What was supposed to be a routine day out and back for a meeting ended up being 6 hours of frustration at Dulles International Airport.
The problem is how they lead you on, giving you hope that your flight might make it out. They delay 30 minutes, then 45 minutes, then 30 minutes. If they had told you up front that you would be more than 3 hours late at least you'd get a chance to go to another carrier and see if they had a flight heading out. The end result is that you end up leaving the airport and driving back to your office at a furious rate of speed to make sure you get a chance to get on the phone and hear what's going on, anyway.
The airline industry is making it almost a requirement that you travel the day before if you have an appointment. You have to leave yourself a buffer space of 12 hours or so to make sure you get there ahead of your appointment. Good for the hotel business, bad for everyone else.
On the good side, the agents at the United ticket counter gave me a full refund and were pleasant and helpful. Once I endured the tremendously long "Concourse G" bus ride back to the main terminal, and found the one gate agent who handles this.
Monday, January 24, 2005
Monday, January 17, 2005
Image: Saab 340F
Saab 340 - Photo from United's web site
Copied here in case United moves the picture from their site. Saab's product page is here.
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Equipment: Boeing 717
The Boeing 717 was originally created by McDonnell-Douglas as the MD-95 in 1995. In 1997 MD merged with Boeing, and the plane was renamed the Boeing 717 (more specifically, the Boeing 717-200).
The plane is a twin engine configuration with both engines at the rear of the aircraft on the fuselage. The plane is normally configured for 100 passengers, and was positioned in the market for short-haul/regional flights. The planes were mostly purchased by AirTran Airways, and their recent decision to purchase 100 Boeing 737's probably sealed the 717 line's fate. My observation has been that the Canadaire Regional Jets are everywhere for smaller regional flights (even some longer ones -- United runs a IAD-DFW non-stop on them which is a 1700 mile flight), and the 737's are the workhorse for the low-cost domestic flights.
As a side note, AirTran still promotes the 717 as part of their image.
I've been on a few of these, always AirTran, and they always seem nice because they're usually pretty new. The rear engines are very quiet -- usually when the engines are on the fuselage it seems to transmit noise into the cabin easier. The cockpit is also a modern "glass" cockit with modern avionics.
In January of 2005 Boeing announced that it was halting production of this aircraft. Boeing maintains that this plane continues to offer tremendous value to their customers, but that the market demand for the plane doesn't justify keeping production going.
Product Site: http://www.boeing.com/commercial/717/flash.html
The plane is a twin engine configuration with both engines at the rear of the aircraft on the fuselage. The plane is normally configured for 100 passengers, and was positioned in the market for short-haul/regional flights. The planes were mostly purchased by AirTran Airways, and their recent decision to purchase 100 Boeing 737's probably sealed the 717 line's fate. My observation has been that the Canadaire Regional Jets are everywhere for smaller regional flights (even some longer ones -- United runs a IAD-DFW non-stop on them which is a 1700 mile flight), and the 737's are the workhorse for the low-cost domestic flights.
As a side note, AirTran still promotes the 717 as part of their image.
I've been on a few of these, always AirTran, and they always seem nice because they're usually pretty new. The rear engines are very quiet -- usually when the engines are on the fuselage it seems to transmit noise into the cabin easier. The cockpit is also a modern "glass" cockit with modern avionics.In January of 2005 Boeing announced that it was halting production of this aircraft. Boeing maintains that this plane continues to offer tremendous value to their customers, but that the market demand for the plane doesn't justify keeping production going.
Product Site: http://www.boeing.com/commercial/717/flash.html
Image: 717 Cockpit Detail
717 Glass Cockpit. From AirTran Airways web site. See http://www.airtran.com/info/aircrafts/photos.jsp.
There is also a huge detail of this picture at http://www.airtran.com/info/aircrafts/photo_4.jsp. Print it up on a large scale printer and hang it over your desk!
Monday, December 20, 2004
Flight: United #5585 BOS-IAD
Departing From: Logan Airport, Boston (BOS)
Traveling To: Washington Dulles (IAD)
ETD: 4:40 PM EST
ETA: 6:30 PM EST
Est. Duration:
Departure Gate: C15
Arrival Gate: G
Seat:1C
Equipment: CRJ65
Miles:
Other:
Tried to get on the 3:00 PM flight down - got to the airport at 2:15, so there was time to catch it. But, I was 6th on the list and the flight was oversold, so no luck there. Spent the time in the Palm Pilot store and the Red Carpet Club.
Airport was very crowded. Friday afternoon, plus some holiday travel starting up. First time in the Boston Red Carpet Club (might be more than one). Not a real big one, but wasn't real crowded so it was OK. Kind of has two sides to it, with the bar on one side and just chairs on the other side.
Flight was a few minutes late but arrived on time at the dreaded concourse G. In the first row, which is usually not good since there isn't space for luggage under the seat in front of you. Since it was a short flight and I was tired of carrying around that gigantic Dell laptop I checked it at the side of the plane and just caught up on some reading on the flight back.
My bag was not there when I got to baggage claim. Apparently, they had placed it on the earlier flight and the baggage claim areas were not near each other for me to figure that out. My bad made it on the earlier flight but I didn't!
Traveling To: Washington Dulles (IAD)
ETD: 4:40 PM EST
ETA: 6:30 PM EST
Est. Duration:
Departure Gate: C15
Arrival Gate: G
Seat:1C
Equipment: CRJ65
Miles:
Other:
Tried to get on the 3:00 PM flight down - got to the airport at 2:15, so there was time to catch it. But, I was 6th on the list and the flight was oversold, so no luck there. Spent the time in the Palm Pilot store and the Red Carpet Club.
Airport was very crowded. Friday afternoon, plus some holiday travel starting up. First time in the Boston Red Carpet Club (might be more than one). Not a real big one, but wasn't real crowded so it was OK. Kind of has two sides to it, with the bar on one side and just chairs on the other side.
Flight was a few minutes late but arrived on time at the dreaded concourse G. In the first row, which is usually not good since there isn't space for luggage under the seat in front of you. Since it was a short flight and I was tired of carrying around that gigantic Dell laptop I checked it at the side of the plane and just caught up on some reading on the flight back.
My bag was not there when I got to baggage claim. Apparently, they had placed it on the earlier flight and the baggage claim areas were not near each other for me to figure that out. My bad made it on the earlier flight but I didn't!
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Flight: United #980 IAD-BOS
Departing From: Washington Dulles (IAD)
Traveling To: Logan Airport, Boston (BOS)
ETD: 4:30 PM EST
ETA: 6:15 PM EST
Est. Duration:
Departure Gate: D16
Arrival Gate:
Seat: 19F
Equipment:
Miles:
Other:
Traveling To: Logan Airport, Boston (BOS)
ETD: 4:30 PM EST
ETA: 6:15 PM EST
Est. Duration:
Departure Gate: D16
Arrival Gate:
Seat: 19F
Equipment:
Miles:
Other:
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Airport: Portland Oregon (PDX)
Airport Name: Portland International Airport
FAA Sign: PDX
Location: Portland, Oregon USA
Airport Web Site: http://www.portlandairportpdx.com/
One of those "nice size" airports. United runs out of concourse E. There are 2 central security check points, with a food court between them and some stores.
Rental cars are very convenient, right across in the bottom of the parking garage. Nice aiport, easy to get in & out of, but with all the features.
FAA Sign: PDX
Location: Portland, Oregon USA
Airport Web Site: http://www.portlandairportpdx.com/
One of those "nice size" airports. United runs out of concourse E. There are 2 central security check points, with a food court between them and some stores.
Rental cars are very convenient, right across in the bottom of the parking garage. Nice aiport, easy to get in & out of, but with all the features.
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Flight: United #1548 (Ted) Las Vegas-IAD
Departing From: Las Vegas, NV
Traveling To: Washington Dulles (IAD)
ETD: 8:43 AM MST
ETA: 3:59 PM EST
Est. Duration: 4 hr 25 min
Departure Gate:
Arrival Gate:
Seat: 11A
Equipment: Airbus 320
Miles:
Other:
Changed Seats at check-in to window seat exit row 11A. This is a huge amount of leg room on a Airbus 320 - bonus for a long flight!
Traveling To: Washington Dulles (IAD)
ETD: 8:43 AM MST
ETA: 3:59 PM EST
Est. Duration: 4 hr 25 min
Departure Gate:
Arrival Gate:
Seat: 11A
Equipment: Airbus 320
Miles:
Other:
Changed Seats at check-in to window seat exit row 11A. This is a huge amount of leg room on a Airbus 320 - bonus for a long flight!
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Flight: United #1567 (Ted) ORD-Las Vegas
Departing From: Chicago Ohare (ORD)
Traveling To: Las Vegas, NV
ETD: 8:15 PM CST
ETA: 10:18 PM MST
Est. Duration: 4 hr 3 min
Departure Gate:
Arrival Gate:
Seat: 4C
Equipment: Airbus 320
Miles:
Other:
Still don't get the "Ted" concept. No first class, but everything else is the same. Frankly, it was a newer plane with a better flight crew than I'm used to with United flights.
Changed seats after take off to get some more elbow room. Prertty quiet flight. Everyone seems beat, I know that I am.
Little turbulence, less flight time than normal. Should get in a little early after leaving a little late.
Traveling To: Las Vegas, NV
ETD: 8:15 PM CST
ETA: 10:18 PM MST
Est. Duration: 4 hr 3 min
Departure Gate:
Arrival Gate:
Seat: 4C
Equipment: Airbus 320
Miles:
Other:
Still don't get the "Ted" concept. No first class, but everything else is the same. Frankly, it was a newer plane with a better flight crew than I'm used to with United flights.
Changed seats after take off to get some more elbow room. Prertty quiet flight. Everyone seems beat, I know that I am.
Little turbulence, less flight time than normal. Should get in a little early after leaving a little late.
Flight: United Express #5321 PWM-ORD
Departing From: Portland, Maine (PWM)
Traveling To: Chicago Ohare (ORD)
ETD: 5:08 PM EST
ETA: 7:02 PM CST
Est. Duration: 2 hr 54 min
Departure Gate:
Arrival Gate:
Seat: 3C
Equipment: CRJ 65
Miles:
Other:
Canadare Regional Jet, the CL-65 version. Plane was late taking off,about 30 minutes. I have more than an hour layover at Ohare, so I'm hoping that is enough of a buffer to catch the next flight. Seems like Ohare is busy today. It delayed this flight getting to Portland, and the pilot warned that there could be ATC delays getting into Ohare.
Pretty full flight,but not too bad.
Traveling To: Chicago Ohare (ORD)
ETD: 5:08 PM EST
ETA: 7:02 PM CST
Est. Duration: 2 hr 54 min
Departure Gate:
Arrival Gate:
Seat: 3C
Equipment: CRJ 65
Miles:
Other:
Canadare Regional Jet, the CL-65 version. Plane was late taking off,about 30 minutes. I have more than an hour layover at Ohare, so I'm hoping that is enough of a buffer to catch the next flight. Seems like Ohare is busy today. It delayed this flight getting to Portland, and the pilot warned that there could be ATC delays getting into Ohare.
Pretty full flight,but not too bad.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Flight: United #7976 IAD-PWM
Departing From: Washington Dulles (IAD)
Traveling To: Portland, Maine (PWM)
ETD: 4:45 PM EST
ETA:
Est. Duration:
Departure Gate: C20R
Arrival Gate:
Seat:
Equipment:
Miles:
Other:
Operated by Trans States Airlines
Traveling To: Portland, Maine (PWM)
ETD: 4:45 PM EST
ETA:
Est. Duration:
Departure Gate: C20R
Arrival Gate:
Seat:
Equipment:
Miles:
Other:
Operated by Trans States Airlines
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Flight: United Express #7162 MSP-IAD
Departing From: Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP)
Traveling To: Washington Dulles (IAD)
ETD: 5:05 PM CST
ETA: 8:34 PM EST
Est. Duration: 2 hr 54 min
Departure Gate: E10
Arrival Gate:
Seat: 6D
Equipment:
Miles:
Other:
Traveling To: Washington Dulles (IAD)
ETD: 5:05 PM CST
ETA: 8:34 PM EST
Est. Duration: 2 hr 54 min
Departure Gate: E10
Arrival Gate:
Seat: 6D
Equipment:
Miles:
Other:
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