LPDAL

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Routing for FAHA (Florida Airport Hopping Adventures) 8: A dual birthday daytrip. Maps generated by the
[url=http://www.gcmap.com/]Great Circle Mapper-copyright Karl L. Swartz
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Florida Airport Hopping Adventures 8: American Eagle First Class on their Brand New Embraer ERJ-175 Regional Jets MIA✈JAX✈MIA, Miami International Airport, Miami International Airport American Airlines Hub, Miami International Airport American Airlines Admirals Club, Miami International Airport SkyTrain, Miami International Airport Cafe Versailles, Plane Spotting at Miami International Airport, American Eagle First Class, American Eagle ERJ-175 First Class, Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville International Airport (IATA: JAX , ICAO: KJAX), Ritz Carlton Amelia Island Florida Resort and Spa, Ponte Vedra Resort and Spa, Ritz Carlton Executive Club, Salt, Amelia Island Beach, Miami International Airport Concourse E, and finally Miami International Airport SuperShuttle.

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FOREWORD
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Welcome to the eighth installment of my FAHA (Florida Airport Hopping Adventures) series, the series of write-ups I post about my wanderings throughout the state boundaries of the sunshine state!

The first seven episodes, if you're a first time reader or just want to catch up on the reports you've missed, separated by forum:

Airliners.Net

1. 7 Hours On A Silver Saab 340B+! FLL-EYW-TPA-FLL (by LPDALJan 27 2014 in Trip Reports)

2. Fahf 2: Southwest Business Class R/T FLL-TPA-FLL (by LPDAL Feb 10 2014 in Trip Reports)

3. Spirit Airlines New First Class FLL-MCO-FLL (Pics) (by LPDAL Feb 17 2014 in Trip Reports)

4. American Airlines Flagship Business Class MCO-MIA (by LPDAL May 20 2014 in Trip Reports)

5. Silver Airways Saab 340B+, United Club FLL-MCO-FLL (by LPDAL Aug 31 2014 in Trip Reports)

6. American Airlines First Class, 767-300 MIA-MCO-MIA (by LPDAL Sep 17 2014 in Trip Reports)

7. US Airways First Class, AA First Class MIATPAMIA (by LPDAL Dec 4 2014 in Trip Reports)

FlyerTalk.Com †††

3. Spirit Airlines Big Front Seat First Class FLL-MCO-FLL | Trip Reports Forum | FlyerTalk.Com

4. American Airlines 757-200 Lie flat Flagship Intrafloridian Business Class MCO-MIA | Trip Reports Forum | FlyerTalk.Com

5. American Airlines First Class (Business Class), 767-300 Florida Flights, MIA-MCO-MIA | Trip Reports Forum | FlyerTalk.Com

6. Silver Airways Saab 340B+, Marriott Residence Inn Penthouse, United Club, FLL-MCO-FLL | Trip Reports Forum | FlyerTalk.Com

7. American Airlines First Class, US Airways First Class, Baptism Ceremony MIATPAMIA | Trip Reports Forum | FlyerTalk.Com

IntraFloridian flying is one of my favorite past times (as you can see above, a ⅓ of my reports, are part of this series) and is big business: American Airlines (mainline), American Eagle, Envoy Air, Spirit Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Delta Connection, Silver Airways, JetBlue Airways, and a handful of Part 380-authorized charter carriers all fly people to and fro entirely within Florida. I'm not sure if Florida has the largest amount of intrastate flying, but it is a humongous amount, to say the least.


IntraFloridian flying is big business, as seen in this map generated by the
<a href="http://www.gcmap.com/">Great Circle Mapper</a>&nbsp;-copyright © <a href="http://www.kls2.com/~karl/">Karl L. Swartz</a>. This may not be all of the scheduled, Part 121, Part 380, or public charter routes operated solely within Florida, but it gives you a good idea of how well all the major cities in my state are linked together by air service.

The stem of this trip report has its roots in my 23rd review, Delta First Class+Dead Hubs+MD-90s PBICVGMEMMIA (by lpdal Feb 18 2015 in Trip Reports) / Delta Air Lines First Class with the dead Cincinnati and Memphis Hubs PBICVGMEMMIA | Trip Reports Forum | FlyerTalk.Com;


The night I got home from that trip, it was around 3AM when I finally crawled into bed, and the JAX flight was departing at around 8-9:00 AM EST which meant I would get six hours of sleep at best. Still, my roaring enthusiasm for commercial aviation won over and I set my alarm clock for 6AM, thinking I could make it there on only a few hours of sleep. Well, no dice! My iPhone's alarm beeped a million times, but I was so tired that I just figured I would change the trip to a few days later.

However, my best friend and I's birthdays are only a week or two apart, and, considering he had enjoyed our first trip together, Silver Airways Saab 340B+, United Club FLL-MCO-FLL (by LPDAL Aug 31 2014 in Trip Reports) / Silver Airways Saab 340B+, Marriott Residence Inn Penthouse, United Club, FLL-MCO-FLL | Trip Reports Forum | FlyerTalk.Com, I phoned him and asked if he would like to come along on my jaunt to Jacksonville on November 4th, 2014, which I chose because my high school / school district designated that day off because of the election.

When I booked my original tickets, I had my eyes on the nearby municipality of Amelia Island, Florida, particularly the Ritz Carlton, which is in direct competition to the nearby Ponte Vedra Resort and Golf Club, where I had stayed way back in Yee Olden Days in 2005. The Ritz was holding some sort of special for large penthouse suites, and was able to be linked to my American Eagle itinerary to easily facilitate the AAdvantage perks. However, the rates for the hotel would be worth it if you were staying for a night, but NOT if you were staying until early evening, which was what his parents limited him to. I had heard an inkling somewhere that if you call up a hotel, you can speak to them about receiving a discount rate for your room if you only want to stay for the span of a day. I had an important test the next morning as well, and my friend would be going away for a few-month long sabbatical in his home country of Colombia the very next week, so we were going to try to make this our best trip yet (out of...one other, I know. :P).

I called up the Ritz Carlton in Amelia Island, which happened to have the most interesting orchestra hold music, and spoke to the manager about a day-rate. With a little bit of negotiation, my politeness (Yes sir, no sir, Yes Ma'am, No Ma'am, Please, thank you, you're welcome, have a good day), and teenage patience (which does exist) I managed to halve the sale rate, which meant we were getting this huge room in an RC property for a cut-throat rate to have one last day together before he went back to Colombia for a long time. I excitedly called my friend and broke the news, he was ecstatic, and so was I. I couldn't wait to share the experience of the greatest industry in the world, the airline industry, with my best bud!

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1. † - Also applies to all two-class, first-class-equipped American Eagle and Envoy Air Aircraft.

2. †† - Title of "American Eagle First Class+RitzCarlton MIA✈JAX✈MIA" is truncated from the proper spelling of "Ritz Carlton" due to the Airliners.Net thread title character limit.

3. ††† - Florida Airport Hopping Adventures (FAHA) Reports Number # 1 and 2 were not posted on FlyerTalk.Com and thus were omitted from that website's writeup list.

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LPDAL

KMIA (Miami - International Airport / Wilcox Field / 36th Street / Pan American Field) ✈ KJAX (Jacksonville - International Airport / Jacksonville Air National Guard Base - 125th Fighter Wing / 125th FW)

FLIGHT DATA SOURCE (S):

1. PlaneSpotters.Net Airframe Data

2. PlaneSpotters.Net Airline Data - Republic Airlines

3. PlaneSpotters.Net Airline Data - American Eagle

4. Embraer 175 | Our Planes - American Airlines

5. American Presents the New E175 :: American Airlines Newsroom | American Airlines Begins Large Regional Jet Flying With Embraer E-175 Aircraft | American’s E-175s Feature 12 First Class Seats, Main Cabin Extra and Full-Size Overhead Bins

6. Embraer E-175 Fact Sheet :: American Airlines Newsroom

7. American Airlines Unveils Embraer 175 Regional Jet Design | Logistics and Transportation | Forbes - Grant Martin, Contributor

8. Take Flight In American Eagle First Class | aa.com - American Airlines

9. First Class Cabin - American Airlines

10. First and Business Class dining | Inflight Dining | During your flight | American Airlines

11. Inside American's new Embraer 175: Brighter, cleaner, with new plane smell (Video) | Pittsburgh Business Journal | Bizjournals.com

12. Need Questions Answered For Writeup On AE ERJ-170s | Travel, Polls, and Preferences Forum - Airliners.Net

13. JAX | Jacksonville International Airport - FlyJacksonville.com - Jacksonville Aviation Authority

14. History of Aviation - JAX | Jacksonville International Airport - FlyJacksonville.com - Jacksonville Aviation Authority

15. Airport History - JAX | Jacksonville International Airport - FlyJacksonville.com - Jacksonville Aviation Authority

16. Dedication program, Jacksonville International Airport

17. Historical Photo Circa 1968 of Jacksonville International Airport

18. Jacksonville Air National Guard Base | 125TH FIGHTER WING Fact Sheet | Florida Air National Guard

19. 125th Fighter Wing (125th FW) | GlobalSecurity.org

20. The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island | Ritz Carlton | The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C.

21. Ponte Vedra Inn and Club | Ponte Vedra Beach Resorts: Florida Resorts

-FlightAware not available for this flight-

At about 3 AM EST and way too early to get up on a day off from school, I headed down to my friend's bungalow, and we begun the bit of a long drive down to MIA. He was much more awake than I was, despite my good sleep the previous night, but we still were very pumped for this daytrip. After the cab dropped us off on the D/E Concourse curb at MIA, we ran into a kerfuffle because his ticket was booked on a separate PNR, which we were having a ton of trouble finding. Both of us walked through the first class lane and spoke to a ticketing agent, only to be told that they didn't see him on my flight. I knew that I had booked him the night before, but It didn't help that MIA's Wi-Fi, at the time, was not free. Luckily, it is free for travel related websites, so we managed to get to AA.com and find his PNR. Once we got it, we strolled over to the carry-on-only kiosks and printed our boarding passes before being groped by blueberry security guards then heading to the gate D30 Admirals Club for breakfast.


Arriving into MIA, I attempted to take a picture of the light-board congratulating AA (and Frontier) on their new service, but the rear view mirror got in the way. GAH! The new cities served from MIA include AUS (Austin, Texas), MCI (Kansas City, Missouri), SLC (Salt Lake City, Utah) and SAT (San Antonio, Texas), it's very exciting to see AA (plus Frontier) grow larger at MIA. Frontier, another airline I'd love to catch, at the time of writing (early March 2015) serves Atlanta, Chicago–O'Hare, Denver, New York-LaGuardia, Philadelphia, and Washington-Dulles from MIA. We'll see if they're able to stay profitable in MIA.


This is a little confusing. You can't see it here, but there is an airport (non-airline) employee checking reservations and/or frequent flyer cards.. Since I didn't have a printout of my reservation, I handed him my US Airways Silver card, and was let right past. I then saw, next to the carry-on-only kiosks, that US Airways Silver / AA Gold / OneWorld Ruby has a lane all to itself, which was closed off and strangely marked "baggage service center / customer assistance" or something to that effect. I'd never seen that before


Stepping into MIA's Concourse D/E which are linked, lots of food and retail options are abound! Our destination, however, is the Gate D30 Admirals Club.


A friend is a friend,
'til the end of the end.
That's forever and a day.
Stay by your side.
Won't hear me say goodbye,
come what may.
Cause that's what friends do.
That's what friends do.


Checking a conveniently-placed FIDs display for our gate, looks like it is Gate D60, all the way at one end of the concourse, we'd have quite a walk (or SkyTrain ride ).



Entering the Gate D30 Admiral's Club. Curse that pesky finger of mine... :P


Ordering breakfast for my best friend and I, for those who do not know, most Admirals Club Lounges within American Airlines' hub airports have an actual sit-down restaurant within the club itself. There are complimentary light snacks just like every other United States-based airline lounge, including fresh-baked cookies, fruit, vegetables, and snack mixes. But the REAL food in the inter-club restaurant isn't free.

I don't understand why, but American Airlines has been harshly criticized for not making the food in the eatery free. I don't agree with those critics at all. For one thing, it's good that the restaurant exists at all, I'd definitely prefer a surcharged dining venue rather than have only hamster food. Secondly, I doubt American Airlines could afford to keep the various prices of admittance down AND keep the wide extent of the restaurant's menu if they made the food free. So for these reasons, I do appreciate AA's effort to offer a bit of nutritious, filling food in a ton of their lounges, it will make them competitive against Delta Sky Clubs, which now serve real food themselves (albeit complimentary).



How much can an 18 year old and 19 year old eat (now I'm 19 and he is 20, how times change...)?! A lot, that's for sure. After we munched all this down, we both had several heaping helpings of snack food and a few mugs of espresso, never underestimate two growing young men appetites.


A massive 777-200 crawls into the gate under the window near our table, it even shook the windows. :P Does anyone know what that little inlet sticking up under the tail is? APU inlet?

After my friend and I concluded our chow-fest in the AAC, we decided it would be more fun to watch airplanes (and of course snap pictures of them) on the ramp and runway, so we made a beeline to the furthest west SkyTrain station, which is possibly the best secure air side area in MIA to spot aircraft at: not only does it have a top-down view of one of AA's mainline ramps, but also has wide panning vistas of two of the most actively used runways at MIA, Runway 8L/29L and 8R/29R.

Halfway through our trek to the tram station, we suddenly saw a uniformed TSA officer and a squad of police officers from the Miami Dade Sheriff's department run out of seemingly thin air, with one of them yelling into a bullhorn, "EVERYBODY FREEZE! NOBODY MOVE FROM WHERE YOU'RE STANDING!" And the whole hallway instantly came to a standstill, while some TSA officers dispersed throughout the sea of idle people to make sure nobody moved. One nervous woman asked what was going on, and the TSA officer gruffly declared that either 1) someone had Ebola in MIA (this was back in November when that Ebola scare was still going on) 2) someone ran through one of the security checkpoints or 3) someone with Ebola run through one of the security checkpoints, and as per TSA modus operandi, the entire airport came to a standstill until they could verify that there was no risk to anyone.


MIA comes to a standstill, until they can find the perp, at least...


About halfway through the lockdown, the MIA Police Captain showed up and received a "sitrep" of sorts from the lead TSA officer. He looks like he is ready to go to war, well, save for the green EZ-GO at least. :P

After around 20 minutes of standing, they finally let us go, apparently the dude was caught or something. Who knows, but that was one of the most wacky moments on my trips...Probably won't be the wackiest, I assume....Cut loose, we walked through the duty free shops to the train station, and spotted for a bit before boarding the train to Gate D60 where our outbound flight would be departing to JAX from.


The best (in my opinion) spotting location in MIA, the west SkyTrain station.



To start off with, a lineup of old and new American Airlines frames lined up along the terminal.


One of the rarest catches of the day, Laser Airlines (Línea Aérea de Servicio Ejecutivo Regional, IATA: QL, ICAO: LER, Callsign LASER) a Venezuelan Airline's, MD-81 YV492T, a 21-year-old airframe that was previously in service with a host of Japanese airlines before being transferred to QL on April 6th, 2011. Looks like she is having some engine work done in the Miami Tech MRO.


World Atlantic, an USA-based charter airline, taking off for HAV (Havana, Cuba).


Sorry for the blurry picture, but check out the wing flex on this departing TAM 777-300!


Another one of the rarest of the bunch today, an Air France IntraEurope A320-200 F-HEPF (sorry for the quality, heat haze was running rampant on this day) heading to Port Au Prince, Haiti (PAP).


An AA 757 is towed into stand while a Delta 737 rockets away in the background.


Look at how much the 767-300 dwarfs the 737-800! I'd never noticed such a difference in aircraft size.


Or, for that matter, a 777! Took this shot right as we rode to the end of Concourse D to board our MIA-JAX routing.

Gate D60 is all the way at the east end of Concourse D in MIA, used exclusively by Envoy and Republic operating as American Eagle. The area isn't actually a "gate", in the sense most people would think of a traditional jet-bridge, rather it is a condensed waiting area on the ground level of the airport that leads out to several fingers with doors connecting them to mini-airbridges on the ramp, just like the Skywest operation in Salt Lake City (SLC), or the Piedmont / Air Wisconsin fingers in PHL, etc. There are a few drawbacks to this kind of layout, namely that the nearest Admiral's club is a long ways away, and nearby seating is nearly always full at peak times, such as when the plethora of South American arrivals starts.

Nevertheless, the gate agents seemed to be doing a good job corralling all the passengers onto their respective flights via gate-side PA announcements, telling us the door to go to once we exited out of the terminal onto the covered walkways. Once there, however, it is up to the passenger to find the correct door, because only D60 is printed on your boarding pass. To remedy this, MIA has airport workers stationed throughout the hallways providing directions. We managed to find our door, Gate D60 "J", after a brisk walk and were soon on board Republic Airline's N432YX, my first American Eagle ERJ-175.



The very hard-working yet very polite gate agents, Envoy, please give them all a raise. They're not scowling in this picture, just working very efficiently to get everyone out on time, and one of them even printed me some souvenir boarding passes as well between two of their flights.


Walking out onto the D60 finger connector, with the omnipresent Glass Blocks. If you ever come to my city of Fort Lauderdale or its bigger brother of Miami, you'll see these in architecture everywhere; they are very nifty as they allow light to come through like normal glass yet mostly distort and block whatever is on the other side. Here, unfortunately, they are just a nuisance as they prevent me from getting a decent shot of my airplane. Hopefully, in Jacksonville...But, Vignelli Associates Scissor Eagle isn't stopped by that...


This looks like the one!



Entering the strangely carpeted and air-conditioned mini-jetway, it seems strange to air-condition them considering all the little holes in the sidewalls...Also, looks like I'll indeed have to wait until we get to Jacksonville to get a good shot of my aircraft.



Boarding N432YX.

Aboard the frame, I couldn't help but notice that the exterior as well as the interior of this ERJ-175 were literally glowing--even my friend said "Dude, is it just me, or is this plane brand new?" Luckily, with my handy dandy PlaneSpotters.Net resource, which I use to gather all the info you see in the flight template at the beginning of each flight in my trip reports, I found out that N432YX was only 3 months old!! I figured as much, the entire cabin smelled new, the lights in the galley and cockpit shone bright and gleamed, the safety cards, magazines, and even airsick bags were all pristine and un-frayed. I hope Republic makes an effort to keep these frames in tip-top condition, as I was very impressed with the general shape of the aircraft.

This flight was served by three, I believe, flight attendants, with one in the front serving first class and two in the back serving main cabin extra and the main cabin. The one in the front was very senior, and obviously earned that spot, taking all of the pre-departure beverage orders before coach even began boarding. That wasn't saying much for this flight, as F was nearly 90% empty (Y couldn't have been over 50%, either), shockingly enough. I had never seen such an empty flight! There was only 6 first class seats taken counting all upgraders, meaning that 6 went out empty. Sounds like prime pickings for nonrevs, methinks.

After the lead flight attendant gathered our PDB-trash, the captain grabbed his receiver and murmured "Flight attendants prepare cabin for departure", which was the only thing we ever heard from them, apart from a pre-landing announcement. Surprisingly, this ERJ-175 was equipped with an automated-voice announcement system that played as we pushed back, covering all the seat-belt/turbulence/ditching procedures in somewhat of a corny robotic female voice. It certainly was a bit strange to hear a dismembered voice make all of the announcements rather than the flight attendants until cruise, when they began the beverage round.


A surprisingly massive first class cabin, considering American Airlines' mainline A319 (non-PMUS) airframes have only eight first class seats (yes, only 8) while this smaller series has 12, which primarily has to do with regional pilot scope clauses restricting the amount of seating in certain aircraft.


My seat, 3A, with an American Airlines mainline domestic first class blanket, but no pillow.


It may not seem like it from the above image, but these ERJ-170 series cabins are extremely spacious--if I had to say, they are just a tad shorter in stand-up height than a mainline 737, good job, Embraer.



Caffeine is my favorite, as known.


Decent domestic first class legroom on this ERJ.


Brand-new PSU.


Pushing out of the Gate D60 ramp. I'll be there holding that orange wand soon!!


Passing an AA 738 facing us on our way to the active.


US Airways D/B/A American Airlines "PSA Airlines Retrojet" Airbus A319-100 N742PS, passing by way too quick for me to get a good shot of it, hence the window frame...


Turning onto the runway...


Blasting out of MIA, with an Air Canada Airbus below.


An airborne view of the bay and isn't it lovely looking!



The pilot's halo visible as we swing around to the north to begin our journey up to JAX.


Rising above the cloud layer to cruise.


Cruising above the Floridian landscape. Challenge for my airport-identifying-loving-friend Tigerguy: which airport is that in the center of the image?

Service on this flight was your average short-hop domestic first class no-frills beverage and snack rounds, with little else done after the initial few passes of refreshments. The flight crew on this flight were punctual, but didn't really go above and beyond to serve the passengers on this flight, just good, decent service. On these short hops, AA does (or did) hand out small bags of snack mix instead of the apples, bananas, chips, cookies, crackers, and candy found on similar US Airways flights of this length. While it is certainly a tasty pub mix, it does get a little tiring after awhile, but I've heard rumors that AA is going to replace it with snack basket service on some short haul domestic first class segments, not sure if that is true or not, but it would be a welcoming change as AA has introduced these scrumptious little mini-sandwiches in their own snack baskets. Luckily, I had no problem getting a few extra bags of snack mix to hold me over until we got to the Ritz.


Cabin during cruise, very roomy, modern, and clean.


Coca-Cola and Gourmet Snack Mix. I wonder what makes it Gourmet...?


My buddy was enjoying his first class experience very much as well, and he chose coffee as his beverage of choice.

MIA-JAX is only a short 52-55 minute hop on most days, and we started descending just a few tens of miles north of Jacksonville International Airport, which is a joint-use civilian airport and Air Force base for the 125th Fighter Wing. At JAX, the runways are in the shape of a V, with the point of (near) intersection pointing towards the east. We flew a relatively smooth descent all the way to touchdown, slowing down before taxiing into the small Concourse C at JAX. One thing I noticed on this approach is that the ERJ-175 seems to be slow and stiff on the controls whenever the pilots applied an input, has anyone noticed this? It seemed to fly low and slow as we floated downwards toward Runway 8.


Challenge number two, Tigerguy. Spotted this field just as we began our descent 40-50 miles out.




A white Lockheed P-3 Orion, one of the best catched of the day, taking off from Naval Air Station Jacksonville or NAS Jacksonville (IATA: NIP, ICAO: KNIP, FAA LID: NIP). Wiki Information:


Yet another small GA field for Tigerguy to identify, looks closed though?


Our shadow on mid-final over some country houses and a lush forest, looks lovely to live there!


Short final with our shadow still visible by way of the baking Floridian sun.


Touchdown, slats drooping, spoilers deploying, and reverse thrust engaged to slow us to a stop in JAX.


Taxiing into Concourse C in JAX's smallish terminal.


A twofold of Delta Connection CRJs and a Saab 340BPlus of my beloved hometown airline, 3M (Silver Airways).


Taxiing past some US Airways bretheren across the terminal concourse, I'm going to miss the little cute abstract flag livery when this bird is repainted into "New American" paint.


Parked in Gate C7 at Jacksonville International Airport, waiting for the jetway to attach to our airplane.


Another day, another flight, another airline, another aircraft, another airport, another trip report.

LPDAL

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Jacksonville - International Airport / Jacksonville Air National Guard Base - 125th Fighter Wing / 125th FW (IATA: JAX , ICAO: KJAX)
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As both me and my friend emerged from the jetway into this then-new-to-us airport, we were excited to see a very high-ceiling, user friendly terminal awaiting us. But we didn't have any time to waste, we had a dayroom at the Ritz Carlton Amelia Island, around 30 minutes away, waiting for us! After stopping only to take a few pictures, we headed down to the dropoff curb and caught the Gator Cab, beginning our somewhat-long taxicab journey to the beach resort.


Stepping out into Concourse C at JAX.


Despite the small size of the airfield, they still have a rather excellent terminal and associated concourses.


Just past the exit out of the secure area is this Sam Snead's Bar and Grill, which is a chain that nearly always has putting greens within or near the restaurant. This one, however, pales in comaprison to the ginormous one at West Palm Beach International Airport (IATA: PBI, ICAO: KPBI).


Luxury automobiles and motorcycles were sprinkled throughout the airport, and I had forgotten that BMW manufactures motorcycles. Eh, I still prefer Triumph...



FLYJAX branding is prevalent throughout the landside area. Also note the unusual fresh flowers vending machine.


I've been to Jacksonville (by car) but never by air, so this was quite a warm welcome.


Passing over the bridge to Amelia Island.


Can you recognize an airfield from the ground, Tigerguy? Extra points! Also, this has to be the first airport I've seen close-up without barbwiring, gives it a peaceful look, I must say.


Heading down the heavily tree-lined road to the Ritz Carlton.

LPDAL

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The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island
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When I looked at hotel (dayroom) rates on AA, there was a slider from 1-5 stars, which begun in the 3-star setting. I slid it one star to the right, making it four stars, and the Ponte Vedra came up. Since I had already stayed at the Ponte Vedra, I wanted to try another hotel, plus, apart from the Swissotel in Quito, Ecuador, I had never been in a five star resort hotel before, so I slid the bar to the max rating, five stars. Only one hotel came up, The Ritz Carlton in Amelia Island, and the rest was in the beginning of the report:

The room we booked, or rather daysuite if you will, was an Oceanfront Suite, which we both decided on as we wanted to try the Club Level as it included a complimentary upgrade to that benefit. Since we bought the daysuite at such a great price, we could hardly contain ourselves as we walked up to the receptionist desk.

From the time we even got out of the cab, it was extremely noticeable that this hotel was very different from the Marriott properties we had previously stayed at. Before our cab even parked there was already two guys opening up the front doors and another two inquiring if we desired luggage service, to which we politely declined. My friend and I had never seen such extensive service, and we hadn't even checked in yet...

Once we got over the initial shock :P, we went to check in. Here, again, it was EXTREMELY different: the hotel clerk asked us what our preferences were in beverages, food, why we chose this property over other local hotels, and handed us our Club Level room keys. Not only that, but every employee that passed by you literally nodded their head and said "Good afternoon, sir." I had never seen anything like this before, and wasn't sure how quite to feel about it just yet.

With regards to decor, I think the designers were going after an old-school Victorian look, from when Florida was a valuable colony back in the colonial days in America, with wood paneling, thick vintage furniture, chandeleirs, and marble placed throughout. You can still tell you're in 2015, however, because there are HDTVs dispersed here and there, but not enough to ruin the delightful colonial-age feeling.


The most extensive service I've seen in a long time.



A rather regal check-in area, Thanksgiving-themed for November.


And regal hallway...


And regal everything!! Our actual conversation:
"Dude, Colby, is that elevator broken?"
"I don't know, but we just got lucky I guess. Maybe it is waiting for us."
"I think it is waiting there for us, Colby!" *grins ear to ear and I do too!*
"Dude, this is insanely nice!"
"I know right man, hey look, I owe you everything man..."
"Don't worry about it David, we're bros, it's what we do."


"We have coffee, David!!!"



*In unison* WHOAAAA!!!!!



"Hold on man, I gotta take a few pictures with my iPad"
"Have at it dude, these things come once in a lifetime!"


"Hey man, what's in here?"





"TWO BATHROOMS! Dude! We should stay in the RC on every trip!!"
"If only..."


"Man, take a picture of me while I call the front desk to ask where the Club is, we gotta remember every moment of this, hahaha!" *Grinning with euphoric laughter*

After we calmed our over-excited bouncing-off-the-walls selves and composed our behavior, we both took showers (separately), freshened and straightened up, and set out for the executive club for dinner, as it was around 4:30 PM. By the time we entered in the tower opposite to the one our daysuite was in, the clerk already had called ahead and told the receptionist our names. "Ah, Colby and David, is that correct? I'm Diana, and I work in the Club Level. Let me know if there's anything I can do for you, gentleman!" The awesome thing about it was, she was totally genuine about making her guests have a satisfactory experience, which just felt plain good on the inside. Not to mention that the Club Level is loaded with an extensive buffet with salad, cold cut meats, sandwiches, hot food options, cheese, fruit, dips, breads, even candy and every type of soda / alcoholic beverage we could imagine, so it'd look like we'd be well fed by the lounge. After we finished our club dinner, we changed into our bathing suits and spent an hour at the pool and white sand beach (sorry, no pics of the pool because we left our phones and cameras upstairs), before changing back into our "nice clothes" to head back down to South Florida.



Passing a bath salt store on our way to the Club Level.


And a yachtwear / beachwear store as well.


The shrouded-glass entrance to the club.





The seating area of the Club Level.





The somewhat spread out (no pun intended) buffet, wide variety of consumable choices, as you can see.


Walking past this neat watch display on our way to change into our swim trunks.




Pictures of the beach from the Club Level (first image) and our room (second and third images). Unfortunately, we forgot to bring either of the cameras or our phones / iPad to the pool deck, so we don't have any pictures other than these, bummer....


Taking a cab back to the airport at the beginning or just past the beginning of evening. Those were several of the best hours of our lives......Overall, the Ritz Carlton in Amelia Island was one of the best hotels I've ever stayed at, great service, great food, beautiful beach, and best of all the low price we got for the room. We definitely made a pact to visit again when we are much older.

LPDAL

KJAX (Jacksonville - International Airport / Jacksonville Air National Guard Base - 125th Fighter Wing / 125th FW) ✈ KMIA (Miami - International Airport / Wilcox Field / 36th Street / Pan American Field)

FLIGHT DATA SOURCE (S):

1. PlaneSpotters.Net Airframe Data

2. PlaneSpotters.Net Airline Data - Republic Airlines

3. PlaneSpotters.Net Airline Data - American Eagle

4. Embraer 175 | Our Planes - American Airlines

5. American Presents the New E175 :: American Airlines Newsroom | American Airlines Begins Large Regional Jet Flying With Embraer E-175 Aircraft | American’s E-175s Feature 12 First Class Seats, Main Cabin Extra and Full-Size Overhead Bins

6. Embraer E-175 Fact Sheet :: American Airlines Newsroom

7. American Airlines Unveils Embraer 175 Regional Jet Design | Logistics and Transportation | Forbes - Grant Martin, Contributor

8. Take Flight In American Eagle First Class | aa.com - American Airlines

9. First Class Cabin - American Airlines

10. First and Business Class dining | Inflight Dining | During your flight | American Airlines

11. Inside American's new Embraer 175: Brighter, cleaner, with new plane smell (Video) | Pittsburgh Business Journal | Bizjournals.com

12. Need Questions Answered For Writeup On AE ERJ-170s | Travel, Polls, and Preferences Forum - Airliners.Net

13. JAX | Jacksonville International Airport - FlyJacksonville.com - Jacksonville Aviation Authority

14. History of Aviation - JAX | Jacksonville International Airport - FlyJacksonville.com - Jacksonville Aviation Authority

15. Airport History - JAX | Jacksonville International Airport - FlyJacksonville.com - Jacksonville Aviation Authority

16. Dedication program, Jacksonville International Airport

17. Historical Photo Circa 1968 of Jacksonville International Airport

18. Jacksonville Air National Guard Base | 125TH FIGHTER WING Fact Sheet | Florida Air National Guard

19. 125th Fighter Wing (125th FW) | GlobalSecurity.org

20. The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island | Ritz Carlton | The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C.

21. Ponte Vedra Inn and Club | Ponte Vedra Beach Resorts: Florida Resorts

-FlightAware not available for this flight-

Before JAX was constructed, in the infant era of aviation, pilots utilized the hard-packed sand naturally occurring on Jacksonville's beaches as rudimentary runways, but they were too far from the actual downtown area of the city to be feasible, plus the fact that actual passenger service was severely limited at the time, meant that train service was more commonly favored by the local populace instead. In the early 1920s, a collective effort of pilots brought about Paxon Field, a small grassy airstrip where the present day Paxon High School is located.

The city soon acknowledged the need for a true airport, and Jacksonville Municipal Airport opened in 1926 on West Main Street adjacent to the local Prison Farm. In the 1930s, a small wooden terminal building opened up for Jacksonville Municipal Airport's first, albeit limited, scheduled carrier, Eastern Air Service, which would later become the now-defunct Eastern Airlines. In the 1950's, the facility was re-named by the local government to Imeson Field, in memory of the Jacksonville city councilman who brought about construction of the airport and several modern highways to the JAX metro area.

Imeson Field was the primary airport serving Jacksonville, Florida for 42 years, however, by the 1950s, the airline industry was booming and Imeson could no longer support aircraft from the likes of Eastern Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southern Airways, and National Airlines. It was apparent that a more modern facility was needed, and work began on Jacksonville International Airport in 1965 funded by a $9,000,000 bond issued after the approval of local taxpayers. Concurrent with the closure of Imeson Airport, the 125th Fighter-Interceptor Group (125 FIG) of the Florida Air National Guard (FANG) relocated to Jacksonville International Airport.

Jacksonville International Airport was dedicated on September 1st, 1968, officially replacing Imeson field, to serve the travel requirements of local naval bases, the most prominent of which was, and still is, Naval Air Station Jacksonville (IATA: NIP, ICAO: KNIP, FAA LID: NIP). When the airport first opened to airline service, the terminals used an unusual layout of separating departing and arriving passengers, but this concept was abandoned by the 1990s. Growth at JAX was slow from around the 1980s, only serving around two million passengers annually, but by the start of the new millennium, JAX was seeing over 5,000,000 passengers pass through her facilities, and yet again an expansion project was begun at the airport. This time, the landside area, central square, and main concessions were rebuilt to a modern standard, while all TSA checkpoints were consolidated into a single security screening facility. Finally, more parking was installed in the airport around 2004-2005.

Today, Jacksonville International Airports' operations consist of 58% of the onsite flight activity, with G4 (Allegiant Airlines), AA (American Airlines), MQ (American Eagle + American Eagle contracted carriers), DL (Delta Air Lines + Delta Connection contracted carriers), B6 (JetBlue Airways), 3M (Silver Airways), WN (Southwest Airlines), UAX (Various United Airlines contracted carriers), and US (US Airways + US Airways contracted carriers) all serving a multitude of destinations from the airport as of March 2015. As of this writing in mid-March 2015, the only scheduled international airline service from the airstrip is Silver Airway's flight to Marsh Harbor, The Bahamas, on Saab 340BPlus aircraft.


Pre-merger ticket counter logo board, but post merger signage and kiosk firmware.



A surprisingly massive terminal when considering the scope of Jacksonville's overall airline operation.

My friend and I attempted to spend as much time in the Ritz Carlton as possible, and thus only arrived to the airport a mere 30 minutes before our flight back to SoFlo began boarding Luckily, that fact that it was not only Tuesday, which is one of the slowest days in the airline business (and has some of the lowest fares, I've found) meant that the TSA checkpoint had only a few people ahead of us, and we even managed clear the checkpoint with around 20 minutes remaining before the boarding process began.

I'm sure some people will ask why we did not stay for longer. Well, as I said, my best friend's parents are much stricter than mine, and they didn't want him spending a night as he had something the next day to go to. In addition, I had 12th grade the next day, so that was a bust as well. This trip was only meant to be a daytrip, not a nighttrip, and the Ritz Carlton portion only came until a week before the trip. But to be frankly honest, it wasn't about the amount of time we stayed in Jacksonville, or how much money we spent, or any other nonsense like that. It was that we were sharing an enjoyable experience together as best friends, and making memories that we'll remember for a lifetime. So we didn't really care if we didn't get to spend more than 6-7 hours in a nice hotel, it was more about the fact that we got to take a nice trip together before my friend went back to Colombia for a few months.


Stepping back into JAX's nice, high-ceiling Concourse C.


I wonder who flew 767-200s into JAX?


Of course, this daytrip was taken in November 2014, so AirTran (IATA: FL, ICAO: TRS, now defunct, RIP...) was still around.


Heading back to the end of the concourse to board our MIA flight, I spot the sexiness that is this crimson Infiniti. You can definitely see what type of customer JAX is going after... What model is this, anyhow?

After we grabbed some lattes in Starbucks, boarding began. This flight was even more empty than the outbound one, which doesn't seem to worry AA, as there are now 6 round trips a day on ERJ-175s on Tuesdays (as of this writing in mid March 2015) and no ERJ-145s are present on this route anymore, at least from what I've seen. The flight crew and airplane (N432YX) was the exact same from before, but the flight attendant didn't recognize my best friend and I. I think they were busy flying MIA-JAX-MIA all day, and this was the final turn for the ERJ-170 as at the time in early November 2014 there were also single-class ERJ-145 flights on this route as well. Our take off was smooth yet had a stiff climb, this time I was sat on the double seat side of the first class cabin in row 4, the last row of the premium cabin, so I'd have an excellent view of the passing Floridian coastline off to the starboard side of the aircraft. It was an indeed an amazing view, as you'll see in the pictures below.


Boarding the flight, my best friend leading the way.


Exact same first class cabin,


but this time I'd be in seat 4F, the farthest starboard seat in the premium cabin, instead. The load factor in this cabin was even lower than the first flight, with an astounding EIGHT first class seats empty. If I was an upgrader or nonrevver I'd definitely be attempting MIA-JAX. I'd never seen such an empty first class cabin before, on all the airline I travel on they're almost always full.


Switching it up with a tonic water as my pre-departure beverage of choice, my second favorite!


During the boarding process, an airline captain, apparently with a seat assignment in coach, walked with a sad-looking face back to coach, but didn't even make it past the plastic-tarp divider before the flight attendant came back and said, "Don't go back there, you can sit up here, it's empty." in a hushed tone. I honestly thought it was the most awesome feeling to see such a family like interaction between airline industry employees, despite the often volatile nature of the industry itself.


Taxiing away, thanks for the awesome experience, JAX! (And bye, AirTran.... :'[ )



Taxiing past the McDonell Douglas F-15 Eagle fleet of the 125th Fighter Wing (125th FW) | GlobalSecurity.org of the Jacksonville Air National Guard Base.


Takeoff, stiffly roaring down the center-line of the runway.


Blasting away from Jacksonville.




The combined haze, cloud cover, angle, and speed of our ascent to our cruise altitude hampered my photography of downtown JAX, so here are my best attempts.


Final challenge for Tigerguy, a GA airport spotted just a few tens of miles south of JAX.


Finally at cruise. These winglets equipped on this airplane are apparently "Extended Winglets", as noted by a yellow placard in the cockpit. Not only due they extend further out of the wing, they also are bent lower (I don't know how to explain it), and have a more equilateral shape of the winglet triangle rather than the sweptback shape of "normal" winglets.

Service on the flight was the same as the outbound to the JAX outstation, with a couple of drink rounds and a few bags of the Gourmet snack mix (still don't know what makes it Gourmet :P) passed out before the flight attendant sat in the galley. The same weird quasi-human and quasi-robotic voice PA announcement were made throughout the flight, still with a somewhat weird verbal effect.


Checking out the safety card while drinking coffee and eating snack mix. My friend wanted to have window seat this time, so I assigned him 4A, which was actually close enough to hold a decent amount of small talk.


The fleet page in American Way Magazine. Can you notice the mistake(s)?


Well, the US Airways fleet of Boeing 737-400 aircraft had been out of service since late September, and this is the November issue. :P


And, has it been confirmed if this is even happening or not?


Our fuselage's neat reflection in the engine cowling.


Got a good laugh out of this one. xD

Don't get me wrong, the service on this flight was good, and I was excited as heck to be on an airplane, but there was one major suck factor (admittedly not having to do with the airline nor flight crew) that I'm sure everyone has had to deal with before: Having to drop off, say your goodbyes to, etc., your family member, good friend, wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, best friend, fiance.....It's one strong feeling, and I don't doubt that everyone will have to deal with it at some point in their lives, whether it is leaving to take separate flight connections after spending a flight together to ATL, dropping your kids off at college, or dropping your 18 year old off at basic training for the military, saying your goodbyes to your husband or wife as you drive them to the airport so they can go on a business trip...It's quite bittersweet, to say the least. As you could see, the purely platonic bromance was strong, lol.

I couldn't really get my mind off of it, but luckily it looked as if we would have one last hour together in Miami International Airport before I would have to send him home on his own separate cab or SuperShuttle. Before I knew it, we were turning inward to Florida just after we soared past a cloud blanketed FLL, and I knew the inevitable was coming, my best friend was leaving for a few months. I wouldn't see him until past the beginning of 2015, so I tried to make the best of it as we did the standard 180-degree U-turn into a silky smooth landing in MIA.


The beautiful autumn Floridian sky near the beginning of our descent.


We begun our descent just past this break in the blanket of clouds.


FLL being shadowed by the massive cloud sheet. I don't know if anyone else thinks so, but despite the haze, I think this is one of the most stunning photographs I've ever taken, don't you think?



Turning once again to line up with a South Floridian airport...I can't believe it's almost over yet again...Time flies by so fast...sniff...sniff...



A Delta 757 zooms out from under us heading who-knows-where.


The surreal, empty first class cabin on approach.


Things you'll notice only in the air: a heart between various highway ramps.


Slats down, doing the characteristic 180* turn to line up with MIA...


...and diving towards the airport as the sun begins to set.



Things you'll only see from the air (completely, at least) : "WELCOME (To?) MIAMI" spelled out in topiary.


Extremely short final near this labyrinth of highway ramps.


Touchdown, spoilers up and slowing us down...


Two 744s, US Airways, and Sun Country, what more could one (plane spotter) ask for?


One day I'll make it out here and ride on them on MIA-MSP-MIA...They also fly Cuban charters to HAV (Havana, Cuba) here as well.


Out of all the 744s BA could have sent on the LHR-MIA-LHR route, they sent the delightfully rare OneWorld one....AWESOME!


Pulling into the Gate D60 ramp behind some smaller Embraer sibs.



Being marshaled into our stand just as the sun begins to set on MIA, I'll be standing there doing that soon!!! Can't wait to join the crew!



Waiting for the pilots to let me take some cockpit shots, I examined the flight attendant's station and forward galley equipment. Also, notice the coffee decanters are labeled "Inboard Coffee Maker" and "Outboard Coffee Maker". I don't know why I find that funny, I just do. xD


Note the unique vertical, instead of horizontal, girt bar design on these airplanes. And the tiny observation window.




Notice the yellow sticker
The captain asked why I was photographing the cockpit, so I explained the concept of a trip report and he asked if he could be featured in it, so I asked him if he was fine with himself being in my trip report, to which he responded unequivocally in the affirmative Why, of course you can! Thanks for being nice and kind to a kid aspiring to work in the industry unlike some others. coughcoughgaganetchatgagcoughcough



Leaving N432YX behind, have a good night, sweet girl. Now you can see why there is a cockpit placard describing the far-outreaching winglets!



Heading back into Concourse D with a heavy feeling of melancholy...

LPDAL

---
Miami - International Airport / Wilcox Field / 36th Street / Pan American Field (IATA: MIA, ICAO: KMIA)
---

With our last hour together before spending months apart, my friend and I decided to do an impromptu exploration / spotting trip, exploring the E Concourse before quickly and sadly coming to the realization that our trip together, something that we'll both remember forever, had drawn to a close, and my friend had to board his SuperShuttle back to his house to get ready for his sabbatical to Colombia. While waiting for his shuttle, he tried to hand me a $50 bill:

Him: "Colby, come on, just take it! I owe you big time, this day was amazing!"
Me: "No, no, dude it's fine, save it for your trip back to Colombia!"
Him: "I just feel like I should give you something man, this trip was so much fun"
Me: "You bet this trip was fun, the best part was being with you! Alright, tell you what, if you wanna get me something, see if you can get a Medellin T-shirt. Then we'll be even!" *wink and laugh*
Him: "*Laughs* Alright man, I'll try, I'll try..."


The American Eagle Breast Cancer Awareness regional jet at Gate D53.


AA's brand-new OW 737-800 at Gate D32.



And a regular American Airlines 737-800 N954NN, plus a plethora of aircraft at the D and E concourses around it.


And a gorgeous AA 757-200 pulls up right in front of us.


MIA's Concourse E was under renovation and construction at the time (early November 2015).


The Virgin America 747-400 and the Burger King Headquarters juxtaposed together, seems a little opposite, eh Ben? :P Unfortunately, due to the combination of both my DSLR's lack of zoom and lack of nearby windows, this is the only shot I got of both.


1936 Luton LA4A MINOR, C/N: PAL1124, Registration N924GB / EI-ATP, hanging above the duty free shopping area and Terminal Exit of Concourse E.


Not only does MIA have this collection of plaques detailing the history of the airport, but there is also a system of hallways near the international "Premium Lounge" and Concourse E Transportation Security Administration checkpoint also with oodles of information and artifacts from the infant days of the airfield.

Me: "Oh, looks like your shuttle is arriving" *heavy feeling of sadness* "Look bro, be safe, call me when you get home, aiight?"
Him: "Alright man, I'll see ya next year, thanks for everything Colby!!"
*Bro hug for about five minutes*
Me and him: *Fist Bump*
Him: "Bye Colby!"


I boarded my own SuperShuttle home about ten minutes after his left, trying not to feel too sad.

LPDAL

--- Upcoming Reports ---
27. United First Class+BusinessFirst, 777-200, Dash-8-Q400, Silver Airways Saab 340B+, and a night in Portland, Maine + Portland Jetport FLL✈IAH✈EWR✈PWM✈EWR✈TPA✈FLL
---
26. US Airways First Class, TPA Marriott MIA✈TPA✈MIA
---
25. Delta First Class, 747-400/753 FLL✈ATL✈MSP✈ATL✈FLL
---

All finished trip pictures can be viewed here on my Flickr: LPDAL's Photostream on Flickr - Photo Sharing

Add me on Flickr here: https://www.flickr.com/people/lpdal/relationship/

LPDAL

---
Thanks for all responses!

-LPDAL / Colby
---

readywhenyouare

Thanks for the nice report. I've always liked intra-FL flights. When I was your age (around 2007) I took advantage of Delta's intra-FL network at MCO. They were operated by ASA and Freedom Airlines. They ran the operation from the 60's gates (underground gate area) and I really miss it.

Madone59

Thanks for the TR - I like that Ritz a lot. Did you see any peacocks walking around?

cmd320

Nice report!

I love the RC at Amelia Island. One of my favorite places when I'm looking for a short weekend getaway to relax a bit.

The 175 is one of my favorite domestic aircraft in the AA fleet behind the 757 and S80. In some ways, I like it even more mainly because of the 1-2 seating in F. They're typically crewed by two FAs, though perhaps there was an additional crew member on your flight for training or something. At any rate, I like it far more than the crappy 737s and new Airbuses.

The only downside is the cluster* that is the D60 gate area at MIA. In my experience, there's really no such thing as Priority AAccess or group boarding, it's more of a free for all. Not a fan of that.

CHOPCHOP767

Fun report! AA's 175s look very nice, especially when compared with US' Embraer fleet, which are rather long in the tooth. On that account, congrats on the PDBs, I'm 0/3 this week with US operated flights.

Amelia Island is beautiful and certainly one of the nicest parts of Florida; great choice! We were just there in January, but stayed at the Omni Resort since it's freshly renovated and has a more 'beach-y' feel to it. The RC brand is definitely a bit 'heavy' for a beach resort what with all the dark woods; but the accommodations do look nice and the Club spread rather generous. Moreover, it's about the company and shared experience, not just the furnishings.

If you head back in that direction, I would definitely recommend Uber-ing to Amelia Island as it's about half the price of a taxi.

Thanks for sharing!

LPDAL

I remember that way back then! Didn't they serve juice cups on those flights? I knew they served FLL-MCO on ERJ-145s, I thin?

Peacocks are common down here in Fort Lauderdale as well -- unfortunately, I didn't see any on this trip. Nonetheless, they are a beautiful and majestic bird.

The ERJ-145 and ERJ-175 fleet from MQ/YX also sporadically uses random gates in the D Concourse at MIA, such as near the conclusion of the report where the Breast Cancer Awareness aircraft was at Gate D53.

I do think it is funny how the CRJ-700 / ERJ-175 have more first class seats than the mainline 319, but then again, these two events are not related--the amount of first class seats within regional jets has to do with regional pilot scope clauses within their aircrew contract, and not with the mainline fleet.

Thanks for your comments, everyone!

-LPDAL / Colby

Schwann

Nice report but that AA flight looks like a phenomenal waste of money in First for what you get... might as well have flown economy and stopped at Walmart on the way for inflight bar snacks!

AAerSTL

Nice report. Not sure I understand how you booked the RC. Did you mean a AAA discount or through AA.com? RC is great im very loyal to the brand the Club Level experience is the way to go. Some properties are stronger than others I've never been to the Amelia Island location but stayed at others in Florida including Ft Lauderdale, Orlando, Sarasota, and South Beach.