Lynchburg, VA

I've been on a run of small markets lately.  I say this because they are hard to get to.  And I've tried LYH a bunch of ways.

But I did Delta to Roanoke and back.

And it worked, despite 2 of the 4 segments being flown on third party regional metal.

I did standby for earlier segments out of ROA and I'm glad I did as storms delayed my original segments considerably.

Trips like this confirm:

1) Fly as early in the day as you can
2) Do what you gotta do to get status so you can jump over everybody else on the waitlist out of big hubs like ATL.


http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1472/history/20140629/1445Z/KTPA/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/ASQ5540/history/20140629/1739Z/KATL/KROA

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/ASQ5540/history/20140703/1954Z/KROA/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1491/history/20140703/2318Z/KATL/KTPA

Eagle to Envoy - Changing Your Name Does Not Mean You'll Improve

I have ranted about American Eagle for years on this blog.  Recently they changed their name to Envoy.  Sounds poetic.  Changed nothing.

I rarely do American, and the biggest reason is Eagle/Envoy.  In summer 2013 I was to do Eagle from Dallas to San Angelo, TX and they cancelled on a beautiful day, and I had to drive many hours to get there.

Eagle is the only airline I've ever flown that had to make a fuel stop on a flight of less than 500 miles (TYS/ORD, earlier post)

So by pure coincidence I had to do Amarillo and Dallas recently.  I've said on this blog many times how difficult it is to get to AMA.  And this trip was a nightmare.

Cancelled Envoy flight out of DFW to AMA on a beautiful night made me show up to a job half a day late - only the 3rd time this has happened in 30 years.

Two cancelled Envoy flights out of AMA to DFW.

AMA has a nice terminal and counter which is practically empty.  It is shocking to see how little air service exists.  If I were a city father in AMA I would desperately try to recruit somebody to put pressure on Envoy/United both running 3rd party metal.  Even Southwest has cut back.  I've never seen so much lost air service.

I also did a round trip on AA from Tampa to Chicago and a round trip on AA from Tampa to Dallas.

But this was all arranged by customers, not me.  AA metal is much more reliable than Envoy.

I can't wait to get back to Delta.  They don't seem to have as much dependence on third party metal.

This AMA stuff is just a nightmare.  If they call me back for more work, I'll do it, but I'll have to do some kind of creative planning to get there.  AA/Envoy just can't get it done.

A few other segments tossed in as well:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2372/history/20140616/2020Z/KTPA/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL2344/history/20140617/2230Z/KORD/KDFW

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/ASQ2522/history/20140618/1235Z/KDFW/KAMA

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL2226/history/20140620/1155Z/KDFW/KTPA

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL1679/history/20140620/2115Z/KTPA/KORD

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL2409/history/20140621/2235Z/KORD/KTPA

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL2375/history/20140622/2305Z/KTPA/KDFW

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL2201/history/20140627/2355Z/KDFW/KTPA

Wilmington, NC - Beating the Odds into a Mid Sized Market

This was my second trip to ILM in six months.  The number of flights reflects the size of the market, and that means total dependence on third party regional airlines into and out of ILM.

And as you can tell by many of my older posts, I don't like them at all.

The segments from TPA to ILM were good enough.  We were 30 minutes late out of TPA due to storms near ATL, which caused a flow control delay.  The Delta MD88 to ILM was 45 minutes late.  I guess I have to give them a pass on this segment.

I was surprised that DL flies any metal into ILM.  In this case, it's their only branded trip.

The work finished early in ILM on Friday and since I suspected this on Thursday, I called DL about standby for earlier segments on Friday.

How can something so simple get so complicated.  During the days of their "same day confirmed" product, this was an easy, stress free thing.

Not now.

I explained to the agent on the Diamond line that I had flown for 40 years and simply did not understand the procedure for standby anymore.  And after listening to a 3 minute explanation, I still wasn't sure.

So I show up at ILM and am told I am on the list.

And I did clear.  The CRJ2 was not full.

Due to a slightly late departure I had to hustle to get to the next standby segment in ATL for Tampa.

And I made that one also.  But I had to check my bag since I was the last pax to board.

Stand by worked this time.  I'm sure status helped.  But I simply don't understand how standby flying got so complicated.

Chicago is next.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2372/history/20140608/2020Z/KTPA/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1395/history/20140608/2305Z/KATL/KILM

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/ASQ4970/history/20140613/1757Z/KILM/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL950/history/20140613/2012Z/KATL/KTPA

Another Trip to Hartford

Seems like I've done a lot of work in New England in the last 6 weeks.  It's certainly less humid than Florida!

This trip was all Delta, as Southwest's non stops out of TPA leave too early for me.

The second segment from DTW to BDL was delayed by 90 minutes.  No real reason given.  Stuff like this sends me into "Delta flashback" when they were excessively delayed and never told  you why.  It meant I pulled into my hotel in Keene, NH at 1 am.  Short night, and I"m too old for this.

The return segments were on time and if you look at the BDL/ATL segment you will see how we had to fly out over the Atlantic to avoid a big line of storms which was hitting Bradley just as we left.

All in all, I'll say it's a 7 out of 10 on this one. 

Wilmington, NC is next.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2588/history/20140601/1945Z/KTPA/KDTW

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1076/history/20140602/0010Z/KDTW/KBDL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1724/history/20140603/2229Z/KBDL/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2304/history/20140604/0305Z/KATL/KTPA

Delta to/from Albuquerque - Battleground Upgrades still Work!

I used to go to ABQ a lot when I lived in Knoxville.  Now, only rarely.  Southwest prices aren't cheap anymore, and required connections, so I'll take DL and the possibility of first class any day.

But buying first class in this case would  have exceeded the travel policy of the customer, so I was forced to buy a fairly cheap coach ticket.

And hope like hell the upgrades cleared.

The TPA/ATL segment cleared in the 5 day window.

ATL/ABQ went to the gate.  And when I checked in, I was number 13 on the list for 10 seats.  As the day wore on I dropped to number 17 for 10.

So upon arrival in ATL, I bought a $9 sandwich to eat in coach.

I'll be damned I get to the gate and look up at the GID and see I cleared into first!  How does this happen?  I know a lot of people are saying now that the DL website is quite inaccurate when it comes to these things.  And I wasted the sandwich.

The return is via MSP and the first segment cleared in the 5 day window, but the MSP/TPA was going to the gate.

But I finished the work early and called DL to change to a one day earlier departure.  I knew a $200.00 change fee was in the works, but the agent told me that even with the fee I had a credit coming.

Which I used to buy my way into first for the return through ATL.

A casual traveler, upon reading this post, will shake their head and think I'm insane.  If you fly to work, you aren't shaking your head.  You know what it takes to get back and forth.

Hartford (actually, Keene NH) is next.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2352/history/20140530/1917Z/KABQ/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1491/history/20140530/2305Z/KATL/KTPA

Providence RI - Southwest and Delta

Very little to say here about the flights.  Everything was ontime.  Again, to avoid a battleground gate upgrade, I bought first class back to TPA on Delta.  It's the only way to work it nowadays it seems.

But, since I have to find something to gripe about, I'm gonna yell loudly about the fact that it's a good 20 minute inside walk between the terminal at Providence and the rental car garage.  I knew this going in there, so I mentally prepared myself for the astounding 1000 plus steps dragging the bag.

I noticed that at this time of night, there was no golf cart to be seen anywhere, so I wonder how handicapped people get around.

And since I'm a jerk, yes I did ride the golf cart back to the terminal on my return.

Attn PVD airport administrators, this is a terrible situation!

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA1276/history/20140519/2325Z/KTPA/KPVD

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1112/history/20140519/2212Z/KPVD/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2565/history/20140520/0140Z/KATL/KTPA

Delta to LaGuardia and Back - Vacation

I like to sit on this island when I don't have to travel but I've been wanting to visit NYC for quite some time now so I took a long weekend.

I'm not going to bore you with how great a place NYC is.  I enjoyed it tremendously.

Again, in an attempt to avoid connections into LGA (the delay capital of America) I did Delta nonstop.

The predicted weather for the day of my arrival was horrible, with 2 inches of rain forecast.  I knew we were gonna be delayed going up so I had all the resources I could find ready to consult.

But again, I have to hand it to how DL has changed.  The captain came out, spoke at the gate about the shifting wheels up times.

Making a long story short, we were only an hour late into LGA.  The place went into a long ground stop very shortly after we lifted out of TPA.

The return was EARLY.  I'm not sure I'll ever say this again.  The A319 closed it's doors 5 minutes early and we pulled into the gate at TPA 10 minutes early.

I'll take it anytime.  I'm sure the next time I go into an NYC airport won't be so lucky.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1316/history/20140516/1210Z/KTPA/KLGA

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2498/history/20140518/2159Z/KLGA/KTPA

Tampa - Baltimore: Despite Growing Concerns, Southwest Delivers

I've noticed that since Southwest has been dancing around with AirTran that their service just seems to be different.

They don't seem to be as flexible on certain things anymore, and the one thing I really need, which is on time performance has dropped dramatically.

It is hard to believe that the last set of stats released by DOT shows that Southwest is worse than most legacy carriers when it comes to on time performance.  I did read somewhere a little press release they put together claiming all kinds of stuff.  It read like it was written by the PR department of a legacy carrier.

But in this case, non stop, even if late, is better than a connection.

So I did SWA back and forth from TPA to BWI.  And it worked, on time.

This time.

We will see how they do with a trip up to Providence, soon.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA424/history/20140511/2250Z/KTPA/KBWI

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA1537/history/20140514/2205Z/KBWI/KTPA

Chicago - Tampa: The Role of Status and Playing the Odds on a Connection

An infrequent traveler won't even finish reading this because they simply won't be able to identify with the issue.  This doesn't mean they are dumb at all.

But the folks who are on jets every day know certain things:

1) Fly as early in the day as you can
2) NEVER trust a hub and spoke carrier's "estimated time of departure"

So I'm at O'Hare and it looks like ATL is going into a ground stop due to weather.  This means the airplane that is supposed to PICK ME UP at ORD is taking a delay as no departures are being permitted.

The delay builds.

I'm in the Sky Club looking at this and ask the agent to stand me by for an earlier departure at 6 PM.  The agent says it looks good that I will clear. I'm #1 on the list.

The delay builds.

But they release the flight into ORD and now it's gonna be close.  Meaning, by the time they get the flight turned around at ORD and sent back to ATL it's going to be a close connection.

I clear the list and take the 6 pm to ATL, which guarantees I'll make the connection.  Once in ATL I look and see that the flight I was supposed to be on is now ground stopped in ORD as apparently there are cells on the arrival into ATL.

What does all this mean?  You MUST be able to hunt down the info, digest it, and NOT be lulled into complacency thinking that you are gonna make a connection.  ALWAYS GO EARLIER even if it means you give up a first class seat and take a middle seat in coach (exactly what I did)

It takes experience and resources to do this.

The resource is http://www.fly.faa.gov/ois/

Baltimore is next.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1977/history/20140509/2300Z/KORD/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1977/history/20140509/2300Z/KORD/KATL

Savannah to Chicago, Again

I've been to SAV a lot this year and when I'm done it always seems like I have to go on to ORD.

Gosh it was Canadair equipment on both segments and even though they have first class it's miserable even there.

Any CRJ is the worst piece of metal in the sky for passenger comfort.  So glad I rarely fly them now.

Chicago is so big that you can see the lights of the city while you are still overflying Michigan, all the way across the lake.

I notice while we were still over Michigan, that one particularly bright set of lights could be seen.  As we overflew the lake, the lights kept getting closer of course.  When we were "feet dry" over Chicago I could finally tell what those bright lights were that could be seen all the way back across the lake - none other that Wrigley Field!  Woooo!

I did do TPA/SAV through Atlanta on a Friday night.  Again, giving credit to DL, they were right on time.

Back to Tampa soon, then on to Baltimore

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2372/history/20140502/2000Z/KTPA/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1320/history/20140502/2319Z/KATL/KSAV

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/GJS6276/history/20140504/2047Z/KSAV/KDTW

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/FLG4088/history/20140505/0145Z/KDTW/KORD

Chicago - ORD

According to Flight Memory  just since 2008 I've flown in and out of ORD 109 times which is a lot less than I thought.

But that's 109 chances to have your travel plans blow up on you.

But Delta is running a tight ship nowadays.  I have to give them credit.  Each segment was on time even though the weather in Chicago was pretty lousy.

They fly a Boeing 717 out of ORD a lot.  Small, compact, but certainly clean and not beat to pieces like their MD88s.

I'll be right back in ORD in 2 days, but it's on to Savannah next, for the 7th time in 4 months.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2372/history/20140426/2000Z/KTPA/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2112/history/20140426/2230Z/KATL/KORD

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1877/history/20140501/2145Z/KORD/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1377/history/20140502/0150Z/KATL/KTPA

Allegiant Airlines - An Acquired Taste

I used to live in Knoxville and my grandchildren still live there.  So when my schedule opened up I decided to make a quick trip up there.

So, I chose Allegiant out of Clearwater/St. Pete (PIE)

It had nothing to do with money, but rather nonstop flights.

Allegiant has a big operation out of Vegas, and a smaller one out of some Florida cities.

I would never book a business trip with these guys as they are too small and have no Plan B possibilities.

Here's what I did learn. You have to be very careful when buying a ticket on their website.  Their prices are the most unbundled I've ever run into.  Also, their site is defaulted to buy TWO tickets, so please pay attention!

The basic fare is cheap, but you have to pay additional fees for:

Assigned seating
Checked baggage
Carry on baggage (other than one personal item, which in my case was a backpack and that's all I took)

Here's what's interesting about their "unassigned seating concept". If you allow their system to assign seating for you, then you can bet you will get at least one middle seat.  I had an aisle on the trip up to TYS, and a middle seat back to PIE.  So I coughed up $15.00 to get a better window seat.  All done when you check in online.

This is the way to go for tourists.  In fact, I learned that over 24,000 people fly between St. Pete and Knoxville each year.  (note to the mayor of St. Pete Beach: I voted for you because I know you are going to preserve our quaint little place and not allow more hotels).  So I dutifully sat in two MD83s loaded to the hilt with east Tennessee tourists.  Thanks for leaving your money here in Florida folks!

On to Chicago.  Delta, no lowball unbundled carrier for this next one.


http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAY832/history/20140423/1330Z/KPIE/KTYS

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAY833/history/20140425/1835Z/KTYS/KPIE

Postcript to the above post, written 3 days later:

I noticed that today Allegiant's flight to Knoxville ran an astounding 5 HOURS LATE.  Meaning, imagine all the tourists sitting up in east Tennessee losing 5 hours of their precious vacation time waiting on this A320 to arrive and then return them to PIE.

You get what you pay for in air travel.  Allegiant has no plan B.

Tampa - Manchester - Let's Hear it for New Equipment

I learned a long time ago that if you can possibly avoid Logan airport at Boston, well, avoid it.  I do the alternative Manchester NH airport if I'm working on the north side of the city.  In this case, the job was in Nashua NH, a nice town.

I flew on Delta's new 737-900 out of TPA.  This is a nice piece of equipment, particularly in first.  Nice blue overhead lighting.  Big IFE screen right in front of you with all the ports and amenities.

Right on time to ATL then on to MHT on an Airbus A320.  Every time I fly Airbus equipment I notice how much more passenger friendly it is.  In first, it's spread out!

Again, on time.

Did Southwest back to TPA through their hub in BWI.  I rarely fly on Tuesdays and it's so different from the chaos of Sunday/Friday flying.  The 737 out of BWI was only half full.  But 20 minutes late into TPA as we held for connections in BWI.  That's ok I guess.

Knoxville, to visit the granddaughters, is next.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2372/history/20140421/2005Z/KTPA/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1079/history/20140421/2255Z/KATL/KMHT

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA2252/history/20140422/2110Z/KMHT/KBWI

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA2154/history/20140423/0010Z/KBWI/KTPA

Savannah - Chicago

I'm doing a lot of work in SAV now and it has to be Delta for me.  Even though a lot of carriers go there, if I have to make a connection, I'll do it through ATL.

We were an hour late out of SAV, and who knows why.  But this leads to the usual running for a lot of passengers through ATL.  I had two hours so I got to sit down and watch Bubba Watson close out the Masters.

Then on to ORD again via Atlanta.  I was surprised that AA does not to ORD from SAV.  Having lived in Chicago, I know what a mess their delays can be.

And naturally a storm was blowing around Chicago the entire time I was there.  Snow on April 14!  How do you live like this?

But we were on time into and out of Chicago.  ATL back to TPA was another story, delayed an hour as the 757 had been through some mechanical issues earlier in the day.

But I have to hand it to Delta, give them a good weather day and they seem to hum along very well.

Manchester (Nashua) NH is next.

Happy Easter


http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2172/history/20140411/2115Z/KTPA/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2530/history/20140412/0046Z/KATL/KSAV

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL896/history/20140413/2228Z/KSAV/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2112/history/20140413/2334Z/KATL/KORD

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1977/history/20140414/2300Z/KORD/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1377/history/20140415/0150Z/KATL/KTPA

Tampa - Charlotte - Through ATL

Delta all the way on this one.  I'm always afraid some customer is going to jump me on these fares when I avoid a nonstop like US Air flies from TPA to CLT.

But I was shocked at how expensive US Air was on this.  I am having to accept that if you want nonstop, well, reach for the wallet.

So for $50 less I bought first class on Delta.  Figure that one out.

No segments to show on this one.

Savannah and Chicago are next.

Tampa - Philadelphia - Birmingham (Columbus, MS) - Tampa

Every two years I travel to Columbus, MS for work.  It's not an easy place to get to because it's a small market served by regional third parties who probably aren't all that committed to it.  (Think Delta Connection).  So after many years of frustration trying to get in and out of the Columbus airport (GTR), I started doing Birmingham.

I flew from Philly through ATL to BHM, then back through ATL home to Tampa.

No real issues.  Delta runs as smoothly as all of the legacy carriers nowadays, probably better based on what I'm hearing.


http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2372/history/20140320/2000Z/KTPA/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2094/history/20140320/2330Z/KATL/KPHL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1761/history/20140323/1949Z/KPHL/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1238/history/20140323/2320Z/KATL/KBHM

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1442/history/20140327/2230Z/KBHM/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1797/history/20140328/0040Z/KATL/KTPA

"Moderation"

You've heard the word.  Moderation.

You've heard its application.

Use "moderation" with:

Eating

Drinking

Exercise

Sex (who the hell said this?)

Red meat

Red wine

What's moderate air travel?  I used to fly with a guy out of Knoxville whose email signature read: "He who dies with the most miles, wins".  All I know is that he claims to have lost 6 million Delta miles in a divorce settlement.

Am I a serious, credible traveler?

Take a look at www.flightmemory.com.

It's neat, allowing you to enter your flights, dates, etc.  Once it crunches out the numbers, you can get some surprises.

I've been flying constantly since 1990, but I started using their website in 2008.  So I've got 18 years under my belt before I even started entering data.

Since 2008:

I've flown 878,122 miles

Circumnavigated the earth 35.26 times

Flown to the moon 3.676 times

Covered .0094 percent of the distance from the earth to the sun (gives you some idea of the size of our universe)

My average flight distance is 718 miles.

Since 2008, I've flown out of:

Atlanta 559 times

Tampa 315 times

Knoxville 185 times

Chicago O'Hare 107 times

Detroit 96 times

Baltimore 92 times

Chicago Midway 76 times

Salt Lake City 76 times

Las Vegas 65 times

Since 2008, I've flown:

826 segments on Delta

222 segments on Southwest

47 segments on American

107 segments on assorted other carriers

Since 2008 I've flown on:

Boeing 737s 291 times

Canadair regional jets 255 times

Boeing 757s 236 times

MD-88s 133 times

Embraer regional jets 58 times

Everything else (A319/320/340/B767/747/MD90) 141 times

I've been upgraded to first 629 times.

I've flown coach 575 times

I've flown in and out of 151 US airports.

So is this moderation?

Good night from Columbus, MS.

Savannah-Atlanta-Detroit-Tampa

All Delta on this one.  I fly so often that rarely do I get to sit back and reflect on some of the stuff I dealt with 30 years ago when I first started traveling.

But the one thing that has surely changed, at least at DL, is the concept of a frequent flyer program. You've heard all the complaints.

Making a long story short, Delta (and you can bet the others will follow) now award status and FF tickets now on the amount of $$$ you pour into their wallets.

And honestly, I have no problem with this.  Some folks over at www.flyertalk.com are very outraged.  I knew it would happen.

But please stop calling it "Sky Miles".  It has nothing to do with miles or the length of a journey.  Now I know they can't call it "Sky Dollars" but that's what it is.

I'd be willing to bet that down the road DL will change the name of this program.  It will be interesting to see what they go to.

Maybe something like "Sky Loyalty".  Who knows?

Regarding these segments, they were on time except for DTW/TPA which was 20 minutes late.  The reason?

"Late arrival of our flight attendents".  **sigh**


http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1425/history/20140313/2015Z/KBWI/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1320/history/20140313/2305Z/KATL/KSAV

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1221/history/20140317/2155Z/KDTW/KTPA

Atlanta to Baltimore - Southwest

I do a lot of SWA out of Tampa, but this was the first trip I've ever done on them out of ATL.  Southwest is getting bigger in ATL, ,and I'm not including their AirTran ops in my opinions.  I could have easily done Delta out of ATL, but due to certain work issues, I wanted to burn some SWA mileage and do a freebie up here to BWI.

As is typically the case, not only were they on time but 10 minutes early into BWI.

ATL will always be a messy airport.  Too much metal in and out of there.  But my first SWA experience out of Delta country was a hit.

Savannah (via Delta) is next.

For some reason FlightAware has no track history on this segment.

Sorry for (MY) Delay

The first few months of the year are the busiest for me, and I just got too busy to update.

This winter has been absolute hell for the air traveler and I consider myself very lucky that I only had to wipe out one trip (JFK to ATL) due to a polar vortex.

But since I posted last I flew the following segments:

Newark/Houston Hobby/Brownsville, TX
Tampa/Atlanta/Seattle
Seattle/Los Angeles/Tampa (Delta, wild routing but worked)
Tampa/Hartford  (JetBlue, nice)
Hartford/Atlanta/Tampa
Atlanta/Tampa/Atlanta/Las Vegas/Atlanta/Tampa/Atlanta
Monterey, Mexico/Atlanta/Tampa

Recently formed opinions include:

Forget the traditional first class upgrade.  I'll get them on most segments, but on long haul segments, forget it.  I've started buying first.  Delta has succeeded in monetizing first class.  I feel sorry for the usual list of 50-70 people on the list into and out of Tampa.

And finally, and we all knew it was coming, Delta announced yesterday the complete monetization of their Sky Miles program.

And it doesn't upset me, but the message boards are on fire today.

I just wish they would thin the herd as they have too many elites.

I'm on my island for the next 2 weeks and I'm loving it.

Baltimore is next.