FlyingFinn76 From Finland, joined Jun 2009, 1705 posts, RR: 41 Posted (10 months 2 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 10519 times:
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Introduction
This is the fourth part of my Summer 2012 US Trip Report. It covers my first encounter with Delta with the flights from Fort Lauderdale to Washington D.C. via Atlanta (what else?).
So the previous parts had gotten me as far as Dania Beach, FL, right next to the FLL airport. I sure love flying a lot, but I still wanted to spend at least a day or two somewhere interesting - and this time Southern Florida didn’t really appeal to me! With this in mind I narrowed it down to one of the large cities on the east coast - easy to get back to NYC for my flight home on Monday and plenty of things to see there. Eventually after playing around with various booking engines and fares I decided I’d head to D.C. - I’ve heard plenty of good things about the place and I found a great fare with Delta for 90 USD. So another new airline for me then.
There were plenty of flight options for that fare - mostly via the Delta fortress hub at ATL but also at least one flight via CVG, and an MD-88 would be operating the FLL-CVG sector! That was very tempting, but in the end I decided to take out the first flight of the day at OMG o’clock ex-FLL just have more time to spend in Washington. I also opted to fly into DCA since there were more flights available and of course I was hoping for the stunning approach down the Potomac.
Initially both flights were on 757s (-200 models unfortunately) but then DL gave me a nice gift - the ATL-DCA segment was changed to an MD-88 - I was pretty happy about this as it is a very rare plane nowadays. I’ve done two MD-88 flights with IB, but still wouldn’t mind another one. Some two months later however DL took the carrot away and I noticed the flight was now on a 737-800, probably the most boring plane model out there, yikes! Well, there’s nothing I can do but to make sure I reserve the best seats in the house using the DL’s website - and thankfully being Skyteam Gold I could reserve seats on the so called “Economy Comfort” section in the front of the Y cabin - a couple of rows with additional legroom.
The simple route for today:
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Saturday 16.6.2012
Another early start this morning, getting up before half past three (that’s AM, in the case you are wondering), a bit earlier than my alarm would’ve gone off. After the usual morning stuff and cursing a couple of times the fact that I decided to do this trip carry on only (somehow during a trip your stuff seems to evolve to use up much more space than what it did when you left home, neatly packed and all...) I head downstairs to check out. Nobody at the reception desk but a family of four or five persons is there. I say that I’m very surprised that I’m not the only one up at this horrible early hour - well turns out they are not early but *late* instead, having just recently arrived on a very delayed flight and are now waiting for a bit of a breakfast (shouldn’t that be supper or a night snack then?) before hitting the sack. They are sort of baffled that I have already slept and this is an early morning for me...
Anyway I soon manage to check out and hit the roads. Driving at this hour is an absolute delight as I think I see a grand total of two cars during the short drive back to the airport and I think both of those are heading to the 24H IHOP that’s halfway down the road to the airport - I’m not sure why someone would want to eat pancakes in the middle of the night - but hey, if you want you can! The drive is so short in fact that the needle is still showing F so no need to spend any money on gas with this car! A nice Filipino chap accepts the car just fine and directs me to complete the paperwork inside.
The drop off is handled far quicker than the way slow pick up process the previous night and the guy laughs at me when I ask whether it is possible to *walk* over to T2 (I saw that T1 was basically right next to the car park and rental facility) - “Yeah, but it’ll take you ages” he says. So into the shuttle bus I go, and I have to admit I’m quite surprised to see that it pulls off at the T2 curb less than two minutes after leaving the parking/car rental facility. I bet I could’ve walked this in five minutes!
T2 looks just quite depressing at this early hour - bright, fluorescent lights, low ceilings and the omnipresent carpeting. The check in is not yet staffed, although there are plenty of people around:
FIDS - yes, I’m on the first flight of the day. I wonder why this display is sorted chronologically when the norm here is to do it alphabetically:
I join the Priority Access queue which is much shorter than the one for the Great Unwashed. While waiting I squash a cockroach on the floor much to the horror of the Californian lady in front of me - welcome to Florida - I also got bitten by some fire ants in my hotel room the previous night!
Soon an unnaturally chirpy (for this hour) woman shows up and proceeds to turn on the self service kiosks bolted to the check in desks and asks us to check ourselves in. This is another thing I don’t really understand - many carriers on most big American airports have these kind of things - you are supposed to check yourself in and are only allowed to talk to an agent in person if the machine spits out a special card saying so. Well that would still be okay, but I don’t understand why couldn’t they have the machines running 24H - you still need to queue which seems to be a bit pointless to me especially since I’m not planning to drop any luggage off and have already done OLCI - I just need my (flimsy) pieces of paper to be set. Oh well, a minute after we get the permission to do so I’m in possession of my two boarding passes for the day and proceed towards security.
The security is your usual TSA affair, first the boarding pass checker is trying hard to look like a figure of authority, taking a long hard look at my boarding pass and an even a longer one to my passport before scrawling something completely illegible on the BP and grunting something which I assume means “Ok, go on” but could just as well be a suppressed burp... Shoes and everything off and thru the nudiescope again, and that’s it, I’m airside. No, nobody offered me the choice for opting out of the nudie scan this time, not that I’d wanted to anyway!
Airside - so empty:
Here’s my ride:
It turns out to be N673DL, the expected 752, will be doing the honors of serving as an introduction to my 150th airline flown - Delta.
Next I head to Delta’s Skyclub:
I thought that Delta was a bit more lax with their lounge access rules and offered it to Skyteam Gold members but this turns out not to be the case - you still need a same day international (presumably Skyteam) flight. Well the agent is very friendly and says that she’ll make a one time exception (yeah right, I bet she has done these a lot during the years...) and admit me in. I thank her and tell her that I definitely appreciate her gesture. I also ask about my position on the upgrade list - when I checked last night I was still at position three with at least six First class seats still available. She says that things are looking good for me, which I’m delighted to hear!
Well, this Sky Club is nothing to write home about - but at least it beats the public areas. Reminds me of many generic Servisair lounges in the UK:
717flyer would be happy with the muffin selection here - I am happy with the bagels:
The staffed (well not at this moment though) bar can be seen towards the left:
Breakfast:
My ride, parked right outside - during the night a thunderstorm passed over, hence the air is fresh, and clear outside:
The MD-88 to Covington at the next gate:
After two cups of coffee and two bagels (and a token muffin) it is time to board:
I ask the gate agent about my upgrade - at the same time he scans my boarding pass, the machine beeps and he hands me a new boarding pass for seat 3B - “I guess that’s your upgrade right there!”. Hey, Delta is definitely trying hard to impress me and win me over!
The jetway is attached to door 2L so I get to do the rather novel right turn after stepping onboard - I think the last time I did this was boarding an Air Finland 757 at Málaga Airport a bit over a year ago...
The welcome from the FA at the door wasn’t very welcoming at all, just a forced faux smile, but once I enter the First class cabin the attitude of the FAs is noticeably different - all smiles and friendliness. The ladies working up front are quite senior, but very friendly and good.
As with most carriers in the US, the domestic F cabin is in 2-2 layout with rather large and very nice looking leather chairs. And not only feeling, once I sit down I also notice that the seats indeed are very comfortable!
Plenty of legroom and enough pockets for all kinds of stuff:
There’s already a mini bottle of water in the seat pocket, very much appreciated:
I’m not very happy with my aisle seat, but after checking with the purser she says that all the F seats will be taken today so unless I want to ask someone for a swap I’m stuck here. I make a half hearted attempt asking my seatmate (who I already saw at security and the Club - he greets me by saying “We seem to be running into each other all the time this morning!”) but he says he prefers to sleep leaning on the wall, fair enough. So I guess it’s an aisle seat then for me for a change.
Delta (like most US carriers - they are such a copycats when one of them introduces something new the rest will soon follow) has introduced the gogo inflight wifi to most (all?) of its domestic fleet, hence this sign above:
This is actually quite a nice feature - DL gives you 15 minutes free which is enough to download your emails and other reading material for the flight, so it is not really necessarily to pay money for an extended connection at least on a flight of this length.
Predeparture beverages are offered, I opt for more water. The crew makes repeated announcements about how they want to achieve an on time departure and for that reason everyone should find a place for their carryons and settle down as fast as possible. Eventually everybody does, and we manage to push back eight minutes late.
The CEO saying hello in the welcome video:
Followed by the scary, very scary Deltalina in the safety video:
A lengthy taxi to 09L later we take off quite powerfully towards the Atlantic, performing a lazy left hand turn over the ocean to point us towards the northwest. A new day dawning from the east:
During the flight there are frequent beverage runs - the FAs ask each (awake) passenger individually about our drink choices and then deliver those one at a time which adds a bit of classiness to the service:
I guess again I expected something a bit more in First class for this flight with a scheduled block time of 1h45mins - a sandwich or a breakfast bagel or something like that, but it turns out three passes with the snack basket it all we get. I start with some peanuts.
Whoa, a grumpy old creature of habit is actually reading his favorite newspaper from an Ipad (conveniently downloaded using the free gogo time) - what is this world coming to:
Sure it is no replacement for the good old dead tree -based version, but hey, it’ll get me my fix while on the road far away from home!
The snack basket is full of your usual junk food - but at least they have bananas there so for the second pass I opt for one:
I seem to be pretty much the only passenger awake in the cabin - all the others are snoring away. I am not feeling tired at all (thanks to all these early morning wakeups I don’t think I ever got fully accustomed to the local time during this trip, come to think of it)...
In what feels like no time at all but in reality must’ve been an hour or so we are already on our way down towards Atlanta.
Hello, Georgia:
See, I’m not the only one wearing a stylish hat:
Atlanta skyline during our finals towards the east:
Almost there:
Landing on runway 10, total flight time around one and half hours:
Must-have-a-717-in-a-report:
(Wait, am I not supposed to fly one in two days?!)
With 10-28 being the southernmost runway and with two active runways between us and the terminals it takes a while to get there, so despite landing almost ten minutes early we are somewhat late at the gate. But hey, such is life in the busiest airport in the world!
Once we have parked, everybody gets up, eager to get off the plane and make their connections... but.... nothing happens. The jetway is there, but the door is not open and there’s no telltale knock on it signaling the cabin crew that it should be opened.
This is what one of the ceiling mounted monitors looks like from the behind - at least it is an LCD display and not a horrible old CRT like on some 757s I’ve seen:
People are getting restless, there’s a quick announcement by the purser that they don’t really know what is going on but something with the jetway is not really working the way it is supposed to be. Five or so minutes passes, and finally the jetway moves a notch and the doors are opened, much to the delight of the mass of humanity that pours out of the plane as a result.
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport
Entering the terminal there’s a Delta agent helping people with connections. I ask “Reagan?” and he says “Tango 10”. Well, I have no idea where I am right now but see a sign pointing towards the other concourses so powerwalk there - soon I find out we are in the E concourse which is quite a long way from T!
This E concourse looks quite nice, way better than the tired FLL terminal:
I find it funny that Aldeasa operates a duty free store here as well:
The signs point downstairs to a tunnel:
There’s an option of either walking or waiting for the automated shuttle train thingy. Since T is the furthest one from E I decide to wait for the train - had it been the next one I’d just walked it instead.
Whoa, carpeting inside the train - what the hell were they thinking:
T concourse looks nice as well. I spot a couple of 738s at nearby gates so maybe I’ll still make it.
...and if not maybe I’ll go here then:
I arrive to a deserted gate but with the door to the jetway still open (good) and two agents at the podium (super). One of them asks me “Mr <something definitely not Finn>?”
- “No, Mr. Finn.”.
- “Ahh, we just paged you! Good that you made it.”
- “Well I arrived at the E concourse and made it here in under ten minutes!”
- “Have a nice flight, sir..”
Right after me another passenger arrives, I think he was on my flight as well - I guess he is Mr <something definitely not Finn>. No chance to catch the registration of my bird, but it definitely is a 738 at least.
As I expected it is completely full apart from my seat in the economy comfort section of the plane and apparently the other guy’s seat somewhere way back. I make the token effort of opening a couple of overhead bins but everything is jam packed - well what did I really expect? One of the FAs looks at me with a half amused and half pitied (“Is this guy for real?”) expression on her face and shakes her head. The cabin chief waves me over and says that I need to surrender my rollaboard to the ramp agent in the jetway. I see no other choice so do so - he says he’ll get back to me with my luggage tag in a moment.
I make myself comfortable, chat some small talk with my seatmate who was supposed to fly home from Vegas already yesterday evening but their plane to MSP had gone mech at the last moment and he was rebooked on a red eye flight to ATL and is only now returning home. He says he slept two hours on the plane and certainly doesn’t look too good at the moment. Not surprisingly he keeps nodding off during the flight.
Soon I’m handed my luggage tag (thanks!) and the doors are closed, a flight time of 1h25mins is announced and push back conducted. And amazingly we manage to do so five minutes ahead of schedule - not too shabby at all!
757s next to us:
Another MD-88:
Starting our take off roll from 09L:
Bye ATL, you were certainly a fast experience:
ATL skyline again:
What’s this - definitely not downhill skiing in Hotlanta:
More man made mounds:
A quarry:
Sprawling subdivisions:
The weather is excellent with good visibility so I’m mostly glued to my window.
The 738s feature PTVs - and surprisingly large ones at that:
No idea what is offered there - I of course kept it on airshow all throughout the flight.
Anderson, SC - that sounds remotely familiar:
Service is a quick drinks run and it of course wouldn’t be a Delta flight without some Biscoff. Another Ginger Ale test is performed - not sure what the brand is but it was quite mediocre:
Here is Winston-Salem, NC - famous for the tobacco industry:
Closeup on downtown:
And the Smith Reynolds Airport:
Danville (what a name), VA:
Danville Regional Airport:
Getting nearer:
This flight literally flew past - I’m very surprised and kind of disappointed by the captain’s announcement about our descent for Reagan National Airport. I’m also very surprised that there’s no mention of that 30 minute “buckle up” rule for flights into DCA that was put into effect after 9/11 - have they done away with it? Anyway the captain also says that we are landing on the 01 towards the north so no Potomac approach for me, bummer!
Haha, I like this:
We crossed over to Maryland:
Which one is mine - they all look alike:
The Potomac river:
Our shadow:
Interesting spaghetti junction in Alexandria, VA:
Government offices:
Over the Washington Beltway which itself is taking a bridge over the Potomac:
George Washington Masonic National Monument - yes, he was a member:
Alexandria, VA:
And finally DCA:
US has a large hub operation here:
Jetblue taking off after us:
Parking next to one of these regional jets with all the whistles:
FlyingFinn76 From Finland, joined Jun 2009, 1705 posts, RR: 41 Reply 1, posted (10 months 2 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 10590 times:
Due to the me boarding the last I didn’t take any cabin photos at ATL so I wait until most of the front rows are empty and take a few. Legroom is okay:
Yep, a lovely concept:
First class:
Bye, 3768:
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
Oh yes, you are in Washington:
I make my way to the baggage belt, passing the famous departure hall on the way:
Nice - wouldn’t have minded flying one of these birds here, sadly that hasn’t been possible for a long time now:
It takes a while for the bags to come out but there’s a free wifi (oh my, what is happening - many of the US and Canadian airports I passed through had free wifi nowadays - this is socialism!) so no problems waiting for a while.
This one caused a few chuckles - sorry for the bad photo but it is a children’s toothbrush making rounds on the baggage belt:
Eventually I get my belt and head upstairs to check out the departure hall:
Quite impressive architecture, although those exposed steel beams remind me of that indoor market in the city centre of Sofia of all places, giving the place a bit of an industrial look:
Apron views are excellent:
Then it is time to head across the walkway to the metro:
The grandfatheresque guy at the ticket booth informs me that there’s no way to buy a SmarTrip card they so much advertise these days on a weekend - really great! So back to using more expensive single tickets then.
View to the terminal from the metro station platform:
Despite it being barely eleven my hotel room is ready and the delightfully nice and friendly older Croatian guy checks me in very efficiently. I’m staying at The Latham Hotel in Georgetown which I again pricelined for around 50 EUR. The TripAdvisor reviews were a bit of a mixed bunch - but here’s my take:
- The location is excellent, right on the M street on the easternmost part of Georgetown. Certain reviews make it sound like it is far, far away from the nearest Metro stop but in fact I walked from the Foggy Bottom station in just 15 minutes. The very handy (and dirt cheap at one dollar a pop) DC Circulator bus service also passes right in front of the hotel.
- Sure it is old fashioned and somewhat worn down - we are talking about tube televisions in rooms etc., but this is Georgetown and I don’t think an ultra modern hotel and decor would feel very appropriate here anyway. Fine for me.
- Yes, you actually enter from the fourth floor, so to get to my room on the third floor you have to go down with the elevator which feels somewhat weird. And the other elevator was still broken.
- There are no windows in the third floor rooms as these are underground. This doesn’t matter to me, but if it does there are also higher floor rooms available.
- There’s free and very fast wifi all throughout the facility and it worked fine.
For me this was the perfect hotel, no real complaints.
Interestingly they have built a faux village in the third floor corridor:
Working room:
And a separate bedroom:
Hmm, what’s that:
Oh, a blast from the past:
Some photos from Washington:
Probably the cutest gas station ever at the edge of Georgetown:
Bohemian tranquility in Georgetown (if you got the money for it):
US State Department:
Lots of folks over at the Vietnam War memorial:
World War II memorial:
The Washington Monument - sadly closed due to the earthquake some years ago:
I’ve always wanted to do this - laze in a tree:
Some kind of concert going on at the National Mall:
I guess it takes all kinds - must be from Pennsylvania:
Hmm, wonder what that’s all about:
The Smithsonian Castle:
A better view from the adjacent nice gardens:
Oooh, the beloved and behated FAA:
Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum - the Dulles facility will have to wait until the next time:
These photos by Jeffrey Milstein mostly at LAX were amazing - I actually bought a poster of one but sadly left that somewhere along the journey as it was too bulky to fit in my bags, bugger:
The future?
What’s this:
Oh:
Sadly Mulder & Scully had the weekend off.
For the conspirationists:
LOL 1:
Plenty of these rodents around:
Plenty of folks in front of the...
...White House, what else:
Need some money for your country - go here:
Enjoying an excellent meal at DAS Ethiopian Restaurant - D.C. has a sizeable Ethiopian community:
On Sunday morning I took a lazy walk on the Georgetown Potomac waterfrant. This is the Chesapeake and Ohio channel - nowadays restored with hiking and biking trails running alongside it:
It is kinda hard to make out but it reads “The House of Sweden” - it is the Swedish embassy:
This time planes were doing the Potomac approach so there was a constant stream of them flying down the river at a low altitude - bliss:
Oh yes, this is the notorious Watergate office complex:
That’s Virginia on the other side:
There’s money in Georgetown, I tell ya:
Those cupcakes must be royal to justify a queue this long:
Of course no visit to Washington is complete without a visit to Ben’s Chili Bowl. I learned of this place from an old Scanorama magazine some years ago (but of course you shouldn’t be reading airline magazines anyway as that is only for the stupid people like Jonas says) and have wanted to go there ever since:
Damn, The Finn isn’t on this list:
It tastes far, far better than it looks:
But have I forgotten something - oh yes:
LOL 2:
Shame about the construction:
A visit to the US Botanical Gardens - a great and very relaxing way to while away an hour or so:
Finally a word about the Washington Metro. For people who keep complaining about the London Tube try the D.C. version once and you’ll stop complaining! While it is a handy system for getting around the area it definitely could use a lot of TLC (read: money) right now. I’m talking about dimly lit stations:
Horribly worn, dirty and shabby, carpeted trains:
In addition to this the trains seem to randomly terminate at stations along the way instead of their intended terminus, the announcements are completely illegible, half of the escalators are out of order at any given time and so on.
Conclusions
Well, Delta managed to celebrate becoming the 150th airline in my log very well - an upgrade to First Class and two very comfortable and nice flights. Sure the service was what it was but hey, this is the norm these days on flights of this length (and even longer), so it’s not like the grass would be that much greener on the other side of the fence anyway. I really liked these two flights with Delta - it is the little things like the great recognition for FF status and the perks that come with it that most European Airlines could take a long hard look at. The 757 was a bit worn but in a nice way while the 738 was new, clean, comfortable and with a great airshow on the PTV - what more could I want? The Economy Comfort concept is a winner as well methinks.
As for Washington D.C. - what an amazing city! The reality is far, far away from its common imago as just a centre of power and lobbying and a boring office government city with busy office bees and not much else. Certainly there is a lot of that there - but there are also tons of excellent restaurants, world class museums (mostly for free, thanks to the Smithsonian Institution!), lots of lush parks and some delightful old colonial architecture especially in Georgetown. My two days most certainly were not enough to appreciate it all, so rest assured that I will be returning someday... I truly enjoyed my time in the city!
Next part should cover my first flight with AirTran (my 151th airline - and with a 717!), yet another DL flight and finally the second main course - the return transatlantic segment with an SN A333 - the route is BWI-BOS-JFK-BRU.
globalflyer From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 801 posts, RR: 2 Reply 2, posted (10 months 2 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 10415 times:
Nice TR! Too bad you did not have a chance to explore my home airport in ATL. That was a quick connection. Unfortunately in ATL, about all we have is DL. But at least they service most destinations either nonstop or direct. No more 30 minute rule whilst landing in DCA anymore. DC is really a great town to explore! Glad to see you got a DL upgrade as well! You usually can get an upgrade to most cities in Florida if you have elite status as it is so heavily leisure. Cheers, Will
Landing on every Continent almost on an annual basis!
FLIEGER67 From Georgia, joined Sep 2003, 4387 posts, RR: 57 Reply 3, posted (10 months 2 weeks 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 10138 times:
Ah, well done, P.,
and hopefully looking for much more stories from you´re hand.
FLL is by now really well covered during the last time. ATL anyway, but the pictures from Washington really nice, good work. Never been there myself.
Good to know about the DL upgrade, it doesn´t work for me, you know, the last time on DL.
brilondon From Canada, joined Aug 2005, 3169 posts, RR: 1 Reply 4, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 9873 times:
Again you have done yourself a great report. Your choice of eating establishment in D.C. is one of my favourite places to eat as well. The pictures were incredible.
767747 From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 1750 posts, RR: 26 Reply 5, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 9713 times:
Really nice report, flyingfinn!
I was just at many of the places you visited in DC back in May. What a great city! Hotel sounds nice, and a really good deal!
DL F looks pretty normal, and what would be expected; it does seem weird they didn't even serve you a continental breakfast or something for a flight of that length, yet I've been on flights of that duration before and haven't gotten anything.
Looks like you had some good weather in DC! How cool!
burj From United States of America, joined Nov 2007, 838 posts, RR: 4 Reply 6, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 9697 times:
Nice trip report and very typical for Delta.
Alas I'm not surprised at the lack of food on your flight...in fact you should be pleased that you got a banana! There are usually only a few in the "snack basket" so after the first few rows of first class there are usually no more bananas left!
Davescj From United States of America, joined Jun 2007, 2244 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 9451 times:
Per the DL lounge policy, I think you have to be ElitePlus to get the Lounge. However, if the lounge isn't crowded, DL will often let mid level elites into the lounge.
stratosphere From United States of America, joined Sep 2007, 1614 posts, RR: 3 Reply 8, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 9440 times:
Whats with Ben's chili bowl?? Bill Cosby , Obama and family eat free and no one else? Kinda racist no?? Real nice pics though awesome trip report. Actually of both of them neither one needs to eat free..How bout give a free meal to someone who really needs it
sultanils From Belgium, joined Mar 2010, 1173 posts, RR: 29 Reply 9, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 9050 times:
Hello FlyingFinn,
Despite the fact that apparently this writing thing is becoming something of a drag, you managed again to produce a lovely read. Good and solid flights on DL and you showed us as well that Washington has much more to offer than I would believe at first sight (I’m too stereotyped, lol).
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): and thankfully being Skyteam Gold I could reserve seats on the so called “Economy Comfort” section in the front of the Y cabin - a couple of rows with additional legroom.
Not as bad as the midnight Fokker I guess but still an insane hour to get up and running for. I’d rather not think yet of the word ‘Tokyo’...
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): but I don’t understand why couldn’t they have the machines running 24H
Saving out on power perhaps
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): She says that things are looking good for me, which I’m delighted to hear!
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): has introduced the gogo inflight wifi to most (all?) of its domestic fleet
That’s a real good thing, wifi on board. I’ve never experienced that myself. In Europe it’s only Norwegian that has this, no? And some others have ‘gogo inflight entertainment’ as well
Lucky you to get his one framed, otherwise your report wouldn’t have been complete!
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): Another Ginger Ale test is performed - not sure what the brand is but it was quite mediocre:
Perhaps the mediocrety was enhanced by the fact that they put ice in nearly every served drink. Makes it more watery = less tasty.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): I’m also very surprised that there’s no mention of that 30 minute “buckle up” rule for flights into DCA that was put into effect after 9/11
burj From United States of America, joined Nov 2007, 838 posts, RR: 4 Reply 10, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 8901 times:
Quoting Davescj (Reply 7): Per the DL lounge policy, I think you have to be ElitePlus to get the Lounge. However, if the lounge isn't crowded, DL will often let mid level elites into the lounge.
You have to be SkyTeam Elite Plus AND be on an international itinerary on any SkyTeam partner.
If they didn't have the international requirement then all the Delta Platinum and Gold Medallion members (who are SkyTeam Elite Plus) would have lounge access whenever they flew Delta on domestic flights....the lounges would be PACKED even worse than they are now!
dc9northwest From Romania, joined Feb 2007, 1735 posts, RR: 4 Reply 11, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 8879 times:
Hi there P.,
Thanks for writing up this TR--I hope you'll continue to do so, even if at a lower rate.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): Eventually after playing around with various booking engines and fares I decided I’d head to D.C. - I’ve heard plenty of good things about the place and I found a great fare with Delta for 90 USD.
Very good choice. Washington is a nice city from what I've seen--yet it has a horrible reputation as a crime-ridden dump. Well, I'm sure it has its bad areas, but I haven't seen them, so they're easy to avoid.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): Well, there’s nothing I can do but to make sure I reserve the best seats in the house using the DL’s website - and thankfully being Skyteam Gold I could reserve seats on the so called “Economy Comfort” section in the front of the Y cabin - a couple of rows with additional legroom.
Oh yes, DL is quite good to AF/KL elites. Thumbs up to them for that!
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): The drop off is handled far quicker than the way slow pick up process the previous night and the guy laughs at me when I ask whether it is possible to *walk* over to T2 (I saw that T1 was basically right next to the car park and rental facility) - “Yeah, but it’ll take you ages” he says.
Americans hate walking so much... 5 minutes is the absolute maximum someone's willing to walk anywhere. Aside from New York and a couple of other places, maybe.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): . While waiting I squash a cockroach on the floor much to the horror of the Californian lady in front of me - welcome to Florida - I also got bitten by some fire ants in my hotel room the previous night!
Didn't see many insects in FL--but I wasn't looking for any. No fire ant bites either--ouch!
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): you still need a same day international (presumably Skyteam) flight. Well the agent is very friendly and says that she’ll make a one time exception (yeah right, I bet she has done these a lot during the years...) and admit me in.
Yeah, that's the rule. Apparently the Caribbean Islands don't count either but they made an exception for me when going to the Bahamas at ATL concourse E.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): As with most carriers in the US, the domestic F cabin is in 2-2 layout with rather large and very nice looking leather chairs. And not only feeling, once I sit down I also notice that the seats indeed are very comfortable!
Yes, they are indeed. Can't complain about the hard product in DL domestic first.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): I guess again I expected something a bit more in First class for this flight with a scheduled block time of 1h45mins - a sandwich or a breakfast bagel or something like that, but it turns out three passes with the snack basket it all we get.
No way, the flight's way too short for that. Hehe. It has to be over 901 miles and it has to be meal time, I think. Something like that.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): This E concourse looks quite nice, way better than the tired FLL terminal:
ATL is one of the better looking airports in the USA.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): One of the FAs looks at me with a half amused and half pitied (“Is this guy for real?”) expression on her face and shakes her head. The cabin chief waves me over and says that I need to surrender my rollaboard to the ramp agent in the jetway.
Yeah, they probably should've told you at the gate... They should've given you a pink tag and told you what to do, since you were almost the last to board. (Sorry if they did and I missed it)
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): It takes a while for the bags to come out but there’s a free wifi (oh my, what is happening - many of the US and Canadian airports I passed through had free wifi nowadays - this is socialism!) so no problems waiting for a while.
What, free wi-fi in the USA? I only know MCI that offers that in the States... Well, I'm sure there are more, but that's the only one I use often enough.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): Certain reviews make it sound like it is far, far away from the nearest Metro stop but in fact I walked from the Foggy Bottom station in just 15 minutes
15 minutes walking in the States? To public transportation??? No real American would do that
Public transit--another one of America's problems.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): it is the little things like the great recognition for FF status and the perks that come with it that most European Airlines could take a long hard look at
On the other hand--this is perfectly true. I've only received a handful of upgrades intra-Europe. Just 2 IIRC. Whereas in the US I often get 2 a weekend when I'm flying.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): As for Washington D.C. - what an amazing city! The reality is far, far away from its common imago as just a centre of power and lobbying and a boring office government city with busy office bees and not much else. Certainly there is a lot of that there - but there are also tons of excellent restaurants, world class museums (mostly for free, thanks to the Smithsonian Institution!), lots of lush parks and some delightful old colonial architecture especially in Georgetown. My two days most certainly were not enough to appreciate it all, so rest assured that I will be returning someday... I truly enjoyed my time in the city!
Yes, Washington is one of my fave cities in the States. Had the best thai red curry there. Delicious.
Your Ethiopian dish doesn't look half bad either!
Anyway, thanks a lot for writing. It can indeed be very time-consuming so I appreciate it.
threeifbyair From United States of America, joined Aug 2007, 509 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 8499 times:
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): Finally a word about the Washington Metro. For people who keep complaining about the London Tube try the D.C. version once and you%u2019ll stop complaining! While it is a handy system for getting around the area it definitely could use a lot of TLC (read: money) right now. I%u2019m talking about dimly lit stations:
The dimness was there when I first visited DC 17! years ago - the lamps get dirty and because the fixtures on the platforms are near the wall, the lights can only be replaced when trains are not running. That, and the transit agency has always been short of money for that kind of thing.
Those must be the old cars - there are 7 or 8 models of train with the same basic exterior design but different interiors. The new train cars are pretty nice, but you never know when you'll get them. Again, running out of money...
The777Man From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 6081 posts, RR: 56 Reply 14, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 8274 times:
Hi FlyingFinn!
Very nice report with nice pictures ! You were lucky to get the upgrade from FLL and very lucky you made the connection. US carriers normally don't wait for connections but there would have been another flight to DCA an hour later.
Too bad you didn't get the river approach to DCA which is nicer. I've only landed there myself two or three times and always arrived from the south as well.
Nice pictures from DCA; spent quite a few winter days spotting from the departure hall when I lived in Northern Virginia.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): his is another thing I don’t really understand - many carriers on most big American airports have these kind of things - you are supposed to check yourself in and are only allowed to talk to an agent in person if the machine spits out a special card saying so. Well that would still be okay, but I don’t understand why couldn’t they have the machines running 24H - you still need to queue which seems to be a bit pointless to me especially since I’m not planning to drop any luggage off and have already done OLCI - I just need my (flimsy) pieces of paper to be set.
I think the system is down so the carriers can download updates.
Great pictures from DC; looks like you a lot in a day or two you were there. Too bad it didn't work out for us to meet up there. Hopefully next time you are this side of the Atlantic it will work out.
Looking forward to part 3.
The777Man
Need a Boeing 777 Firing Order....Further to fly....GA, T5, CI and LX 777s
Ideekay From Switzerland, joined Jun 2012, 183 posts, RR: 1 Reply 15, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 8263 times:
Hi FF76!
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): FIDS - yes, I’m on the first flight of the day. I wonder why this display is sorted chronologically when the norm here is to do it alphabetically:
Looks kinda like a secret door, "uhh, whats behind?"
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter):
I ask the gate agent about my upgrade - at the same time he scans my boarding pass, the machine beeps and he hands me a new boarding pass for seat 3B - “I guess that’s your upgrade right there!”. Hey, Delta is definitely trying hard to impress me and win me over!
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): Once we have parked, everybody gets up, eager to get off the plane and make their connections... but.... nothing happens. The jetway is there, but the door is not open and there’s no telltale knock on it signaling the cabin crew that it should be opened.
I had something (I think its not very similar) in February this year in HEL, our Aircraft was at the Gate but nothing happend, later the Captain was on the PA and told that there is a problem with the jetway because there is some ice, the plane must stop the engines about 10 m before the Jetway and than a tractor must pull us to the jetway, but the tractor was right in the moment "kaputt". Very funny, sitting about 15 mins in the plane and waiting for a new tractor.
FlyingFinn76 From Finland, joined Jun 2009, 1705 posts, RR: 41 Reply 16, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 3 hours ago) and read 8220 times:
Hi folks, good to see so many comments already! Thank you very much!
Quoting globalflyer (Reply 2): Too bad you did not have a chance to explore my home airport in ATL. That was a quick connection.
Yeah, I'm very glad I made it. On the other hand I'd liked to stay for a little bit longer and explore what ATL has to offer, but on that day I just wanted to get to DC as fast as possible.
Quoting globalflyer (Reply 2): Unfortunately in ATL, about all we have is DL.
Well, there's FL as well.
Quoting globalflyer (Reply 2): No more 30 minute rule whilst landing in DCA anymore.
Yeah, so I learned. I must've missed the news of them lifting it.
Quoting globalflyer (Reply 2): You usually can get an upgrade to most cities in Florida if you have elite status as it is so heavily leisure.
Yep, I sort of figured this one out. Florida and Las Vegas must be good for this.
Quoting FLIEGER67 (Reply 3): but the pictures from Washington really nice, good work. Never been there myself.
So maybe that's where you head next then?
Quoting FLIEGER67 (Reply 3): Good to know about the DL upgrade, it doesn´t work for me, you know, the last time on DL.
Yeah, I was sort of surprised it didn't happen to you. Doesn't the 753 have an even larger F cabin?
Quoting brilondon (Reply 4): Again you have done yourself a great report. Your choice of eating establishment in D.C. is one of my favourite places to eat as well. The pictures were incredible.
Thanks a lot for these kind words! Yes, that restaurant was amazing. I was introduced to the Ethiopian/Eritrean cuisine in London back in January so it was great to experience another great meal in this style.
Quoting burj (Reply 6): Alas I'm not surprised at the lack of food on your flight...in fact you should be pleased that you got a banana! There are usually only a few in the "snack basket" so after the first few rows of first class there are usually no more bananas left!
Yeah, must've been the fact that most pax where asleep so I pretty much had the snack basket all to myself!
Quoting stratosphere (Reply 8): Whats with Ben's chili bowl?? Bill Cosby , Obama and family eat free and no one else? Kinda racist no?? Real nice pics though awesome trip report. Actually of both of them neither one needs to eat free..How bout give a free meal to someone who really needs it
Hah, well Ben was an Africa American himself so I guess there's nothing racist in it since it is from one bro to another one... .
Quoting sultanils (Reply 9): That’s a real good thing, wifi on board. I’ve never experienced that myself. In Europe it’s only Norwegian that has this, no? And some others have ‘gogo inflight entertainment’ as well
Some of the SAS birds already have it, and they are slowly introducing it to more and more birds. Markus will tell you more once he catches up with his backlog in around 2017.
I'm pretty sure you will see it with Ryanair as well at some point, but most definitely not for free, though!
Quoting sultanils (Reply 9): Lucky you to get his one framed, otherwise your report wouldn’t have been complete!
Hahaha, well the next part will see my riding one!
Quoting sultanils (Reply 9): Perhaps the mediocrety was enhanced by the fact that they put ice in nearly every served drink. Makes it more watery = less tasty.
Most of the time they ask whether you want ice or not. As I hate lukewarm soft drinks I usually go for the ice anyway.
Quoting sultanils (Reply 9): Is/was there actually a rule about that?
Quoting sultanils (Reply 9): I thought that was your rental car...
Sorry, a scratch in that would have me selling a kidney AND a testicle to cover fo r the damage...
Quoting sultanils (Reply 9): Now I’m quite curious as to what you have to say about that particular flight!
Well, stay tuned then! But I'll say I wasn't particularly impressed.
Quoting dc9northwest (Reply 11): Very good choice. Washington is a nice city from what I've seen--yet it has a horrible reputation as a crime-ridden dump. Well, I'm sure it has its bad areas, but I haven't seen them, so they're easy to avoid.
Yeah, apparently there's quite a clear divide running along a certain street between west (good) and east (bad). I stayed in the west part.
Quoting dc9northwest (Reply 11): Oh yes, DL is quite good to AF/KL elites. Thumbs up to them for that!
Yeah, I was kinda impressed by how the status recognition and everything just worked.
Quoting dc9northwest (Reply 11): Didn't see many insects in FL--but I wasn't looking for any. No fire ant bites either--ouch!
Hah, I was just sitting in front of the desk, doing some stuff with my laptop when I felt a weird sting on my foot - I watch down and there's a tiny fire ant there. Squished the bugger right there.
Quoting dc9northwest (Reply 11): Yeah, that's the rule. Apparently the Caribbean Islands don't count either but they made an exception for me when going to the Bahamas at ATL concourse E.
Somehow I think they tend to make a lot of exceptions...
Quoting dc9northwest (Reply 11): Yeah, they probably should've told you at the gate... They should've given you a pink tag and told you what to do, since you were almost the last to board. (Sorry if they did and I missed it)
No, I didn't get any. Only onboard. The whole gate experience was so fast I guess the agents completely forgot about it!
Quoting dc9northwest (Reply 11): What, free wi-fi in the USA? I only know MCI that offers that in the States... Well, I'm sure there are more, but that's the only one I use often enough.
Well on that side of the Atlantic (at least) the following airports had free wifi on this trip: YUL, YYZ, DCA and BOS. Plus the Union Station in Washington.
Quoting dc9northwest (Reply 11): Heh. Can you see anything on TV from the bed? It looks too small--maybe it's a lapTV.
I never opened it.
Quoting dc9northwest (Reply 11): On the other hand--this is perfectly true. I've only received a handful of upgrades intra-Europe. Just 2 IIRC. Whereas in the US I often get 2 a weekend when I'm flying.
Well here is a difference - most US carriers these days offer free upgrades to F as part of their FF status perks, which kind of erodes the product as most people don't bother paying for it anymore as they have a good chance of getting it for free anyway. Whereas in Europe upgrades are usually only done to resolve overbooking situations.
Quoting Eurohub (Reply 12): Was the Californian lady horrifed that you had squashed the cockroach or just horrified that there was a cockroach in the Priority Access queue?
Haha, well mostly by the fact that there was a cockroach there! She certainly wasn't a member of PETA (or maybe PETI, the insect subdivision)
Quoting threeifbyair (Reply 13): The bakery is featured in an American cable television show:
Wow, interesting. Thanks for this.
Quoting threeifbyair (Reply 13): The dimness was there when I first visited DC 17! years ago - the lamps get dirty and because the fixtures on the platforms are near the wall, the lights can only be replaced when trains are not running.
Heh, looks like some things are almost impossible to fix then.
Yes, my point exactly. The system has a decent founding and basic infrastructure, but what it needs is quite a bit of money to bring it up to date (and to keep it there), which of course is very hard to come by.
Quoting The777Man (Reply 14): Nice pictures from DCA; spent quite a few winter days spotting from the departure hall when I lived in Northern Virginia.
No problems with security there?
Quoting The777Man (Reply 14): Great pictures from DC; looks like you a lot in a day or two you were there. Too bad it didn't work out for us to meet up there. Hopefully next time you are this side of the Atlantic it will work out.
Oh yeah, I've been thinking about the new SAS route into SFO, would be a great route to do next spring!
The777Man From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 6081 posts, RR: 56 Reply 17, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 3 hours ago) and read 8181 times:
No, never! Surprisingly no problems whatsoever there.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 16): Oh yeah, I've been thinking about the new SAS route into SFO, would be a great route to do next spring!
Sounds promising! SFO is much closer or perhaps you will fly by here as well ?
Forgot to mention that Delta's Economy comfort is taking after United's Economy Plus; both are regular seats with more legroom. AA has something similar too. It's open for elite flyers but general public can purchase access.
The777Man
Need a Boeing 777 Firing Order....Further to fly....GA, T5, CI and LX 777s
swedenflyer From United States of America, joined Dec 2010, 48 posts, RR: 0 Reply 18, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 3 hours ago) and read 8159 times:
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): ATL-DCA segment was changed to an MD-88 - I was pretty happy about this as it is a very rare plane nowadays.
Except for one occasion, I've always gotten on an MD88 for a DCA-ATL flight. Nowadays, that's the only flight I usually take.
LH4116 From Sweden, joined Aug 2007, 1672 posts, RR: 15 Reply 19, posted (10 months 2 weeks 4 days 23 hours ago) and read 7980 times:
Hey there Petteri FinnFlyer, nice report!
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): . While waiting I squash a cockroach on the floor much to the horror of the Californian lady in front of me - welcome to Florida -
Seriously a cockroach in the civilised world? I thought those only existed in 3rd world countries. But then again an american cockroach oughta be stupid enough to run out in an airport terminal full of people. They're usually much smarter than that...
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): No, nobody offered me the choice for opting out of the nudie scan this time, not that I’d wanted to anyway!
For the 3rd time Petteri, there's no such thing as "Skyteam Gold" It's called Skyteam Elite Plus!
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): you still need a same day international (presumably Skyteam) flight.
Interesting, Star Alliance Gold gives you lounge access also on US domestic flights (apart from US and UA *G members of course).
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): I also ask about my position on the upgrade list - when I checked last night I was still at position three with at least six First class seats still available.
But again *G doesn't get you upgraded to First. Very nice of Delta to offer Flying Blue Gold members that perk.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): Hey, Delta is definitely trying hard to impress me and win me over!
Please don't tell me you'll be flying Delta once you finally decide to move to the US? I bet those crazy hardcore AA folks would welcome you with open arms.
I bet Nils would be having a bast driving through that one!
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 1): The Washington Monument - sadly closed due to the earthquake some years ago:
That composition couldn't keep me from laughing. Good job "Sir"!
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 1): These photos by Jeffrey Milstein mostly at LAX were amazing
Surprises me that none of those pics were shot by our very own Sam Chui. Looks very similar to his style.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 1): A visit to the US Botanical Gardens - a great and very relaxing way to while away an hour or so:
The Penis humor continues even here! Very funny
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 1): Finally a word about the Washington Metro. For people who keep complaining about the London Tube try the D.C. version once and you’ll stop complaining!
Seriously? I remember watching a show on TV a few years ago praising the Washington DC metro for being one of the best and most beautiful metro networks on the planet, along with the Moscow one.
"Wheels Up!"
//Jonas
I won't stop complaining until SAS reintroduces free service in Economy Class!
FlyASAGuy2005 From United States of America, joined Sep 2007, 6517 posts, RR: 11 Reply 20, posted (10 months 2 weeks 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 7794 times:
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): FIDS - yes, I’m on the first flight of the day. I wonder why this display is sorted chronologically when the norm here is to do it alphabetically:
How DL's FIDS system works, it can be filtered about 10 different ways. Flight number, gate, time (ETD or STD), city a/c type just of the top of my head. The norm is usually STD.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): Delta (like most US carriers - they are such a copycats when one of them introduces something new the rest will soon follow) has introduced the gogo inflight wifi to most (all?) of its domestic fleet, hence this sign above:
Yes, DL currently has WiFi on all their domestic mainline a/c and the regional jets with first class (CR7s/CR9s/170s/175s).
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): The snack basket is full of your usual junk food - but at least they have bananas there so for the second pass I opt for one:
On morning flights, there's also usually little pre-packaged muffins. Did they have those as well?
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): This is what one of the ceiling mounted monitors looks like from the behind - at least it is an LCD display and not a horrible old CRT like on some 757s I’ve seen:
This is actually fairly new. The mods started earlier this year. I'd like to say around April. The the CRTs are being replaced by these LCD monitors.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): I’m also very surprised that there’s no mention of that 30 minute “buckle up” rule for flights into DCA that was put into effect after 9/11 - have they done away with it?
Long gone.
Great TR!!! the reading was pretty good I must say! And i'm glad you enjoyed DL.
CAM2:"Lightning coming out of that one." CAM1: "What?"
PlaneHunter From Germany, joined Mar 2006, 6183 posts, RR: 79 Reply 21, posted (10 months 2 weeks 4 days 13 hours ago) and read 7660 times:
Hi P.,
another nice report. Good to hear you were upgraded, but the catering is pretty poor in First Class on that flight. As for Delta in general, I have never had a bad flight on them. I just still don't like the fact that they eliminated Northwest and its outstanding livery.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): I’ve done two MD-88 flights with IB, but still wouldn’t mind another one. Some two months later however DL took the carrot away and I noticed the flight was now on a 737-800, probably the most boring plane model out there, yikes!
The most boring plane? I'd say the A320 is even more boring.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): I wonder why this display is sorted chronologically when the norm here is to do it alphabetically:
That's what I have wondered about, too. Those displays are particularly nice at ATL or other large gateways.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): During the flight there are frequent beverage runs - the FAs ask each (awake) passenger individually about our drink choices and then deliver those one at a time which adds a bit of classiness to the service:
Cranberry juice?
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): Another Ginger Ale test is performed - not sure what the brand is but it was quite mediocre:
OA260 From Ireland, joined Nov 2006, 24891 posts, RR: 60 Reply 22, posted (10 months 2 weeks 4 days 12 hours ago) and read 7627 times:
Hi there interesting report . Nice to see a DL one. The DL Club doesnt look too bad your typical US carrier affair. The F Class US Domestic experience is certainly not anything to write home about except for the seat. They could have offered a small cold meal for that flight length.
Nice pics of the Aviation museum. Those home made banners are amusing.
I have to say that Washington Metro station is quite nice . Im not bothered by the dim lighting you are not really going to spend alot of time there.
Anyway looking forward to the next part.
Philip
OLYMPIC AIR - ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΚΗ "Η ΕΛΛΑΔΑ ΨΗΛΑ" "GREECE FLYING HIGH"
dkdaviator From Denmark, joined Jun 2009, 88 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (10 months 2 weeks 4 days 2 hours ago) and read 7341 times:
Hi FF,
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): She says that things are looking good for me, which I’m delighted to hear!
Congratulations on the FLL to ATL upgrade! Always makes the trip a bit nicer.
Economy plus sounds nice too. I was planning to sample that during my last trip over that way a couple of months ago, but wound up getting upgraded to F instead (which I was not complaining about).
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): Since T is the furthest one from E I decide to wait for the train -
Yea, I like the general layout of things there. You can tell when they designed it they had functionality in mind - including getting connecting passengers to their flights. Like in your case, though you came in to the E gates, pretty much at one end of the airport (though there are now F gates beyond those), and left from the T gates, pretty much at the other end, a little walking in the E area and a fairly simple shuttle ride (is it called the PlaneTrain at ATL?) is all it takes to make the connection.
On the way back from my last trip to Atlanta I had a flight from ATL to DUS. After checking in I had a little extra time so walked from the checkin area to the E gates instead of taking the train. It was interesting - there was a little art work to see along the way - and also good to get in a little walking time before preparing to sit on a flight for the next several hours.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): Whoa, carpeting inside the train - what the hell were they thinking:
Carpeting seems to be somewhat of a recurring theme for you on this trip!
Those are some nice destination photos there of D.C. by the way.
D.
dkdaviator
25 jcs17: E was the International Concourse before F was built, and it was built for the '96 Olympics. My first flight to Europe on BA (to LGW!) was out of tha
26 roberts87: Great report! Appreciate the efforts and details. Good choice to go to Washington, a great city indeed! Too bad you didn't get a river visual approach
27 FlyASAGuy2005: DL caters Canada Dry as their ginger ale of choice on domestic flights.
28 gabrielchew: Another nice report Petteri! Delta looked pretty good. Nice that you got upgraded, although shame about the change to a 738. Good choice I always find
29 MSS658: Hi Petteri Great report, thanks for sharing. Delta is indeed one of the better US domestic carriers. I do miss it since jumping to Star. Great to see
30 CaptainRed: Hi P., as usual a great report here. Very interesting to follow your American tour. And congrats of course for your 150th airline, well done. Looks li
31 N172DM: A great TR! You took amazing pictures-I especially liked the spotting pics on the Potomac River. Just curious, what camera did you use? 15 free minute
32 FlyingFinn76: Hi guys, good to see more comments, thank you very much! Well, it's just an idea, of which I throw a lot around. Don't hold your breath yet . I though
33 The777Man: UA is expanding it to the ex-CO fleet. Probably at least half the ex-CO fleet done already. UA gives access to Premier members and perhaps also Star
34 FlyASAGuy2005: Service at DL was always just "okay" (always had great cabin crew) bre BK but really went down the toilet RIGHT before BK..like around the time they
35 deltamartin: Hello P! Great tripreport again and probably my favourite of your US reports so far, due to all the DC pics. Washington DC is a place I have long want
36 KLM777300ER: Nice report. Being born and raised in DC, it is nice to see a report on it. Just FYI, the earthquake only happened the past August. The National Cathe
37 AYA333: Oh yes, this another well written report is makin more and more eager to wait for my upcoming Washington DC experience. Well, only 8.5 months left to
38 signol: Excellent continuation FF, nice read. Ouch. Nice turn of phrase though - I've used "stupid o'clock" before It's not like you'll be back next week to d
39 FlyingFinn76: Hi guys, lovely to see more comments, thank you. Sorry for the belated reply, I've been insanely busy and on the road for a long time... Oh, that soun
40 BA319-131: P, took me a while but finally got around to it, nice report BTW - Looks typical of many US airports. - Hmm, crummy hotel then? - You have a good poin
41 infodesk: Hi P, I'm only a month behind in reading this one...eek! Good to see you got that upgrade on the first leg, although I would have been rather disappoi
42 dcaviation: Hi, Nice TR. Enjoyed the picture of my hometown for the past 17 years The 30 minutes rule for DCA was lifted at the end of 2002 or beginning of 2003.
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