PBI,DCA,BDL

[dalbert]

I arrived at the US Airways counter and there was not one person in sight and the First Class line seemed to be closed. There was one ticket agent who was taking a nap when I walked up to counter to check in. He perked up, smiled and thanked me for giving him something to do. Apparently, after the vacation travel periods PBI is not the most active airport. He said that if I did not mind, would I try the new self-service kiosk; I said that I would not mind and he left the counter and walked with me to the kiosk. After checking in, which was a totally painless process; I headed off to the gate and passed through security within a few seconds. Something interesting to note, the TSA agents were really friendly and very helpful. I was chosen for an extra scan and the lady who took my bags put a sticker on it and drew a smiley face with its tongue sticking out on the sticker and took my bags. I headed off to US Airways club, had a cup of coffee and a muffin and waited for my flight.

12:05PM US Airways Flight#: 534 PBIDCA Seat: 1C
The plane used for this route is one of US Airways oldest jets, 737-400 which is very small yet very comfortable in First Class. The seats are leather and are very comfortable. Once I was seated the FA took my jacket and asked what I would like to drink before we took off. I had sparkling water with lime, since I do not really like alcohol and it was too early for soda. Once the plane was loaded and all the seats were filled, we were cleared for takeoff and left almost instantly. We slowly ascended to 32,000 feet and then I was pleasantly surprised when the FA came around and took our lunch orders. I was unaware that lunch was served on this flight and I was hungry. There were two choices on the flight, a pizza with a salad or mesquite chicken with a salad. I had the chicken because; I did not personally believe that Pizza could be decent when made by an airline catering company. I am happy that I had the chicken because, it was really good and the spices were perfectly balanced. I really enjoyed the meal and would have liked to have that kind of meal in a land restaurant. The dessert was those wonderful XOXO cookies from Europe they are so good and not too filling which airline desserts tend to be. The whole meal was served on one tray with no tablecloth beneath it. I actually do not mind the lack of a tablecloth because I find that the tray slips when it is placed on a table cloth. One thing that I dislike about US Airways is their lack of glassware aboard the plane. US Airways no longer uses glassware from airports that they have less than “X” gates or when flying to airport where they have less than “X” gates. I use “X” because I do not know the number of gates, but, I think it is 4. Otherwise the flight was uneventful and I laid back and took a nap till we landed at Regan National Airport. Our scheduled arrival was 2:20 and we actually arrived early, 2:00PM.

3:20PM US Airways Flight#: 534 DCABDL (Bradley International CT) Seat: 1C
After re-boarding the aircraft, I took my seat and started to work on my laptop while the plane finished boarding the newcomers to the flight. I was again offered a pre-flight beverage and this time I took a Diet Coke with lime. After boarding finished, we taxied and this time we were 4th inline for takeoff. After a few minutes and watching a DL767-400 which is one powerful bird, we were cleared took off and climbed very fast to 33,000 feet. The Flight attendant came around and offered us another beverage as well as a selection of snacks to accompany the beverage. I had a package of Milano Cookies (my fav) and a package of Cape Cod potato chips which in my opinion are the best chips ever made. Soon were ready to land at BDL, our scheduled arrival was 4:20PM and we actually arrived at 4:05PM. All in all two really great flight by US Airways and I hope that they make it through Chapter 11 and emerge a stronger airline.

[dbaker]

Thanks for the trip report, looks like it was an uneventful journey. Glad to hear that you enjoyed your experience with a struggling carrier and I share your feelings for good things to come.