Another Family Thanksgiving ATL-IAD-ATL
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2019 2:29 am
I’ve only flown Atlanta to Washington Dulles about a thousand times, so it’s understandable that I would want to document it. This was another Thanksgiving with family Wednesday November 27 through Saturday November 30 (again, something I’ve done a thousand times, it seems). Not that I’m complaining. This was originally supposed to be with our entire family, including my brother, his wife, and their son, but through a series of unfortunate events and circumstances, it ended up just being my parents and myself.
We opted for an earlier morning rotation on Southwest. Given the busy nature of the Thanksgiving holiday, we were up and out very early. A little good became of my brother and his wife not flying with us. My parents were on my ticket, and thus, were also able to latch on to my TSA Precheck. My brother and his side were on a separate reservation, and did not have it, so I suppose that saved us a few minutes and the hassle of taking shoes off and stuff out of the bags. My priority pass was able to get us lounge access too. If it was all of us, that wasn’t going to happen.
We were leaving out of gate C6 this morning.
Our aircraft arrived from Tampa at 7:36. It was a rarer and rarer catch in the Canyon Blue colors. N906WN was operating today.
Southwest Airlines Flight 877
ATL-IAD
Depart ATL - 8:20am (was actually 8:29)
Arrive IAD - 10:00am (was actually 9:55)
Boeing 737-700
N906WN
We grabbed row 15. It was a gross day in Atlanta.
I got artsy with the wide angle shots.
It never did clear up enough to watch ramp action or anything.
We pushed at 8:29 and headed for runway 27R. The windows were such that I couldn’t get any photos.
https://youtu.be/35f5Q3pwVLk
Thankfully, the wide angle lens does ok with the focus in the rain before all the water flies away. Takeoff was a little bouncy, but I could have stood for more.
The weather outside was not conducive to photography at all.
And this was basically my view the whole way, clouds, clouds, and more clouds
But eventually we went back down in to the clouds, because we had to land somewhere.
I did spy a blue football field somewhere on the way in. That was cool and something I had never seen before.
They were landing from the north, so we passed by the airport before turning back in for runway 19L.
[url]https://youtu.be/8PDbrI3h1hs[url]
Video of landing on runway 19L in all its wide angle glory.
Spotted the new United livery on a couple aircraft. Looks pretty good in person.
And as always at Dulles, a wealth of aircraft that I don’t see at home in Atlanta.
And a small amount of aircraft that I do see at home.
And in to gate B50. We checked bags, so we weren’t in a huge rush to get off. If we get off even remotely quickly, we beat our luggage by a bunch.
Obligatory photo. N906WN was going back to Atlanta. We opted to walk to baggage claim. The rental car was in my name, so after I got all that mess taken care of, we hopped in the car and headed to Winchester.
There were dogs.
And oh buddy, there was food.
And there were leftovers.
All in all, a fun few days. Saturday was time to go home.
After dropping the rental car off and checking luggage, we found our way to the British Airways lounge. I have to say, I was rather underwhelmed. I’ll probably go back to Turkish Airlines next time. I will say, though, the views of the terminal were nice, and it was quiet, not that Dulles is ever that loud or busy, though. We pretty much waited until almost boarding time to go to the gate. It was just a few steps away at B64.
Our aircraft came in from Atlanta at 8:05. Today’s aircraft was the Heart One, N8642E, a 737-800.
Southwest Airlines Flight 5854
IAD-ATL
Depart IAD - 9:00am (was actually 8:56)
Arrive ATL - 10:55am (was actually 10:23)
Boeing 737-800
N8624E
“Heart One”
I grabbed row 9 today.
N776AU, do you have to wide angle everything? Yes, yes I do.
All the foreign tails going place. Much farther than I was this morning.
N387DA was going to Atlanta not long after us. Good to see them give IAD the massive upgrade from the MD-88. Then again, I remember flying Delta to IAD on a 757
ANA’s Star Alliance 777 was landing from Tokyo as we were leaving.
Barbie jet from Detroit.
https://youtu.be/NdQJy5Wk3mE
We made our way to runway 30 behind a fair number of other aircraft, mostly regional jets, and made the typical takeoff followed by an immediate left turn.
And just like when we left Atlanta a few days earlier we were up and in clouds the whole way
When you can’t see anything down below, you have to entertain yourself somehow.
I didn’t see the ground again until 5 minutes to landing.
Finally, I could see the ground and figure out where we were.
https://youtu.be/WFIhQHKFWjE
Video of landing on runway 26R.
Back in Delta Land.
N3767. I’ve seen this aircraft everywhere.
N659DL loading up for STT.
We came in right at midpoint at gate C22.
N8518R a couple gates away was going to HOU.
Some parting shots of N8642E. It was going to Dallas and beyond after dropping us off.
From there, I got my luggage, got to my car, and went home. Good trip. Good flights. These were my last flights of 2019, which gives me 20 on the year. Not bad for a regular guy with a job who has to pay for them all. I hope my errors were minimal. Thanks for reading
We opted for an earlier morning rotation on Southwest. Given the busy nature of the Thanksgiving holiday, we were up and out very early. A little good became of my brother and his wife not flying with us. My parents were on my ticket, and thus, were also able to latch on to my TSA Precheck. My brother and his side were on a separate reservation, and did not have it, so I suppose that saved us a few minutes and the hassle of taking shoes off and stuff out of the bags. My priority pass was able to get us lounge access too. If it was all of us, that wasn’t going to happen.
We were leaving out of gate C6 this morning.
Our aircraft arrived from Tampa at 7:36. It was a rarer and rarer catch in the Canyon Blue colors. N906WN was operating today.
Southwest Airlines Flight 877
ATL-IAD
Depart ATL - 8:20am (was actually 8:29)
Arrive IAD - 10:00am (was actually 9:55)
Boeing 737-700
N906WN
We grabbed row 15. It was a gross day in Atlanta.
I got artsy with the wide angle shots.
It never did clear up enough to watch ramp action or anything.
We pushed at 8:29 and headed for runway 27R. The windows were such that I couldn’t get any photos.
https://youtu.be/35f5Q3pwVLk
Thankfully, the wide angle lens does ok with the focus in the rain before all the water flies away. Takeoff was a little bouncy, but I could have stood for more.
The weather outside was not conducive to photography at all.
And this was basically my view the whole way, clouds, clouds, and more clouds
But eventually we went back down in to the clouds, because we had to land somewhere.
I did spy a blue football field somewhere on the way in. That was cool and something I had never seen before.
They were landing from the north, so we passed by the airport before turning back in for runway 19L.
[url]https://youtu.be/8PDbrI3h1hs[url]
Video of landing on runway 19L in all its wide angle glory.
Spotted the new United livery on a couple aircraft. Looks pretty good in person.
And as always at Dulles, a wealth of aircraft that I don’t see at home in Atlanta.
And a small amount of aircraft that I do see at home.
And in to gate B50. We checked bags, so we weren’t in a huge rush to get off. If we get off even remotely quickly, we beat our luggage by a bunch.
Obligatory photo. N906WN was going back to Atlanta. We opted to walk to baggage claim. The rental car was in my name, so after I got all that mess taken care of, we hopped in the car and headed to Winchester.
There were dogs.
And oh buddy, there was food.
And there were leftovers.
All in all, a fun few days. Saturday was time to go home.
After dropping the rental car off and checking luggage, we found our way to the British Airways lounge. I have to say, I was rather underwhelmed. I’ll probably go back to Turkish Airlines next time. I will say, though, the views of the terminal were nice, and it was quiet, not that Dulles is ever that loud or busy, though. We pretty much waited until almost boarding time to go to the gate. It was just a few steps away at B64.
Our aircraft came in from Atlanta at 8:05. Today’s aircraft was the Heart One, N8642E, a 737-800.
Southwest Airlines Flight 5854
IAD-ATL
Depart IAD - 9:00am (was actually 8:56)
Arrive ATL - 10:55am (was actually 10:23)
Boeing 737-800
N8624E
“Heart One”
I grabbed row 9 today.
N776AU, do you have to wide angle everything? Yes, yes I do.
All the foreign tails going place. Much farther than I was this morning.
N387DA was going to Atlanta not long after us. Good to see them give IAD the massive upgrade from the MD-88. Then again, I remember flying Delta to IAD on a 757
ANA’s Star Alliance 777 was landing from Tokyo as we were leaving.
Barbie jet from Detroit.
https://youtu.be/NdQJy5Wk3mE
We made our way to runway 30 behind a fair number of other aircraft, mostly regional jets, and made the typical takeoff followed by an immediate left turn.
And just like when we left Atlanta a few days earlier we were up and in clouds the whole way
When you can’t see anything down below, you have to entertain yourself somehow.
I didn’t see the ground again until 5 minutes to landing.
Finally, I could see the ground and figure out where we were.
https://youtu.be/WFIhQHKFWjE
Video of landing on runway 26R.
Back in Delta Land.
N3767. I’ve seen this aircraft everywhere.
N659DL loading up for STT.
We came in right at midpoint at gate C22.
N8518R a couple gates away was going to HOU.
Some parting shots of N8642E. It was going to Dallas and beyond after dropping us off.
From there, I got my luggage, got to my car, and went home. Good trip. Good flights. These were my last flights of 2019, which gives me 20 on the year. Not bad for a regular guy with a job who has to pay for them all. I hope my errors were minimal. Thanks for reading
