BOS-CVG-HOU-ATL-BOS (incl 5.5 hours on 737-200)

The Memorial Day fare sale hit, and since hubby and I are trying to hit Gold Medallion this year on DL (50K base miles), we figured we'd try and take a short and cheap trip to increase our mileage count.

Now, where to go? Our first choice was CLE to see my parents. However, the only way we could get the cheap fare was to leave BOS at 0550 on Saturday morning. Y'know, I can think of a million better things to do on a holiday weekend than to start it by getting up at 0400 to arrive at BOS by 0515. My parents tried another tack: they dangled a trip to Wright-Patterson AFB & Museum in front of me, so I checked flights to DAY. Same problematic departure time.

It was becoming increasingly obvious that Ohio would not be our Memorial Day destination, so I took a different tack. Where could we go for the most amount of miles but the least amount of money? I took a peek at flights to MSP (to see the Mall of America), but neither of us are big shoppers. Back when we were flying NW we always meant to take a stopover there just to see the Lego collection.

That's when the thought hit me. The last trip that we had planned on NW was our honeymoon. Our planned itinerary was CLE (where we got married) - DTW - MSP (stopover) - HOU-MSP-BOS. The DTW-MSP leg was to ride the 747-400 that NW had on the run at that time. HOU was to visit the Johnson Space Center (we are both space buffs). However, we never went on our honeymoon. I was very very sick the week before our wedding. It was dicey if I would even be allowed to travel BOS-CLE for the wedding. (My doctor did grant permission at the last minute, but only after 2 days of outpatient antibiotic treatment at the hospital). Since missing that chance at Houston, I have always wanted to go there.

So Wednesday night at 2300 (i.e. bedtime!), I was surfing the web looking for fares to Houston (and trying to do it without EasySabre, since I'm trying to wean myself off it). The first question was IAH or HOU. IAH had a slightly better return departure time, but HOU was considerably closer to Space Center Houston. Hobby it was. We found a hotel (near Hobby), arranged a car (just $20 per day!), and booked the tickets Thursday morning.

Scheduled itinerary:

May 29 DL  729 dep BOS 0905 arr CVG 1119 767-200
May 29 DL 1015 dep CVG 1230 arr HOU 1400 737-200

May 30 DL 1547 dep HOU 1540 arr ATL 1852 MD88
May 30 DL  404 dep ATL 1940 arr BOS 2220 767-200

Saturday rolled around earlier than usual (but at least not at 0400!). 0630 wake up for 0715 departure to BOS, arrive at 0750. We walked to the T, took the Red Line to Green Line to Blue Line to Shuttle Bus. We waited no more than 3 minutes for any train or bus - amazing! We can't usually do the trip that quick in rush hour!

We walked into Terminal C and ohmygod the LINES! Every body and his/her pet toad were on their way somewhere. Lucky for us, they were all checking bags in the non elite line. The Medallion/First line only had 5 people in front of us and the line moved very quickly. We saw an agent within minutes who actually couldn't check us in because the flight was so full. "You'll have to get your seat assignments at the gate" she said.

0755 and we were at C32 (the departure gate). Nobody was at the desk so we stood in front of the counter. Within minutes a long line had formed behind us. My husband speculated that we were trendsetters and if we started doing jumping jacks, everyone else would too! I didn't attempt to see if he was right.

The agent rolled up on time at 0805 but didn't start checking in until 0812. By that time the line was becoming VERY long. She made an announcement saying that no seat changes would be honored. She first told us that we'd have to wait to get seat assignments but when she saw we were Medallion she unblocked two seats for us - 28A&B. Chec in complete (we had no bags to check, just 2 backpacks), we headed back up towards the terminal to look at the magazine stand. It was lame, and I contemplated going to Press Relay out before security, but the line for security was VERY long. We chose to pick up a newspaper from the little lame magazine stand instead.

When we got back to the gate, the agent was making an announcement looking for DBC volunteers. She offered $250 each if our seats were needed. Hey, our tickets didn't cost that much! I quickly volunteered but didn't feel hopeful (we were #5 on the list). In the end they didn't need any volunteers and the plane even went away with empty seats (the beauty of yield management).

While waiting to board we scoped out the planes around us. There was a 757-200 in new livery, a 767-300 (non ER, bound for Bermuda) in new livery, and a sad looking Tristar 500 (will DL paint any Tristars in new livery? I hope so!).

We boarded and the plane pushed back on time. There were lots of kids on board who ended up being very quiet for the entire flight. As I mentioned, there was no meal service, just drinks. I had 2 bottles of water (those 8 oz bottles don't go far! I even finished one while the FA was standing next to me :-), and hubby had a coke.

I was prepared for the interior of the plane to be old & tired (some of DL's 767-200s are 17 years old), but I was pleasantly surprised. First Class had very nice looking blue leather seats and coach had blue/grey cloth seats.

The flight was fine - a little bit of light turbulence but not enough to put the light on. The view was supposedly great but from row 28 all we could see was the wing (and what a nice wing it was, too!).

We landed early, 1207, gate by 1210. The gate was B27, at the very end of the B concourse. Eager for Cincinnati Chili, we set off down to Concourse A to the Gold Star. We arrived there only to find that there was no chili on Saturday (and no, I don't know why!). Back to Concourse B, we settled on Taco Bell (for me) and KFC (for hubby). Both of us would have preferred Gold Star.

I expected CVG to be teeming (BOS certainly had been!), and while it was busy it didn't seem crazy. The Comair terminal had a total of 4 Brasilias in (the rest were CRJS). The last time I flew through CVG I speculated that the Brasilias probably weren't long for this world. The only Brasilias I did see were in old Comair silver livery (not even the newer DL'ish white livery).

Our HOU flight was scheduled to depart from B14, not far from the food court. After eating and making a bathroom stop (I LOVE clean bathrooms. CVG and SLC always have the cleanest bathrooms), we headed to the gate. I got in line to ask for non bulkhead seats for us (we had 10D&E assigned). The gate agent was quite surprised - usually people WANT the bulkhead, not want to be rid of it. He gave up trying to analyze us and exchanged our seats for 18A&B.

We boarded early (Medallion has its privileges) and stowed our carryon bags. The plane soon filled up - seemingly with mostly babies! We had a mother next to us with a 3 month old baby. She seemed quite put out - saying the airline should have left a seat open, but at the same time saying she would NEVER have purchased a seat for her baby. Well, you get what you pay for... The flight was completely full, no seats open at all.

Our flight was a bit bumpy at times. At 1300 CDT we started circling. Soon afterwards, the captain came on the PA to announce that there was weather (which he called "cells" - *I* knew what that meant, but I doubt most passengers did!) in Houston. Twice he told us that we would be delayed 15 minutes. At 1400 CDT he came back and told us that we were diverting to Shreveport because HOU and IAH were closed due to weather. This was the amusing part. During the Captain's excellent updates he said "low on fuel". Hubby and I knew what that meant (low enough for the captain to be worried about making a missed approach and then diversion to another field). Alot of people were apparently worried that the plane was going to drop out of the sky right then & there! Inexperienced travellers abound... The captain got on the PA just before the diversion to reassure those passengers, explaining what he meant by "low on fuel".

We landed at SHV at 1435 CDT and were directed to a hardstand. These poor outstation guys came to fuel us up (DL only sends about 5 or 6 jets to SHV per day). While at SHV I took the opportunity to stretch my legs. Since we weren't allowed off the plane, that meant walking up & down the aisle. Hubby and I ended up hanging out at the front boarding door. The first officer was letting kids sit in the cockpit and play with the controls ("Whoop whoop, pull up pull up"). Lucky kids!

The line of weather cleared, and we took off at 1515 ("we are first in line to take off", well yeah, there's only one other plane at the passenger terminal and it's an American Eagle prop!). That was the good news. The BAD news was that the storm had moved away from Houston ... and towards Shreveport. So our flight path to HOU meant flying north and west and then south and east. Flight time was listed as 1.5 hours (they did a drinks service, even!), but the storm blew through pretty quickly, so we ended up getting into HOU about 1h and 10m after departure from SHV (approx 1610, 2h 10 m late).

HOU was a madhouse. After leaving the plane, the mother with infant stated to her boyfriend (who was meeting her) "I am NEVER flying Delta again". (I wondered why. Was it because they wouldn't give her a seat on a completely full flight for her unpaid infant? Or because of the captain insisting on safety first and diversion to Shreveport? I don't think I want to know what the answer is). Conversely, my husband stopped and thanked the captain on the way out for keeping us well informed.

We had no bags to claim, so we stopped at the rental car counter (who had trouble fulfilling our request for a matchbox sized car, and after the agent tried to insist we pay $2 for an upgrade, she just ended up giving us the bigger car anyways). We picked up the car and went to our hotel - Courtyard by Marriott at Hobby Airport.

30 May. After spending the morning at Spacecenter Houston (which, by the way was a real let down compared to Kennedy Space Center. SCH was VERY glitzy, not enough exhibits on the science of everything. And I really objected to the way they stuck the Saturn V rocket out in the middle of the grass to be gazed at by very few tourists and a bunch of cows). We drove back to Hobby (via a gas station to fill up the car. Gas in Houston is cheap!). The weather looked ominous again so we wanted to get to the airport early (we had no jackets and thus wanted to drop the car off while it was still dry).

The inbound plane was on time - something I was a bit surprised by. Lightning kept appearing and shortly after that the rains came (during all of this, a mechanic was over working on a NW DC-9. In the middle of a lightning storm! Idiot...). DL MD-88, new livery. Identical seat fabrics to the 767-200 on BOS-CVG (and, I noted, the planes with new seat fabrics also had the emergency exit lights attached to the bottom of the seat, rather than on the floor).

Boarding was on time, 1510 CDT. We had the pair - 12D&E. Across the aisle from us was a very large man (large enough to keep the divider up between him and the seat next to him. I pity the poor person in that seat!). So let's see, babies, large people, diversions, passengers claiming they'll never fly an airline again because of GOOD decisions by the captain. All we've missed (out of the traditional rec.travel.air pet peeves) is breastfeeding!

The flight was very bumpy on the way up. The FAs did a drinks service. Hubby and I both had water. I actually didn't get around to drinking mine - I fell asleep instead! The flight had smoothed out considerably by the time I woke up some 25 minutes later.

Landing was scheduled for 1950 but we actually landed early - 1940, and taxied to gate B14. Our connecting flight was leaving out of T4. There are 2 escalators down to the train/walkway level from the B concourse but one was broken. Rather than wait in the looong line, we just walked down the broken escalator. True to form, the train was there but full, so we decided just to walk to the T concourse.

Our flight was scheduled to be a 767-200, but the boarding passes that we got at HOU said "EQP1" (DL speak for equipment change). The counter agent at HOU said it was a 767 "with 159 seats". Two statements that are mutually exclusive, at least on DL. So when we arrived at T4, I was very cious to see what we might get. It turned out to be nothing of excitement - a 757. However, I deduced (after schedule trakcking), that the 767-200 that had originally been scheduled for our route was going to MIA instead ... and it was N102DL, Spirit of Delta (I've been trying to get on that plane for YEARS!). I did note that Spirit of Delta has not (yet?) been repainted into new DL colors.

There was no meal service for this flight in coach. First class had a dinner service. A flight scheduled CVG-BOS departing just 15 minutes earlier (1925) has a snack in both cabins. I don't understand the discrepancy. I'll admit, I had been looking forward to SkyDeli. The FA's were generous - they gave out the whole can of soda without asking (didn't help me, I was still drinking water!), and came around offering a second bag of snack mix.

We actually descended pretty early. The captain came on the PA at 2130 to tell us that we were at 28000 feet and very near Manhattan. That's a very odd altitude to be at that position. I had no GPS to confirm his statement, but my ears had certainly been popping enough.

We landed early, 2010, and quickly taxi to the gate. However, it takes a good 6 minutes for us to get off the plane once we are docked. Logan was humming again (or still?). Our flight arrived at the same time as another DL flight (I never did find out which one), and there were actually pax on our flight connecting to the DL/AF codeshare BOS-CDG (why? AF also operates out of ATL!).

No bags to claim so we were out of the airport and on the shuttle bus to the T. 40 hours and approximately 3200 miles later, we were back home.

Next trip report: MHT-LGA-ATL-SJC-SLC-BOS, next week!

For the acronym impaired:
BOS - Boston/Logan International
CVG - Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky
HOU - Houston Hobby
ATL - Atlanta Hartsfield
SHV - Shreveport Regional
IAH - Intercontinental Airport Houston
CLE - Cleveland Hopkins
DAY - Dayton
MSP - Minneapolis/St Paul
DTW - Detroit Wayne County
SLC - Salt Lake City
MIA - Miami
CDG - Paris Charles DeGaulle

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