June 16 (Tuesday) DL 689 dep BOS 13:40 arr ATL 16:28 757 scheduled - 767-200 actual DL 775 dep ATL 17:25 arr MSY 17:50 757 June 21 (Sunday) DL 396 dep MSY 12:00 arr ATL 14:20 727-200 DL 2040 dep ATL 15:45 arr BOS 18:17 MD-88We purchased these tickets via the DL website using the class of service "800 mile segment upgrades". I had hoped that would mean we'd have a reasonable shot at getting said upgrades (! - more about that later!). They were E-Tickets (I really have started to prefer these by quite a bit, and unless I have some kind of catastrophe, I cannot see changing that preference).
Our tickets arrived and were marked as status "RQ" rather than "OK". That set off 1,000 warning flags for me, so I immediately called DL reservations. The reservation agent said he didn't know what it meant, but asked his supervisor, and the supervisor said "oh, don't worry, it's ok!". Well that's not enough for me! I am slightly more paranoid and thus kicked off a note to my Guardian Angel at Delta (hereafter referred to as "Guardian Angel" or "GA" or "DL GA" :-). GA sent me back a very reassuring email telling me that it was a technical glitch at the DL end but that our tickets really *were* confirmed. With two independent sources of confirmation (one of which from a person whose name I knew :-) I felt very comfortable travelling with "RQ" marked on the tickets (GA told me that "RQ" stands for "ReQuest or unconfirmed").
I always seem to have a million small crises the day I leave on a trip. Tuesday June 16 was no different. I had to make time to stop over at my new job (haven't started yet - I start July 1) on the way from my current job to home (we left the suitcase at home. Usually we take it to the office with us, but we didn't want to drag it through the torrential rain). I was standing in my new boss' office at 11:45am and I knew I was cutting it close, since I still had to make it home (admittedly not a very long walk), change, and eat something so I did not die of hunger before being fed. I should note here that I had telephoned one day previously to try to get upgrades, and we were confirmed on DL 775 ATL-MSY, but were not even permitted to be waitlisted on DL 689. The res agent said "first class is sold out". Wow.
12:00 and we were out the door to the airport (yes that means I made it home and changed in 15 minutes. We skipped lunch planning to grab a snack at Logan, plus we were being fed a "Snack" on the plane). Logan was pretty quiet (I should travel midday more often!). The first class line was LONG, so hubby made a quick run to Burger King (yeah, I know, there's a Legal Seafood in Terminal C at Boston, so why stop at BK? easy - one cannot easily eat Legal while standing in line, and that's what we did!). By the time he made it back from BK I had gotten to the front of the line. The ticket agent confirmed that indeed we had *no* shot at BOS-ATL in F and wouldn't even wait list us. What a party pooper!
From E-Tickets to boarding passes with one checked bag plus an ID check in less than 3 minutes. These first class/medallion agents are efficient! We took the remains of our chicken tender "snack" and sat at one of the seating areas overlooking the ramp (for those who know Logan, it's next to the Travel 2000 store in Terminal C, where the KidPort USED to be). After slurping the food down, we stopped in my favourite (sigh!) US Newsagent (and it IS a newsagent in the classic sense!), "News Relay", two doors down from the seating area I just mentioned. We wandered around Terminal C for a bit after that, visited the immaculately clean bathrooms next to the new Kidport (the ones after security on the main DL concourse are usually filthy). After that we cleared security and sat at the gate.
DL 689, originally scheduled 757, actual 767-200. I was hoping for ship 102 (Spirit of Delta), but it was really ship 111 (just some random GE powered 767-200). We boarded at 1310. SkyDeli flight (so much for my hypothesis that it had been done away with. Not that *I* mind!). I had finished eating by 1320. That's my kind of meal! The usual - Turkey Sandwich, bag of chips, cookie (chocolate chip), and apple, plus a mini (8oz) bottle of water. Yum.
We were originally scheduled to arrive ATL early, at 1615. I was glad, since I was scheduled to meet GA in person! Actual arrival was somewhat late, around 1650. Since our connecting flight to MSY left at 1725, I knew we did not have much time. This was complicated by the fact that we were originally scheduled to arrive into Concourse A, and instead came into Concourse T. (I'd never been in the T concourse before. It's NICE!). GA was at the gate to meet us (our own uniformed Delta agent? :-). He walked us down to our departure gate, through T concourse, on the train, and then over to gate B1 (it's always the way, that when we have lots of time we only have to go about 4 gates, but when we only have 30 minutes, we have to cross two concourses and three timezones to get to our connecting flight).
We chatted with GA about lots of DL related stuff which I won't go into here (private conversations & all that :-). We bid GA goodbye and got on our 757 to New Orleans. We boarded at about 1715 (we had just missed a train on the T concourse so it took longer than I would have thought). This is the flight we'd secured an upgrade on. We actually did JUST have time for a drink. We were sitting in the bulkhead row - seats 1A & 1B.
Flight pushed back and left on time. We taxied up the field and past the Delta TOC. We saw several oddball planes in and outside of the maintenance hangars. There was also an Airtran DC9 just sitting on the side of the taxiway. Oddly enough, when we flew back through on Sunday 6/21, the plane was still there! Or perhaps "there again", I'm not sure which.
There was a snack in first, and it was a nice one. Pasta salad with fresh mozzarella and grilled chicken. I was drinking water like mad in a bid to stay hydrated. The dry airplane air and the humidity of my destination (New Orleans) were battling against my efforts.
The flight was a quick one - one hour, four minutes in the air. We landed at Moisant Field ontime and quickly deplaned. Our bag was off the belt in no time, and we were off in a taxi to downtown New Orleans (I won't go into the mad taxi driver here. There's no point. And reliving the experience through writing will just give me a heart attack).
Sunday June 21 I had planned for us to leave the hotel at 1030 for a 1200 flight. We were running early (and this was after stopping at Johnny's Po Boy for breakfast!), so we managed to leave the hotel just after 1000 and arrived at Moisant at 1030. Check in was a little slow, as the first class agent (just one!) was dealing with three travellers who were having PROBLEMS. I don't know what kind of problems, but she was helping them for 10 minutes while we waited in line, and all the time she was on the telephone with somebody walking her through something. While she was on hold during this telephone call she checked our bag in on the next computer over. Lucky for her we were not "problem" travellers and didn't have any special requests.
We spent about three minutes browsing through the single gift shop/magazine stand. It's no "News Relay"! Lots of books by Paul Prudhomme (I've read them all - from the library). There was ONE interesting book "From Worst to First" by Gordon Bethune (about Continental's "rise from the ashes"). I put it on my list to get from the library (I try not to buy hardbacks, ESPECIALLY on the road).
On the way to DL's gates in Concourse D we walked through the almost completed new DL ticketing area. It will be NICE. Airy and spacious and new - three things the current ticketing area is not. Security had a sign up "Security is no joking matter", followed by small print on why not to say "I have a bomb in here, ha ha ha!". Quick note: on neither our BOS security clearance nor our MSY security clearance, did the security agent actually LOOK at the screen. I mean, *I* know I'm OK, but I don't know about the next guy (well, OK, the next guy was my husband. I mean the one AFTER him!).
Our upgrade had cleared MSY-ATL, and we were again not permitted to wait list on ATL-BOS. In fact, the res agent I talked to on the phone said the magic words "the flight is completely sold out". More on that later!
We boarded at 1130. Equipment was 727-200 in non-psychadelic colours (lots of blues, instead of yellows & oranges). 12 seats in F, 8 on one side, and 4 on the other. Hubby and I were in 4A&B. Snack was the old standby - chicken ceasar salad. This used to be ALL DL served in First on snack only flights. They had gotten more inventive. This salad was actually much better than the ones they served about three years ago, however. The parmesan cheese was fresh and thick and the bread was a garlic stick, fragrant and warm. "Dessert" was two truffles.
We arrived ATL a few minutes early, 1415. We were scheduled to arrive gate T1 (the very END of the T concourse), and go out of gate A7. But we were gate changed (YAY) and instead were sent into A29. I mean YAY not because I didn't like the T concourse (I did!) but I was HOPING that because the flight was "completely sold out" that it would equate to an overbooking situation (I know, I know....). I wanted to be first in line when the ticket counter opened so that *I* would have the first crack at the DBC.
The gate opened at 1445, and yes, I was first! I had actually been standing directing traffic and answering basic questions ("no, the gate's not open yet, it will open at 2:45, an hour before the flight"). But no luck - neither did I get upgraded, nor did the flight require volunteers. Bummer! We boarded as directed at 1315 and settled down (hah!) in 2 seats of the 3 side (seats 17A&B) of the MD88.
I snoozed after push back (I did count the rows from me to the exit before doing so!). During my snooze the captain made an announcement that Boston had "weather" and we were on a ground hold. I woke up to him saying that the weather hold had been lifted and that we were queueing for takeoff. It was a long queue!
The flight was a smooth takeoff and climb, but the captain instructed the FAs to "stay belted in your jumpseats and do not start cabin service" (!). Later the flight *did* get a bit choppy, but not much. We made good time up the coast (after having a good 30 minute ground hold at Hartsfield), and then circled over Providence. Providence was pretty clear but Boston was apparently "fogged in". After a while circling, we were cleared into Logan. I didn't see the ground until less than 1 minute before our wheels hit! It was THAT fogged in! We carefully and slowly taxied across the field. Swissair 747-300 was in, as was the SABENA A330 (we'll probably be on that very plane next month!). No sign of the Air France A310 (although it was a bit early for it). Actual landing time was about 1855.
The terminal was jam packed. Weather delays had screwed everything up. On the 767-300 flight to Atlanta, they were bumping people. We were temped to buy fully refundable BOS-ATL tickets and collect the DBCs and then refund the BOS-ATL tickets. But we had to get home so we didn't.
The bags took FOREVER to arrive. Everything else was late, too, so the poor baggage handler's schedules were screwed up. They were trying to load up the SABENA and Swissair flights while also unloading the 767-300 inbound from Bermuda (continuing to Atlanta), as well as our MD88, and the 757 due in from New York, not counting all of the BeX crap.
We finally cleared the terminal at about 1935 (later than I would have liked). Luckily, the long line that had been at the cab stand from the Bermuda flight had cleared, so we got a cab quickly. There was traffic on Storrow Drive (on a SUNDAY??), but we made it home in not too long. Our cabbie did not speak good English (he kept saying "money? money?" while I was saying "can you give me a receipt please?").
I had hoped that we could have been upgraded BOS-ATL and ATL-BOS, although I know the 767-200 and MD88 do not have large first class sections. I would be surprised if there were more than 10 seats empty COMBINED on the four flights we were on. Delta's load factors, at least on these routes, must be setting all sorts of records.
My next trip report is already partially written, and it will be BOS-BRU-BHX-BRU-BOS in July.
Helen Rose
<hrose-web@ckdhr.com>
Last modified: Sun Nov 22 09:54:28 EST 1998