Uneventful first flights since 9/11, DL JAX-ATL-OMA & back
Oct 3, 2001, 3:51 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Flagler County, FL
Programs: Delta Skymiles, Marriott Bonvoy
Posts: 114
Uneventful first flights since 9/11, DL JAX-ATL-OMA & back
It was nice to be in the air again for the first time since last month. All the flights were blissfully routine which is just what I wanted. Normally not much to report on such a weekend trip--but just having normal flights is newsworthy these days perhaps.
Friday, Sept. 28, JAX-ATL
DL 1086, 767-200, Old Colors
N101DA (built: 1983)
Scheduled: 5:40-6:57 PM
Actual: 5:38-6:41 PM
I left for the airport straight from the office (I’m back working two days a week at the church office) and got to the long-term lot (only $3/day) at 3:51 PM, earlier than I normally would get to the airport for the flight. Just missed one shuttle bus, but another one came about eight minutes later. I arrived at the ticket counter at 4:06 PM, checked my bag, went through the longer than usual line at security, and was at the gate just twenty minutes later. Since I had a lot of time, I went over to the “C” Concourse to watch a TWA MD-80 pull into the AA gates, which seemed strange as they were always next to DL in the “A” Concourse before. Walking back to the DL gates I saw, perfectly framed in the windows at the far end of the “A” Concourse, the American flag flowing in the breeze on the pole outside the airport fire station. There was something vaguely reassuring about that.
My plane arrived on time from DFW, and we soon boarded. There were, perhaps, a dozen middle seats empty on this otherwise full plane on a Friday evening—seemed like old times. The interior was in good shape, with the exception of a bit of loose carpet under the seat in front of me. After a quick, eight-minute, taxi we took off on RWY 7 for the short hop to ATL. We passed over Macon and the “Fast Break” service was a choice of OJ, lemonade, or water accompanied by snack mix. There was no video program for some unknown reason. It was a clear evening and we had a good view of downtown Atlanta as we landed on RWY 9R. On arrival in ATL I saw a couple of taped up DL 727’s and a DL Shuttle 737-800 parked to the east of the “E” Concourse, as well as DL’s Olympic 777-200 and a BA 777 taxiing. LH’s 340-300 (“Koblenz”) was at it’s gate with the pilots on board doing paperwork but the sign at the gate was set for the later KE flight to Seoul and there was a long line of unhappy looking people at the gate counter. On a previous trip through ATL at this hour, I had also seen another LH 340 stuck at the gate—I hope this isn’t typical of their dispatch reliability. The sunset was really nice over the “D” Concourse as viewed from “E”.
Friday, Sept. 28, ATL-OMA
DL 1553, MD-88, Intermediate Colors
N950DL (built: 1990)
Scheduled: 8:35-10:06 PM
Actual: 8:45-9:49 PM
We were all ready to push back on time but had to wait ten minutes for a couple of planes behind us to move out of the way. The half-full flight took off on RWY 26L and was soon up to FL 350 for a night view of Nashville, Paducah, and St. Louis on a gloriously clear evening. Just the usual beverage and snack mix service was offered. We arrived early for a touch down on RWY 36 at OMA. I went to the Thrifty counter and they had run out of mid-sized cars so I ended up with a Chrysler Town & Country mini-van for the same price—three days and a total of $63. By the time I had my keys, my bag was coming out on the belt.
Saturday, Sunday, Monday
Spent the weekend at my mom’s house, saw my best friend from high school, went to Western Heritage Museum in the old Union Pacific station, and went out to eat at a great “American-grill” style restaurant called Charleston’s (West Dodge Road at the Boy’s Town exit, in the First National Bank Office Park north of West Dodge Road) for my birthday. After church on Sunday, we went to visit a relative in a nursing home and then drove to Beatrice, home of the National Park Service’s Homestead National Monument. The orientation film did a good job of balancing the history of the homesteaders and the impact they had on the native Indian population. The site is one of the very first homesteads ever granted in the days right after the Civil War and has been restored to the tall grass prairie and tree lined creek that it was at the time of the first homestead. On Monday, I fixed some small things around my mom’s house and then it was time to leave again for home.
Monday, Oct. 1, OMA-ATL
DL 4424, ASA CRJ-200, Intermediate Colors
N858AS (built: 2000)
Scheduled: 5:37-8:55 PM
Actual: 5:42-9:00 PM
Another quick check in at the counter and another longer than usual line at security and I was at the gate. There were armed MP’s in uniform just past security. The plane was late getting in from ATL but they were able to turn it around in just 20 minutes. Our flight was only about half full and we were offered a choice (or all three) of Biscoff, peanuts, and snack mix as well as our beverage. Back in January on this flight we had a snack consisting of cheese, crackers, water, raisins, and a candy bar—budget cuts I guess. It was more hazy than on the way up but still afforded nice views of the Missouri River west of STL, as well as the Mississippi and Ohio rivers meeting at Cairo, IL, the Tennessee River emptying into the Ohio at Paducah, KY, and the Land Between the Lakes area on the KY-TN border just as the sun was setting. A very full moon rose in the east as we cruised over Nashville at FL 270 and then had an odd approach to ATL from the northwest—we flew west and south of the airport (seen in the distance) before coming back around (with a nice view of downtown ATL in the distance) to land on RWY 27L.
Monday, Oct. 1, ATL-JAX
DL 1064, 767-200, Old Colors
N107DL (built: 1982)
Scheduled: 10:10-11:21 PM
Actual: 10:09-11:08PM
My ASA flight came out right across from the old connecting tunnel between the “B” and “C” concourses so I went through it for the first time in about ten years, I had all but forgotten it was there. Then it was off to the “A” Concourse for the last segment. There were to be only 37 people on this 762 flight to JAX, hopefully they had a larger load on the flight back to ATL the next morning. “Fast break” service was indeed fast with a choice of Cran-apple, lemonade, or water to go with your snack mix and an episode of “Frasier” to watch with the free headphones. Another nice view of downtown Jacksonville in the distance as we landed on RWY 7 and a quick trip to my car and back home.
Thanks for reading!
------------------
Tom
Friday, Sept. 28, JAX-ATL
DL 1086, 767-200, Old Colors
N101DA (built: 1983)
Scheduled: 5:40-6:57 PM
Actual: 5:38-6:41 PM
I left for the airport straight from the office (I’m back working two days a week at the church office) and got to the long-term lot (only $3/day) at 3:51 PM, earlier than I normally would get to the airport for the flight. Just missed one shuttle bus, but another one came about eight minutes later. I arrived at the ticket counter at 4:06 PM, checked my bag, went through the longer than usual line at security, and was at the gate just twenty minutes later. Since I had a lot of time, I went over to the “C” Concourse to watch a TWA MD-80 pull into the AA gates, which seemed strange as they were always next to DL in the “A” Concourse before. Walking back to the DL gates I saw, perfectly framed in the windows at the far end of the “A” Concourse, the American flag flowing in the breeze on the pole outside the airport fire station. There was something vaguely reassuring about that.
My plane arrived on time from DFW, and we soon boarded. There were, perhaps, a dozen middle seats empty on this otherwise full plane on a Friday evening—seemed like old times. The interior was in good shape, with the exception of a bit of loose carpet under the seat in front of me. After a quick, eight-minute, taxi we took off on RWY 7 for the short hop to ATL. We passed over Macon and the “Fast Break” service was a choice of OJ, lemonade, or water accompanied by snack mix. There was no video program for some unknown reason. It was a clear evening and we had a good view of downtown Atlanta as we landed on RWY 9R. On arrival in ATL I saw a couple of taped up DL 727’s and a DL Shuttle 737-800 parked to the east of the “E” Concourse, as well as DL’s Olympic 777-200 and a BA 777 taxiing. LH’s 340-300 (“Koblenz”) was at it’s gate with the pilots on board doing paperwork but the sign at the gate was set for the later KE flight to Seoul and there was a long line of unhappy looking people at the gate counter. On a previous trip through ATL at this hour, I had also seen another LH 340 stuck at the gate—I hope this isn’t typical of their dispatch reliability. The sunset was really nice over the “D” Concourse as viewed from “E”.
Friday, Sept. 28, ATL-OMA
DL 1553, MD-88, Intermediate Colors
N950DL (built: 1990)
Scheduled: 8:35-10:06 PM
Actual: 8:45-9:49 PM
We were all ready to push back on time but had to wait ten minutes for a couple of planes behind us to move out of the way. The half-full flight took off on RWY 26L and was soon up to FL 350 for a night view of Nashville, Paducah, and St. Louis on a gloriously clear evening. Just the usual beverage and snack mix service was offered. We arrived early for a touch down on RWY 36 at OMA. I went to the Thrifty counter and they had run out of mid-sized cars so I ended up with a Chrysler Town & Country mini-van for the same price—three days and a total of $63. By the time I had my keys, my bag was coming out on the belt.
Saturday, Sunday, Monday
Spent the weekend at my mom’s house, saw my best friend from high school, went to Western Heritage Museum in the old Union Pacific station, and went out to eat at a great “American-grill” style restaurant called Charleston’s (West Dodge Road at the Boy’s Town exit, in the First National Bank Office Park north of West Dodge Road) for my birthday. After church on Sunday, we went to visit a relative in a nursing home and then drove to Beatrice, home of the National Park Service’s Homestead National Monument. The orientation film did a good job of balancing the history of the homesteaders and the impact they had on the native Indian population. The site is one of the very first homesteads ever granted in the days right after the Civil War and has been restored to the tall grass prairie and tree lined creek that it was at the time of the first homestead. On Monday, I fixed some small things around my mom’s house and then it was time to leave again for home.
Monday, Oct. 1, OMA-ATL
DL 4424, ASA CRJ-200, Intermediate Colors
N858AS (built: 2000)
Scheduled: 5:37-8:55 PM
Actual: 5:42-9:00 PM
Another quick check in at the counter and another longer than usual line at security and I was at the gate. There were armed MP’s in uniform just past security. The plane was late getting in from ATL but they were able to turn it around in just 20 minutes. Our flight was only about half full and we were offered a choice (or all three) of Biscoff, peanuts, and snack mix as well as our beverage. Back in January on this flight we had a snack consisting of cheese, crackers, water, raisins, and a candy bar—budget cuts I guess. It was more hazy than on the way up but still afforded nice views of the Missouri River west of STL, as well as the Mississippi and Ohio rivers meeting at Cairo, IL, the Tennessee River emptying into the Ohio at Paducah, KY, and the Land Between the Lakes area on the KY-TN border just as the sun was setting. A very full moon rose in the east as we cruised over Nashville at FL 270 and then had an odd approach to ATL from the northwest—we flew west and south of the airport (seen in the distance) before coming back around (with a nice view of downtown ATL in the distance) to land on RWY 27L.
Monday, Oct. 1, ATL-JAX
DL 1064, 767-200, Old Colors
N107DL (built: 1982)
Scheduled: 10:10-11:21 PM
Actual: 10:09-11:08PM
My ASA flight came out right across from the old connecting tunnel between the “B” and “C” concourses so I went through it for the first time in about ten years, I had all but forgotten it was there. Then it was off to the “A” Concourse for the last segment. There were to be only 37 people on this 762 flight to JAX, hopefully they had a larger load on the flight back to ATL the next morning. “Fast break” service was indeed fast with a choice of Cran-apple, lemonade, or water to go with your snack mix and an episode of “Frasier” to watch with the free headphones. Another nice view of downtown Jacksonville in the distance as we landed on RWY 7 and a quick trip to my car and back home.
Thanks for reading!
------------------
Tom
Oct 4, 2001, 7:01 am
#4
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Jacksonville, FL/Chesterfield, MO, USA
Posts: 385
I enjoyed your report....
I'm making the same trip this weekend (however on NW via DTW and MSP... found a $120 fare, already had $109 credit on NW, and upgraded with miles since they couldn't confirm me in anything but middle seats on most of my flights up there)
Charleston's is a great restaurant... my home is a couple of miles from there and I've been there many times.
Jason Seiple
JAX
[email protected]
I'm making the same trip this weekend (however on NW via DTW and MSP... found a $120 fare, already had $109 credit on NW, and upgraded with miles since they couldn't confirm me in anything but middle seats on most of my flights up there)
Charleston's is a great restaurant... my home is a couple of miles from there and I've been there many times.
Jason Seiple
JAX
[email protected]