What I Learned From My Mileage Run

Yesterday, I was on another mileage. This time I was off to Memphis. My time in Memphis would be exactly 45 minutes, as I was reboarding the plane that took me from Chicago back to Chicago.

http://www.ratpackstlouis.com

1) Memphis is in Tennessee

http://www.city-data.com

      For most of the day, I couldn't figure which state I was visiting. Normally, I am really
      good with geography, not today. So, I felt dumb asking the FA which state
      Memphis was located in.

2) Express Parking at BWI is Sweet

      My original plan was to park my rental car in hourly parking and pay the $22. However,
      after my extra expense for this trip, I decided to find an alternative place to park. This
      was a very last minute decision, I actually went into the hourly parking lot and then left.

      After following the signs to the other parking garages, I had two options: Express or
      Daily. Express was $10 a day and Daily was $12. I choose one of the 24 parking
      spaces left with Express.

http://www.bwiairport.com/en/parking/information-rates/express-parking

    The Express parking lot has people to help guide you to open spots; very helpful,
    especially when the parking lot is full. Then the shuttle comes to your parking spot,
    within minutes, to help you with your luggage and take you to the airport. My
    favorite part was that they give you a slip a paper with your parking spot on it.
    Remembering where you parked, after a long trip, is a bitch.

   The trip from my car to the terminal was less than 5 minutes. On the way home,
   I had to wait for 5 minutes for the shuttle, but was again back to my car in
   additional 5 minutes.

   In the future, I will use them again.

3) Can't Use Electronics Gate to Gate on All United Flights

  The FAA recently changes the rules about personal electronic use below 10,000 feet.
  United Airlines has received clearance to implement the plan, but only on those flights
  that they own. For instance, 3 of my 4 flights were United Express, operated by
  small airline companies.

  My first flight attendant did the normal "turn off electronics until we reach 10,000 feet."
  At first, I thought she might have missed the memo. It wasn't until my second and third
  flights, that the flight attendent (same on both) stated that the "FAA has changed the
  rules about using electronics throughout the flight and that TransState Airlines is in
  the process of getting FAA approval to implement it."

  Just because the plane says United, doesn't mean you get the benefit of flying United.

4) Memphis "C" Concourse Has Very Little Food Options

  My goal between my two flights in Memphis was to find something to bring back on
  the plane to eat. I was disappointed with the options.

  Here is the map:

  Yes, my choices were Moe's Mexican, Cinnabon, Hudson News, and a
  Starbucks (not pictured). I went with Moe's.

5) The Bathroom Is Your Shelter Area

   Yes, I am a northern boy, where this is not common.

6) Wish More Airports Had These
     

    The "C" concourse is older, so plugs were scarce absent. I think its smart for the airport 

    authority to install these for their passengers. My gate had 3 of them. That is 24 

    additional plugs (8 on each power thing). It's the small things like electric plugs

    that can improve a passengers experience.

7) Best Views from Chicago

    My flight back to Chicago from Memphis gave me some of the best views of

    Chicago from the sky. It was late afternoon, the sun was out, and very few clouds.

    The plane flew directly over the Pier and did a wide over the Lake. Even the FA

    was impressed by the view. As she got out of her seat to look through the window.

    I got these shots:

8) The ORD Toilet Seats Make Me Laugh

      Used them many times at ORD. They make me laugh each tim.  Only place I have ever 

      seen them. However, they are brilliant:

Conclusion: 

Overall, a great trip. Now cross my fingers, I get credit for these flights. 

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A Blast From The Past- American 777

Introduction
Tale of Two Lounges - Dulles Airport
Onward to Tokyo - First Class United & ANA Dreamliner
Castle in the Clouds - Park Hyatt Tokyo
Day Trip to Kamakura
Tokyo Hilton
Tale of Two Lounges - Narita Airport
A Blast From the Past - American First Class
The Joan Rivers Hotel - W Chicago Lakeside
Wrap-Up of Trip

To get home from Tokyo, I had few options available to me. The best option available was to spend 62,500 AA miles to fly from Tokyo to DCA with an overnight in Chicago in First Class. I earned the miles for this flight from applying for the American Airlines Citi Visa with a 75,000 mile offer.

Boarding to the flight was a little chaotic. First, boarding was delayed by 30 minutes with no announcement. Second, the ground staff was not very good at keeping the crowds in an orderly fashion.  Eventually, First Class was invited to board the plane.

First Class is a 1-2-1 configuration. If you are traveling with a companion, take the two middle seats as the seats swivel to face each other for meals. I was surprised by the size of the First Class cabin. It wasn't huge, but it was significantly bigger than United's cabin.

The seat suite was very comfortable. Not much privacy, but on this flight there was only 9 people in the cabin.

The seat converts into a lie flat bed. 

The bed was very comfortable. Much better than the one in United First and ANA business. I didn't feel like I was laying on a concrete slab or in a coffin like the other two. The pillow was super soft as well.

 The other cool feature of the chair is can change 90 degrees to allow for a different dining experience.

The dining experience made the flight feel like I was flying in the 1950s. This was no Thai, Cathy Pacific or Lufthansa experience, but it reminded me of a different time of flying. A time when the customer experience was the focus.

I was offered a chance to do a wine tasting before dinner. There were five wines and I tried them all. Why not? It doesn't cost any extra.

         

 

 There new table setting was sleek and very modern. Small touches go a long way in a customer experience.

 First up was an amuse of salmon with cream filling. It wasn't good or bad, just blah.

They offered a variety of different breads.

 Here is a copy of the first part of the menu:

 I asked for both appetizers and they kindly obliged.

The tuna was delicious. It was the right cold temperature and had great depth. Look at the color on the food.

The mushroom pate lacked salt, but it was fun. It was something different. Two thumbs up!

Next came the Chicken Consomme. Another great course. Amazing presentation and contrasting colors.

The salad course had a great creamy wasabi dressing. I should have passed on the salad. It was to fussy. Nothing special except the dressing which I could have dunked everything in it.

Main Course: Macadamia Nut Chicken with pineapple sweet potato mash.

This was disappointing. One of those dishes that sounded good on paper, but bad in practice. The chicken was hard as a rock. The potato mixture was hard and soft at the same time and the veggies are rubbery. Luckily I had plenty of food prior to this.

 Dessert was the best. Yum Yum Yum! A sundae with everything plus more and a coffee with Baileys

 An hour before landing, I had a quick meal.

The seafood chowder was great. Creamy with large chunks of seafood, bacon and potatoes. Nothing is better than good chowder in the winter.

This salad was so much better.

                                       

The best part was the apple crumble with a cup of cinnamon vanilla sauce. My mouth is still watering now thinking about it. Can I get a piece shipped to me now?

Every passenger has their own overhead luggage compartment which saves you tons of space. The overhead compartments were not the easiest to close. The angle they come down is akward.

The foot rest had a pocket for your stuff.

Plenty of space under your foot rest

And an awkward hook to hang stuff except during takeoff and landing.

The last thing to mention is the IFE. First, push this button and the screen pops up:

The size of the screen was a good size for an airplane.

You can control the screen via a remote control. Mine broke midway through the flight. I had to touch the screen to make stop the video, turn down the volume, pretty much anything.

Each of us in First Class was given Bose Headphones. I had never tried Bose, but they are pretty cool. The headphones block the sound completely. 

My headphones kept on shocking me. I would shift a little and I would get a massive shock from the headphones. I cut short my movie to avoid getting electrocuted on the plane. How does the new Batman end?

My only major compliant about the flight was the purser. She was a gruff old lady that needs to retire for the betterment of AA. She introduced herself to every passenger when they arrived except me. My first interaction with her was 90 minutes into the flight when she asked me what I wanted for dinner. I mentioned that I had not received a menu. Her response was lovely, "oh, you need one of those to order?"

My next weird interaction was the wine tasting. She asked me I was participating and accused me first of not handing in my wine sheet to her and then asking for 5 wines after marking only 3 wines on the sheet. Which one was it? Did I not hand in my sheet or did I only mark 3 wines on my sheet? Five minutes later she comes back with a tray with my sheet on it with 5 wines marked. Where did that sheet go? Economy?

Right before the flight was to end. She accused me of trying to steal the Bose Headset. Her proof of me stealing them: I still had them after she collected them. Again, she never came to collect them from me. The final kicker was that she wished everyone in the cabin safe travels except me. She must have jad a bad day.

The rest of the staff was amazing. If all American Airlines flight attendants were like the rest of the staff, American would be in great shape. 

Overall, the flight was amazing. Great product, amazing food, and semi-good service.

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