Easter Trip report: Unexpected thrills at LAS
Apr 24, 2000 | 3:53 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: New York
Posts: 7,987
Easter Trip report: Unexpected thrills at LAS
Trip report (an epic)
Here is another trip report for a fun flying Easter weekend. I was in LA for two days and enjoyed a nice relaxing weekend with my mother and my aunts and uncles. I had great food for two days, and here was a trip report. This trip was filled with excitements, unexpected incidents, scary moments, great AS food, and great plane spotting.
April 19, 2000
UA 1295 ABQ-DEN Lv1759 Arr1911
Boeing 737-300 N305UA (old F class) with Y plus and Enlarged bins)
I was originally booked on the 4:43pm flight, and kept on checking the flight before leaving work, which said nothing, but on time. Once arrived at the airport, this flight was cancelled due to mechanical reasons. The check in agent told me that the flight had not even left Chicago yet. They offered passengers seats at Frontier, or seats at the 6pm flight. Most passengers terminating at DEN switched to the F9 flight, and I decided to stay with UAL, since the 6pm flight would still able me to connect to Seattle. Also, I thought F9 used its ancient Boeing 737-200s on those routes. To my surprise, F9 used a Boeing 737-300 for this flight and now I though I would love to be on this flight. Anyway, too late to think about this connection matter and I also had bags to check in too. Anyway, boarding took place on time and our door was closed three minutes before takeoff. I took the bulkhead seats in coach and the Y plus felt great with tons of legroom. I found a headset and listened to Channel 9 for the rest of the trip. We took off at 6:08pm and cruised at 29,000ft. We were served a beverage with a pack of pretzels. The turbulence was not that bad today, and we landed on time at 7:08pm and parked at B21 in five minutes. Not bad!
Then I decided to hop over to I-Wrap place for a bowl of udon noodle soup - I am a big fan of soup, but was disappointed with the quality of the product. It was nothing closed to what I imagine - it is like a chicken noodle soup rather a real udon noodle soup. I should have had the California roll and I would be fine.
UA 1587 DEN-SEA Lv2000 Arr2135
Boeing 757-200 N566 or 566UA (can't see it) - new F class seats with no Em power outlet, but with Overhead bins and new headrest seats on Y class
This flight was pretty full with many high school students returning from a competition - can't remember what competition, but they won the first prize and many people were holding signs when we deplaned at SEA. Boarding had already started when I arrived at the gate. I then took my seat at 2D and the F/As began serving us pre-takeoff beverage. I tuned into Channel 9 and ATC communication was available. Door was closed seven minutes late due to a long boarding process and connecting passengers. We took off at 8:22pm and climbed to 35,000ft, and then 39,000ft for the rest of the flight. Flying time was two hours and twenty-two minutes.
Shortly after takeoff, we were served a beverage of our choice, followed by a pack of party mix, which I declined. Then the F/As came around to take orders for snack choices - Chicken salad or salmon baguette. I took the chicken salad, which was present in an Asian style. Juicy slices of marinated chicken was placed on top of a salad mix of vermicelli, shredded carrots, asparagus (tons of them), ****take mushrooms, and lettuce. The sauce was a bit on the dry side, but the salad tasted great. It was served with a warmed sourdough roll (I did not like it) and a warmed oatmeal raisin cookie. My neighbor had the sandwich, which was a smoked salmon and brie cheese on a baguette (two halves), and there was a side of tomatoes and lettuce salad. It also came with a fruit appetizer and cookie. Unlike the DEN-LAX flights, Y class passengesr get a snack box too. We were showed an episode of "Dharma and Greg" - some of the first episodes when Dharma and Greg decided to get married. It was okay funny. For the rest of the flight, the F/As did not come often with drink refills. They stayed at the galley and chatted the last hour away. Anyway, hot towels were offered after the seat belt sign was turned on. We landed at 9:44pm and were parked at N9. The new terminal at the North Satellite looked great and I was impressed. This flight was an average United's flight - not too bad, but can be better.
I stayed at the Radisson Airport hotel for the night. The shuttle was easy to be found, and the lobby looked nice. However, it was a long walk to get my room, which was on the further end of the furthest building from the lobby. I did not appreciate it much. The room was nice with a high ceiling and much closet space and room, but the TV was the off color Eighties' type. They should at least have a nice modern TV. Anyway, I decided to sleep right away because I had to catch an early flight the next morning.
Adventures begun
April 20, 2000
AS 248 SEA-PHX Lv0734 Arr1016
McDonnell Douglas MD-80 N937AS
I got to the airport for this exciting mileage run. I tried to check in at the kiosk, but my attempt was failed. Then I went to the gate D9 and was given a boarding pass by a friendly gate agent. I loved most AS gate agents because they were some of the nicest people in this industry. Anyway, the plane was already parked and we began boarding early at 7am. The F class F/As were just about to place the orange juice bottles, when they saw us storming in. They said that they were not too ready, but it was fine. Anyway, I took my seat at 2A and immediately drank my bottle of Citrus valley's orange juice. The flight was pretty full with passengers continuing into Puerto Vallarta. Our purser, Nancy, was an excellent F/A and took good care of us folks up front. The cabin had a family of six (four children of early teen). They were quite active throughout the flight, but Nancy kept her smile. We took off at 7:50am. The line this morning at Sea/Tac was long - I guess the morning bank of AS flights. I saw the NWA's Boeing 747s landed from NRT, which was spectacular. Anyway, we took off and had an excellent view of Seattle and the Mt ranges. Mt. Rainer was spectacular and we cruised to an attitude of 33,000ft today. Flying time was two hours and twenty-seven minutes, and there was a breakfast service on both F and Y class.
Shortly after takeoff, Nancy immediately passed us the appetizer tray and asked us for our choice of beverage. Then she served us a hot entre after we were done with our appetizer and she collected the Y class breakfast trays too.
The description of the meal:
A slice of cantaloupe with lime and strawberry
A Fisher's Original Famous Triangular Scone with honey whipped butter and raspberry preserve.
Entre - French toast with strawberry sauce and an omelette filled with chicken dices and mushroom.
For Y class, they had a cold breakfast plate of banana (full size), cereal, milk, yogurt, and a muffin - all served on tray, not the typical baskets.
The breakfast was excellent and the French toast could be sweeter. The scone was the best and the triangular shape looked special. I love it. The scone was wrapped on the original wrapping paper, so I could tell you the brand and what is on it.
Nancy kept refilling our glassed until it was time to descent. The F/As were told to take their seats due to turbulence on descent. They cleared the cabin early and we touched down nicely at 8am, with a great view of the American West Arena. We were parked at Gate 12 and all passengers had to deplane due to FAA regulations on international flights. They had to inspect the aircraft before departure.
I hang out in T2 for the whole time and managed to snap some US's A319s and couple HP's planes. Not too exciting, but bearable.
AS 181 PHX-SEA diverted to LAS Lv1250 Arr1556
Boeing 737-400 N774AS
The plane arrived on time from Seattle and boarding took place at 12:39pm. The flight was pretty full up front and back, and we were all set to go at 1:05pm. Our purser today was Michael. The crews were all very happy today after the captain announced that our flying was only two hours. Seattle was sunny today, which was a rare experience. The F/As chatted with everyone boarding the planes and created a great mood for the flight. We took off at 1:13pm with no obvious problem, except the moderate chops. There was no apparent problem and Michael announced to all passengers our menu today, which was a choice of:
Chili pasta salad with marinated chicken or Turkey and vegetable sandwich with Greek pasta salad
I could not tell you what it tasted like because problems began to develop as Michael began to serve beverages.
All the sudden, I felt that the aircraft was having some problems climbing and the chops were quite severe. The F/As were seated for a while on the takeoff. Then we felt like the plane began to descent and there was nothing down there except mountains. Then the pilots called the F/As and made an announcement, that the pressurization system on this aircraft had some problems apparently, and we needed to divert to Las Vegas. We continued to descent to a low attitude to allow normal oxygen or air flow. He asked the F/As to be seated for the rest of the flight, which they did. They did not even take off their aprons or do any landing checks. The F class cabin was calm, except an old lady kept on asking her husband what was going on. He explained that it was a minor problem, but according to other Y passengers, some people got hysterical and had to be calmed down by neighbors. The turbulence was quite strong, due to the low attitude, and we were traveling in a very slow speed, due to stronger head wind. I was a bit shaken because I never flew on a plane at that low attitude for a while. I felt like we were too low, but I told myself that nothing would happen. However those fifty-three minutes on that plane were not fun. We took a direct approach and apparently the runway was cleared. There was no incoming or outgoing aircraft waiting in line. When we touched down, ambulances and fire trucks were waiting us and following us to the gate. I was grateful to be on the ground again and we were all uncertain about what would happen next. We were parked at Gate A23 and were told to deplane with all our belongings.
About ten passengers immediately walked to the next gate and checked themselves in on the 2pm flight to SEA. However, the gate agent told us to wait and would kept us informed about the estimated departure time. They were not going to change any tickets because they needed to find out what was going on and what SEA base said. Passengers were crowding at the gate area and there were panics and I chose to sit around and to wait. AS would take care of me and there was no reason to yell at the gate agent now. We were told that we could get free lunches at the Taco Bell next to our gate. We got $7 each when we showed our boarding pass. I decided to wait for a bit before purchasing anything and I was a bit too "shaken" to eat anyway. After about twenty minutes, we were told that there was a problem with the control valve on this aircraft. They were trying to get a replacement from America West, and the replace would only take two minutes. However, it would take about an hour to get the paperwork done, to get the part, and to test the system. We were told to get lunch and settled down. We were also told that AS had a couple more flights later today and at later tonight. But they would not change anyone's flight because it was impossible to accommodate everyone. It was Easter and quite a number of people were traveling. We would also take care of connecting passengers first. I stood in line because I needed to return to LA the same night. It took about an hour before they could help me. The line was not obsessively long, but each passenger had her or his own plans. Some people got accommodated on the later flights, and some passengers, I guess, decided to buy a new ticket (company expense) for the 6pm flight. Some passengers got upset when they saw their fellow passengers boarding the 4pm and 6pm flights Anyway, I was given the options to go direct to LA on HP, but I had bags stored at SEA. I needed to get back to SEA first, so I was re-accommodated on the 9pm flight to LA. Then I went to get something to eat from the Taco Bell and play some slot machines. Hey, it was Vegas! Things got worsened after the 4:39pm flight departed because we had waited for two hours. They kept us update, but then they finally cancelled the flight, when the control valve from HP failed to work. Everyone flocked to the line and we were given the choice of overnight at LAS, or flying out to SEA on the 11pm flight. I chose to stay at LAS because I did not want to stay overnight at SEA and the only flight with seats to LA was the 10am one. The gate agent, Annie, kept her smiles during the whole process. AS really handled the situation well and the gate agents worked overtime to help us. They found someone to open a third line. I was rebooked on the 7am flight and were given accommodation at Doubletree Club hotel. Some other passengers complaint, but the LAS staff handled them fairly well, considered LAS was not a major hub at all.
Anyway, I stayed overnight at Doubletree and had a dinner at Applebee, which was bad. Anyway, I tucked in early for another day of travel.
April 21, 2000
AS 633 LAS-SEA Lv0700 Arr0936
McDonnell Douglas MD-80 N935AS
Next morning, I took the morning shuttle to the airport, and I was in no hurry, since I had already gotten the ID the night before. No F class seat was available, but the gate agent managed to find me a F class seat on SEA-LAS the night before. I went to look for our plane, which was towed to the parking area. It looked fine. Anyway, boarding was slow this morning and due to the large amount of passengers on wheelchair. Nevertheless, we managed to close the door at 7:01am and off our way. The line at McCarran this morning was long. It was filled with Southwest, HP, and we were actually lucky enough to be on the front of the line. We managed to take off at 7:31 and climbed to 31,000ft for a two hours flight.
Most passengers chose to sleep after the so-called snack service. For F class, I saw that they got the fruit plate and scone service, but in Y class, we only had a choice of raspberry coffee cake, (which was delicious), or cranberry muffin. There was no yogurt or fruit cup. I immediately filled in the comment form, and told AS that a coffee cake was not a snack. A snack needs to be more substantial, especially most people care more about breakfast. Other airlines were improving their breakfast serving, and AS chose the opposite action. A yogurt would be nice and it should be a breakfast flight in the first place. Anyway, I read for a while and descent began at 9:13am. A beautiful day at Seattle and we got great view of the Space Needle and downtown on the way to the runway. We touched down at 9:33am and parked at D10 at six minutes.
Then my hassle began. I technically ran to Ken's storage place and picked up my bags. Then I went back to the MVP line in the ticketing level and checked my bags. Fortunately, there was no one in line and managed to check my bags twenty minutes before departure. I worried that my bags would not make it but my LAX-bound flight was delayed due to some problems with one of the seat not able to return to its original position after reclining. They did not push back till 10:23am and I was more calmed.
AS 474 SEA-LAX Lv1011 Arr1247
Boeing 737-400 N755AS
Boarding took place and almost completed when I arrived at the gate. The first class F/A today was Keith and orange juice bottles were already distributed. We pushed back a few minutes late, but managed to take off at 10:33am. We climbed to 33,000ft and our flying time was two hours and six minutes. The inflight service was beverage for Y class passengers, and a snack for F class passengers. It should be lunch, but since this is AS flight, you could not expect too much.
For F class, I had the exact the same fruit plate and scone from the day before. I enjoyed it very much, but wish I would get the hot breakfast entre too. Anyway, I drank my coke and the F/As did not refill our glasses much. Anyway, we were given a "I Love to Fly Alaska" pin today. How ironic! It would be interesting, if they passed that out this morning at my Las Vegas flights. Since half the pax came from my flight yesterday, it would be nice to see their facial expression.
I had my first landing at Runway 7 today, which was not usual. We came in from the ocean and along an HP's Ohio Boeing 757. We landed at 12:39pm and parked at Gate 31A in three minutes. I saw the SQ's Tropical Megatop, as we parked at Gate 31A. It ws the 9V-SPL one, along with the usual group of Mexicana's Airbuses, QF's Boeing 744s, and VG's MD-11 with the new paint. It was a nice flight and my bags came out after only a short wait. I was glad to be home
Return flights tomorrow
Interesting neighbor - Qantas's second officer for Boeing 767-300ER in training, on AS.
------------------
Carfield
Menu Scavengers
Inflight food critics
Here is another trip report for a fun flying Easter weekend. I was in LA for two days and enjoyed a nice relaxing weekend with my mother and my aunts and uncles. I had great food for two days, and here was a trip report. This trip was filled with excitements, unexpected incidents, scary moments, great AS food, and great plane spotting.
April 19, 2000
UA 1295 ABQ-DEN Lv1759 Arr1911
Boeing 737-300 N305UA (old F class) with Y plus and Enlarged bins)
I was originally booked on the 4:43pm flight, and kept on checking the flight before leaving work, which said nothing, but on time. Once arrived at the airport, this flight was cancelled due to mechanical reasons. The check in agent told me that the flight had not even left Chicago yet. They offered passengers seats at Frontier, or seats at the 6pm flight. Most passengers terminating at DEN switched to the F9 flight, and I decided to stay with UAL, since the 6pm flight would still able me to connect to Seattle. Also, I thought F9 used its ancient Boeing 737-200s on those routes. To my surprise, F9 used a Boeing 737-300 for this flight and now I though I would love to be on this flight. Anyway, too late to think about this connection matter and I also had bags to check in too. Anyway, boarding took place on time and our door was closed three minutes before takeoff. I took the bulkhead seats in coach and the Y plus felt great with tons of legroom. I found a headset and listened to Channel 9 for the rest of the trip. We took off at 6:08pm and cruised at 29,000ft. We were served a beverage with a pack of pretzels. The turbulence was not that bad today, and we landed on time at 7:08pm and parked at B21 in five minutes. Not bad!
Then I decided to hop over to I-Wrap place for a bowl of udon noodle soup - I am a big fan of soup, but was disappointed with the quality of the product. It was nothing closed to what I imagine - it is like a chicken noodle soup rather a real udon noodle soup. I should have had the California roll and I would be fine.
UA 1587 DEN-SEA Lv2000 Arr2135
Boeing 757-200 N566 or 566UA (can't see it) - new F class seats with no Em power outlet, but with Overhead bins and new headrest seats on Y class
This flight was pretty full with many high school students returning from a competition - can't remember what competition, but they won the first prize and many people were holding signs when we deplaned at SEA. Boarding had already started when I arrived at the gate. I then took my seat at 2D and the F/As began serving us pre-takeoff beverage. I tuned into Channel 9 and ATC communication was available. Door was closed seven minutes late due to a long boarding process and connecting passengers. We took off at 8:22pm and climbed to 35,000ft, and then 39,000ft for the rest of the flight. Flying time was two hours and twenty-two minutes.
Shortly after takeoff, we were served a beverage of our choice, followed by a pack of party mix, which I declined. Then the F/As came around to take orders for snack choices - Chicken salad or salmon baguette. I took the chicken salad, which was present in an Asian style. Juicy slices of marinated chicken was placed on top of a salad mix of vermicelli, shredded carrots, asparagus (tons of them), ****take mushrooms, and lettuce. The sauce was a bit on the dry side, but the salad tasted great. It was served with a warmed sourdough roll (I did not like it) and a warmed oatmeal raisin cookie. My neighbor had the sandwich, which was a smoked salmon and brie cheese on a baguette (two halves), and there was a side of tomatoes and lettuce salad. It also came with a fruit appetizer and cookie. Unlike the DEN-LAX flights, Y class passengesr get a snack box too. We were showed an episode of "Dharma and Greg" - some of the first episodes when Dharma and Greg decided to get married. It was okay funny. For the rest of the flight, the F/As did not come often with drink refills. They stayed at the galley and chatted the last hour away. Anyway, hot towels were offered after the seat belt sign was turned on. We landed at 9:44pm and were parked at N9. The new terminal at the North Satellite looked great and I was impressed. This flight was an average United's flight - not too bad, but can be better.
I stayed at the Radisson Airport hotel for the night. The shuttle was easy to be found, and the lobby looked nice. However, it was a long walk to get my room, which was on the further end of the furthest building from the lobby. I did not appreciate it much. The room was nice with a high ceiling and much closet space and room, but the TV was the off color Eighties' type. They should at least have a nice modern TV. Anyway, I decided to sleep right away because I had to catch an early flight the next morning.
Adventures begun
April 20, 2000
AS 248 SEA-PHX Lv0734 Arr1016
McDonnell Douglas MD-80 N937AS
I got to the airport for this exciting mileage run. I tried to check in at the kiosk, but my attempt was failed. Then I went to the gate D9 and was given a boarding pass by a friendly gate agent. I loved most AS gate agents because they were some of the nicest people in this industry. Anyway, the plane was already parked and we began boarding early at 7am. The F class F/As were just about to place the orange juice bottles, when they saw us storming in. They said that they were not too ready, but it was fine. Anyway, I took my seat at 2A and immediately drank my bottle of Citrus valley's orange juice. The flight was pretty full with passengers continuing into Puerto Vallarta. Our purser, Nancy, was an excellent F/A and took good care of us folks up front. The cabin had a family of six (four children of early teen). They were quite active throughout the flight, but Nancy kept her smile. We took off at 7:50am. The line this morning at Sea/Tac was long - I guess the morning bank of AS flights. I saw the NWA's Boeing 747s landed from NRT, which was spectacular. Anyway, we took off and had an excellent view of Seattle and the Mt ranges. Mt. Rainer was spectacular and we cruised to an attitude of 33,000ft today. Flying time was two hours and twenty-seven minutes, and there was a breakfast service on both F and Y class.
Shortly after takeoff, Nancy immediately passed us the appetizer tray and asked us for our choice of beverage. Then she served us a hot entre after we were done with our appetizer and she collected the Y class breakfast trays too.
The description of the meal:
A slice of cantaloupe with lime and strawberry
A Fisher's Original Famous Triangular Scone with honey whipped butter and raspberry preserve.
Entre - French toast with strawberry sauce and an omelette filled with chicken dices and mushroom.
For Y class, they had a cold breakfast plate of banana (full size), cereal, milk, yogurt, and a muffin - all served on tray, not the typical baskets.
The breakfast was excellent and the French toast could be sweeter. The scone was the best and the triangular shape looked special. I love it. The scone was wrapped on the original wrapping paper, so I could tell you the brand and what is on it.
Nancy kept refilling our glassed until it was time to descent. The F/As were told to take their seats due to turbulence on descent. They cleared the cabin early and we touched down nicely at 8am, with a great view of the American West Arena. We were parked at Gate 12 and all passengers had to deplane due to FAA regulations on international flights. They had to inspect the aircraft before departure.
I hang out in T2 for the whole time and managed to snap some US's A319s and couple HP's planes. Not too exciting, but bearable.
AS 181 PHX-SEA diverted to LAS Lv1250 Arr1556
Boeing 737-400 N774AS
The plane arrived on time from Seattle and boarding took place at 12:39pm. The flight was pretty full up front and back, and we were all set to go at 1:05pm. Our purser today was Michael. The crews were all very happy today after the captain announced that our flying was only two hours. Seattle was sunny today, which was a rare experience. The F/As chatted with everyone boarding the planes and created a great mood for the flight. We took off at 1:13pm with no obvious problem, except the moderate chops. There was no apparent problem and Michael announced to all passengers our menu today, which was a choice of:
Chili pasta salad with marinated chicken or Turkey and vegetable sandwich with Greek pasta salad
I could not tell you what it tasted like because problems began to develop as Michael began to serve beverages.
All the sudden, I felt that the aircraft was having some problems climbing and the chops were quite severe. The F/As were seated for a while on the takeoff. Then we felt like the plane began to descent and there was nothing down there except mountains. Then the pilots called the F/As and made an announcement, that the pressurization system on this aircraft had some problems apparently, and we needed to divert to Las Vegas. We continued to descent to a low attitude to allow normal oxygen or air flow. He asked the F/As to be seated for the rest of the flight, which they did. They did not even take off their aprons or do any landing checks. The F class cabin was calm, except an old lady kept on asking her husband what was going on. He explained that it was a minor problem, but according to other Y passengers, some people got hysterical and had to be calmed down by neighbors. The turbulence was quite strong, due to the low attitude, and we were traveling in a very slow speed, due to stronger head wind. I was a bit shaken because I never flew on a plane at that low attitude for a while. I felt like we were too low, but I told myself that nothing would happen. However those fifty-three minutes on that plane were not fun. We took a direct approach and apparently the runway was cleared. There was no incoming or outgoing aircraft waiting in line. When we touched down, ambulances and fire trucks were waiting us and following us to the gate. I was grateful to be on the ground again and we were all uncertain about what would happen next. We were parked at Gate A23 and were told to deplane with all our belongings.
About ten passengers immediately walked to the next gate and checked themselves in on the 2pm flight to SEA. However, the gate agent told us to wait and would kept us informed about the estimated departure time. They were not going to change any tickets because they needed to find out what was going on and what SEA base said. Passengers were crowding at the gate area and there were panics and I chose to sit around and to wait. AS would take care of me and there was no reason to yell at the gate agent now. We were told that we could get free lunches at the Taco Bell next to our gate. We got $7 each when we showed our boarding pass. I decided to wait for a bit before purchasing anything and I was a bit too "shaken" to eat anyway. After about twenty minutes, we were told that there was a problem with the control valve on this aircraft. They were trying to get a replacement from America West, and the replace would only take two minutes. However, it would take about an hour to get the paperwork done, to get the part, and to test the system. We were told to get lunch and settled down. We were also told that AS had a couple more flights later today and at later tonight. But they would not change anyone's flight because it was impossible to accommodate everyone. It was Easter and quite a number of people were traveling. We would also take care of connecting passengers first. I stood in line because I needed to return to LA the same night. It took about an hour before they could help me. The line was not obsessively long, but each passenger had her or his own plans. Some people got accommodated on the later flights, and some passengers, I guess, decided to buy a new ticket (company expense) for the 6pm flight. Some passengers got upset when they saw their fellow passengers boarding the 4pm and 6pm flights Anyway, I was given the options to go direct to LA on HP, but I had bags stored at SEA. I needed to get back to SEA first, so I was re-accommodated on the 9pm flight to LA. Then I went to get something to eat from the Taco Bell and play some slot machines. Hey, it was Vegas! Things got worsened after the 4:39pm flight departed because we had waited for two hours. They kept us update, but then they finally cancelled the flight, when the control valve from HP failed to work. Everyone flocked to the line and we were given the choice of overnight at LAS, or flying out to SEA on the 11pm flight. I chose to stay at LAS because I did not want to stay overnight at SEA and the only flight with seats to LA was the 10am one. The gate agent, Annie, kept her smiles during the whole process. AS really handled the situation well and the gate agents worked overtime to help us. They found someone to open a third line. I was rebooked on the 7am flight and were given accommodation at Doubletree Club hotel. Some other passengers complaint, but the LAS staff handled them fairly well, considered LAS was not a major hub at all.
Anyway, I stayed overnight at Doubletree and had a dinner at Applebee, which was bad. Anyway, I tucked in early for another day of travel.
April 21, 2000
AS 633 LAS-SEA Lv0700 Arr0936
McDonnell Douglas MD-80 N935AS
Next morning, I took the morning shuttle to the airport, and I was in no hurry, since I had already gotten the ID the night before. No F class seat was available, but the gate agent managed to find me a F class seat on SEA-LAS the night before. I went to look for our plane, which was towed to the parking area. It looked fine. Anyway, boarding was slow this morning and due to the large amount of passengers on wheelchair. Nevertheless, we managed to close the door at 7:01am and off our way. The line at McCarran this morning was long. It was filled with Southwest, HP, and we were actually lucky enough to be on the front of the line. We managed to take off at 7:31 and climbed to 31,000ft for a two hours flight.
Most passengers chose to sleep after the so-called snack service. For F class, I saw that they got the fruit plate and scone service, but in Y class, we only had a choice of raspberry coffee cake, (which was delicious), or cranberry muffin. There was no yogurt or fruit cup. I immediately filled in the comment form, and told AS that a coffee cake was not a snack. A snack needs to be more substantial, especially most people care more about breakfast. Other airlines were improving their breakfast serving, and AS chose the opposite action. A yogurt would be nice and it should be a breakfast flight in the first place. Anyway, I read for a while and descent began at 9:13am. A beautiful day at Seattle and we got great view of the Space Needle and downtown on the way to the runway. We touched down at 9:33am and parked at D10 at six minutes.
Then my hassle began. I technically ran to Ken's storage place and picked up my bags. Then I went back to the MVP line in the ticketing level and checked my bags. Fortunately, there was no one in line and managed to check my bags twenty minutes before departure. I worried that my bags would not make it but my LAX-bound flight was delayed due to some problems with one of the seat not able to return to its original position after reclining. They did not push back till 10:23am and I was more calmed.
AS 474 SEA-LAX Lv1011 Arr1247
Boeing 737-400 N755AS
Boarding took place and almost completed when I arrived at the gate. The first class F/A today was Keith and orange juice bottles were already distributed. We pushed back a few minutes late, but managed to take off at 10:33am. We climbed to 33,000ft and our flying time was two hours and six minutes. The inflight service was beverage for Y class passengers, and a snack for F class passengers. It should be lunch, but since this is AS flight, you could not expect too much.
For F class, I had the exact the same fruit plate and scone from the day before. I enjoyed it very much, but wish I would get the hot breakfast entre too. Anyway, I drank my coke and the F/As did not refill our glasses much. Anyway, we were given a "I Love to Fly Alaska" pin today. How ironic! It would be interesting, if they passed that out this morning at my Las Vegas flights. Since half the pax came from my flight yesterday, it would be nice to see their facial expression.
I had my first landing at Runway 7 today, which was not usual. We came in from the ocean and along an HP's Ohio Boeing 757. We landed at 12:39pm and parked at Gate 31A in three minutes. I saw the SQ's Tropical Megatop, as we parked at Gate 31A. It ws the 9V-SPL one, along with the usual group of Mexicana's Airbuses, QF's Boeing 744s, and VG's MD-11 with the new paint. It was a nice flight and my bags came out after only a short wait. I was glad to be home
Return flights tomorrow
Interesting neighbor - Qantas's second officer for Boeing 767-300ER in training, on AS.
------------------
Carfield
Menu Scavengers
Inflight food critics
Apr 24, 2000 | 9:27 pm
#6
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: source of weird and eccentric ideas
Posts: 40,055
Bravo, Carfield, this is such an awesome report.
Do you have any idea your altitude during the harrowing 53 minutes?
I have another question. How do you capture such a level of detail? You must keep a diary like some other FTers do. Just curious. Thanks for yet another wonderful report.
Do you have any idea your altitude during the harrowing 53 minutes?
I have another question. How do you capture such a level of detail? You must keep a diary like some other FTers do. Just curious. Thanks for yet another wonderful report.
Apr 25, 2000 | 2:08 am
#7
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Silicon Valley
Posts: 197
One of your finest, Carfield!
Glad things worked out OK, between the problems on UA and AS.
Believe it or not, AS flights between SEA/PDX-LAS have not been cut back. In fact, not too long ago, there was rarely any food service in coach. They have at least raised the standard to that on the Bay Area-PDX/SEA runs, although what you received was not a "snack."
One question:
I'm curious as to whether AS is offering hot towels in First Class on your flights? It seems to me that they have vanished
Glad things worked out OK, between the problems on UA and AS.
Believe it or not, AS flights between SEA/PDX-LAS have not been cut back. In fact, not too long ago, there was rarely any food service in coach. They have at least raised the standard to that on the Bay Area-PDX/SEA runs, although what you received was not a "snack."
One question:
I'm curious as to whether AS is offering hot towels in First Class on your flights? It seems to me that they have vanished
Apr 25, 2000 | 12:55 pm
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: New York
Posts: 7,987
Re: Richard
Concerning the attitude, I asked my neighbor pilot on my return AS flight (the QF training second officer), he told me that the usual procedure was to check some instruements, to open the air pack, and to descent to 10,000-12,000ft. It was really close because of the spectacular view of Grand Canyon.
I kept a flight log on every flight that I took. I jogged down all the meal features and menus, if no printed menus were available (AS flights, for example), and wrote down the reg number and all those good info.
Re: West Coast flyers
No hot towels on AS flights... the hot towel was on my UAL flight. I think AS is a great airline, but seems to need to improve its breakfast service a bit. For the LAS-SEA, I know about the competition with Southwest, but if you are going to label your flight as a snack one, you need to serve a snack (a fruit cup or yogurt, and a pasty are not much, but at least, it is somewhat filling). Breakfast is perhaps the most important meals and AS really needs to give it some more efforts. Even for F class, I think they deserve a full breakfast. United serves hot breakfast for F and C class, and snack boxes for Y class on short haul flights.
Thanks for reading this report!
Carfield
More to come next!
[This message has been edited by Carfield (edited 04-25-2000).]
Concerning the attitude, I asked my neighbor pilot on my return AS flight (the QF training second officer), he told me that the usual procedure was to check some instruements, to open the air pack, and to descent to 10,000-12,000ft. It was really close because of the spectacular view of Grand Canyon.
I kept a flight log on every flight that I took. I jogged down all the meal features and menus, if no printed menus were available (AS flights, for example), and wrote down the reg number and all those good info.
Re: West Coast flyers
No hot towels on AS flights... the hot towel was on my UAL flight. I think AS is a great airline, but seems to need to improve its breakfast service a bit. For the LAS-SEA, I know about the competition with Southwest, but if you are going to label your flight as a snack one, you need to serve a snack (a fruit cup or yogurt, and a pasty are not much, but at least, it is somewhat filling). Breakfast is perhaps the most important meals and AS really needs to give it some more efforts. Even for F class, I think they deserve a full breakfast. United serves hot breakfast for F and C class, and snack boxes for Y class on short haul flights.
Thanks for reading this report!
Carfield
More to come next!
[This message has been edited by Carfield (edited 04-25-2000).]
Apr 25, 2000 | 12:55 pm
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: New York
Posts: 7,987
Return flights today
April 23, 2000
AS 473 LAX-SEA Lv-934 Arr1210
McDonnell Douglas MD-80 N974AS
Another beautiful morning at Los Angeles, as the Super Shuttle picked me up at 7:35am. I arrived at LAX around 8:15am and check-in line was short. The check-in agent was very nice and efficient, and I went to the open area between T3 and Tom Bradley, and took a nice picture of a QF's Boeing 744 pushing back and heading off to JFK. Then I went to T3 itself and went to the gate areas of NWA and TWA. It was a very quiet morning and I sat by a window overlooking the activities at R/W 24RL. I took many pictures this morning - DL's 763 new livery, QF's 744 to JFK, NZ's Boeing 744 arriving from AKL, Mexicana's A320, VG's MD-11 with the World Cup Livery (PP-VPP) quite a nice morning. I spent some quality time there, and then headed off to gate 31A. Boarding commenced early at 9am and I was seated on 2A this morning. A bottle of AS premium water was seating at my seat and I was happily watching planes. Push back was at 9:30am and takeoff at 9:37am. All in record time! Today's flying time was two hours and twelve minutes, and our cruising attitude was 31,000ft. The takeoff at LAX was nice with scattered clouds.
This flight was a snack flight for first class passengers, which was a plate of fruit (pineapple, grapes, melon, and strawberry) and a raisin scone with butter, which was nice. For Y class, it was a beverage service only flight. Anyway, the flight was excellent because I got to sit next to a QF's second officer in training. This nice young Australian was extremely friendly, and his friend and him were on their ways to Seattle for a month. They would be trained as a second officer for QF's Boeing 767-300ER. He was very enthusiastic about his job, and told me that he would head off to Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, Mumbai , and Honolulu. He told me that he would be like to stuck at those Indian, Taipei, and Hong Kong flights for a while, because all the senior pilots bided for the Honolulu flights and Tahiti flights. Who would blame them? Anyway, I told him that Hong Kong was a fun place, and there would be many bars that he would like. He showed me one of the manuals from QF. He kept chatting with me because he was trying to stay awake - jet lag - they just flew in from Sydney that morning. He was also quite amazed at the lines of Dash 8 (Horizon Air) when we arrived at SEA. He was a big fan of Dash 8, and I told him that you chose the right place.
Anyway, we landed at SEA at 11:49am and parked at C12. The touch down was quite hard (it bounced back once) and this pilot commented on the steep descent into SEA. I told him that it was quite usual for the ATC in the US. He also amazed at the noise level of this MD-80s. I told him that it was actually quite good. The noise level was even worse on Boeing 737-400s. It was an excellent flight and I learned much from this young fellow. Good luck to him.
After picking up my bags and retrieving my camera from AS (I left my camera on the plane and AS paged me to go back to C12 to retrieve it. I really appreciated AS's friendly gate agent and their efforts to look for me), I went to the UAL check-in area. It was deserted due to Easter Sunday. I was checked in by a very friendly agent, and she actually tried to look for seats on a nonstop SEA-DEN flight for me. However, as usual, United cancelled one of its flight that afternoon and put everyone on the nonstop Boeing 777 flight. Anyway, I went to the North Satellite and was sad to find out that the udon noodle stall was gone forever, and was replaced by Burger King, Cinnamon Bun, and bagel place. I had a bagel and a bowl of soup, and looked around for planes. SEA was raining today, and took a few good pictures of AA's Boeing 777 to NRT, UAL's Boeing 777 to NRT, and NWA's Boeing 742 to NRT. I also saw the Aeroflot's Boeing 767-300ER.
UA 6876 SEA-PDX Lv1500 Arr1549
EMB-120 N233SW
Boarding took place at 2:48pm and walked down the stairs from Gate N13. Originally I planned to take a few pictures, but due to the wind and light rain, I boarded the plane immediately. There were not many passengers today - 6 to be exact. We could sit on anywhere after Row 6. I took a seat at 7A and our plane rolled to the runway at 3:03pm. After ten minutes, we took off. The flight was not too bad, as we climbed to our cruising attitude. The pilots did not make any announcement throughout the flight, until landing. The F/A was very nice and efficient, and we were served a beverage five minutes after takeoff, and she then passed around a snack basket with biscott cookies, vanilla or chocolate crme cookies, and bags of Skywest almonds. I took two bags of almonds, and asked for a third pack later (as souvenir, since it is Skywest labeled package). Descent began at 3:29pm and it was extremely bumpy, since we flew through many layer of rain clouds. One gentleman in front of me began sweating throughout the landing and approach. The F/A managed to continue to clean up the cabin, to refill the magazine pockets, and to clean up the cabin throughout the remainder of the flight. Even I admitted that it was really bumpy. Our plane was literally going up and down - like a roller coaster. We landed safely at 3:50pm and were given umbrella as we deplaned. The rain was light.
UA 1172 PDX-DEN Lv1654 Arr2010
Boeing 727-200 N7269U (old F class seats with no new feature)
I was impressed with the architecture on PDX. It was my first time here in PDX and I really liked the open windows and only wished that there were more planes laying around. Boarding took place at 4:21pm and I was offered a pre-takeoff beverage. This Boeing 727 looked a bit worn down, and everyone looked tired today. Door was closed five minutes before the ETD time, and we took off at 4:59pm. Our flying time was an hour and fifty-nine minutes, and the pilot did not talk much again. Nevertheless, Channel 9 was available and we climbed to 33,000ft for the whole flight.
Beverage was served after takeoff and the F/As took meal orders from the 1K passengesr and then from the front to back. Party mix came with my drink, but I declined after those delicious almonds from my last flight. There was a menu today - the new menu again. The meal came with a warmed white roll, and was an one-tray affair.
To Begin
Garden fresh salad (tomato wedges, artichoke hearts, shredded red peppers, and spinach)
Accompanied by roasted garlic vinigrette or ranch (not available) dressing
Main Course
Grilled sesame chicken with orange cashew sauce (the chicken was like rubber today and the sauce was not tasty enough. I ate it all because I was hungry, but definitely not United's best effort)
Served with baby bok choy (no green and definitely not baby) and yellow rice (curry flavored rice)
Or
Barbecue Pork Loin
Complemented by creamed corn and a potato pancake.
Dessert
Eli's Chocolate Mocha Mousse Cake (quite good)
Descent was bumpy and the F/A cleared the cabin early on. No hot towel bad, bad, and bad. The plane landed safely at 7:58pm and parked at Gate B49. Not an impressive flight and F/As chose to chat after meal service.
UA 1609 DEN-ABQ Lv2145 Arr2256
Boeing 737-500 N941UA (old F class seat with Enlarged bins)
The plane came in on time from PHL, and the plane did not board till 9:23pm due to light load and the need to replace a purser in the last minute. The F/A arrived on time and everyone was boarded in ten minutes. We were offered a pre-takeoff beverage. No Channel 9 today and I listened to pop hit channel. The door was closed at 9:41pm, and we took off at 9:51pm. Since the air was bumpy on the way in, I expected the same bumpy air on our way to ABQ today. I was right and the F/A was seated for a while. We were cruising at 29,000ft for a bit and then moved up to 31,000ft. Beverage service finally began at 10:17pm and was served with a pack of pretzels. I think United really needs to work on its snack choices. It should follow the footsteps of Delta's F class, Skywest, Jetblue, and Midway, and begin to offer a basket of snack choices like almonds, dried fruits, muffins, chocolate, and cookies - at least for F class. Anyway, descent commenced at 10:26pm and I barely had times to finish my orange juice. After fifteen minutes, we landed at Albuquerque Sunport safely. Wow, it was a quick flight. Our plane was parked at Gate A3 after five minutes of taxiing. I checked out the arrival screen, and Southwest experienced massive delays tonight, with only one on time arrival for its Oakland flight. Most of its flights were delayed for more than an hour - must be the weather in the West. America West's last flight into ABQ from PHX was permanently delayed - whatever that means. Anyway, my bags came out among the first few luggages and the F class priority tags worked this time. I was home before midnight.
------------------
Carfield
Menu Scavengers
Inflight food critics
April 23, 2000
AS 473 LAX-SEA Lv-934 Arr1210
McDonnell Douglas MD-80 N974AS
Another beautiful morning at Los Angeles, as the Super Shuttle picked me up at 7:35am. I arrived at LAX around 8:15am and check-in line was short. The check-in agent was very nice and efficient, and I went to the open area between T3 and Tom Bradley, and took a nice picture of a QF's Boeing 744 pushing back and heading off to JFK. Then I went to T3 itself and went to the gate areas of NWA and TWA. It was a very quiet morning and I sat by a window overlooking the activities at R/W 24RL. I took many pictures this morning - DL's 763 new livery, QF's 744 to JFK, NZ's Boeing 744 arriving from AKL, Mexicana's A320, VG's MD-11 with the World Cup Livery (PP-VPP) quite a nice morning. I spent some quality time there, and then headed off to gate 31A. Boarding commenced early at 9am and I was seated on 2A this morning. A bottle of AS premium water was seating at my seat and I was happily watching planes. Push back was at 9:30am and takeoff at 9:37am. All in record time! Today's flying time was two hours and twelve minutes, and our cruising attitude was 31,000ft. The takeoff at LAX was nice with scattered clouds.
This flight was a snack flight for first class passengers, which was a plate of fruit (pineapple, grapes, melon, and strawberry) and a raisin scone with butter, which was nice. For Y class, it was a beverage service only flight. Anyway, the flight was excellent because I got to sit next to a QF's second officer in training. This nice young Australian was extremely friendly, and his friend and him were on their ways to Seattle for a month. They would be trained as a second officer for QF's Boeing 767-300ER. He was very enthusiastic about his job, and told me that he would head off to Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, Mumbai , and Honolulu. He told me that he would be like to stuck at those Indian, Taipei, and Hong Kong flights for a while, because all the senior pilots bided for the Honolulu flights and Tahiti flights. Who would blame them? Anyway, I told him that Hong Kong was a fun place, and there would be many bars that he would like. He showed me one of the manuals from QF. He kept chatting with me because he was trying to stay awake - jet lag - they just flew in from Sydney that morning. He was also quite amazed at the lines of Dash 8 (Horizon Air) when we arrived at SEA. He was a big fan of Dash 8, and I told him that you chose the right place.
Anyway, we landed at SEA at 11:49am and parked at C12. The touch down was quite hard (it bounced back once) and this pilot commented on the steep descent into SEA. I told him that it was quite usual for the ATC in the US. He also amazed at the noise level of this MD-80s. I told him that it was actually quite good. The noise level was even worse on Boeing 737-400s. It was an excellent flight and I learned much from this young fellow. Good luck to him.
After picking up my bags and retrieving my camera from AS (I left my camera on the plane and AS paged me to go back to C12 to retrieve it. I really appreciated AS's friendly gate agent and their efforts to look for me), I went to the UAL check-in area. It was deserted due to Easter Sunday. I was checked in by a very friendly agent, and she actually tried to look for seats on a nonstop SEA-DEN flight for me. However, as usual, United cancelled one of its flight that afternoon and put everyone on the nonstop Boeing 777 flight. Anyway, I went to the North Satellite and was sad to find out that the udon noodle stall was gone forever, and was replaced by Burger King, Cinnamon Bun, and bagel place. I had a bagel and a bowl of soup, and looked around for planes. SEA was raining today, and took a few good pictures of AA's Boeing 777 to NRT, UAL's Boeing 777 to NRT, and NWA's Boeing 742 to NRT. I also saw the Aeroflot's Boeing 767-300ER.
UA 6876 SEA-PDX Lv1500 Arr1549
EMB-120 N233SW
Boarding took place at 2:48pm and walked down the stairs from Gate N13. Originally I planned to take a few pictures, but due to the wind and light rain, I boarded the plane immediately. There were not many passengers today - 6 to be exact. We could sit on anywhere after Row 6. I took a seat at 7A and our plane rolled to the runway at 3:03pm. After ten minutes, we took off. The flight was not too bad, as we climbed to our cruising attitude. The pilots did not make any announcement throughout the flight, until landing. The F/A was very nice and efficient, and we were served a beverage five minutes after takeoff, and she then passed around a snack basket with biscott cookies, vanilla or chocolate crme cookies, and bags of Skywest almonds. I took two bags of almonds, and asked for a third pack later (as souvenir, since it is Skywest labeled package). Descent began at 3:29pm and it was extremely bumpy, since we flew through many layer of rain clouds. One gentleman in front of me began sweating throughout the landing and approach. The F/A managed to continue to clean up the cabin, to refill the magazine pockets, and to clean up the cabin throughout the remainder of the flight. Even I admitted that it was really bumpy. Our plane was literally going up and down - like a roller coaster. We landed safely at 3:50pm and were given umbrella as we deplaned. The rain was light.
UA 1172 PDX-DEN Lv1654 Arr2010
Boeing 727-200 N7269U (old F class seats with no new feature)
I was impressed with the architecture on PDX. It was my first time here in PDX and I really liked the open windows and only wished that there were more planes laying around. Boarding took place at 4:21pm and I was offered a pre-takeoff beverage. This Boeing 727 looked a bit worn down, and everyone looked tired today. Door was closed five minutes before the ETD time, and we took off at 4:59pm. Our flying time was an hour and fifty-nine minutes, and the pilot did not talk much again. Nevertheless, Channel 9 was available and we climbed to 33,000ft for the whole flight.
Beverage was served after takeoff and the F/As took meal orders from the 1K passengesr and then from the front to back. Party mix came with my drink, but I declined after those delicious almonds from my last flight. There was a menu today - the new menu again. The meal came with a warmed white roll, and was an one-tray affair.
To Begin
Garden fresh salad (tomato wedges, artichoke hearts, shredded red peppers, and spinach)
Accompanied by roasted garlic vinigrette or ranch (not available) dressing
Main Course
Grilled sesame chicken with orange cashew sauce (the chicken was like rubber today and the sauce was not tasty enough. I ate it all because I was hungry, but definitely not United's best effort)
Served with baby bok choy (no green and definitely not baby) and yellow rice (curry flavored rice)
Or
Barbecue Pork Loin
Complemented by creamed corn and a potato pancake.
Dessert
Eli's Chocolate Mocha Mousse Cake (quite good)
Descent was bumpy and the F/A cleared the cabin early on. No hot towel bad, bad, and bad. The plane landed safely at 7:58pm and parked at Gate B49. Not an impressive flight and F/As chose to chat after meal service.
UA 1609 DEN-ABQ Lv2145 Arr2256
Boeing 737-500 N941UA (old F class seat with Enlarged bins)
The plane came in on time from PHL, and the plane did not board till 9:23pm due to light load and the need to replace a purser in the last minute. The F/A arrived on time and everyone was boarded in ten minutes. We were offered a pre-takeoff beverage. No Channel 9 today and I listened to pop hit channel. The door was closed at 9:41pm, and we took off at 9:51pm. Since the air was bumpy on the way in, I expected the same bumpy air on our way to ABQ today. I was right and the F/A was seated for a while. We were cruising at 29,000ft for a bit and then moved up to 31,000ft. Beverage service finally began at 10:17pm and was served with a pack of pretzels. I think United really needs to work on its snack choices. It should follow the footsteps of Delta's F class, Skywest, Jetblue, and Midway, and begin to offer a basket of snack choices like almonds, dried fruits, muffins, chocolate, and cookies - at least for F class. Anyway, descent commenced at 10:26pm and I barely had times to finish my orange juice. After fifteen minutes, we landed at Albuquerque Sunport safely. Wow, it was a quick flight. Our plane was parked at Gate A3 after five minutes of taxiing. I checked out the arrival screen, and Southwest experienced massive delays tonight, with only one on time arrival for its Oakland flight. Most of its flights were delayed for more than an hour - must be the weather in the West. America West's last flight into ABQ from PHX was permanently delayed - whatever that means. Anyway, my bags came out among the first few luggages and the F class priority tags worked this time. I was home before midnight.
------------------
Carfield
Menu Scavengers
Inflight food critics