January LAX/MKE mileage run

Day 1- Evening

The morning started out pretty cold and it stayed that way the whole day with actual snow/ice that stuck from the day before and apparently stayed overnight. I woke up around 5:30AM and made a few phone calls to the relatives back in China.  Figuring that the roads would be pretty slipper from the inclement weather, I left for work at 8:15AM for my 10AM shift.  The only traffic issues I saw were on the bridges out of Dallas downtown and the overpasses all the way to Ennis.  I did see several car accidents while plenty of police on the scene.  It took my boss 2 hours to get to work in the morning and his car slipped several times.  Luckily, I did not have any issues since I took it slow.

Work was uneventful, and luckily was pretty steady with no customers after 7:40PM.   At 8PM sharp, I closed the pharmacy gate and headed towards the airport.  My LAX flight was due to leave DFW at 9:45PM and I decided to chance it by using The Parking Spot since it would cost half as much as parking in the Terminal for 2 days.  Since business was slow for The Parking Spot due to inclement weather, I was the only passenger in the van and got dropped off at Terminal C21.  The check-in counter was a ghost town with one agent working the counter at that time but I managed to get a boarding pass for my flight that was starting the boarding process right across from the security check point.  I have never gone to the airport this late as the TSA agent that checked my ID/boarding pass was the same one working the metal detector.  I made two mistakes… fist, forgetting to remove my belt and second, left my jacket on the conveyer belt.  It was not until I was heading on to the jet bridge when I realized that I was cold without a jacket.  I spoke with the Gate Agent and left my boarding pass with her.  I quickly headed towards the TSA agent and asked if it was all right for me to get my jacket.  I quickly grabbed it and headed back to the gate to board.  The flight attendant took my coat and offered a pre-departure beverage.  I got my glass of water and I settled into my seat, buckled up, and fell asleep soon after we took off.

The food service consisted of hot mixed nuts and a cranberry raisin cookie.  I expected more than that in the First Class, but I will take what I can get.  Bailey's was my drink of the evening and I declined on the cookie.  The 737 aircraft was pretty nice when compared to the MD Super 80's that I am used to  and I dozed off for half the trip while the other half consisted of me watching The Simpsons episode and quickly skipped though the SNL episode with host Jim Carey.  I still think he is not that funny as I only basically watched it for the Weekend Update only.  We landed into LAX at 11PM and I made my way to the Admiral's Club.  There was not that many people as most of the passengers were either going to the land of OZ on Qantas or a few red eye flights to other AA hubs.  I was disappointed to find out the club printer was not working (I'll be visiting a few other Clubs within the next few others) but I was happily occupied by the computer workstation to pass the time right before  the club closed at around 12:30AM.  I got my boarding passes for the rest of my trip consisting the following routing: LAX-DFW-MKE-ORD-DFW-LAX all over a 24 hour period from one of the Club AAngels.  I inquired to see if I could do a stand by on an earlier flight (AA 5005) from MKE-ORD as I would rather spend a majority of my time in ORD rather than boring MKE and the flight is only 67 miles.  I was a little hungry so I managed munched on an apple for a snack.

Day 2

I went to gate 47A for boarding on my redeye to DFW but was informed by the Gate Agent that the inbound aircraft was late arriving and we would have to wait for a 30 minute delay.  After the inbound passengers deplaned, boarding for first class passengers occurred while the main cabin was being cleaned.  I fell asleep during the take off again and dozed my way through the flight until we landed in Dallas at a little before 6AM.  The food service consisted of hot mixed nuts and a cranberry raisin cookie.  I skipped the cookies again as that did not entice me.

Since the flight to Milwaukee was on an American Eagle flight, it would be departing from Terminal B at DFW.   I went to the small Admiral's Club located in that terminal and promptly got admitted to their one shower room so that I get refreshed for the day ahead.  I stayed there in the business center at the club until about 8:15 AM before heading off to gate B7.  We were on a Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) so there was a First Class cabin aboard.  I chose this flight over the 6:30 AM flight since the CRJ has a meal service aboard and I was impressed by it before on my previous to New York while routing through Atlanta. 

The First Class flight attendant asked me if I was going to Milwaukee.  I thought it was a little strange but she was very friendly.  She said "thank you" after every sentence.  I knew something was up when she had to ask the other flight attendant on the processes and procedure.  I took a little nap when we took off and she skipped me when she took the breakfast order.  I purposely took seat 3A so that I had a window and aisle seat plus meal choice first.  She forgot me the entire time and it irked me that she did not bother to come back to ask what I wanted.  She continued to serve everyone around me by getting their drinks and then their breakfast trays.  The meal choices consisted of either instant oatmeal or corn flakes/milk served with a banana, blueberries/sliced strawberries, muffin, and blueberry yogurt.  The other flight attendant noticed that I had my tray table out and if I needed a refill on my drink.  I told her that I got skipped and she promptly served me and made sure to come by to see what else I needed.  She even offered me cookies for my coffee but I graciously declined. 

When we landed in MKE, it was a scene from a winter wonderland with continual snowfall.  There as bulldozer scraping up snow on the tarmac and deicing teams on hand to deice places as well.  The CRJ was doing a turn back to DFW and that flight had a delay due to the need to be deiced.  I noticed that the next flight out to ORD was AA 5003 and it was delayed.  I waited in line to see if I could get on stand by and the line was about 6 people deep. It was slow as the snow in the area was slowing the whole system down and people were being rerouted since several flights were either delayed or slowed causing major travel disruptions.  Another Gate Agent showed up and immediately confirmed me on the flight as the following flight (AA 5005) was canceled.  She told me that my confirmed flight in the afternoon AA 5009 would most likely be canceled as well.  I made a quick call to my friend in Chicago and see if he was free to meet up for lunch since my layover was about 4 hours.  All of us in the gate area waited for the pilot to show up and then we were on our way (after deicing).  The flight was in air was only for 15 minutes and a beverage service was by request only but on one wanted anything.  

We landed in Terminal L (American Connection operated by Chautauqua Airlines).  Chicago was the same situation but affecting everything on a larger scale.  I hustled to the Admiral's Club in Terminal G (American Eagle) to see if I could get on an earlier flight since all flights to Dallas were delayed.  I did not want to risk my chances on getting to Dallas and missing my connecting flight to LAX later.  I inquired to see if my favorite ORD AC agent/AAngel (Denise) was working and she had the day off.  Nevertheless, the AAngel put my on standby for AA 2331 scheduled for 1:40PM delayed until 3:09PM which eventually departed around 4PM.  Not knowing if I would get upgraded or now and the uncertainty of whether I get a meal or not on the plane, I grabbed lunch at Manchu Wok.  I went to wait out the time at the terminal H/K AC and asked an AAngel there if flight 2331 or another delayed flight would present me with a better chance to get confirmed.  She told me 2331 had 12 seats still available for upgrade.  I sat down, ate my lunch and surfed on the internet before proceeding to K14 and check out if I got confirmed for the next flight out.  The inbound aircraft was coming in from Austin and Air Traffic Control was slowing the system down due to weather concerns.  When I got to the gate, there were 11 people on the upgrade list and I was #3 out of 21 for standby.  Those 11 people would get confirmed on the standby and the only way I would get a First Class seat would be if 2 people misconnect or did not show up for the flight. Eventually my name was called and I settled for a coach seat and happy that I was heading off to DFW to escape the bad weather.  I was pleased to see that I got a boarding pass for 3F… bulkhead window seat on MD Super 80.  When I got to my seat, some guy was already in it.  I asked him if he was assigned 3F and he told me he was 3E… I told him that if he did not want to move, I was fine with the aisle seat.

We were on our way to Dallas and I am not sure if we had to get deiced or not.  The meal service once again was hot mixed nuts and a cranberry raisin cookie.  I watched the most recent episode of Grey's Anatomy and started on my trip report.  The boarding was chaotic as people had to go back to the gate to gate check their bags as all space onboard was utilized.  One of the flight attendants made sure to keep the overhead space in the First Class cabin available for people like me that got the battlefield/standby upgrade.  Patty took care of the First Class cabin and did a great job of making sure to get everyone's baggage settled upon boarding.  I talked to her a bit during the flight and got to know her better.  She was very nice and I gave her one of my AAplause certificates for a great job done.  She was super excited to get one since she has won in the past and gave out a confirmed free flight to a 72 year old lady that worked the butcher block at her local grocery store that could not afford to visit her grandkids.  She brought over a stack of the certificates that she has accumulated.  She told me she will put them in for the monthly drawing when she gets a big stack to increase her chances of winning.  I gave her another one when I left the plane as I wanted her to win again.

Landing in Dallas, I had to figure out if I wanted to try and standby for an earlier flight to LAX.  I learned that my original flight for MKE-ORD was indeed canceled.  Glad I took the first available flight out of MKE when it was available.  When I inquired at the AC, the AAngel told me that the First Class seats were all full/sold out and if I wanted to do standby, I would have to settle for a coach seat.  In either case, I would be on my own for dinner so I tried to figure out what I wanted for dinner.  I went to 3 different terminals to find something appetizing but eventually settled for Chili's fajitas after wandering around for an hour.  I took it to AC in terminal C and ate it while surfing the internet.   My Delta Skymiles finally posted from my Suntrust Bank Account promotion.  I was excited as my miles on Delta tripled and I can book a business class tickets to virtually anywhere on SkyTeam.  I counted all the miles I had over all my accounts and I finally broke 1,000,000 miles when combine.  I have 600,000 plus in American, almost 100,000 in British Airways, over 150,000 in US Airways, almost 200,000 in Delta, and some in both United and Continental.  I am right on the way to breaking the 1,000,000 lifetime miles earned on American in a few months.  I cannot believe that I have accumulated so many miles these last 2 years and how I did it even.  It feels great that I can go basically go anywhere I want in the world.

I checked on the status of the original flight that I was supposed to be on from ORD was delayed with a arrival of 9:20PM into Terminal D… making it a tight connect for me to my connecting flight in Terminal C.  I missed out on a dinner and a chance to experience the Flagship First Class Suite on the Boeing 777.  Better luck next time (hopefully internationally and as an operational upgrade).    I left the AC at about 9:15PM for my 9:45PM departure from C21 but they were already down to the last group of general boarding.  Luckily, there was still overhead space available by my seat, 5B so I did not have to wait for people to leave and then retrieve my bag.  I ended up next a woman who I think was either mentally disturbed/drunk.  She took off her shoes off and attempted to put her feet on the magazine pouch and then on the/tray table.  She had to use the bathroom several times and was very abrupt when asking for service items.  Once again, the food service was hot mixed nuts and a cranberry raisin cookie.  I took a quick snooze while we taxied and took off into the clear sky.  I got my usual drink to wash down the mixed nuts.  Since the cookies are the same ones that I have seen for the 4^th time, I passed over them.  I figure since I could not sleep on this flight, I might as well be productive and get my trip report done while watching a rerun of The Office and a new to me Community episode.  Luckily, my seat partner snoozed when she did not get up to use the bathroom. When we landed, she climbed over me and rushed to get into the aisle from her window seat.  I have never met anyone so impolite in First Class. I quickly made my way to the Admiral's Club as the terminal was almost deserted and found the club to have a few stragglers (mainly for the last Qantas fight of the night).  It was a great view to see the Qantas 747 plane leave from the LAX Admiral's Club as I was leaving to go back home to Dallas on my redeye flight. 

Day 3 Morning

Little did I know that I would have the same crew/plane as the inbound flight and they were a little surprised to see me do a turn with them.  I quickly got to my seat, got my jacket hung up and fell quickly asleep on the short 3 hour flight back to Dallas.  I woke up when the pilot made the announcement for landing and I did not need/ask for any refreshments during the flight.  I landed a little before 5 AM, called The Parking Spot to pick me up and was home by 6AM.  I showered and went back to sleep until noon.  The trip was exhausting and the amount of flying/airport appreciation time I did would equate to me going to Asia and back.      

Summary/Conclusion:

This trip with all of the bad weather and all the attempts for standby travel on earlier flights will make it a more memorable one.  This netted me 19,132 redeemable miles and 12,036 Elite Qualifying miles and that much closer to 1 Million AAdvantage miles/Executive Platinum Status for next year.  I got upgraded on all 6 flights that were upgradable.  The only disappointment I had (besides not being to experience the First Class Suite in 777) is the lack of meal service on 5 flights.  I wish that AA offered more food on their First Class cabins despite the flights being that late in the evening/or a red eye.  The only one I had a real meal was on the CRJ!  I am glad that Virgin America (VX) is expanding to DFW from LAX/SFO and forced AA to have the Double EQM/ Double RDM promotion making it easier for me to requalify for Executive Platinum status next year and to make the prices more competitive.  As long as AA does not cut capacity or service, I will be fine with VX expansion. 

Here's the originally routing:

Date	Flight #	Route	Aircraft	Departure	Arrival	Notes
1/10/11	2493	DFW-LAX	737	9:45 PM	11:10 PM	-
1/11/11	2408	LAX-DFW	MD Super 80	12:55 AM	5:45 AM	-
1/11/11	3453	DFW-MKE	Canadair Jet	8:35 AM	10:50 AM	-
1/11/11	5009	MKE-ORD	Embraer Jet	4:35 PM	5:20 PM	Delayed 9:05 PM
1/11/11	2347	ORD-DFW	777	6:05 PM	8:35 PM	Delayed 7:34 PM
1/11/11	2493	DFW-LAX	737	9:45 PM	11:10 PM	-
1/12/11	2400	LAX-DFW	737	12:20 AM	5:05 AM	-

Here's what actually happened:

Date	Flight #	Route	Aircraft	Departure	Arrival	Notes
1/10/11	2493	DFW-LAX	737	9:45 PM	11:10 PM	-
1/11/11	2408	LAX-DFW	MD Super 80	1:26 AM	5:45 AM	Inbound Delayed
1/11/11	3453	DFW-MKE	Canadair Jet	8:52 AM	10:41 AM	-
1/11/11	5003	MKE-ORD	Embraer Jet	12:47 PM	1:26 PM	Original 11:45AM
1/11/11	2331	ORD-DFW	MD  80	4:12 PM	6:21 PM	Original 1:40PM
1/11/11	2493	DFW-LAX	737	10:08 PM	11:14 PM	Same Crew  2400
1/12/11	2400	LAX-DFW	737	12:29 AM	4:49 AM	Same Crew  2493