This past holiday weekend I did a quick trip to Memphis. By quick I mean less then 24 hours!
The purpose was to travel back with my grandson who’s spending a couple of weeks with us while his mom is on her military reserve duty out of state. I used miles to book and at the time it was less miles to go business class (which is really first class domestically) than economy.
My flight, AA1063 left at 6:20 am on Friday. The first perk I took advantage of was the first class line at the TSA security checkpoint in San Diego. Only one person in front of me and then I was through. The pre-check line was much longer so even though I had to take shoes off I was through faster.
Normally, I would be picking up some breakfast but since there’s a meal on-board I just admired the art display. The current exhibit is celebrating the centennial of the San Diego Panama-California Exposition that was held in Balboa Park.
Once first class boarded we were offered a pre-takeoff beverage. I had a cup of water for now.
Take off was smooth and I enjoyed the view of San Diego from the air. I think that’s Point Loma above.
The view was just as beautiful above the clouds.
For my pre-breakfast drink I ordered a mimosa. That was about all the alcohol I could handle this early in the morning. I ordered the breakfast a day or two in advance online so all the flight attendant asked was if I wanted a biscuit or raisin roll with it.
Breakfast was a vegetable quiche (they called it strata, but not really) with roasted potatoes and chicken sausage. I have to say it tasted much better than it looks. I really enjoyed it.
My selection was the biscuit and the meal rounded out with some fresh fruit.
The seat was comfortable but I could have used a footrest for my short legs. The overheard monitors showed the NBC video which I didn’t watch. Instead I had loaded some Amazon Prime shows on my iPad and watched them.
We arrived in Dallas about 20 minutes early and after changing terminals headed to the Admirals Club. I had a US Airways pass that would expire the end of this year that needed to be used and with two plus hours between flights this was a good opportunity.
After a long walk (my gate was B49 and the club is by B6) I was able to relax and enjoy the surroundings. It was not crowded and I was able to enjoy the paper and ginger ale while waiting for the lunch soup (oatmeal was still out when I arrived).
They had two soups and I tried the chicken coconut curry. It was delicious.
I rounded out my “lunch” with cheese, crackers, celery and carrots with hummus.
There were cookies and brownies and I tried the brownie was was much better than it looked. It went perfectly with a cup of decaf cappucino from this coffee machine.
My next flight (AA5880) on a CR9 so first class was a much different experience. Pretty much the only benefit was having a roomier seat and being closer to the front door. However, it was just an hour flight and before long I was in Memphis.
My grandson and I were in economy on the flights back retracing my original itinerary. Our plane from Dallas to San Diego was newer and we had individual seatback entertainment systems. The result is less space under the seat in front of you and rows were very close together.
Another surprise was not having a window by seat 10A! All in all, we had good flights (all were early) and accomplished the purpose of the trip. How was your last flight?
[…] second evening I went to Dream Dinners to put together six meals for us. Follow that by a trip to Memphis two days later for less than a day to pick up my grandson for two weeks. We spent the rest of the […]