I decided to take a much needed vacation to Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. I usually try to take a nonstop JFK-STT and ferry over to the island from St. Thomas but the nonstop was not being offered so I decided to go from BDL since I had to change planes anyway. Plus I haven't been inside the new terminal on Tortola ( Beef Island).

November 5, 2006 - Sunday

Drove from home in Danbury, CT to Windsor Locks and arrived at about 6 pm where I would eat dinner, check into a hotel along Route 75 and be ready to go early the next morning. I arrived at the Skyline Restaurant where the power promptly went out, which it turns out happened in several towns around the Hartford area. After a candlelit dinner, I went to the hotel I originally booked at to find it in the dark. I found accomodations in Windsor with power. There I overheard a few travelers say the delays did cause a few delays for flights at BDL and I went to bed hoping for an on time departure the next morning.

November 6, 2006 - Monday

American 1375
Boeing 757-200

I woke up at 5:30 am, had a quick bite to eat, and shuttled over to the airport for the 8:05 am departure to SJU. As always AA opeates out of the antiquated terminal B. I look forward to day when AA improves their facilities at BDL. Anyway I checked in quickly and went through security even more quickly and took a seat near gate B5 to watch aircraft departing on 6. The morning hours are the only time in which BDL is consistently busy as there are several departures between 6-9 am. Boarding started at 735am and I took my seat in 14F. I would say the flight was about 95% full in coach and half full in business class. Come the middle of December the flight is upgraded to an Airbus A300 for the peak season. After a quick deicing, we departed on runway 6 at about 830 am. We took a route over eastern Connecticut and and Long Island and before long were over the Atlantic heading due south. Flight attendants provided two beverage services. This was a pretty smooth and uneventful flight, and were beginning our descent into SJU after about 3+ hours of flying. We tocuhed down smoothly on runway 8 where a company 757 was patiently waiting to depart. We arrived ealry at gate 19 at about 1235pm and trekked on over to the Eagle gates. our 757 would continue to SXM.

American Eagle 5068
ATR 72

I headed down the escalators to gate 1-c where the bus took us to a waiting Eagle ATR for our flight over to the BVI. I took my seat in 9A and before long we were on our way to runway 8. We took off just before 2pm and took a route north of Vieques and St Thomas. We pretty much hugged to southern shore of Tortola and touched down on time at 235pm at the airport, which is on the neighboring island of Beef Island.

November 12, 2006 - Sunday

American Eagle 5071
ATR 72

After a very nice and relaxing vacation on Tortola, it was time to head back home. A taxi broght me to the airport where I checked in quickly. The new facility at EIS is very nice compared to the old one. If youe been there you know what I mean. Anyway, I paid the departure tax and went through security to the departure lounge. Eagle 5070 arrived and it would turn around and become our flight to SJU. We departed after a Cape Air Cessna 402, a Liat Dash 8, and a Carribean Sun Dash 8 on time at 435pm. I was again seated in 9A. We took off to the east over Marina Cay and turned west over Great Camanoe and trekked north of Tortola and St Thomas. We continued north of Vieques and stayed north of Puerto Rico and touched down smoothly on runway 8 at 524pm.

American 1312
Boeing 757-200

After deplaning by the Eagle gates, we trekked over to US Customs and Immigration. I got through that quickly and without incident and headed to gate 5 to board the 710pm flght to Hartford. We were delayed a bit to replace a battery in the nosewheel. I killed time by watching planes land on runway 8 and kept my eye on a lightning storm to our west. We were on our way at 754pm and took off from 8 after a Continental 737. I was seated over the wing in 21F. Seatbelt sign was on for the entire flight as we were in and out of turbulance. We had only one beverage service and before long we were descending over Connecticut. It was overcast and we didn't come out of the clouds until about one minute before touch down on runway 6. A quick taxi to B8 and I went down to get my luggage and went home.

Overall, all flights were good. AA continues to provide me with decent service and look forward to flying them again in the future. Sorry for the lack of photos. I hoped you enjoyed my report and thanks for reading.
-Eric