I haven't posted since my return from Italy; I've had some trips to visit Margaret and she to visit me, but I generally just think of posting about international trips and planning for them. By getting the United Explorer Card, I once again have the miles for one of us to go to Europe. I'm generally planning to keep to my practice of making an Italy trip in even-numbered years, but we also consider the chance to go to Italy in 2013 around a Big Event. My visit to Margaret for Thanksgiving week had enough practical travel things happen around the flights that I'm making a post now.
Margaret suggested a visit; with my having the whole week off work and flexibility in dates, I found a reasonable fare to Sacramento on United going Sunday-Friday. The Saturday before my departure, I went to the monthly Italian Club in Kansas City and stayed at the airport Econo Lodge, using points that would otherwise expire at the end of the year. When I arrived at the motel, there was a sign at the front desk saying "Back in 10-15 minutes." The people who came in right behind me called the motel number, and got the person saying she was driving the van to the terminals and would be back shortly. The people indicated they would cancel their booking, since they didn't like the thought that no one would be around in the event of an emergency. I got checked in quickly with no payment needed, and decided to wait for later to pay for parking, while the people behind me sorted out their wishes. With United flights being split since the March merger with Continental between Terminals A and C, I said my return flight would be to United in A, and the desk person said I was the first person to know which United terminal I would use.
I slept lightly, having my iPhone alarm set for 4 a.m. to get the 4.30 shuttle for my 6 a.m. flight. In the lobby, another young woman was sleeping on the couch through a phone alarm, but she woke up and was ready to take me early, the only passenger going at that time. Where I could have carried my bag on, I checked it for free on the minor perk of having the Explorer Card, and was quickly to the gate; I could easily have taken the shuttle at 5.
Using another perk of the card, I boarded the first flight to Denver in Group 4, Priority, not to be confused with the Premier groups who board first. On the turboprop plane, it didn't seem that there was any heat, and I kept my coat on. We sat until departure time, and they said there was a maintenance issue (related to heat and pressurization?) that could not be resolved quickly, but there was a substitute aircraft available, and we could probably make our connections o.k. So we de-boarded; the revised departure time showed briefly as 6.30, then became 7. I thought the original 1 hr. 15 connecting time in Denver was o.k. for having breakfast there, and had charted out the options. Now that was looking unlikely, and I went to the little concession stand in this 3-gate area, getting an $8 not-good sandwich. As I was buying it, I saw pastries that might have been a better choice.
Although it took longer than expected, having a substitute plane on hand in a non-hub airport was a good break. We boarded, with a departure finally at 7.30. This Q400 turboprop was reasonably comfortable compared to the other prop planes that I remember. I turned my phone on on landing, hoping for a text message with the gate number of my connecting flight. That wasn't coming through, and I turned data on (I mostly keep it turned off, aware of the data limits on my plan) to see an e-mail, giving the gate number of the flight but saying that if I missed it I was confirmed on the next flight. This plane came to a stop, having us get off on the tarmac by the ground-level extension of the concourse, at 8.25, with the connecting flight at 8.35. I went to the connecting gate and no plane was there. I'm a big worrier about tight connections but was reasonably confident in this one, with a 6 a.m. departure meaning delays wouldn't have built up during the day, and feeling that overall missed connections are rare, but here I had missed one. It was nice to be confirmed rather than be on standby through who knows how many flights.
I texted Margaret with the new arrival time, and decided this was the time to use one of the United Club passes that I got with the Explorer Card. I went to the Customer Service agents there to get my new boarding pass. I was the only customer, with three agents working; those on each side were advising the one in the middle on getting me the seat assignment and pass; apparently the computer system used since the merger in March is still a problem. She got me an exit row, classed as Economy Plus; I could have gone to a self-service kiosk, but the exit row may have been a benefit of using the Club and getting agents who work with the top customers.
The Club wasn't too crowded, with some bagels and doughnut holes; there was a delay for the bar to open, but I got a Bloody Mary, catching up with things online before going to the departure gate a little before 11.
An advantage to the flight change was that I was on a mainline rather than regional jet. There was seatback DirecTV, which I considered trying but preferred to try to sleep with the full day still to come. The TV was on with a free preview during boarding and through takeoff until 15 minutes into the flight; I could follow football but I figured we'd land just short of the finish of those games.
So, arrival was fine, Margaret met me, and we went to her mother's in Davis, leading to dinner out and going to a symphony concert. I held up well, including driving afterwards to Margaret's home in the Sacramento suburbs.
This is a report mainly on the flights, but it was a great week with Margaret, including seeing the Crocker Art Museum and Thanksgiving at her mother's with more of the extended family.
On Thanksgiving morning I got a text message saying my Denver-Kansas City flight was cancelled. I got online for more details, and found that it really meant that the scheduled turboprop was replaced with a regional jet with a different flight number but at the same time. Also the seating chart was wide open and I could select a seat.
Margaret took me to the airport Friday; with no place to eat outside security, I went on my own to eat at Vino Volo, a good airport option for a brie and prosciutto sandwich with wine. The Sacramento-Denver flight also had DirecTV, but it wasn't interesting enough for me to pay the price. On landing in Denver, again there was no text message about the connecting gate; I went to e-mail and found another flight cancellation notice; oh no! Looking at it more closely, I saw that it was a repeat of Thursday's message about my original flight 4901, and there was no mention of flight 3966, where I was checked in. I used the iPhone browser to find the gate number, wanting to know it in this 50-minute connection (landing 15 minutes before boarding time); I got it and that was sure helpful, because when I was in the terminal and looked at the departure board, they only showed the cancelled flight 4901.
I had also noted that while my flight was showing an on-time departure of 5.40 p.m., they also had a link to the aircraft's previous segment, which was showing a 5.34 arrival, so I figured there would be some delay. The board at the gate kept changing the time, sometimes having gone past the scheduled time, and the gate agents sometimes announced that they weren't being told much, but there was a minor maintenance issue. We eventually boarded and took off about an hour late. This
ERJ-170 felt similar to the mainline flights. We landed, I got my bag, and called to get the van back to the Econo Lodge and get my car.
So these were my flights this week; most of my domestic flights are on Southwest, and even when they have delays, there aren't such big consequences. This trip on United had the noteworthy missed connection, and I felt like making this report, but things could have been worse.
Showing posts with label Domestic air travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Domestic air travel. Show all posts
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Monday, June 21, 2010
Travel around Flo memorials
This needs to be separate from the story about the Flo memorials in my previous post, but I find there are stories to tell about the details of travel around the events.
To start, I was able to change my award to arrive in Boston shortly after noon instead of 9 p.m. In the time before Barnaby’s arrival, I had been planning to wait at the airport, but I saw that Mindy and Terry from SlowTrav were planning to have lunch in the North End, and made a general appeal for any members who could be interested to join them. The appeal for that specific Thursday lunch, which coincided with my time, looked like something that was meant to be.
On my Southwest flight, connecting through Baltimore, there’s not much to report. They started service to Boston Logan rather recently, and they use an odd section of Terminal E. In the main lobby, the signage was a bit confusing as to where to catch the bus to the T subway. I got that bus and purchased the $2 ticket from the machine, and took the Blue Line to State St. and the Orange to Haymarket. I’ve learned to take a snapshot of a map found on Google Maps on the iPod, and open it when I don’t have wi-fi.
I got to the restaurant L’Osteria, called Mindy to find out they were close, and we all got to lunch there. The meal was good, and the ladies were good company as I knew from seeing them at the big gatherings. After the meal, even though it was a bit awkward with my bags, we walked around the North End a little. I was expecting Barnaby to call when he got his rental car so I’d be ready to hop on in the street, but in fact he went ahead and (having a background in Boston) miraculously found a parking space in the North End. He charmed the ladies as we got together briefly for coffee; I must thank them all for accommodating me in having interest in this North End stop.
We had my GPS to drive out, but were foiled by making a left turn into the recessed lanes rather than staying above ground, and we unnecessarily crossed the harbor, winding up by Logan Airport again, and we had to pay the toll to cross back. Then we left Boston during rush hour, so it was slow going. We got to my parents’ Vermont home a little before 9.
At the end of my stay, my mother's friend Tricia from St. Louis, who had gone to Haiti with us, couldn't make it to the memorial events but turned up just when it was time for me to leave. It worked out that that I could ride with Sue and her parents to Manchester airport. We got there and said good-bye as they boarded their Southwest flight to Chicago; I was scheduled to fly United, connecting in Chicago, an hour later. The departure gate still wasn’t posted, but I deduced that it would be the same gate as their flight coming in from Chicago. Eventually I took the flight, on a CRJ-700 regional jet.
As I’d looked at the gate assignments of my flights on previous dates, it looked like I’d be arriving at the F gates of Terminal 2 at O’Hare, and would depart from Terminal 1, with an airside shuttle bus connecting the terminals. Now it turned out that both flights used the F concourse, avoiding that transfer, but it’s a cramped and unpleasant concourse. I found a place to get a hamburger to eat in the gate area. As I got to my departure gate area, they said they were oversold by about six passengers and were looking for volunteers to be bumped overnight. I didn’t hear the amount of the compensation, and I thought I wouldn’t go for that. The next time they said it, the offer was for $600 in travel vouchers and a free hotel stay with a food voucher. I finally thought I could manage that. I agreed to the flight at 8.45 rather than 6.30, which got me a First Class boarding pass. So here this one-way award trip that I'd essentially earned from piggy-banked miles--it's been years since I've earned United miles from flying--was getting me another $600 worth of future travel.
I had a voucher to stay at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at O’Hare. I re-learned how massive that airport is; I needed to get to the Shuttle Center for all the terminals, requiring a route through escalators, tunnels, and an elevator. Eventually the shuttle bus for that hotel showed up, I got my bag loaded, and the driver asked me to follow him since my bag was loaded and the bus was limited to 21 passengers. On arrival at the hotel, I was the last to get my bag and was at the back of the line to check in, but it worked pretty quickly: I handed in my voucher and they assigned me a upscale King room. With all the complimentary things United gave me, I was willing to put up with paying $12.95 for Internet access.
I got to the hotel restaurant for breakfast when it opened at 6; they only offered the buffet, I didn't take much, and my $15 voucher didn't quite cover the full price with tax. The way the inbound shuttle was full and they said it ran every 30 minutes, I was worried about whether there would be a problem boarding it at 7, but it worked out. I also worried about going through security at a big airport on Monday morning; while there were odd paths to take to get to the checkpoint at the airy 1980s Terminal 1, it went smoothly enough, and I was at the gate in the midfield councourse in plenty of time.
The inbound flight was a little late, but it took time for United to acknowledge that boarding wouldn't start when they said. On Southwest, there have been complaints about "cattle call" boarding, which was more the case before they gave people assigned spots in line. On United, with my assigned First Class seat, I figured I could stay seated in the gate area until they actually called boarding. This had not happened with the regional jet out of Manchester, but with this mainline jet (an A320), there was the phenomenon known as "gate lice," with people blocking the boarding area. I couldn't get through to the Red Carpet separate channel that I was entitled to take in First, and the agent closed off the front of it before I got there, and let the first Coach passengers board. She gave me an exasperated look and let me through (sorry, not much experience with this system and I didn't know the extent of the gate lice).
A reason why people push to board first on an assigned-seating airline is to get some overhead bin space for their bags, especially given the charges to check bags. I found a spot in the First Class bin where I could squeeze my bag; they had a problem closing the bin, but eventually got it to work. The plane was in a long line to take off; with storm clouds around, air traffic control asked for planes to be 10 miles apart. The 8.45 a.m. flight took off at 9.50. I had a nice Screw Driver to drink. The 10.15 scheduled arrival happened at 10.45.
So that's my account of the travel done around the sad occasion. Shortly after this, there's travel to Europe for my parents and me; going on this previously planned trip will be: moving on, part of the healing? It will be a mix, I think: we'll hope to make the best of it with Flo always in our hearts.
To start, I was able to change my award to arrive in Boston shortly after noon instead of 9 p.m. In the time before Barnaby’s arrival, I had been planning to wait at the airport, but I saw that Mindy and Terry from SlowTrav were planning to have lunch in the North End, and made a general appeal for any members who could be interested to join them. The appeal for that specific Thursday lunch, which coincided with my time, looked like something that was meant to be.
On my Southwest flight, connecting through Baltimore, there’s not much to report. They started service to Boston Logan rather recently, and they use an odd section of Terminal E. In the main lobby, the signage was a bit confusing as to where to catch the bus to the T subway. I got that bus and purchased the $2 ticket from the machine, and took the Blue Line to State St. and the Orange to Haymarket. I’ve learned to take a snapshot of a map found on Google Maps on the iPod, and open it when I don’t have wi-fi.
I got to the restaurant L’Osteria, called Mindy to find out they were close, and we all got to lunch there. The meal was good, and the ladies were good company as I knew from seeing them at the big gatherings. After the meal, even though it was a bit awkward with my bags, we walked around the North End a little. I was expecting Barnaby to call when he got his rental car so I’d be ready to hop on in the street, but in fact he went ahead and (having a background in Boston) miraculously found a parking space in the North End. He charmed the ladies as we got together briefly for coffee; I must thank them all for accommodating me in having interest in this North End stop.
We had my GPS to drive out, but were foiled by making a left turn into the recessed lanes rather than staying above ground, and we unnecessarily crossed the harbor, winding up by Logan Airport again, and we had to pay the toll to cross back. Then we left Boston during rush hour, so it was slow going. We got to my parents’ Vermont home a little before 9.
At the end of my stay, my mother's friend Tricia from St. Louis, who had gone to Haiti with us, couldn't make it to the memorial events but turned up just when it was time for me to leave. It worked out that that I could ride with Sue and her parents to Manchester airport. We got there and said good-bye as they boarded their Southwest flight to Chicago; I was scheduled to fly United, connecting in Chicago, an hour later. The departure gate still wasn’t posted, but I deduced that it would be the same gate as their flight coming in from Chicago. Eventually I took the flight, on a CRJ-700 regional jet.
As I’d looked at the gate assignments of my flights on previous dates, it looked like I’d be arriving at the F gates of Terminal 2 at O’Hare, and would depart from Terminal 1, with an airside shuttle bus connecting the terminals. Now it turned out that both flights used the F concourse, avoiding that transfer, but it’s a cramped and unpleasant concourse. I found a place to get a hamburger to eat in the gate area. As I got to my departure gate area, they said they were oversold by about six passengers and were looking for volunteers to be bumped overnight. I didn’t hear the amount of the compensation, and I thought I wouldn’t go for that. The next time they said it, the offer was for $600 in travel vouchers and a free hotel stay with a food voucher. I finally thought I could manage that. I agreed to the flight at 8.45 rather than 6.30, which got me a First Class boarding pass. So here this one-way award trip that I'd essentially earned from piggy-banked miles--it's been years since I've earned United miles from flying--was getting me another $600 worth of future travel.
I had a voucher to stay at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at O’Hare. I re-learned how massive that airport is; I needed to get to the Shuttle Center for all the terminals, requiring a route through escalators, tunnels, and an elevator. Eventually the shuttle bus for that hotel showed up, I got my bag loaded, and the driver asked me to follow him since my bag was loaded and the bus was limited to 21 passengers. On arrival at the hotel, I was the last to get my bag and was at the back of the line to check in, but it worked pretty quickly: I handed in my voucher and they assigned me a upscale King room. With all the complimentary things United gave me, I was willing to put up with paying $12.95 for Internet access.
I got to the hotel restaurant for breakfast when it opened at 6; they only offered the buffet, I didn't take much, and my $15 voucher didn't quite cover the full price with tax. The way the inbound shuttle was full and they said it ran every 30 minutes, I was worried about whether there would be a problem boarding it at 7, but it worked out. I also worried about going through security at a big airport on Monday morning; while there were odd paths to take to get to the checkpoint at the airy 1980s Terminal 1, it went smoothly enough, and I was at the gate in the midfield councourse in plenty of time.
The inbound flight was a little late, but it took time for United to acknowledge that boarding wouldn't start when they said. On Southwest, there have been complaints about "cattle call" boarding, which was more the case before they gave people assigned spots in line. On United, with my assigned First Class seat, I figured I could stay seated in the gate area until they actually called boarding. This had not happened with the regional jet out of Manchester, but with this mainline jet (an A320), there was the phenomenon known as "gate lice," with people blocking the boarding area. I couldn't get through to the Red Carpet separate channel that I was entitled to take in First, and the agent closed off the front of it before I got there, and let the first Coach passengers board. She gave me an exasperated look and let me through (sorry, not much experience with this system and I didn't know the extent of the gate lice).
A reason why people push to board first on an assigned-seating airline is to get some overhead bin space for their bags, especially given the charges to check bags. I found a spot in the First Class bin where I could squeeze my bag; they had a problem closing the bin, but eventually got it to work. The plane was in a long line to take off; with storm clouds around, air traffic control asked for planes to be 10 miles apart. The 8.45 a.m. flight took off at 9.50. I had a nice Screw Driver to drink. The 10.15 scheduled arrival happened at 10.45.
So that's my account of the travel done around the sad occasion. Shortly after this, there's travel to Europe for my parents and me; going on this previously planned trip will be: moving on, part of the healing? It will be a mix, I think: we'll hope to make the best of it with Flo always in our hearts.
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