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.