Spring Break EU - Day 1, Travel

Spring Break! I've never thought I would do anything exciting on spring break; the most exhilarating spring break experience I've ever had was somewhere between a week at home relaxing and visiting a friend in Canada for a few days. But this spring break is completely different, and for the first time I've decided to go full throttle.

I know, and have already accepted that I won't be able to effectively communicate the feelings and experiences i'm having, but I think there is some value to writing a narrative. I've previously traveled Europe with my family when I wrote a journal of sorts - but it just got lost and no one else ever got a chance to read it; I want to share these experiences and not forget them.

This Spring Break, I'm going to try and write it all down.

Disclaimer: These posts are really more for myself so I can keep a good record - but open to anyone who may care.

March 15th, 2010

Part I, Charlotte, NC (CLT) to Philadelphia, PA (PHL)
Part II, Philadelphia, PA (PHL) to Manchester, UK (MAN)


Day I, Part I, Charlotte, NC (CLT) to Philadelphia, PA (PHL)
Both of my parents work for Us-Airways, my father is retired now, he was a Captain on the Airbus A321 series and my mother currently works as an USAirways Express gate-agent. The wonderful thing about having family in the airlines is free airfare - the catch is that there must be an available seat.

When I first checked the availability of CLT-PHL flights, there were approximately 6 seats on the 2:30 flight, and 22 seats on the 5:45 flight,12 other non-revenue passengers like myself standing by. I ended up going to the airport with my Mother who was going to work, which meant I was at the airport over 4-hours early at around 1:30. The plan was to meet up with my friends Justin and David, colleagues of mine at BestBuy. They too were going to be at the airport early; so I purchased Envoy upgrades at the employee travel office and headed into the terminal to meet them.

I sat down near B/A terminal in front of the Chili's and waited; I knew the flights were wide open so I had decided not to attempt to get on the 2:30 flight which had less seats available. But just to be sure, I pulled out my laptop and logged in to check the flights. To my horror, I saw that every flight that day was sold out with more than 20 non-revenue people standing by for each flight! I checked my watch, 2:17, so I threw my laptop back into my back back and rushed to C18, where the 2:30 flight was set to depart.

Out of breath, I approached the gate agent and said with some amount of sarcasm "I know you don't want to hear this, but I'm flying non-rev and really would like to try to get on this flight." Her face said everything, "There are over 20 people on my standby list" she said, "Can I just get on the list and try?" I replied.
"I Don't think it will do you any good"
"I know" I said with some level of concern and disappointment "But I have to try."

A few minutes later, passengers had finished boarding and she began making final calls as well as calling a few standbys. I honestly don't know how or why - but after calling merely 8-9 standby passengers, she called my name. I couldn't believe it! When I went to the counter she told me plainly "We think there is one seat left, go down the jet-way and if you find one on the plane - it's yours." I was so amazed and tried to think optimistically. But no matter the circumstances, I ran down the jet-way and left my baggage with the ramp agent since the full flight would have no room for carry-ons. I was able to talk to the flight attendant, and located the last seat on the plane.


Day I, Part II, Philadelphia, PA (PHL) to Manchester, UK (MAN)
Ecstatic and thankful, I arrived in Philadelphia at around 3:45PM. My flight to Manchester was not set to depart until about 8:45PM; which turned out to be a great blessing. I had to check my bag plane-side in Charlotte since it was a full-flight with no room for carry-ons, the problem was when flying main-line there is no plane-side retrieval for checked baggage. If you have ever been to the Philadelphia international terminal, you might recall it is over half a mile long. I happended to arrive at A24, which is at the very tip of A and right next door to A25 where the Manchester flight was set to depart. In order to retrieve my baggage however, I had to walk to B terminal, exit the boarding area to baggage claim, and re-enter security afterwards. This little excursion alone took almost an hour, but I did run into Mario Noviello from Winthrop with his father in the Concourse.

After retrieving my baggage, I sat for a bit with Mario and his Father, then got dinner before returning to the terminal to setup on the Wireless internet and sort through the 48 notifications I had on facebook. To my frustration, the "USairwaysFreeWirless" network did NOT work; 80 minutes, 2 visits to the information desk and 3 trips down the concourse later and I was never able to get on any of the multiple wireless networks in the airport. I was told at the information desk that the internet was down all over the airport. AT&T. WHY!

Defeated, I returned to gate A25 for the fourth time and prepared to wait for my flight. As I sat down, I saw three passengers leaving the gate area and one young lady coming down the jet-way said "has the Manchester flight moved gates?" well apparently it had, and I had absolutely no idea. I actually ended up talking to this young lady both in the Airport on the plane and in Manchester making sure I thanked her for speaking up about the change in gates - I don't know what would have happened had I not heard her. Unfortunately, the new gate (A8) was on a completely different section of A concourse, meaning I had to make the trek down the concourse for a fifth time to get to the new "leg" of the terminal.

Somehow, even though I had purchased an Envoy upgrade the Agent upgraded me to First Class! Out of the 254 seats on an Airbus A330, there are 6 First class seats, somehow I was given one - incredible!

I sat next to a gentleman named Barry who was a native Brit returning home; to my surprise, he asked me if I was returning home as well and explained that he thought I had a genuine English accent! I was a bit embarrassed, because by instinct I had begun mimicking his accent - this was not the last time my 'instinct' got me in trouble. We sipped champagne, and enjoyed a three course meal as some of the highlights. 6 hours and 45 minutes later, we landed in Manchester.