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.