Check out San Francisco, Napa, and Sonoma: A First Visit

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US Airways: “Our legacy airline peers have an advantage”

Is US Airways suffering because of bad hub location? Consider the following excerpt from the US Airways employee weekly newsletter, About US, dated March 19, 2009.

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14 March 2009: SFO-CVG-TRI

DL 1836 SFO-CVG 11:34 am – 6:55 pm 737-800 Seats 1C and 1D

Wow, this flight was almost a mirror image of my outbound flight except for aircraft type, which is how it should be – consistent, reliable, and comfortable. We pushed back on time and were airborne by 11:45 am. Upon reaching 10,000 feet, we received our hot towel, beverage, and meal service. The meal choices were the same as the outbound, so we chose the ribs again instead of penne pasta with eggplant tomato sauce. It was just as good this time as the first time. That chocolate mousse cake is RICH. We also spent the flight watching satellite TV as we were not interested in the movies, and I worked on my trip blog (I will let you know when it’s posted nationally!) We had plentiful beverages served throughout the flight.  During the last hour, the flight attendant came around with the snack basket and more beverages.  We landed about 10 minutes early and John walked me halfway to the A concourse! Our inbound plane was his LGA outbound plane, lucky guy!

DL 6138 CVG-TRI 8:05 pm – 9:08 pm EMB 145 Seat 12A

Not sure why as it was about half full, but this flight departed about 20 minutes late. However, flight time en route was only about 35-40 minutes, so we still managed to arrive a few minutes early. The flight attendant offered a water only beverage service “due to the short duration,” but it was better than nothing! The funny part about this segment was our arrival at TRI. There was a crowd of about 75 people at baggage claim, which is a rare sight at little TRI. It seems that there was an NAIA track and field event being held locally and of course, the start of NASCAR week, which meant more inbound travelers than usual on a Saturday evening, and three flights (DL, NW, and US) had arrived around the same time. Now that was some “excitement” for sure!

Delta Business Elite CVG-JFK-LHR March 8 by J. Augusta

Talk about a perfect weather weekend- with temps in the 70s the whole week it was a nice departure from the cold and grey in London. Of course all good weather comes to an end and it looks like I got out just in time. I arrived at CVG approx 2 hrs before the flight to a very empty airport, got my shoes shined, and skipped the Crown Room in favor of a large Sam Adams and pretzel sticks at Max and Ermas for one last dose of good food. The flight boarded about 30 minutes early- a Trans-Atlantic configured 757-200 (The same plane I took over from JFK that I didn’t write a report on). While boarding I ran into my seatmate from the flight over who was headed back to JFK on the same flight, I love odd airport coincidences like that.

For those who are interested the DL TA 752 feels very similar to the CO ones- although in a bit better condition since they’re newer and they have the leather seats. The seat, although different from CO’s, has a very similar feel as CO’s. One note is that there is no underseat storage in any seat up front. However the recline was great and there was plenty of room in the overheads. I think this would certainly be a decent plane to spend 8-9 hours on up front. Once on board a pre-departure Heineken was in order. F had about 6 seats empty on boarding, but 5 were taken by deadheading crew leaving one seat open. The back was mostly empty too. Talk about a light load for a Sunday night flight- although I guess it was a bit late of a flight to connect to most international flights so that may explain it. We left on time and were #1 for takeoff. Flight time was under 1:40- FA did several beverage runs (Club Soda and vodka for me with some biscoffs and chips). Delta on Demand was at every seat, although the movie selection is the same as on the 767 so I chose to listen to my Ipod instead. We arrived into JFK about 45min early keeping my early arrival trend alive (I arrived from LHR into JFK 45 min early and into CVG from JFK over 1 hr early)—what a difference light loads and nice weather make on JFK flights!

At JFK I decided to kill some time at the Crown Room sipping a bloody mary and making a few phone calls to friends and family (“Surprise, I’m here in the states… but I’m leaving tonight!”—doesn’t go so well with the parental units). Boarding started about 40 minutes before departure- sort of late for a transcon flight- but boarding was completed on time. Note that since Europe isn’t in Daylight Savings Time until later this month most flights were leaving an hour later than scheduled.

The flight was another 763 and also in good condition. Delta 1—always cool to fly the flight #1. I took a seat on the left side today- 5B. Business was full and Y looked to be about 80-85% full. Just an observation but I recommend the other side of the plane as it is closer to the bathrooms and seems to get less traffic. After a brief chat with my seatmate I sipped a glass of bubbly and read through the menu. Unfortunately Delta is much like Continental in that although they rotate their menu- this is the 3rd time I’ve had the same choices in food (including starters). I guess I need to start timing my flights on Delta to be on months that have the other menu rotations. Or maybe I fly too much.

Starters were a cold shrimp with some sauce I don’t like, tomato salad with blue cheese on romaine (served with Balsamic and Ranch), and a tasty tomato soup (my description, not Delta’s!)

The mains (as copied from the website):
• Grilled filet of beef with grain mustard sauce, served with redskin mashed potatoes, baby carrots and sautéed Belgian endives
• Fettuccini Alfredo with Broccolini garnished with roasted tomatoes and hazelnuts
• Cold plate of roast beef and gravlax with a deviled egg and heart of palm
• Grilled chicken Ras el Hanout with yogurt sauce, accompanied by sautéed zucchini and leek medley and olive couscous

When the friendly FA came around I placed my order for the chicken. They used to let you choose 2 of 3 starters but gave up on that and just give you all 3 now—which is good because they catered all 3 the other times and usually threw the extra away.

We pushed back on time and were #1 for takeoff.-Another big surprise coming from JFK! The pilot announced that with the 100 mph headwinds we’d most likely arrive at LHR about 1hr early. Once in the air nuts (not hot) and drinks were offered. I decided on one last glass of champagne and then water with my meal as I’ve drank way too much this weekend! I turned on my Delta On Demand unit and started playing around- decided to watch the new Bond film again as since I had seen it once I could afford to fall asleep during it. No need though as my unit kept resetting after like 20 minutes while tuned into any movie (and I overheard others so it seems I wasn’t alone here). I took it as a sign to get some sleep instead.

The meal was served quite promptly. I know I’ve complained about Delta service in some reports last year (they seemed short staffed up front to me) but either I’ve had good crews recently or things really have improved as this flight was awesome in terms of service. I did have my own “dedicated” FA come around often with water refills and extra bread. And others were doing the same all during the service. One of my complaints with CO is the time it takes to serve the meal… this wasn’t the case here. Starters were on our table about 10 minutes after the nuts were offered, and the meal followed directly after the starter. The starters were okay- although the soup was quite good as mentioned before. The chicken was actually very nicely cooked and tasted relatively healthy (At least that’s what I told myself)—so much so that I decided to do the ice cream for dessert. Delta’s sundaes aren’t quite as good as CO as the topping choices are a bit more limited, but it was a nice end to the meal. After finishing my sundae and some peppermint tea I decided to try and get some sleep.

However it never fails, I really can’t sleep on overnight flights. I probably dozed off and on for about the next 3 ½ hours while listening to my Ipod. It wasn’t that I wasn’t comfortable, I just can’t sleep (something about being overwater on an overnight flight just keeps my body from being “trusting” enough to shut down for a few hours- if that makes sense?… I’ve done about 20 of these over the past 2 years and it’s still an issue!). About 1 ½ hrs before landing they started with breakfast service. Unlike CO they didn’t turn on the overhead lights, which allowed people to keep sleeping until the very end (A nice move!). I passed on breakfast since dinner was only about 3 hours ago but did notice how diligent the FAs were to check with everyone within about 30 seconds of them showing signs of waking up. Another sign of a great crew!

As we got closer to LHR we were placed in a short hold giving us a nice circle around the London/Westminster area. We still ended up landing about 1:15 early- making this 4 for 4 flights with early arrival this trip—average early arrival time of approx 1hr. Customs was quite empty and by the time I went to change in the bathroom (no arrival lounge yet…) my bag was on the belt. Luckily my driver checked the flight info and was waiting for me at the other end of immigration. I was actually at my office (40 miles away) within 10 minutes of my scheduled landing time.

I must say I’m very impressed with Delta. The only thing keeping me to Continental is the 2x EQMs they offer EU residents- otherwise I’d probably choose Delta more often as I’d say they are at least on par with CO. When taking a short 4 day weekend break being on time is of great concern and I was a bit worried flying through JFK but Delta (and luck) delivered. And service was great on all 4 flights. As business class flights continue to be dirt cheap (Flights in Nov are pricing at $1,600 round trip) I would highly recommend giving Delta a shot- if you get the luck with JFK traffic and weather you won’t be disappointed. If you don’t get so lucky- don’t blame me. Thanks for reading.

March 7: TRI-ATL-SFO

DL 5130 TRI-ATL 4:25 pm – 5:31 pm 8B Exit

I arrived at TRI early to no line and no waiting for either check in or security.  It’s at these times that I love a small airport!  I went to the TRI Business Center to make a couple of phone calls.  For some reason, I was unable to get online with TRI’s free Wi-Fi, so I had to settle for BlackBerry only access.

We boarded early and quickly and we pushed back very early at 4:12 pm.  I had no seatmate!  We departed five minutes early at 4:20 pm and arrived at 4:56 pm, about 35 minutes before published arrival.  There was no in-flight service “due to the short duration,” but the flight attendant did pass through the cabin with cups of ice water.

Interim at the Delta SkyClub (formerly the Crown Room Club)

I met John at the B25 SkyClub location since our flight was scheduled to depart from B26.  We found a place with power outlets and enjoyed about an hour and a half of relaxation.  I had two of my own and half of John’s Atlanta Sweetwater microbrew beer.  Snacks included crackers, individually packaged white cheddar cheese, hummus in a baby food jar (LOL), olives, and Biscoffs.  I love their snacks, but they really need some plastic knives, forks, sporks, or something!  Eating olives with my fingers and dipping crackers into a jar seems so gauche, n’est-ce pas?

DL 47 ATL-SFO 7:10 pm – 9:39 pm 4C and 4D First Class 757-200 Transcontinental Configuration

While I was in the club, I realized that I left my cash at home and I was going to hit an ATM, but John said he had enough cash with him, so we went directly to the gate. When we arrived at the gate, the flight was already boarding.  I gave Breezeway boarding a whirl and it worked, the gate agent scanned my boarding pass ahead of most of the line, but John decided to wait in the long line.  When we got on board, he asked me if I felt rude using Breezeway boarding and I said no, I earned it!

When we arrived at our seats, we had a mini bottle of Dasani, a pillow, and blanket.  We received a full departure beverage service.  I had Amstel Light and John had Heineken.

We pushed back on time at 7:10 pm and were airborne by 7:28 pm.  The pilot announced our flight would be four hours 51 minutes en route with an early arrival.

Shortly after the bell rang signaling we were above 10,000 feet, a flight attendant came around and took our dinner order.  Our choices were penne pasta with tomato sauce or short ribs and mashed potatoes.  I had posted a thread on FlyerTalk a couple of days ago asking about current meals and someone had recommended the ribs, so we both selected that.  After the dinner order, another flight attendant came with hot towel service and when I say hot, I mean those towels were HOT.  We almost dropped them they were so hot.  After the hot towel service, a flight attendant came and took our drink orders and we both opted for Amstel Light this time.

Dinner arrived very soon after the drink order and I believe we selected the best option. The meal consisted of about six ounces of rib meat with sauce/gravy, a side of mashed potatoes, a side of mixed yellow squash and zucchini, a roll, a salad with creamy Italian dressing, and chocolate mousse cake.  I have to say that in my limited airplane meal experiences, this was the best airplane meal I have ever had.  The rib meat was fall-off-the-bone tender and juicy and the side of sauce/gravy was delicious.

We did not want for drinks at all during the flight.  The flight attendants were attentive and offered us refills about every 20 minutes or so.  John and I sampled the white wine selection and neither of us liked it very much, so he went back to beer and I tasted a glass of red wine.  I actually preferred the red to the white, which is rare for airplane wine.

For in-flight entertainment, I opted for DirectTV instead of a movie and I actually remembered my Bose headphones (I never bring them for short flights.)  I watched CNN until 8:00 pm, and then switched to NBC where they were replaying the opening episode of “Celebrity Apprentice” from 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm ET.  I have never seen an episode of this series.  However, I don’t think I have laughed that hard in a long time.  The challenge was baking and selling cupcakes on the streets of NYC for charity.  The men raised $49,449 and the women raised $62,257 (courtesy of winning a $15,000 taste test.)  The women’s team was comprised of celebrities like Joan Rivers (comedian), Melissa Rivers (always with Joan, TV host), Brandi Roderick (Playboy model), Annie Duke (poker champ), Khloe Kardashian (reality star), Claudia Jordan (model, “Deal or No Deal”), and T-Boz (from the musical group TLC.)  The men’s team, consisting of celebrities such as Brian McKnight (R&B singer), Jesse James (from “Monster Truck”), Tom Green (comedian), Dennis Rodman (basketball player), Scott Hamilton (figure skater), Clint Black (country singer), Herschel Walker (football player), and Andrew Dice Clay (comedian), had me laughing the entire time.  Andrew Dice Clay was by far the most egotistical, obnoxious, and funny character of the entire bunch, while Dennis Rodman was just plain arrogant.  I never watch reality TV, but I might watch this again, because I have never seen anything so dysfunctional.  However, Andrew Dice Clay was fired, so the next episode might not be as funny.

At 10:00 pm, I watched “Law and Order,” a very powerful episode about child slavery, and at 11:00 pm, I watched NBC NY local news.  I took off my headphones after the news so my ears could “breathe.”

I was also able to write this trip report during the flight, because this bird has real 110v power ports, no adaptors required.

Despite a fierce headwind the first half of our flight, we arrived SFO 23 minutes early at 9:16 pm.

If assigning a grade, I would give this flight experience an A+.  It exceeded my expectations.

March 5: LHR-JFK on Delta, Business Elite by J. Augusta

This is a guest post by another one of my frequent flier friends, J. Augusta, who often flies business class, usually with Continental or Virgin Atlantic.

DL 4 (763ER)
March 5, 2009
LHR-JFK
Seat 4F

Hello from the Crown Room at JFK (Well one of them). Last week I decided to cash in some miles to catch a long weekend in Cincinnati and visit my friends and former colleagues and classmates. Looking at availability Delta had the best Business Class reward fare availability so I jumped on the opportunity. Alternatively I could have flown NWA via DTW or Virgin via Dulles but ultimately decided on Delta based on the fact the others wouldn’t get me in to Cincinnati until at least 8:00.

My day started at 4:00am GMT (11:00 EST) as I had a pickup at 5:30 and also couldn’t sleep thanks to my 1 yr old Dell laptop dying last night right as I was syncing my IPod. I spent some time in the morning trying to fix the laptop but gave up and turned my attention to pack and get ready for the trip to the airport. My driver was right on time picking me up outside my gate and we were at Heathrow T4 in less than 40 minutes.

Once at T4 check-in was not crowded and I had my bag dropped off and was through security in about 10 minutes total. I killed some time at duty free picking up English chocolate and some champagne to bring as gifts. I also stopped by the less than amazing Holideck lounge (DL’s contract lounge) for a quick pack of crackers and other light breakfast fare. Boarding was at 7:20 for the 8:20 flight. I was at the gate a few minutes before boarding started and made my way down the breezeway once it was called… only to be held up by the contract security agents.

Ah yes, LHR still does the random gate checks before boarding and they love to pick me about 60% of the time I fly from here (not a blessing by any means!). After the meaningless frisking and shoe check (you know in case the x-ray scanners and metal detectors missed anything) that took about 10 minutes I was onboard. Shortly after boarding coats were taken and prosecco and OJ were on offer. I sipped a glass (of 2) of prosecco watching everyone board. Y was completely full, business was about 30% full with everyone basically having their own pair of seats.

I’ve commented on DL’s seats in the past and there’s nothing new to mention here (until they switch to lie-flat later this spring) except the seats are still very hard, narrow (18.5 inches) and they are of the recliner variety- but not unpleasant by any means- especially when one doesn’t have a seat mate. Plane was very clean and in good shape (well visibly so!). Menus were offered before take-off and it looks like the lead FA took orders based on status (or something, not sure but she was bouncing all around the cabin). DL actually offers a brunch service for breakfast- choices were Tenderloin and Omelete, Pasta (cream sauce of course), a cold roast beef plate, and blueberry pancakes. We weren’t given a choice of starters but they were fresh melon with a yogurt dip, smoked salmon, and prosucitto with brie.

About 20 minutes after takeoff they came around for drink orders and gave us nuts (not warm). I started off with a bloody mary (ok 2) while enjoying the nuts. About 15 min later tables were set and bread basket was offered—this was full of bagels and croissants and a few rolls to fit the brunch theme. Starters arrived shortly after and I enjoyed the prosucitto and fruit (not a smoked salmon fan) and a bagel with strawberry jam. The steak arrived shortly after that and it was actually very good. Still a bit red in the middle and went nicely with the leak and feta omelette and the potatoes au gratin on the side. I enjoyed this with a glass of red (2 reds and 2 whites on offer- all from California) Dessert was an ice cream sundae with chocolate or berries which, of course, I enjoyed with a glass of port.

After brunch I settled in for slumdog millionaire on Delta on Demand… followed by a nap and then I pulled out the laptop to do a bit of work (and write the majority of this TR).

Lunch is a margharita pizza or oriental salad… the pizza was served with a green salad , warm cookie, and chocolate. The cookie was great, salad was fresh, and pizza was as expected (ie not too good).

Overall this was a great, standard flight. DL’s actually very close to CO in terms of service- the differences are quite minimal (DL’s pillow and blanket combination are better than about anyone’s that I’ve flown (full sized feather pillow and duvet), seats are narrower, but CO’s have less pitch, food very similar). Service was great and friendly with the (JFK based) FAs coming around several times during the flight to check on us and the on board entertainment was working well the whole flight. Overall it was well worth the use of miles.

LGA-TRI: A True “Beth Effect,” 1-2 Mar 2009

DL 1779 LGA – ATL 11:00 am – 1:54 pm seat 27C exit
DL 9857 TLH – ATL 7:00 am – 8:06 am seat 27C exit or 35D
DL 5388 ATL – TRI 10:00 am – 11:13 am seat 3D then 8C exit

On Saturday, I realized this trip would be a challenge due to the winter weather, but Delta had not cancelled my flights or changed my schedule, so I tried to remain positive. The elite phone lines were clogged anyway, so I could not proactively make changes for myself.

The next morning I woke up to one cancellation–my second flight on Sunday from ATL to TRI had been cancelled and I had been proactively rebooked on the next flight.

I arrived at LGA early and checked in with an elite ticket agent so I could inquire about additional options, but there were none. I passed quickly through security thanks to Clear, spent about 30 minutes enjoying the snacks and Internet in the Crown Room Club, and then went to the gate. The flight boarded promptly and pushed back within a few minutes of scheduled departure. We had our obligatory taxi wait at LGA, then took off about 20 minutes past scheduled departure, but were scheduled to arrive on time.

I was in coach and in-flight service included a full beverage and snack service, including beverages and snacks that were either complimentary or for sale. There was also Delta’s short-program in-flight entertainment with ear buds for sale for $2.00.

We started making our approach into ATL, but were turned back due to the weather and problems with ground landing equipment/technology. The pilot announced that we would try to land one more time, but if we were unable, we would be diverted to TLH. We were not allowed to land, so off we went to TLH, another 30 minutes in flight. We landed around 2:16 pm, but remained on the plane for a while until they announced we would be grounded until 7:00 am Monday morning. I deplaned with the other passengers, I stopped to ask the gate agent to make sure I was rebooked on an ATL-TRI flight for Monday, and then I boarded the first hotel shuttle available to the Residence Inn University location, one of our discounted overnight options.

Upon arrival to the hotel, we found out that the hotel was not expecting us, nor were they prepared to offer a discounted rate, but they called the general manager and he approved a rate of $99.00 per night instead of $199.00. The desk clerks quickly checked us in and I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in my room, trying to relax after a stressful day. The only “perk” from this experience was the opportunity to earn a night’s frequent stay credit and points with Marriott Rewards!

The next morning I got up at 3:45 am and was downstairs by 4:45 am to take my taxi to the airport. Once there, the line started forming and became very long very quickly, as no one was able to use the kiosks to print boarding passes for this flight or any connecting flights. Once I was finally able to speak to an agent, it took him and another agent about 30 minutes to reissue a paper ticket with my new flights and seat assignments. Luckily the security line was not as long!

However, at the gate, there was a minor uproar about seating, as some of us had checked in for the new flight and been assigned different seats and some had just used their old boarding passes. So the decision was made for us to take our original seats, which worked out well, as I had originally had 27C exit row aisle, but had been assigned 35D when my ticket was reissued!

We were about to leave on time at 7:00 am, when the pilot announced we would be taking additional stranded passengers from other cancelled flights, so we departed about an hour late at 8:00 am. We landed at 8:50 am, so I still had plenty of time to make my 10:00 am connection. I proceeded to the concourse C Crown Room Club near gate 36C, as my connection was scheduled to depart C40. I spoke to one of the agents in the club about a better seat assignment and was given 8C exit row aisle instead of 3D window. I enjoyed a quick glass of water, a couple of mini muffins, a packet of Biscoffs, and then went to my gate.

We boarded a little late due to a late-arriving aircraft.  However, we boarded quickly and were ready to depart at 10:10 am when the pilot was alerted to a possible maintenance issue.  The tug driver had noticed that the toe bar looked broken, so the pilot deplaned to check it out, but it was a false alarm. So we pushed back, took a little bit of a typical ATL runway delay, and were airborne at 10:36 am.

I have to say, this was one of the best CRJ rides I have ever had. First of all, I had no seatmate, which is always a plus. Secondly, we had a very funny flight attendant, Jerry, who kept us laughing from boarding until the end of the flight. He also did not give the “due to the short duration” line, but instead, provided us with a full beverage and snack service, just like mainline coach. And after the snacks, he offered us all mints! He was an example of a stellar flight attendant who obviously loves what he does and does not use lame excuses to not do his job.

We arrived at TRI 40 minutes later at 11:16 am, only three minutes past our scheduled departure.

Upon checking my Delta frequent flier account later that day, I noticed that I received full fare Y flight mileage credit and all applicable bonuses for all three of my flights, LGA-ATL (actually TLH), TLH-ATL, and ATL-TRI.

Although I would have preferred to have arrived home on Sunday, I think Delta did a good job of handling the situation and getting me safely home before lunchtime the following day.