30 Days Without a Post - Catching Up

Well, a busy month, mostly due to quick trips into and out of Knoxville, my former home, to watch the University of Tennessee's football team struggle.

In any event, this month I've been to:

STL
BWI
CVG
ORD
DCA
and now I'm in PHL.

ALL of this flying has been Delta/Northwest as I continue to try to rack up enough MQMs to make the new Delta Diamond Medallion status. And it's still gonna be close.

On the trip into Cincy from BWI I again left my mp3 player in a seat back pocket. I called DL baggage service in CVG and you get a recording. Of course they never called me back.

BUT, this time I had placed one of my business cards inside the case, and when it came time to leave CVG, I stopped by the bag office, and miraculously, THEY HAD THE THING.

The agent said that the key was the fact that they had my card, looked up my record and knew I was gonna fly out of CVG on that day. So they hoped I would come by.

Got lucky on this one.

On the other hand, I still have not been credited with mileage off my trip from DCA to TYS through DTW on Northwest. This is aggravating, I'll wait another few days, and then fire off another email to DL to get the credit.

DFW next week.

Knoxville to St. Louis - Tired of Dealing with Delta/Northwest problems

I've just about had it with the "seamless" travel that DL is telling us would happen with the NW merger. I flew NW metal out of TYS and MEM to get here. I had learned the hard way, that despite having a 006 prefixed ticket, this is still considered to be NW travel. So I printed the boarding pass on NWA.com instead of Delta.com. (I really wonder how many casual fliers would know to do this, because if you don't your seat assignment from Delta.com gets wiped out of the record).

So the NW, rather let me say Pinnacle flight shows up on time to take us to MEM. And of course it's a CRJ200 piece of crap. I'm tired of telling you how CR1 and 2 are the worst pieces of metal in the sky for passenger comfort.

So we get to MEM and now it's time to spend some time in the DL Sky Club which used to be one of the better NW clubs. So naturally, the agent at the counter is a former NW person wearing a DL uniform and has to see:

My ID
My DL Crown Room card
and
My boarding pass

just to get inside! And she had to type something into the computer as well!

Once inside I am going to officially pronounce the NW clubs dead. ALL of the food and beverage is classic Delta cheap, which is much worse than the old NW clubs. The NW clubs had fruit and much more variety. The guys down on Virginia Avenue have finally gotten into the clubs.

And I thought:

This must be extremely difficult for NW elite members to swallow. Their FF program has disappeared, and they are now forced to fly more for the same benefits. Their clubs have just been completely downgraded, particularly in the food area. And now they must deal with "Platinum saturation" as DL made it so easy for everyone to get to elite status. This puts tremendous pressure on first class. The chances of upgrading successfully have dropped a lot for these folks.

They must be very frustrated.

Memphis to Atlanta - Still a DL/NW Mess

I flew here to MEM on NW metal out of Chicago yesterday. I have learned my lesson in this arrangement; if it is NW metal you MUST check in at nwa.com and print the boarding pass there. You also gotta go to NWA if you want to assign a seat. If you try it at delta.com it will allow you to do it, but then you revisit the site and it has wiped out the seat assignment.

But 30 minutes ago, here in MEM, I tried to check in for my flight to ATL which is purely Delta, metal, ticketing, etc.

And STILL I could not get the kiosk to take the check in; the agent told me that even though all the signage says Delta, I will still at the old NW counter. To check in for ATL you have to go to "the other Delta counter". This is the same stuff you put up with at LAX. I have noticed a lot of griping about Los Angeles, and it is just as chaotic here in MEM, but with fewer frustrated pax.

What a damn mess.

I sincerely wish that DL would cut back on some of the marketing and put some money into the check in process. It is still not working.

Also, I have yet to get FF credit for my ORD to MEM segment from yesterday on NW metal. I'm sure I'll have to fill out the form at delta.com for this like I always do.

Please Delta, FIX THE CHECK IN PROCESS!

CRJ2 Hell - Chicago to Cincinnati

Sooner or later, no matter how hard I try, if you fly in the Delta system you're gonna get saddled with a CRJ1 or 2. 2 is slightly more comfortable than 1. And today, at ORD, it belonged to SkyWest.

So I settle in an aisle seat and naturally my seat mate is some huge guy. I've already vented enough about this stuff in earlier posts.

Due to some weird delay at ORD regarding loading the bags, we were 5 minutes late into CVG.

CVG back to ORD on Sunday, but on a CRJ9, much nicer.

Catching Up Again

I'm finally over that trip that took me from Vegas to San Juan and then back to Hermasillo, Mexico. And my body let me know that it would not tolerate this kind of thing. Seems that I got some kind of respiratory illness. And I never went to the doctor for this and paid a severe price. I'm about over it now, but I barely remember SJU as I was so sick there.

Now throw in the following. I worked in Chicago for one day and then flew to Detroit to help put my son in law school at Michigan State. That exhausted me as well, setting up his apartment and the like.

Then I flew back to Chicago to drive on up to Madison, WI, where I am now. On to Cincinnati from Ohare tomorrow night and then right back to Chicago on Sunday. Working on a Saturday is not helping my recovery either.

And I have been remiss in mentioning how our friends at Delta have again "enhanced" the Sky Miles program by creating an upper elite division known as "Diamond Medallion". Now I will qualify for this level, but those guys down on Virginia Avenue made it so easy to make Platinum that the system got saturated with elite fliers. They had no choice but to create another division.

And those poor souls who are Silver and Gold Medallion, I have no idea what benefits if any you can get due to saturation at the Platinum level.

Other news includes that horrible event where the Express Jet flight was stranded overnight in Rochester, MN. This is old news, but it tells me something that I have always maintained:

The airlines have never developed any infrastructure which is designed to take care of irregular flight operations. It would seem that they simply can not afford this. And they will not be forced to take irregular ops into account until the government forces it and backs it up with fines.

In the meantime, the strandings (these are literally hostage taking events) will continue.

Delta - Northwest, It Still Ain't Working Well

Flew up from Hermosillo to LAX today (I'm in the LAX Sky Club at the moment). Once I cleared customs I had to check in for my DL/NW flight to MSP.

Of course this is where the fun starts. You stand at the kiosk and press "Northwest flight". Of course it asks for a World Perks number, which I don't have. So you hope for the best and try to check in on the Delta side of the kiosk. Delta tells you that you don't have a reservation.

So now it's time to get in the First Class line at LAX. Surprisingly, very few people were in line. An agent walks up and asks if I have first class, yeah I do. I tell her I'm trying to check in for MSP. She tells me I'm in the wrong line, that the "First Class line" I'm in is for ATL and SLC flights. Of course there is absolutely no indication or signage about this. She sends me over to another "First Class line". After a 30 minute wait, I'm finally able to check in for this DL/NW thing.

I have to say this. Out of Mexico today I flew on Aerolitoral, a commuter of Aeromexico. They have staff available, everything goes well, and their FF miles post to Delta.com on the same day! Of course, you have to write DL to get credit for NW flights.

How can somebody like Aeroliteral do such a better job of operating in the "new Delta"?

Sure wish the guys on Virginia Avenue could travel with me for just two weeks.

Hermasillo, Mexico

My first visit to the Sonoran Desert and it can get hot here, each day about 110F. That never upsets me, just reminds me that I better get as much of this weather as I can before winter sets in.

To the folks that I have worked with here this week, I say, Gracias, dios les bendigan. You are all wonderful charming people.

Where to start? My last post was written from Las Vegas and since that time I have just been too busy and overwhelmed.

I flew from LAS to ATL for one night, then on to SJU (San Juan) where I spent all of last week, including one extra day of vacation.

The flying was pretty normal, all first class. And last Saturday night, from ATL out to LAX, I experienced my first ever "lie flat" seating in first on a DL777. Needless to say, this is magnificent, but it takes a while to get used to the fact that the seat does NOT face straight ahead, but rather, towards the center of the cabin. This is necessary for the "lie flat" features to work. I never really stretched the bed open totally, as this was a daytime flight.

I spent last Saturday night at the Embassy/LAX and then on Aeromexico ERJ145 on to Hermosillo.

The work is over here, and tomorrow it's back to LAX, and then DL/NW on to MSP then to ORD.

I have not been in Chicago in over 6 weeks, I suppose I should go and check the mail there.

Then it's on to East Lansing, MI to help my son get settled for Michigan State law school.

PS, the pic that you see is not from Hermasillo, but rather taken at Luquillo Beach in Puerto Rico. Very nice and very uncrowded.

Viva Las Vegas

I'm here for two weeks, then on to San Juan. Not much to report since this blog is primarily concerned with air transportation.

I will say that in an attempt to avoid ATL last Sunday, I booked NW metal through MEM again.

All I can say is, that the A320 was the first flight to Vegas I have ever flown on where first class had a lot of empty seats. And this is not due to a lousy economy (this town is full!), but because all the Delta high mileage guys are still battling it out for precious upgrades through ATL.

I remember, despite being Platinum, my upgrade success rate from ATL to LAS was only about 70 per cent.

So, my gamble paid off. And I hope the core of Delta fliers who live down south continue to battle through ATL! Want peace, quiet and space? Ride the NWA A320 out of MEM.

More Delta-Northwest Insight

The work in Memphis ended early, so I hustled out in an attempt to get an earlier flight to ATL.

The fun started at the kiosk; although the metal was NW, and I had changed my seat on the NW web site, the kiosk said I had a Delta reservation. Ok, so I start it over. I had been waitlisted for first class up to Knoxville out of ATL and it had not cleared, so I acknowledged all of that. I attempted to list for the upgrade out of MEM and was told I could not get on the list. OK.

I go to the gate of an earlier flight and it is so oversold that I don't even attempt to get on the standby list.

I hang out in the MEM Sky Club for a while. And for the first time, I was in an NW club that did NOT have all the food choices that NW was famous for. In fact, the only food were those same old tired Biscoff cookies that we are all sick of. I don't know if Virginia Avenue has started to cut back on the food or what, but this is a change that I hope does not take hold. The NW clubs were always nicer.

So, back to the gate for my flight to ATL. And I get paged and upgraded to first, even though I was never able to join the list. Wonderful!

It's an MD88 down to the World Port, then a Pinnacle CR9 up to TYS. All on time.

I would suggest that anyone flying on NW metal prepare for the unexpected; this merger still has its rough spots.

And I'll do it again tomorrow, NW metal from TYS to MEM out to Vegas. Two weeks in the southwest heat coming up.

The Old Delta Lives Again

I flew back to MEM late this afternoon from BWI. Another one of those Delta-Northwest blends, but what made this one different, was, for the first time since the early 1990's, I flew on a DC9 with Delta colors! I don't expect that remark to resonate with too many folks, but getting on this kind of equipment is like getting in a time machine. I plainly remember that one of the Delta print ads that ran in the papers in the mid 90's concerned how young their equipment was. And at that time, that was a very true statement. They had dumped all the DC9's and purchased a bunch of MD88's, 752's and 762's.

Well, a merger makes for stange bedfellows I suppose.

But I have to admit, that first class in this aging piece of metal is still better than first in an MD88.

Just another weird observation.

Another Crash - How Many this Year?

I got up today to the news that another hull crashed, this time in Iran. The metal belonged to Caspian Airlines, and was a Tupolev 154M.

I've already read a lot of comments from the experts extolling the safety of commercial air transport. And I agree, but there is no way that I would ever fly on Russian hardware (or Chinese for that matter). I know I might sound ignorant to the purists, but a combination of Russian metal and economic sanctions (Caspian Air is a partially owned Iranian operation) would make me extremely uncomfortable.

I'm staying off the Russian metal. A pic of a Tu154M is attached.

Delta-Northwest - A Lot to Iron Out

I flew Knoxville-Baltimore yesterday, but the connection was through Memphis and the metal was all Northwest.

This arrangement is interesting; you buy the ticket on the Delta web site, but to control your seating you have to visit the NW site. The metal is all NW. The flight crews are wearing DL colors. The beverages are NW standard. And, complicating the issues, to get SkyMiles credit you have to be patient; I've already received credit for the TYS/MEM segment, but no mention of the MEM/BWI segment on the account yet.

I've been considering MEM as an alternative to the zoo that is ATL; and I'll give the folks at MEM credit; they turned the A320 in just 30 mins after its arrival from LAX.

On another note, a Southwest flight made an emergency landing in Charleston, WVa last night. The flight was Nashville/BWI and a hole appeared in the fuselage. The masks deployed as well.

One of these days for me . . . .

Checking In

It's mid summer, and typically my work slows a bit around July 4. This year was no exception; I did a quick one day job in Milwaukee. Regarding the flying, I flew one segment of four on real Delta metal, the rest on third party commuters.

Both connections were through Atlanta, and every flight was delayed. I'm not going to complain too much, as ATL has been getting pounded by storms almost every day for the last three weeks.

Regrettably, my daughter took a punishing five hour delay out of ATL last night due to storms. Here flight back to San Diego departed ATL at the ungodly hour of 2:45 AM.

She is more understanding than I am. I suppose that is one of the values of youth.

I'm going to Baltimore this week. I bought the ticket on Delta, yet again, it's all Northwest metal. Interestingly, Delta's web page shows different seating than the Northwest site. I checked in on the NWA site. Let's see how it all plays out. But I'm starting to like the NWA/DL arrangement as it puts me into Memphis, and MEM is not nearly as chaotic as ATL.

Back to the grind with a short trip to MEM itself from BWI and then two weeks in a row in Las Vegas. Then San Juan and Hermasillo, Mexico.

The beat goes on

From the World Club

OK, I think I've finally gotten the lingo down, it's now called a Delta World Club.

I have noticed that free WiFi is here, and so are cookies, which were all found in the NW clubs. So some good things are happening. Maybe Virginia Avenue decided not to agitate the NW elites by "enhancing" their club benefits. I'm sure the free WiFi is buggin' them over here across the street.

No air travel for 6 days! I plan on relaxing and doing all the things that normal people get to do over the summer. And that includes going to bed whenever I want to and getting up whenever I want to.

The DL 752 was a bit early into ATL today, but it is Wednesday and nobody flies on Wednesday. And although I've really ranted about the chaos at MCO, today I walked up to the TSA checkpoint and went through with no wait. I even had a chance to joke to the agent about how all those CLEAR customers got screwed there! He laughed; TSA thought it was stupid too.

No posts for a while. Milwaukee is next.

O'Hare/Atlanta/Orlando - Delta

Another trip to Orlando, the second in three weeks. The miles and segments are starting to pile up now.

Through the first 6 months of this year, I've flown 55068 miles, according to the computer at Flight Memory.

This trip was uneventful. I've been trying to stay out of ATL. And because of that, I wasn't prepared for the sheer volume of humanity that can be present in all of those concourses. Seriously, even when things are on time, (and they almost were, my flight departed for MCO 20 minutes late, bearable) the place can overwhelm you.

I'd really feel sorry for anyone who has never flown before, yet ended up connecting in that place. It's just a zoo. That's not all that bad, but you are on your own there; hustle or you will get run over by other pax, carts, crewmembers, anybody.

Back to ATL and then on to Knoxville for a few days to visit the kids, on Thursday.

Idaho Falls/Salt Lake/O'Hare - Skywest

Two more on time segments today by Skywest, definitely the best of the Delta connection carriers. I just love the CR9 with the first class.

One minor observation; we boarded 5 minutes lake out of SLC because the "aircraft search team" was late arriving. Let me guess, they work for Delta, not TSA.

And yes, another 5 agonizing minutes at ORD waiting for the jetway to be put on. I guess this is just a pervasive thing through Delta stations.

And Orlando is next! I'm already telling myself not to get upset with the huge load of tourists who will be there Sunday night, making it impossible to get the rental car, etc.

Delta Red Coats Return - An Open Letter to Virginia Avenue

The famous Red Coat customer service agents are back. I've attached a pic that appeared today in USA Today.

The Delta of today in no way resembles the Delta that was around when the Red Coats established themselves as the greatest customer service team I've ever worked with in travel.

So why am I calling this an open letter?

The old Delta was a famously friendly, customer service oriented airline. I remember many occasions when I personally tracked down a Red Coat. In those days, these people had power and could do things for passengers without having their hands tied. I remember a lady agent in SLC who took me into her office and personally overrode the computer and upgraded my daughter to first class with me on an upcoming trip to Madrid.

But today, Delta is managed, operated, and simply run by people who were not around in those days. Most Delta elite customers have held on for dear life as we have seen this airline contort, compress, and god-knows-what-else. We have seen our elite privileges "enhanced" (sarcasm intended), and our options virtually evaporate.

Whereas this is the norm in the airline business, us "oldtimers" have put in more time on Delta metal than these new managers have been in their offices in ATL.

So to these new people:

Please, allow the Red Coats to solve problems as they did in the old days. Please, do not handicap them, and attach strings to them. Please give them the latitude to make decisions without having to "check with a supervisor".

Please.

Life has changed so much. Older folks like myself remember simpler, better, calmer, less complicated times. It would be nice to see this kind of spirit return to Delta.

I've flown over 4,000,000 miles with these guys. They have been a big part of my adult life.

Please

CLEAR Shuts Down

All high mileage travelers hate the ordeal known as TSA Airport Security. We have had to endure things that simply do not contribute to security, but do seem to result in "theater". And I'm not gonna let myself get agitated tonight, here in beautiful eastern Idaho.

But CLEAR, the program which allowed "registered travelers" to get through security "faster" is dead.

And there are a lot of reasons for it. TSA never wanted this to take wings. I didn't either, because to me, CLEAR lanes existed in so few airports that it simply was not worth the cost.

I have read today where CLEAR originated in Orlando, the airport I detest so much.

I was there less than two weeks ago, and and I do recall seeing a CLEAR lane, with a few folks going through. What I also recall is some jerk who got into the "regular" line with the non-CLEAR people because he thought he could bully his way past us and get in front of the CLEAR people!

Yeah, it makes no sense. I would not let this guy go past without making it difficult.

Well tonight, you jerk, I hope you are sitting at home in MCO mourning the loss of the $$$ you gave CLEAR. So get your sorry self back in line with everybody else. I'm glad to see them go.

And hopefully MCO has torn down the CLEAR lane just like the pic above (taken today at BOS)

Chicago to Idaho Falls

Even when flights are on time (ORD to SLC, then on to IDA) there will still be some suffering. And in this case, the suffering was courtesy of our friends at Bombardier, inventor of the famous Canadair Regional Jet. The ORD/SLC segment was on Delta metal, an MD90. But the SLC/IDA trip was on the infamous CRJ200 operated by SkyWest.

The CRJ burst on the scene when I was living in Knoxville. And I thought it was great. Well, compared to the propeller driven Embraer which flew TYS/CVG, well, they were great.

Only one problem. Embraer jumped into the RJ game and their ER145/170 series put CRJs to shame.

The CR900 is nice because it has a first class. CR700 is nicer than a 200, but the 100-200 series is utter hell.

You are jammed in 2x2 fashion, 50 people in the hull. And it is the tightest configuration you can sit in. I try to avoid these things, but I'll ride another one Friday morning back to SLC.

I gotta have something to complain about!

DFW to Chicago (ORD) - American - The Right Way to Handle a Melt Down

I'd like to think that I'm enough of a guy to know when I am wrong about things. I know I have been constantly critical of legacy carriers and their approach to delays. And I have spent a fair amount of time venting on American. But last night, at DFW, I want to particularly compliment the all female crew of American 2370.

Yesterday in Chicago was horrible to say the least. Bad storms, hail and the like most of the day. In fact when I did get here I could not believe how much high water lay on the streets with all kinds of tree limbs blown there.

Obviously, when this happens, ORD will melt down. I had been checking flights into ORD all day long and AA had canceled many of their trips.

But my flight showed "on time" most of the day, and of course, you can't believe that. The FAA delay site showed average delays into ORD running anywhere from 2 hours to 3 and a half hours. The radar showed big cells over the city, and sweeping in from the west which of course is right on the arrival from DFW.

Finally AA posted a departure time of 8 pm (the flight was scheduled for 6:50 pm).

So we boarded and right away I could tell this crew was different. The captain constantly came on the PA and spoke to us in very human tones about the weather and what could end up happening to us; long tarmac delay, possible deviation. She was very frank and a refreshing difference.

Then a few minutes later, she came on and told us that the FAA had issued a 9:40 PM wheels up time for us and of course it was just 8:10 pm. We all groaned knowing that we were going to have to sit there for 90 minutes before even taking off. She continued to come on the PA and apologize.

Then something happened that I had not experienced in almost 30 years of air travel; our wheels up time was moved to 8:40 pm and the cockpit was told this at 8:35!

She came on again and shared the good news but said, to be honest, no matter how fast we pushed back, no matter how fast she tried to taxi, we would not be in position for take off in just 5 minutes.

But she worked like heck to pull it off. It did take longer than 5 minutes, but we taxied right out to the departure end of 18L and we were off.

We arrived in the gate at ORD only 1 hour and 30 minutes late which was truly a good ending to a potentially horrible situation.

And when we deplaned at ORD; I walked past literally hundreds of passengers trying to sleep out in the open on city-of-Chicago-owned cots.

For anyone who never flies, this is the one situation that I have tried to avoid for almost thirty years, and I have managed to do it.

I wanted to take a pic of this but out of respect for the dignity of the people who actually paid an airline in order to sleep on a cot out in the open, I simply did not.

But again, I was completely impressed with the professionalism of that cockpit and how they felt it was imporant to keep the customers informed.

I recall all those nights sitting in DFW on Delta metal undergoing the same kind of delays and the cockpit was completely silent.

Great job ladies!

Knoxville to DFW - American Eagle

I've railed on American Eagle a lot on this blog, but since I moved to Chicago, I never fly on them. But today I did as they have nonstop service from TYS to DFW and even if they are late (and they were, one hour late!) at least you don't have to deal with the anxiety of a connection.

And almost everybody else on the ERJ had a connection and these people were becoming unglued. EGF has the same problem DL has; they can't find a jet bridge driver once you are in the gate. We waited at least 5 minutes to the point where my poor fellow East Tennesseans got abnormally upset.

Driving out of the rental area at DFW, one encounters more concrete and roads than I've seen at any US airport.

And there is a north-south tollway which splits the airport in two. So I dutifully prepared to hand over the $2 toll for the 5 mile drive. But some wonderful news for the traveler; if you are in a rental car the toll is waived! And it was! Completely unlike Chicago where the city fathers want to squeeze every dime out of anyone who goes into or out of ORD from the surrounding Illinois Tollways. Very refreshing.

I'll fly real AA metal on Friday back to ORD. I expect a delay

Harford to Knoxville - Delta

It's just the little things that seem to bug me so much about travel nowadays. It is so apparent to me that corporate America is satisfied to be just "average", nothing special. Yes, I'm talking again about Delta. I do wish the management of Delta would spend one month flying around on Southwest and they would see how average they really are.

When I lived here in Tennessee, TYS was a big MD88 operation for Delta. I was always upgraded and thought all was wonderful. Yesterday, in BDL, I sat in first of an MD88 for the first time in a long time. And it's lousy. Yes it is better than coach, but I know now that Southwest coach is just about as comfortable as first on an MD. These MDs are old and show it. Did I mention that the inbound from ATL was 30 minutes late? (which of course caused us to get to ATL 30 minutes late). No real reason given by anyone. Just a lot of verbal pressure put on the paying customers to get into their seats as quickly as possible.

And of course, the usual problem when we get to ATL; no jetway driver for a good five minutes. I have given up hoping for an explanation. All I can tell you is that having flown hundreds of SWA segments, this never happens with those guys.

Of course that extra five minutes agitated a lot of people who had close connections.

The connection to TYS was a CR9 which I love because of its very nice first class. This one was operated by Pinnacle, who used to be a big NW regional carrier, but now they are part of DL. This flight was 15 minutes early into TYS.

By the way, the captain kept calling Knoxville "KnoxVegas". When I lived here, you would occasionally hear people use this term.

Anybody who would use this term has never been to Knoxville, Vegas, or both as there are absolutely no similarities between the places. There is no gambling in Knoxville, and due to the extremely Southern Baptist nature of the place, not much drinking and hell raising.

On to Dallas later today. Via American Eagle. They don't screw up many nonstop flights. The only delay possibilities are caused by storms.

Orlando to Harford - Northwest/Delta

I have NEVER enjoyed traveling into or out of MCO. I find the place confusing and overwhelming. Now some of this is based on the fact that the place is loaded with tourists, but I think the signage is awful. Not helping are people like Avis who literally leave Preferred renters scratching their heads as to how to get to the Preferred booth. By the way "Avis Preferred" means nothing at MCO as the place is loaded with tourists who are clueless. When I finally got to the agent to get the keys, I diplomatically asked him why Avis has no display board at MCO. His answer: we have 1500 reservations a day. Uhh, I think you get that many at ORD and a lot of places and they all have boards. I'm pretty convinced that every service that exists at MCO is designed to be average due to the huge number of tourists; there's simply no incentive there to bust one's ass.

The flight out of MCO was an enlightening insight into the Delta/Northwest merger. I bought the ticket on Delta's web page. When I went to their kiosk to check in, the kiosk told me I was on an NW flight. The boarding pass was NW stock. The A319 was DL livery. The FAs wore DL uniforms. The beverages were all Pepsi products (the traditional beverage of choice at NW. You can bet that Virginia Avenue will change this to Coke). The meal served in first was definitely NW style food. The flight pulled into DL gates at BDL 5 minutes late.

Dallas is next.

Phoenix to Chicago

Thank you Southwest for getting me home 15 minutes early on a Friday night. I don't always understand Southwest's scheduling; in this case, two nonstop flights to MDW within 35 minutes of each other.

I was on the second flight which only carried about 30 passengers.

And that is always a wonderful feeling!

Yet, despite this, two "family members" sat in front of me and at times got so loud about which member of the family owed them money, well, I could hear them through the Bose headphones.

The other irritating issue occurred when we hit the gate at Midway, the Russian girl who ran over everybody trying to be the first out. When she could not pull that off, she started talking on her cell in loud Russian, only about one inch from some guy's head.

I just wish people knew that the world included others.

Enough of that. I'm home, it's summer, and I get a week in hot humid Florida next week, and I'm very happy!

Chicago to Phoenix (Skywest/Delta through SLC)

Two more uneventful, on time flights by a "connection" carrier. It is my opinion that of all the third parties flying under Delta colors, SkyWest does the best job. I particularly like their use of the CRJ900 with a nice first class.

Coming out here today I tried to recall the 10 worst things that have ever happened to me on the road. I'll do some more thinking about it and publish this soon.

But what got to me today was that my employer furnished Visa was rejected by the hotel here. Hint to employer: PAY THE DAMN BILL!

I get tired of tying up my own money.

I've also learned that the debris field has been found from the Air France flight that vanished in the Atlantic off the coast of Brazil. Hopefully they will find the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder.

Back to Chicago on Friday. Via Southwest.

Missing Air France Flight

Unless I'm just mistaken, it's been a pretty bad six month stretch for aviation disasters. Continental, Colgan, Turkish, and now Air France with fatalities. The Air France is again disturbing due to the high tech nature of the Airbus equipment.

I'll never speculate on this, but I do know that the area between Brazil and Senegal is immense. Here's a pic of the flight path from the BBC website. In the meantime, I'm sitting at O'Hare getting ready to ride Delta (ok, Skywest) out to Salt Lake and then on to Phoenix.

Nashville to Midway

My travel is down over 10 percent this year from last year. Whereas that does hit me in the wallet, I've noticed that not being up in the air as much has certainly calmed my nerves. Today, we left BNA 3 minutes early and arrived at MDW 10 minutes early. You guessed it, Southwest.

Thanks SWA for getting me home early for a nice weekend!

If this stuff continues, I'll have to start writing a blog about lousy hotel internet service.

Out to Phoenix on Tuesday, Delta. Flying a legacy carrier through a hub (in this case Salt Lake) always raises the blood pressure.

Los Angeles to Nashville on Memorial Day

I spent a week in SoCal as they call it, and half of that time was spent down in San Diego visiting my daughter. She has hit the jackpot job wise, and she is living just one block from the beach, slightly south of La Jolla. Lucky girl, she has the best weather in America. I'm in Nashville tonight undergoing something that I miss now that I live up north; a violent thunderstorm. Of course these storms play havoc with flights, but speaking of that, my Southwest flight was 10 minutes early. Again.

I do think they may be padding the schedule times somewhat, but I don't care.

Flying on a big holiday is a bit depressing, but I had a great weekend with my daughter. Honey, I miss you tonight!

The flight was around 50 percent full, but that did not stop at least 10 people from lining up in the A group line (when their boarding passes plainly said B)

I guess "dumbass behavior" does not take holidays. I'll work up in Kentucky this week, back to Chicago on Friday - and spring finally arrived there!

The Psychology of Being Delayed - Who Else but Delta?

I'm writing from the Sky Club or whatever they call them now at Delta. I flew the SkyWest CR9 here from ORD today, and right on time. I think I know why; it's a beautiful weather day all over the nation.

This did not stop SkyWest from posting a delay on my trip to Los Angeles. I'm still sitting here waiting it out.

Take a look at the pic; you can see how everything here in SLC is running on time, except the flight to LAX!

Of course no body knows why, no one will take ownership of any delays on beautiful days. I guess the sun is just too bright to fly on time.

So, the psychology is difficult when you realize your flight is the only late flight running through an entire legacy hub! This has happened to the veterans travelers many times, and we all know this. Uggh!

Postcript to the above:

Now that I'm in LA (and we had an earthquake 2 miles from here last night, 4.7 on the Richter scale - the hotel I'm in shook terribly!) here is the reason for the delay:

The inbound aircraft came in from Los Cabos, Mexico, and had to go through some kind of "security screening" upon its arrival. Only problem was, "whoever" (TSA?) does this screening did not show up for 45 minutes. Classic Delta-style delay!

We finally boarded and pushed back and I saw a big roller bag just lying on the tarmac at SLC. And no one was around. Pity the poor person who is the owner of this checked bag. They paid to have this happen, plus the computer will show that it just vanished until somebody gathers it up and rescans it.

I wanted to grab my camera and take a pic of it, but I couldn't get it as it was up in the overhead.

Then I have to wait 45 minutes for the hotel shuttle bus, then endure this quake, lol. But the worst part continues to be Delta and their lack of professionalism when it comes to delays.

Baltimore to Midway - Again

Another SWA flight and another on time arrival despite closing the doors 20 minutes late. This was due to a slightly late arriving aircraft and the usual full load back to Chicago. I am again so thankful to Bose for inventing noise canceling headphones; two very small children in the row behind me screamed for the better part of the flight.

The parents of course were completely oblivious to the effect this had on their "fellow passengers"; I'm sure if you asked them they thought the entire 735 belonged to them.

Los Angeles in two more days, Delta through SLC. I have noticed that flying through SLC is not nearly as chaotic as ATL.

Chicago to Baltimore - SWA 20 Minutes Early

Well, the name of the post says it all. After several weeks without flying SWA, it was again nice to have a flight with none of the bush league nonsense the legacy carriers put you through - namely, inability to find a jet bridge driver (see previous post).

I had just a couple of thoughts going through security at MDW today. TSA makes it so obvious when one of their "behavioral experts" is around. There is no stealth at all, the person is uniformed and just looks at everybody. But the good news is that secondary screening seemed to go away as quickly as it reappeared recently. Maybe I am just lucky.

Of course no SWA experience is complete without some dumbass who can not figure out the boarding procedure. Tonight, I held A18 and watched some "intelligent looking" woman hop right up in the front. Only problem was, she was holding C12. When these people get turned back by the gate agent, I just can't help but think that these poor souls are literally, and cetainly, intellectually lost.

The flight was almost full and noisy; thank you Bose for keeping me sane!

Back to Chicago on Thursday night.

Cincy to Chicago - Delta - Just When Things Started Looking Better

Flew up from CVG on SkyWest metal today, CRJ900, a really nice plane particularly in first class on the "A" side.

As the title of the post implies, not all was perfect, even though the flight was on time.

As in:

We are on the approach to ORD. A flight attendant grabs the mic and states that "I'll go over the connections with you for those who are connecting in Chicago. If you are going on to Los Angeles, that flight departs from gate B6".

Only one problem. ORD is not a Delta hub, this genius was reading the connections for the prior flight that this CRJ had made into CVG. And she read them all off! And there was absolutely no acknowledgement or ownership of this bush league stuff.

I really wonder why the airlines hire this kind of brain power to "ensure our safety".

Next, and this is worse, the CR9 parks at the gate. And we sit. And we sit. It's the same old tired Delta story; no agent is available (due to "austerity") to attach the jet bridge.

This holds us in the hull for 10 extra minutes. The cockpit was exasperated; they kept apologizing.

And I wanted to pick up the phone and call Virginia Avenue and ask them why Southwest never has this problem. Not one time on SWA metal have we been forced to stand in the aisle.

And just when I thought DL had all the dots connected. Sadly, still, no.

Hell has Frozen Over in Atlanta! (on Virginia Avenue)

This is old news actually, but Delta has finally started offering free wireless internet in their Crown Rooms/World Clubs/World Rooms, (whatever the hell they call it now).

Paying for internet at the elite level has been an insult to high mileage Delta flyers for years. And I think I know why things are changing in the clubs - the Northwest clubs are/were so much nicer!

I can just imagine the hand wringing that took place on Virginia Avenue over the discrepancies between DL and NW clubs.

Don't let the spin fool you, Delta is the same cheap outfit that crams people into run down clubs in Atlanta (if you don't believe this, go into the club at the B24 gate; it's a wonder the fire marshall does not shut it down for overcrowding)

Now, even better news; I'm in the club at CVG composing this post and the DL agent is telling me that the former NW manager of their clubs now has the same job at DL. Meaning, not only free internet, but all that food/juice/fruit/cookies and things that made the NW clubs so nice!

This is great news, but don't take a victory lap yet! I'm in CVG still eating the old Biscoff cookies that DL has served for the last 10 years; no fruit yet!

Happy Mother's Day to all moms everywhere!

Chicago to Cincinnati (and on to the Bluegrass)

Spring has finally come to Chicago. It was 70 degrees today when I flew Comair down to CVG. And yes, right on time on a beautiful day! The worst part was driving down here to Richmond, KY. About 10 miles south of Cincy I ran into rain that's just pounding central Kentucky tonight. But I can't complain about the "Delta Connection" tonight. I could not help but notice the deserted Concourse C in CVG. The fact that it is now empty is a sad commentary on the state of commercial aviation now. But I suffered many nights in that building waiting on Comair to figure out what they wanted to do with delayed flights.

Austin to Chicago - AA Metal

Even though I need more Delta miles, I flew back home tonight on AA direct. Most of the time when I'm traveling on AA, I'm actually traveling on their vassal, Eagle. But not today, this was real AA metal (MD Super 80). It's been a long time since I was on a Super 80, but I will say that coach was semi comfortable, certainly more comfortable than a Delta MD88.

We left AUS 5 minutes early, but due to winds at ORD we were 15 minutes late. Seems they had to change the runways at ORD and I know this creates havoc. So I can't be upset about the delay.

We entered holding tonight, just southwest of ORD to accommodate the flow; and that rarely happens. I can't remember the last time I was in holding.

If you look at the image of the flight path carefully, you can see the circular holding pattern.

Home all week. Next trip is Cincinnati on Mother's Day.

Chicago to Atlanta To Austin - Delta

I need more Delta miles (the kids are burning through them) so I ignored the fact that AA flies direct to AUS and did a connection through the infamous "World Port".

The inbound to ORD came from ATL and arrived 20 minutes late. Who knows why, it's a beautiful day all over the eastern half of the country. So I resigned myself to being 20 minutes late into the "World Port". But something happened today that I have never seen in almost 20 years of flying Delta; they started boarding less than 3 minutes after the inbound passengers had deplaned.

This may mean nothing to the average pax, but I am starting to sense some kind of urgency at Delta when it comes to on time operations. I don't know if this is coincidence or the result of the merger with NW or what, but I have noticed real hustle on more than one recent occasion.

Out of ATL 15 mins late, but due to what I think again is schedule padding we arrived 5 minutes early in AUS. This was after a 30 minute wait on the taxiway enroute to runway 27R in ATL (this runway is saturated with departure traffic betwee 4 and 6 PM).

The most interesting aspect was the young lady who sat in 1B on the CR9. There is no way to put it diplomatically; she had obvious enhancements to her chest that made her look like a porn star. And I've never seen anyone in first drink as much as she did. When we got to AUS the "porn star" was certifiably drunk. And she was very young. Not me, I'm not interested in that!

Newark to Chicago - A Great Example of the Best Advice I Can Give You

And what is that best advice? Fly as early in the day as you possibly can! As I've frequently mentioned, EWR and ORD represent two of the most delayed city pairs you can find. Fortunately my work in New Jersey ended hours before I anticipated. So I hustled out to EWR. CO charges $50.00 to get confirmed standby space on an earlier flight and to me that is money well spent just to get out of there. I hopped a 1:30 departure to ORD. The weather today at EWR is terrible, rain, low clouds. Complicating the issue according to the FAA is some kind of runway closure over at JFK that I imagine is impacting the arrival rates at EWR. Even then we were only 45 minutes late out of EWR (I will take that any day!) and due to schedule padding we arrived at ORD only 10 minutes late.

When I got home, I hopped on the aforementioned FAA site and see that EWR is running an astounding average delay rate of 3 hours and 52 minutes! Please remember this is the average. My original flight is showing 3 hours 17 minutes late and that is still speculation I think.

Although I rarely get to take my own advice, rule number one to follow in order to manage the chaos is:

Fly as early in the day as you can!

Chicago to Newark - Using all the Luck on One Trip

Back in the air this week, first to Newark. Anyone who has flown much will tell you that ORD and EWR are two of the most delayed places in the country, and flights between the two points, in either direction, can be chaos.

Last summer I had a trip to EWR that was six hours late due to storms in the Chicago area.

So when I book this trip I always say, "be calm, don't let it get to you". So when it started to rain late last night in Chicago, I said, "don't get upset". When I got up and saw all the fog at ORD, again, I resigned myself to a big delay. Then I looked at www.fly.faa.gov/ois and saw that the average delay out of ORD was 121 minutes and building.

I kept checking the Continental web site to see if a delay was tacked on and it was not. I did not want to sit out at ORD all day, I would have rather waited it out at home, but no delay was mentioned.

Then I noticed something that Continental does that no other airline does. Their web site tells you the lanes that the actual ship has flown. And in this case, my flight came into EWR from DFW on time. And it departed EWR to come to ORD only 6 minutes late. It arrived at ORD 20 minutes late which means we left ORD 20 minutes late. Normally, I would have celebrated this, but incredibly enough we arrived at EWR 15 minutes early! Now some people will blame that on "padding" the schedule (building in delay times). I don't care! The psychology of arriving early is wonderful. The week is off to a good start, but the same rain that Chicago is having today is headed east and will be in the New York area tomorrow and I am scheduled to fly back to ORD tomorrow night. I'm gonna try to get an earlier flight. You may not be impressed but I have seen delays between ORD and EWR that were excessive and I am totally shocked that we were early. I'm attaching a pic taken out the window of Continental's President's Club at ORD; you can see how foggy things were in Chicago (and no, I never fly US Air if I can help it).

Kalamazoo, Michigan

Again, no images of the route of flight to upload, I drove here from Chicago. The worst part of the trip is just getting out of Chicago, the rest of it is easy.

Again, I am amazed at how less stressful a trip can be when no flying is involved. It's back to Chicago tomorrow, and then two more days off. Then it's off to Newark, the delay capital of America, and on to Austin.

Los Angeles/Salt Lake/Chicago

Going from the west coast to the east, or even the midwest is never that pleasant as you lose 2-3 hours in the air. The airlines, in an attempt to maximize flight efficiency, schedule east bound flights very early in the morning or late at night. I quit doing the late night red eye stuff years ago, but getting up at 4 am like I did today is just another form of misery. But it's the lesser of the two evils.

The flight to SLC was again uneventful. This is a big concession for me to make, but it appears that after years of not caring, Delta is starting to take on time performance seriously.

And the connecting MD90 to ORD was on time as well.

Next week is a mess. Looks like I have to get to Kalamazoo but then I'm not sure what happens next.

In the meantime, it's Easter in Chicago. And spring is still not here.

Qantas Airbus A380 at LAX Tonight

On our taxi in tonight at LAX we passed right beside the QF A380 that is pictured.

And as luck had it, we had to stop right beside it for about 3 mins. It was dark and I thought about grabbing the camera, but the flash would have come right back into the camera.

This is a recent pic, taken at Sydney on March 29.

In any event, this is the first time I've ever seen this thing and the size will leave you speechless.

Memphis to Los Angeles - Delta/ Northwest

I flew to LAX tonight on NW metal. I really like the A319 in front. Get row 1 when you can. Yes, it's a bulkhead but where the bulkhead intersects the floor you will find about a 6 inch indentation which really does allow you to stretch.

Flying in this DL/NW merger is interesting. Tonight the equipment was in NW livery but the flight crews wore DL uniforms. The DL magazine was in the seats. The Dasani (Coke Atlanta) water was present.

I visited the new "World Club" in MEM. I have always thought that DL Crown Rooms were inferior to NW's clubs. NW has free wireless and many more choices for food, such as fruit. DL just gives out trail mix.

I surely hope that DL does not "enhance" these former NW clubs. I'd be willing to bet the bean counters on Virginia Avenue in ATL will not allow this to go on.

Again, NW elites have to be dying inside, watching their status melt due to DL "enhancements".

I hope the clubs stay the same.

By the way, the flight left the gate 3 minutes early. This won't continue much longer once the DL mentality saturates the system.

Knoxville/Atlanta/Memphis

Normally I would not fly from TYS to MEM via ATL. I'd do Northwest direct. But I need Delta miles, so I decided to take a chance and tack on the extra segment.

Then last night, the National Weather Service starts predicting dire weather in the southeast.

Well, lucky again. We arrive in the "World Port" ontime and took a 10 minute delay to MEM, but I'm not gonna get upset over that.

The dumbing of America continues; the person who had seat 4A beside me thought that was a coach seat and walked all the way to the back of the aircraft looking for row 4.

I'm in another Hampton Inn for the next 3 days, and already I've been subjected to some dumbass who came to the front desk in her pajamas wanting to know how to order a pizza.

On to Los Angeles next Wednesday.

January-February-March Flying

2009 is off to a busy start. According to FlightMemory, I've already flown 30.427 miles in three months, averaging slightly over 10,000 miles a month. The trip to Hawaii inflated that total, but it's a lot of time in jets (74.21 hours according to the website).

Here's what the map looks like so far

Back to Knoxville

I'm back in Knoxville for the week. I lived here for many years, and I can tell you that spring in east Tennessee is wonderful!

Having spent a week in Hawaii, I hated the last 24 hours in Chicago, snow, wind, dark. Even though I live there, I dislike the weather terribly.

But this is going to be a nice week, and spring has a wonderful smell to it in east Tennessee.

I saw the "new" Delta inflight magazine today. It represents a merger between the NW and DL magazines. I could not help but notice the "spin" that mentioned how NW elite requirements had to be "raised" to be "competitive". The poor guys in MSP and DTW have to be dying. I've already mentioned how their status will decrease now.

I flew through Cincy today, and I also noticed how CVG has been gutted as a hub for DL. This actually makes it easier for the traveler. The horrid Concourse C is now closed, thank goodness. What few Comair trips are left are now running out of the mainline A and B concourses. The demise of Comair must be particularly hard to take if you work at CVG. The original "Air Ohio" has literally been left out of the DL/NW merger. Most of their trips now originate out of New York City, which must be hard for CVG based crews to take.

Back in Chicago

A total of 13 hours flying time from Lihue to O'Hare and I'm exhausted. It's snowing here as well, which is quite a rude shock. I'm only here one day, then down to Tennessee for a week, then out to southern California.

No more Chicago depressing weather for a while I hope.

Too tired to post!

Inter Island Flying - Low Stress

Earlier I flew from Maui to Kaua'i on Island Air, on a Dash 8. How low stress. Off load and load in 10 minutes and 55 minutes of flight time.

Now I'm sitting in Continental's President's Club in HNL (Delta closed their crown room and are relying on CO and NW for clubs in many cities).

The flight here was on go! Airlines on a CRJ2. Again, low stress. I could get into this stuff. No hub and spoke things here.

However I noticed that getting from the inter island terminal over here is somewhat of an ordeal. The signage is not good and a lot of people wander around looking lost. And I hate to admit that this included me!

So, posting and having refreshments until the 3:55 departure for ATL on Delta.

Leaving Hawaii

This is hard to do. I travel almost every week during the year, and 95% is for work. But I do take time off, and this trip was needed.

It's going to be hard to go back to the grind. Today I fly from Lihue to HNL to ATL to ORD. It's 12 hours total in jets.

And I've already looked at the weather in Chicago, they are calling for 5 inches of snow on Sunday. It's almost April there, and I know they are not done with snow.

Here's a pic I took from a restaurant in Maui. It makes me sad to leave.

Maui and Kaua'i

I'm posting a pic from a deserted beach at Kaua'i.

I spent some days on Maui as well. That is paradise. But it is crowded and commercial.

But notice how unspoiled this beach is. If you want to be alone, go north. If you are on Maui, you'll be sharing heaven with a lot of people!

Catching Up on the Travel

I haven't posted in a week, as I'm now on vacation in Hawaii. I flew from Amarillo to Chicago via Denver, then just 7 hours later, to Salt Lake on to Maui. Now I'm on the northern most island, known as Kaua'i.

This is not a blog about Hawaii travel, but I have learned that each island is different; Maui is beach and commercial. Kaua'i has undeveloped beaches; if you truly want to be alone, come here.

Today is my last day here, I'll fly an RJ to HNL tomorrow, then Delta to ATL, on back to ORD. Knoxville is Monday afternoon.

So far, all of this flying has been on time with little hassle. A travel agent who specializes in Hawaii did all the leg work for this trip, including the inter island flying. Cheryl, you did an outstanding job, I am very impressed with your work!