Explain this one

I decided to check my carrying tonight rather than take on board.  I was seated near the front of the plane and figured there wouldn't be space overhead near my seat.

Turned out there was plenty of room.

And here's the kicker.  The luggage carousel that our flight was assigned was the absolutely farthest it could be.

Was the idea that by the time we walked across the airport, we would be impressed with how fast the luggage arrived?

It did arrive fairly soon.  And miracle if miracles my bag was the fourth one.

Interesting air freshner

Usual flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Charlotte.  I generally make one trip to the bathroom if the conditions permit.  I guess there are hiundreds if  not thousands of Delta flight attendants so there are always different ones.

This week was the first timeI can recall there being an air freshner in the head. What made it stand out was what the air freshner was...a packet of ground coffee.

The flight attendant was in the back.  I thanked her and said what a great idea.

7' 400lb gorilla

The equipment for the Delta flight home on Thursdays is an Airbus A319.  I'd never heard of an 'A319' but that's what Delta calls it.  In coach the seats are 3 x 3 -- 3 on each side with center aisle.

I always try to get an aisle seat.  That way I can go to the bathroom easily during the flight if needed.  And when landed, can stand up right away. 

I am just a hair over 6' and weigh only 185 these days but on this A319 the seat size and/or configuration makes me feel like I am the 7' 400 lb gorilla.  With my feet flat on the floor I cannot lower the seat tray to level.  It rests on the top of my thighs.  My shoulders and legs are always intruding on the center seat person.  And the refreshment cart always hits my shoulder even when I squish in.

The outbound flight from Minneapolis is on a regional size Embraer 175.  It is a 2 x 2 in coach.  But there is more room and comfort on this type of plane than the bigger A319. 

Canceled flight?

Woke up this morning at 4:30am to my cell phone ringing.  It was Delta letting me know that my 7:30am flight was canceled.  Delta also let me know that I had already been re-booked on the 7:30am flight. 

It didn't really make sense. Had they booked me on a different airline? I know that US Airways has a flight at about the same time or was it a connecting flight? I thought one of the messages said the arrival time was 1:0-something.

Come to find out it was a 7:30am Delta direct flight from Minneapolis to Charlotte landing at 10:30am Charlotte time...a half hour earlier than the regularly scheduled flight.  I'm guessing that the difference is the first flight is operated by Compass for Delta and the revised flight is operated by Delta itself.  

The best thing about the change is the revised flight is a bigger plane.  I got moved closer to the front and on the aisle and a row by myself.

Because of the 4:30 wake up call, I got to the airport even earlier than last week.  The security lines were even worse which seems to indicate that being early does not pay off. The non-priority line actually looked shorter so I thought I'd conduct an experiment.

I picked a guy with an orange shirt in the priority line to see which one of us got through security first.  He did. The non-priority maze was longer and the id checkers - one for priority and one for non-priority - would sometimes let the priority person go through the non-priority check.

Not as smooth this week

Well, I'm back in Charlotte. NC. But this week, Monday didn't go as well.
I actually got to the airport earlier but I hadn't printed my boarding pass. My printer isn't working so I figured printing at the airport would be fine.

I did know that I was departing from G21 so the mid-terminal security check would be the most convenient. I didn't know that the Delta kiosk wouldn't print my boarding pass, however. For some unknown reason my itinerary was blocked.

There are no gate agents at the mid-terminal security entrance. I had to take the parking tram to the main terminal. It was crazy busy at the main terminal. Monday's are always busy but everyone was making comments on the crowds.

Thanks to having status, I got a Delta agent quickly and she was able to print the boarding pass -- no problem. I was upgraded to first class again. That was a surprise and may have been why the record was blocked.

Now I had to get through security. The lines were twice as long as the previous Monday. It was now 15 mins. before scheduled boarding time. Twenty minutes later I was through security and at the opposite end of the airport from my gate. I made a gamble...instead of taking the long walk down concourse G. I went to C to catches the C tram to the mid-terminal crossover. It worked perfectly. The tram pulled up just as I was getting to it. I was the third to the last passenger on. Everything went smoothly after that.

Off to a good start

I'm back to business travel.  And my first flight was an upgrade from coach to first class!

On Monday I got to the airport a little later than I planned.  The security lines were very long and moved at a slow pace.  I knew the gate and it was near security so I was not too concerned.

I was not anticipating an upgrade because this was my first flight in several months and it was just a smaller regional jet.  By the time I got through security it was past the start of boarding...Delta starts boarding way early.  I stopped at the ATM and Caribou Coffee.

When I got to the gate boarding had started as expected.  I didn't know where they were in boarding so went up to the gate agent and handed my boarding pass.  She said "Oh, there you are." and took my boarding pass and gave me the first class seat!  Sweet!

The flight was uneventful which is always what you want.  There was a full breakfast even.

I'm in Charlotte, North Carolina.  It looks like I'll be traveling here for a long time.  The weather is muggy and warm...so not what Minnesota has been like for the past several weeks.  It was 72 degrees this morning which is warmer than it has been back home since August.

Back home...flying is dreadful

Got back home last night.  We even landed "early" according to the pilot.  Of course, when the times are padded, making an early landing is easier.

The flight was packed.  And I mean packed.  I had a window seat with what felt like three other people.  The rows are so close and the seats so narrow I don't know why they even bother putting in seats.  In addition there is virtually no padding in the seat bottom so almost immediately my butt check was screaming.

The airline is Delta and the plane is an MD-90.  Dreadful.

Home this week and next

With the Labor Day holiday coming up, I don't have to travel for work this week or next.  Yeah!

One drawback to not traveling so much is that I'll lose my high status with American Airlines and with it no more automatic upgrades.  I have been very spoiled getting to travel first class even on the short flights. 

I fly Delta more now because there are direct flights to Denver where American does not.  Delta did partially matched my AA status and Delta has a more liberal upgrade policy.  I have been upgraded to first class a number of times on Delta where if I had similar status on American, I would not have been.

I need some more miles to re-qualify for a decent status on American and I have a long way to go to re-qualify on Delta for my existing status.  American and Delta are in different frequent flyer programs though the requirements are pretty much the same.

There is more to having the status than just the first-class upgrades.  The higher your status the more matching points you can make and, therefore, the easier it is to qualify for the next year.  It is kind of a vicious game but with the amount of travel I do, airline status makes things more comfortable.

I don't think I've seen this happen before

Delta flight from Denver to Minneapolis.  I was in seat 1B on McDonnell Douglas 90.  That is first row of first class...two seats on right and two seats on left.  1B is the seat that kind of sticks out into the aisle.

During the takeoff climb, the cockpit door flies open!  I can see the pilots clearly, the cockpit controls, and out the front windows.  The cockpit door was open for awhile before the lead flight attendant got up to try to close it.  The plane is at a pretty steep angle and she had difficulty pushing the door closed...let alone the danger of standing while the plane is taking off.

Not a word was said by anyone.  The flight attendant got the door closed and sat back down.

The gamble paid off

Way before I left for the Charlotte airport, Delta messaged AND called me that my flight that was supposed to depart at 7:05pm would be an 8:30pm departure.  Several co-workers were going to the airport to catch flights with departures at various times so it was best to go ahead to the airport and wait.  There were no other direct flights on Delta.

Charlotte airport, turns out, has free wi-fi.  I did some work.  Ate some Carolina pork barbeque.  Did some more work.  Found out I have to go to Dallas on Monday which I hadn't been planning on doing.  Ran into a co-worked who told me he noticed my flight was not scheduled for 9pm departure.

I headed to the gate to see what was going on.  Usually when a flight delay jumps like that it is going to the "CANCEL" state.  The gate attendant was trying to help one passenger and it was taking forever.  I called our American Express Travel folks.  The guy at AMEX was very helpful. I asked about a flight from Charlotte to Detroit and then connecting from Detroit to Minneapolis.  The first flight to MSP from Detroit was full but there was another one later.  I took down the information.

The Delta gate attendant suggested we call the rebooking number that was on these cards she placed on the counter.  I did.

The lady at the rebooking center was wonderful.  I gave her the information about the Charlotte to Detroit and on to Minneapolis.  She said if I could get to the gate, she would try.  I told her I was standing in front of the gate.  Then the system wouldn't let her make the change because my direct flight was not canceled.  I asked her if her supervisor could do that.  She put me on hold. 

When she came back, she said that she was making the change I just had to confirm that I agreed to having my direct flight ticket canceled.  I took the gamble that the direct flight was either going to get canceled or continue to be delayed.

My gamble paid off.  The connection in Detroit was close and really needed the Charlotte flight to leave soon even though it too was late.  The Delta staff turned around the plane very quickly.  I was in the very last seat on the plane.  The sky was beautiful with dramatic layers of clouds and sunlight.

The flight from Detroit to Minneapolis was also late and packed.  But when I got to Minneapolis I looked at the arrivals screen...the flight from Charlotte was due to land at 1:50AM...it was 11PM when I landed from Detroit!