Not since World Cup 2014 have I taken an
indirect flight. But with Providence and
Pittsburgh having small Regional Airports, I had no choice but to fly via
Philadelphia. With my event at Gillette Stadium finished, I had the option to either fly out of Boston Logan International Airport or T.F. Green International Airport. While Logan has more flight options, the drive to Providence, Rhode Island is much shorter at only 45 minutes versus the 75 – 90 minute drive towards Boston. Plus, as I would soon find out, checking in at a Regional Airport like T.F. Green is super quick and convenient. Such would not have been the case at Logan.
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| T.F. Green International Airport |
Although my flight was scheduled for 12:45pm EST, I didn’t want to take any chances here and ordered an Uber around 10am. I figured if I were to get stuck in traffic, then it might be around Providence and for only a little bit. In reality, we hit a bit of a traffic jam as we approached the Massachusetts – Rhode Island Stateline due to some construction. There was also a slight drizzle this morning that also impacted traffic a little bit. The only delay I wasn’t counting on was my Uber driver’s lack of common sense. As we were approaching the airport, he followed the GPS on his cell phone, which led him towards a restricted roadway that was open only to vendors dropping off supplies at T.F. Green International Airport. You would think he would have known better, but I digress.
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| T.F. Green International Airport |
We arrived at T.F. Green around 11am. As expected from a Regional Airport, there is
only one Terminal here. For this
indirect flight, I opted to fly with American Airlines as they seemed to have
the best options for layovers as I would have 90 minutes at Philadelphia versus
45 minutes with Delta had I gone to Pittsburgh via Detroit instead. There were also some indirect flight I could
have taken via Washington, D.C., but once again, they were really short at
around 45 minutes, so I didn’t want to take any chances here. The check in counter for American Airlines was
literally dead when I got there. That
being said, it took me less than 5 minutes to go through check-in and security
– a personal best for me!
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| Shipyard Brewport |
As far as food
options go, T.F. Green is extremely limited.
There are some fast food restaurants and a couple of restaurants
available, but I opted for Shipyard Brewport.
Shipyard is really more of a bar than an actual restaurant. Because they don’t actually have a kitchen,
they have a very limited menu of pre-made sandwiches, soups, and salads that
they have one of the two main restaurants prepare for them. Apparently, there is some sort of arrangement
to have their respective kitchen staff prepare quick lunch items for a slice of
the profits.
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| New England Clam Chowder |
Regardless, I ordered a bowl of New England
clam chowder. It was freshly made and
piping hot when I got it. It came with
some Oyster crackers and a bottle of Tabasco sauce for that extra kick if you
wanted it. My advice? Go for that kick with the Tabasco sauce. For what ultimately came out to be $20 US
meal including tax and tip, it was decent value for what is essentially is just
a small bar in the middle of the Terminal to help pass the time. As an added bonus, they have about 20 tables
to the left wing of the food court for diners, as well as free Wi-Fi. So if you don’t like sitting at a bar like I
do when eating, then you do have the option to gaze out the window and watch
planes land and depart on the tarmac in front of you.
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| American Airlines Flight #4433 - PVD to PHL |
Fortunately, there were no delays this morning
as boarding was scheduled on time. The
Embraer ERJ 175 twin-jet was in a 2 x 2 formation and one of the smallest
planes I have ever flown on. It was so
small that the Stewardess mentioned in the pre-flight instructions that
passengers cannot congregate inside the cabin.
Aside from that, there wasn’t much to report on this hour long flight to
Philadelphia. There wasn’t any
turbulence and the landing was one of the most scenic I've ever had. It was definitely nice to fly something other
than Air Canada/United Airlines for a change, but I’m not sure I will be so
eager to fly with American Airlines anytime soon based on what was about to happen on the next flight segment.
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| Philadelphia - The City of Brotherly Love |
AA 4433 – PVD to PHL
Operated by: Republic Brickyard (American
Airlines)
Aircraft:
Embraer ERJ 175 (twin-jet); Seat:
Cabin:
Snacks & Complimentary Drinks
Depart: 12:45PM EST – T.F. Green International
Airport (PVD) – Gate 5
Arrive:
01:58PM EST – Philadelphia International Airport (PVD) – Terminal F, Gate
B5
Flight Time: 1:13; Non Stop Flight – 316 Miles/509
Kilometers; Date: June 13, 2018
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| American Airlines Flight #2085 - PHL to PIT |
With only 90 minutes to spare on this layover
at Philadelphia International Airport, I decided to have a beer at the
Germantown Biergarten. Oh yes, who
wouldn’t want to spend time at a biergarten inside the airport? With its wide variety of styles, including and
a decent selection of domestics and imports, this is a beer lover’s dream come
true. I decided to have only one beer –
Philadelphia Pale Ale – which was crisp and hoppy while brewed with Pilsner
Malt and American Hops that imparted a Citrus aroma. At 4.6% ABV and 37 IBU, it was a nice light,
sweet, clean American Pale Ale from Yards Brewing Company to have before
heading towards my gate to board for my flight to Pittsburgh. Had I known what was about to happen next,
then I would have stayed here to try one or two more local beers.
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| Queue of planes waiting to depart Philadelphia International Airport |
Although I got to my gate in plenty of time,
but we were told by American Airlines that there would be a 15 – 20 minute
boarding delay as our plane arrived late.
They still needed to do some maintenance on the plane and a cabin crew
change was needed. Twenty minutes slowly
turned into 30 and then 40 before we received another update. The “maintenance issue” was with the air
conditioning system. Given that American
Airlines Flight #2805 was going to be a full flight, the Captain said it would
be too hot to board all of us for the hour long flight. With the current temperature being 94 °F, I knew it was going to take a while before we could board the
plane.
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| Philadelphia International Airport |
Finally, we boarded around 4:10pm EST – almost an hour after our
initial scheduled boarding. The plane
was in a 3 x 2 formation with comfortable Navy Blue leather seats. It was my first time in over ten years flying
with American Airlines, so I forgot how comfortable their seats are. But this is where my happiness with them
ended. On top of the maintenance issues
with the air conditioning system, our flight was further delayed for luggage
storage space – or lack thereof. This
flight was taking some American Airlines crew members back to Pittsburgh, which
made this flight full. This meant that a
significant percentage of passengers had to store their carry-on luggage into carriage
instead. Unfortunately, the American
Airlines crew did not keep track of the number of people who were bringing
carry-on luggage while we were boarding.
There was a lot of confusion about who had to check in their luggage as
a result further causing some unnecessary flight delays.
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| Descending into Pittsburgh |
Once the luggage situation was sorted, the Captain told us that
our expected flight time to Pittsburgh was about 43 minutes. That’s absolutely hilarious given our flight
delay lasted longer than our expected flight time. I could have grabbed some food at this
rate. Speaking of which, there was a
little girl around three or four years of age sitting right behind me who kept
throwing a tantrum because she was hungry.
Her tantrums only gotten progressively worse with the delay. How her parents didn’t give her any snacks at
the airport during the flight delay is beyond me, but I decided to keep my cool
about the situation even though she kicked my seat a few times demanding her
Dad give her some food. I know her
parents were trying their best to settle her down and we were about to take off
soon, so she was going to get something to eat as soon as we were in the air.
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| Pittsburgh International Airport |
By the way, we finally took off around 5:07pm EST – almost two
hours after we were initially expected to board and an hour after we actually
did board. We landed in Pittsburgh at
6pm, but none of us received anything more than an apology for the flight
delay. What an absolutely disaster of an
afternoon! Will I consider flying
American Airlines again? Yes, but not
anytime soon. At least I was in
Pittsburgh now after a long travel day, and that’s all that mattered to me at
this point.
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| Welcome to Pittsburgh! |
AA 2085 – PHL to PIT
Operated by: American Airlines
Aircraft:
Airbus A319 (twin-jet); Seat:
Cabin:
Snacks & Complimentary Drinks
Depart: 04:46PM EST – Philadelphia
International Airport (PHL) – Gate C30
Arrive:
06:00PM EST – Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) – Gate B34
Flight Time: 1:14; Non Stop Flight – 280 Miles/451
Kilometers; Date: June 13, 2018
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