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.

JFK Back to Atlanta - Day 3 of 5 - Not Going to Happen

5 cities in 5 days in the winter.  I had my doubts.  Today they were realized.

Got up this morning here in NYC and turned on the television and hear about "Winter Storm something or other" (They all have names now, adding to the drama and the tension).

I know DL bails out of snowstorms very quickly, and the storm was to arrive around noon.

I quickly jumped online and luckily grabbed a reservation here at the same airport hotel I spent last night in.

And at 10 AM, I got the call from DL, flight cancelled.

But at least I have a roof over my head tonight.  I'll bet the terminals across the street at JFK are just a zoo.

So I had to call the customer in Atlanta and cancel on him.  Now I get to drive over to New Jersey tomorrow to work on Thursday.

A Polar Vortex is coming in again.  It's already 16 F.

**sigh**

Would much rather be home in Pass A Grille where it's in the 60s.