I know it’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to post, so I wanted to catch up and share where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to- namely I completed two mileage runs to MCO and MCI during which, amazingly, all went according to plans and nothing interesting really happened.
I went to Orlando and back with United on September 26th. It had been a while since I’d been to Denver, where this trip took me, so that was fun. SMF-DEN was on a newer Boeing 737-900 with fancy mood lighting, and my bulkhead seat in coach actually had a place to put my bag in front of my seat rather than in the overhead bin, so I thought that was pretty cool. I spent DEN-MCO in first, and again got upgraded on the way home MCO-LAX. Orlando’s airport was nice, but I really wanted to leave it and go exploring; I’m thinking next time I head down there I’ll schedule a long enough layover to drive out to the coast and visit the Kennedy Space Center which is something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m also sure someday we’ll take the baby to Disneyworld. This time however, the highlight of my layover there was riding the little train around that connects the terminals. I was lucky- No delays, no drama, and surprisingly for United nowadays my planes were virtually empty. Trip cost $57.72 (after certs). 5172 miles.
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Last week I flew SMF-LAX-CLE-MCI-CLE-SFO-SMF which is when I really discovered I don’t like regional jets. On the flight to LA, the woman next to me was spilling over her seat and into mine and she smelled really bad…like cheap perfume and peanut butter maybe? Anyway, Ewwww. Luckily it was only a short 1 hour flight. No one sat next to me in first class on the red eye to Cleveland. I spent about 3 and a half long hours there before flying to Kansas City and back on a regional jet. I don’t care if I ever do that again, or if I go back to MCI. The airport there is small, old, and it kind of sucks. The regional jet I spent 4 hours on was small, old and kind of sucked too. When I got back to Cleveland, after now 5 hours spent on CRJ’s I decided to start drinking; If you’re ever in the Cleveland airport, I highly recommend checking out Great Lakes Brewing Company. I tried The Wright Pils, which at $5 for 12 oz. made mileage running instantly fun again! I got a last minute upgrade on CLE-SFO, last minute meaning- I had been 8th on the list for 7 seats so after there was a no-show the gate agent actually boarded the plane, pulled me of my row 9 economy plus seat and gave me a new boarding pass, while the rest of the cabin gave me dirty looks. For the first time, maybe ever, I actually wanted to stay in coach where I had the whole row to myself and a window, but I was hungry, and they fed me up front, so I moved. I also got to watch a movie (Battleship) and read a magazine, which are two things that I don’t get to do at home very often. I met and talked to Virgin America pilot who was jump-seating on the flight. I always enjoy meeting other pilots. The highlight of this trip was definitely NOT having to spend the night in the San Francisco Airport. My interaction with a Customer Service agent in CLE was a close second; I had to go there to retrieve some boarding passes and the look of confusion on her face even after I explained it to her three times is not something I will soon forget. Trip cost $89.55. 6604 miles.
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Next up- Regional Jet Hell, when I fly SMF-LAX-SEA-PDX-SEA-LAX-SMF next week all onboard United Express. Follow me on twitter, and if I find anything interesting to photograph I’ll be sure to share on Instagram (hulagrrl210). In other news, United messed up on the posting of my JFK-SFO segment from a few weeks back. When I changed my flight it looks like the agent rebooked my in Y class, meaning I got an extra 50% EQM bonus which puts me about 1500 miles closer to possibly making 1K for the first time this year. Oooops. 