Friday, August 2, 2013
Sixth Trip in and out of Hartford in 7 Months
Which isn't so tough because Southwest flies to BDL nonstop out of TPA every night, departing at 6:30 pm. It's easy, and almost always on time, as it was this time.
Coming home is Delta. SWA does not do a nightly trip to TPA from Hartford.
I had bought first on DL, so did not have to go through the first class upgrade lottery, but I have to laugh. Both segments were MD88s, holding 148 pax. Both flights had nearly 50 people waitlisted for first. That means 30 percent of the pax are elite!
DELTA, PLEASE YOU MAKE IT TOO EASY TO OBTAIN ELITE STATUS, PANDERING TO LOW MILEAGE FLYERS WITH THE BAIT AND SWITCH APPROACH. THESE GUYS WILL NEVER GET UP FRONT BUT THEY KEEP TRYING!
But we were ontime with both segments.
Aruba (vacation) is next.
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA711/history/20130728/2230Z/KTPA/KBDL
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1724/history/20130801/2218Z/KBDL/KATL
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2304/history/20130802/0155Z/KATL/KTPA
Atlanta-Phildelphia-Atlanta-Tampa
Trying to catch up here:
The ATL/PHL segment ran like a charm. Nice B752 and the upgrade cleared. But I was a bit distressed to hear the flight attendant tell the pax over the PA to "hurry to your seat because we are under some pressures to back out of the gate on time". Don't blame it on the pax, ok when the FAs showed up 20 minutes before the departure time.
I've always known that eventually the carriers would blame flight delays on their own customers.
But there's a lot of padding on this one, as we arrived at the gate in PHL right on time.
The return was vintage Delta/Atlanta hub/tstorm stuff. Sat in PHL while ATL went into a ground stop. Rotated out of PHL 90 minutes late. Landed in ATL 10 minutes before my connection to TPA. Pulled up into the gate at ATL and took another 10 minute delay as the cockpit explained that "we're trying to get a ramp crew together" (See earlier post about lack of ramp employees in ORD).
Jumped on the DL phone app and noticed that my flight to TPA had just received a 20 minute delay. I'm going to make it now!
Got on the 752 for TPA and sat for another 45 minutes. LOL!
But I got home.
Holyoke MA (Hartford) is next
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1661/history/20130724/1910Z/KATL/KPHL
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1661/history/20130726/2215Z/KPHL/KATL
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2304/history/20130727/0155Z/KATL/KTPA
The ATL/PHL segment ran like a charm. Nice B752 and the upgrade cleared. But I was a bit distressed to hear the flight attendant tell the pax over the PA to "hurry to your seat because we are under some pressures to back out of the gate on time". Don't blame it on the pax, ok when the FAs showed up 20 minutes before the departure time.
I've always known that eventually the carriers would blame flight delays on their own customers.
But there's a lot of padding on this one, as we arrived at the gate in PHL right on time.
The return was vintage Delta/Atlanta hub/tstorm stuff. Sat in PHL while ATL went into a ground stop. Rotated out of PHL 90 minutes late. Landed in ATL 10 minutes before my connection to TPA. Pulled up into the gate at ATL and took another 10 minute delay as the cockpit explained that "we're trying to get a ramp crew together" (See earlier post about lack of ramp employees in ORD).
Jumped on the DL phone app and noticed that my flight to TPA had just received a 20 minute delay. I'm going to make it now!
Got on the 752 for TPA and sat for another 45 minutes. LOL!
But I got home.
Holyoke MA (Hartford) is next
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1661/history/20130724/1910Z/KATL/KPHL
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1661/history/20130726/2215Z/KPHL/KATL
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2304/history/20130727/0155Z/KATL/KTPA
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