Posted by Seth on February 9, 2010 under News | 
There is serious snow due in the mid-Atlantic – stretching from Washington, DC to New York City – between this evening and tomorrow. Depending on which forecast you believe the accumulations will range up to 18” in various areas. And the airlines are pretty much just giving up. The realize that odds are they won’t actually be able to operate anywhere close to on schedule so they simply aren’t bothering to try. Here are some of the highlights from a couple carriers.
Continental: (details)
- LGA – All flights canceled effective 8am Wednesday, February 10
- EWR – All flights canceled for February 10 except for the three long-haul arrivals already in the air (TLV, DEL, BOM) when the decision was made this afternoon
- PHL – All flights canceled until at least Wednesday night
- PIT, BWI, DCA, IAD – All service canceled until 11am Thursday, February 11
- PVD – Likely cancelation of service to CLE on the afternoon of February 10
jetBlue:
will suspend the majority of operations to and from the following cities for Wednesday, Feb. 10 due to a forecasted severe winter snowstorm:
- John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia in New York City
- White Plains/Westchester County Airport
- Newark Liberty Airport
It seems that only one runway is expected to be in operation at Dulles and nothing at National. Newark is going to be pretty much shut down. LaGuardia and Philly, too. I’m really glad that I’m not flying during this mess. I just hope that the system is functional enough by Sunday that my flights are operating.
Posted by Seth on November 16, 2008 under Uncategorized |
And a slightly scary one, too.
A US Express turboprop had its nose gear collapse while it was on the runway landed with no nose gear in Philadelphia this morning. I’m really not sure what else is going on, but I woke up on final approach and we were on a different approach path than normal. My seat mate mentioned that one runway was closed and then I saw this out the window. Yikes! Sorry that the pictures suck a bit, but its the best I could do under the circumstances.
Looks like the nose gear never deployed so the plane landed without it this morning. That certainly explains the crazy flight path map.
Posted by Seth on November 7, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Today was day one of my ridiculous weekend of travel. So far, so good, though there is still time for things to go wrong as I’m only on flight number one. But overall things are good.
I started in NYC this morning and hopped on a bus for the ride down to Philadelphia. It turns out that many flights are much less expensive out of Philly than NYC, so even with a ride to Philly I save money on the flying. Plus, in theory, the chances for upgrades on Continental flights out of Philly are pretty good. But more on that later.
I planned on going to Philly early to meet up with a friend down there and finally have my first real Philly Cheese Steak. I previously wrote about the BoltBus service and this time I took MegaBus, just to compare. They are basically the same and pick up/drop off about the same places at both ends of the trip. On this trip the WiFi did not work, which was annoying, but hardly the end of the world on the quick ride.
So I got to Philly and we headed over to Tony Luke’s for an authentic cheese steak. My order was the same as I’d get anywhere else – provolone with – and, well, it was a good cheese steak. It was not an earth shattering or life changing experience. I actually thought that the meat was a bit dry and bland. But it was pretty good.
After cheese steaks we had a bit of time to kill so we drove down to the end of the Philadelphia runway under the approach path and hung out for an hour or so, snapping shots of the planes coming in to the airport. It was a little too early for the big planes to be coming in from Europe and the grey skies made exposing the shots a bit harder, but I still got a couple decent pictures out of it. Plus, I didn’t get arrested while wandering among the light stanchions that are used to guide the planes in, so that was a bonus.
I thought that I had a decent chance for an upgrade on this flight as my previous flights out of Philly have been easy to upgrade on. Today’s flight, however, could not be farther from that experience. There were about 40 people on the waitlist, and I was in the high teens or low twenties; I stopped checking as it was depressing me. So I’m sitting in my exit row seat and planning my next move.
The layover in Houston gives me about 2.5 hours of time to hit up the Presidents Club with a couple buddies and do what I can to make up for the lack of drinking on thin flight before heading off to my onward connection, where I will also be sitting in coach.
More to come tomorrow as I zigzag my way across the west coast, from The Cowboy (John Wayne Airport) to actual cowboys (Oklahoma City).
Posted by Seth on November 7, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Early November is a strange time of year for the frequent flyer mileage obsessed. With just a few weeks remaining in the year the number of points earned so far and the number remaining to reach the next elite status become crystal clear. And when the numbers align correctly, the truly obsessed set out on trips for no particular purpose other than to fly those few miles and make the next level. Plus fares from early November through early December seem conducive to these sorts of run, with routes selling somewhat cheaper (even this year) as business travel ebbs heading into the holidays.
Yes, it seems strange to pay to fly just for elite status. But depending on the program, expected future travel and just how close you are, the value of the benefits of elite status can be paid back with a quick trip. Especially now that pretty much every airline charges fees for checked baggage, but exempts their elites (and people traveling with them) from such fees, the value of status is actually a calculable number. And then there are bonus miles (unless you fly US Air) and upgrade opportunities, so the elite status can have real value.
This is at least the third time I’ve made such a trip. My first was on US Air a few years back. I flew NYC – Boston – NYC – Washington, DC – NYC one Saturday morning. The same flight crew worked the Washington, DC turn and one flight attendant recognized me getting back on the plane. I tried to explain that I really just wanted a lunch of chowder from the Legal Sea Foods in DCA but she wasn’t buying that. I finally explained the elite status benefits and the trivial costs and she understood and agreed that it made sense.
My second run was last year around this time. I flew from JFK to Anchorage, via Houston and Seattle in both directions, over a 36 hour period. We were on the ground in Anchorage for about 45 minutes, just long enough to brush my teeth and get back on the plane for a cat nap to Seattle. And that got me to platinum status with Continental, meaning no change fees on reward flights. I took full advantage of that benefit (and still will into early next year), more than recouping the cost of the flights.
For me this year I’ve actually flown about the same number of miles as last year (~100,000) but I have split them among a couple programs and I’ve had virtually zero business travel. This leaves me a bit short of qualifying for the lowest level of elite status on my primary program (Continental). My other main program (bmi) has seen a lot of points crediting in thanks to some flights on United, but they have a rolling 12 month qualification program, so I just reset to zero there on November first. With those two stats staring me in the face, and some pretty reasonable flight prices, I’m setting off this weekend on a pretty ridiculous sequence of 12 flights in about 66 hours.
The overall trip is NYC to Philly on the bus, followed by Philly to Orange County, California on Continental. That is today’s flights. Tomorrow I’ll wake up ridiculously early and head to the airport to fly Orange County – San Francisco – Los Angeles – Denver – Oklahoma City on United in first class, thanks to a small pricing error on their part. Sunday sees me flying Oklahoma City – Denver – Portland – San Francisco – Orange County on United and then finishing off the evening with a redeye flight from Orange County to Newark on Continental. Flight number twelve comes on Monday morning from Newark to Philadelphia. I’m planning on lunch with a friend before heading back up to New York later on Monday afternoon.
Like I said, pretty ridiculous. But I’ve already put a pretty big dent in my “to read” pile, I get to meet up with friends in lounges and on flights along the way, and it really is relaxing for me to be flying. And the points are fun to use, too.
Posted by Seth on September 15, 2008 under Trip Reports |
Apparently bus travel is the new hotness in travel in the North East Corridor. There are about 5 new companies operating in the Boston – Washington, DC area. Some of them are just new brands on old names, like BoltBus and MegaBus instead of Greyhound and Champion, and some would seem to be newcomers to the space. And these are decidedly NOT the typical Chinatown bus setups. Yes, they leave from a random street corner somewhere in the cities they serve, but they also have real websites where they sell tickets and publish schedules. Some of them (at least Bolt and Mega) have on-board WiFi and plugs at the seats. I’m on the bus now and plugged in and posting away, as well as getting some work done.
On the down side, it is still a bus. Only about 30% of the seats are full on the mid-day Monday New York-Philly run, but I can imagine it being rather uncomfortable if it got more crowded. And I did just get to listen to J.K. (the woman across the aisle) talk to about 4 different people at top volume about getting her time sheet in and her expenses paid. I suppose that happens all the time on the train, too, but it was still pretty annoying. And there is always the potential for traffic problems, but we’ve managed to avoid them thus far.
And we managed to pace an inbound flight on final approach into Newark as we headed down the NJ Turnpike, affording me this fun shot from basically right outside the window:
Overall, I’m satisfied thus far, especially since it is rather less expensive than the train options and is a non-stop trip, at least to Philly, but I don’t know that it would be a great option on a crowded ride. I’ll potentially find out next week when I make the final leg of my ridiculous 2x to Hawaii in 10 days trip back from the Philly airport and try MegaBus out (I’m on BoltBus today).
Turns out that the WiFi isn’t very good, which is too bad. I just dropped offline (from the bus to the internet, not locally) though it was working OK about 10 minutes ago. And now I’m sortof back, though it is slower than the free WiFi at a Continental Presidents Club, which is saying a lot.
Update (~5pm): After spending about an hour in traffic thanks to a fire somewhere on or near the Ben Franklin Bridge into Philly I’m not as convinced of the value of the bus. If it really was a train fire as was indicated online then I might’ve been just as delayed on the train, but this is getting to be pretty painful, even with the Internet (which has been pretty good during the hour delay).
Posted by Seth on August 1, 2008 under Uncategorized |
If you’re still listening to the folks over at US Airways, you’d actually believe that fares are expected to double in the next few months. Doug Parker, the CEO, suggested in comments about the carrier’s $567MM loss last quarter that airfares are going to increase to an average of $600-700 from the current $328 (Q1 ’08). Parker is also convinced that there is not a chance of a big 6 legacy airline going out of business:
We’re not going to have a cataclysmic liquidation of a big-six carrier, as some suggest. The industry will work it out, and there will still be six of us, but six smaller airlines.
I’m not exactly sure what he’s smoking, but I want some. If he really sees a chance for his company to pull out of their free-fall as they continue to cut service and routes then he’s definitely looking at a rosier version of the industry than I can find.
The over-capacity in the market will continue to shore up, but most carriers are basically making small cuts around the edges, hoping to survive just a bit longer than the others, and then to swoop in and actually start turning profits again. Put another way, you don’t have to swim faster than the shark, just faster than your dive buddy. I can’t help but see US Air as the slowpoke in the water, despite Doug’s comments. They’ve basically conceded the west coast market to other carriers and are working to defend their Philadelphia hub, which makes a bit of sense based on going for the higher fare markets, but also will hurt them since some folks in Philly do have other options, and many of them are starting to find those options.
Oh, and I do expect fares to stay relatively high – $350-400 isn’t all that ridiculous a price really, but I don’t expect them to be in the $600-700 range at all.
Posted by Seth on June 30, 2008 under Uncategorized |
I’ve been to Philadelphia a couple times for work, and I even spent the night once for pleasure, but I never really got out to see the city. This past weekend I set out to address that issue, planning a get-away with my other half to celebrate our anniversary. Part of the fun for me was that the trip was a complete surprise for her. I gave her almost no details, other than a departure time on Friday and some vague guidelines on events (including a MLB game on Saturday, but not which one). Heading down to Philadelphia on Amtrak was incredibly easy. I’ve often suggested that the train is better than flying for the North-East Corridor, and after this weekend’s trips I am more steadfast in that opinion.
So we got on the train, popped a split of Proseco and had some cheese and crackers and enjoyed the ride into town. We booked in to the Hilton Garden Inn ($55 on Priceline versus a list price of $159 on Hilton.com, and they gave me my HH Diamond benefits anyway, though I don’t think they were supposed to). Actually, the HGI was the highlight of the trip. We got a nice room upgrade, free drinks and free breakfast and everyone was incredibly nice. I actually filled out a comment card lauding some of them; it was that good.
That night we headed to Buddakan for dinner, an experience that we’d both been looking forward to for some time. And boy were we disappointed. The scene was what we expected – “hip & cool” – but the food was most certainly not up to par. The menu came loaded with options like “Zen-gria” and “dip sum” donuts. We were surprised to not find Moons over my Hammy™ on the menu (nod to the wife for that gem). We ordered five appetizers for our dinner. At most restaurants the apps are better than the entrees, with the chef willing to take a bit more risk on getting creative. And this was supposed to be a haven of new flavors, so we thought we made a good choice. Shrimp & Scallop Spring Rolls, King Crab Tempura, Tuna Carpaccio “Pizza,” Lobster Fried Rice and Hot Eel Dice were the choices. And here’s how they fared:
- Shrimp & Scallop Spring Rolls – Probably the best of the five, with decent chunks of the shellfish and a light wrapper. But that was it. No other flavors mixed in the stuffing. The dipping sauces were pretty good.
- King Crab Tempura – Overly soggy and lacking in flavor. We were spoiled by having the king crab app at Morimoto earlier in the week, but I was still expecting some crab flavor to seep through. I was denied.
- Tuna Carpaccio “Pizza” – I was hesitant to order it because it had “pizza” in the name. I should’ve trusted my gut. Without the sauce it was sliced tuna and avocado on a toasted pita. And neither the tuna nor the avocado were all that great. The sauce was a soy/wasabi blend, so that added some flavor to it and made it passable, but really just barely.
- Lobster Fried Rice – I’m still trying to figure out where the saffron got lost in the kitchen; it certainly never made it to our fried rice. The lobster chunks were overcooked and lacking that tenderness that correctly cooked lobster effuses.
- Hot Eel Dice – This is the only app without a description on the menu. We asked for one and it definitely didn’t match what was served. The “dice” is actually a couple pieces of hot eel sushi with a bit of avocado layered in. And unlike normal eel sushi it was lacking the tangy sauce that is normally served, meaning that this plate also was missing out on flavor. And it was full pieces. lending no credibility to the word “dice” in the name.
The dessert was OK (we had the chocolate/banana thing), but still not great and certainly not living up to the high expectations that we had. Maybe our expectations were too high, but it just wasn’t a great meal. Sad, but true.
Back to the hotel that night and then up and out the next morning to take in some of the historical sights downtown. That translates to the liberty bell and the old state house. We spent the typical 30 minutes going through the liberty bell pavilion, reading the signs and basking in the history. And I still have absolutely no idea why the Liberty Bell is relevant in American history. It pre-dates the revolution by 20-odd years. It was not used as a signal for anything in particular because it broke pretty soon after it went into service. Best as I can tell it actually did nothing, other than to become an icon for various civil rights groups throughout the past 200 years. It didn’t figure in the drive for independence nor in the revolutionary (or other) wars. I guess it is all that is left of Philly’s claim to revolutionary history so they keep pumping it up, but I cannot figure out what its relevance is. The other building was the old state house. We toured the grounds but did not wait in line to go inside. Maybe that part of the tour was better, but the grounds were nothing special, save for about a dozen Argenbright security guards posing for photos with the tourists. Oh, and a statue of Washington.
I’ll admit that we didn’t make it to the art museum nor to the Franklin Center, both of which I’ve heard good things about. But still, I was left wondering what all the fuss is about in Philadelphia. At least we saw this guy in the train station which was entertaining:
I’ll probably give Philly another try at some point, like in September when I have another 6am flight out, but until then I’ll be looking at other options, and will continue to try to figure out why the Liberty Bell has garnered the reputation it has as relevant.
Posted by Seth on February 3, 2008 under Trip Reports |
A piece of cake from the west coast, and not even all that hard from the east coast, but when you make the trip for the miles instead of the destination, making it there and back can actually prove much more difficult, especially when you take four flights to get there instead of the non-stop. But given the price of the ticket, and nothing much else to do on a Saturday, I set out on a quick tour of train stations, airports, airport lounges and airplanes. Plus, I got to see a bit of America and meet some new people along the way.
The itinerary was PHL-IAD-JFK-SFO-LAS-SFO-JFK. I actually had tickets to continue on from JFK to IAD and then back to PHL, but it is Superbowl Sunday, and I’d miss opening kickoff, plus I have to pack for my trip to Hong Kong for Chinese New Year, so I skipped those flights. With a 6:25 am flight out of Philadelphia on Saturday morning I chose to head down the night before (hence the trains) and have dinner with a friend before heading out on the adventure. The train trip was uneventful, and dinner was a pretty good burger at Slainte across the street from Philly’s 30th Street Station. Since my friend was also arriving by train I hung out at 30th Street Station for about an hour waiting, and figured I’d take a few pictures while I was there. The architecture of the train station is typical of the grand old stations, with soaring ceilings and impressive steel structures to hold up the overhangs for the outdoor tracks that were added later.
It was rush hour when I was there, so there were a number of people passing through, queuing up and otherwise existing in a rather transient state. I think I captured that in a couple of these pictures, with the ghosts of the people in the images, but maybe that’s just me being a bit crazy.
So that was the night before. I had my tickets in hand and was ready to go the next morning, so I slept until about 5am and then made my way over to the terminal from the Airport Marriott. I learned that part of the TSA efforts to secure our air travel includes no fruit through the check-point, unless you’re willing to subject it to x-ray screening. Since I was actually in the act of eating the apple I had a couple last bites and tossed the core. But you should be happy to know that the TSA is protecting airplanes, one apple at a time. Back to the rest of the story… The Philadelphia airport is just as much of a dump as I remember it being last time I was there, about 5 years ago. One nice upgrade is that they now have ATT WiFi throughout the terminals, except in the United Red Carpet Club, where the signal was too weak for me to connect. As an added bonus, the WiFi is free on weekends for everyone (weekdays, too for students, though I don’t know how they patrol that). So I grabbed a replacement apple from the lounge, as well as this shot, and then headed out to the terminal to use the WiFi and wait for my flight.
Philly to Dulles was a piece of cake, and I had a few minutes in Dulles again to use the free ATT WiFi (not sure it was supposed to be free, but it was. That was a quick hour in the United Express “terminal” and then on to my Dulles-JFK flight. At this point the sun was finally rising over the east coast:
The JFK Red Carpet Club was OK, with some decent views of the runway, but nothing really to write home about. JFK-SFO was on one of the United p.s. planes, which offers a couple extra inches of legroom, a very welcome benefit on a 6 hour flight. Sadly, the entertainment options on the plane are pretty limited (just the overhead movie screen), so that’s not particularly good. I also met a couple people on the flight that know of the “mileage clubs” so that made for a very entertaining conversation for a few hours as we crossed the country. We were only about an hour late into San Francisco due to the storms out there, and I even had time to duck in to the RCC out there (the one by gate 80), but only because my onward flight was also delayed. I have to say that the RCC at gate 80 is, by far, the nicest of the RCCs I’ve seen.
My flight to Las Vegas was running about an hour late, leaving me only about 45 minutes for my connection there. Fortunately I already had my boarding passes for those flights so that wasn’t a big deal at all. The minor delay into Las Vegas also allowed me to see a rather impressive sunset, though the pictures from later in the “show” were too blurry:
Up to this point my schedule was getting tighter and tighter, but I’d been squeaking by. I also was at a point where I was now stuck for the night, as any other options headed back east were the redeye I was booked on or waiting until the morning. So when we pushed back from the gate in Las Vegas and sat there for about 10 minutes with no information from the pilot, I started thinking about where in the San Francisco airport I’d be spending the night. The captain opened up the cockpit during the wait (the Airbus 320 cockpit is huge compared to the 737s) and we discussed my situation. “We” decided that I’d just wait it out and hope for the best in San Francisco. We landed after my flight was supposed to have left, but it was also delayed, sparing me a night on the floor. I managed to get the last pizza from the food court and then finally settled in for the 4:40 flight back to JFK. That flight really isn’t long enough to get a reasonable amount of sleep (I’ve complained about it before, but United is the worst, with making announcements throughout the flight, especially the “seatbelts please” bit), but I got enough to make it through to nap time today. And 24.5 hours after I left Philadelphia, I made it to JFK. 90 minutes later I was in my apartment with a fresh bagel for breakfast and ~16,000 points going into my bmi account.
Not bad for a Saturday.
