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I haven't written a trip report per-se in quite some time. However, at the request of a few, I've compiled some limited notes from my travels so far in 2003. I have three more flights tomorrow. I've put links to photos where applicable. I'm sure my geocities bandwidth will crash....
5 January 2003
AA2419 STL-DFW 9:04am-11:02am MD-80
Used the e-kiosk to check-in about 7:40am. Short wait for agent to call off my name for my checked luggage tag. St. Louis’ ticketing hall is a mess with the placement of the new TSA screening equipment in the middle. I worried about my bag making it as it was added to the line-up of well over a hundred bags waiting for screening. Elite security line put me at the front of the screening queue, so the wait was minimal. The gate was one of the closest on C concourse on the alleyway side. Boarding was quick. Seat was 21B, second exit row aisle with no seat opponent. Deadheading flight attendants (just arrived from Maui) filled the row in front of me. On-time departure. Approximately 50% load. One pass with the drink cart and cookies (Breton and Biscoff) followed by a tray service of coffee or water. Great TWA crew. Typical TWA interior, relatively clean. On-time arrival into the TWA-gates in B terminal.
5 January 2003
AA1678 DFW-JAX 12:40pm-3:53pm F-100
Long hike over to A13. Grabbed a quick sandwich for lunch then sat in the Admirals Club for a short time in A terminal. Boarding started around noon. Full flight. Old interiors on the F-100. Seat was 13B, exit row aisle. No recline. Tray tables small, fold out of armrest (very poor for laptop). Two great flight attendants. Powerport in the seat is useful once again for extending laptop life as well as charging cell phone. Standard drink service with pretzels (I miss Cheddar Rold Gold Snack Mix). Arrive into JAX about twenty minutes early, then park on the cargo ramp for a half hour waiting for a gate to free up. American’s operative jetway is in use by a STL flight with mechanical delay, so we wait for the Miami-bound ATR to depart before parking in front of the broken C6 jetway (has been broken for over a year and a half). Airstairs are pulled up to the airplane, but are a little tall for the F-100 (borrowed stairs from Continental). Down the stairs, and up the terminal stairs to the Eagle doorway. Checked luggage takes approximately twenty minutes.
Weekend of January 11th:
Went south to Vero Beach, staying with a friend. Flew to Orlando twice, once in Cessna, once in Seneca II.
17 January 2003
WN1524 JAX-FLL 8:40pm-9:45pm B737-300
Used Southwest’s new e-kiosks for the first time. Easy to use and prints an A boarding card. Walked to the counter to check luggage and was done within two minutes. Decided to check luggage as this flight is inbound from other cities and usually has a fair number of continuing passengers and little overhead space. Security wait less than five minutes at the new checkpoint. Gate agent begins lining up passengers in the cramped gate as the aircraft arrives from Indianapolis and Chicago/Midway. A flight attendant came out and joked over the public address system, advising there are already sixty passengers on board. I take the exit row window seat (this aircraft was single cabin with no lounge seating, but still the old interiors) and a friend sits next to me. On-time departure. Standard Southwest drink and peanut service. Full flight. On-time arrival into Ft. Lauderdale and the new terminal. Excellent terminal with open spaces, pleasing colors/decorations, and simple layout. Checked luggage is on the belt as we come downstairs.
Hotel was a Mainstay Suites at Miami Intl. We had two rooms, each with two double beds and a sofa bed, so all five in our party were accommodated comfortably. Hotel wasn’t bad for employee rate of $25 per night per room. Took a day trip to Key West. Took a cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale down the canals and intercoastal waterway. Visited a friend at University of Miami.
20 January 2003
WN227 FLL-JAX 3:00pm-4:10pm B737-300
E-kiosk yields an A boarding card once again. Gate agent lines up passengers about a half hour before departure (yet some people are already sitting in their respective lines almost an hour before departure, even in B line). Two girls sitting next to us in the gate have quite an interesting conversation on “boob jobs.” Apparently one already has her nipples pierced as well as a lower body part. I love flying Southwest. On-time pushback with a full passenger load. No jokes from the flight crew once again, but the Captain walks through the cabin after boarding greeting everybody. They turn the field as we taxi out and we wait a half hour to take-off. Quick flight up the center of the state (over ORL VOR) with standard drinks/peanuts. Sat in the window seat in front of the exit row (bulkhead behind with exit row lounge seating, old interiors) with a friend in the aisle. Odd person in the middle seat. Visual approach into runway 31, flying low over downtown Jacksonville. Arrival is about fifteen minutes late.
25 January 2003
AA1305 MCO-MIA 9:00am-9:59am A300
Drove to Orlando the night before. Embassy Suites MCO was $62. Nice corner room on the top floor. Hilton HHonors Gold amenity was a snack box with two bottles of water, a package of cookies, a bag of chips, and two granola bars as well as a personal letter from the manager. Arrived at the airport around 7:45am and used the First Class/Elite check-in. Security took a half hour with ten checkpoints open. Arrived at the gate as boarding began and boarded with Group 1. Had seat 9H/J. Old interiors, but MRTC. All male flight attendant crew who was generally rude to passengers. Full flight, 2/3 are Spanish-speaking. Our connecting flight was one of three connections in the U.S. No service at all on the very short flight. On-time into Miami and taxi to the decrepit C concourse. Deplane out of the 2L door. Connection is out of B concourse, quite a walk through a maze of drywall tunnels.
View inflight:
25 January 2003
AA1506 MIA-LGA 10:54am-1:49pm MD-80
Short wait at B10 before boarding began. This concourse is slightly better but still a dump like most of the Miami airport. Boarded the full flight with Group 1. Had exit row, two-seat side. Two men in front of us made out for the entire flight, with unaccompanied minor across the aisle from them watching intently. On-time departure. Nice clear flight up the coast. Two drink services. On-time arrival at LaGuardia after a spectacular visual approach. Arrived on-time after being towed into a D-concourse gate. I set off to meet a friend while my traveling companion set to work taking pictures of the airport for a class project.
Aircraft at gate in LGA:
5 January 2003
AA2419 STL-DFW 9:04am-11:02am MD-80
Used the e-kiosk to check-in about 7:40am. Short wait for agent to call off my name for my checked luggage tag. St. Louis’ ticketing hall is a mess with the placement of the new TSA screening equipment in the middle. I worried about my bag making it as it was added to the line-up of well over a hundred bags waiting for screening. Elite security line put me at the front of the screening queue, so the wait was minimal. The gate was one of the closest on C concourse on the alleyway side. Boarding was quick. Seat was 21B, second exit row aisle with no seat opponent. Deadheading flight attendants (just arrived from Maui) filled the row in front of me. On-time departure. Approximately 50% load. One pass with the drink cart and cookies (Breton and Biscoff) followed by a tray service of coffee or water. Great TWA crew. Typical TWA interior, relatively clean. On-time arrival into the TWA-gates in B terminal.
5 January 2003
AA1678 DFW-JAX 12:40pm-3:53pm F-100
Long hike over to A13. Grabbed a quick sandwich for lunch then sat in the Admirals Club for a short time in A terminal. Boarding started around noon. Full flight. Old interiors on the F-100. Seat was 13B, exit row aisle. No recline. Tray tables small, fold out of armrest (very poor for laptop). Two great flight attendants. Powerport in the seat is useful once again for extending laptop life as well as charging cell phone. Standard drink service with pretzels (I miss Cheddar Rold Gold Snack Mix). Arrive into JAX about twenty minutes early, then park on the cargo ramp for a half hour waiting for a gate to free up. American’s operative jetway is in use by a STL flight with mechanical delay, so we wait for the Miami-bound ATR to depart before parking in front of the broken C6 jetway (has been broken for over a year and a half). Airstairs are pulled up to the airplane, but are a little tall for the F-100 (borrowed stairs from Continental). Down the stairs, and up the terminal stairs to the Eagle doorway. Checked luggage takes approximately twenty minutes.
Weekend of January 11th:
Went south to Vero Beach, staying with a friend. Flew to Orlando twice, once in Cessna, once in Seneca II.
17 January 2003
WN1524 JAX-FLL 8:40pm-9:45pm B737-300
Used Southwest’s new e-kiosks for the first time. Easy to use and prints an A boarding card. Walked to the counter to check luggage and was done within two minutes. Decided to check luggage as this flight is inbound from other cities and usually has a fair number of continuing passengers and little overhead space. Security wait less than five minutes at the new checkpoint. Gate agent begins lining up passengers in the cramped gate as the aircraft arrives from Indianapolis and Chicago/Midway. A flight attendant came out and joked over the public address system, advising there are already sixty passengers on board. I take the exit row window seat (this aircraft was single cabin with no lounge seating, but still the old interiors) and a friend sits next to me. On-time departure. Standard Southwest drink and peanut service. Full flight. On-time arrival into Ft. Lauderdale and the new terminal. Excellent terminal with open spaces, pleasing colors/decorations, and simple layout. Checked luggage is on the belt as we come downstairs.
Hotel was a Mainstay Suites at Miami Intl. We had two rooms, each with two double beds and a sofa bed, so all five in our party were accommodated comfortably. Hotel wasn’t bad for employee rate of $25 per night per room. Took a day trip to Key West. Took a cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale down the canals and intercoastal waterway. Visited a friend at University of Miami.
20 January 2003
WN227 FLL-JAX 3:00pm-4:10pm B737-300
E-kiosk yields an A boarding card once again. Gate agent lines up passengers about a half hour before departure (yet some people are already sitting in their respective lines almost an hour before departure, even in B line). Two girls sitting next to us in the gate have quite an interesting conversation on “boob jobs.” Apparently one already has her nipples pierced as well as a lower body part. I love flying Southwest. On-time pushback with a full passenger load. No jokes from the flight crew once again, but the Captain walks through the cabin after boarding greeting everybody. They turn the field as we taxi out and we wait a half hour to take-off. Quick flight up the center of the state (over ORL VOR) with standard drinks/peanuts. Sat in the window seat in front of the exit row (bulkhead behind with exit row lounge seating, old interiors) with a friend in the aisle. Odd person in the middle seat. Visual approach into runway 31, flying low over downtown Jacksonville. Arrival is about fifteen minutes late.
25 January 2003
AA1305 MCO-MIA 9:00am-9:59am A300
Drove to Orlando the night before. Embassy Suites MCO was $62. Nice corner room on the top floor. Hilton HHonors Gold amenity was a snack box with two bottles of water, a package of cookies, a bag of chips, and two granola bars as well as a personal letter from the manager. Arrived at the airport around 7:45am and used the First Class/Elite check-in. Security took a half hour with ten checkpoints open. Arrived at the gate as boarding began and boarded with Group 1. Had seat 9H/J. Old interiors, but MRTC. All male flight attendant crew who was generally rude to passengers. Full flight, 2/3 are Spanish-speaking. Our connecting flight was one of three connections in the U.S. No service at all on the very short flight. On-time into Miami and taxi to the decrepit C concourse. Deplane out of the 2L door. Connection is out of B concourse, quite a walk through a maze of drywall tunnels.
View inflight:
25 January 2003
AA1506 MIA-LGA 10:54am-1:49pm MD-80
Short wait at B10 before boarding began. This concourse is slightly better but still a dump like most of the Miami airport. Boarded the full flight with Group 1. Had exit row, two-seat side. Two men in front of us made out for the entire flight, with unaccompanied minor across the aisle from them watching intently. On-time departure. Nice clear flight up the coast. Two drink services. On-time arrival at LaGuardia after a spectacular visual approach. Arrived on-time after being towed into a D-concourse gate. I set off to meet a friend while my traveling companion set to work taking pictures of the airport for a class project.
Aircraft at gate in LGA:
Also could you put a link to your site because the images aren't working.
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