Adventures in Canyonlands Part 1: Clear, Delays, and Unicorns, oh my!

 

Canyonlands Field Airport- CNY- Adorable.

Greetings friends, are you ready to take a little journey with me?  Now, I usually don't make multi-part trip reports out of domestic travel, but this one just made it necessary.  It has everything: Line jumping, delays, cancellations, upgrades, a tiny flight on a tiny plane, and even some free range rental car antics, which is that thing of when you think you're taking a short cut off the I-70, but end up sitting on the hood of your rented Dodge Charger watching cows wade through a pond.

You see why this gets more than one entry now?

So here's the set-up- I had need to be in Green River, Utah for work.  Now, Green River is about an hour north of Moab, and that puts it 25 mins or so away from the Moab (CNY) airport.  It's also about 4 hours South of Salt Lake, give or take.  So, a bit of a drive.  However, I came to learn that there's an airline that operates a couple flights a day from Salt Lake and Moab.  It's an independent airline called Boutique Air that flies 8 seat PC-12s in the 'executive' configuration.  I was intrigued.



The screengrab I kept proudly showing people about my cute little plane I had booked

However interesting, I couldn't justify it unless it actually made more sense, work-wise.  As it turned out, the ticket prices were extremely reasonable, as was the car rental at Moab.  So, the real question was just whether I wanted to spend up to 8 hours driving to and from Green River.  Spoiler alert- I didn't.

So I booked my ticket with AA to Salt Lake, and then another round trip from Salt Lake to Moab with Boutique Air.  I figured this was either the best idea I ever had, or the worst.  As we'll see, it's a little of both. 

For accommodations, I booked the first night at the Holiday Inn Express in town, and the second night I branched out and tried an indepedant place called the "Skyfall Guestrooms."  Skyfall wasn't available for the first night, but it was worth it to make the move to save a little, it was literally across the street.  As a general FYI, everything in Green River could be said to be "just across the street" as it isn't much of a town overall. 

Plans in hand, I set out for the airport bright and early on Monday.  My flight wasn't until 11am, but this is LA, and you have a choice between going painfully early, or just spending the morning on the 405. 

Since the lounge in Terminal 4 is down for updates, I checked in at Terminal 5.  Wow.  Just wow.  It was an absolute zoo.  I'm not exaggerating here- the line for security wrapped down the stairs, across to the other side of the ticketing hall, and down the wall as far as the eye could see.

This is the morning I learned the meaning of CLEAR.  I've posted about this service before, and while it's been 'nice' to have, this was the first time it saved me some serious wait time.  Initially, I didn't know how to even find the CLEAR line, because they wouldn't let me up the stairs to where the kiosks are.  When I asked, I got told "get line and they'll find you." 

Um....

.....What, now?

At this point I was debating walking over to Terminal 4's security to try my luck there when I indeed was 'found' by a CLEAR attendant.  Well not so much found, as I saw him and started a frantic arm flailing and yelping 'clear? clear?' mantra.  In no time flat, I was rescued, and taken right to the front of the pre-check line.  I was through the chaos and into the Club and ordering my custom salmon on toast in 10 minutes or less.



Someone even left a premium drink 'chit' for me.  VERY THOUGHTFUL.

*breathe*

After that, I headed on the bus over to the Gate 52 'Eagle's Next' to catch my flight.  The wonder did not end- I boarded to find I was the only, yes only, elite on the flight.  For the next 2 hours I had 6 first class seats to myself, and when I took a walk to the back to use the restroom, found that all the exit row seats were also empty.  Unicorn.  Absolute unicorn.

This is my face when I know something's too good to be true...and then it isn't and I have 6 seats and a flight attendant to myself.

We touched down on time into Salt Lake, and since there's no lounge there (aside from the Delta SkyClub) I set up shop at a restaurant on the 2nd floor with a great view of the runways and hills behind.  I had a few hours, so I got lunch and did some work. 

Part way through the wait, as I was getting organized to call for the shuttle over to Boutique Air, which they recommend you do about an hour to 30 minutes before your flight time, I got an email from Boutique saying my flight was delayed 50 minutes.  Okay, no big deal, except that the car rental at CNY was going to close on me.  Called them, they amazingly said they'd be waiting since I wasn't the only one.  Called Boutique to check on the reason for the delay- 'rolling delay from earlier issues in Denver.'  Okay, fair enough.



I was here for a long time.  They let me run my computer cord through into the pool room to plug in after awhile.

Let me just fast forward at this point- I didn't actually board the flight until about 10pm.  It was a 6pm departure as scheduled.  More delays, more phone calls, more hours at the SLC restaurant.  This is the issue with 'flying private'- they have exactly one plane available for that flight, and if it's not there, you're not going yet.  Luckily the people were very friendly, and their lounge over at the general aviation side of the airport has very comfortable chairs.

About the flight- unfortunately I couldn't get any good pictures because it was, well, dark by this point.  Here are some things to know- They don't assign seats, so when you board you just pick one.  The 4 in the front are set up in an "executive" configuration, so row 1 faces row 2.  Rows 3 and 4 face forward behind. 



My boarding pass- note the lack of a seat assignment, but they do participate in precheck (though at SLC they're not within a TSA area.

They check your luggage for free, and there's really only room in the passenger area for one small item you're comfortable with on your lap.  They'll weigh your luggage, and ask your weight before boarding for weight and balance purposes.

This plane carries 10 people, including crew.  It is small- you have to lean over to walk to your seat, but the seats themselves are bigger than standard airline seats.

They do have a bathroom, but it was inoperable on my flight.  Go before you board.

That all said, once I actually got onboard, we had a short taxi and then a very smooth flight for a small aircraft.  It was a full moon, and so even though it was dark, it was still a beautiful flight.  These planes fly lower than you're used to flying commercial, so you can see more detail.  There's no separation between the cabin and cockpit, so you can also watch the pilots and the flight controls to see the altitude and such, which is fun if you're an avgeek.

We landed a short 45 minutes later, and waited a few minutes to have our luggage returned.  Here's the long awaited end to the car rental saga- after waiting after hours for far too long, the Enterprise staff amazingly just left everyone's keys in the unlocked rental cars in the parking lot and went home for the night.  Unorthodox, but awesome.  I signed the papers, put them in a drop box, and headed out into the-completely dark, and completely quiet- night, bound for Green River.

Adventure, thy name is Canyonlands. 

Up next- Off-roading by mistake in a Dodge Charger, more adventures with Boutique Air, road trips with perfect strangers, and dinosaurs in a deposition.  Yes, dinosaurs.

~CruisingAlitude

Of Icons and Eagles....

Well, we knew it was coming.  Even some of the less infatuated with the world of travel knew it- The last of the existing legacy carriers announced its merger plans in the midst of a reorganizing bankruptcy.  True, the deal isn't final.  There will be much discussion with regulators and bankruptcy judges before the creation of the new largest airline in the world is complete.  This (unsurprising) announcement comes as (the ‘New’) American rolls out myriad other changes to its image- a new livery, logo, fleet upgrade, even onboard menus. 

Now, it would be easy to turn this post into a concerned rant about how no good can come of this, and couldn't they just leave well enough alone.  I could go on about how AAdvantage is, though not perfect, one of the best domestic programs as is and how a change of management makes us flyers shifty.  However, in the end, my thoughts have nothing to do with the eventual outcome, and free markets being what they are, if things go too far afield there are other options for the individual passenger.  Besides, who knows, some change could be good.  In theory a merger will expand service, make the airline itself more financially sound, and God willing….let me fly from Long Beach instead of LAX on occasion.

Honestly, what I keep coming back to on this topic doesn’t have to do with miles or upgrades- it has to do with history.  Maybe it’s silly to spend this much time thinking about a company I’m not employed by, but I’ve had some long flights to ponder lately, so here goes.  As most things on this blog, it starts with an airport-

I was at DFW the day American unveiled the new paint (above) on the first 737.  In fact, it was just by chance I caught a glance as the Skylink I was on pulled away.  I was excited to see it in person, sure, and my first reaction was- ‘Hey, that’s not so bad.  The tail’s a little much, and the lack of the shiny silver will take some getting used to, but I’ll survive.’  Though, the more I thought about it, the more I felt the shift to something new, the leaving of something behind and a bit of nostalgia. 

That American Airlines eagle and his iconic “AA” logo has been with us since before the first “Flagship” DC-3 in 1936, and the first regular transcontinental flight in 1959.  He’s watched over the production of a fleet in wartime that went unpainted to save precious fuel, a fleet by in large made and designed in America.  His likeness was captured innumerable times in historic photos with leaders, celebrities, and heroes.  People flew with him to get home, to work, on adventures, and real-life ‘Ryan Binghams’ crossed milestones under his wings. 

Through the years his planes have gotten bigger, and he’s lost some feathers and talons.  But his wings still stood proudly on the tails of AA planes as they crossed the country, and traveled the globe.  The 'AA' and the Eagle are likely the most recognizable Airline logo in the US, possibly the world.  On the lighter side, there was so much fun in brand-based jokes on the “AA”-  We’ve had AAdvantages, AAirpasses, and even little red BlAAnkets.

American’s new post-merger fleet will be stripped of the icon, its aluminum painted over, and be infiltrated with foreign-made Airbus jets.  Some is inevitable- the industry is moving steadily toward composite-body planes that must be painted and rumor has it Airbus is handing out some deals that are hard for cash-strapped airlines to refuse. 

In response to the consternation of some of its frequent flyers with the reveal of the new paint, American was quick to point out that the Eagle is still there, subtly drawn into the new modernized logo.  I guess I see it, the white bit is a little ‘beak-esq.’  I suppose he’s just waiting there, peeking out to see how the future of the last great legacy carrier resolves itself.  Perhaps he should just be pleased for his, though limited, survival and not to have been relegated to the fate of many who went before- TWA, Northwest, PanAm, Continental….and yes I suppose soon… US Air.

In this industry, time just doesn't march on- it flies.  For now, I’ll go along with it...maybe with a little salute to the Eagle next time he flies by me, before they paint him over. 

~CruisingAAltitude