SEA-EWR-DCA-EWR-SEA (longish)
Oct 2, 1999, 2:06 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 1999
Location: SFO
Programs: No status anymore. Former CO PLT, NW PLT, AS MVP
Posts: 502
SEA-EWR-DCA-EWR-SEA (longish)
Tuesday, September 28, 1999
CO120 SEA-EWR
This is starting to sound like a broken record. I'm about to call CO120 my new home. Anyway, I arrived at SeaTac at about 6:10, parked on level 7, and went into the terminal. The e-ticket machine was down, but the person ahead of me in the first class checkin was just leaving as I got there. I was astonished to watch the agent hand me the boarding pass less than 20 seconds after I got there. That has to be an all-time record.
Went through security, and arrived at the gate about 5 minutes before they started boarding, so I didn't bother to go into the P-Club. As usual for this flight, they boarded through the second door on the 757. I took my seat in 2E, and was pleased to note that they were offering drinks immediately. Shortly thereafter, they took breakfast orders. Given the experience I had with the hash brown cake with the eggs I got last time, I opted for the french toast this time. The cabin itself was the same as when I left it last. Reasonably clean, but the old FC seats are really beginning to show their age.
To my shock, they closed the door 10 minutes before scheduled departure time. I'm beginning to think that this clock-pushing is going a bit too far. Granted, I haven't missed a flight because of it, but it still seems to me that the door doesn't need to be closed more than a couple of minutes before departure time. In any event, we pushed back precisely on time, and had an uneventful taxi and takeoff.
Since I chose not to watch Tea with Mussolini on the way to Dublin, I decided it was time to see it. It was a cute film; I'm glad I watched it. The breakfast was served promptly. The fruit plate was the same as last time, but the biscuits were back. (yay!) I had one of those, and a croissant. The french toast was excellent; I hadn't gotten that in about 2 1/2 years, and I forgot just how good it is. They pour a blueberry/maple syrup over the top (much more blueberry than maple). I'll have to remember to get that again.
The guy next to me had a little bit of a surprise...when he pulled out his tray, he literally pulled it out! It came off in his hands. He was able to rig it back together, but that was another sign that the cabins need to be revamped.
The flight itself was uneventful. I slept for part of it. The flight attendants were attentive the entire time, to my pleasant surprise. The wine/cheese/crackers plates were served in the same fashion as last time. It was better when they came out with the cart. I didn't partake in the wine/cheese/cracker plate, but I did get the cookie. They didn't offer any milk, but that's a minor issue.
Punki, this was what I was telling you at Tillicum. This is about as bad as it gets on CO.
The flight had a few moments of moderate chop, but was otherwise smooth.
We landed a few minutes early in EWR, and taxied to the usual Gate 86, meaning that we deplaned from the forward door. They hooked the jetway up very quickly.
What can I say? So little to complain about on this one. It's a 9...I still wish they had the old service from a couple of years ago, and they really should get rid of the old FC cabins, but otherwise you don't get much better domestically than this.
Presidents Club, EWR
It was not as muggy as the last time I was here, but it still was not quite as comfortable as it could have been. I checked to see if I could get on the 3:30 flight to DCA, but there weren't any FC seats left, and there was a waitlist longer than my arm. I figured I'd stick with the sure thing. And I'm glad I did...turns out the 3:30 was running mighty late.
I got an Amaretto and OJ (my aunt calls it a "creamsicle," because it sorta tastes like one), and found an open workstation. Synchronized email, while munching on a soft roll with some cheese. All in all, a pleasant experience.
Then I headed off to my gate.
CO321 EWR-DCA
This flight was a 737-300 with the new overhead bins. I like those because my flight bag fits in the depth direction. It's nice to be able to do that...the A320s are the only others that let me do that. The rest of the cabin is the old-style stuff. That means the old FC seats, too.
I took my seat in 2E, and watched the action, as usual. I was very pleased to note that the flight attendant took drink orders despite all of the people filing past. They actually had time for refills before we left the gate!
The door closed one minute early, and they pulled the jetway back. Suddenly, the jetway reconnected and they reopened the door. A flight attendant rushed on board muttering something about the gate agent giving her a hard time about boarding. As far as I could tell, she was supposed to be on duty for the flight. Anyway, we pushed back only about one minute late, which is surprising given that they reopened the door.
I was concerned to note that the flight attendants didn't properly lock the bins before the flight.
Taxiing at EWR. What can I say? 30 minutes to takeoff roll. There was no service during the flight, at the behest of the captain (driver, Punki?). The flight was smooth...I wonder just what "bad weather" the captain was concerned about.
We landed a few minutes early, and were shuttled back and forth on the ramp while waiting for our gate to be freed. No trouble pulling up to the gate, and deplaning was orderly.
This flight was a 7. On time, good gate service, but no inflight service.
Embassy Suites Alexandria Old Town
Went straight to the Metro, and took the Yellow line down two stops to King Street. Walked across the street to the Embassy Suites, and checkin was quick and easy. It doesn't get much simpler than that.
If you've stayed at an Embassy Suites, you already know what the rooms look like. Nothing special to report there. Breakfast was better than others I've had...I got an omelet and hash browns. Both were fresh and tasty. The phone lines are dirtier than many I've had...I couldn't get anything above 24kbps.
The free evening drinks are always a nice touch at the Embassys (Embassies?).
The morning I checked out, the hot water was lukewarm. Not at all what I was expecting.
There was no video checkout, and when I arrived at the front counter in the morning, nobody was there. I had to shout for service. Granted, it was 5:25 AM, but still...a bell or something would have been nice.
I took the first Metro Yellow of the day to DCA.
The hotel was a 7. Not quite "twice the hotel," but certainly well above average.
Friday, October 1, 1999
CO1601 DCA-CLE
I got to the airport earlier than I had anticipated, and spent about 45 minutes in the P-Club. Very nice, though there were no work cubicles. The overall design is nouveau art-deco. Had a bagel and some water, while I read the USAT. Too bad the Post didn't show up by the time I left.
I got back to the gate, and the door was closed. I was rather startled, since it was 15 minutes to departure, but I stood around along with another couple who had been in the P-club with me. Finally, about five minutes later, the gate agent made the "final call." The couple and I looked at each other in wonder. Turns out everyone had already boarded, but the gate agent had to go to the plane right before we got there...so they had to close the door in the meantime. Fortunately, we had enough time to take our seats (mine was 2E) and stow our luggage. From what I could tell, they did have gate beverage service, though they never offered anything to me, given how late I boarded.
This flight used a 737-700, and I doubt it's been flown much yet. Naturally, the seats were the new FC ones. It had been so long since I sat in one of them that I forgot just how much more I like them than the old ones. The seat pitch on this one was just about an inch too tight for my taste. First class was full, and there was a smattering of people in coach. I think there were few enough for everyone to get their own row.
The couple was unable to get seats together, and asked me to switch. However, they wanted me to take the bulkhead (1B), and since it was the very end of boarding, the overheads didn't have the space for my laptop. I declined for that reason, but noted that the other bulkhead had not yet been taken. I did offer to take 2F if they wanted, so they could be closer. And it is likely that they would have taken 1A/B if not for an unfortunate mishap...the husband spilled iced tea in his (my?) seat, so he felt uncomfortable asking the gentleman assigned to 1A to switch. Fortunately, the flight was a short 45 minutes.
They closed the door five minutes early, but there was still luggage being loaded. In particular, there were several extremely heavy bags (so heavy that if they put more than one on the conveyor at a time, the conveyor simply stopped!) that were going in last. Near as I could tell, they were typical Japanese tour bags, meaning the heavy polyethylene megabags. I see those most often when I go to LAS.
We pushed back one minute late, and taxied rapidly to the runway. The takeoff and flight was very smooth.
I declined the fruit plate, since I had the bagel and I knew I was going to get something more substantial on the CLE-SEA flight.
We arrived 20 minutes early in CLE. They didn't have the rampers out to marshall the plane in, so we waited a couple of minutes before we could pull up to the gate. Once we did, the jetway was quickly connected, and we deplaned quickly.
This flight was a 9. It's hard to do too much when you're in the air for only 45 minutes.
Presidents Club, CLE
I looked at the monitors to confirm my gate, and CO503 wasn't even on the list. So I headed to the nearby P-Club and asked them to confirm that it was still departing out of C-1, which they politely did.
I didn't expect to have enough time to drop in to this club, but by virtue of being 20 minutes early, I had some time to kill. This P-Club looks similar to the ones in Houston. At 8AM, it wasn't that busy, though hardly empty. I took one of the cubicles and synchronized what little email showed up overnight.
CLE Concourse C itself (funny how CO has either Terminal or Concourse C at all three hubs) is very nice since the renovation. 'Course, I have no idea what it looked like before the renovation. This was my first time to CLE. But everything looked new and clean. Well, until I got to Gate C-1 anyway.
CO503 CLE-SEA
Gate C-1 looks like it must be pre-renovation. It's not ugly, but it was clearly quite worn.
The flight started boarding a couple of minutes after I got there. Oddly, the monitors showed the flight as scheduled to depart at 9:05, with an actual of 9:15. I say "oddly" because my boarding pass showed 9:15.
Boarding was quick and orderly. For those of you keeping score, there was one non-rev in FC (a captain), but there were also three empty seats up front. The aircraft itself was a 737-500, with the new overhead bins and the new FC seats. I took my seat in 2E (bulkhead, so this would have been the closest to the Catbird Seat). The passengers and luggage were ready about 9:10...but the fuel wasn't. They had some real bozos trying to fuel the plane. The first guys didn't have enough fuel on the truck, so they sent a second truck...along with people who couldn't figure out how to get it to work. I kid you not. But the third time was the charm. By the time they finished, we were 20 minutes later than the "adjusted" time of 9:15. Pushback followed immediately, and we quickly taxied to the runway.
Breakfast consisted of a fruit plate with crossants and excellent cinnamon rolls (first time I've had these on CO), plus a main course of scrambled eggs with chives on a slice of ham, a cheese blintz with cherry sauce, and a little smokie. A little more on the chives than I normally care for, but otherwise everything was quite good. Naturally, since this wasn't a transcon flight, the service wasn't quite as elaborate as the SEA-EWR route, but I was pleasantly surprised by the food this time. It's funny how expectations drive so much of the overall customer satisfaction experience. I'm certain that's why WN has such high satisfaction ratings overall, and why MileageAddict loves NW so much. Low expectations consistently met. I guess with customer satisfaction, it's better to aim low and hit, than to aim high and miss.
Cookies were served about 90 minutes before scheduled arrival. As with the SEA-EWR flight, milk wasn't offered. Of course, it would have been available upon request...it's just nice when they ask. We didn't get very attentive service through most of the flight, but I suspect it's because we were all sleeping at one point or another.
The flight itself was very smooth. I even got in a couple of Catman-trademarked Double Snoring Points before and after breakfast.
The flight arrived about an hour late, owing in part to the late departure, and in part the backups due to fog in Seattle at the beginning of the day. Taxiing and deplaning was quick and orderly.
Overall, this flight was an 8. I downrated it only because of the delays, which may be a bit unfair since they weren't CO's fault.
One thing I noticed as I deplaned is that the QQ gates aren't QQ gates anymore. I guess they're sharing with AA now over in Concourse C. WN got the QQ gates, and it looks like Horizon is sharing one of the CO gates now. Also saw two Aeroflot planes (a pair of Antonovs). Looks like they're expanding service as well.
------------------
Michael
OnePass Platinum
CO120 SEA-EWR
This is starting to sound like a broken record. I'm about to call CO120 my new home. Anyway, I arrived at SeaTac at about 6:10, parked on level 7, and went into the terminal. The e-ticket machine was down, but the person ahead of me in the first class checkin was just leaving as I got there. I was astonished to watch the agent hand me the boarding pass less than 20 seconds after I got there. That has to be an all-time record.
Went through security, and arrived at the gate about 5 minutes before they started boarding, so I didn't bother to go into the P-Club. As usual for this flight, they boarded through the second door on the 757. I took my seat in 2E, and was pleased to note that they were offering drinks immediately. Shortly thereafter, they took breakfast orders. Given the experience I had with the hash brown cake with the eggs I got last time, I opted for the french toast this time. The cabin itself was the same as when I left it last. Reasonably clean, but the old FC seats are really beginning to show their age.
To my shock, they closed the door 10 minutes before scheduled departure time. I'm beginning to think that this clock-pushing is going a bit too far. Granted, I haven't missed a flight because of it, but it still seems to me that the door doesn't need to be closed more than a couple of minutes before departure time. In any event, we pushed back precisely on time, and had an uneventful taxi and takeoff.
Since I chose not to watch Tea with Mussolini on the way to Dublin, I decided it was time to see it. It was a cute film; I'm glad I watched it. The breakfast was served promptly. The fruit plate was the same as last time, but the biscuits were back. (yay!) I had one of those, and a croissant. The french toast was excellent; I hadn't gotten that in about 2 1/2 years, and I forgot just how good it is. They pour a blueberry/maple syrup over the top (much more blueberry than maple). I'll have to remember to get that again.
The guy next to me had a little bit of a surprise...when he pulled out his tray, he literally pulled it out! It came off in his hands. He was able to rig it back together, but that was another sign that the cabins need to be revamped.
The flight itself was uneventful. I slept for part of it. The flight attendants were attentive the entire time, to my pleasant surprise. The wine/cheese/crackers plates were served in the same fashion as last time. It was better when they came out with the cart. I didn't partake in the wine/cheese/cracker plate, but I did get the cookie. They didn't offer any milk, but that's a minor issue.
Punki, this was what I was telling you at Tillicum. This is about as bad as it gets on CO.
The flight had a few moments of moderate chop, but was otherwise smooth.
We landed a few minutes early in EWR, and taxied to the usual Gate 86, meaning that we deplaned from the forward door. They hooked the jetway up very quickly.
What can I say? So little to complain about on this one. It's a 9...I still wish they had the old service from a couple of years ago, and they really should get rid of the old FC cabins, but otherwise you don't get much better domestically than this.
Presidents Club, EWR
It was not as muggy as the last time I was here, but it still was not quite as comfortable as it could have been. I checked to see if I could get on the 3:30 flight to DCA, but there weren't any FC seats left, and there was a waitlist longer than my arm. I figured I'd stick with the sure thing. And I'm glad I did...turns out the 3:30 was running mighty late.
I got an Amaretto and OJ (my aunt calls it a "creamsicle," because it sorta tastes like one), and found an open workstation. Synchronized email, while munching on a soft roll with some cheese. All in all, a pleasant experience.
Then I headed off to my gate.
CO321 EWR-DCA
This flight was a 737-300 with the new overhead bins. I like those because my flight bag fits in the depth direction. It's nice to be able to do that...the A320s are the only others that let me do that. The rest of the cabin is the old-style stuff. That means the old FC seats, too.
I took my seat in 2E, and watched the action, as usual. I was very pleased to note that the flight attendant took drink orders despite all of the people filing past. They actually had time for refills before we left the gate!
The door closed one minute early, and they pulled the jetway back. Suddenly, the jetway reconnected and they reopened the door. A flight attendant rushed on board muttering something about the gate agent giving her a hard time about boarding. As far as I could tell, she was supposed to be on duty for the flight. Anyway, we pushed back only about one minute late, which is surprising given that they reopened the door.
I was concerned to note that the flight attendants didn't properly lock the bins before the flight.
Taxiing at EWR. What can I say? 30 minutes to takeoff roll. There was no service during the flight, at the behest of the captain (driver, Punki?
). The flight was smooth...I wonder just what "bad weather" the captain was concerned about.We landed a few minutes early, and were shuttled back and forth on the ramp while waiting for our gate to be freed. No trouble pulling up to the gate, and deplaning was orderly.
This flight was a 7. On time, good gate service, but no inflight service.
Embassy Suites Alexandria Old Town
Went straight to the Metro, and took the Yellow line down two stops to King Street. Walked across the street to the Embassy Suites, and checkin was quick and easy. It doesn't get much simpler than that.
If you've stayed at an Embassy Suites, you already know what the rooms look like. Nothing special to report there. Breakfast was better than others I've had...I got an omelet and hash browns. Both were fresh and tasty. The phone lines are dirtier than many I've had...I couldn't get anything above 24kbps.
The free evening drinks are always a nice touch at the Embassys (Embassies?).
The morning I checked out, the hot water was lukewarm. Not at all what I was expecting.
There was no video checkout, and when I arrived at the front counter in the morning, nobody was there. I had to shout for service. Granted, it was 5:25 AM, but still...a bell or something would have been nice.
I took the first Metro Yellow of the day to DCA.
The hotel was a 7. Not quite "twice the hotel," but certainly well above average.
Friday, October 1, 1999
CO1601 DCA-CLE
I got to the airport earlier than I had anticipated, and spent about 45 minutes in the P-Club. Very nice, though there were no work cubicles. The overall design is nouveau art-deco. Had a bagel and some water, while I read the USAT. Too bad the Post didn't show up by the time I left.
I got back to the gate, and the door was closed. I was rather startled, since it was 15 minutes to departure, but I stood around along with another couple who had been in the P-club with me. Finally, about five minutes later, the gate agent made the "final call." The couple and I looked at each other in wonder. Turns out everyone had already boarded, but the gate agent had to go to the plane right before we got there...so they had to close the door in the meantime. Fortunately, we had enough time to take our seats (mine was 2E) and stow our luggage. From what I could tell, they did have gate beverage service, though they never offered anything to me, given how late I boarded.
This flight used a 737-700, and I doubt it's been flown much yet. Naturally, the seats were the new FC ones. It had been so long since I sat in one of them that I forgot just how much more I like them than the old ones. The seat pitch on this one was just about an inch too tight for my taste. First class was full, and there was a smattering of people in coach. I think there were few enough for everyone to get their own row.
The couple was unable to get seats together, and asked me to switch. However, they wanted me to take the bulkhead (1B), and since it was the very end of boarding, the overheads didn't have the space for my laptop. I declined for that reason, but noted that the other bulkhead had not yet been taken. I did offer to take 2F if they wanted, so they could be closer. And it is likely that they would have taken 1A/B if not for an unfortunate mishap...the husband spilled iced tea in his (my?) seat, so he felt uncomfortable asking the gentleman assigned to 1A to switch. Fortunately, the flight was a short 45 minutes.
They closed the door five minutes early, but there was still luggage being loaded. In particular, there were several extremely heavy bags (so heavy that if they put more than one on the conveyor at a time, the conveyor simply stopped!) that were going in last. Near as I could tell, they were typical Japanese tour bags, meaning the heavy polyethylene megabags. I see those most often when I go to LAS.
We pushed back one minute late, and taxied rapidly to the runway. The takeoff and flight was very smooth.
I declined the fruit plate, since I had the bagel and I knew I was going to get something more substantial on the CLE-SEA flight.
We arrived 20 minutes early in CLE. They didn't have the rampers out to marshall the plane in, so we waited a couple of minutes before we could pull up to the gate. Once we did, the jetway was quickly connected, and we deplaned quickly.
This flight was a 9. It's hard to do too much when you're in the air for only 45 minutes.
Presidents Club, CLE
I looked at the monitors to confirm my gate, and CO503 wasn't even on the list. So I headed to the nearby P-Club and asked them to confirm that it was still departing out of C-1, which they politely did.
I didn't expect to have enough time to drop in to this club, but by virtue of being 20 minutes early, I had some time to kill. This P-Club looks similar to the ones in Houston. At 8AM, it wasn't that busy, though hardly empty. I took one of the cubicles and synchronized what little email showed up overnight.
CLE Concourse C itself (funny how CO has either Terminal or Concourse C at all three hubs) is very nice since the renovation. 'Course, I have no idea what it looked like before the renovation. This was my first time to CLE. But everything looked new and clean. Well, until I got to Gate C-1 anyway.
CO503 CLE-SEA
Gate C-1 looks like it must be pre-renovation. It's not ugly, but it was clearly quite worn.
The flight started boarding a couple of minutes after I got there. Oddly, the monitors showed the flight as scheduled to depart at 9:05, with an actual of 9:15. I say "oddly" because my boarding pass showed 9:15.
Boarding was quick and orderly. For those of you keeping score, there was one non-rev in FC (a captain), but there were also three empty seats up front. The aircraft itself was a 737-500, with the new overhead bins and the new FC seats. I took my seat in 2E (bulkhead, so this would have been the closest to the Catbird Seat). The passengers and luggage were ready about 9:10...but the fuel wasn't. They had some real bozos trying to fuel the plane. The first guys didn't have enough fuel on the truck, so they sent a second truck...along with people who couldn't figure out how to get it to work. I kid you not. But the third time was the charm. By the time they finished, we were 20 minutes later than the "adjusted" time of 9:15. Pushback followed immediately, and we quickly taxied to the runway.
Breakfast consisted of a fruit plate with crossants and excellent cinnamon rolls (first time I've had these on CO), plus a main course of scrambled eggs with chives on a slice of ham, a cheese blintz with cherry sauce, and a little smokie. A little more on the chives than I normally care for, but otherwise everything was quite good. Naturally, since this wasn't a transcon flight, the service wasn't quite as elaborate as the SEA-EWR route, but I was pleasantly surprised by the food this time. It's funny how expectations drive so much of the overall customer satisfaction experience. I'm certain that's why WN has such high satisfaction ratings overall, and why MileageAddict loves NW so much. Low expectations consistently met. I guess with customer satisfaction, it's better to aim low and hit, than to aim high and miss.
Cookies were served about 90 minutes before scheduled arrival. As with the SEA-EWR flight, milk wasn't offered. Of course, it would have been available upon request...it's just nice when they ask. We didn't get very attentive service through most of the flight, but I suspect it's because we were all sleeping at one point or another.
The flight itself was very smooth. I even got in a couple of Catman-trademarked Double Snoring Points before and after breakfast.
The flight arrived about an hour late, owing in part to the late departure, and in part the backups due to fog in Seattle at the beginning of the day. Taxiing and deplaning was quick and orderly.
Overall, this flight was an 8. I downrated it only because of the delays, which may be a bit unfair since they weren't CO's fault.
One thing I noticed as I deplaned is that the QQ gates aren't QQ gates anymore. I guess they're sharing with AA now over in Concourse C. WN got the QQ gates, and it looks like Horizon is sharing one of the CO gates now. Also saw two Aeroflot planes (a pair of Antonovs). Looks like they're expanding service as well.
------------------
Michael
OnePass Platinum
Oct 2, 1999, 6:12 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 1999
Location: SFO
Programs: No status anymore. Former CO PLT, NW PLT, AS MVP
Posts: 502
Thanks, shadow. It's good to be back, albeit for a very short 40 hours.
Look for my next trip report on Wednesday. I'm doing a SEA-MSP-MDW-MSP-SEA run on NW. At least it's confirmed FC on the outbound...and should be on the return when I confirm tomorrow. Still, the NW service is nothing to write home about.
------------------
Michael
OnePass Platinum
Look for my next trip report on Wednesday. I'm doing a SEA-MSP-MDW-MSP-SEA run on NW. At least it's confirmed FC on the outbound...and should be on the return when I confirm tomorrow. Still, the NW service is nothing to write home about.
------------------
Michael
OnePass Platinum