BOS-MRY via MHT, LGA, ATL, SLC, and SJC

My husband was scheduled to go to a technical conference in Monterey in June. It is a conference that I have attended in the past, but the job I started last July is just out of the conference's scope. So while I knew I would not be able to persuade my boss to send me to the conference, I figured I could at least go along for a few days before the conference started and do some touristy things.

The ideal situation would have been to go for the whole conference (a week), but there were two problems with that. (1) With my husband in technical sessions all day, I wouldn't have much to do (I have been to Monterey before so there's not much new there). (2) If I wanted to attend the sessions the cost would be prohibitive (since I would have had to pick up the cost myself). So that was scrubbed. My husband had sessions from Tuesday until Friday, so we planned on both of us flying out the Saturday before the conference (June 5), I'd fly back to Boston on June 8 (Tuesday), and then he'd return home on June 12 (Saturday).

So I started researching fares. Oddly enough, the fares BOS-SJC were *very* expensive - on the order of $650 for a round trip in the lowest available fare class. That was a bit of a show stopper. But, with Herb in town (ok, not IN town, but not far from it), there were alternatives. That would, of course, require departing and/or arriving from either PVD or MHT. Round trip PVD-SJC-PVD or MHT-SJC-MHT was a mere $200 - a bargain! But the nature of the flights into PVD and MHT meant that I either had to depart SJC at 0600, or return into PVD after 2300 (and thus after the last bus had left TF Green airport for Boston).

For anybody else, they would have scrubbed their plans right there. For me it was merely a road block. I managed to get an open jaw fare, MHT-SJC (via LGA and ATL) and then SJC-BOS (actually a direct flight, my favourite, DL 1898. This time SJC-SLC-BOS. Before I've flown the same flight number PHX-SLC-BOS and SEA-SLC-BOS. I think DL looks to see where we want to go and tag ends 1898 there. :-). That brought the fare down to a manageable $400. Booked!

We'd never been to the passenger side of Manchester Airport before [*] (well, the MHT Manchester. We have of course been to the MAN Manchester, I did of course write a trip report. One Sunday in April we happened to be going through the South Station Boston bus terminal (after returning by bus from PVD) and saw flyers for Vermont Transit's new service from Boston to Manchester Airport. This completed our plan (since before then we really had no firm idea how we'd get to MHT). We would rather have flown out of PVD (Vermont Transit has just four bus trips a day to MHT, Bonanza has one trip an hour to PVD, and PVD is marginally quicker). But the PVD departure times were a bitch (0600 or 0630? no thanks!). The MHT departure time was much saner (1130).

Flight Itinerary:
05 Jun DL 6572 dep MHT 1130 arr LGA 1240  Saab SF 340
05 Jun DL 1287 dep LGA 1400 arr ATL 1629  B757-200
05 Jun DL 2147 dep ATL 1940 arr SJC 2132  B757-200

my return:
08 Jun DL 1898 dep SJC 1305 arr BOS 2314  B757-200 (in SLC from 1548-1650)

hubby's return:
12 Jun DL  974 dep SJC 0625 arr SLC 0910  B757-200
12 Jun DL 1776 dep SLC 0955 arr BOS 1627  B757-200

The night before our trip was very hectic due to circumstances beyond my control. My husband and I own a laptop (one between us), and rarely does one of us need it when the other one already has it. That was not to be the case on this trip. I was planning to use the laptop for a very important live presentation at work. My husband, on the other hand, wanted to use it to keep in contact with his office (oh, and me too!) while on the west coast. He asked at his office if he could borrow a laptop, and one was arranged for him. When he went to pick up the laptop, the software he needed was not on it (with no disks in sight), and the laptop was an older, slower laptop than he was expecting. Given the choice between hauling ~12lbs of laptop and accessories along or just taking a small palm-sized machine that would let him log in, he chose to return the laptop to his office. So between 2000 and 2300 we made two round trips to his office.

Needless to say with all of that running around packing did not go as smoothly as it could have. I was also faced with the challenge of counting things seperately (usually I throw in X number of T-shirts and we just take pot luck between us). Since we were travelling back seperately we had to have two cases (admittedly small duffle bags, but two nonetheless). It also meant seperate carrying cases for toiletries. Now *there* was a hassle I could have done without.

Saturday morning came early (even earlier than our flight to HOU the week before). Up at 0650 for a planned 0745 departure. We didn't make the 0745 target (we were about 12 minutes late leaving the house en route to the T). Rather than chance not making the T and missing the only bus that would get us to the plane in time, we chose to take a taxi from one of the hotels in Kendall Square to the South Station Bus Terminal. The cabby took a very round-a-bout route. Or so I thought. After more consideration I remembered that with a car, that's the only way you *can* do it. A cab cannot do what I do on foot - go down a one-way-street the wrong way.

We got to South Station Bus Terminal at 0820. Our bus was scheduled to depart at 0845. We picked up a newspaper, hit the bathroom, and were standing at the gate when the driver came up to take our tickets.

The bus route goes from Boston South Station Bus Terminal to Lowell, Massachusetts, then to Nashua New Hampshire, and finally Manchester Airport (there are more stops after that). Cost was $14 each one way (we had bought the tickets a few weeks previously). The driver was very cordial and he kept the bus running right on schedule. We pulled into Manchester Airport on time at 1125.

The first thing I noted when pulling into Manchester was how much construction was going on at the airport! There was a huge building being built (a garage, we found), and runway construction ongoing. The inside of the airport is light and airy - and small! Baggage claim and ticketing are on one level (the lower level) and you go up a short escalator to the security area and through to the gates.

We checked in quickly and went up to the gate level (after taking a short walk around the ticketing area). The news stand was actually quite good (a reasonable number of game & puzzle magazines, always a plus in my book). My husband was hungry and the only food option was McDonald's (apparently a Pizza Hut Express is set to move in to the "food court" soon). Before we cleared through security we went upstairs to the "Observation Area". The Area had a great view of the runway but a lousy view of the near ramp (you could just see the engines on a United 727-200, but nothing closer to the terminal than that). An outside viewing area would have been very welcome, or at least ATC traffic on loudspeakers like at CLE's observation deck.

My husband decided to pick up some McDonald's french fries, and so we stood in the LOOONG line to get them, and then cleared through security .... only to find another McDonald's (well, it was sharing a kitchen with the one on the other side of security) with no line. Typical, eh? I wasn't hungry, so we just headed on down to our gate of C-2. The C gates are a looong walk down the airport and down on the ground floor (easy access to the commuter planes).

The last time we flew Business Express was May of 1997. At the time I noted that the staff seemed to be about as mature as my college-aged sister. Well, my sister has finished college, but the BeX staff certainly hasn't! The two agents staffing the flight were sitting at the counter giggling and whispering to each other, and making secret phonecalls (they'd duck behind the counter when a passenger came up). Southwest effectively pulls off being humorous without making me wonder if they're going to compromise safety. I had no such feelings about BeX.

Our plane was scheduled to arrive in at 1110 but it didn't arrive until 1125 so we didn't board until 1130 (it doesn't take long to unload a Saab!). We were seated in row 4, seats 4A & 4B, which are actually across the aisle from each other! The plane was about 1/3 full so we moved back to row 8 (the exit row), seats 8B&8C. We taxied out about 1143, 13 minutes late. No problem, we'll make up the time, right?

The Captain said that the flight had been late in bound due to "runway construction". As I mentioned before I saw quite a bit of construction going on at MHT so I presumed he meant that airport. I later found that I was wrong. We took off quite quickly and then got in the air ... and it was very very bumpy! After about 15 minutes the Captain came on the PA to apologize but that we were at our final cruising altitude of 6000 feet (!!). He said there was traffic above us. I'll admit, I was a little worried. I'm not one who is very fond of turbulence, and to top that off, I had to go to the bathroom - but nobody, not even the F/A, was permitted to get up!

After a while we started making some right turns. Sure enough, several minutes later the captain came on the P/A to say that we were circling Hartford because of runway construction at LaGuardia. Well why didn't he say that to BEGIN with. I knew we had a 1400 departure from LGA to ATL and so I asked the FA if we were going to make it (she said yes). I wasn't sweating it, because if we missed the 1400, we could get the 1500 and still make it to ATL in time to connect to our SJC flight.

More bumping and swaying and the captain rings final, approximately 25 minutes after our scheduled arrival time. We were on the ground at 1310. And then we sat ... and sat. It took BeX AGES to get a bus out to come and meet us (and because of the cursed FAA, we couldn't just hike across the tarmac, no matter how much we might want to!). At this point I was still crossing my legs, but couldn't get to the bathroom!

The bus arrived and we were off across the tarmac. We nailed our gate down, I made a pit stop, and hubby went off in search of food while I stayed with the baggage. Not long after that, our flight was called. N617DL. The flight attendants called tons of standbys, and I was wondering what might happen to our seats. My Delta Guardian Angel had reserved seats with an open seat between us for the flights we were on together (22A&C LGA-ATL, 24A&C ATL-SJC). I was hoping that seat would stay open. As it turns out, it did. The plane ended up being about 80% full.

We boarded and sat down. My stomach had settled at this point so I had a few goldfish crackers (the snack given out MHT-LGA). Taxi towards the runway took forever, undoubtedly because LGA was down to one runway. We finally got to the front of the line. Whoosh! LGA runways are short, but the 757 is built for short field takeoff.

The interior of this 757 is the same as the ones I had last weekend: muted blues and greys. You can tell this color scheme is going to age much better than the horrible yellows & oranges on some of the heavy weight 727s we've been on. Just a drinks service (well, and DL's new snackmix, "Summer Harvest Brand", with pretzels, cheese crackers, and peanuts). I asked for both water and milk, and got both. Yay. I drank the milk and saved the water (I have about 5 of those DL water bottles at home in my fridge). There was no update from the Captain along the way about our arrival time. Since we had about 3 hours to kill in ATL, I was not concerned at all.

The flight passed quicker than any flight I can remember in recent memory (at least of the flights that I don't fall asleep on). It seemed like mere minutes from when the drinks service happened until the seatbelt sign came on for descent. The captain rang final and we landed. After landing we saw one of DL's 777s sitting on the taxiway waiting to take off for MCO. Ohmygod it's HUGE. And that was just the left engine. :-) :-)

We taxied to A17, 1640. We had *plenty* of time before our 1940 departure to SJC. After having seen the DL777 en route to MCO, I wanted to have a chance to see one up close & personal. After deplaning, we hoofed it over towards Terminal E, specifically E12. There was the 777 in all of its glory. It would be a damned shame if labor relations caused this beautiful bird to be retired from DL's fleet.

After that, it was food time. Nothing in Terminal E piqued my interest (and because it was about 1715 it was VERY busy in Terminal E), so we headed back downstairs. One of the things we found in the corridors was a guide to retail (shops and food) at Hartsfield. Wow there are lots of options. We chose Wendy's in Terminal C.

After eating, we wanted to head to Terminal B. While walking down the concourse we came across the secret underground passageway between Terminal C and Terminal B, a legacy of the old Eastern Airlines days. One of the escalators wasn't working, but we went down anyways. One of the moving walkways wasn't working so we just hoofed it. We didn't see another SOUL. Now keep in mind that at the same time, Terminals B & C were hopping.

We wandered around the airport for a while, and then went back to the gate by 1840. The plane was due in from Salt Lake City, but it was late in arriving. Consequently, we had late boarding. I was once again nervous if we'd have the center seat blocked out, but I needn't have been.

We got in line for takeoff (oddly enough the winds had shifted since we had landed from LGA, and we ended up taking off in the opposite direction on the same runway as we landed). Then the FAs did a drinks service (water!). Following that, they passed out dinner menus (yes, in coach!).

The choices:

Salad: Romaine with Cherry Tomatoes, Tri-Color peppers and Shoepeg Corn Kernels served with Balsalmic Viniagrette Dressing

Your choice of Entree: Omaha Steaks Filet of Sirloin with A.1. Garlic Marinade accompanied by Horseradish Mashed Potatoes and Creamed Spinach

Herb-Roasted Tyson Chicken Breast complemented by Macadamia Nut Dressing and Green Beans and Sliced Carrots

Light Rye Roll

Dessert: Butterfinger Trifle (ended up just being a chocolate cake).

My husband was interested in food (I wasn't, still full from ATL), and he hoped to try the steak. However, by the time the FA came around to him, (row 24), the choice was long gone, and he was stuck with chicken. I guess the steak must be very popular (or DL didn't load enough, I suspect the former).

I fell asleep and hubby said I snored. I slept for approx 45 minutes. When I woke up, the flight was nearing the end. My husband and I watched "Pleasantville" (the movie), which we had brought along. Since we were sitting in A & C, we ended up dumping the laptop on the "B" seat.

We landed into SJC a few minutes late, and taxied to the gate. I had this sense of deja vous. We exited the plane by air stairs! I felt like I was repeating that whole horrible experience at LGA again. It was kind of neat climbing down the LOOONG stairs from the 757. The last airstairs flight I had was a Ryanair B737, DUB-BHX.

We got our rental car arranged (amazingly, because the Avis computer was down. It must have been a pre-arranged downtime because they already had my rental agreement partially filled in), and collected our luggage.

We stayed in the bay area Saturday night and Sunday night, and Monday morning we drove down the coast (route 1) to Monterey, stopping in Santa Cruz for lunch. I called for an upgrade from a corner in Santa Cruz. Nice reservations agent. As always, I called a few minutes early and ended up shooting the breeze with the agent. She must have either liked me or not been busy, because she didn't put me on hold to wait the minutes out.

Tuesday I loaded up the rental car and drove back to San Jose alone. Route 1 to 101, pausing at the Gilroy shopping outlets (which were lame, but I had time to kill). I wanted to stop for a smoothie at Jamba Juice, and while I did manage to stop, they wouldn't sell me a small one. So I passed (a decision I ended up regretting due to my hunger before the flight).

Pretty soon after arriving at the airport, I had another regret. It REALLY stinks travelling alone. The only way I could make a bathroom stop at the airport was to take my two bags in with me (and then only into the handicapped stall!). I had no husband to dump the bags with! Nor could I effectively browse the magazine stand.

I went through security and they saw something funny on one of my carryons (NOT my computer bag, mind you!). After sending my bag through the x-ray twice, a guy took the bag and myself off to the side and gave it the nitrate test. I made no jokes and thanked him for his diligence when he cleared me.

I sat down at C10, and the plane rolled in from Salt Lake City. N611DL, showing its age (sadly in need of a paint job!). I found a seat with both a good view of the ramp and with proximity to a power outlet! I had struck gold! The poor agent at the gate had to deal with several problem cases. First, a pushy guy wanted to go on ramp to meet someone with wheelchair. He was VERY abusive of the agent. He kept insisting that they should let him out onto the tarmac. The next difficulty was a teenaged girl who was obviously going non rev thanks to a family member who was an airline employee. She was dressed very sloppily. DL has quite strict regs about non-revs and their dress. The FA sent her packing, and she ended up going to a gift shop to get more appropriate attire, but not appropriate enough (she ended up getting punted out of first class later).

On-time boarding at 1235 (up the airstairs again!), first class seems quite empty. A bright FA had put out a bottle of water for each person. I had mine, and then the FA came along to ask what I wanted to drink. Uh, apart from the water? I took milk (mooo). No odd looks from the FA, but the guy in the row in front of me made a funny comment (I responded by mooing at him). While waiting for the plane to finish boarding I chatted with the first officer. He told me that it was the same cockpit crew from SJC through to BOS, but the cabin crew would change in SLC.

In the end, the plane went out with about 6 of the 24 First Class seats open. Of course, luck of the draw, I did not have the seat next to me empty. But oddly enough, I was happier that way. I was afraid I'd get stuck with an old biddy who talks endlessly, or even worse, a drunk. But I struck gold - a pilot! Specifically, a left-seater on the 737 for United (mainline, not Shuttle). He had previously been a right seater on the 757 and 777, and told some very interesting stories! He lives in SLC and is based out of "the Bay Area" (SFO, OAK, SJC), flying 737s to & from Denver and Chicago.

There was no food in back, but a snack up front (one of the plusses of travelling first class on the west coast to SLC lunchtime flights is food). The snack was a pasta salad with chicken and peppers, served with fresh mozarella, parmesan, and tomato. It was accompanied by a hot sourdough roll and two truffles. Snack done with, I settled back to update my ever-growing trip report (while listening to music, of course!).

Approach to SLC was a little bumpy. In fact, the seatbelt light came on and the FA announced that it was "due to bumpy air", while in fact it was also due to approach. Not five minutes after the seatbelt sign came on, the captain rang final. We landed and taxied to our assigned gate, D6 (which was a non-surprise to me, that's the usual gate for DL1898 to BOS.

I left the plane while in SLC, taking just my book and my kangaroo pouch with me. I walked up & down Concourse D, and then over to Concourse C. I stopped at the bagel place on Concourse C and bought a bagel (for the following morning, as I had no food in the house). Reboarding was to commence at 1610, so I headed back to D6.

First class was full from SLC to BOS, while the back was relatively empty (just 75 seats full). After boarding and imbibing another bottle of water (3 since SJC, not counting my milk), I promptly fell asleep after taxi out. I awoke when the seatbelt sign went off, some 15 minutes later.

The meal service started not long after takeoff (and they started the movie while the FAs were still doing appetizers!). DL has definitely upscaled its meal service in domestic first class. Menus were present (and not just little cards with each entree, I mean an actual menu that was handed out so you could peruse and then the FA would check back with you later on your selection).

Dinner:

Appetizer: Traditional Smoked Salmon with Horseradish Cream Sauce

Salad: Romaine with Carrots, Green Beans and Shitake Mushrooms served with Creamy Oriental Vinaigrette

Choice of Entree: (1) Pan-seared Omaha steaks Filet Mignon with A.1. Sweet Garlic Marinade complemented by Herbed Mashed Potatoes and Grilled vegetables
(2) Chicken Jambalaya sreved over Red Beans and Rice
(3) Grilled Seabass with Garlic Cream Sauce complemented by Roasted Ribbon Potato and Pacific Vegetable Medley

Assorted Hot Breads (Sourdough, rye, and breadstick)

Dessert: Ice Cream Sundae served with assorted toppings

Just like on the last flight, steak went very quickly. However, steak was not my choice. I selected the Jambalaya. The last time I flew DL first class on this route (Christmas), I complained that two entrees in first class were not enough. DL has obviously listened - three is the perfect number. One beef, one chicken, and one fish (I'm sure that will be the traditional split, but only time will bear that out). The Jambalaya was pretty decent. Certainly not native New Orleans, but not bad for 37,000 feet. There were three pieces of chicken (cajun spiced) surrounding a bed of red beans and rice, all covered in a sauce of tomatoes, peppers, and spicy sausage (I cannot say whether it was truly andouille or not). The salad dressing (oriental) seemed to be an odd contrast as none of the three entrees were in the least bit oriental.

The FAs got help about 2/3 of the way through the first class meal service. It was taking so long to get the entrees out (although I don't know about other peoples', but mine was HOT when it reached me), that they ended up recruiting one of the coach FAs to help. Since there were only 75 pax back in coach (basically half full), I suspect that they were already done with service.

The dessert cart was a work of art. Two scoops of vanilla ice cream in many bowls, plus bowls of hot fudge, caramel, and nuts. A can of whipped cream was at hand, as were tiny bottles of Bailey's and Kahula. I was very strong and took a pass on dessert.

The rest of the flight was very boring. "Shakespeare in Love" was the movie, that I skipped (preferring to watch my own copy of "Babe" instead, which the FA thought hilarious). I drank lots of water (and consequently made more than my fair share of trips to the lav). 2255 and we descended through 11000 feet, with 20 minutes to go (seems like a long time from 11000 to ground), but the temperature was 85F! At 11pm!! Ohmygod thank goodness I left the a/c on at home!

We landed at 2315, I was on the curb at 2320 and home just before 2335. The house was HOT, so I turned the a/c up even higher.

All in all, a great trip. DL first class service has really improved.

Acronyms, Abbreviations, & IATA identifiers:
BOS - Boston Logan International
MHT - Manchester New Hampshire
MAN - Manchester England
LGA - New York LaGuardia (aka "LaGarbage")
ATL - Atlanta Hartsfield International
SJC - San Jose International
MRY - Monterey Peninsula
SLC - Salt Lake City
PVD - Providence T.F. Green
PHX - Phoenix Sky Harbor
DUB - Dublin Ireland
BHX - Birmingham England
CLE - Cleveland Hopkins

GA - My Delta Guardian Angel (to whom I owe some very large debts of gratitude)
FA - Flight Attendant
DL - Delta Air Lines

[*] While we had never been to the passenger terminal at MHT before this trip, we had been on the airport property once before, at one of the private airplane hangars across the field. That was approximately 1992. It's amazing how much the appearance of everything had changed in nine years.

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