FLYING IN THE TIMES OF RONA My son got onto the aviation bandwagon, and wanted to fly on a Mad Dog before they all went away. The closes thing available is a 717. His favorite airplane is the 757, but DL doesn't operate them into MIA. So we booked a trip with miles and cash (30K miles and $24.50 in Comfort +). Settled on PITtsburg. So we got a 752 FLL-ATL, 712 ATL-PIT, 712 PIT-ATL and a 753 ATL-FLL.
Left the house at 0345 and made it to FLL by 0420. Gotta wear masks everywhere. TSA Pre-check still works. When you board, a flight attendant will hand you a Purell sanitizing wipe. Sheesh, the Comfort + seats were the row behind first, so they had the table in the armrest... Pitch was good, and having the first class seat in front lets you put your stuff under it. Delta is still not selling the middle seats which is pretty cool. We left a few minutes late out of FLL in the darkness, approached ATL with the glow rising on the horizon. They gave us a zip-lock bag with a bottle of water, a napkin, a 100 calorie bag of Cheddar Fishies, and some sort of chocolate chip granola bar. Luckily we arrived into the concourse the connecting flight was departing from. They now board from the ass end forward, except FC can board anytime. Mask has to stay on unless you're drinking or eating. The damn straps suck after 15 minutes.
It was a beautiful, crisp morning made for flying. The Souped-Up nine accelerates quick and off for PIT. Same thing, a bag with a couple of snacks. Arrival before scheduled into PIT. The airport is speck of what it once was. Several gates don't even have jet bridges. Went out to the city and came back. Had lunch at the Friday's and soon back for ATL. Same bag, but they offered beer or wine.
ATL still has plenty of people scurrying about their travels. What I didn't see was any US military personnel in uniform. We arrived in B, and were returning home from A4, onto the train. People tried to socially distance, but some places, it wasn't happening.
Boarding the 753 from row 49 forward took a bit of time. But soon enough, door closed, taxied and took off. Had the friendliest bunch of the day, but it was the same bag of snacks. My son will make use of them during the week for snacks at school. I took the red wine offering, it wasn't that bad, and I was offered a second. Who am I to say no? Good thing about our seats, we were one row aft of the loading door, so we got off, made a piss stop and off to get the truck for the ride home. The mask came off as we left the terminal.
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And let's get one thing straight. There's a big difference between a pilot and an aviator. One is a technician; the other is an artist in love with flight. — E. B. Jeppesen
