A two part trip, first to San Francisco on Delta, then from there to Quebec City, Canada on Northwest. DL = Delta Air Lines NW = Northwest Airlines HNL = Honolulu, Hawaii SFO = San Francisco, California DTW = Detroit, Michigan YQB = Quebec City, Quebec, Canada Thursday, June 5, 2003 DL 314 HNL-SFO 767-432ER N825MH new colors seat 25G There were lines for both the agriculture inspection station and for check in. Delta's kiosks were out of service. An agent checked us in and we went over to security; the line was a bit long so we went down to the next checkpoint next to American's counter. ID and boarding pass checked, then boarding pass again as went through the magnometer. Headed to gate 21 for departure. Noticed that while the aircraft was painted in the newest colors, part of the port engine nacelle cover was for the Ron Allen livery. Boarded when they told us to. Carry-ons in the overhead bins and we sat down. Pushed back at 9:29pm, one minute ahead of schedule, and taxied to runway 8R for departe, rolling for takeoff at 9:47pm. Video programming throughout the flight was the feature film, Shanghai Knights, followed by Delta Horizons Spectrum, with various video features. I tried to sleep, not really succeeding, in lieu of paying $5 for those painful, pneumatic in the ear headsets. Meal service consisted of beverages and pretzels. That's it. Sure, it's a red eye. At least Hawaiian gives a sandwich and chips on their 5 hour red eye flight to Los Angeles. The winged headrests weren't much help since if you try to rest against them with them folded out, they just fall back against the seat. Overall the flight was pretty smooth, with just a few bumps here and there. Same for all six on this trip, actually. Eventually we began our descent into SFO. As we emerged from the clouds we powered up and climbed up back above them. One of the pilots came on and explained that there was a passenger in a lavatory so we couldn't land and thus we were going around. Despite the go-around we still touched down on 28R at 5:24am, 6 minutes ahead of schedule. We taxied to our gate, 46. Got off the plane, and headed for baggage claim. Bags were delivered reasonably promptly. Then began the trek to our rental car. Down the escalator and through the tunnel to the parking garage. Then through the garage to Terminal 2 and up the escalator to the SkyTrain station. Then take the SkyTrain to the rental car building, but since we were renting from Payless, an off-site company, we weren't done yet. The signs indicated to take an elevator to the ground floor, but once there there was no sign. We ended up walking into the empty lobby to find a sign outside pointing us to an outside island back the way we came, where there was a small phone we used to call and ask Payless to come pick us up. The SkyTrain is a decent enough idea, as is the rental car center. Beats the old half-hour (it seemed) shuttle bus ride to the old Alamo offsite lot if you're renting from an airline located there. But why is it on the parking lot side of the street, rather than on the terminal side? Thursday, June 12, 2003 Returning the car went better, mainly since we already knew where to go. NW 340 SFO-DTW 757-251 unkn reg old colors seat 35F Lines were short so we checked in with an agent. Security line wasn't too bad. Went to gate 47 to wait for boarding. Where the aircraft was parked I couldn't see it to get the registration. Boarded when our row was called and stowed our carry ons in the overhead bin. Near scheduled departure time the captain came on the PA and advised they were having a problem with the air conditioning. Scheduled to depart at 8:15am, we pushed back a half hour late at 8:45am. Taxied to runway 1R for departure and were rolling at 8:56am. Though the aircraft was equipped with CRT televisions and in-seat audio, the system was not used. Safety demonstration was done by the flight attendants. Breakfast meal consisted of a warm bagel with cream cheese, Wheaties cold cereal with milk, and a banana, along with the usual assortment of beverage choices. I read the World Traveller magazine, which I noticed had diagrams of all the aircraft in NW's fleet in new colors, except for the Saab 340. We were able to make up a little bit of the delay in flight, touching down on runway 3R in DTW at 4:10pm, 20 minutes late. We taxied to our gate, A28 where we deplaned and hurried over to concourse C for our connecting flight. NW 3762 DTW-YQB CRJ-200LR N8580A old colors seat 10D opb Pinnacle Airlines Arrived at gate C4 with a few minutes to spare before boarding started. This would be my first time in a CRJ; having my first Regional Jet flight in March in an American Eagle ERJ-140. As boarding started we were asked to make sure the back side of our boarding passes, with the contact information, was filled out. Something was mumbled about a Canadian customs form, but when we enquired about them as our boarding passes were collected, we were told she would give some to the flight attendant, even though there was a stack right next to her. Boarding was through a jetway. As I sat down on the aircraft, I immediately noticed the small windows that are too low. They're ok if you want to look down, but not if you want to look out, say at the wing or of the other aircraft on the ramp. The flight was not full, and the flight attendant closed the air vents for the seats where nobody was sitting. We pushed back at 5:07pm, four minutes late, and headed for runway 3L. On our way out I noticed a Saab 340 in new Northwest colors; had also seen a 747 with the new paint. We were rolling for takeoff at 5:21pm and headed for Quebec. Drinks and Biscotti cookies were served. Touched down in YQB at 6:41pm, 17 minutes early. We parked and disembarked onto ramp and into the terminal building at YQB's small customs and immigration hall. After having our passports stamped, we claimed our bags. My father stopped by the currency exchange desk while I wandered the terminal looking for Hertz. Found them all the way at the other side next to domestic baggage claim. Picked up our car and headed to the hotel. Wednesday, June 18, 2003 NW 3763 YQB-DTW CRJ-200LR N8142F old colors seat 5D opb Pinnacle Airlines Time to go home. Dropped off the car and headed for the Northwest Airlink counter. Line wasn't too long but moved somewhat slow. Only two agents working checkin. Keep in mind though, that all NW has at YQB is two flights a day, both with CRJs. According to the flight information monitors, NW also codeshares on American Eagle's flight to Boston and there was the NW name at AA's counter, along with their other codeshare parners on the route, Midwest and Alaska. The NW magazine, however, did not indicate the route, only the DTW flight along with Continental Express' flight to Newark. When we tried to check in, the agent at first was going to tag our bags only to SFO, though our final destination was HNL. The reservations had been booked separately and he didn't seem to know how to tag the bags for the DL flight. At first he said we would have to claim and recheck them in SFO, then he said he would tag them to SFO now then his supervisor would try to fix it when she arrived at 8am. Finally he called Delta (or somebody) and they got it setup to check our bags through to HNL. He got is checked in and gave us our boarding passes along with a US Customs form. At first he gave us one in French; when we asked he got us the English version. We brought our bags over to the big x-ray machine next to the NW counter, then headed to gate 8 to await boarding. We passed through security and sat down. While waiting I managed to get a couple of photos, a Hydro Quebec Dash 8-400, Air Canada Jazz Dash 8, and a Beech 1900 cargo plane. Also saw a Quebecair Saab 340, Air Canada 737-200, and a pair of Royal 737-200s, all of which I could not get photos of. Boarding started later than it should have for an on time departure, which was scheduled for 8:20am. We finally powered out of the gate at 8:44am, and headed to runway 24. There we sat holding short. The captain came on and said there were no problems with the weather or aircraft, they were just waiting for the final numbers from headquarters. We waited for a while, finally rolling for takeoff at 9:20am, a full hour late. The captain said he'd buy us drinks because of the delay, but since this was an international flight, they were already free. Thanks to schedule padding we weren't expecting to arrive an hour late; the flight takes about an hour and a half but is scheduled for 2:20. The flight attendant served drinks and a granola bar. After serving drinks she came through the cabin offering a second bar. We touched down on runway 22L at 11:00am, 20 minutes late. We taxied to gate A46. YQB doesn't have US customs so we were treated as an international arrival in DTW, thus needing a gate that would feed us to customs. We disembarked via the ramp and were directed into a building and took an elevator down. While waiting for the rest of the passengers and flight crew, I overheard one of the agents commenting to a passenger that they were wondering where we were; normally our flight is about a half hour early. Once everyone was on the lowest level we were lead to the customs hall where our passports were processed. Then we claimed our bags and were checked again, then directed to baggage recheck. The lines were a bit long as there was also an Amsterdam flight that had arrived. Security at recheck was not well organized; they had several different machines and were were directed to one, but they couldn't keep track of whose bags were whose so that we knew when our bags had all been processed ok. NW 345 DTW-SFO 757-251 N552NW old colors seat 34A By the time we made it to gate A24 they had already started boarding. We got on and settled down. Scheduled to depart at 12:27pm, we were first delayed by loading bags, then by problems with the tug. Two thoughts crossed my mind at this point. One, if this was Eastern, we could powerback (since as I recall hearing, EA powerbacked their 757s), and if this was a DC-9, we could powerback. But alas, we had to wait. We pushed back at 12:39pm. While taxiing to the runway 28L, I saw a NW DC-9 in new colors. Also saw a Spirit MD-80 in their new colors parked near their hangar. We were rolling at 12:55pm. This aircraft had LCD monitors, but like on the previous flight, they were not used. Shortly after takeoff, the captain gave some technical details about the flight, most interesting was that the amount of fuel we were going to burn could power a small SUV for 8 years. Meal service was a choice of ham or turkey sandwich, along with a bag of Fritos corn chips and a cup of water, along with the usual beverage selections. I managed to doze off a bit on the flight, and eventually we began our descent into San Francisco. Approach was from the south, but seemed further east than I was used to, almost like we were going to Oakland; normally when flying through SFO I had been on north-south flights, and for some reason I had a tendency to sit on the other side of the aircraft. As we flew over the south end of the bay, I heard other passengers wondering about the colored areas and realized I wasn't sure what they were either. Touched down on runway 28L at 2:19pm, five minutes early, and taxied to gate 43. DL 219 SFO-HNL 767-432ER N833MH new colors seat 39G Had a long layover, about 3:30. I was hoping Delta would have a kiosk airside so we could check in without exiting the secure area, or waiting until an hour before the flight. We saw there was no security line, so decided just to go to the ticket counter to check in. Did that then went back through security. Got a drink at Jamba Juice, and watched what traffic I could see, with a few photos; British Airways and Air France 747s, and also the AlaskaAir.com 737-400. The United terminal is better for watching planes. The flight was overbooked and they were asking for volunteers to be bumped in exchange for confirmed first class the next day, $400 travel vouchers, hotel accommodations, and meal vouchers. The big caveat was that checked bags were going to fly to HNL as originally scheduled. We didn't need to be back in HNL that day, so we gave up our seats. I also noticed that they were also offering first class upgrades for the same day for $150. After the flight left they processed our compensation, getting us our various vouchers. Listening to the agents, it sounded like two passengers were bumped involuntarily, only one of which actually showed up at the gate so he got reaccommodated. We asked about and were told we could get amenity kits from the baggage service office, which we did, then headed outside to wait for the shuttle to the hotel, the Best Western Grosvenor Hotel. Thursday, June 19, 2003 DL 219 SFO-HNL 767-432ER N843MH new colors seat 4F Went back to the airport to check in. Tried to use the kiosk but it couldn't find our reservation. An agent, who I had seen at another gate the day before, tried to check us in, but the boarding passes printed out that they required a flight coupon; apparently our new reservation was set up for paper tickets but we weren't given them. He checked with the agents who were working the flight yesterday and they marked our boarding passes so they'd know to accept them without the ticket attached. Went through security, not much line there. Back to gate 46, the flight had already arrived from Salt Lake City. Full again and they were asking for volunteers, but this time we did need to get back, plus they weren't offering first class. As we boarded the flight we were thanked for giving up our seats the day before. We settled into our seats, which my father thought reminded him of Hawaiian's DC-9 first class seats. My brother had recently been upgraded on a Hawaiian 767, and also thought their first class was better, Delta's only advantage being personal TVs. The seats were a leather-fabric mix; fabric on the seating surfaces and leather everywhere else. Prior to departure drinks and snack mix were served. While we were waiting to depart, a Sun Country 737-800 came in from Minneapolis and parked next to us. Nice paint job on it. We pushed back four minutes behind schedule at 6:09pm and taxied to runway 28L behind a United Express CRJ. We were rolling for takeoff at 6:19pm. A lot of side-to-side turbulence on takeoff which smoothed out after maybe 30 seconds. On my PTV, I watched Lost in La Mancha (the coach class movie was How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days). During the movie dinner was served. A chicken sandwich (deli-meat style sliced chicken), a bag of salt-and-pepper potato chips, and a small baked pastry I can't remember what. Probably not much different than the "Little Blue Bag" coach passengers got on the flight, but with better presentation (on a try with actual plates and drinks in glasses), but plastic utensils. After dinner I played some solitaire and some hangman on my PTV, before catching part of the movie Chicago for the rest of the flight. Scheduled to land at 8:13pm, we touched down on runway 4R at 7:55pm, and taxied to gate 20, with an American 757 to our left, and and Delta 767-400ER to our right. Got off the plane and headed to baggage claim, where we found our bags waiting for us at the baggage service office. Overall thoughts: - Delta's meal service is inferior to Hawaiian's. - Delta's domestic first class service is not worth paying for. More legroom, a little bigger seat, and a PTV. Meals hardly better than coach. Flight attendants about as attentive. Hawaiian does better here too. - Better windows and 1x2 seating (good when traveling alone) give Embraer an edge over Bombardier in the 50 seat RJ comparison. - Does Northwest really save money by not using the TVs? -- David Mueller / HNL dmueller7@xxxxxxxxx http://www.quanterium.com