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).
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