Miami, FL – Mexico City, Mexico | AA 2115 | 6E

Courgar Love - boarding pass with a flirt

American Airlines made my day at the counter – the image above says it all…I was checked in by a good looking cougar who started talking to me about my trip – not the usual counter questions.  Needless to say, after a few lip pouts and eyelash flatters I started to get the feeling that she was flirting with me…as I left and looked down on my boarding pass – expecting to find a circle – I found a heart – HAAAAAAAAA…no delay, mechanical problem, or bad service could bring my down now – my day and flight was made.

Of course I had to twitter and Facebook this experience – one of my collegues said, and I quote: “The things you do to women, Leander. Powerful.” – just oozing with sarcasm…

Thank you American Airlines – and particularly you Ms. Cougar where ever you are for the love…

Tampa, FL – New York, NY | Delta #1508 | 12C

Blogging from 30,000 feet – that has been a long time coming. I have to say that the GoGo InFlight works pretty well and I’d definitely pick an airline if the cost was competitive to be able to have Internet access. A lot of people say they don’t want it, but I love it.

Anyway, the flight started out uneventful enough. And then HE boarded. You know him. The huffing and puffing guy who gets to the gate late with too much carry-on luggage and then gets aggravated when the overhead bins are full. He then proceeds to stomp his feet, look around with that, “do you know who I am” look, and then tries to jam his dirty bag into the bin with no regard to whose stuff got their first. I didn’t have anything in the overhead bin so I wasn’t particularly concerned – until stuff started falling out of the bin. On my head. I am not kidding. First a guy’s jacket. He apologize. Then a woman’s hairbrush. A hairbrush? Really? Yes. She apologized too. The only one who didn’t apologize was the guy who was too busy stuffing his back into the bin. Finally a flight attendant shuffled him down the aisle and he went to torment someone else.

The rest of the flight has been fine so far. According to FlightAware.com I have 42 minutes and 309 miles to go.

Los Angeles, CA – Miami, FL | AA 456 | 2A

B/W view from plane

So I was supposed to be back in Miami yesterday – unfortuntately my flight was canceled due to a windshield failure, AA did not have any replacement plans at the time and there were no other flights that would get me into Miami the same day.

While AA was nice enough to provide me with a hotel room for the night, they only gave me two $10 vouchers (lunch and dinner) which barely got me a coffee. I did write them, explained the situation, and recevied a 15,000 mile credit on my Advantage account.

So today my day started very early – 4AM to catch a 6:15AM flight direct to Miami. The flight was extremely uneventful and the pilot very boring compare to the last one coming to Miami.

Now I just hope I remember where I left my car parked…

Miami, FL – Los Angeles, CA | AA 271 | 4H

Being that it was just memorial weekend I was under the assumption that MIA would be a complete zoo – it was actually pretty quiet all considering.  Just to make sure I got to the airport two hours prior to departure.  The flight was absolutely packed and pretty much everyone on the flight was passed out – the 3 days of partying in Miami must have gotten the best of people…Memorial Day Weekend is also home to a huge HIP HOP conference in Miami.

The captain must have been a stand-up comedian prior to being a pilot – and honestly he was pretty good – found myself laughing a few times.  Told us there were a lot of things he could tell us about our flight path, but thought there was not real point to it and we would see him as just another babbling captain.

Aside from the in-flight entertainment (and I do not mean the DVR) the flight was uneventful – just the way I like it.

Boss Town to Chi Town – 5/18 (United)

Nobody at United (or travel agency) bothered to tell me I was in First Class — but hey, cool. It wasn’t quite like the Seinfield episode (sitting next to blonde model) this time, though the very nice lady next to me spilled water on my seat while she was headed to the crapper.

I was in first class, though – and had a nice big Tanqueray on the rocks, so I rolled with it.

I laid down the blankets that have since been cut from Coach and sat down.  Kept me as dry as a Depends.

Washington DC – Albany NY | US Air (can’t remember flight) | 4D

Just barely made my flight… was standing around outside the Burson DC office waiting to go to lunch and thinking that might flight was 4:39pm. Well, dummy that I am, the flight was 3:20 and landing at 4:39. Doh! Raced to the airport and made it just fine.

Flight was uneventful. I’m not usually a plane sleeper, especially on one of the smaller regional jets. But, I guess the stress of the last few days caught up with me and I fell asleep before take-off. It was a nice nap, nice until the woman next to me decided she needed to use the rest room and DECIDED TO CLIMB OVER ME INSTEAD OF WAKING ME UP. Which, of course, woke me and teed me off.

New York, NY – Washington, DC | US Air #1821 | 9A

Ok, so I haven’t posted here in a while. Actually, anywhere. I’ve been too busy flying around to stop and write about the experience. But, after a Facebook post tonight and some gentle nudging from friends and not-so-gentle nudging from Felix, I’m back.

So, the flight was uneventful other than the 1.5 hour maintenance delay. I’m always rather have them delay for maintenance than take off with a broken plane (duh!) but what is with the attendant who in her quest to be helpful continually announced, “This is an update for passengers flying on the 4pm shuttle to DC, #1821. I have no updates at this time.” So, you just like to hear yourself speak? Wassup?

San Francisco, CA – Miami, FL | AA 442 | 5C

It was nice to be in the new business class on AA flying back to Miami from San Francisco – usually I have always flown on the 757 which still has the old seats. It was the first time that I was able to play with the portable DVR that AA hands out during the flight and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised.

Actually watched two movies, played some games, and listened to music without a glitch and the picture quality was great. What was not so great was lunch – the goat cheese sandwich – which hardly hand any goat cheese – was lacking.

Aside from that, flight was smooth and on time…heading out to LA at the end of month…hoping that I will be able to upgrade again..

Final thought – where is Erin

Southwest Airlines – a first – from San to San

Unfortunately I lost my boarding passes on my quick trip to San Diego from San Francisco and back. It was the first time that I had the pleasure to fly with Southwest, eat nuts, and drink wine out of a plastic cup. Flights were punctual, boarding was efficient, and the crew was nice. Southwest just has a fleet of 737’s and all are taken care of. Tomorrow I am back to Miami with AA – already got notification that I got upgraded – thank god.

Miami, FL – San Francisco, CA | AA 431 | 4A

Up early – said goodbye to wife, mom, and dog and was back at MIA checking in to my flight to San Francisco for both a global and regional meeting.  I was lucky enough to get upgraded for the five plus hour flight and let me tell you that the blueberry pancakes were great.  I was travelling with some colleagues of which one was celebrating her b-day today (she turned 29 – so she says).  We asked the flight attendant to please mention over the intercom – and in Southwest style fashion it was done.

The flight was smooth and I had the pleasure to sit next to Claudia which gave for a great conversation and made time pass bye quick.  Pilot made a great landing – almost as good as the lady yesterday.  Flight left and arrived on time with out any issues – smooth sailing and I was also able to get a great view of the Rockies.

Rockies from plane