YYZ-PHL-MAD on US and AC
 

Note: This trip report is not very organized. It rambles a lot and goes on many different tangents that are not directly related to the trip. And there are lots of fragmented sentences. Sorry.

Wednesday, 21 April.

The alarm clock rang after about three hours of sleep. Instead of packing and getting a good rest, I spent the previous night watching the Leafs send the Ottawa Senators golfing, and then preparing for a presentation that I had this morning. Got through the presentation at an airport area hotel and finished around noon. With quite a bit of time to kill before my 5:30pm flight, I headed over to the new Toronto Terminal 1 that had opened on 6 April. As soon as you walk in you notice the immense sense of space and light. Plenty of Air Canada staff were around directing passengers to the appropriate areas. Desks are arranged perpendicular to the entrance, similar to Heathrow’s terminal one. Unfortunately that doesn’t seem to work very efficiently there, so hopefully some lessons have been learned for Toronto’s implementation.

Had a look at some of the art pieces and the landside stores. Nothing really exciting, so decided to find my way down to arrivals where I assumed that I’d find the shuttle to Terminal 3, where I would be checking in for my US Airways flight. Saw a staircase by Wolfgang Puck’s and followed the signs through the domestic baggage claim to the shuttle stop. Interestingly, when you exit the baggage claim there is a one-way automated door to get to the meet and great area. Don’t understand the point of this if the public can make their way inside anyway like I did. Shuttles to both terminals two and three were waiting and we left right away.

US2710 YYZ-PHL Dept: 5:33pm Arr 7:10pm, ERJ Operated by Mesa

I love Toronto’s terminal three. It is relatively small, easy to navigate, and nowhere close to the zoo that terminal two is. I walked up to the US Airways check in where the LCD screens flashed “GO LEAFS GO” under the US Airways logo. While I agree with the message, I find it rather gutsy given that Philadelphia will be Toronto’s opponent in the next round of the playoffs.

As usual with US in YYZ, there is no line at the counters and I am greeted immediately. It had been pouring out on the shuttle bus ride so I suggested to the agent that I might like to standby on the 2:45pm flight since my ticketed one hour connection is pushing it on a good day. Since I’m already there it didn’t matter to me whether I spent time waiting at YYZ or PHL. The agent insisted that it would cost me $40 to standby, so I decided to stick with my ticketed reservation. The US Immigration line was longer than I have seen it recently, but didn’t take more than 20 minutes. Dropped off my bag and went through security which didn’t have a line at all. From curbside to gate took about 25 minutes. Did I mention I like terminal three? Found a corner, plugged the laptop in and watched Sean Connery in The Great Train Robbery.

After watching the movie there was still quite a bit of time to kill so I decided to stretch my legs and have a walk around the terminal. US Airways’ gate is located down a level from most departures so that one can walk right out to the aircraft. There are only two US mainline flights into YYZ daily, the bulk of the carrier’s flights being operated by US Express. Interestingly, the other American carriers (except CO) at the terminal operate their RJ’s out of the satellite terminal which requires a bus connection. In any case, I had just returned to the main level when I heard my name called. As I walked to up the gate agent I glanced up at the departure screens which were now reading an 8:30pm departure. Uh oh, I thought. My connection leaves PHL at 8:20. Definitely not a good sign. Agent asked me to return to ticketing to sort out a reroute since the delay was mechanical (phew).

Back at ticketing, the agent began questioning me as to why the gate agent didn’t solve the problem and how dare they send me back to ticketing. Not quite sure how to respond, all I could do was shrug. Eventually she started looking at other routing options, but not before the agent who had initially checked me in started criticizing me for not paying the $40 to standby. “This wouldn’t have happened if you had paid it. You have only yourself to blame.” Right. So it’s my fault the aircraft went mechanical? They eventually found a YYZ-PHL flight on AC that would meet my original connection. Only problem: it left in 50 minutes. With nothing to lose I decided to accept it and a ticket was duly issued, my bag was sent up, and I was on the shuttle in just a few minutes.

I must take a moment at this point to compliment US on their handling of the situation. Not only did they admit to it being a mechanical problem (no way I would have been rerouted on another carrier if it was weather) even though they could have easily blamed it on the storm, but they went out of their way to track me and the other person that was going to miss their connection down, that had already checked in, as soon as the flight delay was known. Great job at being pro-active! Now if only it could have been done without the attitude…

AC318 YYZ-PHL Dept: 5:10p Arr. 6:50p A319

Having already been to terminals one and three, it was time to try and navigate through terminal two in 45 minutes. The AC transborder line looked like it was about 20 minutes long, so I went over to priority. Even here, I had to wait 5 minutes. The agent didn’t take long to process my ticket but mentioned that the flight would be on an “Air Canada Regional Jet” out of the satellite terminal. Great, I thought. Not exactly easy to get to in a short amount of time. Luggage re-checked and boarding pass in hand, it was time for the jungle that is Terminal Two pre-clearance. I don’t think I’ve ever heard good things about it. Last time I used it was two years ago and it was about a 45 minute wait. This time it looked even longer. Luckily, AC was pulling people out of the line whose flights were leaving soon, but there were so many of them that even the “priority” line took me about 15 minutes to get through.

After “entering” the US for the second time in the same day, the next task to face was security. For whatever reason, security seems to be even more of a bottleneck than immigration, so another 10 minute line planted itself in my lap. If you’ve even been there before, you know that the area is HOT. There are just too many people cramped in such a small space that wasn’t designed for passenger use in the first place. With 10 minutes left until flight time, I was finally out of security. Did I mention I like terminal three? Even going through the priority lines it had taken me longer to get through the jungle that is terminal two.

Surprisingly, the priority agent didn’t have his facts quite right. There was no Air Canada Regional Jet waiting to take me to PHL, and it certainly wasn’t in the satellite terminal. As luck would have it, the flight was leaving out of gate H, which is right next to the exit from security. The luck didn’t stay with me for long – for indeed the security agent at the gate was not occupied so I got the “random” secondary treatment. Three security checks at one airport in one day. I now have a new definition for the word fun.

As I boarded the aircraft, I realized that it has been several years since I have taken a short-haul flight on AC metal. The interior of the A319 was surprisingly clean and comfortable. Adjustable headrests, audio and video entertainment, and power ports available at many seats. Luckily, I was in the rear section of the aircraft so didn’t have to worry about the reduced “priority” legroom. Had the section of three seats to myself which was nice too. We waited about 10 minutes for some “last minute bags” (I wonder whose?) and pushed back shortly after.

Remember that storm? Well, shortly after we began to taxi, the winds changed and we had to turn back to get to a new runway. The rain was coming down in sheets, the wind was howling, and visibility was very poor. Even still, we were just number 6 for takeoff but that turned into a 20 minute wait since spacing had increased dramatically. We ended taking off at 5:50pm so I started to worry about misconnecting in PHL after all.

The in-flight service consisted of the news in English and French (with free headsets passed out), a beverage round and a snack basket containing cookies, chips, etc that was self-service. Not bad for a flight scheduled for an hour and forty minutes. Even with the light load, it took quite a while to complete the drink service due to the turbulence throughout the flight. Made good time to PHL and arrived at the gate by 5:10pm after working on the trip report. I later checked online and it appears that my original US flight didn’t arrive until 10:08 – a whole five hours late.

US12 PHL-MAD Dept: 8:30pm Arr: 9:45am 767-200

I thought connecting from the Express terminal to terminal A at PHL was bad. At least in that case you can take a shuttle half way there. It seems that AC uses the gates right at the end of D-pier at PHL. Which means a five-minute walk down the pier, and another few minutes to where the shuttles arrive from Express in terminal C. Then of course the standard 10-15 minutes down to A-west. Luckily, my flight was leaving from A17, one of the first gates that you come to in the West terminal area. But after only three hours sleep, that walk seemed to drag any remaining energy out of me. Could have been worse, I suppose. Could have been LHR.

The AC agent had told me that despite having a boarding pass in hand for PHL-MAD, I should re-check in at PHL because I had been offloaded when the AC flight was issued. So up to the gate I went, explained my situation, and got a blank stare. “If you have a boarding pass, you don’t need to check in.” I had her confirm that I was indeed checked in (I was) and then asked about my checked luggage. At most places when connecting among non-partner carriers, you’re asked at your connecting point for your baggage claim ticket so that it can be put in the second carrier’s system. Here, the agent didn’t even want to look at it. She said: “If it doesn’t arrive in Madrid, it’s because Air Canada didn’t get it to us in time.” Great. I’ve done a one hour connection in PHL from US-US where my bag didn’t make it. I wasn’t expecting a whole lot in the same time frame from AC-US. However, the agent was wearing an old “USAir” sweater with the red and blue logo, so I figured she had been around for awhile.

Boarding started five minutes later and went something like this. “We are now pre-boarding the aircraft. We are now boarding envoy and preferred members. We are now boarding rows 15 and higher. We are now boarding all passengers.” All in one breath. Guess there wasn’t a very heavy load today. That was surprising. This flight is usually packed to the gills and almost always looking for volunteers. The fares certainly didn’t reflect the light load today – I’ve seen better fares at Christmas.

Somehow during the boarding process the door leading to the jet bridge got closed. That didn’t stop one passenger from trying to open it, which of course set off the alarm. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a louder sound in my life. It took the agents maybe 30 seconds to clear it during which time all passengers around the gate were covering their ears. Certainly not a pleasant start to the flight.

I took my window seat in the forward Y cabin and not surprisingly had the block of two seats to myself. We were welcomed aboard by the captain who indicated that there would be "six award-winning flight attendants looking after you today." Now I get it; FlyerAl has been brainwashed. In the 40 or so seats in the cabin, maybe about 12 of them were occupied. The second cabin looked like it had a slightly higher load, but not by much. The seats on the 767 are not the most comfortable, but I’ve certainly had worse. There is enough leg room provided that the person in front of you doesn’t recline, and since there was no one in front of me, this didn’t prove to be a problem. Padding is OK, and there is no adjustable headrest. However, given that the 767 only has one row of middle seats, I still rate it quite highly given the very small likelihood of being assigned a middle seat.

We pushed back on time but that was nothing that a 16-aircraft queue with increased spacing couldn’t handle. Eventually took off about 45 minutes late. Cabin service began with a movie preview and the selling of headphones ($5, 5Euros), which I didn’t need since I have Sony NC5 noise cancelling headphones. I actually very much dislike this model after comparing them with SeeYa’s Sennheisers on a recent flight. My biggest complaint is that they really don’t cancel noise very well. The sound volume is increased when you turn them on, and there is a slight reduction of outside noise, but overall this is a very poor implementation. Regardless, the US headphones are horrible as well. I think they are the same model that Air Canada gives away on their flights for free (and consider disposable, so they don’t take them back).

Next was a beverage service. All alcoholic beverages also cost $5, 5Euros so I refrained today, choosing instead the sparkling water. I do this instead of the regular water because it comes in a can, whereas the spring water is poured from bottles, so you get quite a bit more. This is followed by the dinner service which is a choice of pasta with cream sauce and chicken and beef fajitas. Surprise, surprise, it was the flight attendant that I have seen quite a bit on this route and likes to talk to me in Spanish even if I answer in English. I really don’t understand it – he greets most of the other passengers in English, but every time I see him on the flight (this is the third time this year) he always insists on Spanish. This flight attendant is a shining example of the great employees of US that we hear so much about. He takes his time with the meal service, showing all passengers both meals, and giving detailed explanations about each of them. Too many times it’s just “pasta or beef” and if you ask something like “what kind of pasta sauce is it?” you’ll get a curt “I don’t know. It looks red.” Or something.

After consulting with him, I choose “las fajitas Mejicanas” which I don’t remember seeing on the flight before. I start with a soft roll and room temperature butter. I *hate* cold butter, especially in the confined spaces of an aircraft. It is just so darn hard to get on the bun with a plastic knife. Luckily, that isn’t the case today. Next, I eat the cheese and crackers which I guess is supposed to replace a salad. Problem is that there is only one piece of cheese but two crackers. So I make a little sandwich-like thing. I’m such a problem solver! The main course is all of the stuff you’d consider to be in a fajita, expect the fajita shells themselves. The base consists of rice and black beans (actually cooked very well) with sautéed vegetables and a few strips of chicken and beef. The chicken is moist and tender. The beef tastes like spam. Guess you can’t win them all. “Desert” is a run-of-the-mill sugar cookie. The US economy trans-Atlantic meal could really use some beefing up (pardon the pun). Apart from the spam, the lack of a salad or real dessert makes a really light meal and I was still somewhat hungry after eating it. Sometime during the meal, another beverage service comes through and I take a can of cranberry cocktail.

When he returns to clear my tray, I inquire if breakfast is still just a donut. I don’t know when they started doing that but it’s really annoying. No bread, fruit, cheese, eggs; whatever they used to do. Just a pre-packaged buttermilk donut. And since lunch time in Spain isn’t till about 2pm and the flight arrives at 9:45, it really doesn’t cut it. “Si, todavia tenemos los donuts. Te daré dos.” Lucky me. Duty free service is next, but I refrain from purchasing anything. I settle in to finish watching the movie (Paycheck – a decent movie which I had been intending to see) and fall asleep as soon as it finishes.

Sometime during the flight, we hit some mild turbulence, the seat belt sign goes on, and I wake up. Spend some time working on the trip report then go back to sleep. The “breakfast” service begins an hour before arrival (another thing I hate is when they wake you up two hours earlier and then after the meal you just sit there wishing you were asleep) and sure enough I get two nasty buttermilk donuts along with some tea. I don’t think I even finished one of them. The flight attendant is telling a passenger in front of me that US has decided to put the A330 on the PHL-MAD route permanently as of 1 May. It used to be seasonal, but since I almost never go to MAD during the summer this is a great change and I look forward to my return on it. Once the service is cleaned up the couple behind me inquire as to whether another drink round will come through as they’d like another coffee. The flight attendant says that they don’t do another one but he’d be more than happy to get them the coffees, again demonstrating that US has the best employees. Landing cards are distributed and we are on the ground and at the gate about 10 minutes late.

Spanish immigration is as usual the most hassle-free that I’ve ever encountered. Even travelling on a non-EU passport, there are no questions and I am stamped and waved right through. The baggage doesn’t take very long despite the DL flight that arrived just before us (both are handled by Iberia) and surprisingly my bag has made it. I did notice quite a few priority bags appear first, but apparently the Star Alliance priority tag that the AC agent had put on had no effect. Just a couple more weeks….

Made the long trek to the subway and I’m at my mom’s place within an hour. The weather is great and this is just what I need to relax for a few days. I was speaking with the building concierge and he told me that it had been pretty cold but the forecast was calling for sunny skies with temperatures in the mid-20s for the next week. Perfect! Mom and step-dad are both away on business until Sunday so it’s just me and the dogs.

Next: MAD-PHL-YYZ, hopefully all on US on 3 May. As long as the miles got credited properly for the trans-Atlantic segments, I’ll be Silver upon my arrival and should be able to upgrade on the PHL-YYZ flight if space is available.

Thanks for the report, cedric. That breakfast sounds almost criminal! It sounds like US has a great cabin crew... I'm looking forward to them joining Star.

Thanks for the report. I think I will place US trans-at on my do not fly list! Very nice comment from the YYZ agent re: you being at fault for not paying the $40 :rolleyes:

I wouldn't count US's Transatlantic out yet...
 

I've had a rather excellent experience with US' Transatlantic experience. I was riding up in Envoy on the A330 which may have made a difference but I wouldn't mind taking the 330 in coach if I had to :)

ced, glad you made it over in one piece! Sucks that you had a little bit of a run-in at YYZ but as long as you made it over on-time and in one piece then I'd just chalk it up as an experience. :D

Good Noise Canceling Earphones
 

I bought the Koss UR 29 headphones and it cancels out the nosie without any extra device. I used it in a weight room and it worked well. I only spent $30 dollars. I don't see the point in spending $100 dollars. The package says noise isolation so I consider this noise canceling.

3 May 2004

I’m in a good mood today. If you remember from the outbound trip I am currently on a status challenge and because of the involuntary reroute on the outbound, my miles didn’t post. A quick call to the Dividend Miles Service Centre solved all that. I didn’t even have to wait on hold. I was hoping that they would at least manually post the trans-Atlantic segment, but the agent was even able to post my Air Canada segment. In my previous experience with other airlines, I would have at least had to send in boarding passes for that segment but with US I didn’t even have to fax anything in. Good job US!

My time in Madrid was fun. Mostly did family stuff, however the weather was not very nice to me on this trip. The first couple of days were sunny and warm (around 25 Celsius) but the past week has been rainy and cool. Had hoped to get some skiing in because I got a great new set of skis (Fischer Sceneo S200 for those interested) and even though the ski season had lasted longer this year than the recent past, the rain in Madrid translated into fog and lousy weather on the slopes at Sierra Nevada – a four and a half hour drive to the south, near Granada. Madrid does have some local ski areas but they had all closed for the season the day that I picked up the new set. Darn.

I left my mom’s house with plenty of time to get to the airport with public transport since she had left the night before for Brussels. The bus was slow and packed, and there was a line that looked like it would have been 20 minutes at the Dunkin Donuts at the Metro station so I went directly to the airport and arrived with plenty of time to spare. There is a small bar just outside of the Metro exit at the airport so I got my coffee and croissant there, then spent the greater part of 15 minutes walking to the check in counters.

US 11 MAD-PHL Dept. 1:40pm Arr. 4:15pm, Airbus 330.

Today is just the second day of the Airbus on this route for the year and it is a world apart from the aging 767-200 that I came over on. Perhaps those that didn’t seem impressed with my outbound will reconsider using US on trans-Atlantic flights that are operated with this aircraft and I’ll explain why in a bit.

Today is also T-1 for US’ entry to the Star Alliance. As I sit here waiting for boarding in Madrid there is so far no sign that US has prepared signage, etc. for the occasion despite having almost a year to do so.

Check in is still handled by Iberia, which is quite surprising given US’ partnership with Spanair that has been in effect for a few months. I suppose they could be on some sort of contract that expires after a given amount of time. Security is another issue. In my experience, US has the most vigorous security process of all the airlines into Madrid (except possibly El Al), and certainly among the American carriers here. Before being able to check in, a security agent approaches all passengers and grills them about reason for travel, baggage, etc. Not just the three standard questions; the processes generally takes about five minutes. Once I get through that, and before I approach the check in desk, I am told that I will need to do a random check. This is a first for me, and even my checked baggage cannot go through. I receive my boarding pass (although not my connecting pass to Toronto, which is unusual for US) and am then escorted by the security agent on a lengthy walk to an unmarked room. The agent is friendly and tells me that the US flight has had relatively poor loads recently, which is a shame. Apparently the other American carriers (DL, CO, AA off the top of my head) have been consistently near capacity out of Madrid. Hopefully for US’ sake (not that I mind a flight with lots of room to move around) this is a flight that will benefit quite a bit from the Star Alliance. Spanair and United abandoned IAD-MAD a few years ago (Air Canada ended up with their god-awful long distance aircraft) and AC’s service from Toronto only lasted for two years. This is therefore the only *A North America-Spain flight.

For the security check, I am told to place my checked and carry on bags on to an x-ray belt and I am then escorted to a private area. It seems like the carry on baggage is secondary to this inspection as all of the attention is on the piece that I am going to check. Instead of letting the agent do his thing, I am told to completely unpack the bag on my own as my every move is scrutinized. Once everything is out on the table, the bag is again passed through the x-ray machine and the agent doesn’t seem too happy. In fact, he keeps pulling it out, looking it over, then putting it back in again. Eventually, he decides that my empty bag poses no threat to security and I am given the OK to repack.

Next I head to exchange my remaining Euros. I recommend doing this in Madrid rather than in the US because the rates are reasonable (the currency exchange booths are run by a Spanish bank) and there are no commissions. I was about 50 cents short of a nice round exchange figure but they didn’t worry too much about it and for 55 Euros I got CDN$60 and USD$18 for my PHL stopover.

The lineups for exit controls and airport security look pretty bad near the US Airways check in, but there are two other entrances further along the terminal and I find a line that takes about 15 minutes to get through both. Over to the US Airways gate, where as part of the security efforts, US have a section of the boarding lounge cordoned off for the flight but as of yet it is unmanned. I start work on the report and at about 12:30 the security folks arrive and do one last check of the passports before allowing entrance to the roped off area. Boarding starts at an hour prior to departure, and is completed within 20 minutes with the exception of a few connecting pax.

I have a window seat in the first economy cabin, and as SeatGuru suggests there is an extra inch of pitch (33”) compared with the rear section. Because of the entertainment system, there is a box under each seat which somewhat affects the legroom and certainly makes it difficult if not impossible to stow a laptop bag under the seat. I switch to an aisle seat in the middle section in order to secure an empty seat beside me and it looks like another poor load for US today with again around 40% of the Y seats occupied. There is an adjustable headrest at each seat, and the cabin is wide enough to allow for an extra armrest between the two middle seats so in a word the cabin is spacious. Empower ports are available at all seats on the aircraft, as are satellite phones. Instead of a “non smoking” illuminated sign, there is one which indicates when it is safe to use electronic devices, which is a useful feature.

Doors are closed and we are ready for pushback about 10 minutes early but we remain at the gate for another 20 minutes as a result of an ATC hold. We then have another wait as we are number 7 for takeoff once we push back and take off about 40 minutes late. Flight time is pegged at 7 hours and 17 minutes, which should get us into PHL about 45 minutes early which is about normal for this flight. In fact, even with ATC holds and such I have never had this flight get in less than 20 minutes early and I think I’ve even arrived more than an hour early once or twice.

I flip through May’s Attaché magazine and note that the introductory column was written by David Siegel who ceased working with the company two weeks ago. There are also a few pages of Star Alliance information with the 4 May start date indicated, indicating that this date was set months before it was made public. It would have been nice to know the official date more than a week before they joined, but I am glad that there has finally been some action on this front.

Once underway, headphones are sold, and the Sony Passport system boots up. This is in my opinion the best economy entertainment system across the Atlantic bar none. Not only are there PTVs at each seat, but each one is on demand which means that if you want to watch several movies you can do so one after another rather than waiting for the entire cycle to finish. Pause, fast forward, and other controls are also available. US maintain an impressive selection of options, including seven movies (Big Fish, Mystic River, The Return of the King…), 30 TV shows (Friends, Frasier, Scrubs, Sopranos, several European magazine-type programs, the Muppets…) introductory language classes and full-length CDs. In short, this aircraft is worlds ahead of the 762 and I’m glad that US intends to keep it permanently on this route.

The first round of drinks is accompanied with a small bag of pretzels and I am given a full can of Sprite without having to ask. After a garbage run, lunch is served which is a choice today of pasta and chicken. I opted for the chicken and was very happy with it. Unlike on the flight over, the tray hadn’t been preheated and therefore the butter and roll were rock solid. There were some crackers and spreadable cheese along with a small coleslaw. The chicken itself was roasted breast meat in gravy, perfectly cooked and nice and hot, accompanied by a mixed vegetable selection and rice with raisins. For dessert there were two chocolate-filled pre-packaged cookies. Portion-wise, it was as big as the outbound dinner and the main course was much better tasting (no sign of spam this time) so apart from the cold roll I was quite pleased with it. Another round of drinks very shortly followed by a garbage run so that meal trays were not in the way. Not five minutes later, the entire drink cart came through again, with the addition of coffee and tea. That meant that I could have milk in my tea rather than cream, which is unusual because often only cream is stocked for the coffee service. For those counting, that means there have been three full beverage services within two hours of takeoff. Too bad US charges for alcohol in economy.

There is a decent selection of recent magazines, and I began to leaf through the latest Fortune 500. Apparently, US Airways doesn’t just brainwash passengers about their award-winning services – this must be a special US Airways edition of the Fortune 500 because apparently US was the most profitable airline in the States last year, with a profit of $1.46 billion on revenue of $6.85 billion. Number two was Southwest which only made a measly $442 million….

There were no further drink cart passes until the snack service; however water and orange juice were available in the rear galley along with small bags of pretzels. The area was manned by a Flight Attendant, so I’m sure additional beverages would have been available on request.

I watched quite a few things on the passport system during the flight. Random thoughts: I forgot that the TV show Blossom existed until today… Looney Tunes: Back In Action would be a great movie to watch whilst stoned… Never heard of Monk but I think I’ve finally watched a crime/mystery series that is actually watchable. And finally: about the only thing missing from US’ passport system is Airshow/the moving map. OK, enough of that…

The Duty Free cart had gone through and the prices were actually less than the MAD airport shops, although I didn’t purchase anything; unlike on many carriers, there is no mileage incentive for purchasing duty free items. But it’s time to digress, because this isn’t the first time that this has happened on US. Despite a relatively smooth flight, the seat belt sign remained illuminated throughout. Perhaps certain captains believe that the sign best be left on for liability reasons, but it honestly doesn’t stop anyone from getting up after the first 15 minutes, the flight attendants take no action because they are used to it, and when we do hit turbulent patches, everyone is unprepared for it which has the potential to cause more injuries than initially would have been possible. Not smart in my opinion.

Arrival service began about 1:10 before touchdown. Snack was a brie sandwich with red pepper sauce, a bag of German Happy Mix and a really mini Toblerone. Drink cart followed right after and following clean up the landing cards are distributed. For those that are reading this report that often fly on a certain other carrier that I mentioned earlier, I am pleased to report that US has not refilled the drinking water from the aircraft tap (in my experience), unlike the above-mentioned carrier. Additionally the water is not “demineralized” tap water – it is real, live spring water.

During the announcement about the landing cards, my PTV froze on the “announcement” placeholder screen. I mentioned it to the flight attendant distributing the cards and she told me that it would have to be reset. I went for a walk to stretch my legs and by the time I was back it was back to the startup screen. Drat. Thought that I’d have to spend the next 10 minutes fast forwarding through the movie but surprisingly after I selected it, it started at the exact spot where it had frozen.

Decent was somewhat turbulent but we made it to the ground in one piece, and I was through immigration and baggage re-check by the originally scheduled arrival time.

Great report. A few summers ago I was booked to fly on one of US's 767-200's from PHL to LGW. Well that never happened because our flight to PHL from RIC got cancelled because of storms in PHL. We were rerouted RIC-ATL-LGW on Delta on a 763. On the way home I got to expirience one of US's A330's. They really are great!