Writing from the free kiosk at the ORD Admiral's Club. My ORD-DFW flight is delayed by a half hour, but the Platinum Service Desk agent said that I'd probably still make my 48, now 18 minute connection. If not, there are two more DFW-SAT flights after that, so I'm not worried. I'm on a 777 in a Y-ticketed Business seat to DFW, so I'll take the delay over paying $93 to upgrade on the F-100 nonstop.
AA 2347 DFW-ORD 1730-2001
Update: Get to the gate half an hour before the new 6pm departure, the plane isn't there... I ask the gate agent when we're going, she said "6:30, maybe 6:45." She was obviously disgusted, and was rerouting everybody. She found a 25D/E combination for me (D for me, E blocked) on the SAT nonstop, and sent me back to the Admiral's Club.
I had a great call before leaving the apartment to the Wyndham Fairmount where I'm staying. I called to see if my Wyndham ByRequest # was in my record - I had called the 800# and had it added after I got the Wyndham with my Priceline bid. After that, I had a question about which shuttle service to take, so they sent me to the supervisor. After he answered my question, he inquired as to who I was, and replied "Oh, Mr Nick, you are our ByRequest guest this evening. Everything will be set up for you when you arrive. What time will you be here?"
Gee, I guess ByRequest isn't too well known, since they don't give away miles. This is my first stay with it, so we'll see how it goes!
Looking forward to meeting everybody!
[This message has been edited by ElmhurstNick (edited 11-03-2000).]
AA 2347 DFW-ORD 1730-2001
Update: Get to the gate half an hour before the new 6pm departure, the plane isn't there... I ask the gate agent when we're going, she said "6:30, maybe 6:45." She was obviously disgusted, and was rerouting everybody. She found a 25D/E combination for me (D for me, E blocked) on the SAT nonstop, and sent me back to the Admiral's Club.
I had a great call before leaving the apartment to the Wyndham Fairmount where I'm staying. I called to see if my Wyndham ByRequest # was in my record - I had called the 800# and had it added after I got the Wyndham with my Priceline bid. After that, I had a question about which shuttle service to take, so they sent me to the supervisor. After he answered my question, he inquired as to who I was, and replied "Oh, Mr Nick, you are our ByRequest guest this evening. Everything will be set up for you when you arrive. What time will you be here?"
Gee, I guess ByRequest isn't too well known, since they don't give away miles. This is my first stay with it, so we'll see how it goes!
Looking forward to meeting everybody!
[This message has been edited by ElmhurstNick (edited 11-03-2000).]
In Memoriam
ElmhurstNick,
Hope you get into SAT ok. I will be getting into town around noon tommorrow. By the way, the By Request card should get you 500 AA miles for each stay. Don't know if they will give it to you on a Priceline stay though.
Hope you get into SAT ok. I will be getting into town around noon tommorrow. By the way, the By Request card should get you 500 AA miles for each stay. Don't know if they will give it to you on a Priceline stay though.
AA 1349 ORD-SAT 650p-953p, 25D
Turns out this was an MD-80, not an F-100, the 10pm nonstop was the F-100. My seat opponent in 25F was a very pleasant man who did corporate training for electric utility companies. We chatted on and off during the flight, something I don't usually do. It was a bistro meal, but I had gotten a real sandwich during my extra hour on the ground at ORD, so I just ate the rest of the junk food. The FAs came back twice for drink refills until the captain made them sit down - the seat belt sign was on for all 3 hours because of the threat of severe turbulence that never materialized. Landing was a little rough.
I found the SATrans booth outside the airport and bought a one-way ticket. There was about a 10 minute wait. It's only worth taking SATrans downtown as opposed to a taxi if you're by yourself - the taxi is $17 and the shuttle bus is $8. Had a nice talk with the driver on the way in as I had the front seat in the van.
The Wyndham is very nice. The ByRequest stuff works! I was in my room (actually a suite of two small rooms) in about 90 seconds, and my chosen amenity (bottled water and Diet Coke) was waiting for me. Plus there was a 6 oz can of peanuts that I can't eat because I'm allergic to them. I doubt I'll get the 500 miles, but the $120/night savings off of their normal weekend rate was worth the tradeoff!
I'm just happy that the rest of the program works on a priceline stay.
I'm off to do whatever sightseeing I can get in before the rains come this afternoon, then I will start looking for the other FT folks.
Turns out this was an MD-80, not an F-100, the 10pm nonstop was the F-100. My seat opponent in 25F was a very pleasant man who did corporate training for electric utility companies. We chatted on and off during the flight, something I don't usually do. It was a bistro meal, but I had gotten a real sandwich during my extra hour on the ground at ORD, so I just ate the rest of the junk food. The FAs came back twice for drink refills until the captain made them sit down - the seat belt sign was on for all 3 hours because of the threat of severe turbulence that never materialized. Landing was a little rough.
I found the SATrans booth outside the airport and bought a one-way ticket. There was about a 10 minute wait. It's only worth taking SATrans downtown as opposed to a taxi if you're by yourself - the taxi is $17 and the shuttle bus is $8. Had a nice talk with the driver on the way in as I had the front seat in the van.
The Wyndham is very nice. The ByRequest stuff works! I was in my room (actually a suite of two small rooms) in about 90 seconds, and my chosen amenity (bottled water and Diet Coke) was waiting for me. Plus there was a 6 oz can of peanuts that I can't eat because I'm allergic to them. I doubt I'll get the 500 miles, but the $120/night savings off of their normal weekend rate was worth the tradeoff!
I'm just happy that the rest of the program works on a priceline stay.I'm off to do whatever sightseeing I can get in before the rains come this afternoon, then I will start looking for the other FT folks.