A quick check of the AA balance for this year along with a
summation of remaining travel left me in a bit of a pickle, I was currently
sitting on 30,393 BIS miles so far and have another ~8,000 remaining in already
planned revenue tickets before the end of the year. Having hit Gold this year
for the first time I felt like we were on a bit of a role, so naturally “What
if we shoot for Platinum?” popped into my head…Hmmm one good mileage run or one
strategically planned domestic ticket would get me there along with all the
benefits that awaited. After perusing the forums, ITA search engine and AA.com
one deal popped up and called to me it was a great deal from JFK to HNL, what
better way to pick up the necessary miles than by going to visit family? The
only issue left was when and how to get to JFK, a bit more searching combined
with the relative flexibility of my schedule this month (rotating shifts so
different off days each week) allowed me to find sale fares from SJU to JFK
that timed up perfectly and ended up setting the trip up at ~4 cents per EQM
and 3.6 cents per RDM. But of course that doesn't include the big bonuses:
·
- 500 mile upgrades (will be 8 when completed rest of qualifying travel)
- · Platinum qualification including;
- · 100% mileage bonus on all flights
- · OneWorld lounge access on international flights
- · 72 hr. upgrade window vs. current 24 hr.
Tickets booked, upgrade requests in and the waiting game
began, no upgrades cleared at T-24 hrs. but I was keeping a close eye on
ExpertFlyer and knew there was still lots of availability to JFK. At about T-12
hrs. the first one cleared, SJU-JFK and it continued this way for the rest of
the segments, nothing clearing until T-12 at the earliest but most at about
T-4-6 hrs. I did pretty well too I’ll say, clearing on all flights but the
transcons and this allowed me to sample essentially all of AA’s domestic first
/ business offerings; old brown recliner seats, newer blue recliner seats and
the angled lie flats (NGBC) commonly used on international flights plus a regular
coach window seat and also a coach exit row seat…It was like climbing the
comfort scale one step at a time!
Monday – 05:00
Seaborne Airlines
#2205 Seat: 2C
Depart: STX @ 6:15
Arrive: SJU @7:05
One of the great or not so great things about flying out of
a small airport is that generally there is only 1 customs officer on duty at
any time, which means that when he shows up late and only 20 minutes before
your flight that you spend your morning waiting outside. Soon we were through
and lining up on the tarmac to board our Twin Otter for the hop to SJU. One of
the great things about these planes are the huge windows, I'm not sure
if the 787 will even be able to match these, and they give a great view of the
beautiful surroundings here.
Vieques (front left), Culebra (back left), St. Thomas (back right)
Vieques (La Chiva or Blue Beach), Culebrea (background)
Unfortunately the preflight checks and a bit of a headwind
slowed our progress so we were late into San Juan, where upon arriving we found
we had to taxi around the whole airport due to some construction. Rather than
arriving at 7:05 and having comfortable 40 minute connection we reached our
gate at 7:35 leaving only 10 minutes to cross 2 terminals to reach the gate for
my connection onto AA. Luckily the airport is nearly deserted at that time of
the morning, so with a stride Usain Bolt would envy I was off the plane, up the
stairs and at full speed through the terminals dodging cleaning ladies and off
duty police before reaching the gate just as the last passengers were boarding.
Following a quick interrogation by undercover San Juan PD (apparently my
running scared some people!) I was down the jetway to the relative comfort of
AA’s old brown recliners.
AA 648 (757-2) Seat:
5A
Depart: SJU @ 7:55 AM
Arrive: JFK @ 11:39
AM
I very much look forward to the day that these brown seats
are forever gone from AA, although nice and wide there’s something about the
shape that just isn't right and I feel like there is nowhere to rest your head.
That gripe aside I had what was most certainly the best egg dish I've had on a
plane before on this flight, mozzarella and spinach quiche with chorizo, and
roasted potatoes.
I chose a warm biscuit to go with it and naturally a glass
of orange juice and a Bailey’s coffee. The surprise of a good breakfast made up
for the connection issues earlier and I settled in for some computer work for
the rest of the flight.
Spinach Quiche with Chorizo, Roast Potatoes and Biscuit
The Admiral’s Club near gate 42 was the stop to kill a
couple hours before shoehorning myself into 25A for the transcon so needless to
say I was looking forward to stretching out and watching some TV while having
lunch. Little did I know but Oktoberfest has hit AA and they were offering a
smoked ham / bacon sandwich on laugenbrotchen, though it turned out to be more
of a pretzel cut in half than a true pretzel roll.
AA 117 (767-2) Seat:
25A
Depart: JFK @ 1:45 PM
Arrive: LAX @ 4:30 PM
As I've mentioned before, Priority AAcess makes itself
invaluable when in coach…especially on a packed widebody. All exit row seats
were already taken when I booked my flight so I settled for next best, a window
close to the front. Upon settling in I noticed that unless I've shrunk there
seemed to be much more knee room than I was expecting, sure enough when I
pulled up seatguru using the gogo inflight wifi (wish they still had the free
trials!) I saw that AA’s 762 have 33-34” of pitch, easily outdoing any of their
other offerings or most domestic competition! The pilot comes on to announce an
on time departure and that he’s expecting we’ll be in LA about 15 minutes early,
in addition we’ll have clear skies including views of the Grand Canyon,
Rockies, Las Vegas etc. I think this is going to be a good flight until I get
the seatmate who refuses to use his voice, he just sits and stares…uh-oh. On
the upside there’s a new American Way with an article on Panama, looks nice
better add it to the soon go list. Flight attendants come around for snack /
drink service; I order a giant pretzel with mustard (again on the Oktoberfest
theme J)
and snagged the only Glenlivet allocated to Y. This was all met with a stare
from quiet guy, who proceeded to point to some drink without answering the FA’s
queries as to his selection. It continued this way for the rest of the flight,
I realize it’s not important whatsoever but can’t you at the very least be
polite? Finally upon landing Mr. Seatmate is the first up but then stands there
and talks to other passengers around and gets down a bunch of luggage, guess he
just didn't like me!
Grand Canyon
Another airport another Admiral’s Club, though I will say I'm
not too fond of the one at LAX. The area by the bar is always packed and also
the only area with TVs and good plane spotting, whereas the area in the back is
nice to relax but always too cold and feels like you’re in the middle of
nowhere. This time there were goodies in addition to the snack mix to keep me
entertained.
Cheese and Crackers, Rum and Coke
Next installment, Hawaii flights and the Aloha service
No comments:
Post a Comment