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Thread: Kansas City

  1. #1
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    Join Date
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    Oceanside, NY
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    Kansas City

    A good friend of mine I knew in Florida moved back to Kansas City last year and I made a second trip to visit her and her family. I scored a decent deal on AA through ORD and into MCI.

    January 30, 2014:

    Arrived at LGA around 8:45 AM for my 10:15 flight to ORD. Checked in, checked my bag, paid the $25 to check, and gave the TSA my bag. I was pleasantly surprised to see that AA still uses those sleeves for your boarding passes so that you have something to carry them in. Security was pretty easy. Maybe ten minutes at the most.

    American Airlines flight 325
    Departed: New York-LaGuardia at 10:15 AM EST (On-time)
    Arrived: Chicago-O'Hare at 11:50 AM CST (Scheduled: 12:00 Noon CST)
    Seat: 17A
    Aircraft: Boeing 737-800

    So I boarded the flight, found my seat, and sat down. I had purchased one of those preferred seats (not Main Cabin Extra, the other one). I was pretty disappointed. They had blocked off the middle seat by a drink tray that also prevented me from moving the armrests up for more comfort. We pushed on time, maybe a minute or two late, and taxied out to 31 for departure. In flight service was as to be expected. Beverage service, no snack. An episode or two of "Parenthood" played on the monitors. We flew over the Great Lakes, and for the first time ever, I saw a frozen Lake Erie. Fascinating I have to say. Looked like you could ice skate on it. Before long we were on our descent into ORD, and the pilot indicated that we had to hold over Lake Michigan for a little while, but it was pretty quick because before we knew it we were just off shore and I was looking at the Chicago Skyline. It was VERY windy in Chicago that day too. Winds were strong and we turned final for Runway 22R and flew a very windy approach. Touchdown was hard and fast with heavy braking. We taxied over to the gate (K9 or something I believe).

    Chicago-O'Hare International Airport:
    I've heard nothing but horror stories about O'Hare. This was only my 3rd time there, and I had a rough experience last time. Of course this time wasn't any better as snow began to fall along with the strong winds. I made my way over to H11A for my connection to Kansas City after getting lunch from Reggio's Pizza and going out for a smoke. By the time I got to my gate, my flight was delayed from 2:20 PM to 3:19 PM because of a late arriving aircraft.

    I will say that the retirement of the MD-80s has become very obvious around O'Hare with significantly less MD-80s gracing ORD with their appearance, even since November when I was there last. Lot's of 737-800s, E170s, and CR7s. I think I saw maybe one besides the one I was scheduled to fly on.

    Anyway, I ended up waiting for quite a while with two nice older ladies, both of whom were inconvenienced as most of the delays/cancellations into ORD that day were on RJs. One woman was headed to MCO and had her flight to EWR cancelled so they re-routed her thru ORD on AA. Another was bound for MCI like myself but was delayed and missed her connection so she was rebooked on my flight. The poor MCO bound woman had about 5 gate changes plus an extra 1.5 hour delay. My flight eventually arrived (from MCO ironically) and I waited to board.

    American Airlines flight 193
    Departed: Chicago-O'Hare at 3:50 PM (Scheduled at 2:25 PM)
    Arrived: Kansas City at 5:10 PM (Scheduled at 3:50 PM)
    Seat: 22A
    Aircraft: McDonnell Douglas MD-80

    As I said, we were already delayed. I boarded and took my seat. When everyone finally boarded, we had to de-ice due to the snow in ORD. Of course, there was an Air Berlin A330 who had to be de-iced before us. We finally pushed at 3:50 PM and quickly taxied out for departure. A rough take off had me shaking a bit. Not as comfortable flying as I used to be for reasons most of this forum is aware of. Anyway, we climbed up to 22,000 feet. The flight was smooth once we got away from O'Hare. We were expected to land around 5:00 PM, however due to the stronger than anticipated headwind, we landed a little later. A very pleasant approach from the north bringing us over Downtown Kansas City with a great view of Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport before turning final for 01R at MCI. We touched down and made a quick taxi to gate 76. I was just happy to be there after that day!

    Kansas City International Airport:
    This time I was prepared for where the baggage claim was. Last time I went to visit I spent a lot of time looking for the stairs/escalator down to baggage claim only to exit the sterile area and find that everything was one story (based on the angle of the jetway, the terminal appeared to be 2-story). So I made my way to baggage claim, but not before my friend met me just outside of the sterile area.

    Places Visited:
    Dixon's Chili (Favorite restaurant of President Harry Truman)
    National Airline History Museum (Pictures to come), Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport (MKC)
    Isle of Capri Casino (Won 60 bucks, can't say the same for my friend)
    Riverside, MO (Cheap Cigarettes)
    Drove by the football and baseball stadiums (Jet's Fans: We play the Chiefs next season)

    I really wanted my friend to drive me over the border into Kansas and then drive back so I could say we weren't in Kansas anymore (Haha).
    Last edited by JetBlueAirwaysFan; 2014-02-07 at 07:38 PM.
    In loving memory of Casey Edward Falconer
    May 16, 1992-May 9, 2012

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
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    Location
    Oceanside, NY
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    Okay, so the return trip was a nightmare. Not exactly because of any delays, but because of the constant rescheduling due to snow in NY, KCMO, and DFW.

    My original itinerary was as follows on February 3:

    American 193
    Departs: Kansas City at 4:35 PM
    Arrives: Chicago-O'Hare at 6:05 PM

    American 336
    Departs: Chicago-O'Hare at 8:00 PM
    Arrives: New York-LaGuardia at 11:00 PM

    Due to the snowstorms in NY and KC, I decided to reschedule for Thursday. However, these flights were not available and since I was booked on the ONLY mainline flight between MCI and ORD, I told AA to route me through DFW since MCI-DFW is all mainline. I don't like regional jets. Small planes make me nervous. Anyway, so after that, I was rescheduled for the following flights:

    American 970
    Departs: Kansas City at 12:40 PM
    Arrives: Dallas/Ft. Worth at 2:20 PM

    American 1131
    Departs: Dallas/Ft. Worth at 3:15 PM
    Arrives: New York-LaGuardia at 7:40 PM

    I had even gone as far as checking in for my flight and upgrading to First Class on the MCI-DFW leg. Then I get a call at 7:50 AM the next day telling me my flight was cancelled (1/2 an inch of snow at DFW) so I had to quickly rebook. They tried putting me on an RJ again so I took control and told them the flights to put me on. So my final itinerary is what I'll now be reporting on.

    My friend got me to MCI at about 3:20 PM. I checked in, and since I was flying first class on one of my flights I was able to check my bag for free. (I paid for the upgrade since my preferred seat on my original flight was refunded so the upgrade only cost like $7. I went past security to see my flight was on time, and unfortunately a DFW bound flight at gate 77 was not so lucky. My flight arrived from ORD and I waited to board, which wasn't long since I was in first class.

    American Airlines flight 193
    Departed: Kansas City at 4:36 PM
    Arrived: Chicago-O'Hare at 6:00 PM
    Seat: 5A (First Class)
    Aircraft: McDonnell Douglas MD-80

    First off, I want to point out that there were no pre-flight beverages served on this flight.

    We pushed back on time from Gate 76, and a quick engine start up had us taxiing over a snow covered airfield to Runway 01L. We did a running start (surprised due to the crappy snow-removal job that was done), and were airborne. A quick turn towards the northeast and we were on our way. Of course the scenery was much different now compared to what I saw when I got there. There was snow on the ground the entire way. It was a very pleasant and smooth flight at 33,000 feet up to ORD. We made our approach from the southwest and then turned back around and landed on the 27s at ORD. If it weren't for a lot of stop and go during the taxi, we would have been at gate K19 much earlier than we were. Either way we were still 5 minutes early. Of course, K19 is a very long jetway and it was 1 degree. So I froze my ass off during what seemed like the never ending walk into the terminal. Saw my breath the whole way too.

    Chicago-O'Hare International Airport:
    My layover was short so I only had time to go to the bathroom and get something to eat before I had to board. I ended up boarding with those who were traveling light. I like that idea.

    American Airlines flight 348
    Departed: Chicago-O'Hare at 7:02 PM CST (Scheduled at 7:00 PM CST)
    Arrived: New York-LaGuardia at 9:48 PM EST (Scheduled at 10:05 PM EST)
    Seat: 23A
    Aircraft: Boeing 737-800

    We pushed from K18 and made a quick taxi out to Runway 22L before departing with a spectacular view of the City of Chicago. I think the former Meigs Field (RIP) was just out of view. Beautiful climb out I must say. We cruised at 39,000 feet to NYC with a full beverage service (and even got the whole can of soda). Total flight time was short, 1 hour 28 minutes do the ridiculous tailwind. Managed to play some Flappy Bird (annoying game, but addicting) and pretend to read the lips of the characters on yet another episode of "Parenthood". Before long, we were on our initial descent into New York. We flew in over Staten Island and then Brooklyn, east of the City before entering what appeared to be a left downwind for Runway 22 at LGA. We did the standard approach from there and touched down. I did record all but one of the take offs (Take off from ORD to MCI was omitted due to de-icing fluid covering the windows) and all 4 landings. This landing was actually hard enough to make me lose my grip on my phone while recording. A quick taxi to gate D6 and I was FINALLY home after basically a 3 day delay.

    Thanks for reading everyone, now if anyone has any instructions on how to post pictures and videos on here I'd greatly appreciate it!
    Last edited by JetBlueAirwaysFan; 2014-02-07 at 07:43 PM.
    In loving memory of Casey Edward Falconer
    May 16, 1992-May 9, 2012

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