I was going down to New York City for a few days, over Thanksgiving weekend. Before the pandemic jetBlue had 3-4 daily flights. Delta had 3 flights each to JFK and LGA, and United has flights to EWR. jetBlue did not have any nonstop flights from SYR-JFK the day we wanted to fly, or the day before. Delta still has their flights to LGA suspended, and the JFK flight was close to $500 just for a one way flight. We had a credit on American and United, from a trip I had to cancel over the summer. So, we decided to use them for this flight. The only flight AA had, involved a connection in CLT. The return flight had a connection at IAD. These would be the most out of the way flights I have taken to get New York.



American Eagle “PSA” 5383
Syracuse, NY (SYR) – Charlotte, NC (CLT)
Bombardier CRJ-900
N613NN
Seat 21A
Scheduled Departure Time – 5:16pm
Actual Departure Time- 5:19pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 7:32pm
Actual Arrival Time- 7:13pm
1 hour 54 minutes





N613NN at gate 8, after arriving from Charlotte



This flight had the most people on it, of all the flights I took. There were only a few open seats. Before we pushed back from the gate, the captain made an announcement. She said that they had just flown up from CLT. On that flight, there was turbulence throughout the entire flight. So, she was going to leave the seatbelt sign on for the entire flight. The winds were gusting out of the south, so that made runway 15 the active. While it is not the main runway, I have used that runway a few times in the last year.



We climbed out through rain showers, and several cloud layers. We leveled off at 36,000ft, and were in IMC and flying through the tops of the clouds for most of the flight. There was occasionally some turbulence during the entire flight. The flight attendants did not do any type of service on this flight. They only came through periodically to collect any trash people had.



Cruising



Descending into CLT on the PARQR3 arrival





We had to hold short, for a few departures. After crossing runway 36C, we taxied over to the other side of the airport

N613NN after deplaning, before its last flight of the night up to Washington – Dulles





We did not have that long of a layover in CLT. A few minutes after I got to the next gate, they were starting boarding. This was my second time flying on N916US. The first time I flew it was last November also for Thanksgiving, from Phoenix to Los Angeles.

N916US at gate B3, after arriving from Austin



American 2089
Charlotte, NC (CLT) – New York – LaGuardia, NY (LGA)
Airbus A321
N916US
Seat 12A
Scheduled Departure Time – 8:34pm
Actual Departure Time- 8:58pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 10:30pm
Actual Arrival Time-10:10pm
1 hour 12 minutes





12A, next to N118US heading to Atlanta



This flight was not full, and there were plenty of open seats. Most middle, and a lot of aisle seats near me were open. The captain made an announcement that there were some last minute bags. Once these were loaded, we would be departing. We pushed back at 8:32pm. The engines were quickly started, and the flaps lowered



There were several planes taxiing ahead of us. After about a 20 minute taxi, we were next in line. The tower controller gave us our takeoff clearance. The first officer said that a passenger had just stood up. She told the controller she would call them back when we were ready. A few minutes later, we were rolling down runway 18L





“American 2089 fly heading 140, contact Charlotte Departure”



Other than some light bumps, it was a smooth climb to flight level 370



Just like on the first flight, no service was done. We flew through clouds for most of the flight, but it was much smoother than the flight down to Charlotte had been



Cruising



Descending into LGA, on the KORRY4 arrival







We got a nice view flying over New York City. We flew past LGA on a downwind, before making a right turn and joining the final for a visual approach to runway 22



It was a hard touch down with pretty heavy breaking



Pulling into gate D3, next to N878NN that had landed a few hours earlier after a flight from Miami



After spending a couple of days in New York, it was time to go home. We got to the airport an hour and a half before our flight, and walked into an almost empty Terminal B at LGA.

United Check In











United Express “Mesa” 6056
New York – LaGuardia, NY (LGA) – Washington, DC Dulles (IAD)
Embraer E-175
N85370
Seat 19A
Scheduled Departure Time – 7:47pm
Actual Departure Time- 7:52pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 9:11pm
Actual Arrival Time- 8:38pm
46 minutes





N85370 at gate 45, after arriving from IAD. This plane was brand new. It had its first revenue flight 12 days before. This flight from LGA-IAD, would be its 30th flight.



Boarding





We pushed back at 7:40pm, 7 minutes ahead of our scheduled departure time. As we were pushing back the flaps were lowered, before the engines were started. The airport was not busy, so it was a quick taxi over to runway 4. We were #2 line, behind a Republic E-175 that was going down to Charlotte.

“Air Shuttle 6056 runway 4, cleared for takeoff”





We quickly climbed up to 20,000ft, for the short flight down to Dulles. Once we leveled off the flight attendants came through with water. Before long we were already starting the descent





Cruising



Descending on the HYPER7 arrival



Final 1R





N85370 at gate D16, before its last flight of the night right back to LaGuardia





United Express “Air Wisconsin” 3872
Washington, DC Dulles (IAD) – Syracuse, NY (SYR)
Bombardier CRJ-200
N440AW
Seat 12A
Scheduled Departure Time – 10:45pm
Actual Departure Time- 10:50pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 12:01am
Actual Arrival Time- 11:39pm
49 minutes





For the last flight, I would be flying on N440AW. I had just flown this exact same plane and on the same route (IAD-SYR), at the beginning of October. I would also be sitting in the same seat on this flight

N440AW had flown down a little earlier from Philadelphia





12A, next to N501MJ going to Detroit. N501MJ was the first flight I ever flew on by myself, back in 2011 from SYR-ORD on the way to PDX





The door was closed about 20 minutes early, and we pushed back a few minutes later. Once the engines were started, we began the taxi to runway 30. We followed a Speedbird A350 to the runway. After a short delay for wake turbulence, we took off.



Climbing out of IAD





We climbed up to 27,000ft, for the flight up to Syracuse. Once we leveled off the flight attendant came through with drinks and Stroopwafel cookies

Cruising



Descending into SYR



Final runway 28





N440AW spent the night in SYR, and flew back down to IAD early the next morning



When you fly into a NY airport, they have the National Guard meeting people at the airports. So they make people fill out paperwork on your travel, and where you are staying. Since we were flying in from another place in NY, they did not make us fill it out. We were one of the first people down at baggage claim, and by the time we got down there our bags were already waiting for us. It was sad seeing the airports so quiet, especially around Thanksgiving. Hopefully things will pick up more in 2021.

Thanks for the interesting report!

I am curious as to why you would not just have driven this? It would be much quicker, and less risky due to misconnect, than a connection in CLT.

LGAtoIND wrote:

Thanks for the interesting report!

I am curious as to why you would not just have driven this? It would be much quicker, and less risky due to misconnect, than a connection in CLT.

Not a fan of driving, plus I have a ton of credits and wanted to put some to use.

Thanks for the TR. It's very hard to picture LGA with a "new" terminal - still getting used to that.

jetblue01 wrote:

When you fly into a NY airport, they have the National Guard meeting people at the airports. So they make people fill out paperwork on your travel, and where you are staying. Since we were flying in from another place in NY, they did not make us fill it out. We were one of the first people down at baggage claim, and by the time we got down there our bags were already waiting for us. It was sad seeing the airports so quiet, especially around Thanksgiving. Hopefully things will pick up more in 2021.

Thanks for sharing. I'm not familiar with the formalities taking place even for domestic flights, but do wonder where else this is taking place in the US (Hawaii, Alaska?).

phatfarmlines wrote:

Thanks for the TR. It's very hard to picture LGA with a "new" terminal - still getting used to that.

Thanks for sharing. I'm not familiar with the formalities taking place even for domestic flights, but do wonder where else this is taking place in the US (Hawaii, Alaska?).

I know. I usually end up flying into JFK. I associate flying into LGA with old US Airways Express Dash - 8's and RJ's or Delta RJ's. It was sad to see the new terminal almost completely shut down. There were not any restaurants or even gift shops open. They only had one little area in Duty Free open. Also i'm not sure if that is happening in any other states. But, it happened when we arrived at LGA and back at SYR.

Sounds like another cool excursion!... I usually find the E175s to be bumpy at the slightest air chop, for some reason.

Thanks for sharing!

MarcoPoloWorld wrote:

Sounds like another cool excursion!... I usually find the E175s to be bumpy at the slightest air chop, for some reason.

Thanks for sharing!

I like the 175. It's a nice little plane. The flight was smooth, and it was on a brand new plane!