One of the most common questions I get from friends and family is “what do you do when mileage running?” It’s an interesting question because I really don’t ever have a good answer. Of course I take pictures of the aircraft and the cabin for flight reviews, but what do I actually do when sitting on a plane for several hours. Additionally, what do I actually do to pass the time.
Because I never have a great answer to this question I’ve decided to “live blog” the mileage run that I’m on right now. I’ve decided to post somewhat live updates of my weekend in which I mileage run to Helsinki to catch a Finnair Business Class flight home. For that reason, I’ve decided to name this Trip Report the Mileage Run From HEL (clever I know, thanks).
This “live” mileage run won’t include reviews of airport lounges or flights. Instead, I’ll try to simply jot down the thoughts and feelings that I experience during a 10,500 mile Mileage Run across the Atlantic.
Things Got Messy Fast
This mileage run got off to a bad start the morning of my first flight from Chicago to Charlotte. I woke up later than I should have and ended up leaving for the airport about 40 minutes later than I typically would have. My flight to Charlotte was scheduled to depart at 9:01AM, but I didn’t arrive at Chicago O’Hare Blue Line stop until 8:35AM.
When I got to the airport I ran upstairs and made my way to the TSA PreCheck checkpoint. Thankfully when I arrived at the checkpoint there were only a few people in line and I made it through security by 8:42AM.
Once through the checkpoint I again ran through Terminal 3 to reach gate H11A to catch my departing flight. Somehow I arrived at the gate by 8:45AM and was allowed to board the flight from Charlotte. While many may view this as a good thing, catching this flight potentially ruined my entire Mileage Run.
Very Delayed Flight To Charlotte
Shortly after taking my seat on the Airbus A321 which would take us to Charlotte the pilots made an announcement. The pilots explained that due to lightning in the area the airport closed the ramp. This meant all ramp workers needed to take cover and no planes could push-back.
This is never a great sign because even a short ramp closure can lead to massive ground delays. Surprisingly the ramp opened a few minutes later and the door to our flight closed just 12 minutes late. This is where things turned from bad to terrible.
We sat at the gate, with the door closed, for an hour! Our alleyway was congested and we were the #3 aircraft scheduled for pushback. Eventually we pushed back from the gate and began what would become a long taxi to the departing runway.
The taxi to the departing runway took just over an hour which meant we were now over 2 hours late. It was at this point during the delay that I started to panic!
Panicking To Salvage My Mileage Run
Normally flight delays don’t bother me at all. I usually don’t worry about delays because I know, at the end of the day, I’ll eventually make it to where I need to go. However, with this mileage run, a massive delay like this one creates a few issues.
The issue is that I’m currently traveling on three different itineraries! The first itinerary I booked is from Chicago to Charlotte to New York (JFK). I booked this because it was about half as expensive as trying to go from Chicago to JFK nonstop. I needed to get to JFK because that is where the return leg of another trip (Stockholm – Helsinki – New York – London – Munich) began. Are you following?
So I needed to make it to JFK by 7PM to catch the flight to London before continuing on to Munich. I purposely booked a late JFK departure to give me plenty of time to position to JFK this morning. On top of that, I purposely booked an early arrival into JFK as to protect my self in the event of a delay.
Lastly, I have to make to Munich by tomorrow afternoon to catch a Finnair flight to Helsinki which begins my third trip! Earlier this year I booked a great Finnair Business Class flight from Helsinki to Chicago with a return to Munich for Oktoberfest. If I miss this Munich to Helsinki flight then I’ll most likely lose my return to Munich which is the flight I actually care most about.
Connecting With American Airlines On Twitter
As I reached full panic mode I decided to reach out to American Airlines on Twitter (@AmericanAir). I’ve found American Airlines’ Twitter team is very effective at helping when you can’t call American or talk to a customer service agent directly.
I began by sending AA a tweet letting them know my situation.
As you can see they replied promptly. With their reply they let me know that they would be sending me a direct message with further details. Again, a few moments later, I received a DM from American with at least one option.
My new option was to catch a flight to New York LGA instead of JFK and take a shuttle. While this option isn’t the best, it at least get’s me to JFK in enough time to catch my flight to London.
To Be Continued
I’m currently sitting on my flight to Charlotte and am supposed to arrive in Charlotte at 2PM. American has scheduled my backup flight to depart for LaGuardia at 2:20PM. There is a good chance that I’ll actually make that flight. If not, it’s back to the drawing board.
