Persistence Pays Off

Sometimes dealing with the airlines is maddening.

I made another family visit to Denver recently but it wasn’t easy securing the award ticket. In fact, it was downright difficult. I wanted to use my #BritishAirways Avios points for travel on #AmericanAir and went online to the BA site to make my booking. I followed the instructions to book my flight with Avios; logged in with my frequent flyer number and password and selected the flights showing as available for the dates selected. It was to cost me 65,000 Avios points and only $11.20 in taxes for the First Class award seats. Unfortunately, each time I attempted to confirm the transaction, the Web site told me that “whilst you were making your booking, the seats have become unavailable. Please try again later.” After three such attempts, my frustration level was off the charts.

Frequent flyer awards are interchangeable with One World partners American Airlines and British Airways.

So, I next placed a call to British Airways and, after waiting for what seemed like an eternity, an agent informed me their One World partner American Airlines was the cause of my difficulty. According to her, they had been informed of the issue but had taken no steps to rectify it. I didn’t actually believe this all-too-simple “pass the buck” answer but didn’t really care as long as I got my desired flights. That she was able to do for me with a slight change to my return but she explained that American would not let them book specific seats.

You can spend a lot of time when booking your awards.

That led me to call the American Advantage Platinum desk. I tried to use their automated voice response prompt but twice it told me I had seats in Row 6 (but I wanted Row 4). I needed to speak with a live human being. Eventually, I got John on the phone who changed my seats and added my Trusted Traveler Number to the record (which the BA agent had said she’d done but apparently had not). I was all set. A quick glance at the clock told me the entire process had taken 2 hours' time! I’m fairly travel savvy and won’t generally take “no” for an answer when dealing with the airlines but wondered how a more inexperienced frequent flyer would fare.

The Raleigh Admirals Club has a classy bar.

On the morning of my journey I left home at 9:45 AM and found my way through security after only 30 minutes’ time, thanks to having #TSAPRECHECK and traveling through the #RDUAirport. Their #AdmiralsClub was busy on that Friday morning but I managed to find a seat, double check the charge level on my devices and grab a light breakfast consisting of a muffin, coffee and orange juice. All the typical AM offerings were on tap at the Club, including fruit, yogurt, muffins, bagels, cereal, oatmeal and even cookies. The complete beverage station included regular and decaffeinated coffee, as well as a selection of teas, flavored water and juices.

The seats up front are almost 21" wide on the 737-800.

The B737-800 taking me on my first leg to #fly2ohare had 16 seats up front with four rows in a 2-2 configuration with a nearly 40” seat pitch. The aircraft was spotless which I found to be noteworthy as it had just flown into Raleigh from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport less than one hour earlier. Pre-departure beverages were offered with a friendly and efficient attitude. As this this was a late morning departure close to the Noon hour, a lunch service was offered to the First Class passengers. The flight attendants were warm and professional throughout the meal service.

The charcuterie plate was an excellent choice.

American allows their First Class passengers to pre-order meals up to 30 days in advance. I was anxious to try the Zoe’s Kitchen Charcuterie Plate as I had read several rave reviews online since it was first offered a few months ago. It did not disappoint and, in fact, it was delicious - no small feat for an airline meal! It consisted of prosciutto, salami, mozzarella, spicy olives and dried cherry tomatoes; served with three different types of hummus, crudités and several pita rounds as well as a bag of pita chips. You can be sure I did not go hungry on that 1 hour, 41 minute flight. Unfortunately, after landing early, it was a very long 22 minute taxi to Gate K3. My connecting flight to #DENAirport was departing from Gate H9. I had one half hour before boarding and I wanted to secure a spot in the overhead for my suitcase so no lounge visit for me. I headed straight to the gate when we were finally permitted to exit the aircraft.

The snack service on my second leg.

It was another 737-800 aircraft which took me to Denver but what a difference a flight makes. This one was not nearly as clean as my first plane and my seat did not lock in the upright position so I kept sliding backwards without pressing the armrest button. Let me tell you this gets old very quickly on a 2 hour, 48 minute flight. Since this was a mid-afternoon departure, only refreshments were offered in the cabin. After the beverage service with warm nuts, a nice fruit and cheese plate was offered. Was I hungry? No. Did I accept the food? Yes. That clinched it - no dinner for me that evening. The only drawback to the flight was having to listen to 2 pitches for the AA credit card from Barclays Bank, first on the overhead video monitor after the safety briefing and the second from a flight attendant prior to landing. The time flew by (no pun intended) as I busied myself with a streaming movie, having previously downloaded the Gogo Entertainment app to my iPad.

This Lufthansa 747-8 awaiting her departure for Germany.

We bounced through some moderate chop for 15 of the 20 minutes prior to landing 5 minutes early in Denver with generally cloudy skies and pleasant temperatures in the mid-80s. After a 10 minute taxi, our flight arrived at Gate A51 at 3:50 PM local time. Walking through the concourse, I passed Gate A43 where a beautiful #lufthansa 747-8 was parked before its departure for Frankfurt later that evening. Although I’d been on the road for about 9 hours, I would’ve hopped on that baby in a heartbeat, having never flown the newest version of the venerable “Queen of the Skies.”

The mountain air near the Denver Airport often means turbulence on the descent.

The Plane Train whisked me from the A Concourse directly to the Jeppesen Terminal in short order. On the train, I asked a #united pilot about the clear air turbulence we experienced prior to landing. He informed me that mountain air was normally turbulent and the air near the Denver Airport was especially so in late August and September. Who knew? (I’m a private pilot but received my training in the East with no experience in mountain flying.) Before long , I was traveling on the University of Colorado A line. After 6 short stops and a 36 minute ride I arrived at the beautiful downtown #NewUnionStation. More about my visit to the “Mile High City” in a future post.

Until next time…safe travels.