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Trip Report MCO-ATL-MAD-LIS-TER-PDL-LIS-EWR-MCO (long)
Flight Schedule:
Orlando (MCO)-Atlanta (ATL) Delta-DL 1294 ATL-Madrid (MAD) DL 108 MAD-Lisbon (LIS) Tap Air Portugal TP 5713 LIS-Terceira Azores (TER) TP 1827 TER-Ponta Delgada (PDL) Sata Air Azores SP 405 PDL-LIS Sat International S4 128 LIS-Newark (EWR) TP 1331 EWR-MCO Continental CO 1692 My job required a 2-day meeting at Lajes Field in the Azores on Terceira Island. I was departing on Dec 6, originally from MCO to TER via EWR (on CO) and LIS (on TP). However, my plans changed due to the weather in Newark last weekend. I called Friday night to verify the flights to and from Newark would be going. According to Continental, they were still going, but suggested getting an earlier flight in case I was late arriving in Newark so I would still get the flight to Lisbon. So I changed to the earlier flight. Checked the flights on Saturday morning, and CO's website indicated delays, but the flight would go. I got to the airport at 9:00 AM Saturday. Upon arriving at the airport, I was told that the flights to EWR were cancelled, and I could try standby on Sunday. I concluded that standby would likely be full on Sunday, and therefore not get me there on time, so I left the CO desk and went to DL. I arrived at the DL desk at about 11:00 and the line was incredibly (and understandably) long. Fortunately, I had my Gold Medallion card, so I was able to go the first class line which was considerably shorter. Delta was able to get me on the 11:45 to ATL, and then onto MAD. I concluded that if I got to Europe, I could find flights to LIS and then on to TER. Of course, since I was buying a one-way ticket at the last minute, I got selected for additional security screening, and there were no upgrades available. I arrived at the gate to board the flight at final call. MOC-ATL was a typical short DL flight on a 767-300 domestic. I made it safely, and the service consisted of pretzels, and choice of water or juice. ATL-MAD was a much worse flight. When I arrived in ATL, I went to the counter to get seat assignments. I was able to get a center bulkhead aisle seat. I was originally pleased that I was able to get a bulkhead seat, until I got on the plane, and saw it. There is absolutely no legroom in the center bulkhead row on a DL767-300ER. I usually consult www.seatguru.com before choosing seats, but there wasn't time to do so for this fight. Any of DL typical coach seats would have been better. Dinner was some typical DL chicken product with mushy vegetables, and stale bread. After only being able to sleep about 2 hours on the 8.5-hour overnight flight, I landed in MAD. Immigration was quick and painless, and I set out for the TP ticket counter to see if I could get flights to LIS, and on to TER. I arrived at the MAD TP ticket counter, and they were able to get me a flight leaving in 1 hour to LIS. Finally something was going good. The flight was fine. I was able to get an exit row seat on the A319 and the extra legroom. A "spam" sandwich was served as a snack. I was quite surprised that a snack was served with the flight lasting only one hour. It was edible, and helped keep my mind off my tiredness. I arrived in Lisbon just before noon local time. Originally, I got upgraded for the EWR-LIS-TER legs, but I had not taken any of those flights. The evening flight from LIS-TER had no Business seats available, so I went to the TP ticket counter to see about getting my return flight upgraded. The TP representative was very cordial and refunded my miles for the unused upgrade, and was able to secure me an upgrade on the LIS-EWR return trip. There are only 2 LIS-TER flights on that day. One at 8:00AM (my original schedule), and one at 6:10PM. So I kicked back and tried to rest for the next 6 hours. I discovered that there is a WI-FI internet connection in the airport, but I could not find anyone that could let me know how to access it. Regardless, it passed an hour trying to get it to work. Two other colleagues arrived and met me in LIS at about 4:00PM. They were coming from another part of Europe, and they were surprised to see me there. They assumed that we would have gotten stranded at home due to the weather. Finally, it was time to board the flight to TER on another A319. A snack of cold cuts was served for dinner, and wine was complimentary. It was a relatively smooth flight, and we landed in TER shortly after 8:00. A day and one half later, I got on the flight from TER to PDL. It was a quick 40-minute flight on an old, worn British Aerospace Turboprop. After 2 hours in the PDL airport, I boarded the SATA 737. I was fortunate to again get an exit row. SATA configured that 737 to have no increased seat pitch for the exit row. However, they remove the two seats closest to the doors. I had the window seat with no seats in front of me which, resulted in great legroom. The flight landed in LIS on time, and I got a taxi to a hotel. The next morning, I slept in, and set out for the airport. One thing to note about taxi's in Lisbon. I have been there three times, and on all three occasions, the driver takes the long way from the airport, and the correct way returning to the airport. It has typically cost half as much on the return. I arrived at the check-in, and I was told the their A340 was not in service and an A310 would be used instead. They offered 300 Euros to leave the next day, or to connect through Paris and get to New York at 9:30 at night. I thought about it briefly, but chose not to as I wanted to be home that night, and not spend overnight in NY before continuing on to MCO. I was disappointed that the A310 did not have TP's new sleeper seats, but rather old tightly spaced Business seats. However, the service was great and the meal not bad. It consisted on lamb and some mushy veggies. I made it a point to take advantage of the freely flowing Port, and after dinner, I fell asleep, and didn't wake up until we were somewhere over Boston. It was ironic that just before falling asleep, I noticed that we were flying over TER. There has been several discussions on this board about "people reclining into my space", and the knee defender. After all of this flying, I would like to say that any position my seat is intended to be put into is "my" space. However, that doesn't give me the right to be an ass about it. After I woke up over Boston, I discovered that my seat would go back a little further than I had it most of the flight. However, when the gentleman behind me politely asked me if I could bring my seat a little further forward so he could work, I had no problem doing so. If he had been an ass about it, I think I would have been an ass back and not brought my seat forward. So it worked out. He was happy, and I had no problem accommodating him. Finally arrived in EWR. Customs and immigration went smoothly. I had about 3 hours until the flight to MCO. The flight to MCO was late leaving as there were bags being transferred from another arriving flight. I had no luck getting the gate agent to upgrade me despite there being plenty of empty seats up front. They wouldn't even let me burn 10000 miles to do so. Fortunately, I was able to get an exit row on the 757, and we were finally on our way to MCO. A snack of a ham sandwich smaller than a dinner roll was served. We arrived about a half-hour late, and I finally made it home for a good night's rest. Overall, it was a long series of flights, but most were not bad. However, it is always great to be home. |
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