Yes, This Is Real Life Part 1: Location, Location, Location

 

Sunrise over IAH

I should call this 'position, position,' but it lacks a certain ring. 

Today's the day, we're headed out.  But before we can jump right into the thick of it with our Qatar itinerary, we have to get to Boston.  I'm starting in Houston, and my friend who's going with me as far as CMB is making his way from DCA.  I started my day early this morning with a 5:30 am Uber to the airport from the downtown hotel I've been staying at for the past few days.  I got there in plenty of time and had breakfast at the Centurion lounge in terminal D.  The usual.

I do have a tiny story to tell though.  Remember when I said I took one of my Seattle layovers to sign up for CLEAR?  Well, I did it in part because I knew I'd be spending some quality time with the IAH airport this summer, and they have their kiosks at each terminal except the international terminal D, of course.  So I decided for the novelty of trying it out, and also because D doesn't even have PreCheck, and I've gotten burned by long lines there before, I'd go to A, check in with American, then take the train over to D.

With all that in mind, I was a little annoyed that when I went up to the CLEAR kiosks, the attendant there told me that those particular ones 'weren't open yet,' and that it was a long walk to the ones that were open.  Okay, but this isn't a large terminal, so how far could they be?  And if those weren't operational, why was CLEAR paying all that money to have someone standing there telling people so?  So I still haven't been able to use my membership yet, and I'm glad the trial didn't cost much. 

CLT Views

So, that story over with, I'm currently sitting in the Admiral's Club lounge at CLT before my next flight.  It's not a bad lounge, although it hasn't been renovated to the new AA 'look' just yet.  CLT is a legacy US Air hub, and so this was historically one of their spaces.  It still retains some of the old character- the dark wood and frosted glass.  Even though they don't offer a Flagship Lounge here, I don't mind it.  It has some great views of airport ops and the taxiways, and the proximity of the nearby gates is fun- you're up close and personal with the planes.

CLT Tails

 Lounges are strange places at times.  It takes all kinds, and you never know what you'll encounter.  Currently I'm about 20 feet away from a guy who I (seriously hope) is a doctor who has decided that appropriate behavior is to use his noise cancelling headphones to take a phone call in which he is explaining medical procedures and histories in detail.  Dude, seriously?  I also just heard the phrase "you're not supposed to know I have this information" followed by laughter.  Wow.

Anyway...

 

At this point it should have been just a quick little 2hr flight up to Boston.  Easy peasy lemon squeasy, right?  Famous last words.  I boarded my flight to find this little guy 'sharing' my legroom.  Now, I'll pause for a moment to give lip service to an issue that has the flyer online community constantly griping.  The uproar (if you can call it that) is over so called 'emotional service animals' who fly for free as service animals, though it is apparently easy to self-proclaim your resident furbaby a 'service animal.'  Now, I'm a fan of pets generally, and I fully understand legitimate service animals who serve an important purpose. 

 

I also understand feeling strongly enough about your pet to book them a legitimate pet ticket on a flight, and follow the 'fits in a bag under the seat' rule.  This was the case with my little friend on the flight, and he was well traveled and well behaved.  The complaints are over pets who fit neither of these categories. and as such, give a bad name to the rest of them. 

 

Okay, statement over.  On to the real story, which is the fact that no sooner did I board my flight and sit down next to Fido, that I realized things were going south with this plane.  And I was flying north (haha, get it??).  After being served a PDB (Yus!), I noticed maintenance was spending an unnerving amount of time in the cockpit.  Never good.

 

It was shortly (well 30 mins later) that we learned that it was the radios that were the problem, and about 30 more minutes later that that plane wasn't going anyplace.  Luckily, I'd already been on the phone with the Exec Plat desk at AA (a good perk of status) and had myself  'protected' on the next flight up to Boston.  This is a strategy that not many people know about, but can save an itinerary.  Getting protected means that if your flight cancels, you already have a seat on an alternate one, before the hoards offload and take them up.

 

The story should have ended there, with me on the next flight.  However, while I was waiting at my new gate to board my new flight, I heard an announcement that they'd found another 737 for my original flight, and would be boarding soon.  Really?  I mean really????  That seemed unlikely, even in the best of cases.   

 

Nevertheless, I had to check it out.  Mostly because if my original flight went, then my upgrade would stand.  I hustled down the terminal, calling AA back all the while, trying to sort it out.  Long story short, they did find a plane, and it wasn't broken, but it was unclear exactly when it would be ready to go.  In the end, I actually kept my original flight and seat, though pushed back on a different aircraft about 2 hours late. 

 

Luckily, I try to book in long layovers on mileage runs for exactly this purpose.  This delay ate up my valuable time to check out the new Boston lounge with my mileage buddy, but it didn't make me miss my flight, which in the end is what counts. 

 

And the lounge?  That's a story for another post...

 

Fly well,

 

~CruisingAltitude

 

Up Next, Part 2- Brits In Beantown

Mileage Run Preview: Yes, this is real life.

"Double window addiction"

First off- I finished writing up my Havana trip!!  Final post with all the other links in it here!

Okay, so, I figure at this point that of the people who are reading this blog still at this point, 95% of them have classified me as certifiably crazy, 3% are other mileage runners I've met along the way, and 2% are my Mom and Mrs. CruisingAltitude, although at this point I have good intel...the BEST intel...that they don't even read most of it. 

However, I'm of the opinion that my next mileage run is totally something the average person would entirely enjoy.  It's fully understandable to fly in and out of Doha 3 times in 4 days, right? Right.

Here's how this came about- As you probably didn't read (mostly because it was a whopper of a mileage run, and I haven't finished posting it yet) in February, some brave souls and I flew entirely around the world in 80 hours.  The main flight that got us there was from Columbo, Sri Lanka to Boston via Doha.  It was a round trip booking, but that trip only used half of it, so I have the return flight to take in about a week. This, of course, leaves me 'stranded' in Columbo.  So, what's a mileage runner to do?

Well, go to Cairo, of course.  Okay, sure, Cairo isn't exactly on the way back from Columbo to Los Angeles, but hear me out. Remember when the Egyptian pound got un-pegged and took a tumble last year?  No?  Well, it did.  This suddenly made tickets that booked in that currency 'cheap.'  This is one of the strange hidden benefits of booking tickets that start around the world if you get lucky.  So, I found a very cheap one-way business class ticket from CAI to Houston through Doha on Qatar and booked it.  You have to admit that though Cairo isn't exactly 'on the way' from Sri Lanka, it is at least closer than many other places are.  So, I figured that one way or another I could connect those flights.  It's a doable, but fairly expensive mileage flight since Sri Lanka is considered 'Inidian Subcontinient' and Cairo is considered "Africa" for purposes of Oneworld partner awards, but it was an option. 

Then, as it turns out, the Sri Lankan Rupee wasn't having a great time (I assumed) and Qatar has a lot of capacity and competition from Sri Lankan, which is also a Oneworld partner, out of CMB this year.  What this resulted in was another cheap one-way ticket find a few months later for a business class itinerary from CMB to Cairo through Doha, also on Qatar.

So..... that gets me to and from Columbo with just the need for a couple domestic positioning flights- one to Boston to start it, and one back from Houston to finish it.  Since I have to be in Houston that month for work anyway, the latter takes care of itself this time around.

If you didn't bother to sort out all that nonsense, I can encapsulate it this way- I'm spending the weekend flying around the Middle East and India in business class, spending each night in Doha.  I'm going to have between 8 and 15 hours on the ground inn Doha each night, and about 7 hours in Columbo to actually leave the airport and see a few things.

All in all, it's made up of 5 different itineraries, 9 flights, 7 airports, and only two airlines - American and Qatar.  Should be fun...

"The Pearl" Qatar

So..

Now...

Wait for it....

.....Keep waiting

Okay....yes, what follows is real life.....


Imagine at this point in reading (or as I did, writing) this post you took a break to get on a flight, wait out said flight's delay, fly to Houston, land at 2am, get luggage, Uber to a hotel and pass out for the night.  Then imagine you wake the next morning to an inundation of texts/emails/news alerts blaring that Qatari planes are being banned from one airspace after another indefinitely.  First are Saudis, then the UAE, and next ...of course.... is Egypt.....followed by the Maldives, Mauritius, part of Syria...the list continues...

Well.  This sucks.

Update to now, and it's been a strange week.  I'm currently in the middle of an unrelated work trip, and have had to spend every break trying to call Qatar to get some kind of help with this situation.  I have called the US number probably 20 times, sat on hold for hours, finally broke down and started trying to call their worldwide offices - London, Sydney, you name it.  I even filled out a 'call back' form days ago.  They called me back too late, and the call was actually coming from Doha, so I probably paid a few bucks to tell them so.

I finally, finally, managed to get someone on the phone late yesterday and they hung up on me once they saw my travel plans.  I ....think....it was unintentional.  I eventually got past the point of annoyance and just moved on to disbelief.  The specter of flying to Sri Lanka without knowing how exactly I was getting home, even for me is a little much.  Just a little.

After another hour of hold time, I got someone else on the phone and tried to explain myself.  It was a long explanation.  Fixing one itinerary in this mess is a lot, fixing two when they include a tight turn around in a city they can't fly to is something else entirely.  

I have to give credit where it's due though.  It took over an hour of work, but the agent eventually got it done, though not without putting me on short holds to (I assume) control herself since something about my travel plans she found particularly hilarious.  I can't imagine why.  At one point I think I heard her coworkers in the background, also laughing at me.  The words "why wouldn't you just go direct" came up more than once.  I can only imagine the scene at a call center someplace.  I feel reasonably famous.  

But nevertheless she persisted, and re-routed me on a turnaround to Amman, Jordan instead of my Cairo flights.  I'll take it. We're friends now, and apparently I 'made her day.'  That's really all I'm after with this anyway.

So, where does that all leave us?  Well it currently leaves me sitting in the Houston Centurion lounge having a latte and writing about it.  Next up is a quick hop IAH-CLT-BOS to get this thing started.  Everything's cleared for the upgrades, and it looks like a good day to fly!

Wish me luck,

~CruisingAltitude

Read Up Next- Location, Location

Havana Running Part 11- Miami Vexed

 

 

Preview: What Would Hemmingway Do?

Part 1: Relaxing

Part 2: I Promise Not To Call This Sleepless In Seattle

Part 3: Just Sit Anywhere

Part 4: Taking It South

Part 5: Bienvenido a La Habana

Part 6: Day Into Night

Part 7: When the Rooster Crows

Part 8: Shopping, Stumbling Through Havana

Part 9: When Life Gives You a Night In Cuba...

Part 10: Good Morning and Goodbye

Aaaannnd we're back to traveler reality.  Also, Airbus I hate you, and the good design you didn't fly in on. 

You know what you did...

I'm clearly already missing Havana, and its chaotic but uncomplicated self.  Not 3 hours into my return to 'real life' and I'm running to the gate before boarding time to AGAIN find they're halfway through the boarding process on an oversold a321.  What does a flyer have to do around here to get a decent gate announcement? I just wanted to finish my mimosa after my massage in the lounge.  Life's hard sometimes.

 

 

Sometimes I forget that the Miami-LAX flight has been crowned a 'transcon' by AA, and therefore is one of the few left with the cachet of upscale flying within the US.  You're lucky if you get a blanket on 'regular' flights these days, let alone a pillow.  It was a nice little surprise to get onboard and find the 'big' blanket set and an amenity kit waiting for me.  There's also personal IFE, which also sadly has been going the way of the Dodo lately around these parts.

At least they passed the PDB tray this time, and it wasn't just water.

 

I sit down next to a nice single serving friend from the OC and we chat about all the normal things- flights, kids, the extended tarmac delay that was just announced.  And then he goes and asks for milk with ice and I realize I'm sitting next to a Ryan Bingham wannabe, who also happens to think its appropriate to go barefoot enroute, and it's just over.

 

Half an hour later, we finally roll the runway.  I've already been on the phone with AA preparing to miss my next connection.  Unless we make up time in the air, and have the illusive empty gate at LAX, I'm likely not going to make the flight to SEA.  Now, I'll admit that I have mixed feelings about this.  I'll likely get a refund on that 'small' part of the itinerary, but I also may not get my qualifying miles for it, and since that's the entire point here.... On the other hand, I'll be in LA...and I could just go home early.  So, I'll just let the chips fall where they may on this one. 

Being jolted back to the flight at hand (literally)- Airbus, can you seriously not manage to design a plane where the IFE can handle even mild chop?  Whenever we hit a couple bumps, the system freezes.  Come on people, its an airplane, and you had one job.  I'd like to say 'if it's not Boeing, I'm not going, but AA has taken that choice away from me.  

So far, this is one of those flights where, as a great pilot I once had would have made the announcement that "as you might have noticed by this point, you are in fact on an airplane."  This is to say- we're getting kicked around pretty good up here.  

 

 

The service has been slow, partly because of the turbulence, but also just because it's slow.  I'm not usually one to get bent out of shape about that (no, seriously, stop laughing) but sometimes on a long multi segment run like this you just want to have your meal and try to get a little rest before landing.  As it stands, we're not going to have our plates cleared until short final.

In better news, as the flight goes on it seems like we're making up time, so if we get there with an open gate I may have the chance to make my onwards flight.  Mealy tray 'half full,' right?

~CruisingAltitude

Havana Running Part 1: A ReLAXing Start

Six pretty birds, all in a row...

It begins!

The adventure is already underway- complete with unexpected perks, slight delAAys, and one extremely confused check in agent.  So basically- Friday.

Rolled into the WallyPark garage a couple hours ago to a scene of light chaos.  I booked a discount stay for Mrs. CruisingAltitude’s car for the duration, and just assumed due to the great last minute price that the place must be empty.  Whelp…no, as it turns out.  Pulled in and found out ‘they’re full.’

So….but….but…my reservation??

Nope, full in self park. But would I be okay with a free upgrade to valet?  Um…yes, yes I would. 

Onwards to LAX we go.  In the shuttle, in the traffic.  Now, as you probably may not be entirely painfully aware, LAX is undergoing about a decade of renovations and construction.  And unlike most of what’s said around here, this isn’t all that much of an exaggeration.  This leads to chronic congestion of traffic through the terminals, and I’d assume, many missed flights.  As the other occupants on my shuttle put it “this is like… Mumbai traffic”  and I’m pretty sure they were even from there, so yeah….

Many long minutes later I got to check in, and promptly hit my next slow down.  However, this was due to asking a beleaguered check-in agent to try and give me my boarding passes all the way through Havana.  He was confused- why in the name of all that’s good in the world would someone fly to Seattle from Los Angeles….to Dallas….to Miami to get to Havana.  There are one stops, there are even NONSTOPS, for crying out loud. 

Heh…yeah I know…Print me the boarding passes, and stop looking at me with your judg-y eyes please. 

Mine.  All mine.

He did (eventually), and I will say that aside from this bit of disbelief, the actual process of getting a boarding pass for Havana was pretty easy.  A perfunctory question about what category I was traveling under, and instructions to get my boarding pass stamped in Miami and I was on my way!

As per always, the next stop before a successful mileage run is the club of the day.  As Havana is considered “Carribbean” it doesn’t qualify for ‘international’ status for lounge access.  I really think an exception is due here.  Anyone who jumps through the hoops to go to Cuba in this day and age really is going to consider it an INTERNATIONAL trip.  I’m pretty sure I’d feel more at ‘home’ in Jakarta at this point….and you all know how I feel about that place.

But, rules are rules. 

However, if we’ve learned anything from politics recently- rules are only rules until you know the right people.  In this case, a friend who happened to have access to the Flagship Lounge side of the Admiral’s club on this particular day.  And the rules clearly state – one guest, as long as that guest is flying onward on an Oneworld marketed and operated flight.  Boom. Champagne.

About an hour of kicking back and watching planes out the window with a glass of bubbly, and wrapping up some last minute work details before being incommunicado for a couple days, I headed to the gate.

Some might be aware of the great airline shuffle happening this month at LAX which, if you didn’t know better, would seem like airline-pocalypse.  However, it’s been going smoothly as far as I can tell, at least as far as Oneworld is concerned.  AA now has consolidated down to T4, T5, and some scattered gates at the international terminal, while Qatar has been moved over to the proper gates at TBIT, rescuing it from the reject terminal at T2.  No complaints, and minimal confusion that I could tell.  They’re even planning a new Admiral’s Club in T5 which is badly needed.

Selfies with idols en-route to T5

Speaking of T5, my slightly delayed flight left from there this afternoon and why did no one tell me they opened a Lemonade restaurant there?!?  That’s ALMOST worth paying airport food prices for….almost.  So far, so good on the flight currently.  No pre-departure beverage to speak of though, which is every nit-picky traveler’s pet peeve.  Now, just looking forward to dinner & hopefully a smooth touch down in Seattle.  After that I’ve got a 5-ish hour layover to contend with, part of which I plan to spend trying to sign up for the newest TSA-avoidance gimmick “Clear.”  I’ve done the online part, and now just have to show up in person at the enrollment center, as long as it’s still open when I get there.  I’ll let you know….

Until the next segment, wish me luck.

-CruisingAltitude

 

The Last Mileage Run of 2016- Epilouge: All's Well That Lands Safely

 

I won't lie, 2:30am is really late to finally get into bed after 24 hours of travel time.  Travel time well spent, but 24hrs nonetheless.  I'm well aware it's supremely cliché to show up late to work after a short night, with Starbucks.  Well I showed up late, with Starbucks. 

Temporary exhaustion aside, I've said I have yet to regret doing a mileage run and this one was definitely no exception. I saw a new city and country, and added to my knowledge of the region.  I endured, adjusted, and rolled with the delays and changes, and strengthened (and probably tested) a friendship.  There are few experiences that can condense both this much stress and euphoria into three days. 

To recap the journey in numbers:

Flights: 5
Plane types: 4
Delayed flights: 2
Airports: 4
Lounges: 5
Glasses of Tattinger: No comment.
Hotels: 2
S. American Sushi Bars: 1
Days: 3
Nights: 2

And 18,956 elite qualifying miles!

You know it's been a good trip when before you even reach the last jetbridge, you're already looking forward to the next adventure.  However, this flight marks my last mileage run of 2016, and all that's left for the year is a quick flight up to Seattle to visit family over the holidays.  The insanity will have to hold off for awhile.  Until February, anyway....

As they say, all's well that ends well.  Thanks for anyone who actually followed along!

Travel well,

~CruisingAltitude



The Last Mileage Run of 2016 Part 9: Over St. Louis

If you're just tuning in:

Part 1- Famous Last Words

Part 2- So...Yeah...Um...

Part 3- Miami Elemental

Parts 4 and 5- Over and Out

Part 6- So..Quito...

Part 7- Early Returns

Part 8- How did we get on the Zurich flight??

And now the conclusion....

Well friends another year, another 100,000 miles.  I'm pretty sure I've just about crossed over St. Louis, which by my calculations means I've gotten to my requalification for the year.  It's proved to have been a long day of flying, but that's pretty much what we're going for here.

When we last caught up, our brave mileage runners were landing in JFK, so let's back up a minute and talk about the new JFK Flagship Lounge.  It's only been open a few weeks at most, so I was excited to check it out.  We had about 3 hours, which as it turned out was still not quite enough time to use the lounge entirely.....but that's just how I feel about it.

The space is redone to make the seating more plentiful, and the décor more modern.  It feels like a real first class lounge.  Maybe not as opulent as JAL's Sakura or Qatar's Al Safwa lounges, but probably the best AA has to offer in the US.  It keeps up with BA's and MH's offerings, and beats some of the others, which is an improvement.

 

There's a certain feeling to getting ready to board the last mileage flight of the year.  Just one more jetbridge, one more seat, one more runway, one more takeoff.  You're finally heading home, and delays or no, it looks like you'll get there.  Of course, there's always room for a few more airplane hiccups.  This one was no exception. 

We boarded pretty much on time, even if we personally were a little late to the gate...possibly on account of a completely reasonable amount of free Tattinger on offer at the lounge.  We got safely to our seats, which by a stroke of good luck in routing, were the very comfortable business class on AA's 321-T. 

Then, just as they're finished boarding and preparing to push back...the lights went out.  I don't mean the quick off and on when the plane changes from ground power to regular...it went black, and for awhile.

Let me just illustrate with a real-time photo, shall I?

This is the actual photo I took.  Yes, I took a photo of this.

 

So...um...yeah.

 

This goes on for the better part of a few minutes, then the lights come back up, and the captain announces we have a mechanical issue.  Cue the collective sigh from the cabin.  We then proceed to wait at the gate for more than an hour getting the issue resolved and the sign offs done.  Honestly though, it didn't seem all that long given the rest of the trip.  They weren't seeming shifty about cancellation, so this plane was getting to LAX tonight, dammit. 

 

Update:  And, eventually, it did.  We touched down more than an hour behind schedule, putting us on the gate close to 1am.  Tired, but accomplished, it was finally time to get out of airports and head for home. 

 

In all honesty, if you set out to fly 5 flights to Quito and back in the course of 3 days, including the Northeast in the winter, and you arrive home safely and only one hour late, I think you can feel pretty successful. 

 

Thanks 2016, it's been a trip.  Literally. I've been the equivalent of around the world 4 times, visited new countries, cities, and of course airports.  I've even made some friends along the way.  Can't wait to see what 2017 has in store.  Spoiler alert- it involves more airplanes.

 

Fly Well & Land Safely,

 

~CruisingAltitude

 



The Last Mileage Run of 2016 Parts 4 and 5: Over and Out

Sunday, 9am, Miami International Airport:

No, this isn't the MIA airport, but it's the flight to there.  Take what you can get.

The story so far:

Part 1- Famous Last Words

Part 2- So...Yeah...Um...

Part 3- Miami Elemental

Another day, another airport lounge.  I’ve decided Centurion lounges need to multiply.  Yes, they’re head and shoulders above the average Admiral’s Club, they have the food and the cocktails, and the spas, but they also have a chronic lack of seating.  They’re one part four star restaurant, one equal part overcrowded high school cafeteria. 

Anyhow, to catch you up.  I woke up this morning at 6:30 am after a few hours sleep at the Element By Westin (registered trademark) and headed down to catch the shuttle…only to learn they run every half hour, on the half hour….and I’d just missed it.  Story of my life this weekend.

It’s been an interesting impromptu overnight in Miami, complete with a nice dinner out at Bulla in Coral Gables.  It was one of those times when I get reminded that, despite enjoying a good trek around the world in a weekend, I am at a basic level, extremely boring.  To encapsulate, last night the words “will they still be serving at 10pm” came out of my mouth.  And I meant it.

It was good!  Next time you're in MIA, I recommend it.

Spoiler alert- yes, bars and restaurants in Miami on at Saturday do, in fact, remain open past 10pm.  They also have a 45 minute wait for a table. At 10pm.  It made for a late night, but you don’t mileage run to catch up on sleep.  No pain, no gain. 

10 minutes to boarding, the rain is tapering off and there's a rainbow in the sky.  Time to pack up…

~CruisingAltitude

Sunday, 11am, seat 3F:

I’M OKAY NOW!  We’re at Flight Level 31, careening over the Caribbean.  All is well that ends in a surprise upgraded cabin interior.  Yes, that is a sentence that I both wrote AND understood!  I'd heard rumor that AA had been overhauling a select few of their old international 757s and putting in lie-flat seating like they have on their new 321Ts.  As it just so happens, we stumbled upon one of them, and thank God for that.

 

After the misconnect, I'm getting rewarded with one of, if not the most, beautiful flights of my year.  Once we climbed out of the overcast skids around MIA airspace, things have opened up and the views are stunning!  The flight path out of MIA takes you first across the water, including Cuba, and other islands, then goes over Panama, then climbing into the Andes, before dipping down through the valleys of Colombia and Ecuador, into Quito. 

I'm just going to let the pictures do the talking on this one...

 

 

 

 

I think I'll end with strength here.  Seriously, it was a beautiful day to fly. 

Now, to see what Quito is all about...

~CruisingAltitude