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 Part 8: How Did We Get on the Zurich Flight???

Final Approach into MIA

We landed early into Miami, with time enough to hit the Centurion club (yes again, this is how it works) for a shower and massage, before heading out to the next plane to get up to JFK.  The next flight was just one of those flights that seems more entertaining than it should be.  First off, it was an aging 757, however, it was configured for international service, so the Frist cabin was set up with 16 angle-flat seats, rather than the usual 22 recliners.  This was good, however, the lack of an update was showing.  My IFE did this every 10 minutes, and nothing seemed to fix it:

Aside from the service and the destination, how you feel a bout a flight segment generally has to do with the people, or person, sitting next to you.  This one was a real winner.  "Mr. 3F" sat down and immediately started talking loudly on the phone, making sure each person he called knew that he was a- on a plane b- going to New York for some very important meeting, and c- would also be in LA later in the week, presumably for some even more important meetings.  He then took a breather from these calls to aggressively flag down a FA, and insist (twice) that they hang his coat that very instant.  It was at this point that I tried to think of the best way to signal that we weren't together...in any way, shape, or form.

Believe it or not, Mr. 3F wasn't even the most notable passenger in the cabin. 1E had a hair color and style that would have made Cruella DeVil jealous, whilst 3B seemed completely befuddled by the buttons to operate his seat.  He spent a full 15 minutes trying to figure out the 'seat forward' and 'seat back' functions.  Dude.... it's two buttons, and they're well labeled.

Since my IFE was conclusively broken, I pulled out my laptop, and watched some saved shows I have on iTunes.  Mr. 3F then spent the remainder of the flight watching my laptop over my shoulder while he ate his salad.  He didn't even try to hide it....I almost offered my headphone splitters to him...

It was about this time in the flight that I happened to notice that the airplane itself was even having an off night, judging by the monitors in the cabin which appeared to show our final destination as Zurich??

I checked and double checked my memory....but I was pretty sure I hadn't put together THAT good of a mileage running itinerary.  According to 'The Plane" we weren't even making a detour to let passengers off in JFK.

What's unsettling about this is either a- I boarded the wrong flight, or b- the computer system has no clue where we're headed.  The times, and remaining time in the flight screens were likewise completely incorrect.  Since I was in all honestly, reasonably sure the pilots had this in hand, my next thought was how disturbing it is that AA still considers the 757 to be an acceptable choice for TATL flights...

Anyhow, spoiler alert- we did, in fact, touch down in JFK on time, giving us ample time to check out the newly renovated Flagship Lounge (see next post).  Priorities, priorities.

~CruisingAltitude

The Last Mileage Run of 2016 Part 7: Early Returns

Three Boarding Passes at once- Bingo?

How did we get to here?

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...

There’s nothing like an airport in the morning- full of possibility, adventure….and well, fake smiling at customs agents and sitting in plastic chairs.  Bright and early to catch the morning flight out of UIO back up to MIA.  So long, Quito, it’s been real (short).  Overall, I still am thinking this is a good mileage run city.  It hasn’t done anything to offend me just yet, unless you count the 45min ride from the airport into town.  That I could do without.  But if you’re only in town for a night, there’s a Wyhndam right at the airport that looks vaguely like something that touched down in Area 51.  So, you know, there are options.  There also seem to be some smaller hotel/guest house in the region if you feel like going ‘off brand’ (the horror).

As was the case yesterday, the views from the UIO-MIA flight are definitely worth writing home about.  The flight path starts climbing out of the valley, past mountains, crater lakes, and glaciers, then heads north for a view of the Panama Canal, before making the MIA southern approach over the keys.  It definitely makes that 5am wake up time closer to worth it, I keep telling myself with increasing ferocity.

 

On another but pertinent topic, I have a theory about these crazy trips that at some point in each one you must necessarily hit “the wall.”  It can be to varying degrees, but it always happens.  It’s that moment where you are forced to reflect with a sense of dread upon the life choices that have brought you this far.  'The Wall' this time around probably set in about the time I paid the taxi driver and headed back into the UIO airport at 6am local time...3am at home.

Staying on your home timezone is all well and good, but when you also have an early morning to go with the late night your jetlag requires, it all starts to catch up with you.  Plus, the hotel restaurant was a sushi bar...in Quito... and I just had to experience it.

A great way to get past 'The Wall' - Upgraded 767 lie flat seats.

The good thing is that once you get past 'The Wall,' the euphoria (or oxygen deprivation) of hitting 30,000 feet comes back, and all is well again.  It helps of course if your plane is comfortable enough for a nap, which due to AA's recent upgrading of their older 767s, it definitely was.  Once I could drag myself away from the sights out the window, I slept off the early morning until descent into MIA.

I could seriously fly this flightplan every day. 

3 down, 2 to go....

~CruisingAltitude