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.