UA Returns to TPA
 

At least it did this morning.

(Sorry if the titled excited you, lucky9876coins.) ;)

UA substituted an A319 for the TED A320 on UA 1591 to ORD. For the first time since May 2004, I was able to fly UA from TPA in a first class seat! It reminded me of the old days before UA relegated TPA, MCO, MIA, FLL, PHX, and LAS to the TED-die table.

That's mean. I was just about to congratulate lucky.

:mad: *1,000!

Argggggggggggggh! :mad:

So, was it F service, or just Y service?

Almost had a heart attack there... :o

hehe lets rub in all TED for lucky a little more :rub: :rub: ;) :D

Sorry to tease you like that!

It was upgraded Y service with a pre-departure drink and frequent refills. No one got a full can of soda, but the 8 of us sitting in F did get offered a free snack box.

It was dark outside, and I didn't even realize it was not a TED plane until I started to board. The scanner rejected by OLCI BP, and the GA sent me to the counter to get my new BP. The GA at the counter (one of my favorites of an outstanding group in TPA) told me that the A319 was subbed in and that they assigned the 1K pax to the F seats. (There were 8 of us?) The flight left from E75 and I had been sitting at E72 to have an electrical outlet, so I missed the page.

Too bad this doesn't happen more often.

In all of my Ted flights to and from TPA it has never happened! Hope I get lucky as well sometime! :D

My guess is that they upgraded all the 1K's (which most likely did not equal eight), and then the subsequent status levels. I usually peak at the manifest on Ted flights to TPA, and I am the only 1K 90% of the time. The rest of the time there is usually one other. Interestingly enough, on my flight Saturday evening, at least half of the plane was Asian (not disciminating, but they did not speak very good English), and almost EVERYONE had status. There were at least ten 1K's!

Also, you like the agents in TPA?!? :eek: I really, really find them to be bad, but I have very minimal interaction since I never check bags and always OLCI. Would you mind posting the first name of the agent that was good?

Lastly, I also remember a story about a sub into TPA where they pulled upgrade certs for those that wanted F, event though there was Y service.

First, let me say I'm sorry I missed the dim sum!

Last weekend I did a SFO-IAD-TPA-IAD-SFO MR and noticed that the crowd milling around the gate in TPA was somewhat restless. Quite a few did not have BPs (although the GAs kept referring to them as "cards" not "passes"). One man in particular told me "I'll never fly this airline again". So no, I didn't think the ground crew was doing a very good job.

Of course, I had all 4 of my BPs before I left for SFO! ;)

There are 4 that I seem to interact with every time I fly UA from TPA. One of the GAs at E-75 this morning ALWAYS seems to be there for the flights departing around 6:00 a.m. She is probably 40-something and very pleasant. There's another one who often works the departing flights who looks a lot like her except she has darker hair. There's also the guy with the southern accent and the African-American woman; these two know me by name. I think that's a good thing. :cool:

I apologize for not knowing any of them by name, but they treat me better than the CO/NW agents at TPA did when I used to fly them a lot.

As someone who lives in TPA and flies out of there a lot, I think that is more of a function of the people flying TED out of TPA than the people working the gates. Maybe that's an unfair statement on my part, and I don't know if lucky agrees, but we seem to get a lot of people in that airside who act like they have never been on an airplane. It could be the TED effect, and the problem is compounded by TED flights to IAD/ORD frequently being packed (not so much to DEN).

I completely agree. We do get a lot of inexperienced travelers that complain about everything, so it is certainly a worse crowd than your average hub city. I always like to sit in the front of the plane because some of the comments that people make crack me up. Upon boarding the A320, half of the people ask whether they should go left or right. :D I think it is definitely a function of the clientele...

OK, I see what you are saying. The man with a southern accent is very friendly and professional, as well as the African-American lady. I have had two VERY BAD experiences, though, with the lady with dark hair in her forties (there is more than one, so don't want to automatically accuse anyone). Like I said, I have VERY limited interaction with the agents, since I always OLCI, so the only time I ever see them is when they scan my BP.

We need to do a mileage run together sometime. :D

I'm always up for a run! In fact, I am in the middle of one right now, sitting at ORD and getting ready to board the 4:10 flight back to TPA. Unfortunately, it is a TED plane.

Lucky and FB
 

You obviously have more experience with TED at TPA then I do (which was none before Saturday), and I agree, the group waiting for the (packed) 11:40am flight to IAD did not seem very savvy (if I dare to make that assessment). I really didn't see the scene develop, since I had just gotten off the same plane. I guess there was a large # of stand-bys.

But I was annoyed that the agent kept referring to BPs as some sort of "card", and that you would need a "card" to get on the plane, and don't come forward until your name is called. I was wondering whether there was some strange procedure at TPA that I didn't know about, not having checked in at the gate.

Over all, I had no problems with the flights to and from TPA.

Same thing happened yesterday from ORD-PHX-ORD

Probably those people checked in later and did not have seat assignments, and the GAs were calling them up one by one as seats became unblocked or there were no-shows. Fairly commonplace on UA.