Apologies Again!

So sorry about the lack of posts between September and today (December 20, 2012)

I just got buried in work and other issues.

During the last three months I did a lot of nonstops out of TPA via Southwest and (a first for me) JetBlue.

The bottom line again, is to get there and get back with the least amount of hassle possible.  So I've really cut back on the DL trips this year.

However, I would be remiss if I did not report the following:

On Monday afternoon, December 17, I was in BWI scheduled to fly back to TPA on a nonstop Southwest flight.  Piece of cake, right?

Not when BWI is completely closed down due to fog and stayed that way for roughly 36 hours!

FAA put BWI on a groundstop and you simply can't depart an airport if they aren't accepting arrivals.

After 2 Southwest cancellations, I drove to PHL since Southwest/BWI was out of seats.  I got the last seat on an afternoon nonstop back to TPA.  I really wonder how many families were stranded in BWI with this mess.  Happy Holidays!

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA1670/history/20121218/1945Z/KPHL/KTPA

Tampa to Philly - Delta, It worked again!

10 minutes early into ATL from TPA and then 5 mins early into PHL.  I think I'll have to change the name of this blog and remove the word "delayed", because right now, it's not happening much if it all.  But that's due in part to giving half my travel to Southwest, who still, despite all their inner demons, seems to run ontime.  I mention their demons because I see where their ontime stats have dropped considerably recently.  And their fares aren't cheap anymore.

Working in downtown PHL then on to Newark later.  6 straight days this week, only one day off.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2372/history/20120923/2000Z/KTPA/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2094/history/20120923/2336Z/KATL/KPHL

Baton Rouge Back to Tampa - Sweating It

My training customer in BTR decided that I had to end our work by 10 AM.  This meant that my DL ticket to depart at 540 PM had to be changed, and I did, scheduled to depart BTR at 1240.  The reason I'm sweating it, is that as soon as the inbound pulled into BTR, the gate announces a maintenance delay. After scaring me to death, without any notice, suddenly we board 25 minutes late.

Which of course puts pressure on my 55 minute connection in ATL.  We arrived at D 36 and the connection is at B 36 (of course both ends of both buildings).

I get to B 36, a huge line boarding.  Arrogantly I whip around to the Sky Priority line and out pops the upgrade!

Wow, I am a happy guy, because if you make these last minute flight changes, you can kiss first goodbye.

Settle in to seat 7B, 2 Woodfords in route, and then I'm back on my island eating seafood just six hours after leaving BTR.  Thank you Boeing and yes, thank you Delta!

Philadelphia and Newark next week!

I kind of trashed the BTR airport in the previous post, and I'd like to be more objective.  It's not all that bad, really.  They have a nice, but very dark, business center (reminds me of a funeral parlor).

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/ASQ5070/history/20120921/1734Z/KBTR/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2208/history/20120921/2008Z/KATL/KTPA

Tampa to Baton Rouge - DL through ATL

I didn't fly out of TPA til 5:15 today so I had a full day of work first.  And I'm still getting used to the "island life" as it poured the rain on and off all day.  At one point I noticed that TPA was not allowing departures due to weather.

So I was not surprised that the DL 752 left TPA 40 minutes late.  But I had 90 in ATL and easily made the ASA CRJ7 to BTR.  The upgrades cleared, and as always, that's nice.

I'm surprised at how shabby the airport is here in BTR.  I come here every couple of years and they surely need a new terminal.  It's old and dated.

The worst thing today was that upon our arrival in BTR, even though it was 9 pm local, both DL gates were occupied by RJs trying to get back to ATL.  Apparently the weather messed it all up, but not us thank goodness.  So we had to wait about 15 minutes, but the ASA captain kept us informed.

Hanging out here for 3 days, and only have to work until 12 noon each day.  Guess I'll get a couple of good naps this week!

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2172/history/20120918/2115Z/KTPA/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/ASQ5081/history/20120919/0031Z/KATL/KBTR

Baltimore back to Tampa - Even Easier on a Wednesday

One thing about working at airports: when the job is done, I just get somebody to run me over to the passenger terminal and it's time to go.

And in this case,  a perfectly timed 5:20 departure to TPA, nonstop on Southwest.

And we got here 15 minutes early!  In fact, the sun was still up!  Gosh, I love it!

The worst problem this week was that I was quite disappointed in the Hilton Garden Inn I stayed in.  I've never been in a breakfast buffet where you weren't given full size plates, but rather, what I think is a dessert plate.  Then one day the housekeeping folks didn't show up until 5 pm.  That's kinda late for a place that markets itself as a hotel for business professionals.  Also, ESPN did not work on the cable for a while, LOL!

Stay on my island for 6 days!  Next stop, Baton Rouge next week.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA271/history/20120912/2120Z/KBWI/KTPA

Tampa - Baltimore - Easy

It is easy on Southwest when weather is good.  Well, I should say, I am learning that TPA can get hit with all kinds of tropical downpours, and we had them most of the day.

The most aggravating thing was leaving the case to my Bose headphones on a seat at the gate in TPA.  Dumb.  Not sure what the procedure for that is, since the airlines don't own the gates, but I'll probably end up ordering another.  At least it wasn't the headphones AND the mp3 player (done that twice already, see older posts!)

Back to TPA in 3 days.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA261/history/20120909/1945Z/KTPA/KBWI

San Francisco - Tampa - Weekend!

Flew two days ago from SFO to TPA via ATL.  Delta. It all worked beautifully.  Very nice.  Upgrades cleared and arrived at TPA 3 minutes early.  That's on a Friday which means over to Treasure Island, get on the shorts, drinks at Willy's.  Dinner at Sea Hag's.  This island life suits me fine.

I'm at the TPA airport now, about to head out to Baltimore.  Southwest to BWI, the inbound is already 15 minutes early which means we'll get out of here ontime.  Into BWI at 6, plenty of time to catch the later NFL games.

Life is good.

And I just love the TPA airport.  I remember the shenanigans at ORD when I lived there.  Nothing free.  Internet here is free, fast and it works all the time!

Plus, and I hate to rub it in, the Gulf of Mexico is a helluva lot better body of water than Lake Michigan.  OK, guess I still have to trash Chicago every now and then.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1580/history/20120907/1315Z/KSFO/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2208/history/20120907/2008Z/KATL/KTPA

On the flight out of ATL we took some big deviations due to the big cells you see on the track.

102,337 miles year to date.  Adding more today.

3 days in BWI then back to the island!

Indy to San Francisco via Minneapolis

Yes it is a weird routing.  But if you want to fly on a legacy carrier, you have to accept their unorthodox "hub and spoke" routings.

I left work in Indy, jumped the in the Avis and headed to IND.  The second I booted up the phone I got the dreaded "Missed call from Delta Airlines" alert.

I checked the voice mail, and found that my flight up to MSP was an astounding 2 hours and 20 minutes late, cutting my connection time to about 30 minutes.

You can't solve these problems behind the wheel of a rental car, so as soon as I turned it in, I went inside the terminal and noticed that in 30 minutes another delayed IND-MSP flight was going to leave.  And I busted my butt getting to the TSA checkpoint.  Thank you Pre!  I cleared security in one minute at most and found the gate.

The agent was very accommodating and gave me a first class seat on this delayed flight.  I was surprised to get that, most of the time if you change a segment, you simply won't get the upgrade as you are too close to the departure time.

Thank you sir.

So this part of the post is written from the very nice DL Sky Club at the juncture point in MSP where all the concourses come together.

Well, it's not all perfect.  I have yet to clear the upgrade window on the MSP-SFO segment and it looks like I might not clear.  I did grab an aisle seat in the new "economy comfort" section.  Those seats aren't bad at all.  Hope the guys up front tonight enjoy their beverages.

Look at the big line of weather just south of IND; I was lucky that we weren't in a real mess.

More to come.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL964/history/20120905/1945Z/KIND/KMSP

South San Francisco:

The Delta 738 flew us out here in 3:38.  And considering that we did not land until 1130 PM local time, that makes for a long day.  When I got to the hotel here, I thought about how long had I been wearing my shoes?  The answer was approximately 20 hours.  It was a very long day.  Fortunately the airplane had in flight entertainment, TV, movies etc.  I watched the second half of the Dallas-New York Giants game, then fell asleep with the headphones on.

Here for less than 24 hours, then all the way back to TPA.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2209/history/20120906/0230Z/KMSP/KSFO

Tampa - Indy - Nasty week Ahead

Easy flight to IND from TPA on Southwest.  Arrived 20 minutes early.  Not much to gripe about there.  But I gotta gripe about something and in this case it's Avis who managed to back my car so tightly against a cement wall that you gotta start it, pull it into the traffic ally, then stop it just to get the bag thrown into the trunk.

Petty, I know.

Hilton certainly put me into what is probably the biggest hotel room I've ever been in since I started traveling.  It's a huge suite, practically bigger than my place back on beautiful Treasure Island.

This is going to be a rough, short week.  Out of here tomorrow, Delta to MSP, on to SFO.  A loooong night in the air, not arriving into SFO until 1130 pm their time (230 am body time).  Work there just ONE DAY then all the way back to TPA on Friday, arriving perfectly in time for happy hour .

I'll spend more time flying in the next 72 hours than anything else.

What a mess Lufthansa apparently has, flight attendant strike in Europe.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA1976/history/20120904/1935Z/KTPA/KIND

Minneapolis - Tampa

I finished the work in Osage, Iowa, and drove the 2 plus hours up to MSP.  And didn't get pulled over this time - I stayed on I 35 most of the way.

I don't think I've mentioned the new TSA Pre service.  All I remember is that months ago Delta asked me if I wanted to opt into this and I said yes.  And for a long time nothing happened.

But lately, I'm getting through the PRE line.  Did it out of TPA on Sunday and out of MSP yesterday.  I don't think I need to tell the high mileage community how wonderful the PRE concept is.  But I'm running about 80% there, meaning, I don't always get through, and sometimes have to go through general security.

When I do get accepted at a PRE point, it's so weird not taking off the shoes, taking out the laptop, etc.  We've gotten so accustomed to the full check that it's like second nature now.

The Sky Club in MSP is nice.  I'm sure there's more than one there, but if you are familiar with the place you know it all comes together in one big central concourse, and that's where I spent a couple of hours last night.

The A319 left the gate 10 minutes early and landed here in TPA 20 minutes early.  Thanks guys!

Nice long holiday weekend here on the island and I intend to enjoy it all.

Next week?  One day in Indy and one day all the way out to San Francisco and back.  That's kinda hard.

96,862 miles so far through August.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2229/history/20120831/0045Z/KMSP/KTPA

Tampa - Minneapolis (actually Osage, IA)

I had the usual two days to unwind before hitting the road again.  Saturday was fabulous.  One thing I'm learning about living at the beach, when the weather threatens the locals say "what the hell".  I'd love to know how much alcohol gets consumed in the TI/Mad Beach/Reddington/St Pete Beach area.  I had my fair share.

My flight to MSP didn't leave until 6:10 pm, but I woke up to a lot of wind and it just got worse all day.  This is the front end of Isaac.  Then the rain bands hit, but we departed TPA before things got bad.  And as of right now, slightly after midnight, it doesn't look like Tampa Bay is gonna get hit badly.  The Weather Channel is now talking strictly about evacuating parts of the Gulf coast and New Orleans.

I've been here to Osage a few times and tonight I took some backroads once I got off I 35.  So I set the cruise to 75 and the GPS getting me here, and sure enough, the blue lights appear .  To the officer's credit he was very professional, and let me off with a warning.  I've learned when you're an old guy like me, you are treated with a little more respect.  But he had me dead to rights.  Thank you officer, I was going too fast.

Delta is flying a lot of MD 90s out of TPA now (not sure I like the reduction in first class availability), but these things are very comfortable in first.  Sure better than MD 88s.

Here through Thursday.  Hope my little island is safe in St. Pete.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1712/history/20120826/2210Z/KTPA/KMSP

Chicago Midway - Tampa

Back home, by 9 pm on Thursday night from Chicago.  No complaints about Southwest here, EXCEPT, I was not aware of gate "24B" (I could be wrong) but it's down a very long hallway and very narrow.

It's chaos when the inbound offloads while we line up to board.  I know Southwest doesn't own the airport, but this was one of the worst gate arrangements I've ever seen.

Beyond that, and a couple of typical dumbass passenger issues (bag stuck in overhead bin, can't get it in or out, multiple dumbasses lined up for front lav when the announcement about lining up had been made at 3 three times, I'm home.

But

Tropical storm (hurricane) Isaac is down south over Haiti now.  Up here in the TPA area, no one seems real sure as to where this thing will land.  All I know, is that I've never seen one of these things and of course, I"ll be out on the road when it hits here or nearby.

Couple that with the political convention that's going to be here next week, and I'm kinda glad I'll be up in Osage, Iowa!

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA295/history/20120823/2240Z/KMDW/KTPA

Louisville - Chicago Midway

Left SDF at 7:10 pm for MDW with Southwest.  When I travel during the middle of the week, I don't want to mess with connections and hubs, and even though AA and UA fly to ORD right out of Louisville, well, I'll let their on time stats speak for themselves.  This one was a no brainer.

Here in Chicago for just one day, then back to MDW for a Southwest nonstop home to Tampa.  The big word there is that we're gonna get hit by a hurricane (Isaac) next week.  I've never seen one of those.  And I won't see this one either as I'll leave for Osage, Iowa on Sunday and won't get back until late Thursday night.

But the projected track has it passing right over Treasure Island, FL where I live now.  I won't get nervous until everybody else I know there does.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA3922/history/20120822/2310Z/KSDF/KMDW

Tampa to Lousiville - The Grind Continues

After less than 48 hours on my little Gulf island near St. Pete, it's on to Louisville.

Delta, through Atlanta, with a 40 minute delay out of TPA due to wx, but I had 90 minutes in ATL.  I made the connection nicely, and since all my upgrades had cleared I was quite happy.

Let's see if the luck continues as I have to fly to Midway on Wednesday night.  My old stomping ground, Chicago.  Thank God I live in St. Pete now.  I know that criticizing Chicago brings a lot of flaming, but seriously, I've only turned my heat on once since I moved to Florida.

Tonight at Fridays, while having refreshments, the bartender asked me about my job and I told him of the travel.  He says he would love to do that.  I just say, not so fast, lol!

OK, it's a nice night here in SDF, very little humidity, think I'll sit back and keep reading on my Kindle.

By the way, when you look at these tracks, the TPA-ATL segment meant penetrating that line of thunderstorms.  And for about 3 minutes, the chop was terrible.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2172/history/20120819/2115Z/KTPA/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2172/history/20120819/2115Z/KTPA/KATL

93,380 miles so far this year

Newark to Tampa - Leave Early if Possible

I got finished in New Brunswick, NJ quickly on Friday and hustled to get to EWR.  I will give Delta credit for having one agent at the SMS number who really knows the procedure for same day confirmed work.

She got me out of EWR at 2:15 pm (I was holding 6:15) and got the segment to TPA changed earlier and got first on both segments!

I told her she was the best and now I'm kicking myself for not getting her name so I could sing her praises to DL in an email.

But the most important rule of flying carried this day - get out of town as early as you can during the day before the meltdowns start.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL935/history/20120817/1815Z/KEWR/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2208/history/20120817/2004Z/KATL/KTPA

Tampa to Newark - All the Luck Used on One Trip?

Off to EWR and I can't believe that we got up here 20 minutes early!  How often will that happen?  Rarely.  You have to have a lot of things happening, no MTC issues, great WX, crew shows up healthy, no running out of crew time, etc.

At the risk of really irritating anybody from New Jersey who might ever read this post, let me introduce Jim Morris, and his Big Bamboo Band.

Take a look at:

http://jim-morrismusic.com

The music is great and I had never heard of this until I moved to St. Pete.  I love it.  Of particular interest are his lyrics.  As in:

"A flight to Jersey, full of sunburned tourists
How much of my seat, does the lady need?
I lean in the aisle
I try not to crowd her
She talks like Jersey
Just a little bit louder"
 
Going to see him in Key West in November.

So the week is starting off well, but Friday will be interesting, back to TPA and on the last flights of the night out of EWR and ATL.  What are the chances I'll be on time then?

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2372/history/20120812/2000Z/KTPA/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL504/history/20120812/2318Z/KATL/KEWR

Richmond to Tampa

I got lucky last night, as thunderstorms have dominated the southeast each afternoon this week.

The MD 88 was 20 minutes late on arrival, and of course departed 35 minutes late to ATL.  Note from the link of the flight path the irregular route.

The arrival gate in ATL was E36, the last gate in the former international terminal.  I had to hustle to B23 for the 752 to Tampa, but the timing was perfect.

We landed in TPA one minute early.

I'll need every bit of luck I can get on Sunday, going to Newark. EWR has had delays every night for the last 10 nights.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1307/history/20120810/2126Z/KRIC/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2273/history/20120811/0034Z/KATL/KTPA

The Aviation Herald

Now that I'm blogging again, I think about all the resources that are now available to the traveler.  Many of these did not exist three years ago.

I'm a huge fan of The Aviation Herald.

While not providing advice to the flyer, this is amazing reading.  It illustrates the types of things that happen all over the world in a given day.

Reading this never upsets me.  Some of the posts are almost funny.  You may not agree if you have to sit through an explosive decompression.  I get that.

I find this site to be informative, credible, and quite authoritative.

I have worked in the aviation field my entire life.

Take a look, it's amazing.

Still in LYH by the way.

Lynchburg, Virginia

I'm in Lynchburg, which is very near where I was born and raised.  I was here during the first week of July as well.  It's almost like being home again.

Except home now is St. Petersburg, which is served by TPA, with PIE and SRQ just down the road.

LYH has only one carrier, US Air.

I flew them to here a month ago, and although I was bracing for the worst, the flights were ontime.  I'm not a fan of that Dash 8 they fly in and out of here, but it worked.

Today I did Delta, to ATL and then to RIC with the two hour drive up here.  I just don't trust US Air into LYH, and when this job is over on Friday, I want to get home since next week involves EWR, still the delay capital of America.

Here are the links for today's trips:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1991/history/20120806/1615Z/KTPA/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1307/history/20120806/1900Z/KATL/KRIC

I do like what DL has done with the MD 90 first class cabin.  The seats are nice.  The 88 to RIC is another story.  They've put in new leather, but I'll never be a big fan of them.

Almost 3 Years Without a Post!

I don't know where to start!

I stopped writing this blog in September of 2009 and there were a lot of reasons, the biggest being I got bored with it.

Then a lot of other things happened.

Like:

I left Chicago

I moved to the Tampa Bay area, St. Petersburg to be precise.


But I did not stop flying. In 2009 I flew 106,813 miles.

The beat went on:

2010 - 107,269 miles

2011 - 158,603 miles, the most ever in one year.

And so far, in 2012 as of right now, 85,399 miles, and it's just the first of August.

So much has happened, both personally and professionally. And the travel world has gotten much colder.

I had actually forgotten about this blog and then yesterday, while on a trip (of course) to Saginaw, MI, I did a Google search on it and was shocked it's still here.

Reading my old posts was very weird. I might have been a better writer then.

Personally, I have a beautiful 2 year old granddaughter living in Knoxville. She's so special.

So I'm sitting in what is now called the Delta Sky Club in Detroit, killing three hours before boarding an MD90 for TPA, nonstop.

So many things to say, and I can't say them all now, but living in the Tampa Bay area is heaven on earth, for a LOT of reasons. Less than a quarter of a mile from the Gulf of Mexico.

But I'll just start by saying it's so nice to fly in and out of a city that has so many flight choices and plenty of backup. Included are all the low cost guys like Jet Blue, AirTran and Southwest.

I'm still doing Delta and enough of it to stay at Diamond status. But I do a lot of Southwest as well.

Plenty of catching up to do on this blog now!

Stay tuned!