Dear all,

Well, after a series of F reports in Asia, here comes a major change from the world of upscale travels to reality of travels in the United States. I am flying Frontier today from New York La Guardia to San Francisco via Denver. Frontier is a LCC based in Denver, and sort of a reaction against the monopoly held by United (and earlier Continental) at Denver. Well it has been pretty successful just because it still survives at Denver and has just transited towards an all Airbus A318/9 airline. I personally quite like Frontier because of its Direct TV, a very easily reachable elite status, the link between Frontier’s mileage program (Early Returns) and Virgin Atlantic Airways, and its generous beverage service as well as some kinds of snacks. The flight attendants are mostly kind and friendly but I have to be honest that today’s flights are rather plain and the F/As are borderline grumpy. Well here is the report and the link to the photo album.

Picture Link:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8QbNHDNy5bsPi

August 29, 2005
F9 505 LGA-DEN Lv0900 Arr1120 Airbus A319 N915FR “Galloping Horse” tail
Well I arrived at LGA about an hour and thirty minutes prior to departure, and unfortunately, the exit row is long gone, but I got 5C and 5B was blocked or left empty. I had breakfast at the food court, as Frontier only serves snacks. Interesting planes spotted are the brand new Air Canada EMB-175 Regional Jet C-FEJC, and United’s newly painted Airbus A320 N411UA arriving from ORD and parked at gate C12.

Boarding began at 8:22am, since the crew arrived early and the plane was here overnight. Slot at LGA was tight and the earlier we pushed back, the earlier we got to take off on time. Door was closed at 8:53am, and of course, the alley was busy and we pushed back right on time. Takeoff line was pretty hectic as usual, and after an Air Canada’s Airbus landed at R/W22, we took off from the diagonal R/W13 at 9:27am. Flying time was three hours and forty-three minutes, with a cruising attitude of 36,000feet. Flight route took us from New York across Pennsylvania, Cleveland, South of Chicago, Des Moines, Omaha, North Platte, and began descent soon after that into Denver.

Strangely, there was only one full beverage service offered today (instead of two rounds of full beverage service). I wonder if it is just our crew or new cost-cutting effort, but I will have another set of F9 flight to try out in October, and will report back. But the F/As came around with coffee and water twice during the rest of the flight. For snack, a full sized OTISSPUNKMEYER muffin was offered, and our choice is wild blueberry or banana nut. For entertainment, there is Direct TV at each seat, similar to Jetblue, and sort of same as the SOAP network used on SONG flight. At Jetblue, DIRECT TV is available for free, and you only need to pay for movies, but on Frontier, budgets are a bit tighter, and basic Direct TV costs $5, and if you want to view movie, you have to pay $5 more – choice for August is Monster-in-Law and Princess Diaries type movie. I notice that there is an entertainment guide now with TV and movie channels introduction, and catering notes on wraps served on long haul flights outbound from Denver, and beverage list and price for various cocktails.

Well the flight went by uneventful and descent began at 12:39pm, and we landed on R/W16L at 11:10am Mountain Standard Time. We parked at gate A36 a few minutes later.

F9 659 DEN-SFO Lv1225 Arr1405 Airbus A319 N927FR “Flip” the Dolphin
Well transit at Denver went by quickly and the gate agent noticed a strong and weird fish smell at the gate, and advised that the “unknown” passenger with that fishy stuff to keep that stuff in a zip lock bag because it would not be fun to have that strong smell in the cabin for three hours. Nobody came forward and the smell only appeared briefly during the boarding stage. It must be some food that people brought aboard, and after it was consumed the smell disappeared. Boarding began at 11:57am at gate A38 and we pushed back early at 12:23pm. We took off quickly at 12:29pm with no wait whatsoever. Flying time was two hours and twelve minutes with a cruising attitude of 38,000 feet.

Seat belt sign turned off at 12:39pm and beverage service began shortly after. Snack was a choice of Sun Chips and Doritos. The rest of the flight went by quickly, but when I used the facility and took a picture of cabin from the aft, the F/As noticed and immediately pulled me aside and questioned my intent. I just told her that I like planes and love to take pictures… then she said no problem. She was not giving me attitude like previous occurrences at AA or CO. However, I guess being an aviation enthusiast in the US is a bit more difficult. I am not even doing anything suspicious. Are we just paranoid? Or is this new post-911 reality that we need to deal with? Descent began at 1:19pm PST, and we landed on R/W28R at 1:41pm, and parked at gate 32 shortly after. I did not head to the hotel immediately, but took advantage of the closer view of the International Terminal Concourse A, and fortunately, I met the arrival of the first wave of European afternoon arrival – KLM’s Boeing 777-200ER PH-BQC, Virgin’s New Boeing 747-400 G-VWOW, Air France’s Boeing 747-400 F-GITI, and of course, I was so happy to see the arrival of CX’s Boeing 747-400 from HKG – the bigger surprise that it is one of the P&W-engine Boeing 747-400 leased or bought from SQ – B-HKD. I guess those SQ-leased/bought Boeing 747-400s work well with CX, and are now used on normal long haul routes.

I hope you enjoy this short report.

Carfield