This week, I was headed to Memphis for a few days. One of the downsides of traveling from a mid-market to another mid-market is that there are rarely any direct flights, so it usually means connecting and a great risk of delays or cancellations – especially during the spring and summer months. Well, this week I got bit by the delay bug.
We were getting lined up for my first leg to Chicago and suddenly the monitor showed a three hour delay. I knew this couldn’t be good because my connection would be boarding in about two hours. I needed to be in Memphis that night, so I wasn’t sure if I should wait out the delay in hopes that it might lessen or just grab another flight while I still had the chance even though it was for the next day. Well I ended up getting a new flight the next day but on a different airline at it took off at 5:45AM – great.
My first flight went from a United Airbus A320 to an American Airlines Embraer ERJ-175 N440YX. This picture is from a terminal connection bus at DCA.
The ERJ-175 is my favorite regional jet and I would even prefer it to a 3×3 seat situation, so not a terrible replacement. This time I connected through DCA, so I got a nice view of the Washington Monument and the U.S Capitol Building.
My next flight was on the American Airlines CRJ-200 N215PS.
At DCA, all of the smaller CRJs get the luxury of being boarded through 35X, so you have to take a bus to the plane and then put anything larger than a phone book in the cargo bold.
Then on the return back home it was CRJ-700s the whole way. This time I took the originally planned path connecting through Chicago. I only got a picture of American Airlines CRJ-700 N507AE.
This part of the trip was still rainy but overall no delays causing any disruptions. I will have one more trip the Memphis and hopefully that one goes better than this one. One thing I have learned though it to travel earlier in the day in case of delays so I have a better chance at getting on an alternate route.