BOS-CVG-CLE-CVG-BOS, Turkey Day, 1998

Wednesday November 25
DL 1574 dep BOS 4:00pm arr CVG 6:18pm  MD-88    snack in front only
DL 1726 dep CVG 6:55pm arr CLE 7:55pm  MD-88

Sunday November 29
DL  821 dep CLE 5:00pm arr CVG 5:59pm  MD-88
DL 1106 dep CVG 7:20pm arr BOS 9:36pm  767-300  snack in both cabins

Total legs: four

Out of those legs, how many times my husband and I were successful in obtaining upgrades: three (every leg but CVG-BOS)

How many times we tried to get bumped: two
Number of times we succeeded: none (but on CVG-BOS, we were given drink/headset coupons to "thank us for trying").

Meals: first class snack BOS-CVG. Southwest ravioli or chicken salad. coach snack CVG-BOS, cracked pepper turkey breast pita with chips, cookie, and apple (*not* Sky Deli). No drink service in coach CVG-CLE (due to weather, the F/As were instructed to sit), but "fast break" CLE-CVG.

Number of flights that arrived late: all landed on time. See next item for why CVG-CLE arrived at the terminal late.

Oddest experience: landing in heavy rain at CLE, pilot had been instructed to exit (high speed) to taxiway. He missed the taxiway, went to take the *next* taxiway, only to find it closed. He braked VERY suddenly (there were barriers in the way) and we found ourselves stuck in the middle of the field waiting for a tug. They had to close the runway until we got retrieved.

Load factor on all flights: 100% (plus pilots in the jump seat and flight attendants in the F/A jumpseats).

Time it took to retrieve checked baggage: 25 minutes at CLE (after finally arriving at the gate), 10 minutes at BOS. CLE delay was due to schedule mess-up after the planes started arriving at once due to pilot/controller mishap mentioned above.

Crying babies: one (CVG-BOS). There was one very well behaved infant (no more than eight weeks old) with her parents in first class on CVG-CLE. There were also other infants who were quiet or could not be heard above the drone of the engines.

Musings:

• Comair seems to have fewer and fewer EMB-120s every time we go to CVG. One of these days I expect to land in CVG and see all CRJs.
• Nobody seemed to go crazy carrying things on. One or two people went a *little* bit overboard, but for the most part, people must have read my "holiday traveller's plea" :-).
• Most of the travelling population SEEMED to be either college students or families with small children. No business travellers that we could see (no surprise, really).
• BOS was actually *quiet* when we checked in to depart (and the new parking garage was mostly empty!). Things were VERY busy, however, when we landed Sunday night. So we used our favourite trick of walking to Terminal E and getting a cab in no time rather than wait 30-45 minutes in the cold (cold!!!) at Terminal C.
• This particular CVG-BOS DL flight didn't used to have a snack in coach. Service seems to be improving...
• The flight attendants were nice and calm, considering things were hell all over.

Next trip report (full fledged!) BOS-PDX-SEA-SLC-BOS, Christmas.

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