Comments and questions invited. Matthew :) Reading Week (Spring Break, in Metric); so time for another jaunt back home. I was invited to Philadelphia for the evening I was supposed to come in, and couldn’t get a Newark return on the day I wanted to come back, so PHL it was. Arrived at the airport (via Aerobus) about 2 hours prior, after using a Schwartz’s sandwich to ensure that I wouldn’t be hungry for the next 24 hours. Airport was busy, but I self-checked in, and bought my airport tax at a self-serve machine, so I skipped a pair of lines. Spent a little time in the Ficus lounge (but there was a little kid making all sorts of noise – so I left), met up with ex-girlfriend, went through Customs fairly quickly (5 mins); security also about 5 minutes, and down to the gate 23 complex (saw the Cubana/AOM DC-10 arrive while I was there) for Friday, February 22 Air Canada 316 YUL-PHL CRJ C-FVMK (Fin 111) Seat:11A Fare: 263USD Sched: 1650-1817 Actual: about that. There’s gate searches at Canadian airports now, too; first in line, and then the next person as soon as the first finishes. Pushed back pretty much on time, it looked like we were the first a/c not to get de-iced (weather was 1C/35F with light rain, which stopped about 15 minutes before we left). Taxied out to 24L, past the long, sad row of retired DC-9s. Departed, and stayed out of the junk long enough after departure to see some of the long lots and seigneuries on the South Shore. 55-ish FA who could barely fit down the aisle (and reminded me of a middle-school math teacher) passed out stale pretzels. Flew on top at FL240; some light chop on the descent. Broke out right over either the Tacony-Palmyra or Betsy Ross Bridge (I forget which, but they’re close to each other), floated in the flare, and landed long on 27R. Lots of reverse, but it’s still a long taxi back to D5, where we unloaded and walked across the tarmac and into the terminal. Bags were circling by the time we got to baggage claim [don’t like that], and I caught the SEPTA R1 train right across the cab access road. 20 minute ($5.50 – the part on the vending machine at the Terminal C&D station where you choose off-peak or peak fare was worn off) train ride, and a 7-block walk to a Penn rez hall, and door-to-door, Downtown Montreal to Center City Philadelphia in just under 6 hours. Pleasant week at home, etc… Took a NJ Transit train southbound an hour earlier than I should have, since I didn’t want to risk missing the NJT/SEPTA connection at Trenton. The earlier one made it, and I had plenty of time to switch at 30th Street, and buy the ticket for the R1 there. Wound up at the airport just over 3 hours before my flight, added my Mileage Plus number to my record (it was a Z-class student ticket; ineligible for Aeroplan miles now, but no such restriction for UA), switched seat (1A – I don’t like the CRJ bulkhead, but it was the only left-side window), and sent off my bag. 10 minute line at security, 2 detectors for the D entrance. Pre-checker asked to see ticket and BP; then asked for ID. I showed him my McGill card, since that’s the one I keep at the front of my wallet, and he was absolutely mystified. He then asked how old I was (is that even allowed?), and I pointed out where on the card the birthdate was. He then demanded my drivers license, which I had to hunt for, and told me that I needed ID in order to get on the plane. I had no less than *6* pieces of photo ID on me, but I thanked him anyway and went up to the detector. I put my bag and coat through, passed the detector, and saw the X-Ray operator remove my bag and place it under her chair. Naturally, I wasn’t going to let it out of my sight (camera, 3 lenses, CD player), so I was peering over the mechanism to keep an eye on it. Another of the screeners angrily walked up to me and demanded to know “why you studying this area.” “Because she’s sitting on my bag.” Another guy picked it up, and brought it over to the special searching table, where he directed me to sit in a chair with my back to the table. Yeah, right. I sat on the very edge of the chair, turned back towards him. “Aight, take off your sneaks.” I obliged, not even bothering to tell him that I wasn’t wearing sneakers. He swabbed them, and then sent me away without looking in the bag. Eeh. Once you’re airside, you’re airside for at least terminals B, C, and D, so I wandered around, since I’d never had the time to check out PHL. The rocking chairs between the fingers of C were all occupied, but I was able to sit down at B15 (right at the main high-speed turnoff for 27R arrivals, and right at the threshold for 27L departures. On my way there, I saw one electric cart driver try to get another out of the way by saying ‘beep beep,’ which earned her an argument from the other cart driver who started chewing her out (in the middle of the walkway!) for being unprofessional. Spent just over an hour there reading the newspaper, watched the US 4:30 bank go out, along with 763s from BA and AF (the Lufti-mutt Star A340 arrived). Eventually an A321 pulled in to operate the flight to DEN that was due out at 5:45, and the pax queued up. The first guy in line was sent to the table; and someone else was sent over as soon as he finished. I went back to my gate at D5, where a UA ORD flight was getting ready to board. This time the table checker (40-ish guy) just strolled over to the line, and picked out a girl (looked about 17-ish) for, um, “extra attention.” His lechery was duly rewarded when her 4 traveling companions (also 17-18-year old girls) also went over, since everyone in the party had to be searched. As soon as the ORD flight went out, an IAD one was called, but nobody was gate searched for that one (or maybe it was the reverse order, but Dulles wasn’t searched at all). AC was changed to D3, and most of the 26 of us (2/3rds of whom were in an extended family group) that would eventually board that flight huddled into the waiting area. The inbound was slightly late, but we generally boarded (as soon as the gate agents, who all ran away for some reason, returned) around 1840 for… Sunday, March 3 AC 317 PHL-YUL CRJ C-FZSI (Fin 152) Seat:1A Scheduled: 1850-2020 Actual: 1903-2028 Second trip on FZSI (AC316 YUL-PHL Oct 6, 2000) Had to take my camera bag out of my backpack to make it fit in the overhead (equipment is in the 1AC bin, I used the 1DF one; I was the only person in row 1), but I settled in nicely, although there’s no overhead or underseat storage, the CRJ bulkhead was decent when it came to legroom. Push at 1903, off of 27L at 1921, in clouds somewhere over south-central NJ (I could see what I think was the Trenton area before losing the ground), flew at FL290, started descent 17 miles south of Plattsburg (according to the FO’s announcement), broke out somewhere over southern Quebec (it was too populated to be the equivalent area of northern NY), and flew a straight-up pattern. Turned downwind over Nun’s Island, flew right up the St. Lawrence, past downtown (a tiny cloud layer took away some of the luster, but the light on top of the Place Ville Marie shined directly into the cabin every few seconds), and turned base much further out than usual, well past the L.-H. LaFontaine tunnel. Set up on a 7 mile final; and we’re being blown around very badly (I could feel it was a gusty crosswind; there were some gasps and moans from rows 2-13). After the longest 7 miles of flying in my recent memory, plunked onto 24R at 2023 [a check of the METAR said the wind was 270 at 35, no information about gusts]. Into 23B at 2028, we reach Customs just behind a Mexicana flight (aargh!). Our baggage claim information is blank, I eventually find our stuff (along with a Boston flight) on carousel 2, which is hidden behind a corner in the back of the international arrivals area. Hopped the Aerobus, and then their free shuttle to a hotel a few blocks away. Door-to-door in a shade under 9 hours, being cautious about trains added exactly an hour to the total.