FlyerTalk Forums - PDX-LAS-PDX (long)

12 March 2000 AS600 PDX-LAS
Arrive at Economy Lot, find a spot right next to the bus shelter, wait only about 2 minutes for a shuttle. It makes 3 more stops after me & leaves for the terminal. After 4 years of flying from PDX, this is the first time I’ve ever been on an empty shuttle! Just me & the driver, who I tried to engage in conversation…but got a few snarly grunts, so gave up.

Check-in goes extremely fast, upgrade to seat 1D for the 1:50 flight to LAS. Since I had some time before boarding, I figured I’d go to the UA counter & complete the award ticketing for my in-laws anniversary trip next month. The UA counter was hopping with agents, all but one looked about 17! I stood in the Purchase Tickets line, since that was what I was doing, though with mileage.

After a 1K in the next line was snubbed by the crusty-looking lady at the end counter, he asked why non-elite pax were being taken & not him. She snapped “we’re training a lot of new people tonight, so you’ll have to wait! They are not trained to do upgrades & really involved stuff.” When he finally got to her space, she promptly told him he was in the wrong line anyway, since he’s a 1K and was standing in the Premier line. He muttered something that I couldn’t hear, but it was obvious she wasn’t amused by it.

I finally got called by a cute young Asian lady/girl, got to her counter & found out she is only ‘bag trained’, and can’t do my Award tickets. She said “you need to go stand in the Purchase Tickets line.” I said…”that’s where I was when you called me.” She said sorry, please go back in line. So back to the PT line I go, this time I get waved down by another ‘new trainee’, I assume. Before I leave my spot I say, “I’m doing award ticketing, not checking in”. “Sorry, I can’t do that yet, I’m not trained for it”. At this point I felt like it was a Candid Camera episode.

Finally the crusty, seasoned veteran calls me over after finishing with the 1K. She says, “these young kids are clueless today, most of them won’t make it in this job.” I said that’s a shame, could you please do my tickets for me. She grumbled about a few other things, but eventually got the award tickets done in quick order. She did say that she is taking 50K out of my account and I said “hold on, the miles have been out of my account since 2/29 when I made the reservation, please do not take them out again.” She punched her keyboard & said, “Oh yeah, I see it now.” I still need to check to make sure I don’t get popped again for 50K.

Went to the CRC to kill time until the flight, wishing I had another Board Room pass so I didn’t have to walk so far back from the DL concourse to the AS gate. Stayed in the CRC for about 40 min., had a beer & some trail mix, then down to Gate C10 to board. The C concourse at PDX is under a major facelift/renovation, so it takes a bit longer to get to the gates.

Boarding started promptly at 8pm for the 8:20 flight. PDX-based crew, 3 very nice (and attractive) FA’s…Lisa, the FC FA , Tina & Pam. Before I could stow my briefcase & laptop, Lisa took my jacket & my pre-flight drink order. There was bottled water at every FC seat. This is the very same 737-700 that I flew to SNA back in late January (checked the cert above the boarding door). The leather seats still had that ‘new car’ smell. More about that later…

Pushed back exactly at 8:20, and once we got moving, never slowed down from that point. From the taxiway, a gentle right-turn onto the runway & full throttle to lift off at 8:25pm. We took off to the East, up to about 8K and a gentle turn to the South, up to about 12K and finished the turn to the South. By 8:32, the seat belt sign went off & Paul and Phil (the pilot & FO) announced we'd have a very smooth flight & probably would get in a few minutes early. They actually came on and announced themselves as Paul & Phil, and introduced all the pax to the FA’s. It really is a down-to-earth way to welcome you on the flight. Now I know why Punki loves AS so much! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

After the seatlbelt sign went off, Lisa came with a fruit/cheese/cracker plate, packaged almonds and cashews, and another drink. There were 2 kinds of cheese, a really tasty Pepperjack and a white cheese that was very bland (have no idea what kind), 3 packs of crackers, and a nice bunch of red grapes. She was very attentive & courteous, but honestly if she wasn’t so pretty I’m not sure I’d have noticed so much.

After she finished the service up front she went in back to help them serve & pick-up. BTW, there were 2 empty seats in FC (1F-next to me & 3C), but pretty full load in back. In spite of the load, they got everybody boarded & seated, stowed & buckled in less than 20 minutes for on-time departure.
There was a pilot from HP (I think) seated in coach, even with 2 empty seats up front.

I got up to stretch and stood in the jump seat area so I could talk to Lisa http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif. I told her I was on this plane the first week it was in service from PDX-SNA, and she gave me a short lesson in the way AS does their scheduling (at least for this plane). This was the 4th of 5 legs for this 737 on Sunday…started out PDX-SNA, then SNA-OAK, OAK-PDX, PDX-LAS (this leg) and LAS-SNA. It will do SNA-PDX on Monday morning, then start a circuit again, though slightly different.

Lisa also showed me the FA manifest they fill out to track their flights. She was on the middle 3 of the 5 legs and was staying in LAS, then catching another flight to ?? on Monday. No, I didn’t even ask where she was staying. She asked if I wanted anything else before we arrived & got 2 bottles of Bailey’s from her. Enjoying one with my coffee as I type this…

This was one of the smoothest flights I’ve been on for a long time. It was a crystal clear day in PDX and the night was no different. Capt. Paul told us there was a 25K ceiling tonight, and I don’t doubt it as we never lost sight of the ground lights (even at 31K cruise alt.). Arrived in LAS at 10:10, about 11 minutes early. Taxied to Gate A24, which is about as far away from Baggage Claim as you can get, and no train to the main terminal since this is the original terminal at LAS. Lisa & Phil wished us luck as we deplaned, and hoped to see us back with ‘bulging pockets’. Don’t we hope.

Bags were slow coming out (2 AS & 2 DL flights on the same carousel), with a large mass of humanity waiting. I finally backed off & waited probably 20 minutes before my bag came out. On to the Budget counter where they were telling people to go to the bus since they were understaffed at the airport. Once 5-6 people left, I was the only one in line!!! Used my special double upgrade coupon and got a brand new silver TownCar with 89 miles on it, all for the weekly mid-size rate of $152.91. The car was just put in service on Thursday and only had one renter before me. It smelled even better than the seats on the plane…& drives beautifully.

Quick trip to the Flamingo, no lines at check-in, quickly & efficiently taken care of by Dennis at the Gold VIP counter. This trip was dropped on me by my boss only 3 weeks ago, and the challenge was to find a room & flight at a decent price. The best airfare I could find was on DL at $202 RT (not bad), but rooms in LAS were very scarce due to a number of conventions/trade shows in town. I wanted to stay at Bally’s or Paris (both sold out), since the show I’m attending is in Bally’s Exhibit Hall. Next choice was the Flamingo, just across the street. When I made some calls, the only rooms I could find here (Flamingo) were $249!!! I found a room at the Residence Inn for $159, but didn’t want to drive to Bally’s every morning. The DI was sold out also…

Finally I called my TA & told her I had a challenge for her. Find me airfare & hotel for this week at a price that was liveable, and I really wanted to stay at one of the 3 hotels I mentioned. Well, she did more than I ever expected!! I ended up with a package that included air + 5 nights at the Flamingo for $647 total. And Dennis checked me into a mini-suite on the 12th floor. He gave me the option of the 27th/28th floor, which he called Executive Rooms, but told me the mini on the 12th was much nicer. Boy, was he ever right!

This room is really nice, with lots of windows looking out at Bellagio, Bally’s & Paris, with a view of the top of the Eiffel Tower. Huge room with a king bed, 4 panel room divider,sofa, 2 overstuffed chairs, table, desk, armoire, dresser, entertainment center, etc. The only negatives are… the bathroom is tiny and the closet is pretty small too. I’m surprised that a mini-suite so big does not really have accommodations for 2 people without being crowded. I’m not complaining since I’m here alone, but if my wife was with me it would be crowded (at least bathroom & closet space).

I’ll be here through Thursday, head back to PDX on Fri. morning. Have a few dinners planned with clients, so if there are any ‘special dining moments’, I’ll report them along the way. Did have a very good night in the casino last night, but won’t gloat about it since I’ll be here for 4 more days…

Sorry this was so long, but I love the details… http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

The rest of the trip…

Tuesday night (3/14) we took some clients to dinner at the Samba Grille, in the Mirage. This is billed as a Brazilian Steakhouse, a la Yolie's, but is very different. Not bad, just a different selection of food that the chef has taken some 'culinary license' with.

Our reservation was for 8 pm and we arrived at 7:55. The hostess said our table would be ready in a few minutes, to please wait at the bar. I ordered a Xingu, the dark, toasty flavored Brazilian beer in a 22 oz bottle; some of the others ordered Margaritas that were served in HUGE glasses (probably equal to 2½-3 standard drinks).

We were involved in conversation when someone noticed that folks who came in after we did had already been seated. It was now 8:20pm, and I asked the hostess 'wassup'? She said they were a bit short of help tonight and they would try to seat us in the next 10 minutes. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif When I asked if they were going to just let us sit & wait, she said she would call us as soon as possible, but no apology!

Finally at 8:35 one of my co-workers (Beth) decided she was hungry enough to get her pound of flesh from the hostess. She told the hostess that we needed to be seated within the next 5 minutes or we would walk, and furthermore would tell all of the folks at our convention to NEVER go to the Samba Grille! Gotta give her credit, people really started to scurry to get our table ready!
Ten years ago I probably would have done something similar, but have mellowed a bit lately. Plus, I was enjoying our conversations and didn't realize how long we had been sitting there.

We were promptly taken to a huge high-back round banquette with a large table. Quite comfortable, and the height & shape of it helped filter out some of the casino noise. That's the other part I forgot to mention…the restaurant is in the open, right in the middle of the casino. We were immediately approached by our waitress Katie, who was very pleasant. She asked if we had ever experienced Churrasceria dining before, and my associate Beth told her we had been to Yolie's back in Sept. when we were here. Katie told us she had worked at Yolie's a few years ago, but the meal here was a bit different. She said she would like to hear our comparison of the 2 after we're done.

Basically, they offer much more food than Yolie's, but at a higher price. The meal at Samba Grille was $28.95 for the traditional Churrasceria, at Yolie's it's $22.95.

The salad was great! Hearts of palm, radicchio, chickpeas, sliced olives, pine nuts, etc. with a wonderful house dressing that was similar to a mildly sweet, creamy Italian dressing. It was accompanied by a basket of warm, crusty bread and butter that was terrific. We passed on appetizers for obvious reasons.

There is a small apparatus on the table that holds the salt & pepper shakers (shaped like little balloons on a stick) and a wooden thingy shaped like a dumbbell with flat ends. The thingy is painted red on one end & green on the other. After you finish the salad, and once you start the meal service, the wait staff turns the green side of the thingy up. As long as it's that way, they will continue to bring the parade of different meats until you turn it with the red side up. You can also do that if you want to take 'time-out', then turn it over again to get more food. We had to take a couple time-outs during the meal. The selections were:

> Turkey breast chunks wrapped in bacon (excellent)
> Pork loin with pineapple (very good)
> Sirloin steak chunks (good)
> Teriyaki chicken (so-so)
> Dry ribs (the best of the meats)
> Marinated flank steak (excellent)
> Spicy sausage with a hint of cilantro (good-but I don't care for cilantro)
> Skewered onions, tomatoes, and peppers (good)

All of this was served with 3 veggies dishes…creamed spinach, carrots (sliced lengthwise) which we thought were steamed, but a bit oily, and candied fried plantain (which was great). We all sampled at least all of the meats, but had our own favorites. The dry ribs were just that, not slathered in sauce, but when you picked it up to eat it the meat was bursting with flavor. The flank steak & turkey w/bacon were my other best favorites. We finished all of the veggies, and Katie offered us more as well…we passed.

Finally after using 2 time-outs, we signaled "no mas" and ordered coffee. Katie did her best to tempt us with the dessert menu, but there was no way. Then she asked us how we felt Samba compared to Yolie's. My response was that it was certainly Brazilian Churrasceria, but the chef added a number of Caribbean twists to the meal. She smiled and told us that he was, in fact, Brazilian, but also had worked as a Head Chef in the Dominican Republic, therefore the other additions to the traditional meal.
Personally, I think I like Yolie's better, but only because they serve less of the side dishes. I'm sure there's method to their madness at Samba…the more you fill up with bread, salad and veggies, the less meats you'll eat. That probably makes the $28.95 price a lot more profitable for them.

Dinner for the 4 of us with drinks & coffee was $163, before tip. Certainly not very expensive by most standards for the quantity of food and size of the drinks served. Katie was very attentive to our needs and the guys with the skewers & swords were great too.

On Wednesday night (3/15), four of us went to Hugo's Cellar (which I had been to once before about 5 years ago). This is another one of those best kept secrets of Las Vegas. Located in the 4 Queens Hotel/Casino, right in the middle of downtown (and the Fremont St. Experience), this is a wonderful place to dine. After walking through the small, very noisy casino, we descend down a red carpeted curved staircase into this great place! What still amazes me is once we got to the bottom of the stairs (about 8 steps down), you'd never know there was a casino 15 feet away. How do they do that?

The place has dark carpeting, brick walls, great art and is classy as hell, in a very plain hotel/casino. The waiters (all men) are seasoned veterans, the kind you find at Smith & Wollensky in NY. They also cook a lot of tableside meals, so they have a flair about them as well. Promptly approached by our waiter Mike, who may have been the youngest of the lot, he was probably 35-40. Very courteous, though the place was full tonight and the waiters were hopping busy. Drinks served quickly, he told us about the specials and took our dinner orders. Beth & I had lots of meat the past 2 nights, so we both decided on seafood. She ordered the Grilled Sea Scallops and I ordered Monkfish in Basil Cream Sauce with slivered carrots. We had planned to split them anyway. The others in our party ordered Petite Filet and Veal Chops.

The Sommelier visited us as soon as the order was taken, but we had all decided to pass on wine and drink our hard liquor instead. Then the salad cart was brought to the table by Frank, and we all had our choice of Caesar Salad or Tossed, with many options. Caesars are made fresh at the table as well as the other salads. Fresh cubes of aged Bleu Cheese are one of the options, along with too many others to mention (eggs, beets, etc). I think there were 5-6 dressing options for those not having Caesar's. Needless to say, the salads were excellent. A huge basket of flat breads, crusty sourdough rolls and a thinly sliced, very airy French bread, along with herb butter.

Beth & I ordered Escargot in Puff Pastry as our appetizer, while our guests ordered a Shrimp Cocktail and another I cannot remember. The escargot were large, hot, tasty and not too garlicky, served in a standard ramekin of 6. The puff pastry was light & not oily at all, but there was enough butter/garlic left afterwards to dunk some of the bread into. Yum!

Our meals were all excellent, though mine was VERY rich with the cream sauce. Large chunks of monkfish, quite tasty along with steamed broccoli, cauliflower and red potatoes. The sea scallops were grilled perfectly and very good. I tried to get Beth to eat more of my fish (so I could get a few more scallops), but she realized how rich the sauce was too!!
One of our guests ordered the Filet medium rare, and once she cut into it, realized it came out medium well. Just as we were trying to signal to Mike, he came to the table & apologized profusely that the filets got switched in the kitchen and he had brought the wrong one. Fortunately, the other steak had not been delivered yet, so there was no hold up. Our other guest said the Veal Chop was excellent.

They have desserts that are positively sinful, but again, we were just too full. Then Frank did a great selling job on the Tiramisu, so we ordered one with 4 spoons. It was great, but one taste was all I could handle. Surprisingly the plate was empty when we left… http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif People at the next table had ordered my all-time favorite dessert, Bananas Foster, so we enjoyed watching the preparation and presentation.

Dinner for 4 with drinks, coffee and 1 dessert was $183, before tip. Again, not terribly expensive for the quality of both the service and the food. This is another excellent choice in Las Vegas! Then we walked around Fremont Street for awhile, but it was very crowded, especially with parents and young kids. Must be Spring Break somewhere already…

On Thursday afternoon Beth took her flight back to NJ, so I had the evening to myself. Since we had a late lunch before I took her to the airport, I decided I would have Caribbean Stud Poker for dinner! Played a little bit at the Flamingo, then walked over to Bally's to check out the casino. It was wall-to-wall people with a large group that had arrived that day. Tough to even walk through the small casino, so I took the connecting sidewalk into the Paris casino. Also very busy, I saw that the table stakes had been raised (even the crap tables had a $10 minimum line bet). http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif I was just about to head back to the Flamingo when I saw the Caribbean Stud table, with a very pretty blonde dealer attached to it. There was a spot at 1st base, so I took it. This started one of the most amazing quick streaks I've ever had.

If you're not familiar with the game, I apologize. If you are, you'll really appreciate this one. The dealer, lovely Aleta from Michigan, dealt my first 3 hands with 3-of-a-kind, which pays triple. The 4th hand I was dealt 2 pair (pays double), and the fifth hand I was dealt a straight (pays 4-1). The most amazing part of all this was that she qualified all 5 of the hands!!!!! After those 5 hands, which took all of about 15 minutes, I was up over $350! She said that she had never dealt anyone 3 straight 'trips' hands, much less qualified on all of them. I stayed at the table for an hour or so until Aleta came back from her break, bid her adieu and cashed out. By the time I was done, I had $280 more than I walked in with. Nice dinner choice!

Walked back to the Flamingo hoping to play craps for a while before going up to pack, but the tables were mobbed with people now (about 10pm). At Caribbean Stud I watched a guy get dealt a Straight Flush, worth 10% of the bonus pool ($3,100). I sat down to play a little bit of Blackjack. The dealer's name was Lance, and he told everyone at the table he was working on a website so he could get out of the rat race of dealing. He promptly took $50 of my money before I could settle in the chair comfortably, so I wished him well and went up to pack. Of my last 5 trips to LV, this is the only one where I left with more money than I came with. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cool.gif

Friday (3/17), check-out at Flamingo goes quickly, video check-out wasn't working so had to go to the desk. Hammertoad was right, when I asked about the charges for local calls ($1 each), they said they are not free to VIP Gold members. Arrived at LAS at 9:05am for AS621, a 10:20am flight. Got my upgrade yesterday to seat 3D on the MD-80. Arrived at Gate A24 to find out the inbound from SEA was running a bit late. We finally boarded at 10:20, and got off the ground at 11:00. FC was full (12) and it looked like about 80% in back. Bottles of water at the FC seats, but no pre-flight drink. Keith, the FC FA, was very efficient and courteous, thought not too interested in chatting. We were served a fruit snack plate with a bran muffin quickly after reaching cruise, and I promptly fell asleep before the tray was taken away. Woke up as the pilot was just announcing the start of our approach. After 5 beautiful days of 75-80 degree weather in LAS, we were arriving in PDX to low 50's & rain/drizzle. Arrived about ½ hour late (1:00pm), took the long walk from Gate A24 to baggage and waited 10 minutes for my bag. Quick trip to the Economy Lot and home.

All in all, this way a very good trip. Business was very good and the socializing, cocktail parties and dinners were great!!

[This message has been edited by shadow (edited 03-18-2000).]