Posted by Seth on September 21, 2010 under All You Can Jet, AYCJ, Trip Reports | 
Getting to a meeting in Seattle shouldn’t be too hard. Thanks to the JetBlue All You Can Jet pass I managed to schedule a meeting that otherwise likely would not have happened so I’m pretty excited about that. Any opportunity I have to help share the knowledge of frequent flyer programs’ inner workings and the myriad of ways to calculate the value of the points I see as a great thing. But I also needed to actually figure out how I’d get to Seattle for the meeting.
Sure, there is the option of the non-stop JFK-Seattle but that’s not really very creative. There’s a flight via Boston but I have not had a ton of luck with those so far this month. And then there’s the Dulles – Long Beach – Portland – Amtrak option. Yeah, that’s right up my alley.
For no particular reason I’ve always wanted to ride the Amtrak line between Seattle and Portland. I tried to schedule it during AYCJ last year but I couldn’t get a flight out of Seattle. This year I managed to get that seat so I booked the train, too. I even splurged and spent the extra $15 for the business class seat. After all, I’m on my way to a meeting. Actually, I did it to avoid potential lines at the station in Portland in the morning. 
Turns out there were no lines but I did get a great seat – a solo on the double side of the train so there was plenty of room to spread out and work. I also got a great recommendation for breakfast from Jerry, the Amtrak guy at the counter. Turns out that the post office across the street from the train station has a cafe on the 4th floor that is open to the public and that serves up pretty good, cheap food. I put my Voodoo donuts aside, had the chicken-fried steak and then headed back down to board the train.
We pulled out right on time and I was then treated to some phenomenal views as we rolled north towards Seattle. The train ride was smooth, on time and mostly uneventful, other than the fact that the cafe car apparently didn’t receive the correct catering so they did not have breakfast available. They responded by offering up everything they did have for free which was a nice touch. At the second stop en route they finally got some of the catering resolved: a delivery of fried chicken showed up on the train. Needless to say, the announcement of “Last call for free chicken in the cafe car” made over the PA system was rather entertaining.
The portion of the ride around Olympia was probably the most scenic section of the ride but the whole thing was pretty impressive.
And then it was off to the meetings (more on that later) and back to the airport for my first AYCJ trip to the Caribbean. I’m flying three new lines today, from Seattle to Long Beach to Ft. Lauderdale to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. It is a beautiful day for flying.
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Posted by Seth on September 20, 2010 under All You Can Jet, AYCJ, Trip Reports |
Today has me up to 18 flights in to my All You Can Jet adventures and my first repeat flight attendant experience. Sure, there was the mother-daughter pair last Thursday but that was mostly the same trip with a stop in the middle so I’m not sure it really counts. In this case I was boarding the plane I noticed the name tag of the woman in the galley and i immediately knew it was a repeat: the name Agda is not particularly common as best as I can tell.
Of course I then had to remember when I was actually on the same plane with her previously. That took rather longer than just remembering the name. Turns out we shared a ride from Long Beach to Sacramento last Wednesday. She double-checked her calendar and confirmed that she did work that trip.
I’m not entirely sure why I find this at all interesting but, well, I do. Go figure.
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Posted by Seth on September 20, 2010 under All You Can Jet, AYCJ, Trip Reports |
For the second time during my travels on the All You Can Jet pass from JetBlue I had trouble with my crazy itineraries that involved an extra connection in Boston. Last week it was my desire to fly Sarasota – New York – Boston – Las Vegas rather than just New York – Las Vegas. This week it was an even more irrational desire. I really wanted to fly to San Jose, California.
Why the obsession with San Jose? It is one of only two domestic stations that JetBlue flies to that I haven’t yet visited. I really wanted to get there during this AYCJ period. Even if it meant missing my return flight. Yeah, like I said, bad idea.
Shortly after I made it to Boston I noticed that my connecting flight was orange on the monitor – delayed. About two hours. I originally had built the trip with a 2:25 connection so the two hour delay was not critical initially but it was definitely going to be tight. Still, I made the decision to press on with the trip. I really wanted to get that visit to San Jose. It was only after we were fully boarded and the door was closed and we took an extra 10 minute ground hold after pushing back from the gate that I knew I was screwed. Alas, there was nothing to do at that point but enjoy the flight.
About half way through the flight I was chatting with Rodan and Ashton, two of the awesome flight attendants working the trip. Joe, a flight attendant deadheading out to SJC to work the return flight. I was asking Rodan to help me out by asking the captain to call ahead and let the gate know that there was a connecting passenger on board in hopes that they wouldn’t close the flight out 10 minutes early like they have a habit of doing. It was then that Joe piped in, noting that JetBlue only has one gate at San Jose.
Based on when we were going to arrive the New York flight was going to be just getting ready to push back. It was quite likely that they’d push that flight and then let us pull in to the gate. In other words I’d be watching my flight leave without me from my seat. My hopes were further thwarted when Rodan reported back that he’d spoken with the pilot and we were actually even later than expected getting in to San Jose.
I had missed my flight. Not good.
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Posted by Seth on September 17, 2010 under All You Can Jet, AYCJ, Trip Reports |
Today’s itinerary, JFK – Richmond, VA – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – White Plains, NY, was crafted with a singular goal. It turns out that there are very few domestic JetBlue airports that I have never flown to and I’m using the All You Can Jet pass to address that issue, among other plans. Of the five remaining on my list two (RIC & HPN) were on today’s itinerary. Add on the one I got Sunday (SRQ) and the one I’ll get this coming Sunday (SJC) and I’m dangerously close to crossing the finish line on that challenge.
Even though that was the ultimate goal of today’s flights I found that it wasn’t what I was ultimately focused on during the flights. For two of the flights I was focused on sleeping, attempting to rectify the misery inflicted by the redeye I took in from Sacramento last night. But I also found myself chatting with gate agents and flight attendants even more than I normally do, which is a lot to begin with.
The gate agents in Richmond were incredibly friendly and interested enough in my travel tales that I ended up chatting through the whole boarding process and was the last passenger to get on the plane. Many thanks to Matt and the whole crew there for making my brief stay in Richmond so enjoyable. Plus, I got to fly on the JFK-RIC route before it is cut later this fall so I’m happy about that.
 |
| My ride from Richmond to Ft. Lauderdale |
The flight Richmond to Ft. Lauderdale offered up yet another new travel experience for me. The two women working in the cabin are spitting images of each other. Turns out that they are a mother-daughter pair. They’ve been paired occasionally before when picking up segments here or there but this was the first time they ended up on a full trip together. Very cool to see them working together and enjoying themselves.
As an added bonus it was the same crew from Ft. Lauderdale to White Plains so I got to actually see them in action versus the initial flight that I slept through.
Wrapping up with the stats for my AYCJ adventures so far:
| Flights taken |
12 |
| Miles flown |
9,477 |
| New (to me) airports |
3 |
| New lines flown |
8 |
| Time in the air |
22:20 |
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Posted by Seth on September 16, 2010 under All You Can Jet, AYCJ, Trip Reports |
I really need to rethink my travel plans for this All You Can Jet pass. I’m on day 10 – only 8 of which I’ve been traveling – and I’ve already watched sunrise on half those days. Today was yet another morning that I got to see the beauty that is sunrise. Sure, I was bleary-eyed having just flown in on a redeye with only a couple hours of sleep, but fortunately for me the camera does most of the work once I point it in the right direction.
Posted by Seth on September 16, 2010 under All You Can Jet, AYCJ, Trip Reports |
I have previously flown through Sacramento, California but I never left the airport on that trip. Having met a great friend from Sacramento last November, however, I was rather excited by the opportunity to hang out with her again and to actually see a bit more of the city. Among other things. it meant crossing another state capitol off my list as well as two new lines for my collection (LGB-SMF and SMF-JFK).
Flying in to Sacramento was, like pretty much every flight I’ve taken so far with the All You Can Jet pass, smooth and easy. The flight was rather empty – maybe 60/150 seats filled – which gave me the opportunity to spread out across three seats in the back and get a quick nap in. Much needed given the flying schedule I’m on these days. I did wake up in time to enjoy some of the awesome views of the surrounding farmland during our final approach into the airport.
The heart of Sacramento is a grid, making navigation quite easy around town. Add on hourly bus service into town from the airport (20 minutes, $2, at :22 after the hour most of the day) and getting around in Sacramento is phenomenally easy.
First stop on arrival was a farmer’s market that runs in Chavez Park on Wednesdays. I had no idea it was happening and just stumbled upon it as the bus was headed through town. I needed lunch and they were there. It was a meeting made in heaven. After a quick snack I actually had to get some work done so I headed to the local Regus office space. I have the membership through my American Express card. I rarely use it. Still, in cases like this it really proved itself invaluable. Maybe I won’t be cancelling the card after all.
After work wrapped up I finally had a few minutes to walk around town and see the highlights. First up was this funky statue outside the Convention Center:
After that I wandered over to the State Capitol building. Typically impressive.
And then the good stuff got started. I met up with my friend, Karla, and we headed for drinks and dinner. Drinks were at The Shady Lady, a relatively new bar in town. The bar has a speakeasy feel to it, from the pictures on the wall to the dress of the staff to the impeccable drink concoctions being mixed behind the bar. We watched a bunch of a lilac colored drink walk away from the bar and were quite intrigued. The Aviation is a gin-based drink with lemon, sugar and Creme do Violette. It is also quite delicious and, as Karla noted, glows like it is from god in the photo. Seems like a pretty good reason to keep drinking them.
We had to cut ourselves off, however, as we were headed just next door to Magpie’s for dinner. The restaurant is relatively new but the folks at Magpie have been cooking for quite a while. They started as a catering company and haven’t looked back. The food was simply outstanding. Seriously, everything that walked out of the kitchen looked great. The few plates that we managed to get dropped off at our table were divine. I had the risotto with duck. Yummeh!
After that it was off to Old Sacramento for a Yelp! event. Lots more food and drink to be had there, plus guys with flaming swords, face painting and a tickle tunnel. The line for that was too long, unfortunately, as I had to get back to the airport by 10pm for my 10:35pm flight. But we didn’t leave downtown before I was able to snap a (moderately awful) shot of one of the main bridges downtown.
And then one of my least favorite experiences ever, the domestic redeye. A 4:33 flight duration is just not enough time to get anything resembling a reasonable amount of sleep. And I get to do that twice more next week. Just a small sacrifice for the joys of AYCJ.
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Posted by Seth on September 14, 2010 under All You Can Jet, AYCJ, Trip Reports |
I rolled out of bed at 4:30am this morning, just like yesterday. Took a shower and packed my bags, just like yesterday. Drove from my hotel to the Las Vegas Airport, just like yesterday. Through security and over to the Terminal D gates, just like yesterday. A quick visit to the Continental Presidents Club and a snack, just like yesterday. Headed over to gate D16 to board JetBlue flight 279 to Long Beach, just like yesterday. Today started of very much just like yesterday. I felt like I was living Bill Murray’s nightmare in Groundhog Day.
Here’s take off from Las Vegas and watching the Strip as we departed.
Even with the experience being almost identical to yesterday, I have absolutely no complaints. When the weather is as beautiful as we experienced on this morning’s flights there is simply no reason to complain. Truly beautiful.
Things finally started to be a bit different once I left the Long Beach airport. I rented my car from Hertz today instead of Avis, for example. And instead of driving up to LAX I headed to downtown Long Beach to visit the Aircraft Interiors Expo being held this week. Completely random, but given the opportunity to squee more about airplanes I figured why not. The even was pretty cool, especially because the folks from Aviointeriors had their new SkyRider seats on display. Definitely an interesting product there.
More hanging out with friends tonight and then flying up to Sacramento tomorrow. No new routes today but my next five flights all are so that’s nice. Here’s the running totals for the AYCJ pass so far:
| Flights taken |
7 |
| Miles flown |
4,382 |
| New airports |
1 |
| New lines flown |
3 |
| Times I’ve been called crazy to my face |
1 |
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Posted by Seth on September 13, 2010 under All You Can Jet, AYCJ, Trip Reports |
I was originally intending to spend today out and about in the area surrounding Las Vegas. Maybe a trip to Hoover Dam or out into the red rock formations that are in the area. It was finally an opportunity to do the “other stuff” that generally seems to get skipped over between shows, gambling and drinking when I’m in Vegas with friends. Alas, it was not meant to be on this trip either.
Just a day after I booked my non-refundable hotel room for Sunday and Monday nights a colleague informed me that we had meetings in Los Angeles on Monday during the day. Well, at least flying to get to the meeting would be free since I had the All You Can Jet pass.
Studying the flight schedule I also figured out that I could fly in to Long Beach in the morning and fly back to Las Vegas from Burbank. The latter flight is a new line on my map so I’m particularly excited about that, especially since I missed out getting the new Boston – Las Vegas line yesterday due to weather in New York City.
And my meetings were in an office building that overlooks the south runways at LAX. Waiting for my colleagues to arrive I sat in the park by In-N-Out and watched the planes come in, including a pair of Japanese 777s back-to-back. Very cool.
Each of the three airports has its advantages. Both Long Beach and Burbank are relatively tiny, meaning easy to get in and out and deal with rental cars if necessary. That’s always a plus, especially when you do something absent-minded like I did and forgot to book the car. Whoopsie.
Long Beach also offers a great restaurant upstairs in the terminal building. There is a patio outside with phenomenal views of the field (though the glass could use a cleaning) and the free wifi reaches up there. I was able to get a couple hours of work in before the meetings while enjoying a cool Southern California morning.
Both Long Beach and Burbank have ramps to board the planes rather than jetways. Burbank has one distinct advantage, however, in that boarding happens from both the front and rear doors. This means passengers get to walk out under the wing to get to the back door. I love that.
Just another great day of jetting, even if it did include work most of the day.
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Posted by Seth on September 13, 2010 under All You Can Jet, AYCJ, Trip Reports |
My desire to fly out of Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport this weekend made things a bit more complicated than they really needed to be. Most troublesome was that I had to wake up extra early since the drive to the airport was about 45 minutes longer than either Jacksonville, Orlando or Tampa would have been. Good and bad at several levels.
For starters, I was awake for sunrise. Lots of both good and bad associated with that situation. I’m going to need a nap later (which should be easy with all the time I’ve got on airplanes) but I also got to see sunrise over Paynes Prairie. That was incredibly beautiful.
Only a couple minutes to stop at the Prairie, though, as I had a three hour drive ahead and I didn’t really want to miss the flight. The road was wide open and the speed limit is 70 mph for most of the drive so I actually made it in less than three hours, even with the stop for photos. That meant I had about an hour extra to explore Sarasota on a beautiful Sunday morning. And so explore I did. I didn’t make it out to Siesta Key or any of the other barrier beaches – tempting but just not enough time – but I did get to roll through the rather cute downtown area.
Filled with shops and restaurants, downtown Sarasota has a number of things to see and do so long as you’re willing to look past the homeless population in the park and looking for the antiquing sort of lifestyle. But definitely cute. There was one restaurant open early on a Sunday morning – First Watch: The Daytime Cafe – so I dropped in for breakfast to go. The place was bustling pretty good but it only took a couple minutes for them to whip up a Ckickichanga (breakfast wrap with eggs, chicken and avocado, among other things) for me. No time to pause and eat, though; I wanted to see more of town.
Next stop was a quick pass by the Ringling Museum. The circus magnate’s estate has been converted into a couple different museums administered by Florida State University. While a bit far from the main campus in Tallahassee, the fact that FSU has a clown school so the relationship isn’t quite as strange as it might seem. No time to actually visit the museums but they look rather nice and interesting; maybe next time I’m in town.
And then finally on to the airport. SRQ is a relatively new airport and the facilities reflect that. It is clean, bright and open with some nice features. Not a ton of food options on the concourse once you pass through security but free WiFi throughout the airport and a pretty cool fish tank just outside the screening checkpoint make it reasonable enough as a travel option. Given the decent number of flights daily from several different airlines, SRQ is quite reasonable as an option for travel to the southwestern coast of Florida. Oh, and the runway is right along the water so take-offs and landings offer some great views if you happen to get a window seat.
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Posted by Seth on September 12, 2010 under All You Can Jet, AYCJ, Trip Reports |
Today is a day of a couple firsts for my flying on my JetBlue All You Can Jet pass. I get a new airport – Sarasota/Bradenton (SRQ) – and a couple new lines on my route map. SRQ-JFK is the “easy” new one I am getting. I’m also going to be flying from Boston to Las Vegas later on this evening which will also be a new line for me. It also almost created quite a problem for me with my carry-on bag.
Due to a rather interesting boarding process in Sarasota I ended up basically one of the last folks to get on the plane. No room for my bag in the overhead. Were it just a normal routing I wouldn’t care but I’m flying every day for the next five and I’d like to have clean underwear eventually during that time. Plus the chances of my bag ever catching up to me should it get delayed are pretty low. Needless to say, I started to freak out a bit.
The flight attendant, Michael, was trying his best to help out but when I started to try to explain my itinerary I realized that it wasn’t going to do any good. I just waited for the gate agent to come down the jetway with the bag tags. The conversation went roughly like this:
GA: What’s your final destination?
Me: Las Vegas.
GA: What flight number?
FA: He’s connecting via Boston.
Me: Yeah, Do you want to route it direct to LAS or have it connect with me in Boston, too?
GA: Forget it. I’ll just tag it for a gate claim in JFK. Pick it up in the jetway when you arrive.
Me: THANK YOU! That’s way easier for me, too!
The best news is that I made it complicated enough that the agent agreed to tag it like a stroller so it should be brought back up to the jetway in New York City when I arrive. I’ve tried that before and have never been successful. Hopefully it actually works this time. If not I can go out and get it at the carousel but I’d rather not deal with the TSA again if I don’t have to.
I managed to get myself a free EML seat in row 1 for SRQ-JFK.There was no one in 1A/B/C so I just took 1A and settled in. Much better than a full row in the back. It also meant that I got to chat with the flight attendants some more, this time without freaking out over my bag. It was then that I finally got to explain why I was flying to Las Vegas via Boston: because I wanted the new line for my map. The response I got was the title of this post, “Oh, I just thought you were crazy.” I’m pretty sure that I am and that my flight patterns prove it, but if they’re willing to give me the benefit of the doubt I suppose I should take it.
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Getting to a meeting in Seattle shouldn’t be too hard. Thanks to the JetBlue All You Can Jet pass I managed to schedule a meeting that otherwise likely would not have happened so I’m pretty excited about that. Any opportunity I have to help share the knowledge of frequent flyer programs’ inner workings and the myriad of ways to calculate the value of the points I see as a great thing. But I also needed to actually figure out how I’d get to Seattle for the meeting.
