TMS 2009 San Francisco Trip Report

Greetings fellow a.nutters! I’m here to share another great experience I had flying to the beautiful city of San Francisco for the Annual TMS Conference and Exhibition. This is a great event for many around the globe and each year, our school (The Ohio State University) gives us students an amazing opportunity to go educate ourselves and have fun at the same time. My first TMS was in 2007 when I went to Orlando. It was quite the experience. Last year it was in New Orleans, and due to personal issues, I could not make it there; however this year it was in San Francisco and I was not about to miss out on this opportunity. So without further a due, I present you my trip report.

Caution: This report will be picture heavy and hopefully the pictures will say the thousand words I wish to convey to all.

Saturday February 14, 2009
CMH – CVG
DL 1521 B737-800
Depart: 7:15 am
Arrive: 8:10 am
Seat: 30D

So my day started with minimal sleep. I had gone out with friends the night before to watch a movie and I came home by 1:30 am with still having to pack. By the time I got done packing, it was 2:30 and I had my alarm set for 5:30 am so I could make it to airport by 6:15 am. It’s a mere 15 min drive to CMH from where I live, so I wasn’t too worried. My sister dropped me off at the airport and I went to the DL check-in counter. I actually had a NW confirmation number as my ticket was booked via nwa.com, so initially I could not check in. The lady at the check-in counter was extremely helpful and checked me in with my bag. I paid the $15 to check my bag in and was off to security. The line surprisingly was quite a long one for Saturday morning.

I cleared security and met up with the others that were traveling to SFO from Ohio State. There were a total of 29 of us out of with 25 were on NWA traveling through MSP and the 4 of us were lucky enough to travel on DL via CVG. We left an hour later than them from CMH and would get in about an hour earlier than them  It was great.

This was my first time flying to CVG and it was scheduled to be about a 40 min flight time. We were expected to arrive into CVG earlier than scheduled time which meant that my connection time of 40 mins was more than enough. Since the flight was so short, there was no drink service. I had 3 seats to myself so I kinda just took a nap and therefore could not take any pictures from this segment.





Saturday February 14, 2009
CVG – SFO
DL 1531 B737-800
Depart: 8:45 am
Arrive: 10:55 am
Seat: 29C

Our transit in CVG was painless and very quick. We got out of one gate and literally walked across to the gate where this flight was departing from. While walking to the bathroom, I ran into one of those DL agents that was trying to sell me a credit card for skymiles. After profusely refusing, I was finally let go. Man those guys are persistent and can get annoying. I decided to go stretch and walk a bit around the airport. By the time I got back, our flight was boarding. The load was about 80% I’d say as again I had 3 seats to myself. I gladly moved myself to the window seat and promised to take pictures during the flight. Another great part was that this plane was equipped with the live TV entertainment system and it was good enough for me. We pushed back on time and made our way to the runway. For some reason, this take off roll seemed longer than usual. Almost felt like we made it all the way to the end of the runway before rotating.

I passed time for the first hour watching Sportscenter. There was a drink / snack service which comprised of biscoffs and/or peanuts. Unfortunately they did not have my favorite drink on a flight, which is ginger ale, so I settled for club soda. I was pretty hungry also so I bought myself a $3 yogurt parfait which had yogurt, fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries and granola. It was very good I must say and well worth the $3 I paid. It was a bit too early for any type of alcohol so I stayed away from that. Mid flight I turned to FX and started watching Man On Fire. Unfortunately, the satellite signal was lost in the middle of the movie and it really did seem like a good one. There was another round of drinks / snacks and this time I grabbed a sprite with biscoffs and another yogurt parfait. Did I mention it was good???

The rest of the flight was uneventful. Since I had 3 seats to myself, one of the screens had the moving map playing constantly. We flew over Colorado, the Rockies and being on the left side of the plane I had pretty good views. Our descent into SFO was pretty good. We flew over Berkeley while turning left and I had a great opportunity to be landing parallel to another aircraft into SFO. Overall I’d say it was a great flight and I couldn’t complain against anything. Our bags made it out pretty quickly and we had to wait for the rest of our group to show up.

I’ll let the pictures do the talking now…


The Cincy Airport

In Flight Pictures



























A Ski Resort down




Turning over Berkeley






OAK


Parallel Landing in action


San Francisco:
The next days were filled with checking the city out, going to local breweries and attending lectures from the conference. I really enjoyed the city and although the weather wasn’t too cooperative with us (rain & more rain) I still had a blast walking all over San Francisco and checking out what the city has to offer. If anyone’s interested, I went to the following Breweries and they were all very good: 21st Amendment, San Francisco Brewery, Rogue Brew House, and of course Anchor Steam Brewery. Very good beers and food.

Pictures from San Francisco:


Our Hotel Building – Hotel Nikko


Checking-In at Hotel Nikko


View from my hotel room


Powell/Hyde St. Cable Car


Our stock for the night 


Golden Gate


Golden Gate


View of the City


Walking across the bridge






Made it to Fisherman’s Wharf


Fisherman’s Wharf


View of the city from Wharf


View 2


Golden Gate in the Distance


Alcatraz (aka The Rock)


Walked to Ghirardelli Square


The cable car again


Walking to Lombard Street (the crookedest street)


Very steep walk…




Yup walked all the way from there… Can see Alcatraz in distance


Nob Hill I believe (correct me if I’m wrong)


Lombard Street (The crookedest street)


Another view


This genius tried to take his trailer down Lombard St. He got stuck at least twice on each curve. His wife had her face covered with her hands because everyone was taking pictures…

Now it was great weather for this half a day. We decided to go to Golden Gate again and check it out in sunlight. Alas, by the time we got there, dark clouds loomed and it started pouring…


Panoramic view from the other side of Golden Gate



Finally a picture from the conference  It was Moscone Center

After attending some lectures in the morning, I decided to walk down to the Ferry Building.


The Ferry Building


Famous Port of San Francisco Sign seen is some movies


The Bay Bridge


Take 2


Spotted a rainbow


Walking through Chinatown


Entrance to Chinatown


Wednesday February 18, 2009
SFO – CVG
DL 2010 B737-800
Depart: 11:35 am
Arrive: 6:56 pm
Seat: 30D

After a great 3 days and 4 nights in San Francisco, it was time to go back. Most of our group had left at 5:30 am to catch their 8:30 am flight back to CMH. The four of us got 3 extra hours of sleep and were scheduled to meet at the lobby by 8:40 am. We had a shuttle pick up scheduled that would take us to the airport. It was a Wednesday morning and although traffic was a bit on the heavy side, it was no rush hour. We made it to the airport with ample time to spare and checked in with Delta without any problems. Security line was a breeze and I did some final souvenir shopping. I bought a couple of shot glasses, and the sour dough bread from the Bedin bakery to take back home.

It was early and I hadn’t had anything to eat, so I ended up buying a Panini to take with me on board the aircraft. Boarding was called and upon boarding I soon realized that this flight was pretty full. There were about 4-5 seats open and this time I wasn’t lucky enough to get one of those empty ones next to me. Instead I sat with a person who had to use a seatbelt extender. This person was actually utilizing some of the space that I was allotted in seat 30D. I told the FA about this and she politely told me to wait until take off after which she would try to accommodate my request of not having my personal bubble burst. Luckily there was a gentleman who had an aisle seat and moved to window 2 rows ahead of me. The FA asked this gentleman and he was more than willing to accommodate. I grabbed 28C and was a happy camper.

The flight again was uneventful. There were two rounds of drinks / snacks. The A/C again was equipped with the entertainment system and this time the only thing I used it for was the moving map and play the trivia. I had my laptop on which I watched Snatch. Turned out to be a pretty decent movie. Our arrival into CVG was on time and again, the transit to our next flight was seamless and rapid. Overall, I really liked the CVG airport.


Wednesday February 18, 2009
CVG – CMH
DL 1590 B737-800
Depart: 7:50 pm
Arrive: 8:41 pm
Seat: 30D

The last leg of my return trip home was again a short hop. I was in 30D and I had a middle seat empty. I was really tired at this point so I pretty much slept the entire flight. We landed in CMH at about 8:30 and I called home. My bags were out quickly and by 9:00 pm I was at home. Again, a flawless flight and nothing I could complain about.

Overall, this was my 2nd transcontinental trip on DL for me (LAX being the first) and both times DL was efficient with friendly and good service. I would definitely not hesitate to fly them again.

Questions / Comments / Suggestions / Feedback is definitely welcome 

Hope you guys enjoyed this report…