Wednesday, June 16, 2004 American Eagle flight 3030 Monterey, California (MRY) to Los Angeles, California (LAX) Scheduled: 1535-1703 Actual: 1538-1702 SAAB 340B N392AE Seat 10A Upon arrival at the airport, I headed to the American Eagle counter to check in. There were a couple people in front of me, and it took a few minutes. While I was waiting, a TSA agent came up and took the bags I was checking for inspection. The agent checked me in, advising that they were expecting the aircraft to arrive late from LAX but they still expected to depart on time. I headed over to the security checkpoint and went though with no problems. Eventually the aircraft arrived and passengers disembarked. While we were waiting to board, an agent came around and tagged the carryon bags that would be left at the door of the aircraft. At 1521, boarding started through gate 6, first for AAdvantage elite passengers as well as those needing assistance, and shortly after all other passengers were invited to board. The boarding passes showed group assignments, but for such a small aircraft boarding by group is pretty much a waste of time. At 1538, the propellors were spinning and we moved away from the gate. We headed out to runway 28L and were off the ground at 1544. Over Monterey Bay we made a 270° right turn to head south. Once we reached our cruising altitude of 19,000 feet, the flight attendant came through the cabin offering 7-Up, Cranberry Apple juice, or water. I selected the juice and was also given a package of cheddar cheese flavored snack mix. The flight was pretty smooth, and 10A was a good seat, behind the wing allowing a good view. The aircraft seemed different than some of the other American Eagle SAABs I had been in, it had small overhead bins over the 2 side seats rather than "overhead slots" that couldn't hold much at all. Los Angeles was covered in marine layer fog, and as we descended into it there were some bumps but nothing too severe. As we were passing the south side runways, I saw a Star Alliance A340 holding in position on runway 25R, I think it might have been Lufthansa's. We touched down on the north side, runway 24R at 1657. After pulling off the runway, we held short of runway 24L to allow a British Airways 747-400 to depart. Also while we were waiting, I saw a Frontier A319 land on runway 24L. We taxied to the American Eagle terminal, and as we were pulling in I saw an Air India 747-400, a new airline to LAX, heading to it's gate at the Tom Bradley International Terminal. At 1602 we were parked at gate 44F, I disembarked and waited at the terminal end of the covered walkway along with several other passengers for the carryon bags we had left at the side of the aircraft. Once they came, I headed over to pick up the shuttle bus that would take me over to Terminal 4. During the bus ride, I noticed an unusual 747 parked on the south side of the airport. I couldn't make out the details at the time, but with help I was able to determine that the aircraft was Air Atlanta Icelandic's TF-ARO painted in a special Olympic livery, which had flown the Olympic torch into Los Angeles on the same day. American Airlines flight 267 Los Angeles, California (LAX) to Honolulu, Hawaii (HNL) Scheduled: 1810-2041 Actual: 1812-2034 Boeing 767-323ER N376AN Seat 38A Upon arrival in Terminal 4, I headed over to gate 48B to wait for boarding. There were already quite a few people in the boarding area, though I did not hear any announcements requesting volunteers to give up their seats. I spent the time standing by the windows looking out over the ramp and the south runways. At 1733 boarding began, as usual it was done by pre-boarders first followed by groups. I was in group 3 so it was a few minutes yet before my group was called. When it was I headed over, had my boarding pass scanned and picked up the Hawaii Agriculture Declaration form. I settled into my seat, 38A; there were two rows behind me. A family with two infants was split up in front and behind me, fortunately the only time the infants were crying was before push back and after landing. :D It appeared to be a completely full flight, and at 1812 we began our push back from the gate. We headed for runway 25R on the south side for departure; we were #2 behind another American 767-300. At 1823 we were off the ground, heading through the clouds and on our way up to our cruising altitude of 32,000 feet. Initially, a drink service was offered along with mini pretzels. A preview of the movie, "50 First Dates" was shown, and flight attendants came through the cabin selling headsets. The "CBS Eye On American" program started on the video monitors, with news and sports segments, and an episode of "Two and a Half Men." I alternated between watching that and reading the American Way magazine. Dinner was served, and I chose to try the pasta, which wasn't half bad. It was accompanied by a salad which was mostly iceberg lettuce, a surprisingly most roll, and a marble brownie for dessert. Not bad. Certainly better than the Little Blue Bags offered by Delta on their San Francisco to Honolulu flight. I watched the movie, a romantic comedy starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. It was kinda cute. I wouldn't have spent the money to see it in theaters or rent/buy the DVD, but it wasn't a bad way to pass a couple of hours on an airplane. The fact it is set in Hawaii didn't hurt either. I did note that it has a very similar premise to an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise which aired during the past season. Both center around a character who loses the ability to form new short term memories. By the time the movie was over it was getting dark outside, and we were approaching the islands. Our approach was the usual one, passing south of the airport and turning to land on runway 4R. We touched down at 2028 and headed to the gate. We stopped and waited a couple of minutes just short of the gate, pulling into our parking place at gate 16 at 2034. Being near the back of the aircraft it took some time before I was able to leave my seat and head out, as I walked out of the central concourse I noticed an American Trans Air flight had just arrived as well. I headed down to the baggage claim, got my bags when they came off, and headed home. Originally, I had planned to depart July 1 on American flight 58 to San Jose, and connect to American Eagle flight 3141 to San Diego. I was going to spend a couple of days in San Diego, before heading back to Monterey on July 4 via American Eagle flight 3096 to Los Angeles, connecting to American Eagle flight 3033. However, I was forced to change my travel plans and needed to skip San Diego, and head straight back from Hawaii to Monterey on the 4th. However, since the trip was already in progress, American wouldn't let me reroute the ticket, so I would have to buy a new ticket. After some shopping around, I found a $179 one way ticket from Honolulu to San Francisco on ATA, so I booked that. Sunday, July 4, 2004 ATA Airlines flight 626 Honolulu, Hawaii (HNL) to San Francisco, California (SFO) Scheduled: 1430-2228 Actual: 1425-2226 Boeing 757-33N N553TZ Seat 34A This was my first time flying ATA, and my first time on a 757-300; I have flown the 757-200 before with Delta, American, Northwest, and United. I arrived at HNL at around 1230, and found the ATA check-in area was not very busy. I put my luggage through the agriculture inspection machine, then went over to check in. After a few moments I was waived over to an agent who was standing behind one of ATA's self check-in kiosks, but I didn't use the kiosk itself, she checked me in. Once I had my boarding pass and my luggage was tagged, I was instructed to bring the bags over to the CTX machine at left them there. My family and I walked over and sat down next to the American check-in counters, where we said our good-byes and I got myself organized to go through the checkpoint. The line at the security checkpoint was rather short, and I went through without any difficulties. As I was walking down the breezeway to the central concourse and my gate, a Northwest 757-300 in new colors pushed back from the gate. I sat down by the window at gate 16 and waited for boarding. The aircraft was parked at the gate. While waiting, notable aircraft I saw included an Atlas Air 747 with full titles and livery, Lufthansa Cargo MD-11, and North American 757-200. No photos, unfortunately. The boarding area was pretty empty. Though summer is usually very busy for flights to Hawaii, relatively few people wanted to travel on the July 4th holiday itself. At 1346, boarding began. Boarding was announced as "Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays and ATA." I also heard the boarding announcements for the nearby departure to Phoenix and Chicago/Midway, which was announced as "Apple Vacations and ATA." Families with small children and those needing special assistance were invited to pre-board, and a few minutes later passengers seated in rows 20 and higher (row numbers go up to 44 on this aircraft) were invited to board. This included me, so I headed to the gate where my boarding pass was collected. There were boarding pass scanners at the gate and a bar code was printed on the boarding pass, but it wasn't used; instead the boarding pass stub was torn off and handed back to me. I settled into my seat, which was immediately in front of the rear mid-cabin lavatories. As SeatGuru had reported, they did not recline very much. Nobody was seated in either of the seats next to me, though there was someone in the row in front of me. The seats were leather and reasonably comfortable, though legroom seemed a bit tight but not significantly worse than other major airlines. During boarding, a Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays video was running, showing scenes from Hawaii and occasionally, an ATA L-1011. The other thing I noticed was the predominance of the color brown. The seats were brown, as were the shirts of the male flight attendants. It seemed to take quite a while for everyone to get settled, and this was a relatively empty flight. Still, we managed to push back from the gate 5 minutes ahead of schedule at 1425. The safety video was shown, it was computer animated, with wire frame outlines of people. We headed out for departure. We were #2 for departure on runway 8L. First a Pacific Wings Cessna Caravan landed, followed by an Island Air Dash 8. Then the Aloha 737-200 waiting in front of us departed, followed by the landing of a winglet-equipped Aloha 737-700. Two Hawaiian 717-200s were waiting behind us to depart. We were off the ground at 1443. After takeoff, we made the usual right turn and flew past downtown Honolulu and Waikiki. Past Oahu, we turned and headed northeast towards San Francisco and continued our climb to our cruising altitude of 35,000 feet. Free headsets were passed out; they were the two prong type also used by Aloha and Delta, but were ear bud headsets rather than the clip-on-the-ear type used by Aloha and Delta. The first video program was Travel Cafe, which featured travel information and recipes from the Australian state of Victoria. Hot towels were passed out, along with an initial beverage service; the first alcoholic drink was free. I asked for apple juice and was given a cup along with a small package of macadamia nuts. A flight attendant also let me know about the limited recline of my seat and advised me the exit row behind the lavatories was open. I stayed where I was for the moment, however. After Travel Cafe, the movie "Hellboy" was started. I decided not to watch it, preferring instead to read the ATA in-flight magazine, Ambassadair's Journey. Ambassadair is ATA's travel club, and a good portion of the magazine was devoted to advertising Ambassadair's packages. Also in the seat pocket was Pleasant's Hawaii magazine, which is a tourist publication for Hawaii visitors that can also be picked up free from stands throughout Waikiki. During the movie dinner was served, with the drink cart right behind it. I chose the Beef Strips, which reminded me of Chicken Fried Steak TV dinners. It was served with mashed potatoes and vegetables. In addition there was a cucumber and tomato salad, a roll with Country Crock spread, a package of Club crackers, a triangle of cheese, a package of Biscoff cookies, and a cup of spring water. All utensils were plastic. From the beverage cart I ordered another cup of apple juice. After dinner I decided to check out my seating options. The passenger in front of me had reclined his seat fully, limiting my room. I saw that the entire exit row was indeed open, so I picked up my book and headset and moved back to seat 36F. With nobody seated in the row behind, I could recline without feeling any guilt. Later there was a third beverage service, and I requested cranberry apple juice and was given a cup. After the movie, a situation comedy was shown, followed by some sort of news magazine. I didn't pay much attention, instead continuing to read. Towards the end of the flight, cups of orange sherbet were passed out along with a packaged moist towelette. The sherbet was a bit hard, and thus took some work to eat with the plastic spoon. Finally, as arrival neared, mints were passed out. As we passed over the bay area, I could see bursts of light and occasional aerial fireworks. The flight attendants took there seats, one in the jump seat facing me. Since I was now in an exit row, she asked if I was willing to assist in an emergency and I responded that I was. The approach to SFO seemed typical, and we touched down on runway 28R at 2220. After a few minutes taxiing, we were parked at gate 25 at 2226. Being a long skinny plane, it took a few more minutes for everyone to get off. I headed for the baggage claim. One of my suitcases was already circling as I walked up to it, but it was several minutes before the second batch of baggage arrived, which contained my second suitcase. While waiting I noticed that the carousel was rather small, and wondered what it would be like with all the people crowded around had our 247-seat aircraft been full. Because of the holiday, the Monterey/Salinas AirBus was not running their 2315 departure from SFO; their last shuttle left at 2100. Knowing this, I had reserved a rental car from National. After my second suitcase arrived, I headed down the steps and through the tunnel, then up the elevator to the AirTrain which would take me to the car rental center. There was no waiting there either, and after taking care of the paperwork I headed into the garage. National lets you select whatever vehicle you want from the class you reserved; I had reserved a compact and had a choice between two Chevrolet Cavaliers, a Saturn Ion, and a Pontiac Sunfire. I chose the Ion, put my luggage in the trunk, and headed for Monterey. Traffic was pretty light, especially once I was south of San Jose, and arrived at my apartment at about 0100, but I had the time difference from Hawaii working in my favor so it felt like only 2200. I returned the car to National at the Monterey airport later in the afternoon. Overall, American was about as usual. Nothing wrong with them, but nothing special aside from More Room Throughout Coach. ATA was fine, the service they provided seemed similar to Aloha's (free drink, free movie, hot meal, end of flight dessert), but they didn't have the same aloha spirit of Aloha and Hawaiian's flight attendants. Hawaiian and Aloha remain my top choices for flights to Hawaii, but I would fly ATA again if the price was right. -- David Mueller / MRY dmueller7@xxxxxxxxx http://www.quanterium.com