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01-10-2002, 03:57 PM
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| Senior Member  ITYT CaptainJoin Date: Sep 2001 Location: IAH/HOU
Posts: 2,354
| CO/HA BusinessFirst - AUS-IAH-LAX-HNL-OGG-HNL-IAH-AUS AUS-IAH-LAX-HNL-OGG-HNL-IAH-AUS
__________________Friday, Continental 1707, AUS-IAH, 737-300, 1A I arrived at AUS with time to grab a drink at the lovely Presidents Club. 10 minutes before the flight, I walked downstairs to gate 16, slipped into 1A and read my Business 2.0 magazine for the 25 minute flight to IAH. My two checked bags were the first off the carousel and I was out the door, slightly less than an hour after I arrived at AUS. Saturday, Continental 1650, IAH-LAX, 757-200, 3B I had gotten up at 6a to make this flight. I knew that it left from the D terminal, so I arrived there only to find no Continental agents at the check-in for my luggage. One CO rep that I caught walking by told me that I should have gone to C since it’s domestic. I explained that I knew that it was leaving from D and didn’t want to unnecessarily walk through C. She said, “That’s just what you have to do to travel.” I’m was flying BusinessFirst and I’m a CO Elite, so I sure as hell wasn’t walking to C and back to check my bags; I decided to screw it and carry on my three bags. Besides, the IAH-LAX 757 morning flight is late every day, so I didn’t want my bags to miss the connection in HNL. We’re past departure time and I’m standing at the gate. As it is every day, the flight is late from LIM. Since I have all my bags, it’s too much of a pain to walk to the Presidents Club to relax, so I’m ready to rush the gate with the other F pax that are waiting right at the door. 45 minutes after departure time, the gate agent says that we’re going to begin boarding. She announces that, “because of the way that the plane is parked, we will be boarding First Class last so that they aren’t trampled on.” “What the hell,” is the common reaction? Sure enough, she starts boarding the rear of the aircraft while 16 angry people who haven’t had coffee yet get “trampled on” at the gate since we are being saved from being “trampled on” in the aircraft. After a few minutes of glares, the GA finally boards the front cabin. She looked at my three bags, looked up at me, looked down at my BF paper tickets and welcomed me aboard. This international 757 is configured with BusinessFirst and two boarding doors, as are all 757s. The plane is parked to board through the front door, which means just that all pax have to walk through BF to get to their seats. We all boarded, sat down, finally got our coffee, and were not once trampled on. The usual Continental breakfast (no pun intended) was served followed by cookie and milk service prior to landing. I was happy to see that the BF entertainment system was working on this short, domestic flight. I watched “Traffic” while eating breakfast and enjoyed the film. The lead FA had this habit of ending every announcement in a very hypnotizing voice, “So just sit back . . . relax . . . and enjoy this flight to the city of angels this morning.” 3B counted; she said it 17 times during the 3h flight to LAX. We were all in hysterics by the last time she said it. Of course, the flight arrived after the HNL flight’s scheduled departure, but the HNL DC10 was held for us. I grabbed my bags, walked of the 757 into LAX, and walked for 50ft to the next gate. Thursday, Continental 0075, LAX-HNL, DC10, 2J I boarded the venerable Continental DC10 and turned left. Unfortunately, since I was so late to the flight, all of the overhead space above my seat was taken. I wandered around the BF cabin and found a few spots to put my bags, although, as always, I kept my briefcase with me. I asked for a mimosa before departure. After all, I was on vacation – I was even in a Hawaiian t-shirt and my running shoes. The FA brought me my Mimosa, winked at me, and handed me my menu, which was the usual BusinessFirst style in appearance, although it had a flower on the front, which is the same design style as the flower on the “Honolulu Napkins,” as the FAs call them. Quote:
2K was filled with a man who mentioned during take-off that his wife was in coach since they’d only been cleared for one upgrade. He was flying from EWR. They took turns – she was in F on the EWR-LAX segment and he was in BF on the LAX-HNL segment. He visited her once during the flight. After all, with such excellent BusinessFirst service, who has the time?  After take-off, I ordered the steak followed by 2K, who also ordered the steak. 10 minutes later, the FA came back and told me that they were out of the steaks, even though I ordered one before 2K. I said that was OK and that I’d take the chicken. My guess was that he was a Platinum and so outranked me on the steak scale or something, although it was kind of weird. Lunch arrived and the FA served me the steak and 2K received the chicken. 2K and I engaged in a multi-minute exchange; I absolutely insisted that he take it. He finally convinced me that he had a steak for dinner yesterday and that his wife would “kill him” if he had more red meat today. The steak was excellent and even the potatoes were done well. A very good lunch followed by Continental’s great ice cream sundaes. I always ask for “the works” on my sundae, which the FAs are surprised to hear. After me, though, everyone else asks for “the works” since it looks so good! Excellent service throughout the flight. I relaxed throughout and we arrived in HNL right on time, even though we departed late. Saturday, Hawaiian 536, HNL-OGG, 717 I actually was scheduled on a much later flight (by several hours) due to some code sharing issues, but convinced a HA ticket agent to let me take this earlier flight. She confirmed me on the earlier flight and I got in line, southwest-style. I was actually surprising some family and friends who were flying from some other island to HNL and continuing to OGG on this flight. They were expecting me to be on the later flight, but it’s not hard to spot the really-white-guy with 3 bags in a group of tan people with nothing but checked luggage. The flight was an uneventful 20 minute puddle jump with guava juice in a sealed little plastic container. Elizabeth spilled hers. I was pretty tired upon arriving at the hotel. I had gotten only a few hours sleep when I woke up at 6CT and it was 16 or 17 hours later, but we ventured out . . . Thursday, Hawaiian 185, OGG-HNL, 717 I was the second in line for Southwest-style boarding. I was behind a couple from Houston. The man was a CO Platinum that turned out to be sitting in 1F with his new bride in 1G on my upcoming HNL-IAH flight. We exchanged a few humorous comparisons between HA and WN while waiting for boarding. I called Nugget while in line to catch up on the events in AUS. I boarded and sat in 6B next to a man who mentioned that he was excited to get home to the mainland because he was taking delivery of his black 2001 MR2 Spyder. He was really shocked to hear that I drove a silver one. He had been on the MR2 waiting list for four months and finally got “the call” while he was on Maui. I told him about how much fun he had to look forward to. The flight was uneventful. I spilled my guava juice while opening it. Thursday, Continental 0002, HNL-IAH, DC10, 1B Moments later, I was handed the wine list and asked for a pre-departure drink selection (which I accepted): Quote:
Quote:
Everyone boarded and we waited on the tarmac for no apparent reason until I put two and two together – 1A (next to me) was unoccupied and the head FA was standing next to the door. The BF FAs handed out amenity kits, news papers, etc, while the FA stood next to the door, waiting. Finally, about 5 minutes after our departure time, I saw the FA behind the door light up and welcome a passenger aboard. A ~16 year old girl that I vaguely recognized walked on and sat down in 1A, while putting her bags on the floor in front of her. A female FA grabbed her bags and put them in the overhead for her, with a bit of eye-rolling, while the male FA in front shut the door and we pushed-back from the gate. During takeoff, I chatted with 1A a bit and realized that she’s a movie actress. She’s working in Tokyo and is flying NRT-GUM-HNL-IAH-JFK today because it was apparently the only way for her to get back to New York in time for a date with some guy – she was going to a movie with him and this represented their two week anniversary. Dinner was great. I had the steak, again, and enjoyed it as much as the first time. I was very full after it, but was somehow hungry again a few hours later for breakfast. I watched two movies and couldn’t fall asleep, even after several glasses of wine from dinner. During the scheduled sleeping time between dinner and breakfast, I wandered up into the galley to look for the passenger manifest. I wanted to find out who 1A was so that I could look her up on IMDB. No joy. Manifest was on a clipboard that was on a galley wall that all the FAs were sitting around. I tried again to sleep to no avail. I was exhausted, but have always been unable to sleep on planes. (Exceptions: 1B on ATL-IAH after an early morning LHR-BRU-ATL and 2B SFO-IAH after virtually a week of exhaustion.) We arrived about 10 minutes late, which wasn’t surprising since movie-starlet 1A boarded 10 minutes late in HNL. My two bags were the first to arrive, right as I approached the baggage carousel in terminal C. It was perfect timing, so I put my bags on top of each other and wheel out to the passenger pick-up area. I milled back and forth for about forty-five minutes (while I watched every other passenger from my flight get picked up) while I repeatedly tried to call my ride. Finally, iambri calls and immediately start apologizing. I inquire about how far he is from IAH and he admits that he’s still in bed. He says that he’ll call as he approaches the airport and to just go to the Presidents Club and relax. I head to the P-club and catch up on e-mail while I wait for Brian. He calls and I head downstairs, only to see tycoonjack’s ///M3 pull up with Brian in shotgun. We take off from IAH only about two hours after I arrived, except now I hadn’t slept in a day, was hungry, and had been standing around in Houston heat and humidity. Friday, Continental 1525, IAH-AUS, 737-300, 14B I made the reservation for this flight and purchased this ticket on my cell phone while driving to the airport, so I didn’t exactly purchase it with enough time to get an upgrade. I arrived at IAH, checked in at the e>service machine, and approached the gate. It was absolute pandamonium. Bad weather in Houston had been delaying many flights and this flight to AUS was no exception. I ended up spending the next few hours wondering back and forth between the Presidents Club and the gate whenever I thought it might actually board. When I was boarding, the GA looked at my significant amount of carry-on luggage and was about to say something until I pointed out that I was making a BF connection with my BF boarding pass in hand. Truly, it was a different itinerary and not even a connection, but the flight times were close enough that it was plausible. Once I got into my coach window seat on a 737 with no air conditioning, I fell asleep for the first time in 28 hours. I arrived home in Austin with less than 24 hours to unpack, do laundry, and repack to begin AUS-IAH-TYS-MEM-AUS the next morning. | |||
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01-10-2002, 03:57 PM
| #2 | |||
| Senior Member ITYT CaptainJoin Date: Sep 2001 Location: IAH/HOU
Posts: 2,354
| CO/HA BusinessFirst - AUS-IAH-LAX-HNL-OGG-HNL-IAH-AUS AUS-IAH-LAX-HNL-OGG-HNL-IAH-AUS Friday, Continental 1707, AUS-IAH, 737-300, 1A I arrived at AUS with time to grab a drink at the lovely Presidents Club. 10 minutes before the flight, I walked downstairs to gate 16, slipped into 1A and read my Business 2.0 magazine for the 25 minute flight to IAH. My two checked bags were the first off the carousel and I was out the door, slightly less than an hour after I arrived at AUS. Saturday, Continental 1650, IAH-LAX, 757-200, 3B I had gotten up at 6a to make this flight. I knew that it left from the D terminal, so I arrived there only to find no Continental agents at the check-in for my luggage. One CO rep that I caught walking by told me that I should have gone to C since it’s domestic. I explained that I knew that it was leaving from D and didn’t want to unnecessarily walk through C. She said, “That’s just what you have to do to travel.” I’m was flying BusinessFirst and I’m a CO Elite, so I sure as hell wasn’t walking to C and back to check my bags; I decided to screw it and carry on my three bags. Besides, the IAH-LAX 757 morning flight is late every day, so I didn’t want my bags to miss the connection in HNL. We’re past departure time and I’m standing at the gate. As it is every day, the flight is late from LIM. Since I have all my bags, it’s too much of a pain to walk to the Presidents Club to relax, so I’m ready to rush the gate with the other F pax that are waiting right at the door. 45 minutes after departure time, the gate agent says that we’re going to begin boarding. She announces that, “because of the way that the plane is parked, we will be boarding First Class last so that they aren’t trampled on.” “What the hell,” is the common reaction? Sure enough, she starts boarding the rear of the aircraft while 16 angry people who haven’t had coffee yet get “trampled on” at the gate since we are being saved from being “trampled on” in the aircraft. After a few minutes of glares, the GA finally boards the front cabin. She looked at my three bags, looked up at me, looked down at my BF paper tickets and welcomed me aboard. This international 757 is configured with BusinessFirst and two boarding doors, as are all 757s. The plane is parked to board through the front door, which means just that all pax have to walk through BF to get to their seats. We all boarded, sat down, finally got our coffee, and were not once trampled on. The usual Continental breakfast (no pun intended) was served followed by cookie and milk service prior to landing. I was happy to see that the BF entertainment system was working on this short, domestic flight. I watched “Traffic” while eating breakfast and enjoyed the film. The lead FA had this habit of ending every announcement in a very hypnotizing voice, “So just sit back . . . relax . . . and enjoy this flight to the city of angels this morning.” 3B counted; she said it 17 times during the 3h flight to LAX. We were all in hysterics by the last time she said it. Of course, the flight arrived after the HNL flight’s scheduled departure, but the HNL DC10 was held for us. I grabbed my bags, walked of the 757 into LAX, and walked for 50ft to the next gate. Thursday, Continental 0075, LAX-HNL, DC10, 2J I boarded the venerable Continental DC10 and turned left. Unfortunately, since I was so late to the flight, all of the overhead space above my seat was taken. I wandered around the BF cabin and found a few spots to put my bags, although, as always, I kept my briefcase with me. I asked for a mimosa before departure. After all, I was on vacation – I was even in a Hawaiian t-shirt and my running shoes. The FA brought me my Mimosa, winked at me, and handed me my menu, which was the usual BusinessFirst style in appearance, although it had a flower on the front, which is the same design style as the flower on the “Honolulu Napkins,” as the FAs call them. Quote:
2K was filled with a man who mentioned during take-off that his wife was in coach since they’d only been cleared for one upgrade. He was flying from EWR. They took turns – she was in F on the EWR-LAX segment and he was in BF on the LAX-HNL segment. He visited her once during the flight. After all, with such excellent BusinessFirst service, who has the time? After take-off, I ordered the steak followed by 2K, who also ordered the steak. 10 minutes later, the FA came back and told me that they were out of the steaks, even though I ordered one before 2K. I said that was OK and that I’d take the chicken. My guess was that he was a Platinum and so outranked me on the steak scale or something, although it was kind of weird. Lunch arrived and the FA served me the steak and 2K received the chicken. 2K and I engaged in a multi-minute exchange; I absolutely insisted that he take it. He finally convinced me that he had a steak for dinner yesterday and that his wife would “kill him” if he had more red meat today. The steak was excellent and even the potatoes were done well. A very good lunch followed by Continental’s great ice cream sundaes. I always ask for “the works” on my sundae, which the FAs are surprised to hear. After me, though, everyone else asks for “the works” since it looks so good! Excellent service throughout the flight. I relaxed throughout and we arrived in HNL right on time, even though we departed late. Saturday, Hawaiian 536, HNL-OGG, 717 I actually was scheduled on a much later flight (by several hours) due to some code sharing issues, but convinced a HA ticket agent to let me take this earlier flight. She confirmed me on the earlier flight and I got in line, southwest-style. I was actually surprising some family and friends who were flying from some other island to HNL and continuing to OGG on this flight. They were expecting me to be on the later flight, but it’s not hard to spot the really-white-guy with 3 bags in a group of tan people with nothing but checked luggage. The flight was an uneventful 20 minute puddle jump with guava juice in a sealed little plastic container. Elizabeth spilled hers. I was pretty tired upon arriving at the hotel. I had gotten only a few hours sleep when I woke up at 6CT and it was 16 or 17 hours later, but we ventured out . . . Thursday, Hawaiian 185, OGG-HNL, 717 I was the second in line for Southwest-style boarding. I was behind a couple from Houston. The man was a CO Platinum that turned out to be sitting in 1F with his new bride in 1G on my upcoming HNL-IAH flight. We exchanged a few humorous comparisons between HA and WN while waiting for boarding. I called Nugget while in line to catch up on the events in AUS. I boarded and sat in 6B next to a man who mentioned that he was excited to get home to the mainland because he was taking delivery of his black 2001 MR2 Spyder. He was really shocked to hear that I drove a silver one. He had been on the MR2 waiting list for four months and finally got “the call” while he was on Maui. I told him about how much fun he had to look forward to. The flight was uneventful. I spilled my guava juice while opening it. Thursday, Continental 0002, HNL-IAH, DC10, 1B Moments later, I was handed the wine list and asked for a pre-departure drink selection (which I accepted): Quote:
Quote:
Everyone boarded and we waited on the tarmac for no apparent reason until I put two and two together – 1A (next to me) was unoccupied and the head FA was standing next to the door. The BF FAs handed out amenity kits, news papers, etc, while the FA stood next to the door, waiting. Finally, about 5 minutes after our departure time, I saw the FA behind the door light up and welcome a passenger aboard. A ~16 year old girl that I vaguely recognized walked on and sat down in 1A, while putting her bags on the floor in front of her. A female FA grabbed her bags and put them in the overhead for her, with a bit of eye-rolling, while the male FA in front shut the door and we pushed-back from the gate. During takeoff, I chatted with 1A a bit and realized that she’s a movie actress. She’s working in Tokyo and is flying NRT-GUM-HNL-IAH-JFK today because it was apparently the only way for her to get back to New York in time for a date with some guy – she was going to a movie with him and this represented their two week anniversary. Dinner was great. I had the steak, again, and enjoyed it as much as the first time. I was very full after it, but was somehow hungry again a few hours later for breakfast. I watched two movies and couldn’t fall asleep, even after several glasses of wine from dinner. During the scheduled sleeping time between dinner and breakfast, I wandered up into the galley to look for the passenger manifest. I wanted to find out who 1A was so that I could look her up on IMDB. No joy. Manifest was on a clipboard that was on a galley wall that all the FAs were sitting around. I tried again to sleep to no avail. I was exhausted, but have always been unable to sleep on planes. (Exceptions: 1B on ATL-IAH after an early morning LHR-BRU-ATL and 2B SFO-IAH after virtually a week of exhaustion.) We arrived about 10 minutes late, which wasn’t surprising since movie-starlet 1A boarded 10 minutes late in HNL. My two bags were the first to arrive, right as I approached the baggage carousel in terminal C. It was perfect timing, so I put my bags on top of each other and wheel out to the passenger pick-up area. I milled back and forth for about forty-five minutes (while I watched every other passenger from my flight get picked up) while I repeatedly tried to call my ride. Finally, iambri calls and immediately start apologizing. I inquire about how far he is from IAH and he admits that he’s still in bed. He says that he’ll call as he approaches the airport and to just go to the Presidents Club and relax. I head to the P-club and catch up on e-mail while I wait for Brian. He calls and I head downstairs, only to see tycoonjack’s ///M3 pull up with Brian in shotgun. We take off from IAH only about two hours after I arrived, except now I hadn’t slept in a day, was hungry, and had been standing around in Houston heat and humidity. Friday, Continental 1525, IAH-AUS, 737-300, 14B I made the reservation for this flight and purchased this ticket on my cell phone while driving to the airport, so I didn’t exactly purchase it with enough time to get an upgrade. I arrived at IAH, checked in at the e>service machine, and approached the gate. It was absolute pandamonium. Bad weather in Houston had been delaying many flights and this flight to AUS was no exception. I ended up spending the next few hours wondering back and forth between the Presidents Club and the gate whenever I thought it might actually board. When I was boarding, the GA looked at my significant amount of carry-on luggage and was about to say something until I pointed out that I was making a BF connection with my BF boarding pass in hand. Truly, it was a different itinerary and not even a connection, but the flight times were close enough that it was plausible. Once I got into my coach window seat on a 737 with no air conditioning, I fell asleep for the first time in 28 hours. I arrived home in Austin with less than 24 hours to unpack, do laundry, and repack to begin AUS-IAH-TYS-MEM-AUS the next morning. | |||
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