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Well, my parents decided to take me and my bros up to Montreal for the weekend during spring break. I didnt really know what to expect from this trip, as it would be my first time to Montreal and first time on a CRJ!
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March 18 2004
Comair 5833 (1997 colors)
MCI-CVG
CRJ-200
We arrived at MCI for our 1210 departure at 1100, proceeded to the international DL check-in desk and checked our bags. I was ready to look for the "new and improved" delta customer service, and i was not disappointed. The greeter was very friendly, talking to us about Montreal and whatever, and the Checkin agent was great. We stopped at Great Steak and Potato (yummm) for a quick bite, and proceeded to gate 60. We waited in the gatehouse after a painless security check for our CRJ to arrive from CVG. At 1200, the CRJ arrived, 20 minutes behind schedule. Soon after it arrived, we boarded (by rows, not zones). I stepped on to the CRJ to the cramped cabin, taking my seat in 8A (exit row). After15 minutes, we were ready for departure and pushed back. We made a quick taxi to 19R and took off without delay. We leveled off at FL330 and started our hour journey to CVG (with the help of a 100mph tailwind!). Our F/A was very nice, serving two rounds of snacks and a drink service. After about 50 minutes, we desccended into a very cloudy cincy. We landed smoothly, on time. One thing i noticed was how the approach in the CRJ really is like coming in on a lawn dart!
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Comair flight 5013
CVG-YUL
CRJ-200 (Old old colors)
Seat 2A
Well, the CRJ odyssey continued. After a quick tour of concourse C, we made our way to gate C42. The layout of the C terminal is very weird, very confusing, as there are about 10 different flights using the same gate area. Well, i figured it out after a while and boarded the flight to Montreal at 315 for our 330 departure. We made our way out to the tarmac and were greeted by yet another very friendly F/A. We pushed on time, and taxied out for departure. We took off about 5 minutes later. I noticed that the CRJ is a powerful little bastard, but very quiet! The flight time was 1h45m. The flight was uneventful, and i think my family were the only people on this flight conversing in English! The approach was great, we overflew lots of frozen lakes and rivers, which was weird seeing as it was over 70 in MCI!!! We landed on time and deplaned at Gate 80. The walk to Customs was wayyyyy long, it took something like 15 minutes just to get to customs. That aside, the YUL airport is very cool, very modern (at least in the parts that have been redone).....customs was another story. We arrived at the same time as Royal Air Maroc, KLM, BA, and AF flights, so customs was PACKED. That aside, the line moved fairly quickly, and we were on our way to the Fairmont La Reine Elizabeth in about an hour.
________________
March 21, 2004
Comair 5003
YUL-CVG
CRJ-200 (New Colors)
Seat 2A
Ok, i came to the conclusion that Montreal is definitely one of my most favorite cities i have EVER been to! What a great city, it's like being in Europe! If you ever get the chance, go to Montreal, you will not be disappointed, it's truly unique...ok all praises aside, here's the report. We left the Fairmont (which was great too) at 4am for the cab ride to YUL. We arrived at 420am for our 550 departure, which was not as much time as we would have liked. We checked in with another exceedingly friendly DL agent, and joined the line for customs. The wait this time was about 15 minutes, which was not bad, but we were starting to cut it close. We then waited for security for about 20 minutes, and made our long walk towards gate 80. We arrived at the gate just as boarding was starting, and got directly on the plane through the floor level air inflated jetways that they use for CRJ's in YUL (kinda cool!). We were greeted by a male F/A, who was obviously not too happy to be up at 5am! He announced that the coffee machine was broken....which was horrible news to about 95% of the plane! We pushed at 550, just as the sun was rising, and taxied straight to the runway (no de-ice!). We made another fast take off, and made a fast climb up to FL320. At altitude we were served the traditional Biscoff and Pretzel stuff along with bev service..i had a Cranapple (my mainstay at DL) and flipped through SkyMall. After just over 2 hours (really pushing it on a CRJ for a 6'4 person like myself) we landed smoothly in CVG at 820, making a quick taxi to concourse C. We deplaned and went over to the Mainline terminal with my parents to watch them board their 737 to MCI (while we would be on another CRJ!!!!). After they left, we grabbed some McDonalds breakfast, and made our way back to C.
________________
Comair 5833
CVG-MCI
Seat 3A
CRJ-200 (New Colors)
At 1045, it was time to board our flight back home. We boarded via the freezing tarmac (it was snowing) and were greeted by an overly cheery F/A. After 20 minutes of boarding and sh*t we were ready to go. We pushed with the late AM bank, and somehow made it to Number 1 in line for departure! We shot off into the sky headed westward towards Kansas City. We leveled off at FL320 for our 1h30m flight to MCI. Our F/A was great, making sure every one always had something to munch or drink. Over STL, the weather cleared up, but the turbulence worsened. We were getting tossed around, and those wings were shakin boy! I love turbulence, so i didnt really mind, but i'm sure the bastard next to me did when i spilled my ice water (oooooooh i was pissed). Anyway, we started our descent at about 1125, and were at gate 60 on time at 1145. We deplaned, met my parents, got our bags, and were on the way home!
Review:
Service: 9-No one's lying about improvements from what i saw
Facilities: 8-The walk at YUL was loooong, not sure about the CVG layout, but the mainline terminal is still my favorite
Aircraft: 1-The CRJs are sporty little bastards, but damnit, i'm a tall guy, i'll be avoiding these in the future!
Montreal: 10-Absolutely great!!!
P.S. sorry there are no pics this time around, in my rush to pack, i forgot my dig, so maybe you will be so lucky to have some on my next TR, MCI-PHL-MAD and return, expect that around late June!
_____________
March 18 2004
Comair 5833 (1997 colors)
MCI-CVG
CRJ-200
We arrived at MCI for our 1210 departure at 1100, proceeded to the international DL check-in desk and checked our bags. I was ready to look for the "new and improved" delta customer service, and i was not disappointed. The greeter was very friendly, talking to us about Montreal and whatever, and the Checkin agent was great. We stopped at Great Steak and Potato (yummm) for a quick bite, and proceeded to gate 60. We waited in the gatehouse after a painless security check for our CRJ to arrive from CVG. At 1200, the CRJ arrived, 20 minutes behind schedule. Soon after it arrived, we boarded (by rows, not zones). I stepped on to the CRJ to the cramped cabin, taking my seat in 8A (exit row). After15 minutes, we were ready for departure and pushed back. We made a quick taxi to 19R and took off without delay. We leveled off at FL330 and started our hour journey to CVG (with the help of a 100mph tailwind!). Our F/A was very nice, serving two rounds of snacks and a drink service. After about 50 minutes, we desccended into a very cloudy cincy. We landed smoothly, on time. One thing i noticed was how the approach in the CRJ really is like coming in on a lawn dart!
______________
Comair flight 5013
CVG-YUL
CRJ-200 (Old old colors)
Seat 2A
Well, the CRJ odyssey continued. After a quick tour of concourse C, we made our way to gate C42. The layout of the C terminal is very weird, very confusing, as there are about 10 different flights using the same gate area. Well, i figured it out after a while and boarded the flight to Montreal at 315 for our 330 departure. We made our way out to the tarmac and were greeted by yet another very friendly F/A. We pushed on time, and taxied out for departure. We took off about 5 minutes later. I noticed that the CRJ is a powerful little bastard, but very quiet! The flight time was 1h45m. The flight was uneventful, and i think my family were the only people on this flight conversing in English! The approach was great, we overflew lots of frozen lakes and rivers, which was weird seeing as it was over 70 in MCI!!! We landed on time and deplaned at Gate 80. The walk to Customs was wayyyyy long, it took something like 15 minutes just to get to customs. That aside, the YUL airport is very cool, very modern (at least in the parts that have been redone).....customs was another story. We arrived at the same time as Royal Air Maroc, KLM, BA, and AF flights, so customs was PACKED. That aside, the line moved fairly quickly, and we were on our way to the Fairmont La Reine Elizabeth in about an hour.
________________
March 21, 2004
Comair 5003
YUL-CVG
CRJ-200 (New Colors)
Seat 2A
Ok, i came to the conclusion that Montreal is definitely one of my most favorite cities i have EVER been to! What a great city, it's like being in Europe! If you ever get the chance, go to Montreal, you will not be disappointed, it's truly unique...ok all praises aside, here's the report. We left the Fairmont (which was great too) at 4am for the cab ride to YUL. We arrived at 420am for our 550 departure, which was not as much time as we would have liked. We checked in with another exceedingly friendly DL agent, and joined the line for customs. The wait this time was about 15 minutes, which was not bad, but we were starting to cut it close. We then waited for security for about 20 minutes, and made our long walk towards gate 80. We arrived at the gate just as boarding was starting, and got directly on the plane through the floor level air inflated jetways that they use for CRJ's in YUL (kinda cool!). We were greeted by a male F/A, who was obviously not too happy to be up at 5am! He announced that the coffee machine was broken....which was horrible news to about 95% of the plane! We pushed at 550, just as the sun was rising, and taxied straight to the runway (no de-ice!). We made another fast take off, and made a fast climb up to FL320. At altitude we were served the traditional Biscoff and Pretzel stuff along with bev service..i had a Cranapple (my mainstay at DL) and flipped through SkyMall. After just over 2 hours (really pushing it on a CRJ for a 6'4 person like myself) we landed smoothly in CVG at 820, making a quick taxi to concourse C. We deplaned and went over to the Mainline terminal with my parents to watch them board their 737 to MCI (while we would be on another CRJ!!!!). After they left, we grabbed some McDonalds breakfast, and made our way back to C.
________________
Comair 5833
CVG-MCI
Seat 3A
CRJ-200 (New Colors)
At 1045, it was time to board our flight back home. We boarded via the freezing tarmac (it was snowing) and were greeted by an overly cheery F/A. After 20 minutes of boarding and sh*t we were ready to go. We pushed with the late AM bank, and somehow made it to Number 1 in line for departure! We shot off into the sky headed westward towards Kansas City. We leveled off at FL320 for our 1h30m flight to MCI. Our F/A was great, making sure every one always had something to munch or drink. Over STL, the weather cleared up, but the turbulence worsened. We were getting tossed around, and those wings were shakin boy! I love turbulence, so i didnt really mind, but i'm sure the bastard next to me did when i spilled my ice water (oooooooh i was pissed). Anyway, we started our descent at about 1125, and were at gate 60 on time at 1145. We deplaned, met my parents, got our bags, and were on the way home!
Review:
Service: 9-No one's lying about improvements from what i saw
Facilities: 8-The walk at YUL was loooong, not sure about the CVG layout, but the mainline terminal is still my favorite
Aircraft: 1-The CRJs are sporty little bastards, but damnit, i'm a tall guy, i'll be avoiding these in the future!
Montreal: 10-Absolutely great!!!
P.S. sorry there are no pics this time around, in my rush to pack, i forgot my dig, so maybe you will be so lucky to have some on my next TR, MCI-PHL-MAD and return, expect that around late June!
) and I'll only be there for 5 days. I'm also doing this to get on the EMB-170.
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