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!

Please Get Dressed for Breakfast!

I don't post many items concerning hotel life. I've put up one or two concerning hotel etiquette. However, today I just have to go on record concerning those free continental breakfasts that you get at a lot of places.

Today, at 7 am, as I was walking to breakfast at the Hampton Inn in Amarillo, a guest opened her door and walked out in front of me. And she made for the breakfast in a hurry.

Only one problem. She was wearing her pajamas, without shoes.

This is the third time I have seen this since late December. The first time I saw this was in the Embassy Suites in San Juan around New Years. Pardon the language, but why in the hell can't you get dressed, if for no other reason, out of respect for everybody else who is dressed?

To me, this represents what I see so much on the road; stupidity and laziness combined together. She was not wearing shoes either. I don't think you can walk into any restaurant this way at all. She had not combed her hair. I never looked into her face, but I'd be willing to bet the words selfish and stupid might have appeared there.

I need to calm down about this. Travel shows you quickly how little respect some people have for the rest of the world.

I need to go to Outback and have a down under, just to calm down. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

PS. When on travel, always make sure the hotel/restaurants/whomever give your credit card back to you. Tonight at Outback, when it was time to settle the tab, they brought all the paperwork but did not bring my card. I have lost count of how much this has happened. At a hotel at Dulles Airport, in Virginia. At a restaurant in Chicago.

You have to think about this as you are paying the tab. Please, it is not automatic that the part time employee who is serving you/checking you in will be thinking about it.

YOU have to think about it, lest you get separated from your card. (I also remember Avis in Monterey, CA keeping my card, come to think of it!)

Chicago to Amarillo, via Denver

I've been coming here to Amarillo for years. And when I lived down south, it was always a stressful ordeal due to connections.

And I tried all the legacy outfits, Delta, American, Continental. And on two occasions, I never made it to AMA due to delays and cancellations.

What a difference Southwest can make. The flight from MDW to DEN was 10 minutes early, and the flight to AMA was 5 minutes early.

And tonight, a non rev first officer helped the flight attendant hand out the snacks. I should have taken a pic and sent it to Richard Anderson, CEO of Delta.

Two nights ago, in ATL, delays were averaging 4 hours. Thank God I stay out of that place now.

Hartford to Chicago - Again, Southwest is Early!

Spring is certainly close. New England was warm today, with temps hitting the 50s (I can't help but wonder when spring gets to Iowa; when I was there on Wednesday, the high temp was 7 degrees).

This was a hard week due to multiple cities (4) and 6 consecutive days of work. I'm home for less than 24 hours, then it's off to Amarillo via Denver and Southwest.

Maui is next week! Nothing to complain about today, the Southwest flight was light (no more than 30 pax) and it arrived at MDW 15 minutes early.

Minneapolis to Hartford - Some Thoughts on the Delta-Northwest Merger

Another complicated week is in full swing. I'm in Princeton, NJ today, but yesterday I drove 3 hours from Waterloo, Iowa up to MSP. I had to do this because Northwest has cut their lift out of ALO terribly. I don't like doing it this way, but I did arrive at MSP in time to grab a quick slice of pizza before boarding the NW trip to Hartford (BDL) where I worked today. By the way, the MSP airport is just wonderful; full of shopping and food choices; very unlike most hub airports.

A few thoughts on Delta and Northwest:

I'm a high mileage Delta Platinum Medallion, so I was pleasantly surprised to see my upgrade request clear so quickly. The Airbus A319 is nice up front. But I do feel sorry for dedicated NW elite flyers who are gonna learn the hard way about Delta "enhancements". For example, a meal was served on this flight! DL will end this practice I'm sure. DL rarely serves a meal in first (snacks yes, but I get tired of pretzels).

I'm sure it is going to gall these NW elites to watch their upgrades evaporate as elite Delta fliers start to pile into first class in MSP and Detroit. Again, I have no status on NW, yet I sat in row 1 beside an NW elite member. I did not have the heart to tell him how his benefits will shrink once the guys down on Virginia Avenue in ATL can get into him.

At the gate, and on the flight, announcements are made that you are flying "Northwest Airlines, part of Delta Airlines". I'm sure NW elites are choking on this.

Hang in there guys, I'll see you I'm sure in ATL, MSP, and DTW.

By the way, the flight left the gate five minutes early. This never happens at the "World Port" in ATL.

From Chicago to Waterloo, Iowa - In A Car

No image of a flight plan to upload today. I drove from Chicago to Waterloo. Some trips are just difficult any way you do it, and trips of 300 miles or less to small towns usually result in driving. Waterloo (ALO) does have commercial air service, but it is all through Minneapolis. I can't see going to ORD and taking a delay (it is raining hard in Chicago today) then risk a blown connection in MSP.

At least this way I can control everything, and see a little countryside in the rain.

I'll get to see MSP on Wednesday when I have to drive there from ALO in order to go to Hartford, CT.

I am amazed at how the tension drops for me when I don't have to fly.

Baltimore to Chicago

A long exhausting week is over. Next week is Waterloo, IA, Meriden, CT. Princeton NJ, and Trumbull, CT. with a Saturday workday. Then back to Chicago for one day and out to Amarillo for five more.

But last night, Southwest took a bad situation and made it tolerable. You can't board a flight without flight attendants. The crew that was assigned to take us to MDW was late arriving at BWI. But showing how innovative SWA is, and how seriously they take on time performance, the flight attendants who arrived on the inbound airplane boarded us (they were done for the day but stayed for this). Ten minutes later our crew showed up and they all arrived out of breath. Meaning, these people hustled to get to us. I can just imagine Delta crews running through the "World Port" to help us get on time -- no way!

Even though we departed 20 minutes late, we were only 5 minutes late into Midway. Legacy carriers would have parlayed this into a 30 minute delay.

A nice start to the weekend - no secondary screening at BWI!

Secondary Screening Has Returned!

I have never commented about airport security in this blog.

Believe me, I have seen it all. I was in Las Vegas on Sept 11, 2001. I was on one of the first flights that departed 4 days later. There were 4 people on board the DL 72S.

I flew just two days later out to Denver, on a Delta 762 with just 4 pax on board. I was in first class. Alone. The flight attendents huddled in the front the entire flight. And they made sure that every light that could burn in the cabin was on.

I've seen it all. I remember the National Guard in Albuquerque. They were everywhere. With automatic weapons at their side. I remember how we were all told on September 15 that we were all safer!

But one thing that really upset me was the concept known as secondary screening. This term means that TSA is going through passengers and their luggage at the gate. At the same time the flight is boarding.

To the casual traveler, this may sound like nothing; to high mileage people, this is simply anathema. It tells me that TSA does not trust their own security procedures at the initial screening point, so they will do it all over again.

The result is that they will grab the first two or three people in line...and these are always elite flyers who have been traveling usually for 15 plus years. These people are the most trustworthy passengers on the flight. But yet they are delayed (and frankly, humiliated) as they are pulled off to the side; their bags checked and they are placed through a pat down.

The end result is that the best customers of the airlines are selected for this, and they do get selected. Joe Six Pack who travels once every 5 years is never subjected. Of course, when the elite folks are finally allowed to board, precious overhead bin space is already under pressure!

This post will make no sense to a casual traveler. To people who fly to work 300 days a year, they know what I am talking about.

Friday night in Las Vegas, secondary screening took place at the gate on my flight to Midway. Last night at Midway, it took place again on my flight to Baltimore. I was not selected...yet.

Secondary screening does not contribute to security, but does add to the chaos at the gate.

I certainly hope it has not returned. The TSA web site is totally silent on this.

Chicago to Baltimore - 2 Hours Late, but OK

Thank god I was not traveling through Atlanta today. Rarely can those of us in Chicago brag about on time ops, but today Delta canceled over 50 percent of it's ATL originating trips. In this case, about 700 flights. DAL canceled all but 1 of its flights to BWI, stranding over 1500 pax!

The culprit was weather. A huge storm tracked up from the southeast right through ATL. And it blasted BWI with 6 inches of snow as well.

Throw in about 3 inches of lake effect snow, and now you know why we were 2 hours late into BWI via Southwest. But I'll take it anytime over the chaos that had to exist in ATL yesterday.

Thank god for Midway and Southwest.