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BDL-DTW-RIC-PHL-BDL (NWA, US, UAL)

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  • BDL-DTW-RIC-PHL-BDL (NWA, US, UAL)

    Introduction: This is my first trip report that I have posted, so please give me any comments and suggestions for next time.

    Background: I booked this trip so I could visit my friends from Richmond, VA. I lived there for fifteen years before moving up to Ludlow, MA three years ago. I have taken this trip twice before and this was the first time I had any problem. I booked these tickets online in June and here was my original itinerary.

    July 7, 2004
    NWA 1179
    BDL-DTW
    NWA 1414
    DTW-RIC

    July 14, 2004
    NWA 3742
    RIC-DTW
    NWA 264
    DTW-BDL

    July 7, 2004

    I set my alarm for 7am for my 9:15 flight out of Bradley. I slept right through it and was awaken by my mom around 7:15. I took a quick shower, packed, ate breakfast, grabbed a coffee, and walked my dog real quick and got out of the house around 7:45.

    After a quick 30min drive down to Bradley, I was dropped off by my mom and I proceeded to the Northwest Check-In area. I had already checked in online via NWA.com so all I had to do was get my bag tags. After a quick 10min wait in line, it was time to head to my gate. Northwest is one of the many airlines that moved to Bradley's new terminal. This terminal is a HUGE improvement over the terminal Northwest used to use a few years ago. It is bright, open, and has plenty of seating. The old terminal NWA used was ground level, hot, cramped, and had no vendors. I arrived at gate 5 at 8:45.

    NWA 1179 BDL-DTW
    Sched Dep. 9:15 am
    Actual: 9:05 am
    Sched. Arr. 11:04 am
    Actual: 11:00 am
    Seat: 15-F
    Aircraft: A320

    Boarding began at 8:50 with the typical pre-boarding announcements. I was in the third group called and I took my window seat in 15-F. When I got to my seat, I was the only one in the row. That changed quicklwhen a large woman sat next to me. She could not fit with the armrest down so it was moved up and I was now squished between the window and her. Luckily I'm a skinny 140 pounder so it didn't affect me too much.

    We pushed back at 9:05 and made a quick taxi over to runway 33. We waited for a citation to land then we turned onto the runway and took off. Our initial climb was a little bumpy because of some light clouds around the area but nothing too bad yet. Our captain came on about 20 minutes into flight and told us our initial cruising altitude was 31,000 but due to turbulence he was requesting higher. We did get the higher altitude a few minutes later but it was still rather bumpy.

    Drink and snack service was started around 9:30. I got the breakfast bar thing and then a full can of pepsi. One thing I noticed on this flight was the nice flight attendants. They were extremely friendly and kept a smile on for the entire flight.

    After we passed over the Buffalo area, clouds took over the sky so there was nothing to look at anymore. I just popped in my 311 Greatest Hits CD and listened to that until we began our decent at 10:30. During our decent, I spotted a US Airways 737 and a Air Ontario Dash 8.

    The weather in Detriot was not too good. Mostly cloudy, 77 degrees, and a light breeze according to the captain. We landed on runway 21L. The landing was a little rough and we slowed down quickly to evacuate the runway. We taxied to gate A23 and I was in the airport by 11.

    In Detroit

    My flight to Richmond wasn't leaving until 1:54pm, so I had plenty of time to kill in the airport. I spent most of my time down in the regional C concourse. I just watched planes come and go from here since it's a ground level terminal. After 30min, I decided to eat lunch and I made my way over to the food court at A1-8 gate area. I went to taco bell.

    After lunch I decided to go back to the regional concourse until 1pm. I watched a SAAB 340 come in, unload, load, and pushback, and leave for Muskegon, MI. That took about 45 min and it was just about 1pm so I decided to go to my gate for my flight to Richmond.

    At the gate my name was called up, and I was given a new seat. The reason was because they had changed the aircraft for this flight.

    NWA 1414 DTW-RIC
    Sched. Dep. 1:54pm
    Actual: 2:25pm (weather)
    Sched. Arr. 3:27pm
    Actual: 3:40pm
    Seat: 10-A (originally 18-A)
    Aircraft: DC9-10 (supposed to be DC9-30)
    Gate: A51

    Boarding for this flight began at 1:30. I had to row to myself so I moved up the armrests and kinda spread out haha. We powered back at 1:45 and made our way to runway 21R. During our taxi a thunderstorm came over the field and all departures were stopped. Only arrivals were allowed to get around. Eventually the storm cleared up and it was our turn for take off.

    Take off was extremely bumpy but was fun. I love hearing those loud engines going at full thrust. We ascended through the clouds and about 15 minutes later we finally broke out of the last layer and saw some sunlight. Our captain soon came on and announced our cruising altitude of 33,000 feet.

    The flight attendants came around and offered pretzels and a drink. I got another whole can of pepsi to drink. I listened to some Incubus during this flight. I also did some reading on a few colleges since my senior year of high school is coming up.

    Before I knew it, my flight was just about over. We began our final decent into Richmond which was experienced localized severe storms. Luckily none of them were at the airfield so we were cleared to land. We landed on runway 20. After a quick 5 minute taxi to the B terminal we deplaned and I picked up my luggage at the baggage claim and then went on to begin my vacation in Richmond.


    July 14, 2004

    After a fun week in VA, it was time to head back home, or so I thought. I arrived at Richmond International at 11am for my 12:30 departure to DTW. I got to the Northwest Check-in area and it had a long slow moving line. I finally found out why from some disgruntled passenger. Due to a power failure in Minneapolis, Northwest's computers were down and no flights could leave. So they cancelled all their afternoon flights until 4. Now this is where the fun begins.

    After about an hour waiting in line, it was finally my turn to get rebooked. They rebooked me on a US Airways flight through PHL leaving RIC at 1:45pm and arriving in BDL at 4:43pm. They sent me over to the US Airways line which wasn't too long. After about 10 minutues in line I get up there and show them what NWA wanted me to do. They then told me that the 1:45 flight to PHL had been cancelled and to go back to NWA counter.

    The line at the NWA was still there so I had to wait another 30min before I could talk to someone and get rebooked. This time they put my on United through IAD. I went over to the UAL check in area and got my boarding passes and checked in my bag. The flight wasn't leaving until 3pm and it was 1pm at this time so I had plenty of time to kill. On my way to the United gate I was selected to be screened because I was rerouted.

    After a long 1 1/2 hour wait, the gate agent comes on and tells everyone that due to weather in Dulles our flight was going to be delayed and everyone, except for one person going to London, was going to bust their connection. So then I had to wait in another line to get rebooked. This time on US Airways again for their 5:45 pm flight to PHL and getting in BDL at 9:11pm. Then I had to go all the way back to the United ticket counter, wait in line again, and then retrieve me bag, and then go wait in the US Airways line. I got checked in, and checked in my bag once again.

    I then made my way to the A concourse where I was again selected for extra screening. It was only 4pm so I had awhile until my flight. Around 5:30 the gate agent comes on and tells us that our flight could not leave until at least 7pm due to ATC in PHL. I then had to wait in line again to see if my connection to BDL was going to be delayed. It wasn't so I had a very small chance of making it. By this time I was exhausted from stress, walking around, and lack of food so I just called my friends mom who is an AA employee at RIC and she rebooked me for July 15th on US Airways. I then waited in the US Airways line for another hour to retrieve my bag and then left the airport at 7:30 pm. 8 1/2 hours after I got there. I made over 30 cell phone calls to my mom, my friends mom, airlines, and my dad. I would have to try again tomorrow. No kid should have to spent 8 1/2 hours in RIC haha. There just isn't anything to do all day and it's not a very busy airport.

    July 15, 2004

    I was rebooked for the 7:50am flight to PHL on US Airways and arriving in BDL at 10:58am. I was woken up at 6am by my friends dad and I took a quick shower and I was out the door. We got to Richmond around 7am and after a quick 10min wait I got my boarding passes, checked my bag and off I was again. I was again selected for extra search but one of the people recognized me from yesterday and knew that I had already been through it twice so they just put me through regular security.

    US 902 RIC-PHL
    Sched. Dep. 7:50am
    Acutal: 7:50am
    Sched. Arr. 8:52am
    Actual: 9:00am
    Seat: 6-A
    Aircraft: A319

    Boarding began ontime at 7:20am and everybody was on and ready to go by 7:45am. After a few minutes, we pushed back and began our taxi to runway 20. We waited for a one aircraft to land, then it was our turn. We took off into a nice clear sky with a little haze. Our flight time was announced at 30 minutes. We cruised at 19,000ft and it was fairly smooth. No Service was provided.

    During this flight I saw the Potamac River, Delaware River, and then downtown Philly. We landed at 8:42am and taxied to gate C29. We had to wait a few extra minutes for someone to opearate the gate so we didn't start leaving the aircraft until about 9am.

    In Philadelphia

    This was my first time connecting in PHL and I found it to be a fairly nice airport and fairly easy to get around. Nothing is as easy as getting around DTW however. My connecting flight was departing gate B4 at 9:55am.

    US 850 PHL-BDL
    Sched. Dep. 9:55am
    Actual: 9:50am
    Sched. Arr. 10:58am
    Actual: 11:00am
    Seat: 8-A
    Aircraft: 737-300

    Boarding began at 9:30am and everyone was on and ready to go early so we left 5 minutes early. We taxied to 27L and took off after a few Dash-8's and 737's. This flight took us over NYC, Long Island, the Long Island Sound, and over New Haven, and Springfield, MA. Our flight time was announced at 50 minutes.

    We were offered orange juice or coffee or both. I just got a glass of orange juice and looked out the window. We soon landed on runway 20 at BDL and I was so relieved to be home after yesterday. We got to the gate and I retrieved my bags, met my mom, and went home.

    I know the last two of my reports were very brief but I was so tired today that I slept for parts of today's flights.
    Go Red Sox!!

    48-38 7.0 games back

  • #2
    I'm glad you had a good(well somewhat) trip. * hours in RIC, thats harsh. How did you like councourse B? They just re-did the whole thing. We had a tornado watch yesterday in the RIC area(JUL14) and a lot of flights got cancelled. Did you by any chance see the UAL 777 that got diverted to RIC from IAD? Next Saturday I'm going to try my luck with the storms out of RIC on US-Airways and I don't feel like spending 8 hours there. Great report!
    GO SIOUX

    Comment


    • #3
      Yea I enjoyed the trip for the most part, just not yesterday haha.

      Concourse B was very nice. Last time I was there, it was still be redone so it's nice to see the final product, for now. Concourse A however, is still in the process of being redone and the bathroom at the end of the concourse was closed because of it.

      I missed the UAL 777. I was probably waiting in the line at the United ticket counter trying get my bag from them or waiting in the line for US Airways trying to get on the 5:45 flight. I did see a Delta 757 diversion from D.C. I was eating in that restaurant that is in the middle of the terminal, giving a very good view of the tarmac and the airfield.
      Go Red Sox!!

      48-38 7.0 games back

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