Commercial Air Safety - We are Quite Safe!

I came across this article in the New York Times while drinking morning coffee today in Vegas.  Statistically, the article speaks for itself.  We are quite safe up there!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/business/2012-was-the-safest-year-for-airlines-globally-since-1945.html?hp&_r=0

Tampa - Las Vegas - Dodging Fronts

Another, short weekend.  And off to Vegas.  I could tell from the radar that even though the weather in TPA was great, once we got up into Georgia we would be flying into a front.  And we surely did!  Notice the deviation we took on the flight.  Typically, a TPA/ATL arrival will come into ATL from the west via Columbus, GA.  Not this night.  And it was very bumpy.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2172/history/20130210/2215Z/KTPA/KATL

Upon our arrival in ATL, I saw the CNN feed and noticed that a tornado had hit Hattiesburg, MS.  Anytime this happens, ATL goes into a ground stop.  I can't say for sure, be we might have been the last arrival that ATL accepted for a while.

All this means is the connection to LAS is late, but only 45 minutes.  But notice the northerly route we took.  And the first 2 hours of this segment were very bumpy.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1703/history/20130211/0059Z/KATL/KLAS

We overflew the entire state of Kansas!  That's how far north we were.  This added a lot of time to the flight actually. 

In any event, in LAS all week. 

Columbus to TPA - Airport Mess

If anyone from CMH reads this, please don't be insulted.  But your concourse A is a disaster right now.  I say right now because, yes, you are working hard at remodeling it.

But when you combine delayed flights, and the fact that Southwest is the only tenant there, well. it's just wall to wall people.

Today was the beginning of the big east coast blizzard, so some of the SWA flights were behind, including mine by 30 minutes, through BNA.

This plane was just packed, every seat occupied by a somewhat large person, and that includes me.  But I'm on my island and the weather here in St. Pete is just fabulous.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA3054/history/20130208/2215Z/KCMH/KBNA

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA3054/history/20130209/0010Z/KBNA/KTPA

Fly Early in the Day ! (AGAIN!)

I recall an earlier post on this blog with the same title (minus the word AGAIN).

Today I was scheduled to leave Newark for Columbus, OH, via Detroit on Delta.

It was a clear but cold day in EWR.  What can happen, right?

Doesn't matter now as I got done with work much earlier and called Delta.  Their "same day confirmed" service is terrific and I was booked through ATL, departing Newark at 215 pm 4 hours earlier than planned.  When you change a flight like this, there is practically no chance of getting the upgrade this late.

So I was SHOCKED when I got to the gate at EWR and saw myself as number one on the waitlist, having hopped over 34 others!

And it cleared!

Same thing in ATL.  Hopped to number one over 19 others and the upgrade cleared again.

And we arrived here in CMH right on time at 730 pm, a good 3 hours before I was supposed to get here.

So, I check the status of my original flight out of EWR throught DTW.

The EWR/DTW segment left 90 minutes late, meaning I would NOT have made the connection and would have blown the trip.  Since I always have to get where I work, I would have had to rent a car, one way out of DTW to get here.  I estimate the drive to be 3 hours.

Another very lucky day.  When departing NYC airport, you have to leave as early as you can!

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL935/history/20130206/1915Z/KEWR/KATL

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2361/history/20130206/2259Z/KATL/KCMH

Tampa - Newark AGAIN

I really don't have a lot against New Jersey, but 3 trips in 3 weeks is putting me over the edge.  This is mainly due to cold weather.  I got up and it had snowed 2 inches overnight.  And the Super Bowl will be played here next year.  Think I'll sit in front of the HD on my little island for this game.

Well, the NYC area had wind and ceiling issues, so the inbound flight from LGA was a good 30 minutes late into TPA.

We loaded up with what was every NJ accent imaginable, including the loudest Sicilian version of their language I ever heard.  This guy YELLED into his phone as long as we were on the ground.  I'm not a racist, after all, he probably thought I was some moonshiner named Bubba.

But the Jet Blue folks in TPA turned it as quickly as they could and the A320 arrived in EWR only 10 minutes late.

I'm wracking up the miles now on the flag carrier of the Republic of New Jersey.

On to Columbus, OH from here later this week

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/JBU534/history/20130205/0049Z/KTPA/KEWR

Tampa/Hartford/Tampa

The work is suddenly crazy, with Saturdays involved.  So I got to spend Thursday night at home, but flew to BDL on Friday, on Southwest non-stop.  We arrived at BDL 10 minutes early, and as usual, no problems with SWA.  Their coach is so much more comfortable than the legacy guys.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA285/history/20130201/1905Z/KTPA/KBDL

So after a quick half day working in CT, its back to TPA, on Delta, with the connection via DTW.  I know.  Sounds absurd, but on Saturdays I've noticed that SWA flies a greatly reduced schedule.

The CR7 out of BDL to DTW was right on time.  But the MD90 to TPA departed 45 minutes late, due to late arrive flight attendants.  I won't scream too much over this, as it was snowing heavily in DTW that night.

The MD was only booked with 40 pax, and first class, which holds 18, only had 9 people, so everybody practically had their own row to themselves.  Plus nobody burned their overhead lights so the cabin was dark and quite cozy.

The take off was fun with the light load.  When the brakes were released, the acceleration was pretty violent, as was the climb out.  This never gets old to me!

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/ASQ5129/history/20130202/2125Z/KBDL/KDTW

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1721/history/20130203/0045Z/KDTW/KTPA

JFK to TPA - 44 Empty Seats!

The weather in the NYC area was horrible yesterday, prior to this trip with terrible winds.  We were lucky to be just a couple of hours late, and I'll take that any day coming out of a New York airport.

I suppose many people cancelled, rebooked, etc due to flight irregularities which is why there were so many empty seats in the back.

Of course first was full, and in this case, I flew on a paid first fare since it was so cheap.

I get exactly 12 hours at home, then it's off to Hartford for another Saturday workday.

9608 miles flown in January.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2391/history/20130131/2355Z/KJFK/KTPA