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STL-ATL-LHR, LHR-DTW-STL

Share your latest flight experience or aviation-related poetry with us.
 

symphonicpoet 27 Oct 19, 02:25Post
So I made a flight video. It's . . . imperfect at best. Rolling shutter issues in places. A dirty window here. Glare there. You know the drill. But hey, it's a first attempt . . . at least that you know of. ;-)

symphonicpoet 27 Oct 19, 05:46Post
A bit of additional information:

The first leg was DL2084 aboard a venerable MD88 - N962DL
(I had it down as an MD90. Not sure where I got that information.)



It was, as always, a fun flight. The Super 88 gave a snappy liftoff.

The second flight was not the flight I originally booked. Missed a connection due to my own foolishness, but Delta rebooked me quickly and without any fuss at all. (Great customer service there. My thanks to the desk agents in Atlanta.) I ended up on DL32 in the care of A330-300 N801NW. Never had the change to fly Northwest in its original guise, so it was nice to catch their iron, even if the paint was different.



The flight itself was comfortable and perhaps unremarkable. The food was actually pretty good and the crew was polite and professional.

Heathrow, however, was not at all the airport I expected. We're filled with tales of glamour when in reality T4, at least, is more weathered than LaGuardia and stuffier than Tan Sohn Nhat in Ho Chi Minh City. Dated. Worn. And not in any way particularly remarkable. It was not a particularly inspiring entrance to the UK, but . . . when you're the main airport in London I suppose you don't need to be. But at least there were plenty of aircraft to see when I headed through for my flight back.





















Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's not even all of 'em. Lots of planes at Heathrow, so who cares how crummy the concourses are.

DL19 took me back home aboard a venerable B763 N394DL with the updated cabin and the improved legroom in the "Comfort+" section. Of course, I managed to bag one of the dreaded "no window-window" seats. (Should have checked SeatGuru!) Even so, I managed to shoot pictures out the window mostly behind me. And the legroom was real. (Still narrow as all crap, though. You can't win 'em all.) That said, I arrived in Detroit without incident. To a row of remarkably similar looking birds before I was able to make my way across to a lovely little Air Tran veteran N985AT who took me home.





I won't belabor you with every last picture, but it was a good trip. (And if you like museum birds there might possibly be some of those in my uploads from this trip as well. Along with plenty of non-aviation stuff elsewhere.)
ShanwickOceanic (netAirspace FAA) 27 Oct 19, 08:58Post
Been on that Finnair!

I flew in and out of Terminal 4 a fair bit in the 80s, and I always get a good dose of nostalgia when I see it now. I don't think it's changed since! Don't even get me started on T3.

Never been airside in the brand new T2, but lamdside, I find T5 much more impressive. Great runway views from the drop-off area too, even if the fence is a pain for photography. And when you get sick of all the BA A319s, there's the pod ride :)
My friend and I applied for airline jobs in Australia, but they didn't Qantas.
ANCFlyer (netAirspace ATC & Founding Member) 27 Oct 19, 12:09Post
Excellent report. Love the airplane pics. Haven't been to Heathrow in over a decade. I guess it's time for another visit. LGA I could do without, forever.

Always check Seat-Guru. Occasionally they're inaccurate, but 99% time, spot on. And if you fly enough (like me and AA) you already know where to sit. First row, in F, row 1 or 3 depending on where AA got their airframe (old US airframes start at row 1).
LET'S GO BRANDON!!!!
mhodgson (ATC & Photo Quality Screener & Founding Member) 27 Oct 19, 12:56Post
I think T4 is probably the 'oldest' at LHR now - T1/2 has been rebuilt from the ground up, T5 still has an element of the wow factor and T3 has had quite a lot spent on it.

I thought DL used T3 though, as part of their partnership with Virgin?
There's the right way, the wrong way and the railway.
symphonicpoet 28 Oct 19, 16:31Post
mhodgson wrote:I think T4 is probably the 'oldest' at LHR now - T1/2 has been rebuilt from the ground up, T5 still has an element of the wow factor and T3 has had quite a lot spent on it.

I thought DL used T3 though, as part of their partnership with Virgin?


You're right. It was T3. My bad. And yes, they spent a lot on the airmall in the headhouse, but seemingly not a dime on the concourses. And no matter how much they spent, that mall is still in a very tight space and there are quite a lot of people, so it feels crowded, dark, and unpleasant to me. Not a place I should care to stay terribly long. The other terminals might all be much better. They certainly looked better from the taxiway.

ANCFlyer wrote:LGA I could do without, forever.


Okay, I'm weird. I actually liked LaGuardia. I expect your experience depends a lot on which concourse you use. I was able to sit and spot from a little coffee shop at the end of my concourse in B. Nice big picture window with bar style seating along it. There was a good view into the bay between Spirit and Jet Blue's gates with at least a slice of 13/31, which was the active runway that day. If they'd been using 4/22 I wouldn't have seen much and looking at the construction project it looks like quite a lot of the new buildings will be completely isolated from the runways. (Not sure how the taxiways will work. That's . . . a mess.)

But it's still got the Marine Air Terminal, which is one of the prettiest terminal buildings anywhere on the planet. Even if it is just a bus station now.

Always check Seat-Guru. Occasionally they're inaccurate, but 99% time, spot on. And if you fly enough (like me and AA) you already know where to sit. First row, in F, row 1 or 3 depending on where AA got their airframe (old US airframes start at row 1).


It was a bit of a rush job, but seatguru was consulted before seats were selected for the next major trip. And honestly, seatguru would only have helped if I'd known precisely which 767 layout I was getting, and I think all the good window seats were already taken in my section. (This is what happens when you only book a couple of days out.) But yes, seatguru. Copy that. (And stick to an airline and get to know their metal.)

ShanwickOceanic wrote:Been on that Finnair!


Lucky! It's certainly a sharp looking ride watching it from the airport. I imagine it's even better aboard.

I flew in and out of Terminal 4 a fair bit in the 80s, and I always get a good dose of nostalgia when I see it now. I don't think it's changed since! Don't even get me started on T3.


Whoops! I was in T3, as MHodgson observes. My bad. See? I should have gotten you started. ;-) Was at about gate 17 for my photography and departed out of gate 21. No matter how odd the layout nostalgia can always be a big plus to an airport. And honestly, flights trump terminals any day of the week, and LHR certainly has those.
ShanwickOceanic (netAirspace FAA) 28 Oct 19, 19:41Post
I note that you saw the BOAC and Negus retro 747s before you even got to the gate. Nice!
My friend and I applied for airline jobs in Australia, but they didn't Qantas.
mhodgson (ATC & Photo Quality Screener & Founding Member) 28 Oct 19, 20:48Post
Agree with you on T3, flew out of there a couple of times over the past few years - Some of the gate areas are quite nice, with plenty of light and seating - but the 'hub' is pretty appalling with so many shops but very limited food, and what there is has very little seating.
There's the right way, the wrong way and the railway.
ShanwickOceanic (netAirspace FAA) 28 Oct 19, 22:12Post
mhodgson wrote:Agree with you on T3, flew out of there a couple of times over the past few years - Some of the gate areas are quite nice, with plenty of light and seating - but the 'hub' is pretty appalling with so many shops but very limited food, and what there is has very little seating.

I'm lucky that I always have both fast-track security and lounge access when I go there these days. The fast-track bypasses the duty-free and spits you out into the main shopping area; walk straight across that and up to the CX lounge. But when I didn't have that, I would have to go hide up by the A380 gates. Too many humans.

When you realise just how far you have to walk to the furthest gates and how many aircraft you have to pass to get there, then look at how small the central area is, it's no wonder it's such a zoo.
My friend and I applied for airline jobs in Australia, but they didn't Qantas.
symphonicpoet 06 Nov 19, 06:52Post
^I might complain about the corridors and the weird crossovers to customs, but . . . there was no shortage of cool planes to see. I couldn't even keep track of it all. Loved the Virgin iron, myself. Didn't even realize I'd seen Aer Lingus special paint until I went through tagging things. Just thought it looked neat and wished I'd been able to get a better shot. I didn't even recognize the two BA special paint 74s on arrival. Saw the One World 74 again on the way out and got a still, but . . . there were just So Many Planes! :D The big east Asian hubs are awesome (will visit a couple in January) but for variety, there's probably no beating London. (At least not until after Brexit.) *ducks*

I'll try to keep the lounges in mind should I ever acquire status. (There's a chance I might go silver next year. Maybe. Will be interesting to try out the quasi "frequent flyer" lifestyle. I fly long, but never before often.) I suppose my brother will still be in England next year, and I'll have already done 18 grand by the end of January. (Part of it business class, no less! Not sure to which deity my SO pledged our nonexistent children to make that happen.) One trip to London on top of that might just about do it.
 

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