Mike89406 From United States of America, joined Mar 2007, 1268 posts, RR: 3 Posted (1 year 7 months 1 week 2 days 5 hours ago) and read 4085 times:
INTRODUCTION-
This trip was to visit my Mom and family in Minnesota. Back in April I had taken a trip with my daughter to show support for my mom who was diagnosed with Stage 3 Breast Cancer. This time my mom had been going thru chemotherapy treatment for a few remaining cancer floater cells. Since that time I’m proud to announce that my mom has been responding well to treatment and looks to dare I say be “cancer free” at the rate she is going. I accompanied her to a couple of her medical appointments and she received a clean bill of health for now.
When I explored the various airfares CO/UA turned out to be more expensive flying into MSP, and the same with FSD. After relentless searching online there was a decent airfare price with DL and I have and account with Dl as well as I do UA/CO. Additionally, I compared the Non-stop flights to MSP, FSD, and ATY. Needless to say that FSD was the lowest price this time and more convenient stop by being a closer drive to my parents in Southwestern Minnesota so I made my decision to fly the SAN-MSP-FSD route.
When I booked this flight I noticed that DL blocks a good chunk of Y class seats when you buy a ticket and this is also true with UA/CO. Part of the reasoning being that they hold extra legroom seats for preferred mileage members however they open up those seats within the last 2-3 hours prior to departure. I haven’t flown with Delta in a couple of years but I suppose they are following another marketing trend.
ARRIVAL-
I arrived at SAN at approximately 5:15 AM +/- for my early morning departure. There was a severe thunderstorm warning in the local area and I wasn’t sure how it would affect the departing flights.
Flightboard at SAN
CHECK-IN & SECURITY-
The check-in lines were pretty quick and I was able to make it thru check in within 10 minutes. Being a relatively full flight I wasn’t able to change seats to MSP or FSD. I made it thru made my way the elite security line and was thru in 2-3 minutes.
PRE DEPARTURE-
I ordered breakfast from California Pizza Kitchen at the food court in Terminal 2 and went for a shoeshine before finding my gate. When I arrived at the gate everything seemed fine and my flight wasn’t affected by the thunderstorms, and they just started the boarding process. We did leave the gate a few minutes later though due to non weather reasons.
Terminal 2 SAN
Terminal 2 Baggage Claim and Limbergh Aircraft Replica
TAKEOFF- Takeoff was smooth but due to the overcast and weather I couldn’t see where we were until 10 minutes afterwards. It was when a few holes in the clouds opened up that I noticed that we were still over the Pacific Ocean. Usually departing flights out of SAN head west over Pacific Beach, the coast, and turn back eastward over Imperial Beach, Tijuana, etc... Looking at the overhead TV’s we were going NNW towards Long Beach and LA. We then turned northeast over LA and in to the desert making our way back to the original flight path.
Overcast over the Pacific Ocean
First Site of land after takeoff LongBeach/Carson, CA
Los Angeles area
Los Angeles area
Los Angeles area
Los Angeles area
California Desert
CA/NV area
Due to the turbulence beverage/snack service started about an hour after takeoff.
INFLIGHT-
Service was normal as could be as expected, there were the overhead TV’s for movies. I used the Wi-Fi to track our flight on my IPod Touch. When we reached Nevada the sky cleared up. The remainder of the flight was uneventful.
I was sitting next to a chatty older couple from the Northern San Diego area. It just turned out that they were also from Minnesota/South Dakota and knew of the area in Rural Minnesota I was traveling to so we had a lot in common.
Intial descent to MSP around Sioux Falls, SD area
Minneapolis Skyline
MSP
Welcome to MSP
Upon arrival at MSP I made my way down the long distance of moving walkways to the regional terminal A/B. The lines for the food court was long which only gave me time to wait for my next flight which was about to board when I arrived at the gate.
BOARDING-
I waited about 5-10 minutes until boarding commenced.
TAKEOFF/INFLIGHT- was rather quick and this was a very short flight just over 30 minute’s wheels up/down. We headed WSW over the Minnesota farmlands with miles of crop rotations. I didn’t like the positioning of the windows next to the seats as they are small and I had to stretch out to take pictures or see out the window.
South Minnesota
South Minnesota
South Minnesota
South Minnesota
SW Minnesota
SW Minnesota
Final approach to FSD
LANDING-
We made the SW downwind approach to runway 21
ARRIVAL-
I made my way to the Hertz counter to up my rental car. Below is the scenic drive from Sioux Falls, SD-Marshall, MN
SloAir From Slovenia, joined Jul 2010, 336 posts, RR: 6 Reply 1, posted (1 year 7 months 6 days 13 hours ago) and read 3375 times:
Hi Mike,
great report, well done. I don't know why but out of all US States I always enjoy reports from Minnesota the most, it looks liek a very interesting and beutiful place. I hope I'll get a chance to visit the Land Of 10,000 Lakes myself someday.
I also enjoyed the pictures from your car ride, they reminded me of my little US road trip from Houston to Austin, although Texas scenery was a bit different
great report, well done. I don't know why but out of all US States I always enjoy reports from Minnesota the most, it looks liek a very interesting and beutiful place. I hope I'll get a chance to visit the Land Of 10,000 Lakes myself someday.
Thanks I appreciate it. There is always something special about that part of Minnesota or that region. First and foremost corn fields all over totally american and a lot of Scandanavian people live in that region. In essence you get the culture, food etc... of Norway a little bit.
Did I miss the name of the IPhone/IPod app you use? If not, could I ask you which one it is?
I assume your talking about the App tracking my flight. That one is FlightTrack for the iPhone/iPod Touch 4. It's a paid app but worth the money. It even has other features as well, and you can add the Flight Board for a few more bucks. Then again if you have a jailbroken device you may get it for free.
I used the Fly Delta App for my boarding passes which is a free app.
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