully I’ll be able to log at least 350 flights on MD-80s before they disappear from North American skies altogether.
My connection in Atlanta was a short 52 minutes. Thankfully we arrived on time and my bulkhead seat allowed me expeditious egress from the aircraft. My connecting flight to Seattle was aboard a 767-300 upon which I’d booked an exit row seat. I don’t get to fly aboard 767s all that often as most of them have been relegated to international, transcon or Hawaii flights. Additionally, many of the 767s flying for American and Delta are starting to get up there in age, some of them now exceeding 20 years old. It seems hard to believe that the inaugural 767 flight was on September 8, 1982 – almost thirty years ago. I remember it well. I was on it.
Thankfully the 23 year old 767 operating this morning’s flight over to Seattle was equipped with “Delta On Demand” allowing me to have some fun on the interactive Trivia game. There are over fifty different games with twenty questions each, so it’s not like one can remember all the answers. I scored in the high 6000s through the six or seven games that I did play.
Delta’s Buy On Board Menu offers the usual selection of boxed snack items along with a sandwich special. I shelled out $8.50 for the Deli Sliced Roast Chicken Sandwich. It was described as follows: “This deli-inspired creation starts with slices of Boar’s Head EverRoast Chicken topped with sliced Asiago cheese, roasted red peppers, fresh arugula, and herb aioli, piled on a fresh rosemary focaccia roll.” Alas, it sounded better than it actually tasted. There was plenty of chicken but the flavor was a bit odd. Maybe it was the combination of aragula and herb aioli…
A two and a half hour layover in Seattle allowed me the perfect opportunity to visit Delta’s new South Satellite Sky Club, located upstairs from the gate level across from British Airways’ Terraces Lounge. I’d read very positive reviews about the new facility at the Delta forum and had been looking forward to checking it out. Well, it’s definitely more spacious than the old club but the middle of the lounge is dominated by this huge block of weird compartmentalized seating that looks like something out of a science fiction movie. Each seat is in its own little cubicle with a small table installed that can swing into or out of the cubicle. Perhaps these were designed to replace the business zone work areas as there were only four or five seats offering a proper desk with the ergonomic chairs. Light blue, dark blue beige and grey are the predominant colors and overall, I didn’t feel like the place exuded much warmth. Maybe some plants would help, along with a fireplace for those drizzly winter days in Seattle.
The Delta Sky Club I like most is the old Northwest World Club on the C Concourse at Minneapolis. I also like the similarly designed ex-World Clubs at Detroit, Memphis and San Francisco along with the Sky Club at Orlando. I also really liked the old Crown Room that Delta used to operate in Seattle when it was located out on the A Concourse.
One thing does stand out at the new Seattle Sky Club. It has perhaps the best stocked domestic airline bar I’ve ever seen with such notable spirits as Johnny Walker Blue and Gold Label, Avion Tequila, Lagavulin 16 year old and Talisker 18 year old scotch. This is Delta’s new Luxury Bar concept, planned for all Sky Clubs with full-service bars in the next year. In addition to the usual complimentary pours, the Luxury Bars will offer premium wines, champagne and spirits for purchase.The drinks are certainly not cheap, however. A menu lists a variety of “Mixologist Custom Designed Cocktails” at $15.00 apiece, followed by the finer spirits ranging in price from $12.00 to a whopping $60.00 for a glass of Johnny Walker Blue. Dom Perignon may be had for just $199.00 per bottle. I reckon I’ll have to wait until the next time I fly First Class aboard Cathay Pacific or British Airways for my complimentary servings of JWB.
I flew down to Portland aboard a Horizon Dash 8 wearing the livery of the Montana State Grizzlies. Now if only I can log a flight aboard that Portland Timbers liveried 737-700… I’ve actually logged eight flights aboard that particular aircraft (N607AS), just not in its striking new livery.
Waiting at the gate was ship 624, upon which I’ve now logged ten flights for 12,110 miles. Flight time down to Orange County’s John Wayne International Airport was a quick two hours and three minutes, during which we were presented a plate of pot stickers. As late night snack entrees go, I think Alaska’s got a winner with this dish. Most people seem to like it, perhaps because it’s served hot or perhaps because it’s more substantial than a cheese plate.
Pot Stickers Snack
September 27, 2011
Alaska Airlines Santa Ana – Portland 645a – 925a 737-700 First Class
Horizon Airlines Portland – Seattle 1030a – 1120a DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Chicago 1250p – 645p 737-800 First Class
American Eagle Chicago – Omaha 905p – 1030p ERJ-145 Economy Class
My alarm went off at 5:30am, which wasn’t so bad since only the day before I’d gotten up at the equivalent of 4:30am PDT. Either way, I got about six hours of sleep and that’s sufficient for me on these mileage runs.
Alaska doesn’t have a catering contract at SNA, which meant that this morning’s breakfast sandwich had been flown down last night, stored on ice, and then heated up and served this morning. It looked better than it tasted since the “egg” was some prefabricated thing that didn’t taste very egg like at all. Once again, the Mexican Breakfast Skillet back in coach was the better option. Next time I’m going to order it.
Alaska’s First Class Breakfast Sandwich
It occurs to me that I’ve been sounding a bit negative about the inflight meal service of late. Any of you who’ve read my trip reports know that I’m not one of those stuffy old gourmands who automatically assume that all airline food is bad. I’ve had some fantastic meals on airplanes and not just in Cathay Pacific’s First Class either. Aside from some great meals back in the 70s and 80s, I’ve had some pretty tasty Buy On Board selections even right here in the good old U.S. of A.
It wasn’t so many years ago that Alaska Airlines offered what I think was the finest First Class meal service in America on short to medium range flights. I remember large omelets served with all the trimmings on 727 flights between Phoenix and Seattle, or three course dinners on flights as short as Seattle to Ketchikan. Still, the cost of providing such nice meals was considerable and starting in late 2003 we began to see cutbacks in both the quantity and quality of Alaska’s inflight services.
Like all airlines over the past few years, Alaska has committed to an aggressive cost cutting campaign. Unfortunately, meals are a good place to start since passengers have continually indicated in survey after survey that airline food ranks at or near the bottom of what contributes to a good flight. Mostly they’re interested in an affordable fare, accruing miles, getting upgraded and getting off the airplane on time. For a guy who's always enjoyed inflight meals, the past few years have been frustrating as more and more of the quality so evident in years past has been whittled away until now we’re left with a product that’s so meager and unremarkable that to call it “First Class” is just downright ludicrous.
To be sure, my viewpoint is affected by the fact that I’d logged over 1000 flights in domestic First Class by 1990, well before all these cuts were implemented. First Class neophytes such as the occasional leisure traveler and/or those who were born after about 1985 still gush over domestic First Class simply because it’s better than anything they’ve previously experienced in the back of the plane.
My complaint, especially with Alaska, is that they often offer better food in coach than they serve in First Class. Check out the description of Alaska’s First Class meal service on their website:
“We have always set ourselves apart for our attention to quality food and a commitment to providing a First Class complimentary service to look forward to.
Whether it is a three course meal including wild Alaska salmon on one of our transcontinental routes, or a selection of quality cheeses and fresh vegetables served on a shorter flight, you've come to expect our food to be a cut above the competition.”
Unfortunately, if you go over to airlinemeals.net and compare Alaska’s offerings to those of other airlines, Alaska’s First Class inflight meal service is definitely not "a cut above the competition". Indeed, they may very well be the worst in the industry. While I’ve no doubt that Alaska's Executive Chef Clifton Lyles is blessed with considerable creative culinary ability, I suspect those abilities are severely shackled with the budget constraints imposed on him by Alaska Airlines. It’s hard to imagine a chef of any ilk being proud of a First Class dinner offering on a four flight consisting of no more than a bowl of pasta and cheese or a tiny chicken breast topped with a simple sauce and accompanied by a pile of salad greens. In general, the meals I’ve been served in Alaska’s First Class have tasted decent enough. They just don’t seem very “First Class”.
*** *** ***
It was a beautiful day for flying as we sped northward past the rugged granite peaks of California’s Sierra Nevadas. The Captain took time to point out such notable features as Yosemite’s Half Dome and El Capitan, Mono Lake and Lake Tahoe. Unfortunately clouds gathered as we continued north, and by the time we landed in Portland it was raining lightly.
I could have stood by successfully for the 9:30am departure up to Portland but as it was being operated by one of the 33 Dash 8s that I’d already flown with Horizon, I decided to hold out for a chance that one of the 15 Dash 8s I hadn’t yet flown would be operating my scheduled flight at 10:30am. Good fortune shined on me as ship 405 taxied up to the gate for my flight.
On the three hour and forty-two minute flight to Chicago, Alaska’s First Class passengers were offered a small bowl of Tomato Basil Soup accompanied by a roll and a spinach leaf salad. Dessert was a small piece of chocolate. I washed it all down with a double serving of Jack Daniels on the rocks, and then put in a bit of time on this report.
Alaska’s First Class Soup and Salad Meal
Alaska uses gate L1 exclusively at O’Hare, so unless you get lucky and your connecting American flight is departing from one of American’s four gates on The Ell, you’ll be in for a fairly long walk. This is especially true for those of us like me making connections to flights operated by American Eagle flights which generally depart out of the G Concourse, located 3.6 miles away. Okay, okay, it’s not thaaaat far, but it’s a good long walk as airport transfers go. I limped over there in about 12 minutes.
I remember when flights between Chicago and Omaha used to rate a wide-bodied aircraft. Indeed I’ve flown into Omaha’s Eppley Field on both 767-200s and DC-10s. These days regional jets proliferate the ramp at OMA, with the largest jet in town being an MD-80 up from Dallas. I took some solace in the extra space afforded by the exit row seat aboard my ERJ-145 out to Omaha.
September 28, 2011
American Eagle Omaha – Chicago 1200n – 130p ERJ-145 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Chicago – Seattle 330p – 555p 737-800 First Class
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Santa Ana 742p – 1019p 737-700 First Class
One of the best things about flying out of Omaha’s Eppley Field is breakfast at the Hangar Restaurant. The wooden chairs and tables lend a down home ranch house ambience and the blueberry pancakes with sausage patties and a pot of hot coffee are a great way to start the day.
A two hour layover at O’Hare allowed me plenty of time to visit American’s smaller G Concourse Admirals Club, conveniently located directly across the hallway from my arrival gate at G6. Large picture windows ran the length of the lounge and provided excellent views of the ramp. A variety of alcoholic drinks and food were available for purchase, but complimentary items were limited to cookies and nut mix.
Over on the L Concourse, jets from Alaska, American, Virgin America, Jet Blue and Spirit made for a colorful lineup of airliners. The narrow concourse was teeming with humanity and Alaska’s flight to Seattle appeared to be the most popular flight of all. I took advantage of priority boarding if only to escape the crowd.
A couple of Bloody Mary’s got this flight off to a nice start. I supplied my own sleeve of Blue Diamond Roasted Almonds because Alaska’s Snack Mix is 90% pretzels. Shortly after leveling off, we were offered dinner consisting of a tiny chicken breast smothered in Alfredo Sauce accompanied by a small side salad. Alaska’s First Class passengers may request the Buy On Board meal from Economy, but those meals are subject to availability after they’ve been offered to all Economy passengers. I requested the steak fajita dish from the back and was ever so thankful when the Flight Attendant presented me that dish along with the plated side salad from First Class.
Alaska’s Steak Fajita Economy Meal with First Class Salad
With the assistance of a good book, time just flew by on this most pleasant of flights. When the captain announced our initial descent, I glanced out my window to see the rugged peaks of the Cascades gliding by beneath us. I put the book down for a bit. Landing was to the north and we parked at C-16, perfectly positioned for me to catch the train to baggage claim.
Rather than check a bag every day and risk loss or misplacement through late flights or interline transfers, I store a single suitcase at Ken’s Baggage Storage, located by Alaska’s baggage claim on the lower level of SeaTac. The cost is $7.50 per day, but visitation privileges are allowed at no cost. I check in every couple of days to exchange old clothing for fresh clean clothes. I also schedule a few days off every six or seven days not just because I need the break but also because it gives me an opportunity to do laundry.
Ken’s is a surprisingly lucrative business because they not only store baggage and other items but they can arrange to mail them as well. As we all know, the post 9-11 era has brought all kinds of restrictions on what can or cannot be brought aboard airplanes. As frequent flyers, we’re quite well versed in these rules. Much of the flying public is not however. Besides all the usual stuff like knives, lighters, scissors and liquids in any amount greater than 3 oz., the TSA also denies things like Leathermans, sharp or pointy tools like screwdrivers and improperly packed weapons. Mail it or lose it, Sir. At SeaTac, if you don’t want to lose it, you take it to Ken’s.
Although Alaska’s 7:42pm flight to Orange County’s John Wayne International Airport was operated with a 124 seat 737-700, I suspect a 70 seat CRJ-700 could have easily handled the light load tonight. Not that I’m advocating any such thing, however! I’m no fan of regional jets for flights over 500 miles, although Embraer’s ERJ-170 and 190 jets are far more tolerable with cabins that are almost two feet wider than those of the CRJs.
After six straight days of flying, I’m ready for a break. Tonight I’m staying at the Crown Plaza, booked via Travelocity’s Top Secret Hotel function for just $53.02 all in. Tomorrow I’ll pick up a full sized car from Alamo and head for San Francisco where I can’t imagine a better way to spend four days off than at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park.
September 29-October 3, 2011
What a marvelous weekend! Terrific weather, great music, good food and lots of friendly folks all happening in the verdant eucalyptus forests of Golden Gate Park. This was surely one of the best music festivals I’ve ever been to and it was all free, thanks to the generous philanthropy of local billionaire (and banjo aficionado) Warren Hellman. Even for those who don't particularly care for bluegrass music, this festival is a great opportunity just to get outside and do something you don't normally get to do every day ~ like hang out with a few hundred thousand fun loving people, many of whom had flown in from all over the U.S. and Canada to be there.
Now when it comes to bluegrass music, I’m not much of a traditionalist. Rather, my tastes tend to lean more toward new grass, jazz grass and jam grass but as the name says, this is hardly strictly a bluegrass festival. There were also plenty of non-bluegrass acts to enjoy including John Prine, Robert Plant, Charlie Musselwhite, Southern Culture On The Skids, Irma Thomas and Dark Star Orchestra to name just a few. In general, I’d say the line-up was a lot more representative of American Roots music. Check it out:
The Line Up
There were so many great bands ~ some that I wouldn’t hesitate to have spent good money to see and others that I’m thankful to have discovered here. The six stages were well separated from one another and between them all were lots of food and beverage kiosks serving everything from crab cakes to vegan burgers to corn on the cob to barbecued salmon. Notably absent was alcohol of any type – no complaints there though as there were plenty of other delicious options.
Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures because all I took down to the park each day was money. I intentionally left my daypack, camera and wallet all back at the hostel. Here are a couple of reviews (including pictures) from the local papers:
REVIEW ONE
REVIEW TWO
On Monday I took a leisurely drive down the coast along Highway 1, stopped for dinner at my favorite Thai restaurant in Ventura, then returned the car to the airport in Santa Ana. Once things finally quieted down about 11:00pm, I got a decent night’s sleep in a nice alcove on the upper level. All in all, this was a fine weekend. I am re-energized and ready for the next four days which will include thirteen flights on six airlines.
#3
October 4, 2011
Alaska Airlines Santa Ana – Portland 645a – 925a 737-700 First Class
Horizon Airlines Portland – Seattle 1030a – 1120a DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Chicago 1250p – 645p 737-800 First Class
American Eagle Chicago – Omaha 905p – 1030p ERJ-145 Economy Class
John Wayne International Airport doesn’t open until 7:00am, so despite an on time pushback from the gate at 6:45, we nonetheless had to wait near the head of the runway until 7:00am at which time the captain accelerated onto the runway, gunned the twin CFM-56 turbofans and off we roared into the clear blue skies above.
Breakfast on this morning’s flight up to Portland consisted of a Hawaiian Breakfast Sandwich – essentially a ham, “egg” and cheese sandwich with a slice of pineapple. I say “egg” because that white and yellow disc in the middle of the sandwich looked and tasted more like a science experiment than an egg cooked on a stove the old fashioned way. The sandwich was accompanied by a small tub of yogurt. Back in Economy the exact same sandwich was offered, but for $6.00. I requested some yogurt and passed on the sandwich.
I collect old airline timetables and I particularly enjoy looking through old OAGs (Official Airline Guides), especially those from the mid-1960s through mid-1970s. Back then airlines were in a rush to divest their fleets of propeller driven equipment. People were excited about the new jets and from a marketing standpoint, it meant a lot for an airline to be able to say that it operated an all-jet fleet.
Many airlines served Portland and Seattle as part of the same flight, i.e. DFW-SEA-PDX or, in the case of a Northwest 747 I once flew, SEA-PDX-HNL. The PDX-SEA schedule below is taken from a 1968 OAG and as you can see, many of the flights were operated with large 4 engine transports such as the 707, 720 or DC-8. These days 76 seat Horizon DHC-8-400s are the largest aircraft operating the 129 mile route between Portland and Seattle.
1968 Schedule Between Seattle and Portland
I’ve flown between Seattle and Portland on Alaska, Continental, Delta, Eastern, Hawaiian Air, Horizon, Northwest, United and Western, but the vast majority of my flights have been aboard Horizon. Besides having logged flights aboard Horizon Metroliners, Fokker F28s and Dash 8-200s, I’ve flown 33 out of Horizon’s 49 Dash 8-400s and the addition of ship 414 this morning brings that total to 34. Only fifteen more to go! Am I the only guy that cares about stuff like this? For sure there aren’t very many of us that do. It’s definitely a big part of what makes flying, even in Economy, so fun for me.
Next it was on to Chicago aboard Alaska’s 737-900. I’ve already flown all of the -900s in Alaska’s fleet, so the real milestone regarding Alaska’s -900s won’t come until tomorrow between Minneapolis and Seattle. I’ll wait until then to write about that, though. As for today, the highlight was a pretty tasty turkey, cheese and red pepper sandwich on Ciabatta bread.
Alaska’s Turkey Ciabatta Sandwich SEA-ORD
American Eagle’s little ERJ-145LR jetted us over to Omaha’s Eppley Field in just one hour and two minutes. I set up camp in my usual spot and slept undisturbed until 8:00am local time. Interestingly, an airport police officer stopped by not to check my boarding pass but rather to suggest that I might be more comfortable if I used the cushions of the nearby chairs. Now that’s hospitality!
October 5, 2011
Delta Connection Omaha – Minneapolis 1105a – 1218p CRJ-200 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Minneapolis – Seattle 120p – 258p 737-900 First Class
Horizon Airlines Seattle – Portland 600p – 649p DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Horizon Airlines Portland – Boise 755p – 1010p DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Delta Connection’s mid-morning flight up to Minneapolis was scheduled to be operated by a two cabin CRJ-900. When I checked the assigned seats on Delta’s website yesterday, I saw that five of the nine First Class seats still showed unassigned. Given the non-business travel time of day, I liked my chances for an upgrade.
Unfortunately, there’d been a last minute switch to a smaller CRJ-200 resulting in an oversell situation that I chose not to take advantage of. After all, I had a confirmed First Class seat out of Minneapolis and a couple of Dash 8s to look forward to between Seattle, Portland and Boise.
The 737-900 is the largest plane in Alaska’s fleet and Alaska needed every one of the 172 seats onboard for today’s crowd. Like thirsty desert vagabonds, those of us in First Class were offered a glass of water prior to pushback. Outside the aircraft, we could clearly hear air-raid style sirens wailing from somewhere nearby. It sounded like one of those old World War II movies and more than a few people were looking anxiously out their windows until one of the flight attendants pointed out that MSP tests its tornado warning klaxons on the first Wednesday of each month.
This flight was significant for me because it represented the 100,000th mile I’d flown aboard an Alaska 737-900. Indeed, the total mileage flown as of this flight came to 100,990 – interesting (to me, at least) inasmuch as the Boeing customer designation for Alaska Airlines is -90, as in 737-990.
My next three flights were scheduled to be aboard Horizon Dash 8s. What an excellent opportunity to add some new aircraft to my collection! Think again. Prior to this evening’s flights, I’d flown 58 flights aboard 34 of Horizon’s Dash 8s, for an average of 1.7 flights per aircraft. The aircraft assigned to my flight down to Portland was one I’d flown four times previously. The aircraft that took me on to Boise was one upon which I’d flown six times previously. Indeed, prior to this evening’s flights, these were already my two most heavily flown aircraft in Horizon’s fleet. Oh well… I’ll live to fly another day.
October 6, 2011
Horizon Airlines Boise – Seattle 923a – 1000a DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Chicago 1250p – 645p 737-800 Economy Class
American Airlines Chicago – Kansas City 825p – 950p DC-9-80 Economy Class
I have done many a mileage run where I’ve had to be up at 4:45am for a 6:00am departure. This is a hard enough wakeup call at home or in a hotel. It’s harder yet if you’re sleeping in the airport since most airports generally don’t quiet down until about midnight. Additionally, sleep can be difficult to come by when the early morning departure is from the east coast while my body clock is still on west coast time.
I’m not getting any younger, so whatever I can do to make flying 34 flights on ten out of fifteen days a bit easier is well worth it. One thing that’s really been helpful is booking flights that depart a bit later in the day. With the exception of my two 6:45am departures out of Orange County, all of my other flights have departed at 8:00am or later. It’s been a real treat to be able to sleep in, and I feel much better for it.
The last time I flew nonstop between Boise and Seattle was back in 1980 aboard a bright yellow Hughes Airwest DC-9-30. These days Horizon Dash 8s are the only aircraft flying this route. Its twin PW150A turboprop engines push it along at just over 400mph, which on a 400 mile route like BOI-SEA result in a in flight time only a few minutes longer than those DC-9 flights of years past.
We landed on a drizzly day in Seattle and I headed straight up to the Boardroom where a hot cup of coffee and a toasted English muffin provided some much appreciated warmth to the day. Later I stopped for a shoeshine before heading out to gate D7 where an exit row aisle seat awaited aboard Alaska’s 737-800 operating this afternoon’s nonstop to Chicago.
Despite my lofty status as an MVP Super Duper Diamond Encrusted Kryptonite Level Mileage Plan member, I was unable to procure an upgrade to First Class aboard this flight. That’s alright – Alaska’s upgraded me on all of my other revenue flights this trip and sitting in the back gave me an excellent opportunity to try out this month’s popular Chicken Yakisoba Potsticker Skillet. I tried to get one on yesterday’s flight from Minneapolis to Seattle but they’d sold out before any could be offered to First Class passengers.
Offered on appropriately timed flights longer than 2.5 hours, this skillet consists of soba buckwheat noodles with vegetables, a nice sized portion of teriyaki chicken and a pork potsticker, all for just $6.00. It is certainly one of the most affordably priced hot meals being served aloft in America today and it just may be the best as well. It certainly gets my endorsement as a better meal than the turkey sandwich being offered in First Class.
I spent my layover in Chicago watching the Detroit Tigers disrupt the New York Yankee’s plans for a 28th World Series championship. Fans of both teams were scattered about the gate lounge and the hour passed quickly as the Tigers clung to a precarious 2-0 lead. It was the top of the fifth inning when I left to board my flight, and the Tigers had extended the score to 3-0. I don’t dislike the Yankees but I do tend to root for the underdog. Go Tigers!
In researching the registration number of my 11 year old MD-80, I discovered that this aircraft was the fourth to the last MD-80 ever built. The total number built was 1191 and last airplane off the assembly line, N874TW, still flies for American Airlines today. Look for it at an airport near you!
U.S. News & World Report recently ranked Kansas City International Airport as the "3rd least miserable airport" in the United States, based on the 47 busiest airports in the country. I’d never slept at MCI before and was looking forward to seeing what it had to offer. My first impressions were not good.
MCI is comprised of three separate passenger terminals that are built in the shape of rings. Each ring has a parking lot in the center of the ring. When the airport was designed, the idea was that passengers could be dropped off or park much nearer to their gate. The roadway has been measured at only 75 feet from the gates. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport was designed along similar lines. Unlike DFW however, MCI’s terminals are not connected by train or walkway, so inter-terminal connections must be done by busses which run regularly throughout the day.
Stepping off my flight from Chicago, I was immediately struck by how narrow the terminal was. Once you’ve stepped out of the secure gate area, the corridors around the terminal are quite narrow with very limited seating. There didn’t appear to be any out of the way corners of the terminal where I could sleep undisturbed and so I briefly considered getting an airport hotel for the night. Still, I figured I’d have a good look around before giving up so easily. A few gates down, towards the end of the terminal, I found a small upstairs level. Hmm… Further exploration up there revealed a narrow side hallway leading to an emergency exit stairway. At the end of the thirty foot long hallway, just past the door to the stairway, was a small alcove about 6 feet by eight feet. Large windows overlooked the ramp below but otherwise there was nothing but open space. Best of all, there was a light switch allowing me to darken the hallway. I had found my spot for the night. Indeed, this may well have been the best spot I’ve ever found to sleep in any airport. After a bit of reading, I slept undisturbed until my alarm went off at 7:30.
October 7, 2011
Delta Air Lines Kansas City – Minneapolis 915a – 1045a A320-200 Economy Class
Delta Air Lines Minneapolis – Denver 1130a – 1238p A320-200 Economy Class
After cleaning up in a spacious deserted restroom down by the international arrivals area, I caught a red bus over to Terminal B which serves Delta and Southwest. The bus driver was a veritable font of information about the airport and its history. I enjoyed listening to him talk about the good old days of TWA and Braniff hub operations here.
Perhaps due to the narrowness of the terminal corridors, there were no proper food courts to be found. There were food concessions, but they appeared to be limited and spread far apart through the terminal. Nearby the cluster of gates that served Delta flights were a sandwich shop and a bar/restaurant that offered a complete scrambled egg breakfast for $9.50. I thought this a bit extreme by Midwest pricing standards, but fruit, yogurt and granola was even more expensive so I went with the egg plate. Imagine then my shock and dismay to discover that the eggs were powdered, and the “Applewood Smoked Bacon” consisted of three skimpy little strips of bacon not even thick enough to offend a vegetarian. Ah well, fool me once…
As for the flights, what can I say? A couple of nondescript short flights aboard Airbus A320 equipment. My connecting gate in Minneapolis was conveniently located right next door to my arrival gate and on the one hour and forty minute midday departure between MSP and Denver, all that was offered in the forward cabin was a pass with the snack basket.
I’ve got a week off in Colorado which will be spent visiting friends in various mountain communities around the state as well as family along the Front Range. I’ll also be catching a show with Minnesota’s premier jamband, The Big Wu, along with a performance by the Dark Star Orchestra who I just saw last weekend at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco. It’s good to be back on the ground again!
Alaska Airlines Santa Ana – Portland 645a – 925a 737-700 First Class
Horizon Airlines Portland – Seattle 1030a – 1120a DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Chicago 1250p – 645p 737-800 First Class
American Eagle Chicago – Omaha 905p – 1030p ERJ-145 Economy Class
John Wayne International Airport doesn’t open until 7:00am, so despite an on time pushback from the gate at 6:45, we nonetheless had to wait near the head of the runway until 7:00am at which time the captain accelerated onto the runway, gunned the twin CFM-56 turbofans and off we roared into the clear blue skies above.
Breakfast on this morning’s flight up to Portland consisted of a Hawaiian Breakfast Sandwich – essentially a ham, “egg” and cheese sandwich with a slice of pineapple. I say “egg” because that white and yellow disc in the middle of the sandwich looked and tasted more like a science experiment than an egg cooked on a stove the old fashioned way. The sandwich was accompanied by a small tub of yogurt. Back in Economy the exact same sandwich was offered, but for $6.00. I requested some yogurt and passed on the sandwich.
I collect old airline timetables and I particularly enjoy looking through old OAGs (Official Airline Guides), especially those from the mid-1960s through mid-1970s. Back then airlines were in a rush to divest their fleets of propeller driven equipment. People were excited about the new jets and from a marketing standpoint, it meant a lot for an airline to be able to say that it operated an all-jet fleet.
Many airlines served Portland and Seattle as part of the same flight, i.e. DFW-SEA-PDX or, in the case of a Northwest 747 I once flew, SEA-PDX-HNL. The PDX-SEA schedule below is taken from a 1968 OAG and as you can see, many of the flights were operated with large 4 engine transports such as the 707, 720 or DC-8. These days 76 seat Horizon DHC-8-400s are the largest aircraft operating the 129 mile route between Portland and Seattle.
1968 Schedule Between Seattle and Portland
I’ve flown between Seattle and Portland on Alaska, Continental, Delta, Eastern, Hawaiian Air, Horizon, Northwest, United and Western, but the vast majority of my flights have been aboard Horizon. Besides having logged flights aboard Horizon Metroliners, Fokker F28s and Dash 8-200s, I’ve flown 33 out of Horizon’s 49 Dash 8-400s and the addition of ship 414 this morning brings that total to 34. Only fifteen more to go! Am I the only guy that cares about stuff like this? For sure there aren’t very many of us that do. It’s definitely a big part of what makes flying, even in Economy, so fun for me.
Next it was on to Chicago aboard Alaska’s 737-900. I’ve already flown all of the -900s in Alaska’s fleet, so the real milestone regarding Alaska’s -900s won’t come until tomorrow between Minneapolis and Seattle. I’ll wait until then to write about that, though. As for today, the highlight was a pretty tasty turkey, cheese and red pepper sandwich on Ciabatta bread.
Alaska’s Turkey Ciabatta Sandwich SEA-ORD
American Eagle’s little ERJ-145LR jetted us over to Omaha’s Eppley Field in just one hour and two minutes. I set up camp in my usual spot and slept undisturbed until 8:00am local time. Interestingly, an airport police officer stopped by not to check my boarding pass but rather to suggest that I might be more comfortable if I used the cushions of the nearby chairs. Now that’s hospitality!
October 5, 2011
Delta Connection Omaha – Minneapolis 1105a – 1218p CRJ-200 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Minneapolis – Seattle 120p – 258p 737-900 First Class
Horizon Airlines Seattle – Portland 600p – 649p DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Horizon Airlines Portland – Boise 755p – 1010p DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Delta Connection’s mid-morning flight up to Minneapolis was scheduled to be operated by a two cabin CRJ-900. When I checked the assigned seats on Delta’s website yesterday, I saw that five of the nine First Class seats still showed unassigned. Given the non-business travel time of day, I liked my chances for an upgrade.
Unfortunately, there’d been a last minute switch to a smaller CRJ-200 resulting in an oversell situation that I chose not to take advantage of. After all, I had a confirmed First Class seat out of Minneapolis and a couple of Dash 8s to look forward to between Seattle, Portland and Boise.
The 737-900 is the largest plane in Alaska’s fleet and Alaska needed every one of the 172 seats onboard for today’s crowd. Like thirsty desert vagabonds, those of us in First Class were offered a glass of water prior to pushback. Outside the aircraft, we could clearly hear air-raid style sirens wailing from somewhere nearby. It sounded like one of those old World War II movies and more than a few people were looking anxiously out their windows until one of the flight attendants pointed out that MSP tests its tornado warning klaxons on the first Wednesday of each month.
This flight was significant for me because it represented the 100,000th mile I’d flown aboard an Alaska 737-900. Indeed, the total mileage flown as of this flight came to 100,990 – interesting (to me, at least) inasmuch as the Boeing customer designation for Alaska Airlines is -90, as in 737-990.
My next three flights were scheduled to be aboard Horizon Dash 8s. What an excellent opportunity to add some new aircraft to my collection! Think again. Prior to this evening’s flights, I’d flown 58 flights aboard 34 of Horizon’s Dash 8s, for an average of 1.7 flights per aircraft. The aircraft assigned to my flight down to Portland was one I’d flown four times previously. The aircraft that took me on to Boise was one upon which I’d flown six times previously. Indeed, prior to this evening’s flights, these were already my two most heavily flown aircraft in Horizon’s fleet. Oh well… I’ll live to fly another day.
October 6, 2011
Horizon Airlines Boise – Seattle 923a – 1000a DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Chicago 1250p – 645p 737-800 Economy Class
American Airlines Chicago – Kansas City 825p – 950p DC-9-80 Economy Class
I have done many a mileage run where I’ve had to be up at 4:45am for a 6:00am departure. This is a hard enough wakeup call at home or in a hotel. It’s harder yet if you’re sleeping in the airport since most airports generally don’t quiet down until about midnight. Additionally, sleep can be difficult to come by when the early morning departure is from the east coast while my body clock is still on west coast time.
I’m not getting any younger, so whatever I can do to make flying 34 flights on ten out of fifteen days a bit easier is well worth it. One thing that’s really been helpful is booking flights that depart a bit later in the day. With the exception of my two 6:45am departures out of Orange County, all of my other flights have departed at 8:00am or later. It’s been a real treat to be able to sleep in, and I feel much better for it.
The last time I flew nonstop between Boise and Seattle was back in 1980 aboard a bright yellow Hughes Airwest DC-9-30. These days Horizon Dash 8s are the only aircraft flying this route. Its twin PW150A turboprop engines push it along at just over 400mph, which on a 400 mile route like BOI-SEA result in a in flight time only a few minutes longer than those DC-9 flights of years past.
We landed on a drizzly day in Seattle and I headed straight up to the Boardroom where a hot cup of coffee and a toasted English muffin provided some much appreciated warmth to the day. Later I stopped for a shoeshine before heading out to gate D7 where an exit row aisle seat awaited aboard Alaska’s 737-800 operating this afternoon’s nonstop to Chicago.
Despite my lofty status as an MVP Super Duper Diamond Encrusted Kryptonite Level Mileage Plan member, I was unable to procure an upgrade to First Class aboard this flight. That’s alright – Alaska’s upgraded me on all of my other revenue flights this trip and sitting in the back gave me an excellent opportunity to try out this month’s popular Chicken Yakisoba Potsticker Skillet. I tried to get one on yesterday’s flight from Minneapolis to Seattle but they’d sold out before any could be offered to First Class passengers.
Offered on appropriately timed flights longer than 2.5 hours, this skillet consists of soba buckwheat noodles with vegetables, a nice sized portion of teriyaki chicken and a pork potsticker, all for just $6.00. It is certainly one of the most affordably priced hot meals being served aloft in America today and it just may be the best as well. It certainly gets my endorsement as a better meal than the turkey sandwich being offered in First Class.
I spent my layover in Chicago watching the Detroit Tigers disrupt the New York Yankee’s plans for a 28th World Series championship. Fans of both teams were scattered about the gate lounge and the hour passed quickly as the Tigers clung to a precarious 2-0 lead. It was the top of the fifth inning when I left to board my flight, and the Tigers had extended the score to 3-0. I don’t dislike the Yankees but I do tend to root for the underdog. Go Tigers!
In researching the registration number of my 11 year old MD-80, I discovered that this aircraft was the fourth to the last MD-80 ever built. The total number built was 1191 and last airplane off the assembly line, N874TW, still flies for American Airlines today. Look for it at an airport near you!
U.S. News & World Report recently ranked Kansas City International Airport as the "3rd least miserable airport" in the United States, based on the 47 busiest airports in the country. I’d never slept at MCI before and was looking forward to seeing what it had to offer. My first impressions were not good.
MCI is comprised of three separate passenger terminals that are built in the shape of rings. Each ring has a parking lot in the center of the ring. When the airport was designed, the idea was that passengers could be dropped off or park much nearer to their gate. The roadway has been measured at only 75 feet from the gates. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport was designed along similar lines. Unlike DFW however, MCI’s terminals are not connected by train or walkway, so inter-terminal connections must be done by busses which run regularly throughout the day.
Stepping off my flight from Chicago, I was immediately struck by how narrow the terminal was. Once you’ve stepped out of the secure gate area, the corridors around the terminal are quite narrow with very limited seating. There didn’t appear to be any out of the way corners of the terminal where I could sleep undisturbed and so I briefly considered getting an airport hotel for the night. Still, I figured I’d have a good look around before giving up so easily. A few gates down, towards the end of the terminal, I found a small upstairs level. Hmm… Further exploration up there revealed a narrow side hallway leading to an emergency exit stairway. At the end of the thirty foot long hallway, just past the door to the stairway, was a small alcove about 6 feet by eight feet. Large windows overlooked the ramp below but otherwise there was nothing but open space. Best of all, there was a light switch allowing me to darken the hallway. I had found my spot for the night. Indeed, this may well have been the best spot I’ve ever found to sleep in any airport. After a bit of reading, I slept undisturbed until my alarm went off at 7:30.
October 7, 2011
Delta Air Lines Kansas City – Minneapolis 915a – 1045a A320-200 Economy Class
Delta Air Lines Minneapolis – Denver 1130a – 1238p A320-200 Economy Class
After cleaning up in a spacious deserted restroom down by the international arrivals area, I caught a red bus over to Terminal B which serves Delta and Southwest. The bus driver was a veritable font of information about the airport and its history. I enjoyed listening to him talk about the good old days of TWA and Braniff hub operations here.
Perhaps due to the narrowness of the terminal corridors, there were no proper food courts to be found. There were food concessions, but they appeared to be limited and spread far apart through the terminal. Nearby the cluster of gates that served Delta flights were a sandwich shop and a bar/restaurant that offered a complete scrambled egg breakfast for $9.50. I thought this a bit extreme by Midwest pricing standards, but fruit, yogurt and granola was even more expensive so I went with the egg plate. Imagine then my shock and dismay to discover that the eggs were powdered, and the “Applewood Smoked Bacon” consisted of three skimpy little strips of bacon not even thick enough to offend a vegetarian. Ah well, fool me once…
As for the flights, what can I say? A couple of nondescript short flights aboard Airbus A320 equipment. My connecting gate in Minneapolis was conveniently located right next door to my arrival gate and on the one hour and forty minute midday departure between MSP and Denver, all that was offered in the forward cabin was a pass with the snack basket.
I’ve got a week off in Colorado which will be spent visiting friends in various mountain communities around the state as well as family along the Front Range. I’ll also be catching a show with Minnesota’s premier jamband, The Big Wu, along with a performance by the Dark Star Orchestra who I just saw last weekend at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco. It’s good to be back on the ground again!
#4
October 14, 2011
Delta Air Lines Denver – Atlanta 1035a – 339p 757-200 Economy Class
Delta Air Lines Atlanta – Kansas City 545p – 657p MD-90 Economy Class
By now some of you are probably wondering when I’m going to start riding some of those trains that I said would be part of this trip. Well wonder no more. The first ride comes tomorrow, in Business Class aboard Amtrak’s Missouri River Runner between Kansas City and St. Louis. First however, I need to get to Kansas City.
Kansas City sits 590 air miles east of Denver, and is often the beneficiary of some very low airfares offered by any one or all of the three airlines that offer nonstop service on the DEN-MCI route. Although Delta does not fly nonstop between Denver and Kansas City, it nonetheless offers a very attractive base fare of just $59.00 one way allowing for a connection in cities as far flung as Atlanta for a total mileage flown of 1,890 miles. To an old mileage runner like me, a routing like this is just plain irresistible.
Coffee and a sweet roll in United’s Red Carpet Club preceded my departure from Delta’s gate over on the C Concourse. Once onboard the 20 year old 757-200, I slowly reclined fully into the man behind me. Unfortunately, my exit row aisle seat was broken to the extent that it would not maintain its full upright and locked position. The flight was totally full and moving was not an option for either of us. Thankfully the guy behind me was not a large person and claimed not to be overly bothered by the situation.
Two hours and sixteen minutes later we landed in Atlanta on a warm and hazy afternoon. Amazingly, my connecting flight to Kansas City was scheduled to depart from the same gate that I’d just arrived at. I took this bit of good fortune with a grain of salt as Delta’s operation at ATL is notorious for last minute gate changes. Thankfully the A Concourse Sky Club was conveniently located right in the middle of the concourse, just above the inter-concourse train station.
The other reason I booked this connection via ATL was because the aircraft operating the ATL-MCI leg was an MD-90. Delta was the launch customer for the MD-90 back in 1995. Only 116 were built and Delta is one of only seven airlines worldwide still operating the plane.
The MD-90 was developed from the MD-80 series and people often confuse it with the older MD-80.
The two airplanes appear very similar but the -90 is 5 feet longer and is powered by the much more fuel efficient IAE V2500 series engines. Delta currently operates a fleet of seventeen MD-90s and is planning to add more. It recently acquired nine MD-90s from China Eastern Airlines and will soon add a few more from Japan Airlines and SAS.
Buying these older MD-90s makes great sense, economically. Depending upon their age, used MD-90s have appraised values of $5 million to $9 million. Assuming Delta is buying these used MD-90-30s in that price range, they’re getting quite a bargain considering that new Boeing 737-800s generally sell for over 60 million apiece. Sure, the 737-800s are newer, but the fuel economies of the MD-90s are very similar to the 737, especially given their similar capacity and efficient engines.
I recently read an interview Delta’s CEO Richard Anderson in which he stated that Delta’s monthly payments on each “new” 737-800 averaged about $350,000. By contrast, Delta’s MD-88s are paid for. So the MD-88s, despite their comparatively uneconomical JT8D engines, start out each month $350,000 less expensive to operate than the economical 737-800s. I wonder how it all tallies up at the end of each month? Either way, Delta doesn’t appear to be in any hurry to get rid of its MD-88s.
This was only my fourteenth flight aboard an MD-90. Although I was unable to discern any operational advantages such as fuel savings during the flight, I very much appreciated the spacious bulkhead aisle seat along with complimentary soda and peanuts bestowed upon me by the friendly flight attendants.
October 15, 2011
Amtrak Kansas City – St. Louis 400p – 950p Missouri River Runner Business Class
Amtrak celebrates its 40th anniversary of operation this year. Trains are a wonderful way to travel across this big beautiful continent of ours and thanks to Amtrak (and a lot of state and federal subsidies), we still can. I can think of no better way to celebrate Amtrak’s milestone than to buy a few tickets and hit the rails!
Back in the early 1980s, Amtrak took delivery of double decker Superliner equipment for use on its long distance trains between Chicago and the West Coast. The new Superliners replaced aging cars from the 1940s and 50s and represented a huge improvement in the onboard experience for passengers. To further spur ridership, Amtrak also introduced very attractively priced All Aboard America fares. America was divided into three sections and these fares allowed practically unlimited travel through any one or two sections or all of the country. Each section cost $125.00 and the only restriction was that you could not travel over any section of track more than twice, i.e. going and coming. During 1983 and 1984, I rode fifty-six trains over 50000 miles of American tracks, in the process riding every route longer than 400 miles in the Amtrak system.
Over the ensuing years I’ve knocked off a few more new routes and re-ridden many already travelled routes. The focus on this trip is to ride aboard trains I haven’t yet ridden upon. First up is the 280 mile run between Kansas City and St. Louis.
My train, the Missouri River Runner, wasn’t scheduled to depart until 4:00pm. This left me plenty of time to sleep in, take a leisurely morning at the hotel, and then head into downtown Kansas City for a plate of ribs at one of the many barbecue establishments for which Kansas City is justifiably renowned.
In the month leading up to this trip, I’d asked anyone I encountered from Kansas City about their thoughts on the best barbecue in town. There are many fine barbecue restaurants in Kansas City but the one name that came up the most often was Gates & Sons Barbecue. So that’s where I went, to the location on 32nd and Main, and enjoyed as good a plate of beef ribs as I’ve ever had. I look forward to a return visit to check out the burnt ends sandwich.
By the way, my mode of transport from the airport into and around town was the city bus. Whereas many reporters in this forum might have utilized airport limos or shuttles into the city, I can’t afford such extravagance even if I could afford it, i.e. I’ll never pay $28.00 for the convenience of a van straight to my destination when I can get within a couple of blocks for just $1.50 and twenty or thirty minutes more of my time. After lunch I walked a block down Main and caught the #57 bus. Minutes later I was let off directly across the street from Kansas City’s Union Station.
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One hundred years ago, airlines and modern paved highways didn’t exist. Ocean liners transported people between continents and trains moved them over land. The world was a lot bigger place back then and travelling anywhere was considered a grand adventure. Big city train stations of that era reflected the grandeur and excitement of long distance travel with monumental architecture that included cavernous grand halls, high sculpted ceilings, polished stone floors and church-pew like seats.
Kansas City’s Union Station is a magnificent example of this reverential style of architecture. Built in the Beaux-Arts style commonly seen in European architecture, the station opened in 1914 as the second-largest train station in the country.
Kansas City Union Station
The entire station complex encompasses over 850,000 square feet. The ceiling in the Grand Hall is 95 feet high and is distinguished by beautifully restored plastered frescoes and three huge chandeliers weighing 3,500 pounds each.
Kansas City Union Station Ceiling and Chandelier
Enormous, deep-set arched windows face the front of the station. The sunshine they allow in casts a warm glow on the rose-brown marble floors and light stone walls. The overall ambience of the station is surprisingly light and airy for such a large building.
Kansas City Union Station Great Hall
At its peak during World War II, an estimated one million travelers passed through this station. Like any large city terminal, the station included restaurants, a cigar store, and a barber shop. Additionally, it was the corporate headquarters for Fred Harvey, the company that famously catered the Santa Fe railroad and operated a string of hotels throughout the Southwest.
Since its renovation and reopening in 1999, Union Station is now home to the H&R Block City Stage Theater, an Imax theater, the Gottlieb Planetarium and a public science center with over 50 interactive exhibits called Science City. The station also hosts two upscale restaurants, a post office and numerous smaller shops. I was here on a Saturday afternoon and there were clearly many more people who’d come to Union Station to eat and/or visit one of its many attractions than to depart on a train.
Harvey’s Restaurant at Union Station
Boarding for the Missouri River Runner was announced at 3:45pm. There were perhaps forty of us who commenced the long walk out along the outside of the station to an elevated walkway over the tracks where an elevator took us down to trackside. In the old days, when there were over 100 trains per day through here, we’d have accessed our train directly through one of the many track entrances in the North Hall.
Kansas City Union Station North Hall
Amtrak offers Coach and Business Class seating aboard most of its short to medium distance trains. Coach accommodations are in surprisingly wide and comfortable seats arranged in a 2-2 configuration throughout the car. Business Class offers wider leather covered seats configured 1-2 and includes a free soft drink and a newspaper. 120v outlets are available at each seat in both classes.
Amtrak Business Class Seats
Today’s consist was headed up by a single P42DC locomotive followed by four coach cars and a Café/Business Class car at the rear of the train. This car featured a small lounge/dining area in the front of the car, a café service area in the middle and five rows of Business Class seating in the rear of the car. Myself and two ladies were the only passengers back there. Shortly after we’d boarded, the train supervisor stopped by to welcome us aboard, explain a bit about the four and a half hour journey and offer us a copy of that morning’s St. Louis Post Dispatch.
The scenery between Kansas City and St. Louis defines bucolic. For 283 miles, we rolled past low rolling hills and fields dotted by pretty farm houses, multiple silos, quaint back roads and the occasional cow. Promotional brochures about the train indicate the eastern half of the route features frequent views of the Missouri River, but by the time we’d travelled that far it was dark.
Route of Amtrak’s Missouri River Runner
Amtrak’s Cafe Car Menus vary depending upon the region. Here in the Midwest, it seemed quite fitting that White Castle cheeseburgers were on the menu in addition to the usual sandwiches and snacks. Also available were Starbucks bottled Frappuccinos and a decent variety of beer and liquor. Beer prices ranged from $5.00 for domestic beers like Bud or Miller to $6.50 for a premium brew which today was Leinenkugel Amber. I paid $10.00 for a White Castle burger and a bottle of Jack Daniels on the rocks, which I enjoyed with my own supply of Blue Diamond smoked almonds.
Aside from the pretty scenery, the highlight of this trip came at Herman, Missouri where we boarded 200 passengers who’d spent the day participating in that town’s Oktoberfest celebrations. Prior to our arrival in Herman, the crew made an announcement essentially warning us of what to expect ~ a bunch of rowdy, beer soaked folks who’d likely be looking to continue their revelry onboard. Five Amtrak police armed with guns and tasers also boarded at Herman to keep the peace but with the exception of the occasional rebel yell, this group was lively but otherwise fine.
At St. Louis Union Station I boarded the Metro train directly from the station to the airport. An hour later I was camped out for the night in my favorite corner of the terminal building.
October 16, 2011
Delta Air Lines St. Louis – Minneapolis 800a – 930a A319-100 First Class
Delta Air Lines Minneapolis – Baltimore 1030a – 130p A319-100 Economy Class
Amtrak Baltimore – Washington DC 255p – 330p Northeast Regional Economy Class
Amtrak Washington DC – New Orleans 630p – 730p The Crescent First Class
Although St. Louis’ Lambert Field is undergoing a renovation, the main terminal building appears to have changed little since I first flew out of here on an Allegheny Airlines BAC-111 on a bitterly cold January morning back in 1977. Gone are names like TWA, Eastern and Ozark that were commonplace in the 1970s, and the old full service coffee shop located at one end of the terminal building has also disappeared but otherwise the ticket counters look exactly the same. Amidst the construction areas are a multitude of signs asking passengers to help the city “See it through”.
Down at gate A-2 awaited a shiny 8 year old A319 along with an upgrade to seat 1A for the short one hour and ten minute flight to Minneapolis. I was amongst the first to board and happily accepted a hot cup of coffee from the flight attendant. Later in the flight, a pass with the snack basket yielded a package of Biscoff cookies. Breakfast over America in the twenty-first century…
I have flown over 1400 unique routes, acquiring over 900000 miles of unduplicated route mileage. Today’s flights between St. Louis, Minneapolis and Baltimore represent two more new routes. I’ve talked with the folks over at flightmemory.com about purchasing a map of my flights but they say that with their style of map at least, I have so many different routes that the end result would not look very good.
The last time I flew into Baltimore was in April of 1988 aboard a United Airlines DC-10, the very same airplane (N1819U) that crashed and burned while attempting an emergency landing at Sioux City, Iowa on July 19, 1989. I’d begun that trip by driving from Colorado to Virginia and had just come from three nights with the Grateful Dead down at Hampton Roads Coliseum. The Dead had released their In The Dark album the year before and the band’s popularity – after having played together for twenty-three years – had suddenly grown to include mainstream America. The result was 20000 people showing up for 12000 seat venues and overflowing parking lots filled with a whole new group of tie-dye clad inebriates, many of whom were more into the party scene than they were the music.
The Dead’s founding member Jerry Garcia put it most correctly when he advised “If you get confused, listen to the music play.” Many of the newcomers not only had no clue, they didn’t care if they got into the shows or not. There was always a party in the parking lot, much like tailgating before and during a football game. As a veteran of the Dead’s much mellower concert scene through the seventies and early eighties, the big crowds at Hampton were a sudden and unwelcome surprise. It would only get worse at the Spectrum in Philly, a city I’ve never found anything likeable about. I didn’t much care for New York’s Nassau Coliseum either, so I sold my tickets for those shows and drove up to Baltimore’s Friendship Airport. There I utilized a free ticket I’d been awarded in a promotion the summer before and flew straight to Honolulu where I spent three days in tropical bliss at a cheap hotel on Lewers Street drinking Mai Tais and smoking Marlboros at the poolside bar with the hard cores. I also took a bus to the North Shore, went swimming and acquired a sunburn. Then I flew up to Anchorage for two days of spring breakup before flying back to Baltimore where I picked up my truck and sped on up to Hartford for that night’s show.
Getting back to the present, I was most thankful for the presence of an Amtrak station just one mile from the airport terminal. A free shuttle bus runs every 12 minutes between the airport and the station, so I had plenty of time for coffee and some internet time before heading over to the station for my 2:55pm train down to Washington.
Washington D.C.’s Union Station. Oh. My. God. What a magnificent edifice! It’s everything I just wrote about Kansas City’s Union Station but bigger. Here – check out This Site for an excellent description with photographs of the station and its history.
Washington DC Union Station Great Hall
Washington DC Union Station Ticket Counters
With two and a half hours to wait until my next train, The Crescent, was scheduled to board for New Orleans, I headed over to Amtrak’s Club Acela lounge to drop off my luggage. Reserved exclusively for First Class passengers and those traveling aboard Amtrak’s Acela trains between Washington and New York or Boston, the Club Acela is an attractive lounge befitting the station it serves. Floors of polished marble are offset by stone planters, glass partitions and brass railing. Artistic posters of historic railroad advertising adorn the walls. The seating is comfortable and overall this lounge is a pleasant place to await your train. The only shortcoming worthy of note were the refreshments which, in the afternoon at least, are limited to coffee, tea, pretzels and Goldfish crackers.
Washington DC Club Acela Lounge
Over in one corner of the lounge, a lively group of football fans was watching the televised Eagles-Redskins game. The score was close and with Philadelphia and Washington being so nearby each other geographically, the support for each team was fairly even amongst those watching the game. As a lifelong fan of the Denver Broncos, I had little interest in this NFC East battle. As a true fan of the game of football however, it was a great contest with an enthusiastic audience to boot. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon while awaiting your train? All that was missing was good cold beer.
After the game (won by the Eagles), I headed out to have a look around the station. What a marvelous place! There were a nice variety of upscale shops along with a couple of nice looking restaurants on the upper level. Taking the escalator down to the lower level, I discovered one of the finest food courts I’ve ever seen – certainly the nicest I’d seen in an airport or train station. There must’ve been over twenty concessions down there, serving everything from Jamaican to Indian to Italian to Cajun. Further exploration revealed a liquor store that looked to be quite well stocked. As it was Sunday however, it was closed and I was unable to buy any beer for the long ride down to New Orleans.
Back in the Club Acela, boarding for the southbound Crescent was announced at 6:10pm. Passengers were instructed to gather at the east exit from the lounge where an Amtrak porter then led us out to the waiting train. An electric cart was available for those passengers requiring assistance.
The Crescent begins its journey at New York’s Penn Station, so there were already a fair number of passengers already onboard the train by the time we arrived. The consist this evening included one baggage car, two Viewliner sleepers, a dining car, a café/lounge car and four Amfleet coaches. My sleeper was named “Winter View” and was located directly behind the baggage car. As I approached the steps up into the car, I was greeted and welcomed aboard by my car attendant, Henry, who relieved me of my bag and showed me to my accommodations, roomette #2.
Although I have ridden Amtrak’s Crescenton two prior occasions, I booked it for this trip because I’d yet to ride in First Class sleeper accommodations aboard Amtrak’s View-Liner equipment which is used only on eastern routes. Bi-Level Superliner equipment is used aboard all long distance trains operating west and south of Chicago. Superliner equipment is not used back east because the overpasses and tunnels are not high enough to accommodate the cars. The one exception to that is the Capitol Limited which runs on the old B&O line between Chicago and Washington DC,
I booked my accommodations back in August and purchased a roomette down to New Orleans for just $265.00 all in. Roomettes are perfect for one person and, because they have a drop down upper bunk, suitable for two. Amtrak has an excellent page describing their Viewliner Roomette right HERE. Check it out!
Once everyone had boarded, Henry stopped by each room to take dinner reservations. Because this evening’s train was heavily booked, he recommended eating sooner rather than later as some of the more popular entrée items, such as the New York Steak, tend to sell out later in the evening. I took Henry’s advice and made a 7:15pm dinner reservation. I was handed a small card indicating the reservation time, and then settled into the large padded seat in my roomette and watched as we rolled out of the station and glided south through Washington’s suburbs and into Virginia.
It’s a twenty-six hour, 1,150 mile journey from Washington DC down to New Orleans. If you’re in a hurry, take a plane. Traveling by train, especially if you’ve purchased sleeper accommodations, is a great way to enjoy seeing the country you’re traveling through rather than over while enjoying a comfortable seat in spacious accommodations. The pace is relaxed and there’ll be plenty of opportunity to share the excitement of it all with your fellow travelers while sitting down over a nice meal in the diner or enjoying drinks and conversation in the lounge car.
My reverie was interrupted by the call to dinner for those with 7:15pm dinner reservations. Sleeping car passengers are never more than a car or two away from the diner, so moments later I presented myself to the dining car steward who assigned me to a table for four. Soon I was joined by Eddie and Fiona, a middle aged couple from England who’d spent the past week in New England enjoying the fall foliage. Now they were headed south to visit friends in Birmingham, Alabama before continuing on to New Orleans later in the week.
Menus had already been placed at each table and so we took a moment to consider the choices. Soon our waiter stopped by, noted our room and car numbers, and then asked if we’d care for anything to drink with dinner. Red and white wine for my dinner companions and a Jack Daniels on the rocks for me please. As for dinner, let’s check out the menu. (Be sure to click on Crescent Dining Car Menu)
Eddie and I opted for the New York steak with baked potato while Fiona chose the half roasted chicken. Salad and rolls were delivered first. The salads were nothing special, just some salad greens and a couple of cherry tomatoes. A wicker basket in the center of the table held a variety of Paul Newman brand salad dressings and I would have to say my Balsamic Vinaigrette was the highlight of the salad. C’mon, Amtrak ~ at least throw in some shredded carrots and cabbage!
The steaks were actually pretty good – mine was perfectly medium rare and the baked potato was hot and tender. Fiona’s chicken was on the small side but otherwise looked quite nice. She liked it just fine and I decided I would order it tomorrow night. Although there was a choice of two or three desserts, we all chose the apple pie a la mode. The pie was nicely warmed and the ice cream was soft but cold. Delicious!
Afterwards, we retired to the lounge car for another round of drinks and a bit of train talk. Fiona commuted to work each day on a train but this was her first long distance trip. Both her and Eddie were impressed with their accommodations as well as the fare, which was a far sight lower than the price they’d have paid for a trip of similar distance and accommodations in Europe.
Crescent Lounge Car Seating
How true! Amtrak is one of the best travel bargains in the western world for long distance First Class train travel. A trip of this length in Australia would cost you close to $1000.00, and probably not too far off that in Europe, especially if you had private accommodations.
It was about 10:30pm when we called it a night and returned to our sleepers. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Henry had already converted my roomette into nighttime mode, with the bed made up, the night light on and a little square of Amtrak chocolate on my pillow. I read for about an hour before finally succumbing to the gentle rhythm of the rails.
Crescent ViewLiner Bedroom
When I awoke, we were just departing from Atlanta’s Peachtree Station. It was almost 9:00am local time! Worried that I might have slept through breakfast, I quickly threw on some clothes, drug a brush through my hair and a razor over my face and then hurried up to the diner, pausing only to grab that morning’s copy of USA Today that had been placed under my door during the stop in Atlanta.
“Yes, sir!” said the dining car steward. There was still time to enjoy a full breakfast. And so I did, ordering the vegetable omelet with a side of chicken apple-maple sausage. Being as we were traveling through the Deep South, I reckoned I’d better accompany that omelet with grits and a biscuit. Since most of the passengers had already eaten, I had a table completely to myself. Coffee and orange juice were delivered in abundance and I dined like Southern gentry while perusing the news of the nation as only USA Today can present it.
Crescent Shower
After showering, I spent the remainder of the morning catching up on this trip report, pausing occasionally to watch as Georgia and Alabama sped by. The twelve hour ride between Atlanta and New Orleans is pretty though hardly scenic. For the most part the landscape consisted of heavily forested low rolling hills, their monotony broken up by the occasional road or small town. During a break for lunch, I discovered that the diner upon which we were riding was built in 1950 and once served the Southern Pacific Railroad. One of my tablemates, Steve, was what railroad folks like to call a “Foamer”, as in one who’s so excited about railroadiana that they practically foam at the mouth. I’ve met a few foamers in my time and Steve was a bit more laid back than most though he did have an Amtrak equipment roster with him which enabled him to discern the heritage of our 61 year old diner.
Crescent Dining Car
Crescent Dining Table
Time flew by quickly as we sped through rural Mississippi at speeds approaching 70 mph. In Meridian, Mississippi was a beautifully restored train depot, one of several that we’d stopped at since departing Washington. The sun was just setting by the time we rolled through Slidell, Louisiana and onto the 7-mile trestle over Lake Pontchartrain. The trestle is quite narrow and has no railing, so looking out the window it was impossible to see any part of the track or bridge, only water.
The train slowed considerably as we entered the suburbs of New Orleans. Eventually we came to a stop and then slowly backed into the New Orleans terminal, just as they do in Chicago. A glance at my watch indicated that we were only five minutes late by them time we’d finally reached the station platform. Alighting from the train into the muggy New Orleans night, I thanked Henry with a ten spot for a job well done and hurried into the blissfully air-conditioned station.
The New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal serves both Amtrak and Greyhound. While nicely functional, it would hardly be considered an architectural marvel. Inside there is a gift shop, a food court area featuring a Subway sandwich concession and a few electronic games like Pac Man for those so inclined. Once, after eating a few shrooms, I blew up a Pac Man machine with over 700000 points and counting. I was in a serious groove with a couple men to spare when the electronic screen on the board just exploded on me! Bummer... I have no doubt I’d have cleared one million. Interestingly, uniformed NOPD officers were posted at both entrances to the station, probably a good idea given the seediness of the area and the behavioral shortcomings occasionally exhibited amongst those who ride Greyhound.
I was surprised to find that it was not possible to travel between the station and the airport via city bus. Indeed, the cop I spoke with laughed at the very notion of such silliness. Taxi was the only option, he said. The cost would be about $35.00. The Amtrak agent on duty reiterated this, but I asked to see the phone book anyway. In the yellow pages, under Airport Transportation, was a business called Airport Shuttle Co. I called them and was quoted a one way rate of $20.00. Book it, Dano! I was informed that it would be about an hour before they could pick me up at the station, but the Monday Night Football game between the Jets and Dolphins proved sufficiently entertaining as to render the long wait quite bearable.
After a bit of reconnaissance at the airport, I discovered that the A Concourse had been closed for renovation, so I found a nice dark hollow nearby where I spent a comfortable night atop my Thermarest pad. Airport sleeping doesn’t get much better.
Delta Air Lines Denver – Atlanta 1035a – 339p 757-200 Economy Class
Delta Air Lines Atlanta – Kansas City 545p – 657p MD-90 Economy Class
By now some of you are probably wondering when I’m going to start riding some of those trains that I said would be part of this trip. Well wonder no more. The first ride comes tomorrow, in Business Class aboard Amtrak’s Missouri River Runner between Kansas City and St. Louis. First however, I need to get to Kansas City.
Kansas City sits 590 air miles east of Denver, and is often the beneficiary of some very low airfares offered by any one or all of the three airlines that offer nonstop service on the DEN-MCI route. Although Delta does not fly nonstop between Denver and Kansas City, it nonetheless offers a very attractive base fare of just $59.00 one way allowing for a connection in cities as far flung as Atlanta for a total mileage flown of 1,890 miles. To an old mileage runner like me, a routing like this is just plain irresistible.
Coffee and a sweet roll in United’s Red Carpet Club preceded my departure from Delta’s gate over on the C Concourse. Once onboard the 20 year old 757-200, I slowly reclined fully into the man behind me. Unfortunately, my exit row aisle seat was broken to the extent that it would not maintain its full upright and locked position. The flight was totally full and moving was not an option for either of us. Thankfully the guy behind me was not a large person and claimed not to be overly bothered by the situation.
Two hours and sixteen minutes later we landed in Atlanta on a warm and hazy afternoon. Amazingly, my connecting flight to Kansas City was scheduled to depart from the same gate that I’d just arrived at. I took this bit of good fortune with a grain of salt as Delta’s operation at ATL is notorious for last minute gate changes. Thankfully the A Concourse Sky Club was conveniently located right in the middle of the concourse, just above the inter-concourse train station.
The other reason I booked this connection via ATL was because the aircraft operating the ATL-MCI leg was an MD-90. Delta was the launch customer for the MD-90 back in 1995. Only 116 were built and Delta is one of only seven airlines worldwide still operating the plane.
The MD-90 was developed from the MD-80 series and people often confuse it with the older MD-80.
The two airplanes appear very similar but the -90 is 5 feet longer and is powered by the much more fuel efficient IAE V2500 series engines. Delta currently operates a fleet of seventeen MD-90s and is planning to add more. It recently acquired nine MD-90s from China Eastern Airlines and will soon add a few more from Japan Airlines and SAS.
Buying these older MD-90s makes great sense, economically. Depending upon their age, used MD-90s have appraised values of $5 million to $9 million. Assuming Delta is buying these used MD-90-30s in that price range, they’re getting quite a bargain considering that new Boeing 737-800s generally sell for over 60 million apiece. Sure, the 737-800s are newer, but the fuel economies of the MD-90s are very similar to the 737, especially given their similar capacity and efficient engines.
I recently read an interview Delta’s CEO Richard Anderson in which he stated that Delta’s monthly payments on each “new” 737-800 averaged about $350,000. By contrast, Delta’s MD-88s are paid for. So the MD-88s, despite their comparatively uneconomical JT8D engines, start out each month $350,000 less expensive to operate than the economical 737-800s. I wonder how it all tallies up at the end of each month? Either way, Delta doesn’t appear to be in any hurry to get rid of its MD-88s.
This was only my fourteenth flight aboard an MD-90. Although I was unable to discern any operational advantages such as fuel savings during the flight, I very much appreciated the spacious bulkhead aisle seat along with complimentary soda and peanuts bestowed upon me by the friendly flight attendants.
October 15, 2011
Amtrak Kansas City – St. Louis 400p – 950p Missouri River Runner Business Class
Amtrak celebrates its 40th anniversary of operation this year. Trains are a wonderful way to travel across this big beautiful continent of ours and thanks to Amtrak (and a lot of state and federal subsidies), we still can. I can think of no better way to celebrate Amtrak’s milestone than to buy a few tickets and hit the rails!
Back in the early 1980s, Amtrak took delivery of double decker Superliner equipment for use on its long distance trains between Chicago and the West Coast. The new Superliners replaced aging cars from the 1940s and 50s and represented a huge improvement in the onboard experience for passengers. To further spur ridership, Amtrak also introduced very attractively priced All Aboard America fares. America was divided into three sections and these fares allowed practically unlimited travel through any one or two sections or all of the country. Each section cost $125.00 and the only restriction was that you could not travel over any section of track more than twice, i.e. going and coming. During 1983 and 1984, I rode fifty-six trains over 50000 miles of American tracks, in the process riding every route longer than 400 miles in the Amtrak system.
Over the ensuing years I’ve knocked off a few more new routes and re-ridden many already travelled routes. The focus on this trip is to ride aboard trains I haven’t yet ridden upon. First up is the 280 mile run between Kansas City and St. Louis.
My train, the Missouri River Runner, wasn’t scheduled to depart until 4:00pm. This left me plenty of time to sleep in, take a leisurely morning at the hotel, and then head into downtown Kansas City for a plate of ribs at one of the many barbecue establishments for which Kansas City is justifiably renowned.
In the month leading up to this trip, I’d asked anyone I encountered from Kansas City about their thoughts on the best barbecue in town. There are many fine barbecue restaurants in Kansas City but the one name that came up the most often was Gates & Sons Barbecue. So that’s where I went, to the location on 32nd and Main, and enjoyed as good a plate of beef ribs as I’ve ever had. I look forward to a return visit to check out the burnt ends sandwich.
By the way, my mode of transport from the airport into and around town was the city bus. Whereas many reporters in this forum might have utilized airport limos or shuttles into the city, I can’t afford such extravagance even if I could afford it, i.e. I’ll never pay $28.00 for the convenience of a van straight to my destination when I can get within a couple of blocks for just $1.50 and twenty or thirty minutes more of my time. After lunch I walked a block down Main and caught the #57 bus. Minutes later I was let off directly across the street from Kansas City’s Union Station.
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One hundred years ago, airlines and modern paved highways didn’t exist. Ocean liners transported people between continents and trains moved them over land. The world was a lot bigger place back then and travelling anywhere was considered a grand adventure. Big city train stations of that era reflected the grandeur and excitement of long distance travel with monumental architecture that included cavernous grand halls, high sculpted ceilings, polished stone floors and church-pew like seats.
Kansas City’s Union Station is a magnificent example of this reverential style of architecture. Built in the Beaux-Arts style commonly seen in European architecture, the station opened in 1914 as the second-largest train station in the country.
Kansas City Union Station
The entire station complex encompasses over 850,000 square feet. The ceiling in the Grand Hall is 95 feet high and is distinguished by beautifully restored plastered frescoes and three huge chandeliers weighing 3,500 pounds each.
Kansas City Union Station Ceiling and Chandelier
Enormous, deep-set arched windows face the front of the station. The sunshine they allow in casts a warm glow on the rose-brown marble floors and light stone walls. The overall ambience of the station is surprisingly light and airy for such a large building.
Kansas City Union Station Great Hall
At its peak during World War II, an estimated one million travelers passed through this station. Like any large city terminal, the station included restaurants, a cigar store, and a barber shop. Additionally, it was the corporate headquarters for Fred Harvey, the company that famously catered the Santa Fe railroad and operated a string of hotels throughout the Southwest.
Since its renovation and reopening in 1999, Union Station is now home to the H&R Block City Stage Theater, an Imax theater, the Gottlieb Planetarium and a public science center with over 50 interactive exhibits called Science City. The station also hosts two upscale restaurants, a post office and numerous smaller shops. I was here on a Saturday afternoon and there were clearly many more people who’d come to Union Station to eat and/or visit one of its many attractions than to depart on a train.
Harvey’s Restaurant at Union Station
Boarding for the Missouri River Runner was announced at 3:45pm. There were perhaps forty of us who commenced the long walk out along the outside of the station to an elevated walkway over the tracks where an elevator took us down to trackside. In the old days, when there were over 100 trains per day through here, we’d have accessed our train directly through one of the many track entrances in the North Hall.
Kansas City Union Station North Hall
Amtrak offers Coach and Business Class seating aboard most of its short to medium distance trains. Coach accommodations are in surprisingly wide and comfortable seats arranged in a 2-2 configuration throughout the car. Business Class offers wider leather covered seats configured 1-2 and includes a free soft drink and a newspaper. 120v outlets are available at each seat in both classes.
Amtrak Business Class Seats
Today’s consist was headed up by a single P42DC locomotive followed by four coach cars and a Café/Business Class car at the rear of the train. This car featured a small lounge/dining area in the front of the car, a café service area in the middle and five rows of Business Class seating in the rear of the car. Myself and two ladies were the only passengers back there. Shortly after we’d boarded, the train supervisor stopped by to welcome us aboard, explain a bit about the four and a half hour journey and offer us a copy of that morning’s St. Louis Post Dispatch.
The scenery between Kansas City and St. Louis defines bucolic. For 283 miles, we rolled past low rolling hills and fields dotted by pretty farm houses, multiple silos, quaint back roads and the occasional cow. Promotional brochures about the train indicate the eastern half of the route features frequent views of the Missouri River, but by the time we’d travelled that far it was dark.
Route of Amtrak’s Missouri River Runner
Amtrak’s Cafe Car Menus vary depending upon the region. Here in the Midwest, it seemed quite fitting that White Castle cheeseburgers were on the menu in addition to the usual sandwiches and snacks. Also available were Starbucks bottled Frappuccinos and a decent variety of beer and liquor. Beer prices ranged from $5.00 for domestic beers like Bud or Miller to $6.50 for a premium brew which today was Leinenkugel Amber. I paid $10.00 for a White Castle burger and a bottle of Jack Daniels on the rocks, which I enjoyed with my own supply of Blue Diamond smoked almonds.
Aside from the pretty scenery, the highlight of this trip came at Herman, Missouri where we boarded 200 passengers who’d spent the day participating in that town’s Oktoberfest celebrations. Prior to our arrival in Herman, the crew made an announcement essentially warning us of what to expect ~ a bunch of rowdy, beer soaked folks who’d likely be looking to continue their revelry onboard. Five Amtrak police armed with guns and tasers also boarded at Herman to keep the peace but with the exception of the occasional rebel yell, this group was lively but otherwise fine.
At St. Louis Union Station I boarded the Metro train directly from the station to the airport. An hour later I was camped out for the night in my favorite corner of the terminal building.
October 16, 2011
Delta Air Lines St. Louis – Minneapolis 800a – 930a A319-100 First Class
Delta Air Lines Minneapolis – Baltimore 1030a – 130p A319-100 Economy Class
Amtrak Baltimore – Washington DC 255p – 330p Northeast Regional Economy Class
Amtrak Washington DC – New Orleans 630p – 730p The Crescent First Class
Although St. Louis’ Lambert Field is undergoing a renovation, the main terminal building appears to have changed little since I first flew out of here on an Allegheny Airlines BAC-111 on a bitterly cold January morning back in 1977. Gone are names like TWA, Eastern and Ozark that were commonplace in the 1970s, and the old full service coffee shop located at one end of the terminal building has also disappeared but otherwise the ticket counters look exactly the same. Amidst the construction areas are a multitude of signs asking passengers to help the city “See it through”.
Down at gate A-2 awaited a shiny 8 year old A319 along with an upgrade to seat 1A for the short one hour and ten minute flight to Minneapolis. I was amongst the first to board and happily accepted a hot cup of coffee from the flight attendant. Later in the flight, a pass with the snack basket yielded a package of Biscoff cookies. Breakfast over America in the twenty-first century…
I have flown over 1400 unique routes, acquiring over 900000 miles of unduplicated route mileage. Today’s flights between St. Louis, Minneapolis and Baltimore represent two more new routes. I’ve talked with the folks over at flightmemory.com about purchasing a map of my flights but they say that with their style of map at least, I have so many different routes that the end result would not look very good.
The last time I flew into Baltimore was in April of 1988 aboard a United Airlines DC-10, the very same airplane (N1819U) that crashed and burned while attempting an emergency landing at Sioux City, Iowa on July 19, 1989. I’d begun that trip by driving from Colorado to Virginia and had just come from three nights with the Grateful Dead down at Hampton Roads Coliseum. The Dead had released their In The Dark album the year before and the band’s popularity – after having played together for twenty-three years – had suddenly grown to include mainstream America. The result was 20000 people showing up for 12000 seat venues and overflowing parking lots filled with a whole new group of tie-dye clad inebriates, many of whom were more into the party scene than they were the music.
The Dead’s founding member Jerry Garcia put it most correctly when he advised “If you get confused, listen to the music play.” Many of the newcomers not only had no clue, they didn’t care if they got into the shows or not. There was always a party in the parking lot, much like tailgating before and during a football game. As a veteran of the Dead’s much mellower concert scene through the seventies and early eighties, the big crowds at Hampton were a sudden and unwelcome surprise. It would only get worse at the Spectrum in Philly, a city I’ve never found anything likeable about. I didn’t much care for New York’s Nassau Coliseum either, so I sold my tickets for those shows and drove up to Baltimore’s Friendship Airport. There I utilized a free ticket I’d been awarded in a promotion the summer before and flew straight to Honolulu where I spent three days in tropical bliss at a cheap hotel on Lewers Street drinking Mai Tais and smoking Marlboros at the poolside bar with the hard cores. I also took a bus to the North Shore, went swimming and acquired a sunburn. Then I flew up to Anchorage for two days of spring breakup before flying back to Baltimore where I picked up my truck and sped on up to Hartford for that night’s show.
Getting back to the present, I was most thankful for the presence of an Amtrak station just one mile from the airport terminal. A free shuttle bus runs every 12 minutes between the airport and the station, so I had plenty of time for coffee and some internet time before heading over to the station for my 2:55pm train down to Washington.
Washington D.C.’s Union Station. Oh. My. God. What a magnificent edifice! It’s everything I just wrote about Kansas City’s Union Station but bigger. Here – check out This Site for an excellent description with photographs of the station and its history.
Washington DC Union Station Great Hall
Washington DC Union Station Ticket Counters
With two and a half hours to wait until my next train, The Crescent, was scheduled to board for New Orleans, I headed over to Amtrak’s Club Acela lounge to drop off my luggage. Reserved exclusively for First Class passengers and those traveling aboard Amtrak’s Acela trains between Washington and New York or Boston, the Club Acela is an attractive lounge befitting the station it serves. Floors of polished marble are offset by stone planters, glass partitions and brass railing. Artistic posters of historic railroad advertising adorn the walls. The seating is comfortable and overall this lounge is a pleasant place to await your train. The only shortcoming worthy of note were the refreshments which, in the afternoon at least, are limited to coffee, tea, pretzels and Goldfish crackers.
Washington DC Club Acela Lounge
Over in one corner of the lounge, a lively group of football fans was watching the televised Eagles-Redskins game. The score was close and with Philadelphia and Washington being so nearby each other geographically, the support for each team was fairly even amongst those watching the game. As a lifelong fan of the Denver Broncos, I had little interest in this NFC East battle. As a true fan of the game of football however, it was a great contest with an enthusiastic audience to boot. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon while awaiting your train? All that was missing was good cold beer.
After the game (won by the Eagles), I headed out to have a look around the station. What a marvelous place! There were a nice variety of upscale shops along with a couple of nice looking restaurants on the upper level. Taking the escalator down to the lower level, I discovered one of the finest food courts I’ve ever seen – certainly the nicest I’d seen in an airport or train station. There must’ve been over twenty concessions down there, serving everything from Jamaican to Indian to Italian to Cajun. Further exploration revealed a liquor store that looked to be quite well stocked. As it was Sunday however, it was closed and I was unable to buy any beer for the long ride down to New Orleans.
Back in the Club Acela, boarding for the southbound Crescent was announced at 6:10pm. Passengers were instructed to gather at the east exit from the lounge where an Amtrak porter then led us out to the waiting train. An electric cart was available for those passengers requiring assistance.
The Crescent begins its journey at New York’s Penn Station, so there were already a fair number of passengers already onboard the train by the time we arrived. The consist this evening included one baggage car, two Viewliner sleepers, a dining car, a café/lounge car and four Amfleet coaches. My sleeper was named “Winter View” and was located directly behind the baggage car. As I approached the steps up into the car, I was greeted and welcomed aboard by my car attendant, Henry, who relieved me of my bag and showed me to my accommodations, roomette #2.
Although I have ridden Amtrak’s Crescenton two prior occasions, I booked it for this trip because I’d yet to ride in First Class sleeper accommodations aboard Amtrak’s View-Liner equipment which is used only on eastern routes. Bi-Level Superliner equipment is used aboard all long distance trains operating west and south of Chicago. Superliner equipment is not used back east because the overpasses and tunnels are not high enough to accommodate the cars. The one exception to that is the Capitol Limited which runs on the old B&O line between Chicago and Washington DC,
I booked my accommodations back in August and purchased a roomette down to New Orleans for just $265.00 all in. Roomettes are perfect for one person and, because they have a drop down upper bunk, suitable for two. Amtrak has an excellent page describing their Viewliner Roomette right HERE. Check it out!
Once everyone had boarded, Henry stopped by each room to take dinner reservations. Because this evening’s train was heavily booked, he recommended eating sooner rather than later as some of the more popular entrée items, such as the New York Steak, tend to sell out later in the evening. I took Henry’s advice and made a 7:15pm dinner reservation. I was handed a small card indicating the reservation time, and then settled into the large padded seat in my roomette and watched as we rolled out of the station and glided south through Washington’s suburbs and into Virginia.
It’s a twenty-six hour, 1,150 mile journey from Washington DC down to New Orleans. If you’re in a hurry, take a plane. Traveling by train, especially if you’ve purchased sleeper accommodations, is a great way to enjoy seeing the country you’re traveling through rather than over while enjoying a comfortable seat in spacious accommodations. The pace is relaxed and there’ll be plenty of opportunity to share the excitement of it all with your fellow travelers while sitting down over a nice meal in the diner or enjoying drinks and conversation in the lounge car.
My reverie was interrupted by the call to dinner for those with 7:15pm dinner reservations. Sleeping car passengers are never more than a car or two away from the diner, so moments later I presented myself to the dining car steward who assigned me to a table for four. Soon I was joined by Eddie and Fiona, a middle aged couple from England who’d spent the past week in New England enjoying the fall foliage. Now they were headed south to visit friends in Birmingham, Alabama before continuing on to New Orleans later in the week.
Menus had already been placed at each table and so we took a moment to consider the choices. Soon our waiter stopped by, noted our room and car numbers, and then asked if we’d care for anything to drink with dinner. Red and white wine for my dinner companions and a Jack Daniels on the rocks for me please. As for dinner, let’s check out the menu. (Be sure to click on Crescent Dining Car Menu)
Eddie and I opted for the New York steak with baked potato while Fiona chose the half roasted chicken. Salad and rolls were delivered first. The salads were nothing special, just some salad greens and a couple of cherry tomatoes. A wicker basket in the center of the table held a variety of Paul Newman brand salad dressings and I would have to say my Balsamic Vinaigrette was the highlight of the salad. C’mon, Amtrak ~ at least throw in some shredded carrots and cabbage!
The steaks were actually pretty good – mine was perfectly medium rare and the baked potato was hot and tender. Fiona’s chicken was on the small side but otherwise looked quite nice. She liked it just fine and I decided I would order it tomorrow night. Although there was a choice of two or three desserts, we all chose the apple pie a la mode. The pie was nicely warmed and the ice cream was soft but cold. Delicious!
Afterwards, we retired to the lounge car for another round of drinks and a bit of train talk. Fiona commuted to work each day on a train but this was her first long distance trip. Both her and Eddie were impressed with their accommodations as well as the fare, which was a far sight lower than the price they’d have paid for a trip of similar distance and accommodations in Europe.
Crescent Lounge Car Seating
How true! Amtrak is one of the best travel bargains in the western world for long distance First Class train travel. A trip of this length in Australia would cost you close to $1000.00, and probably not too far off that in Europe, especially if you had private accommodations.
It was about 10:30pm when we called it a night and returned to our sleepers. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Henry had already converted my roomette into nighttime mode, with the bed made up, the night light on and a little square of Amtrak chocolate on my pillow. I read for about an hour before finally succumbing to the gentle rhythm of the rails.
Crescent ViewLiner Bedroom
When I awoke, we were just departing from Atlanta’s Peachtree Station. It was almost 9:00am local time! Worried that I might have slept through breakfast, I quickly threw on some clothes, drug a brush through my hair and a razor over my face and then hurried up to the diner, pausing only to grab that morning’s copy of USA Today that had been placed under my door during the stop in Atlanta.
“Yes, sir!” said the dining car steward. There was still time to enjoy a full breakfast. And so I did, ordering the vegetable omelet with a side of chicken apple-maple sausage. Being as we were traveling through the Deep South, I reckoned I’d better accompany that omelet with grits and a biscuit. Since most of the passengers had already eaten, I had a table completely to myself. Coffee and orange juice were delivered in abundance and I dined like Southern gentry while perusing the news of the nation as only USA Today can present it.
Crescent Shower
After showering, I spent the remainder of the morning catching up on this trip report, pausing occasionally to watch as Georgia and Alabama sped by. The twelve hour ride between Atlanta and New Orleans is pretty though hardly scenic. For the most part the landscape consisted of heavily forested low rolling hills, their monotony broken up by the occasional road or small town. During a break for lunch, I discovered that the diner upon which we were riding was built in 1950 and once served the Southern Pacific Railroad. One of my tablemates, Steve, was what railroad folks like to call a “Foamer”, as in one who’s so excited about railroadiana that they practically foam at the mouth. I’ve met a few foamers in my time and Steve was a bit more laid back than most though he did have an Amtrak equipment roster with him which enabled him to discern the heritage of our 61 year old diner.
Crescent Dining Car
Crescent Dining Table
Time flew by quickly as we sped through rural Mississippi at speeds approaching 70 mph. In Meridian, Mississippi was a beautifully restored train depot, one of several that we’d stopped at since departing Washington. The sun was just setting by the time we rolled through Slidell, Louisiana and onto the 7-mile trestle over Lake Pontchartrain. The trestle is quite narrow and has no railing, so looking out the window it was impossible to see any part of the track or bridge, only water.
The train slowed considerably as we entered the suburbs of New Orleans. Eventually we came to a stop and then slowly backed into the New Orleans terminal, just as they do in Chicago. A glance at my watch indicated that we were only five minutes late by them time we’d finally reached the station platform. Alighting from the train into the muggy New Orleans night, I thanked Henry with a ten spot for a job well done and hurried into the blissfully air-conditioned station.
The New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal serves both Amtrak and Greyhound. While nicely functional, it would hardly be considered an architectural marvel. Inside there is a gift shop, a food court area featuring a Subway sandwich concession and a few electronic games like Pac Man for those so inclined. Once, after eating a few shrooms, I blew up a Pac Man machine with over 700000 points and counting. I was in a serious groove with a couple men to spare when the electronic screen on the board just exploded on me! Bummer... I have no doubt I’d have cleared one million. Interestingly, uniformed NOPD officers were posted at both entrances to the station, probably a good idea given the seediness of the area and the behavioral shortcomings occasionally exhibited amongst those who ride Greyhound.
I was surprised to find that it was not possible to travel between the station and the airport via city bus. Indeed, the cop I spoke with laughed at the very notion of such silliness. Taxi was the only option, he said. The cost would be about $35.00. The Amtrak agent on duty reiterated this, but I asked to see the phone book anyway. In the yellow pages, under Airport Transportation, was a business called Airport Shuttle Co. I called them and was quoted a one way rate of $20.00. Book it, Dano! I was informed that it would be about an hour before they could pick me up at the station, but the Monday Night Football game between the Jets and Dolphins proved sufficiently entertaining as to render the long wait quite bearable.
After a bit of reconnaissance at the airport, I discovered that the A Concourse had been closed for renovation, so I found a nice dark hollow nearby where I spent a comfortable night atop my Thermarest pad. Airport sleeping doesn’t get much better.
#5
October 18, 2011
Delta Air Lines New Orleans – Atlanta 730a – 1009a 757-200 First Class
Delta Air Lines Atlanta – Nashville 1105a – 1119a DC-9-80 Economy Class
Delta Connection Nashville – Minneapolis 210p – 424p CRJ-200 Economy Class
Delta Air Lines Minneapolis – Hartford 720p – 1054p A320-200 Economy Class
My morning started with good rich coffee and beignets in an attractive little airport café. Arriving at the gate, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I’d been upgraded to First Class. With a long day ahead of me, this was a great way to start it.
As of today I’m 38 flights into this 54 flight outing. You’d think I’d be tired of it all but nothing could be farther from the truth. Whereas many people find the entire process of getting on and off multiple flights over such a short time tedious and tiring, I feel like a kid in an amusement park on trips like this. I could go on for a good long while. The tedious part I can understand for most folks, but tiring? What’s so tiring about sitting around on airplanes all day? Once I’m on the road and into the trip, I get energized, not exhausted.
As for tedium, if reading books, magazines or newspapers, surfing the internet or even having the occasional conversation with a seatmate doesn’t prove sufficiently entertaining, try writing a trip report sometime. They can take up a lot of time and you might be surprised at some of the things about the trip that come to mind when you actually write about it as opposed to simply photographing it.
And so it is that I find myself really looking forward to the next couple of days. Eight flights, four of them aboard aging DC-9s, a new route between Minneapolis and Hartford, and connections in Minneapolis where I’ll have time to hook up with an old friend as well as Memphis where I can look forward to a pulled pork sandwich from Dave Neely’s Interstate Barbecue – the finest barbecue I have ever had. So life is good here, deep in the middle of mileage run country. The main thing is to have a good attitude and not get all bent out of shape when and if things don’t go exactly according to plan. Just keep that spirit of adventure and trust that it’ll all work out in the long run.
I hadn’t spent a night in Hartford’s Bradley International Airport since back in 2002. Upon arriving tonight I found a completely new facility, half of which was dominated by about fifty Mexican nationals who were all sleeping in the airport prior to the morning departure of their Southwest flight. They were camped out in front of and around the Southwest ticket counter and most of them had excessive amounts of baggage. No wonder they were flying Southwest!
I found a comparatively quiet spot on the other side of the airport and slept undisturbed until my alarm went off at 6:15am.
October 19, 2011
Delta Air Lines Hartford – Atlanta 730a – 1020a DC-9-80 Economy Class
Delta Air Lines Atlanta – Nashville 140p – 153p DC-9-50 Economy Class
What’s a trip to New England without a cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee? Oh what the heck – gimme one of them glazed donuts, too!
We were about 40 minutes out of Atlanta when we encountered some of the roughest air I can remember flying through in many a year. The MD-80 was bucking and yawing and on a couple of occasions I felt my stomach come dangerously close to my mouth. Over the 4,393 flights I have flown thus far, I have never ever had to use a barf bag. Thankfully that streak remains intact though it sure did feel close there for a while.
A large cold front was moving through the southeastern U.S. making the temperature in Atlanta unseasonably cold. As one who’s lived in Alaska over the past twenty some odd years, I found the cool weather downright refreshing and lingered in the jetway a bit to adjust my daypack before heading into the warm terminal. Checking the TV monitor, I then sped over to the B Concourse in hopes of standing by for the 11:05 departure to Nashville. Alas, it was not to be. That flight was sold out and left a few hopeful standbys standing at the gate.
Over at a nearby Sky Club, I dined upon hummus, crackers and mixed nuts washed down with Tennessee sour mash whiskey. I do miss the Woodford Reserve and the Makers Mark bourbons once available in Delta’s Sky Clubs, but a generous pour of Jack Daniels on the rocks makes a for a decent substitute. Let’s just hope that the bean counters don’t force the Sky Clubs to descend into Ten High or Old Crow country…
In Nashville I watched as our little CRJ-200 taxied smartly into the gate. After a three hour layover at BNA, I was ready to get on over to Memphis and enjoy a nice barbecue dinner. We were all sealed up with the jetway retracted when the First Officer stepped out from the cockpit, opened the forward passenger door and had a look at the fuselage. Hmm… Moments later, the Captain came on over the PA and advised us that there’d be a bit of a delay while they got on the line to find some mechanics to come out and inspect the aircraft fuselage. Apparently when the baggage handlers had backed the belt loader away from the aircraft, it had caught something around the cargo door and damaged it.
What the Captain didn’t mention was that Delta doesn’t have any of its own mechanics in Nashville and so they would have to contract someone to come out and have a look at the aircraft. This apparently required more than a simple phone call and soon we were all heading back into the terminal with an uncertain departure time.
The man beside me was furious. He called the flight attendant over and hissed that he had an “important” connection to make. It never ceases to amaze me how people who behave like this always seem to think they’re the only ones with an important connection. She said all the usual things one would expect for this situation, but nothing would mollify him. Now he was going to miss his flight. And he was pissed. For all the good that would do him. If he’d been a nicer guy, I would have offered to guest him into the Sky Club while we waited but instead I went in on my own and got on the phone to Delta to explore my options.
It wasn’t long before the decision was made to cancel the flight. Unfortunately, an earlier flight to Cincinnati had also been cancelled due to a mechanical, and the re-accommodation of its passengers effectively sold all the remaining seats out of Nashville for the day.
The upside to this was that I’d get to sleep in a hotel bed for the night. The downside was that there was no way to fly me into Orlando in time to get downtown and catch my train to Tampa at 10:30 the next morning. Ah well, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. I explained to the agent about my train connection to Tampa and asked if Delta might book me straight into TPA instead. No problem, sir. Great! Now I wouldn’t have to deal with getting from downtown Tampa to the airport on the city transit system. As for riding the ORL-TPA line, I’ll reckon I’ll just have to come back to Florida someday. No problem!
October 20, 2011
Delta Connection Nashville – Atlanta 915a – 1130a CRJ-900 Economy Class
Delta Air Lines Atlanta - Tampa 1238p – 155p 757-200 Economy Class
A comfortable bed, a hot shower, a filling breakfast and two quick and easy flights that got me down to Tampa International right on schedule. Life is good. At Budget Car Rental I was assigned a Chevy Impala and soon was speeding up the Sun Coast Parkway enroute to a rendezvous with a friend in Hudson, 40 miles north of Tampa .
Ed was my landlord four years ago when I came down to the Bonati Institute for a few sessions of arthroscopic laser surgery. He owns a block of four small apartments just down the street from the institute. While most Bonati patients opt to stay in the perceptually safer choice of private beachside condominiums rented out by owners who only use them during the winter, I naturally gravitated to the local flavor. Ed’s apartments suited me like an old pair of jeans. Though they offered no views of the beach, they were situated amidst two acres of park like lawns under shady magnolia trees bordering a pretty tidal pond. The beach was just five minutes’ walk away. I had a comfortable bed, a clean kitchen, cable TV and lots of peace and quiet. I also saved about $150.00 per week.
Most Bonati patients would be in town for two or three weeks at a time and if you stayed in Ed’s apartments, you couldn’t help but get to know Ed, a lifelong Floridian of irrepressible good spirit, great knowledge of the area and a love of local seafood restaurants. Aside from any work necessary to maintaining the apartments, Ed is basically retired and likes nothing more than to go fishing or ride his Harley around the back roads of Florida. I enjoyed getting to know him during my time in Hudson and it was nice to be able to swing by and visit again on this trip. We ate dinner at Peck’s Old Port Cove, an excellent seafood place up in Crystal River. I spent the night in one of Ed’s apartments, this time as a guest rather than a tenant.
October 21, 2011
Sun Country Orlando – Kalamazoo 915p – 1146p 737-900 Economy Class
We met up for breakfast the next morning at Mugoo’s Diner – from the outside the kind of place that your average tourist or business traveler would probably pass on in favor of something a bit shinier. Who would know that the ladies at Mugoo’s would serve up such a nice plate of Eggs Benedict! Or that the omelets would be so large and fluffy?
Later, while driving across the back roads of central Florida enroute to Sanford International Airport, I remember thinking that this was the kind of travel day I’ve always enjoyed. Starting with a nice drive across Florida, I’d then be flying aboard what for me would be a new airline out of an airport I’d never before flown out of. Upon arrival in Kalamazoo, Michigan, I’d hop a bus downtown and then board a train for the four hour ride to Pontiac, Michigan where a nice motel room awaited.
The first sign of trouble came about a week ago when I got an email from Direct Air advising me that my scheduled 9:15am departure from Orlando/Sanford to Kalamazoo had been moved six hours later to 3:15pm. Although the later departure time would cause me to have to change my train reservation to a later departure, on a positive note it meant that I could spend the night of the 20th in Hudson instead of having a quick get together with Ed, driving across Florida that night and sleeping at the Sanford airport.
By the way, I should explain here that Direct Air is not an airline, nor are there any aircraft wearing Direct Air livery or titles. Direct Air sells tickets on select routes and contracts with non-scheduled supplemental airlines like Vision, Xcel or Sky King to provide the actual service, generally with 737 or DC-9 aircraft. I booked this flight between Sanford and Kalamazoo because the Direct Air website advertised a fare of just $69.00 one way and indicated that the flight would be operated by a Vision Airlines 737-400.
After turning in my rental car at Sanford, I headed over to the Direct Air counter and noted that their one flight of that day, my flight up to Kalamazoo, was marked as “Delayed”. Well, that shouldn’t be a problem as I had almost four hours to get from Kalamazoo Airport to the train station for the last train of the night to Pontiac.
Imagine then my shock and dismay to find that the flight had been delayed by another six hours to 9:15pm.
The reason for the delay was that the Vision Airlines aircraft that Direct Air had contracted for this service had broken down that morning. Whatever the problem was, it was unable to be corrected in a timely manner and so Direct Air had to scramble to find an airline with a spare aircraft that could fly the one hundred or so folks they’d booked out of Kalamazoo down to Sanford and then the fifty or so of us back up to Kalamazoo. Sun Country Airlines was able to answer the call, but not until later in the day.
Meanwhile, we passengers had absolutely no reasonable recourse. I explained that because of the delay I would now miss the last train of the night to Pontiac, Michigan where I needed to be tomorrow morning for yet another train. Sorry, said the young girl working the counter. There’s nothing we can do. Well if I can get myself over to Orlando, can you put me on Delta to Detroit? I can’t authorize that, she replied. All she could do was give me Direct Air’s 800 number. She explained that they might refund my money for this ticket, but if I wanted to fly on any other airline I would have to arrange that on my own. The cost of buying a one way ticket to Detroit on the day of departure would have been prohibitive and ultimately, I, like everyone else, was left with no alternative other than to sit around the Sanford terminal for another seven hours until our flight would depart. For our troubles, we were given a meal voucher worth $8.00.
Lesson learned: Stay away from Direct Air and other outfits like it. The potential money saved is just not worth the added expense and inconvenience if and/or when something goes wrong.
As for sitting around at Sanford International, there ain’t much there. The airport primarily serves European charter airlines like Thomas Cook or Monarch, as well as domestic carriers like Allegiant and Vision Air. The two terminal buildings are reasonably modern with about ten jetway equipped gates. Unfortunately the food options are limited to take away hamburgers, sandwiches and cinnamon rolls. There is an airline lounge called the Royal Palm Lounge, but it’s only available to passengers traveling on international flights. For the rest of us there was a bar lounge and a coffee stand. There is no public transit available, so the only way out of the airport is via taxi or shuttle. It was a long six hours.
As for the flight, it was operated by Sun Country with 737-800 equipment. The crew apologized for the fact that Direct Air had not supplied them with any catering, meaning that all we would be offered was a very limited selection of soft drinks. The three people who had paid extra for seats in the First Class cabin had to have been a bit disappointed at this news.
The interior of the airplane looked well-worn and I was almost certain that this aircraft must have been one of those that had been leased to four or five airlines before coming to Sun Country. When I ran its N-number later on I was surprised to find that Sun Country had been its only operator.
By the time we finally landed in Kalamazoo, it was 11:55pm. Interestingly, we disembarked down the forward stairs and then walked across the tarmac to an unused jetway, climbed up its stairs and then entered the terminal. Is there a jetway fee at AZO? The terminal was modern but fairly small, so after checking in with the airport police, I found myself a nice quiet corner upstairs for the night. They even turned the main overhead lights off through most of the terminal for the night. It was a nice ending to a day that was much longer than it should have been.
October 22, 2011
Amtrak Kalamazoo – Niles 246p – 319p Wolverine Economy Class
Amtrak Niles – Port Huron 651p – 1211a Blue Water Business Class
Kalamazoo Airport is a remarkably quiet place on Saturday mornings. There are only three flights operating before noon, all of them with smaller jets. From 6:10am to 10:20 am there are no flights at all which would explain why when I awoke at 8:00am I was probably the only non-employee in the building.
The dearth of flights on Saturday might also explain why the Kalamazoo City Transit busses don’t serve the airport on weekends. I caught a free shuttle ride over to a Clarion Hotel about three miles away that 1.) had a restaurant where I could buy some breakfast and 2.) was on the bus line into downtown Kalamazoo. I saved a $20.00 cab ride and used some of the savings toward a good breakfast at the hotel.
At the Kalamazoo Transit Center which also serves as the train station, I stored my bag and took a walk into downtown Kalamazoo. I love the old brick buildings so prevalent throughout the Midwest, and downtown Kalamazoo has plenty of them. I spent some time in the Michigan News Agency, a well-stocked book and magazine store, then stopped at a local coffee shop before heading back to the station.
I came to Michigan to ride all of these trains
Kalamazoo Train Depot
The six car train from Pontiac arrived nine minutes late at 2:55pm. This was the train I was supposed to have boarded this morning from Pontiac. Oh well, at least I was now back on schedule per my own itinerary. I and about thirty others waited patiently while the train disgorged a large group of boy scouts and a few run of the mill Michiganders, then boarded and took a seat in the coach car next to the café-lounge car. The single P42DC locomotive accelerated smoothly out of the station and soon we were pounding down the tracks toward our next station stop in Niles, just thirty-five minutes away.
Arrival at Niles, Michigan
Although I could have created a shorter layover further down the tracks, I made Niles, Michigan the transfer point to Amtrak’s Blue Water up to Port Huron because 1.) I wanted to check out the historic Niles Depot and 2.) I figured there would be a place where I could get a bite to eat nearby during my three hour layover. Well, the depot was truly a gem of a building, everything a small town train depot should be architecturally.
Niles, Michigan Train Depot
Niles, Michigan Train Depot Waiting Room
It was well worth the time spent there admiring the one hundred and twenty year old building and chatting with the Amtrak ticket agent, a portly little man who reminded me of the actor Al Lewis who played Grandpa in the 1960s TV show The Munsters.
Unfortunately, the downtown district of Niles was about a mile and a half away and there were no guarantees on what, if anything would be open on a Saturday afternoon. As well, I was told the town had only one taxi and that it was tied up down in nearby South Bend, Indiana because of the Notre Dame – USC game there this afternoon. I hung out and chatted with the station master until closing time at 5:00pm, then relocated to the lawn outside the station where I put in a couple of hours of reading until the clanging of the crossing gate bells and the whistle of the locomotive announced the arrival of the eastbound Blue Water at 7:10pm.
Only six of the fifteen seats in Business Class were taken, so I selected an empty pair on the two seat side and prepared to settle in for the next five hours. While I appreciate the 120v outlets at each seat, I’m surprised that Amtrak has yet to install Wi-Fi internet access aboard its trains. Even Greyhound busses have Wi-Fi now! I plugged in my computer and downloaded the latest pictures from this trip. A turkey sandwich and a can of Budweiser provided sustenance midway through the trip and by the time we rolled into Port Huron at midnight, I’d managed to bring this trip report up to date.
Regular readers of my trip reports know that I lean towards budget accommodations in my travels. Every once in a while, Priceline will help get me into a Sheraton or Hilton with the rest of you but as one who isn’t traveling on the company dime and furthermore refuses to pay $100.00 or more for a hotel room, I must make do on the fringes, staying in places that no self-respecting FlyerTalker would ever consider. Obviously it’s a matter of simple economics, and I usually am able to find fairly decent motels that are clean and quiet. Unfortunately, tonight’s accommodation in Port Huron was anything but.
When I first looked into Port Huron accommodations about three weeks ago, the Super 7 was far and away the least expensive option in town. Internet based reviews of the property were mixed, leaning mostly toward the negative side. I had two nights scheduled in Port Huron and since the next least expensive property was about $30.00 per night more expensive, I figured what the heck, I’d book my first night at the Super 7 and if all went well, I’d book my second night there as well.
Well let’s just cut to the chase ~ immediately upon alighting from the taxi I could see that the building was a lot more run down than it looked from pictures I’d seen on the Internet. I had asked for and received one of the newly remodeled rooms on the first floor, and the non-smoking room itself was generally acceptable except for the cigarette burns on the bedspread. Lifting the bedspread to remove a pillow, I came across some kind of bug. I’d never seen a bed bug before, so I can’t say it was one of those. I just know that bugs shouldn’t be in beds, so after removing the pillows I tucked in the bedspread and slept on top of it, using my wool blanket for warmth.
I slept well enough, but in the morning, while enjoying some free coffee from the lobby, I got to listen in on a loud argument next door that soon turned violent. I notified the front desk who notified the police and shortly thereafter the offending party was led away in handcuffs. Meanwhile I utilized the complimentary Wi-Fi to to book a room at the Baymont Inn and Suites for just $55.00 via Travelocity’s Secret Hotel Deals.
I checked out, had an excellent breakfast next door at Tony’s Paradise Café and then watched the Lions and Falcons battle it out at a local sports bar down the street. That was a lot of fun with a great bunch of fans and lots of affordable beer. Too bad the Lions lost.
By the time I left the bar it was getting on 5 o’clock. The weather was cool and blustery with rain in the forecast so I headed on out to the the Baymont where my room was substantially nicer and much quieter.
October 24, 2011
Amtrak Port Huron – Chicago 600a – 1200n Blue Water Business Class
Amtrak Chicago – Grand Rapids 520p – 1020p Pere Marquette Economy Class
I hate waking up at oh dark thirty but Amtrak forced my hand with its 6:00am departure from Port Huron, the only train out of town each day. About two dozen bleary-eyed travelers were gathered in the brightly lit station waiting room when the all aboard call went out at 5:50am. The day had dawned cold and drizzly, so little time was wasted in climbing aboard and getting settled in. With nicer weather forecast just 50 miles to the west, we were all anxious to get rolling.
Shortly after we’d gotten underway, I strolled back to the café/lounge car where hot coffee and a breakfast sandwich awaited. I perused the previous day’s football scores in a complimentary copy of USA Today and then returned to my seat in hopes of getting just a little more sleep. Given our position at the western end of the Eastern Time zone, it didn’t really get light until after 8:00am, so I wouldn’t be missing anything scenery wise.
When I awoke, bright sunshine highlighted the autumnal colors of central Michigan as we rolled along at about 60 mph. The scenery was mostly farmland accented by the occasional small town. The barns were the best, most all of them built in the classic style and painted either red or white. I watched for a while and then plugged in my laptop to write about it all.
Such is life on the train. It doesn’t always sound very exciting but then it’s not about excitement. If you like seeing this country from the ground up, and are willing to take the time to do so, a ride on a train is a relaxing and comfortable way to do it. Amtrak’s seats are larger and have much better recline than coach airline seats. The lounge and dining cars also provide a nice break, whether you’re looking for a bite to eat or perhaps a drink or two in the convivial atmosphere of the lounge car.
Upon arrival at Chicago’s Union Station I met up with an old friend who’d ridden down to Chicago aboard a local METRA train. The station is certainly large, though nowhere near as impressive as the stations in Kansas City or Washington DC.
Chicago Union Station Great Hall
Chicago Union Station Great Hall Columns
Chicago Union Station – To All Trains
We headed across the street to the water taxi on the Chicago River. If you’ve never ridden Chicago’s water taxis, they’re a great way to see the city and enjoy the spectacular architecture that Chicago’s buildings are so rightfully famous for.
Chicago Water Taxi Views
Chicago Water Taxi Views
Chicago Water Taxi Views
Chicago Water Taxi Views
We were going to have lunch at House of Blues until we saw the prices, and instead relocated around the corner to Harry Caray’s Steakhouse. The 10 oz. Holy Cow burger with cheddar cheese, sautéed mushrooms and onions was one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. Afterwards, we walked a few blocks down the street to the Billy Goat Tavern for a couple rounds of beers. I’ll have to come back sometime for the cheezborgers and a Pepsi – that’s right, the ones made famous in the Saturday Night Live skits from thirty-five years ago.
Marilyn Monroe in The Windy City
Back at Union Station, I headed down to Track 26 where the Superliner equipped Pere Marquette awaited. This train normally operates with single level Amfleet equipment, so the big bi-level Superliners with their more comfortable long distance seats with leg rests was quite a nice upgrade. The four hour long trip to Grand Rapids was rolling along nicely until we reached Bangor, Michigan. There we sat for almost two hours while police and the Coroner’s office tried to determine how the freight train ahead of us hit a man on the tracks. Was the victim drunk or suicidal? Or was he pushed or tied down? Meanwhile we sat at the station in Bangor. Normally the station would have been closed at the time we were there, but the stationmaster was nice enough to come down and open it. Inside was a television which allowed the baseball fans to go inside and watch the World Series game.
It was 11:00pm by the time we were given the okay to continue. By the time we pulled into the Grand Rapids station it was 12:45am. I’d arranged for a taxi to meet me and drive me to my motel for the night but given my early departure in the morning, I managed just four and a half hours sleep before my alarm went off and I was back at it – on the road again.
October 25, 2011
Indian Trails Grand Rapids – Lansing 710a – 825a Bus
Sun Country Lansing – Minneapolis 130p – 200p 737-700 Economy Class
Sun Country Minneapolis – Las Vegas 400p – 515p 737-800 Economy Class
The taxi dropped me off at the Grand Rapids Transit Center at 6:45am. It was a modern, well lit facility but definitely not the kind of place I’d ever want to spend the night at. A number of individuals looked like they were in there to stay warm rather than to catch a bus and overall I’d have to think that airports are much safer.
It had been a few years since I’d ridden anything other than an airport bus in America. The Indian Trails bus I rode over to Lansing had comfortable seating and an airline style interior with enclosed overhead storage bins. As an added bonus, free Wi-Fi was available onboard. I slept through most of the hour and a half trip to Lansing.
It cost me $1.50 and thirty-five minutes to ride a Lansing city transit bus out to the airport. Since Sun Country’s ticket counter wouldn’t open until an hour and a half later at 11:00am, I used the time to grab another hour of sleep on a comfortable patch of carpet in the far corner of the terminal.
Although a Sun Country jet operated my flight from Sanford, Florida up to Kalamazoo, Michigan last week, I consider this to be my first proper flight aboard Sun Country, an airline that got its start in 1982 with a single 727-200 based out of Minneapolis. Today Sun Country flies a fleet of three 737-700s and seven 737-800s on both scheduled and charter services from coast to coast, Mexico and Costa Rica. London is served seasonally. First Class and Coach are offered on all flights.
The aircraft operating the flight from Lansing to Minneapolis was an ex- Easy Jet 737-700. The flight began at Washington National, so when we boarded in Lansing it was already about half full. Upgrades were available for $79.00. No thanks. I asked for and received a bulkhead aisle seat, all the better to observe the goings on up in First Class.
Flight time to Minneapolis was just one hour and twenty minutes, so service back in Economy was a simple pass with the beverage cart. My seat felt stiff and uncomfortable and offered very limited recline. Being as this airplane was leased from Easy Jet, the seats were probably theirs as well except up in First Class where the seats looked like exact replicas of Alaska Airlines’ First Class seats. They very well may have been since in 2007 Alaska got rid of five of its 737-700s; four to China’s Lucky Air and one to Georgian Air.
Speaking of First Class, I watched with interest as a plate of cheese and crackers with a large chocolate chip cookie was offered to the fortunate few. For an hour and ten minute flight, I thought this was a pretty nice service.
Sun Country operates out of MSP’s Terminal 2, a.k.a. the Hubert H. Humphrey Terminal. Built in 2001, this terminal is used primarily by low cost carriers including Sun Country, AirTran, and Southwest. With a two hour layover and no lounge available, I headed over to Fletcher’s Wharf, the one full service restaurant in the terminal. In the spirit of culinary adventure and with a nod to local cuisine, I ordered the walleye sandwich. I’d never eaten walleye before and was pleasantly surprised with its flavor, though not the price tag of $11.95. Still, it was a tasty way to spend a leisurely hour that included a great view of the tarmac from my table.
The colorful 737-800 operating my flight to Las Vegas was almost completely full, so I was doubly thankful for the spacious exit row seat I’d procured at no cost during check-in. Had I booked it in advance, this seat would have cost an additional $25.00.
Flight time was projected to be three hours and eight minutes. Amazingly the window seat behind me was unoccupied, so shortly after takeoff I reclined my seat all the way back (much better recline than on the 737-700) and caught another thirty minutes of sleep until the inflight service got underway.
DigEplayers arrived first, at a cost of $6.00. I’ve yet to ever order a DigEplayer, much less even watch one of the free ones I get on Alaska Airlines. I don’t really care to watch movies or television on a screen so small, and besides, I’ve got plenty to entertain me right on my laptop.
The food and beverage cart arrived next. Sun Country’s Buy Onboard Inflight Menu advertises hot items such as pizza and cheeseburgers on its longer flights. I would happily have shelled out $3.00 for a cheeseburger or even $6.00 for a pizza but all we were offered were complimentary hotdogs. They looked to be your run of the mill cheapo hotdogs made from who knows what part of the pig so I passed on them in hopes of finding something better in Las Vegas.
Our approach into Las Vegas was from the north, providing those of us on the right side of the aircraft with an excellent view of the hotels along the strip. In all the times that I have flown into Las Vegas, this is the first time I can remember ever having made this approach past the downtown buildings. Normally we always land from the east or west along the 14510 foot runway 7L/25R. No complaints, though. I much prefer this northern approach!
Landing in Las Vegas
It was a busy week in Las Vegas with the Bull Riding Championship and a big drag race out at the speedway. As a result, car rental rates were higher than usual. I was fortunate to speed out of town in a 2010 Ford Taurus for just $120.00 all in for the next four days. Mojave Desert here I come!
Joshua Tree Rainbow
Continental Express Embraer Jets stored at Kingman, Arizona
Union Pacific Station at Caliente, Nevada
Mojave Desert Sunset
Delta Air Lines New Orleans – Atlanta 730a – 1009a 757-200 First Class
Delta Air Lines Atlanta – Nashville 1105a – 1119a DC-9-80 Economy Class
Delta Connection Nashville – Minneapolis 210p – 424p CRJ-200 Economy Class
Delta Air Lines Minneapolis – Hartford 720p – 1054p A320-200 Economy Class
My morning started with good rich coffee and beignets in an attractive little airport café. Arriving at the gate, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I’d been upgraded to First Class. With a long day ahead of me, this was a great way to start it.
As of today I’m 38 flights into this 54 flight outing. You’d think I’d be tired of it all but nothing could be farther from the truth. Whereas many people find the entire process of getting on and off multiple flights over such a short time tedious and tiring, I feel like a kid in an amusement park on trips like this. I could go on for a good long while. The tedious part I can understand for most folks, but tiring? What’s so tiring about sitting around on airplanes all day? Once I’m on the road and into the trip, I get energized, not exhausted.
As for tedium, if reading books, magazines or newspapers, surfing the internet or even having the occasional conversation with a seatmate doesn’t prove sufficiently entertaining, try writing a trip report sometime. They can take up a lot of time and you might be surprised at some of the things about the trip that come to mind when you actually write about it as opposed to simply photographing it.
And so it is that I find myself really looking forward to the next couple of days. Eight flights, four of them aboard aging DC-9s, a new route between Minneapolis and Hartford, and connections in Minneapolis where I’ll have time to hook up with an old friend as well as Memphis where I can look forward to a pulled pork sandwich from Dave Neely’s Interstate Barbecue – the finest barbecue I have ever had. So life is good here, deep in the middle of mileage run country. The main thing is to have a good attitude and not get all bent out of shape when and if things don’t go exactly according to plan. Just keep that spirit of adventure and trust that it’ll all work out in the long run.
I hadn’t spent a night in Hartford’s Bradley International Airport since back in 2002. Upon arriving tonight I found a completely new facility, half of which was dominated by about fifty Mexican nationals who were all sleeping in the airport prior to the morning departure of their Southwest flight. They were camped out in front of and around the Southwest ticket counter and most of them had excessive amounts of baggage. No wonder they were flying Southwest!
I found a comparatively quiet spot on the other side of the airport and slept undisturbed until my alarm went off at 6:15am.
October 19, 2011
Delta Air Lines Hartford – Atlanta 730a – 1020a DC-9-80 Economy Class
Delta Air Lines Atlanta – Nashville 140p – 153p DC-9-50 Economy Class
What’s a trip to New England without a cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee? Oh what the heck – gimme one of them glazed donuts, too!
We were about 40 minutes out of Atlanta when we encountered some of the roughest air I can remember flying through in many a year. The MD-80 was bucking and yawing and on a couple of occasions I felt my stomach come dangerously close to my mouth. Over the 4,393 flights I have flown thus far, I have never ever had to use a barf bag. Thankfully that streak remains intact though it sure did feel close there for a while.
A large cold front was moving through the southeastern U.S. making the temperature in Atlanta unseasonably cold. As one who’s lived in Alaska over the past twenty some odd years, I found the cool weather downright refreshing and lingered in the jetway a bit to adjust my daypack before heading into the warm terminal. Checking the TV monitor, I then sped over to the B Concourse in hopes of standing by for the 11:05 departure to Nashville. Alas, it was not to be. That flight was sold out and left a few hopeful standbys standing at the gate.
Over at a nearby Sky Club, I dined upon hummus, crackers and mixed nuts washed down with Tennessee sour mash whiskey. I do miss the Woodford Reserve and the Makers Mark bourbons once available in Delta’s Sky Clubs, but a generous pour of Jack Daniels on the rocks makes a for a decent substitute. Let’s just hope that the bean counters don’t force the Sky Clubs to descend into Ten High or Old Crow country…
In Nashville I watched as our little CRJ-200 taxied smartly into the gate. After a three hour layover at BNA, I was ready to get on over to Memphis and enjoy a nice barbecue dinner. We were all sealed up with the jetway retracted when the First Officer stepped out from the cockpit, opened the forward passenger door and had a look at the fuselage. Hmm… Moments later, the Captain came on over the PA and advised us that there’d be a bit of a delay while they got on the line to find some mechanics to come out and inspect the aircraft fuselage. Apparently when the baggage handlers had backed the belt loader away from the aircraft, it had caught something around the cargo door and damaged it.
What the Captain didn’t mention was that Delta doesn’t have any of its own mechanics in Nashville and so they would have to contract someone to come out and have a look at the aircraft. This apparently required more than a simple phone call and soon we were all heading back into the terminal with an uncertain departure time.
The man beside me was furious. He called the flight attendant over and hissed that he had an “important” connection to make. It never ceases to amaze me how people who behave like this always seem to think they’re the only ones with an important connection. She said all the usual things one would expect for this situation, but nothing would mollify him. Now he was going to miss his flight. And he was pissed. For all the good that would do him. If he’d been a nicer guy, I would have offered to guest him into the Sky Club while we waited but instead I went in on my own and got on the phone to Delta to explore my options.
It wasn’t long before the decision was made to cancel the flight. Unfortunately, an earlier flight to Cincinnati had also been cancelled due to a mechanical, and the re-accommodation of its passengers effectively sold all the remaining seats out of Nashville for the day.
The upside to this was that I’d get to sleep in a hotel bed for the night. The downside was that there was no way to fly me into Orlando in time to get downtown and catch my train to Tampa at 10:30 the next morning. Ah well, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. I explained to the agent about my train connection to Tampa and asked if Delta might book me straight into TPA instead. No problem, sir. Great! Now I wouldn’t have to deal with getting from downtown Tampa to the airport on the city transit system. As for riding the ORL-TPA line, I’ll reckon I’ll just have to come back to Florida someday. No problem!
October 20, 2011
Delta Connection Nashville – Atlanta 915a – 1130a CRJ-900 Economy Class
Delta Air Lines Atlanta - Tampa 1238p – 155p 757-200 Economy Class
A comfortable bed, a hot shower, a filling breakfast and two quick and easy flights that got me down to Tampa International right on schedule. Life is good. At Budget Car Rental I was assigned a Chevy Impala and soon was speeding up the Sun Coast Parkway enroute to a rendezvous with a friend in Hudson, 40 miles north of Tampa .
Ed was my landlord four years ago when I came down to the Bonati Institute for a few sessions of arthroscopic laser surgery. He owns a block of four small apartments just down the street from the institute. While most Bonati patients opt to stay in the perceptually safer choice of private beachside condominiums rented out by owners who only use them during the winter, I naturally gravitated to the local flavor. Ed’s apartments suited me like an old pair of jeans. Though they offered no views of the beach, they were situated amidst two acres of park like lawns under shady magnolia trees bordering a pretty tidal pond. The beach was just five minutes’ walk away. I had a comfortable bed, a clean kitchen, cable TV and lots of peace and quiet. I also saved about $150.00 per week.
Most Bonati patients would be in town for two or three weeks at a time and if you stayed in Ed’s apartments, you couldn’t help but get to know Ed, a lifelong Floridian of irrepressible good spirit, great knowledge of the area and a love of local seafood restaurants. Aside from any work necessary to maintaining the apartments, Ed is basically retired and likes nothing more than to go fishing or ride his Harley around the back roads of Florida. I enjoyed getting to know him during my time in Hudson and it was nice to be able to swing by and visit again on this trip. We ate dinner at Peck’s Old Port Cove, an excellent seafood place up in Crystal River. I spent the night in one of Ed’s apartments, this time as a guest rather than a tenant.
October 21, 2011
Sun Country Orlando – Kalamazoo 915p – 1146p 737-900 Economy Class
We met up for breakfast the next morning at Mugoo’s Diner – from the outside the kind of place that your average tourist or business traveler would probably pass on in favor of something a bit shinier. Who would know that the ladies at Mugoo’s would serve up such a nice plate of Eggs Benedict! Or that the omelets would be so large and fluffy?
Later, while driving across the back roads of central Florida enroute to Sanford International Airport, I remember thinking that this was the kind of travel day I’ve always enjoyed. Starting with a nice drive across Florida, I’d then be flying aboard what for me would be a new airline out of an airport I’d never before flown out of. Upon arrival in Kalamazoo, Michigan, I’d hop a bus downtown and then board a train for the four hour ride to Pontiac, Michigan where a nice motel room awaited.
The first sign of trouble came about a week ago when I got an email from Direct Air advising me that my scheduled 9:15am departure from Orlando/Sanford to Kalamazoo had been moved six hours later to 3:15pm. Although the later departure time would cause me to have to change my train reservation to a later departure, on a positive note it meant that I could spend the night of the 20th in Hudson instead of having a quick get together with Ed, driving across Florida that night and sleeping at the Sanford airport.
By the way, I should explain here that Direct Air is not an airline, nor are there any aircraft wearing Direct Air livery or titles. Direct Air sells tickets on select routes and contracts with non-scheduled supplemental airlines like Vision, Xcel or Sky King to provide the actual service, generally with 737 or DC-9 aircraft. I booked this flight between Sanford and Kalamazoo because the Direct Air website advertised a fare of just $69.00 one way and indicated that the flight would be operated by a Vision Airlines 737-400.
After turning in my rental car at Sanford, I headed over to the Direct Air counter and noted that their one flight of that day, my flight up to Kalamazoo, was marked as “Delayed”. Well, that shouldn’t be a problem as I had almost four hours to get from Kalamazoo Airport to the train station for the last train of the night to Pontiac.
Imagine then my shock and dismay to find that the flight had been delayed by another six hours to 9:15pm.
The reason for the delay was that the Vision Airlines aircraft that Direct Air had contracted for this service had broken down that morning. Whatever the problem was, it was unable to be corrected in a timely manner and so Direct Air had to scramble to find an airline with a spare aircraft that could fly the one hundred or so folks they’d booked out of Kalamazoo down to Sanford and then the fifty or so of us back up to Kalamazoo. Sun Country Airlines was able to answer the call, but not until later in the day.
Meanwhile, we passengers had absolutely no reasonable recourse. I explained that because of the delay I would now miss the last train of the night to Pontiac, Michigan where I needed to be tomorrow morning for yet another train. Sorry, said the young girl working the counter. There’s nothing we can do. Well if I can get myself over to Orlando, can you put me on Delta to Detroit? I can’t authorize that, she replied. All she could do was give me Direct Air’s 800 number. She explained that they might refund my money for this ticket, but if I wanted to fly on any other airline I would have to arrange that on my own. The cost of buying a one way ticket to Detroit on the day of departure would have been prohibitive and ultimately, I, like everyone else, was left with no alternative other than to sit around the Sanford terminal for another seven hours until our flight would depart. For our troubles, we were given a meal voucher worth $8.00.
Lesson learned: Stay away from Direct Air and other outfits like it. The potential money saved is just not worth the added expense and inconvenience if and/or when something goes wrong.
As for sitting around at Sanford International, there ain’t much there. The airport primarily serves European charter airlines like Thomas Cook or Monarch, as well as domestic carriers like Allegiant and Vision Air. The two terminal buildings are reasonably modern with about ten jetway equipped gates. Unfortunately the food options are limited to take away hamburgers, sandwiches and cinnamon rolls. There is an airline lounge called the Royal Palm Lounge, but it’s only available to passengers traveling on international flights. For the rest of us there was a bar lounge and a coffee stand. There is no public transit available, so the only way out of the airport is via taxi or shuttle. It was a long six hours.
As for the flight, it was operated by Sun Country with 737-800 equipment. The crew apologized for the fact that Direct Air had not supplied them with any catering, meaning that all we would be offered was a very limited selection of soft drinks. The three people who had paid extra for seats in the First Class cabin had to have been a bit disappointed at this news.
The interior of the airplane looked well-worn and I was almost certain that this aircraft must have been one of those that had been leased to four or five airlines before coming to Sun Country. When I ran its N-number later on I was surprised to find that Sun Country had been its only operator.
By the time we finally landed in Kalamazoo, it was 11:55pm. Interestingly, we disembarked down the forward stairs and then walked across the tarmac to an unused jetway, climbed up its stairs and then entered the terminal. Is there a jetway fee at AZO? The terminal was modern but fairly small, so after checking in with the airport police, I found myself a nice quiet corner upstairs for the night. They even turned the main overhead lights off through most of the terminal for the night. It was a nice ending to a day that was much longer than it should have been.
October 22, 2011
Amtrak Kalamazoo – Niles 246p – 319p Wolverine Economy Class
Amtrak Niles – Port Huron 651p – 1211a Blue Water Business Class
Kalamazoo Airport is a remarkably quiet place on Saturday mornings. There are only three flights operating before noon, all of them with smaller jets. From 6:10am to 10:20 am there are no flights at all which would explain why when I awoke at 8:00am I was probably the only non-employee in the building.
The dearth of flights on Saturday might also explain why the Kalamazoo City Transit busses don’t serve the airport on weekends. I caught a free shuttle ride over to a Clarion Hotel about three miles away that 1.) had a restaurant where I could buy some breakfast and 2.) was on the bus line into downtown Kalamazoo. I saved a $20.00 cab ride and used some of the savings toward a good breakfast at the hotel.
At the Kalamazoo Transit Center which also serves as the train station, I stored my bag and took a walk into downtown Kalamazoo. I love the old brick buildings so prevalent throughout the Midwest, and downtown Kalamazoo has plenty of them. I spent some time in the Michigan News Agency, a well-stocked book and magazine store, then stopped at a local coffee shop before heading back to the station.
I came to Michigan to ride all of these trains
Kalamazoo Train Depot
The six car train from Pontiac arrived nine minutes late at 2:55pm. This was the train I was supposed to have boarded this morning from Pontiac. Oh well, at least I was now back on schedule per my own itinerary. I and about thirty others waited patiently while the train disgorged a large group of boy scouts and a few run of the mill Michiganders, then boarded and took a seat in the coach car next to the café-lounge car. The single P42DC locomotive accelerated smoothly out of the station and soon we were pounding down the tracks toward our next station stop in Niles, just thirty-five minutes away.
Arrival at Niles, Michigan
Although I could have created a shorter layover further down the tracks, I made Niles, Michigan the transfer point to Amtrak’s Blue Water up to Port Huron because 1.) I wanted to check out the historic Niles Depot and 2.) I figured there would be a place where I could get a bite to eat nearby during my three hour layover. Well, the depot was truly a gem of a building, everything a small town train depot should be architecturally.
Niles, Michigan Train Depot
Niles, Michigan Train Depot Waiting Room
It was well worth the time spent there admiring the one hundred and twenty year old building and chatting with the Amtrak ticket agent, a portly little man who reminded me of the actor Al Lewis who played Grandpa in the 1960s TV show The Munsters.
Unfortunately, the downtown district of Niles was about a mile and a half away and there were no guarantees on what, if anything would be open on a Saturday afternoon. As well, I was told the town had only one taxi and that it was tied up down in nearby South Bend, Indiana because of the Notre Dame – USC game there this afternoon. I hung out and chatted with the station master until closing time at 5:00pm, then relocated to the lawn outside the station where I put in a couple of hours of reading until the clanging of the crossing gate bells and the whistle of the locomotive announced the arrival of the eastbound Blue Water at 7:10pm.
Only six of the fifteen seats in Business Class were taken, so I selected an empty pair on the two seat side and prepared to settle in for the next five hours. While I appreciate the 120v outlets at each seat, I’m surprised that Amtrak has yet to install Wi-Fi internet access aboard its trains. Even Greyhound busses have Wi-Fi now! I plugged in my computer and downloaded the latest pictures from this trip. A turkey sandwich and a can of Budweiser provided sustenance midway through the trip and by the time we rolled into Port Huron at midnight, I’d managed to bring this trip report up to date.
Regular readers of my trip reports know that I lean towards budget accommodations in my travels. Every once in a while, Priceline will help get me into a Sheraton or Hilton with the rest of you but as one who isn’t traveling on the company dime and furthermore refuses to pay $100.00 or more for a hotel room, I must make do on the fringes, staying in places that no self-respecting FlyerTalker would ever consider. Obviously it’s a matter of simple economics, and I usually am able to find fairly decent motels that are clean and quiet. Unfortunately, tonight’s accommodation in Port Huron was anything but.
When I first looked into Port Huron accommodations about three weeks ago, the Super 7 was far and away the least expensive option in town. Internet based reviews of the property were mixed, leaning mostly toward the negative side. I had two nights scheduled in Port Huron and since the next least expensive property was about $30.00 per night more expensive, I figured what the heck, I’d book my first night at the Super 7 and if all went well, I’d book my second night there as well.
Well let’s just cut to the chase ~ immediately upon alighting from the taxi I could see that the building was a lot more run down than it looked from pictures I’d seen on the Internet. I had asked for and received one of the newly remodeled rooms on the first floor, and the non-smoking room itself was generally acceptable except for the cigarette burns on the bedspread. Lifting the bedspread to remove a pillow, I came across some kind of bug. I’d never seen a bed bug before, so I can’t say it was one of those. I just know that bugs shouldn’t be in beds, so after removing the pillows I tucked in the bedspread and slept on top of it, using my wool blanket for warmth.
I slept well enough, but in the morning, while enjoying some free coffee from the lobby, I got to listen in on a loud argument next door that soon turned violent. I notified the front desk who notified the police and shortly thereafter the offending party was led away in handcuffs. Meanwhile I utilized the complimentary Wi-Fi to to book a room at the Baymont Inn and Suites for just $55.00 via Travelocity’s Secret Hotel Deals.
I checked out, had an excellent breakfast next door at Tony’s Paradise Café and then watched the Lions and Falcons battle it out at a local sports bar down the street. That was a lot of fun with a great bunch of fans and lots of affordable beer. Too bad the Lions lost.
By the time I left the bar it was getting on 5 o’clock. The weather was cool and blustery with rain in the forecast so I headed on out to the the Baymont where my room was substantially nicer and much quieter.
October 24, 2011
Amtrak Port Huron – Chicago 600a – 1200n Blue Water Business Class
Amtrak Chicago – Grand Rapids 520p – 1020p Pere Marquette Economy Class
I hate waking up at oh dark thirty but Amtrak forced my hand with its 6:00am departure from Port Huron, the only train out of town each day. About two dozen bleary-eyed travelers were gathered in the brightly lit station waiting room when the all aboard call went out at 5:50am. The day had dawned cold and drizzly, so little time was wasted in climbing aboard and getting settled in. With nicer weather forecast just 50 miles to the west, we were all anxious to get rolling.
Shortly after we’d gotten underway, I strolled back to the café/lounge car where hot coffee and a breakfast sandwich awaited. I perused the previous day’s football scores in a complimentary copy of USA Today and then returned to my seat in hopes of getting just a little more sleep. Given our position at the western end of the Eastern Time zone, it didn’t really get light until after 8:00am, so I wouldn’t be missing anything scenery wise.
When I awoke, bright sunshine highlighted the autumnal colors of central Michigan as we rolled along at about 60 mph. The scenery was mostly farmland accented by the occasional small town. The barns were the best, most all of them built in the classic style and painted either red or white. I watched for a while and then plugged in my laptop to write about it all.
Such is life on the train. It doesn’t always sound very exciting but then it’s not about excitement. If you like seeing this country from the ground up, and are willing to take the time to do so, a ride on a train is a relaxing and comfortable way to do it. Amtrak’s seats are larger and have much better recline than coach airline seats. The lounge and dining cars also provide a nice break, whether you’re looking for a bite to eat or perhaps a drink or two in the convivial atmosphere of the lounge car.
Upon arrival at Chicago’s Union Station I met up with an old friend who’d ridden down to Chicago aboard a local METRA train. The station is certainly large, though nowhere near as impressive as the stations in Kansas City or Washington DC.
Chicago Union Station Great Hall
Chicago Union Station Great Hall Columns
Chicago Union Station – To All Trains
We headed across the street to the water taxi on the Chicago River. If you’ve never ridden Chicago’s water taxis, they’re a great way to see the city and enjoy the spectacular architecture that Chicago’s buildings are so rightfully famous for.
Chicago Water Taxi Views
Chicago Water Taxi Views
Chicago Water Taxi Views
Chicago Water Taxi Views
We were going to have lunch at House of Blues until we saw the prices, and instead relocated around the corner to Harry Caray’s Steakhouse. The 10 oz. Holy Cow burger with cheddar cheese, sautéed mushrooms and onions was one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. Afterwards, we walked a few blocks down the street to the Billy Goat Tavern for a couple rounds of beers. I’ll have to come back sometime for the cheezborgers and a Pepsi – that’s right, the ones made famous in the Saturday Night Live skits from thirty-five years ago.
Marilyn Monroe in The Windy City
Back at Union Station, I headed down to Track 26 where the Superliner equipped Pere Marquette awaited. This train normally operates with single level Amfleet equipment, so the big bi-level Superliners with their more comfortable long distance seats with leg rests was quite a nice upgrade. The four hour long trip to Grand Rapids was rolling along nicely until we reached Bangor, Michigan. There we sat for almost two hours while police and the Coroner’s office tried to determine how the freight train ahead of us hit a man on the tracks. Was the victim drunk or suicidal? Or was he pushed or tied down? Meanwhile we sat at the station in Bangor. Normally the station would have been closed at the time we were there, but the stationmaster was nice enough to come down and open it. Inside was a television which allowed the baseball fans to go inside and watch the World Series game.
It was 11:00pm by the time we were given the okay to continue. By the time we pulled into the Grand Rapids station it was 12:45am. I’d arranged for a taxi to meet me and drive me to my motel for the night but given my early departure in the morning, I managed just four and a half hours sleep before my alarm went off and I was back at it – on the road again.
October 25, 2011
Indian Trails Grand Rapids – Lansing 710a – 825a Bus
Sun Country Lansing – Minneapolis 130p – 200p 737-700 Economy Class
Sun Country Minneapolis – Las Vegas 400p – 515p 737-800 Economy Class
The taxi dropped me off at the Grand Rapids Transit Center at 6:45am. It was a modern, well lit facility but definitely not the kind of place I’d ever want to spend the night at. A number of individuals looked like they were in there to stay warm rather than to catch a bus and overall I’d have to think that airports are much safer.
It had been a few years since I’d ridden anything other than an airport bus in America. The Indian Trails bus I rode over to Lansing had comfortable seating and an airline style interior with enclosed overhead storage bins. As an added bonus, free Wi-Fi was available onboard. I slept through most of the hour and a half trip to Lansing.
It cost me $1.50 and thirty-five minutes to ride a Lansing city transit bus out to the airport. Since Sun Country’s ticket counter wouldn’t open until an hour and a half later at 11:00am, I used the time to grab another hour of sleep on a comfortable patch of carpet in the far corner of the terminal.
Although a Sun Country jet operated my flight from Sanford, Florida up to Kalamazoo, Michigan last week, I consider this to be my first proper flight aboard Sun Country, an airline that got its start in 1982 with a single 727-200 based out of Minneapolis. Today Sun Country flies a fleet of three 737-700s and seven 737-800s on both scheduled and charter services from coast to coast, Mexico and Costa Rica. London is served seasonally. First Class and Coach are offered on all flights.
The aircraft operating the flight from Lansing to Minneapolis was an ex- Easy Jet 737-700. The flight began at Washington National, so when we boarded in Lansing it was already about half full. Upgrades were available for $79.00. No thanks. I asked for and received a bulkhead aisle seat, all the better to observe the goings on up in First Class.
Flight time to Minneapolis was just one hour and twenty minutes, so service back in Economy was a simple pass with the beverage cart. My seat felt stiff and uncomfortable and offered very limited recline. Being as this airplane was leased from Easy Jet, the seats were probably theirs as well except up in First Class where the seats looked like exact replicas of Alaska Airlines’ First Class seats. They very well may have been since in 2007 Alaska got rid of five of its 737-700s; four to China’s Lucky Air and one to Georgian Air.
Speaking of First Class, I watched with interest as a plate of cheese and crackers with a large chocolate chip cookie was offered to the fortunate few. For an hour and ten minute flight, I thought this was a pretty nice service.
Sun Country operates out of MSP’s Terminal 2, a.k.a. the Hubert H. Humphrey Terminal. Built in 2001, this terminal is used primarily by low cost carriers including Sun Country, AirTran, and Southwest. With a two hour layover and no lounge available, I headed over to Fletcher’s Wharf, the one full service restaurant in the terminal. In the spirit of culinary adventure and with a nod to local cuisine, I ordered the walleye sandwich. I’d never eaten walleye before and was pleasantly surprised with its flavor, though not the price tag of $11.95. Still, it was a tasty way to spend a leisurely hour that included a great view of the tarmac from my table.
The colorful 737-800 operating my flight to Las Vegas was almost completely full, so I was doubly thankful for the spacious exit row seat I’d procured at no cost during check-in. Had I booked it in advance, this seat would have cost an additional $25.00.
Flight time was projected to be three hours and eight minutes. Amazingly the window seat behind me was unoccupied, so shortly after takeoff I reclined my seat all the way back (much better recline than on the 737-700) and caught another thirty minutes of sleep until the inflight service got underway.
DigEplayers arrived first, at a cost of $6.00. I’ve yet to ever order a DigEplayer, much less even watch one of the free ones I get on Alaska Airlines. I don’t really care to watch movies or television on a screen so small, and besides, I’ve got plenty to entertain me right on my laptop.
The food and beverage cart arrived next. Sun Country’s Buy Onboard Inflight Menu advertises hot items such as pizza and cheeseburgers on its longer flights. I would happily have shelled out $3.00 for a cheeseburger or even $6.00 for a pizza but all we were offered were complimentary hotdogs. They looked to be your run of the mill cheapo hotdogs made from who knows what part of the pig so I passed on them in hopes of finding something better in Las Vegas.
Our approach into Las Vegas was from the north, providing those of us on the right side of the aircraft with an excellent view of the hotels along the strip. In all the times that I have flown into Las Vegas, this is the first time I can remember ever having made this approach past the downtown buildings. Normally we always land from the east or west along the 14510 foot runway 7L/25R. No complaints, though. I much prefer this northern approach!
Landing in Las Vegas
It was a busy week in Las Vegas with the Bull Riding Championship and a big drag race out at the speedway. As a result, car rental rates were higher than usual. I was fortunate to speed out of town in a 2010 Ford Taurus for just $120.00 all in for the next four days. Mojave Desert here I come!
Joshua Tree Rainbow
Continental Express Embraer Jets stored at Kingman, Arizona
Union Pacific Station at Caliente, Nevada
Mojave Desert Sunset
#6
October 29, 2011
Philippine Airlines Las Vegas – Vancouver 720p – 1010p A340-300 Economy Class
Philippine Airlines’ early evening departure to Vancouver allowed me a few extra hours to take advantage of a roundabout route from Yuma back to Las Vegas. Yes, that may have been me you saw in that burgundy Ford Taurus rippin’ along under the mid-afternoon sun on old Route 66 between Amboy and Essex, California. It was 5:30pm by the time I was dropped off at McCarran International Airport’s Terminal 2.
Terminal 2 is used by International and charter airlines, and since I have flown neither of these into or out of Las Vegas, this would be my first time departing out of this terminal. First impressions were not good. The check-in area for Philippine Airlines and Air Canada could just as easily have been in in Murmansk, Russia during the bad old days of the communist regime. It was a big basement of a room with low ceilings, poor lighting and worn carpet. The line of Fiesta Class passengers waiting to check-in for PR106 to Vancouver was not all that bad – only about 15-20 people –and with five agents on duty it moved along at decent clip. Even so, it occurred to me that as an elite level flyer on Alaska, with check-in benefits that extend to flights on Delta and American, it had been a good long while since I had stood in line to check-in for any flight. Even my overseas travel of late has been in either First or Business Class, and now here I was mixing with the masses of everyday travelers.
Included amongst the masses was fellow FlyerTalker wheresDG, himself quite an accomplished traveler as well as a veteran of many flights in the forward cabin. Now laboring toward a doctoral degree, DG no longer has enough time to maintain his once lofty status as an MVP Gold in Alaska’s Mileage Plan. Indeed, he currently has no status with any airline at all. Nonetheless, I agreed to let him stand next to me in line being as he has deigned to put up with me as a travel companion for the next eighteen hours or so.
Interestingly, PAL has a weight limit of 15 pounds for each piece of carry-on baggage. As such, we both ended up having to check our small rollaboards. On a positive note, it really was quite nice not having to drag them through the airport, and as such we made good time to the nearest bar, conveniently located directly across from our departure gate. There we plunked down a total of $34.50 plus gratuity for four 16oz glasses of Sam Adams Lager, thus making these the most expensive beers I have ever purchased in America.
The A340-300 operating our flight tonight was the very first one delivered to Philippine Airlines, way back in 1997. We entered through door 2L and so had to pass through the second, smaller Business Class cabin. The seats appeared to be the original 1997 issued units, providing decent enough width and pitch but with limited recline. Certainly these seats were a long way from the lie flat seats now available even on U.S. carriers.
Moving on to the Economy cabin, we were greeted by 220 seats upholstered in light blue fabric. Although DG and I had been assigned seats on opposite sides of the cabin, we easily relocated to an empty row of four center cabin seats. Boarding was accomplished extraordinarily quickly, no doubt due to the low Saturday night load out of Las Vegas. The fact that people weren’t wrestling bulky carry-on suitcases into overhead bins was also a contributing factor.
This was DG’s first flight aboard an A340, and we were both impressed by the subdued cabin noise level aboard the big four engine airliner during takeoff. We climbed smoothly away from Las Vegas toward flight level 390 while adopting a northerly heading towards Vancouver, 990 miles distant. I reclined my seat a bit and awaited the cabin service soon to start.
Economy Class meal service between Las Vegas and Vancouver, though euphemistically referred to as a “Light Meal”, was in reality a decent enough snack consisting of a warm turkey sandwich accompanied by a bag of sliced apples. Beverages were limited to a few soft drinks, tea and coffee. Interestingly, no alcohol is available in either class between Las Vegas and Vancouver in either direction. Even in Business Class.
Philippine Airlines Snack Service LAS-YVR
Inflight entertainment was limited to the safety demonstration video featuring a befuddled passenger who did everything wrong from climbing on seats to store his bag in the overhead bin to attempting to smoke while in his seat. It was an interesting approach to educating people on proper inflight etiquette, though nowhere near as enjoyable was watching the lovely Katherine Lee talk us through the safety demonstration on Delta.
While PAL’s Boeing 747 and 777s are equipped with modern AVOD inflight entertainment systems, the A340 fleet has yet to be refurbished. Nor were our old seats equipped with personal TVs, so the IFE was limited to a 15” drop down TV at the front of the cabin along with a very few smaller units scattered overhead. Aside from the safety video, no entertainment options were available on our two and twenty minute flight up to Vancouver.
Both DG and I agreed that for the two and a half hour flight between Las Vegas and Vancouver, PAL’s old A340 was a great way to go, especially given the low $130.00 one way fare we paid. The Economy Class seats offered a good 33” seat pitch and footrests but felt hard and uneven in spots while providing fairly limited recline. The prospect of sitting in one of those seats for the thirteen and a half hour flight between Vancouver and Manila was about as inviting as a root canal.
We landed in Vancouver right on time and parked next to Cathay’s Hong Kong bound 777-300. Overall Philippine Airlines offered a great price and a decent service on this 990 mile flight. Hopefully PAL will either refurbish its A340s or put a 777 on the MNL-YVR-LAS run. Until that time, were I given the choice of equally priced flights to Manila via CX’s connection through HKG or PAL’s nonstop, I’d give my back a treat and travel with Cathay, especially if traveling in Business Class.
I’d originally planned to sleep in the airport and take the train into Vancouver in the morning, but when wheresDG decided to come along, we chose to split the cost of a room at an airport hotel instead. Travelocity’s Top Secret Hotel option got us a double room at the Airport Holiday Inn for just $60.00 all in.
October 30, 2011
Amtrak Vancouver – Seattle 640a – 1105a Cascade Business Class
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Denver 105p – 425p 737-800 First Class
The exterior of Vancouver’s Pacific Central Station is far more attractive and interesting than the station’s interior. I would love to have taken a picture of this grand old building, but it was both dark and rainy when we arrived at 6:15am. I did however find a nice photo of the station taken at sunrise. I found it at the wikipedia site, but the link won't load so I'll show it via my Fotki pictures:
Vancouver's Pacific Central Station
Picture courtesy of Wikipedia
Unlike Amtrak’s eastern trains to Toronto and Montreal which clear immigration and customs at the border, we cleared U.S. immigration at the station in Vancouver. We were informed that U.S. Customs officers would board the train at the border to collect our immigration forms and conduct any baggage inspections if deemed necessary. Our baggage was then X-rayed and we passed through an airport style security checkpoint before entering a special, fenced in platform where we boarded the train.
ViaRail Domecar behind the fence
Amtrak’s Cascade trains operate between Vancouver, Seattle, Portland and Eugene, Oregon. Most of them are scheduled between Seattle and Portland, but two per day make the run between Vancouver and Seattle, and one extends down to Eugene. The Cascades are unique because they utilize a consist known as the Talgo Train. The Talgo was built in Spain and incorporates an enhanced suspension system that allows the train to travel more smoothly at higher speeds. Today’s consist included two Business Class cars, the Bistro car and six coaches. Both the cars and the engine are painted in an attractive green, brown and white color scheme.
Amtrak Cascades
Coach class seating is the standard 2 x 2 arrangement while Business class offers slightly wider seats in a 1 x 2 configuration. Both classes offer a 110-volt outlet beside each row of seats for laptop connections. Mounted on the ceiling of each car are TV monitors that display trip information much like the Sky Map on airplanes. Half the screen is taken up by a map that indicates our exact location with a flashing dot and beside that is indicated our next stop, the estimated arrival time to our final destination, the current time and the temperature.
Amtrak Cascades Business Class Seating
Departure from Vancouver was right on time as we accelerated smoothly out of the station and soon were rolling through the city’s southern suburbs at speeds approaching 60 mph. I made a mental note to ride this train again in the spring when daylight would enhance the countryside between Richmond and Bellingham.
One of my favorite things about riding a train is the ability to get up any time and pay a visit to the lounge or dining car. Food and lounge service aboard Amtrak’s Cascades is provided in the Bistro Car, conveniently located right next door to our Business Class car. One of the perks of traveling in Business on the Cascades is that you get a coupon good for $3.00 off anything in the Bistro. The menu offered everything from oatmeal to breakfast sandwiches but as DG and I had already eaten prior to the trip, we settled for a couple cups of coffee. Seating was available at either a counter with six stools or in buffet style seating in the lounge area.
Cascades Bistro Car Counter
Cascades Lounge Seating
This was a good train trip. The cars were new and reasonably comfortable, the price was right, the food affordable and tasty, the scenery pretty and the service quite good. If Amtrak continues to operate its shorter intercity trains in this fashion, passenger rail service will not die out in America.
In Bellingham we boarded about one hundred Seahawks fans. Seattle’s King Street Station is located right next door to both the football and baseball stadiums, so the train is a great way for fans who don’t live in the city to not only get to the stadium but also save a bundle on parking fees. Despite the early hour, many of the fans headed straight for the Bistro Car where beer prices were considerably lower than those to be found inside the stadium. They were a fun and rowdy group, giddy with the anticipation of a Seahawks victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. Unfortunately for the Hawks fans, the Bengals are a much improved team this season while the Seahawks are not. Three hours later the Bengals firmly established that fact in the form of a 34-12 victory. I’m glad I wasn’t booked on the evening train back up to Vancouver as the anticipation of victory, however unlikely, is much more enjoyable to be a part of than the reality of stinging defeat.
In Everett we were treated to a great view of the Nimitz Class aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. At 1092 feet long, it is second in size only to the U.S.S. Enterprise. From Everett the tracks run along the shore of the Puget Sound all the way down to Edmonds. Had it been a nicer day I would have taken a few pictures but rain notwithstanding, this was a section of the trip where it was worth putting down your book and checking out the scenery.
Arrival in Seattle was ten minutes early, good news for me as I had just two hours before the departure of my flight down to Denver. Seattle’s King Street Station is located right across the street from the International District station from which Sound Transit’s light rail trains depart to the airport. DG accompanied me to the station, patiently suffered through my half-hearted diatribe about the paucity of ticketing machines at such a busy station (there was only one machine), and then headed upstairs to meet a Seattle based friend while I sped off to the airport, arriving just half an hour later. Twenty minutes after that I was enjoying a hot bowl of red beans, rice and sausage soup while downloading pictures for this report into my Fotki account.
When visiting Alaska’s SeaTac Boardroom, I am reminded of 1980s television show “Cheers” and its theme song "Where Everybody Knows Your Name". After 954 flights on Alaska, over 1150 flights into or out of Seattle and continual Boardroom membership or access since the 1980s, most everybody working the reception desk knows my name. I even keep in touch with a couple of the gals via email. I’m sure that many of you enjoy similar relationships at your most heavily visited lounges. These kind of relationships go a long way towards making air travel for us frequent flyers a much more pleasant experience than it is for those stuck out in the gate lounges.
I’m flying down to Denver so that I can return to Fairbanks via a DEN-FAI ticket I purchased this summer for just $156.00 one way. Add to that my $95.00 fare between Seattle and Denver and the total cost is still less than I’d have paid for a one way flight from Seattle to Fairbanks. Go figure… (Thanks go out to Frontier Airlines for instigating a summer long fare war on the DEN-FAI route)
Flight time to Denver was projected to be two hours and seven minutes. Smooth conditions were forecast and for those of us in the forward cabin a Turkey Ciabatta sandwich would be served. Both seatmate and I signed on to the inflight internet in order to follow both the Broncos – Lions game as well as the progress of our respective fantasy teams. Unfortunately for us Broncos fans, the Detroit Lions demonstrated via a 45-10 shellacking that our team is even worse than the Seahawks. I tuned out after halftime and focused on my fantasy team where I am a two time defending champion enjoying considerably more success.
I spent the night at my sister’s house where a good spaghetti dinner and a couple of movies made for a nice evening.
October 31, 2011
Alaska Airlines Denver – Seattle 1205p – 154p 737-900 First Class
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Anchorage 320p – 557p 737-900 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Anchorage – Seattle 700p – 754p 737-900 First Class
As a charter member of Continental’s Presidents Club, I have spent many an hour in their beautiful clubroom located high above the center of DIA’s A Concourse. Unfortunately Continental’s merger with United resulted in its move to the B Concourse where the comparatively bland Red Carpet Club (now known as the United Club) is the principal facility for both airlines.
The old Presidents Club is now operated as an Admirals Club by American. Unfortunately, American’s approach to operating an airline club is nowhere near as generous as Continental’s, but I am nonetheless thankful that Alaska Boardroom members have access to it, especially since it’s so conveniently located to Alaska’s gate at A51.
Although First Class passengers could expect to be served a fairly tasty Turkey Ciabatta sandwich on this noontime departure to Seattle, I like the Original Sandwich at Schlotsky’s Deli much better. I was first introduced to Schlotsky’s Deli back in 1981, and it was love at first bite. At the time I worked just a short distance away from a Schlotsky’s Deli, and over the next two weeks the Original Sandwich was pretty much all I ate for lunch. Now, with a Schlotsky’s concession located just one hundred feet from Alaska’s gate at DIA, the anticipation of a reunion with my favorite sandwich was simply irresistible.
The same aircraft that flew me up to Seattle was also scheduled to operate the 3:20pm departure on to Anchorage. Since we were parked way down at D7, I took a seat in the gate lounge and waited to see if I would clear the waitlist for First Class. My name was number one on the list, and with 35 minutes to go before departure, 15 out of 16 seats had checked in. Well, I was indeed paged to the podium about fifteen minutes later but it wasn’t for the anticipated upgrade. Instead they wanted to verify that I’d requested wheelchair assistance at Anchorage. Whaaaaat?! Not me!
The upgrade never cleared, but Alaska softened the blow with a complimentary DigiPlayer and a bottle of Kona Longboard Lager. This is an excellent example of two of the little things that Alaska does that so endear it to its elite flyers. Whereas the product in Alaska’s First Class is mediocre at best, the overall service in both cabins is generally quite good. Indeed, Alaska has won recognition from J.D. Power and Associates for having the highest customer satisfaction rating among traditional North American airlines for four years in a row. As a Super Duper Diamond Encrusted Kryptonite Level flyer (MVP Gold 75K), I enjoy the following benefits:
• Unlimited Complimentary Upgrades anytime on qualifying fares, or 120 hours prior to departure on other fares.
• Unlimited ability to upgrade one companion into First Class when they are traveling with you.
• Four one-way Complimentary Electronic Guest Upgrades awarded annually upon reaching MVP® Gold status.
• 4 complimentary Board Room Day Passes
• A complimentary Premium Beverage of your choice during your flight when traveling in the main cabin.
• Complimentary digEplayer When Flying in the Main Cabin
• Complimentary Upgrades on Delta Airlines within the U.S. (excluding Hawaii), Canada, Mexico, and select Caribbean destinations.
• First Class Check-In privileges at Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
• Priority AAccess™ Check-In when traveling on American Airlines
• Waivers on Mileage Plan service charges and ticket change fees on Alaska Airlines tickets.
• Checked Baggage Fee Waiver for first two bags on Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines for MVP® Gold member and persons traveling in the same reservation. Companion waiver does not apply to group bookings.
• Express Security Lines at Select Airports.
• Priority Boarding on Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines.
• Free Same Day Standby for MVP® Gold member and persons traveling in the same reservation.
• Priority Standby and Waitlist for full flights on Alaska Airlines.
• Preferred Seating on Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines.
• 100% Bonus Flight Miles on Alaska Airlines, Air France, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, KLM, or LAN.
• Initiation Fee Waived for Alaska Airlines Board Room membership.
• Dedicated phone lines and staff for Alaska Airlines Reservations and Mileage Plan™ Customer Care.
• Opportunity to Nominate a Friend or Family Member to MVP® Status
• 50,000 Bonus Miles When You Attain the MVP® Gold 75K Level
That’s a pretty impressive collection of benefits and while I’d like to see an improvement in the First Class product, such as offering meals that are distinctly better than those available in Coach, the reality is I’m usually up in First Class as the result of a free upgrade.
Truth be known, when it comes to inflight service I’m a bit of an “old school” guy who still expects – perhaps unrealistically in today’s environment – that the First Class product should be substantially distinguished from the Economy Class product, especially with regard to meals. But then, I have always viewed First Class inflight meal service as the ultimate form of inflight entertainment. I mean, I can sit in a big comfortable seat and enjoy a nice view anytime down on terra firma but for some odd reason being wined and dined at 38,000’ on what most other people consider mediocre food and drink really hits home with me. Most other U.S. airlines offer pre-departure beverages and a choice of hot meals on longer flights such as Seattle to Chicago or Los Angeles to Anchorage. Perhaps Alaska will someday match these service levels, but I’m not holding my breath. As such, I provided my own packet of delicious Blue Diamond lightly salted almonds to accompany my beer.
It was snowing heavily during my one hour layover in Anchorage. Once again, despite three separate flight numbers, I re-boarded the exact same aircraft that I’d begun the day on in Denver. This time I returned to the First Class cabin and joined seatmate, a wildlife biologist, in an interesting conversation about Alaska’s various caribou herds, in particular our little herd in Denali National Park. As one whose job involves talking with park visitors about the wildlife we see each day in the park, I’m always looking to learn more. Seatmate was a wealth of information.
The short forty minute flight provided just enough time for a quick round of drinks before the lights of Fairbanks became visible in the distance. We touched down smoothly on runway 2L and finally, after seven weeks and 50,000 miles of travel, my journey had come to an end.
The night was clear and cold in Fairbanks, with the thermometer outside my cabin reading -6°F. Adjusting the Monitor heater inside my cabin to 68°, I popped a cold Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and took a seat in The Comfy Chair next to the heater. Ah… it’s good to be back home in Alaska!
Philippine Airlines Las Vegas – Vancouver 720p – 1010p A340-300 Economy Class
Philippine Airlines’ early evening departure to Vancouver allowed me a few extra hours to take advantage of a roundabout route from Yuma back to Las Vegas. Yes, that may have been me you saw in that burgundy Ford Taurus rippin’ along under the mid-afternoon sun on old Route 66 between Amboy and Essex, California. It was 5:30pm by the time I was dropped off at McCarran International Airport’s Terminal 2.
Terminal 2 is used by International and charter airlines, and since I have flown neither of these into or out of Las Vegas, this would be my first time departing out of this terminal. First impressions were not good. The check-in area for Philippine Airlines and Air Canada could just as easily have been in in Murmansk, Russia during the bad old days of the communist regime. It was a big basement of a room with low ceilings, poor lighting and worn carpet. The line of Fiesta Class passengers waiting to check-in for PR106 to Vancouver was not all that bad – only about 15-20 people –and with five agents on duty it moved along at decent clip. Even so, it occurred to me that as an elite level flyer on Alaska, with check-in benefits that extend to flights on Delta and American, it had been a good long while since I had stood in line to check-in for any flight. Even my overseas travel of late has been in either First or Business Class, and now here I was mixing with the masses of everyday travelers.
Included amongst the masses was fellow FlyerTalker wheresDG, himself quite an accomplished traveler as well as a veteran of many flights in the forward cabin. Now laboring toward a doctoral degree, DG no longer has enough time to maintain his once lofty status as an MVP Gold in Alaska’s Mileage Plan. Indeed, he currently has no status with any airline at all. Nonetheless, I agreed to let him stand next to me in line being as he has deigned to put up with me as a travel companion for the next eighteen hours or so.
Interestingly, PAL has a weight limit of 15 pounds for each piece of carry-on baggage. As such, we both ended up having to check our small rollaboards. On a positive note, it really was quite nice not having to drag them through the airport, and as such we made good time to the nearest bar, conveniently located directly across from our departure gate. There we plunked down a total of $34.50 plus gratuity for four 16oz glasses of Sam Adams Lager, thus making these the most expensive beers I have ever purchased in America.
The A340-300 operating our flight tonight was the very first one delivered to Philippine Airlines, way back in 1997. We entered through door 2L and so had to pass through the second, smaller Business Class cabin. The seats appeared to be the original 1997 issued units, providing decent enough width and pitch but with limited recline. Certainly these seats were a long way from the lie flat seats now available even on U.S. carriers.
Moving on to the Economy cabin, we were greeted by 220 seats upholstered in light blue fabric. Although DG and I had been assigned seats on opposite sides of the cabin, we easily relocated to an empty row of four center cabin seats. Boarding was accomplished extraordinarily quickly, no doubt due to the low Saturday night load out of Las Vegas. The fact that people weren’t wrestling bulky carry-on suitcases into overhead bins was also a contributing factor.
This was DG’s first flight aboard an A340, and we were both impressed by the subdued cabin noise level aboard the big four engine airliner during takeoff. We climbed smoothly away from Las Vegas toward flight level 390 while adopting a northerly heading towards Vancouver, 990 miles distant. I reclined my seat a bit and awaited the cabin service soon to start.
Economy Class meal service between Las Vegas and Vancouver, though euphemistically referred to as a “Light Meal”, was in reality a decent enough snack consisting of a warm turkey sandwich accompanied by a bag of sliced apples. Beverages were limited to a few soft drinks, tea and coffee. Interestingly, no alcohol is available in either class between Las Vegas and Vancouver in either direction. Even in Business Class.
Philippine Airlines Snack Service LAS-YVR
Inflight entertainment was limited to the safety demonstration video featuring a befuddled passenger who did everything wrong from climbing on seats to store his bag in the overhead bin to attempting to smoke while in his seat. It was an interesting approach to educating people on proper inflight etiquette, though nowhere near as enjoyable was watching the lovely Katherine Lee talk us through the safety demonstration on Delta.
While PAL’s Boeing 747 and 777s are equipped with modern AVOD inflight entertainment systems, the A340 fleet has yet to be refurbished. Nor were our old seats equipped with personal TVs, so the IFE was limited to a 15” drop down TV at the front of the cabin along with a very few smaller units scattered overhead. Aside from the safety video, no entertainment options were available on our two and twenty minute flight up to Vancouver.
Both DG and I agreed that for the two and a half hour flight between Las Vegas and Vancouver, PAL’s old A340 was a great way to go, especially given the low $130.00 one way fare we paid. The Economy Class seats offered a good 33” seat pitch and footrests but felt hard and uneven in spots while providing fairly limited recline. The prospect of sitting in one of those seats for the thirteen and a half hour flight between Vancouver and Manila was about as inviting as a root canal.
We landed in Vancouver right on time and parked next to Cathay’s Hong Kong bound 777-300. Overall Philippine Airlines offered a great price and a decent service on this 990 mile flight. Hopefully PAL will either refurbish its A340s or put a 777 on the MNL-YVR-LAS run. Until that time, were I given the choice of equally priced flights to Manila via CX’s connection through HKG or PAL’s nonstop, I’d give my back a treat and travel with Cathay, especially if traveling in Business Class.
I’d originally planned to sleep in the airport and take the train into Vancouver in the morning, but when wheresDG decided to come along, we chose to split the cost of a room at an airport hotel instead. Travelocity’s Top Secret Hotel option got us a double room at the Airport Holiday Inn for just $60.00 all in.
October 30, 2011
Amtrak Vancouver – Seattle 640a – 1105a Cascade Business Class
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Denver 105p – 425p 737-800 First Class
The exterior of Vancouver’s Pacific Central Station is far more attractive and interesting than the station’s interior. I would love to have taken a picture of this grand old building, but it was both dark and rainy when we arrived at 6:15am. I did however find a nice photo of the station taken at sunrise. I found it at the wikipedia site, but the link won't load so I'll show it via my Fotki pictures:
Vancouver's Pacific Central Station
Picture courtesy of Wikipedia
Unlike Amtrak’s eastern trains to Toronto and Montreal which clear immigration and customs at the border, we cleared U.S. immigration at the station in Vancouver. We were informed that U.S. Customs officers would board the train at the border to collect our immigration forms and conduct any baggage inspections if deemed necessary. Our baggage was then X-rayed and we passed through an airport style security checkpoint before entering a special, fenced in platform where we boarded the train.
ViaRail Domecar behind the fence
Amtrak’s Cascade trains operate between Vancouver, Seattle, Portland and Eugene, Oregon. Most of them are scheduled between Seattle and Portland, but two per day make the run between Vancouver and Seattle, and one extends down to Eugene. The Cascades are unique because they utilize a consist known as the Talgo Train. The Talgo was built in Spain and incorporates an enhanced suspension system that allows the train to travel more smoothly at higher speeds. Today’s consist included two Business Class cars, the Bistro car and six coaches. Both the cars and the engine are painted in an attractive green, brown and white color scheme.
Amtrak Cascades
Coach class seating is the standard 2 x 2 arrangement while Business class offers slightly wider seats in a 1 x 2 configuration. Both classes offer a 110-volt outlet beside each row of seats for laptop connections. Mounted on the ceiling of each car are TV monitors that display trip information much like the Sky Map on airplanes. Half the screen is taken up by a map that indicates our exact location with a flashing dot and beside that is indicated our next stop, the estimated arrival time to our final destination, the current time and the temperature.
Amtrak Cascades Business Class Seating
Departure from Vancouver was right on time as we accelerated smoothly out of the station and soon were rolling through the city’s southern suburbs at speeds approaching 60 mph. I made a mental note to ride this train again in the spring when daylight would enhance the countryside between Richmond and Bellingham.
One of my favorite things about riding a train is the ability to get up any time and pay a visit to the lounge or dining car. Food and lounge service aboard Amtrak’s Cascades is provided in the Bistro Car, conveniently located right next door to our Business Class car. One of the perks of traveling in Business on the Cascades is that you get a coupon good for $3.00 off anything in the Bistro. The menu offered everything from oatmeal to breakfast sandwiches but as DG and I had already eaten prior to the trip, we settled for a couple cups of coffee. Seating was available at either a counter with six stools or in buffet style seating in the lounge area.
Cascades Bistro Car Counter
Cascades Lounge Seating
This was a good train trip. The cars were new and reasonably comfortable, the price was right, the food affordable and tasty, the scenery pretty and the service quite good. If Amtrak continues to operate its shorter intercity trains in this fashion, passenger rail service will not die out in America.
In Bellingham we boarded about one hundred Seahawks fans. Seattle’s King Street Station is located right next door to both the football and baseball stadiums, so the train is a great way for fans who don’t live in the city to not only get to the stadium but also save a bundle on parking fees. Despite the early hour, many of the fans headed straight for the Bistro Car where beer prices were considerably lower than those to be found inside the stadium. They were a fun and rowdy group, giddy with the anticipation of a Seahawks victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. Unfortunately for the Hawks fans, the Bengals are a much improved team this season while the Seahawks are not. Three hours later the Bengals firmly established that fact in the form of a 34-12 victory. I’m glad I wasn’t booked on the evening train back up to Vancouver as the anticipation of victory, however unlikely, is much more enjoyable to be a part of than the reality of stinging defeat.
In Everett we were treated to a great view of the Nimitz Class aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. At 1092 feet long, it is second in size only to the U.S.S. Enterprise. From Everett the tracks run along the shore of the Puget Sound all the way down to Edmonds. Had it been a nicer day I would have taken a few pictures but rain notwithstanding, this was a section of the trip where it was worth putting down your book and checking out the scenery.
Arrival in Seattle was ten minutes early, good news for me as I had just two hours before the departure of my flight down to Denver. Seattle’s King Street Station is located right across the street from the International District station from which Sound Transit’s light rail trains depart to the airport. DG accompanied me to the station, patiently suffered through my half-hearted diatribe about the paucity of ticketing machines at such a busy station (there was only one machine), and then headed upstairs to meet a Seattle based friend while I sped off to the airport, arriving just half an hour later. Twenty minutes after that I was enjoying a hot bowl of red beans, rice and sausage soup while downloading pictures for this report into my Fotki account.
When visiting Alaska’s SeaTac Boardroom, I am reminded of 1980s television show “Cheers” and its theme song "Where Everybody Knows Your Name". After 954 flights on Alaska, over 1150 flights into or out of Seattle and continual Boardroom membership or access since the 1980s, most everybody working the reception desk knows my name. I even keep in touch with a couple of the gals via email. I’m sure that many of you enjoy similar relationships at your most heavily visited lounges. These kind of relationships go a long way towards making air travel for us frequent flyers a much more pleasant experience than it is for those stuck out in the gate lounges.
I’m flying down to Denver so that I can return to Fairbanks via a DEN-FAI ticket I purchased this summer for just $156.00 one way. Add to that my $95.00 fare between Seattle and Denver and the total cost is still less than I’d have paid for a one way flight from Seattle to Fairbanks. Go figure… (Thanks go out to Frontier Airlines for instigating a summer long fare war on the DEN-FAI route)
Flight time to Denver was projected to be two hours and seven minutes. Smooth conditions were forecast and for those of us in the forward cabin a Turkey Ciabatta sandwich would be served. Both seatmate and I signed on to the inflight internet in order to follow both the Broncos – Lions game as well as the progress of our respective fantasy teams. Unfortunately for us Broncos fans, the Detroit Lions demonstrated via a 45-10 shellacking that our team is even worse than the Seahawks. I tuned out after halftime and focused on my fantasy team where I am a two time defending champion enjoying considerably more success.
I spent the night at my sister’s house where a good spaghetti dinner and a couple of movies made for a nice evening.
October 31, 2011
Alaska Airlines Denver – Seattle 1205p – 154p 737-900 First Class
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Anchorage 320p – 557p 737-900 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Anchorage – Seattle 700p – 754p 737-900 First Class
As a charter member of Continental’s Presidents Club, I have spent many an hour in their beautiful clubroom located high above the center of DIA’s A Concourse. Unfortunately Continental’s merger with United resulted in its move to the B Concourse where the comparatively bland Red Carpet Club (now known as the United Club) is the principal facility for both airlines.
The old Presidents Club is now operated as an Admirals Club by American. Unfortunately, American’s approach to operating an airline club is nowhere near as generous as Continental’s, but I am nonetheless thankful that Alaska Boardroom members have access to it, especially since it’s so conveniently located to Alaska’s gate at A51.
Although First Class passengers could expect to be served a fairly tasty Turkey Ciabatta sandwich on this noontime departure to Seattle, I like the Original Sandwich at Schlotsky’s Deli much better. I was first introduced to Schlotsky’s Deli back in 1981, and it was love at first bite. At the time I worked just a short distance away from a Schlotsky’s Deli, and over the next two weeks the Original Sandwich was pretty much all I ate for lunch. Now, with a Schlotsky’s concession located just one hundred feet from Alaska’s gate at DIA, the anticipation of a reunion with my favorite sandwich was simply irresistible.
The same aircraft that flew me up to Seattle was also scheduled to operate the 3:20pm departure on to Anchorage. Since we were parked way down at D7, I took a seat in the gate lounge and waited to see if I would clear the waitlist for First Class. My name was number one on the list, and with 35 minutes to go before departure, 15 out of 16 seats had checked in. Well, I was indeed paged to the podium about fifteen minutes later but it wasn’t for the anticipated upgrade. Instead they wanted to verify that I’d requested wheelchair assistance at Anchorage. Whaaaaat?! Not me!
The upgrade never cleared, but Alaska softened the blow with a complimentary DigiPlayer and a bottle of Kona Longboard Lager. This is an excellent example of two of the little things that Alaska does that so endear it to its elite flyers. Whereas the product in Alaska’s First Class is mediocre at best, the overall service in both cabins is generally quite good. Indeed, Alaska has won recognition from J.D. Power and Associates for having the highest customer satisfaction rating among traditional North American airlines for four years in a row. As a Super Duper Diamond Encrusted Kryptonite Level flyer (MVP Gold 75K), I enjoy the following benefits:
• Unlimited Complimentary Upgrades anytime on qualifying fares, or 120 hours prior to departure on other fares.
• Unlimited ability to upgrade one companion into First Class when they are traveling with you.
• Four one-way Complimentary Electronic Guest Upgrades awarded annually upon reaching MVP® Gold status.
• 4 complimentary Board Room Day Passes
• A complimentary Premium Beverage of your choice during your flight when traveling in the main cabin.
• Complimentary digEplayer When Flying in the Main Cabin
• Complimentary Upgrades on Delta Airlines within the U.S. (excluding Hawaii), Canada, Mexico, and select Caribbean destinations.
• First Class Check-In privileges at Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
• Priority AAccess™ Check-In when traveling on American Airlines
• Waivers on Mileage Plan service charges and ticket change fees on Alaska Airlines tickets.
• Checked Baggage Fee Waiver for first two bags on Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines for MVP® Gold member and persons traveling in the same reservation. Companion waiver does not apply to group bookings.
• Express Security Lines at Select Airports.
• Priority Boarding on Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines.
• Free Same Day Standby for MVP® Gold member and persons traveling in the same reservation.
• Priority Standby and Waitlist for full flights on Alaska Airlines.
• Preferred Seating on Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines.
• 100% Bonus Flight Miles on Alaska Airlines, Air France, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, KLM, or LAN.
• Initiation Fee Waived for Alaska Airlines Board Room membership.
• Dedicated phone lines and staff for Alaska Airlines Reservations and Mileage Plan™ Customer Care.
• Opportunity to Nominate a Friend or Family Member to MVP® Status
• 50,000 Bonus Miles When You Attain the MVP® Gold 75K Level
That’s a pretty impressive collection of benefits and while I’d like to see an improvement in the First Class product, such as offering meals that are distinctly better than those available in Coach, the reality is I’m usually up in First Class as the result of a free upgrade.
Truth be known, when it comes to inflight service I’m a bit of an “old school” guy who still expects – perhaps unrealistically in today’s environment – that the First Class product should be substantially distinguished from the Economy Class product, especially with regard to meals. But then, I have always viewed First Class inflight meal service as the ultimate form of inflight entertainment. I mean, I can sit in a big comfortable seat and enjoy a nice view anytime down on terra firma but for some odd reason being wined and dined at 38,000’ on what most other people consider mediocre food and drink really hits home with me. Most other U.S. airlines offer pre-departure beverages and a choice of hot meals on longer flights such as Seattle to Chicago or Los Angeles to Anchorage. Perhaps Alaska will someday match these service levels, but I’m not holding my breath. As such, I provided my own packet of delicious Blue Diamond lightly salted almonds to accompany my beer.
It was snowing heavily during my one hour layover in Anchorage. Once again, despite three separate flight numbers, I re-boarded the exact same aircraft that I’d begun the day on in Denver. This time I returned to the First Class cabin and joined seatmate, a wildlife biologist, in an interesting conversation about Alaska’s various caribou herds, in particular our little herd in Denali National Park. As one whose job involves talking with park visitors about the wildlife we see each day in the park, I’m always looking to learn more. Seatmate was a wealth of information.
The short forty minute flight provided just enough time for a quick round of drinks before the lights of Fairbanks became visible in the distance. We touched down smoothly on runway 2L and finally, after seven weeks and 50,000 miles of travel, my journey had come to an end.
The night was clear and cold in Fairbanks, with the thermometer outside my cabin reading -6°F. Adjusting the Monitor heater inside my cabin to 68°, I popped a cold Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and took a seat in The Comfy Chair next to the heater. Ah… it’s good to be back home in Alaska!
#7
Quote:
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The word “peregrinate” is not commonly utilized in our everyday vernacular, but it is perhaps the best word to describe my upcoming travels around the continent. In most any thesaurus, the closest synonym to peregrinate is “wander”, and though for many that word suggests moving about tinged by a degree of insouciance to the point of outright aimlessness, I prefer J.R.R. Tolkien’s take on wandering:
Argh: so this is what you have been doing since stopping work (some of us are working and paying tax to our governments). We never expect you to go by the shortest way. !Originally Posted by Seat 2A
per•e•gri•nate (perigrəˌnāt). To journey or travel from place to place, often with the suggestion of a roundabout route.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The word “peregrinate” is not commonly utilized in our everyday vernacular, but it is perhaps the best word to describe my upcoming travels around the continent. In most any thesaurus, the closest synonym to peregrinate is “wander”, and though for many that word suggests moving about tinged by a degree of insouciance to the point of outright aimlessness, I prefer J.R.R. Tolkien’s take on wandering:
This TR will take some time to read ^
Mwenenzi (Swahili traveler - wanderer)
#13
Wow you do like to get it all done and dusted in one fell swoop. 
You have some beautiful pictures there of some fine looking railway stations. I know I keep saying this every time I read on of your TRs but I really should give this rail thing a shot. It looks and sounds like a great way to travel.
You have some beautiful pictures there of some fine looking railway stations. I know I keep saying this every time I read on of your TRs but I really should give this rail thing a shot. It looks and sounds like a great way to travel.
#14
Quote:
Have a read of Seat 2a's other great trip reports: only long distance in F for Seat 2A when all those miles are used ^Originally Posted by gba
Great report Seat2A! Any idea what you're going to do with all those miles?
#15
Gatwick Alan , Nov 6, 2011 9:03 pm
And you said when commenting on my report that slowing down was a good idea!!
As usual a brilliant report, if we are similar in age, i admire your stamina.
As usual a brilliant report, if we are similar in age, i admire your stamina.