I Completed My First Fuel Dump

This weekend I crossed off a milestone in my points life: I completed a fuel dump.

It all started with a trip to Colorado Spring and a flight on Q400 from Denver to Colorado Springs. We boarded the plane and then we waited, and waited, and waited. Eventually, the captain comes on the speaker apologizing for the delay; apparently  we had a weight problem. I start playing on my phone researching mileage runs and five minutes late the doors were closed.

We start to taxi to the runway and we stopped. The pilot comes back on telling us that the plane has to much weight and we need to Fuel Dump. For the next 20 minutes, we sat on the tarmac with the engines going full blast burning fuel. The plane rocked back and forth the entire time. It was one of the most unnerving experiences, in my travel experience, and we were still on the ground. We were burning fuel longer than the actual flight.

I learned that Colorado Springs has a weight maximum for airplanes and someone in Denver filled the plane with to much fuel. On top of that, I saw 20 bags not make it on the plane. So, I completed my first fuel dump, but I don't think did it right.

Here are some other observations from this weekends trip:

1) All flyers are equal in Colorado Springs

           I learned the Colorado Springs' airport has no priority access line or PreCheck. Elites and all
           other passengers have to take off their shoes, pull out their laptops and remove their liquids
           circa 2011. Unlike our security experience at Dulles flying out, it took 10 minutes to get
           through security with only 2 others in front of me, and no one complained except Chris.

2) E+ has so much more room than regular seats

           On the ride out to Colorado Springs, I sat in a regular economy seat. The difference between
           Economy Plus and regular seats is noticeable. Add in a backpack, the room gets even less.

3) No more flying between Denver and Colorado Springs

           Even thought the flight is at max only 17 minutes long, it is one bumpy ride. Add on top of
           that one needs to sit in a hot, stuffy, and cramped plane for 20 minutes prior to taking off,
           I am done flying Q400 routes. If we ever are invited back to Colorado Springs, Chris and
           I will drive from Denver, regardless of the price

4) Colorado Springs has GREAT Tequila

           Let's just say , we closed down the bar in more than one way!!!!

I hope you had a great weekend wherever your travels took you.



           

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Review: Grand Hyatt Denver

Back in September I wrote about our many culinary adventures in breakfast and beer while in Denver and I realized I never wrote about our stay at the Grand Hyatt Denver. For our stay we paid for one night for $150 and cashed in 12,000 Chase UR points for the next night.

The hotel is located in the middle of downtown Denver and is a perfect place if you want to walk all over downtown like we did. It's just a few blocks from the 16th Street Pedestrian Mall which is a great spot to go for shopping and food. It also features a free bus route to take you up and down the pedestrian mall if you don't feel like walking. This location is also perfect to walk over to the LoDo district which has lots of great restaurants and unique shopping as well as the Rockies baseball stadium.

Kelsey flew in early in the day so she checked us in and the hotel was great about leaving a key for me at the front desk for when I arrived. We were given a free upgrade to a "corner king" room which was just a bit larger than the regular king room.

The best part about this room is that we were at the end of the hallway. I like being farther away from the elevators as it is usually much quieter than the middle of the hallway where people can often be heard coming and going at all hours of the day. The hotel was very quiet and modern, but nothing spectacular.

The room had an entryway that led into the main bedroom which featured a large king bed, a flat-screen tv, dresser/desk combo and a large window overlooking parts of downtown Denver. The living area was laid out a bit strange though since the tv was sitting on the dresser and was only really able to be viewed from certain angles from bed and the desk. On the right side of the room was the bathroom with marble tiled bath/shower combo, again nice, but nothing special.

Entrance 

Bed/TV

Dresser/Desk 

Bathroom and Closet

Overall the hotel was nice for what we needed, which was as a base to explore the city from. But everything else was just average. The staff was nice, but not nice for any longer than they had to be. Every time I went to the desk I had to wait at least a few minutes before being helped. When we were getting ready to leave we enquired about check out and were told it wasn't available, despite having status with Hyatt. They simply wouldn't budget and the lady who checked us out was more interested in gossiping to her co-worker than helping us find the best way to the airport. So those interactions made a nice hotel turn into just an average hotel.

"View" of downtown Denver 

Denver Food Tour Part 2: Microbrews at Wynkoop Brewing Company

After stuffing ourselves at Snooze we toured around Denver and ended up famished and looking for a good place to go eat. I also had heard great things about the amazing amount of microbrews that Denver has available so I wanted to try a bunch for y'all  and report back (It's a rough job, but someone has to do it). 

We walked around the "LoDo" district in downtown Denver and landed at Wynkoop Brewing Company which according to their website was the first brewpub in Denver. As we are DC folks at heart we of course had to go to a place that had a political element: current John Hickenlooper, the current governor of Colorado, was one of the partners that started the brewery. 

We saddled up at the bar and looked at their display which lists all of the beers they have on tap (Current List Here). Kelsey decided to try the "Rail Yard Ale" which is their classic amber beer. I decided to give em all a try (For science, yeah...that's it) and do a flight of their beers. 

Wynkoop has three different flights of beers divided into the "A Train, B Train and C Train" a nod to their location near the Union Station rail yard. 

I tried the "A Train and the B Train" which included: 

Rail Yard Ale, Orchard Ale, Light Rail Ale, B K 3 Schwarbier, Silverback Pilsner, London Calling IPA, Cowtown Milk Stout, and their Red Ale Seasonal (Sorry I don't remember the name)

They were all gerat but I was partial to their Orchard Ale and their London Calling IPA. I really wanted to try their "Patty's Chile Beer" which apparently has the flavor of chilies, but none of the heat. Guess that just means we have to go back again soon. :) 

Breakfast: The Most Important Meal - Denver Edition

I already knew that Denver was becoming a good food city, but I was surprised at how awesome it actually was. Here in DC lots of restaurants have "local food" or food that is "organic" but they use that as an excuse to charge you double. In Denver every restaurant we stumbled upon truly was a "local" restaurant and the taste of the food showed that local element with every bite.

Our favorit restaurant of the trip was Snooze, an A.M. Eatery  a breakfast/lunch joint that got rave reviews online as a locals favorite destination, so I knew we had to go.

We arrived around 9 a.m. and there were already dozens of people waiting outside. We went inside and found out the wait was 50 minutes to an hour...but the restaurant was packed so I knew we had to wait to try it.

The restaurant its self is designed as a classic 50s diner type setting. Lots of funky looking chairs and booths with memorabilia all over the walls. The restaurant infuses their own alcohol for their bloody mary and other morning style mixed drinks.

Bar Area with the infused liquor for breakfast mixes 

We decided against an alcoholic drink and I went with just straight coffee while Kelsey went with a vanilla latte, which were very delicious. 

Next it was time to tackle the menu....

The menu is primarily split between sweet and savory...now when I am at breakfast I always have trouble deciding between the two so Kelsey and I decided to split our entrees so we could get the best of both worlds. 

Kelsey decided on the "pancake flight" which like a beer or wine flight allowed you to choose three separate pancakes. She choose the "The Vermonter" which is a buttermilk pancake with blueberries, crumbled streusel, blueberry maple syrup and lavender butter; the "Pancake of the Day" which was a Pina Colada pancake with pineapple topping; and the "Coffee and Donuts Pancake" which was a buttermilk pancake glazed with maple icing and topped with crushed pecans and a cup o' espresso cream. 

I went the savory route and got the "Snooze Spuds Delux" which was hash browns, cheddar & jack cheese, scallions and I added bacon, eggs and poblano peppers. 

Awesome coffee cups 

"Snooze Spuds Deluxe"

"Pancake Flight" 

Everything was AMAZING!!! Seriously....we at all of this and didn't eat for the rest of the day because everything was so delicious and filling. The spuds deluxe was amazing and the poblano peppers added that needed zip to complement the rest of the scramble. The pancake flight was out of this world delicious with Kelsey loving "The Vermonter" and my coffee crazy self of course loving the "Coffee and Donuts." 

The atmosphere, food and the staff which were awesome made this an amazing experience that beat the hotel breakfast three times over and cost half as much. 

Good Service on United: It still happens!

Over the past year  I have developed a very love/hate relationship with United. I generally like flying them and find them better than some of the other legacy carriers. But, that being said, you can definitely see them going through their growing pains as the merger with Continental is fully realized.

Their phone crews are absolutely horrible...I have never called in and had less than a 20-30 min wait and I am always met with a horrible agent who seems to be troubled that I called and would like them to assist me.

But last night I was shown the good side of United...the side that people always used to talk about before the merger. I had spent the weekend in Denver and was headed back to DC. We boarded the flight and Kelsey and I were stuck all the way in the back of the plane (my least favorite place) and I ran to the bathroom quickly. I started talking to the steward that was working the back section of the plane and was getting the service carts ready for the flight. He was a big kidder and teased me a few times, but then he asked me why I had been in Denver and if DC was my home.

After talking back and forth for a bit he said, "Well for being such a good sport, I want you to have these," and he handed me a box. The box contained two cookies that were normally saved for the first class passengers, but they apparently had a few extra cookies.

I know this isn't a very big gesture, but the kindness of this gentleman is what United should be and could be as an airline. Just taking care of passengers and making sure they are comfortable wherever they are going. This is the United I hope to see again in the future.

We need your travel suggestions: Denver and Chicago

I figured this would be a good post to talk about the travel that I have for the rest of the year since you have heard about JD's last minute trip to San Diego coming up.

Once I got Kelsey hooked on trips using miles and points it was hard to slow her down enough to build in a pause for our fall travel schedule so September and October finds us just having one weekend actually at home.

This month we will be heading to Denver and Chicago and we need your help!

What should we do in Denver and Chicago?

I used to go Denver ever summer on the way to my grandparent's cabin in beautiful Estes Park, but I haven't been back in 5 or 6 years.

What places should we visit? What restaurants should we try? What bars should we head to?

As for Chicago we will be meeting up with Kelsey's family and a few of her friends...what's a good local place to try downtown?

We need you to pitch in and let us know what things we should try and where we can't miss!

PS - I've been meaning to add this in...but if you are heading to DC anytime soon...let me know and if I am free I would love to meet other points and miles fanatics and show you my city!

Hotel Flexibility by Chris

As a result of getting both of the American Airlines credit cards using the well-publicized 2 browser trick, Kelsey and I have four companion certificates between the two of us.

While this is a great benefit, the bad thing is that the certificates expire on November 30th! But the good part is that it means we have lots of travel coming up. We are in the back-end of our first trip on a companion pass to visit my parents in Seattle. In four weeks we are headed to Chicago to visit a few of Kelsey's friends, and her parents and relatives are driving up to meet us as well.

Kelsey's parents used points to book a hotel at the Grand Hyatt Magnificent Mile and I figured that at 15,000 points for a reward night it would be a good value for us as well. So I went through and transferred the points from Chase via my Chase Sapphire Card. The points transferred instantly and so I went through the booking process only to find that the Hyatt was fully booked and no reward nights were available. The only rate available was $450 for one night!!! Wayyyyyy beyond our budget so we will end up bunking up with her parents for a night.

The real problem is....what to do with those 15,000 points I have sitting in my Hyatt account.

I brilliantly (it happens very rarely :p) remembered that we were paying $300 for two nights at a Double Tree in Denver and could cancel it without any penalty. So I called up Hyatt to check for availability in Denver and found that I could get a free night at the Grand Hyatt Denver and just pay $150 for the second night!

The lesson I learned from this story is to not panic if the plans don't go exactly as you want them to. One perfectly laid plan can adapt to help you in another trip.

Hope you are all having a wonderful Labor Day!