It was nice knowing we did not have to get up for an early flight today, our first flight to Dallas Ft.-Worth Airport does not depart until 4:41 PM.
We both slept in a little until Sophie, our cat, did her normal routine of kitty meows at about 7:15 AM. That is about as late as we get from her, she wants her breakfast. I got up and fed Sophie and had some breakfast while Stephanie slept in like she normally does on the weekends.
I had to go to mom’s at 9:00 AM to meet the Sunday morning caregiver and make sure she remembered about giving medicine to mom’s cat. With that mission accomplished, I headed home to finish a little bit more packing and then we did some house cleaning.
Most of the rest of the morning and early afternoon we just waited for the time to pass before we could leave for the airport at 2:50 PM. Stephanie’s friend Alison, who is also our house sitter/cat sitter is taking us to the airport today, and she arrived early at about 2:15. We had already finished getting everything packed into our suitcases, just mostly needing to add our toiletries and the last few small items. We did not even bother weighing the bags, we knew they were well below the 50 lb. airline limit from our pre-packing weigh-ins.
We went over a few house and cat details with Alison and then it was time to leave for the airport at 2:50 PM. It was a pleasant drive to the airport, there is hardly any traffic at that time of day on a Sunday. We got dropped off at the American Airlines departure area and went inside to check-in. The suitcases both weighed in at about 45 pounds, a little over our self set limit, but still under the airlines imposed limit.
Waiting In The Columbia Airport
The check-in went smoothly, all of the attendants were asking questions about our trip once they saw where we were going. It was the most fun airport check-in we have had. Of course, being a small airport, there weren’t any lines on a Sunday, even for security.
After about half undressing, we made it through security without issue and redressed on the other side and then headed to our gate. We had about an hour to wait for our departure time, so we sat in some nice chairs looking out the windows.
We were checking the progress of the inbound flight for our plane, which originated in Dallas-Ft. Worth, and discovered that it was running about 15 minutes late. This was not good news since we only have an hour and ten minute layover in Dallas for our connection to Buenos Aires, and we know we have to change terminals after we land. True to the delayed schedule, our plane arrived late, but “On-Time” for the late adjusted schedule.
We waited over by the gate for everyone to deplane the incoming flight, and then there was some time spent by the ground crew cleaning the plane’s interior spaces. Everything was still running on the delayed schedule, about 15 minutes difference from the original departure time.
In order to fill the plane more quickly, at least that was probably the intent, the gate attendant started calling out groups to board. Just a couple of minutes after calling the first group, she called the second group, then the third, forth, etc. Everyone was just plowing toward the check in scanner for boarding. We were in group five, and before we could even got to the gate, she had already called groups 6 and above. It was a bit of chaos, everyone was just trying to get on quickly, especially those with carry-on bags seeking overhead bin space.
We finally got to the plane door and boarded and found our seats. We had window and middle seats and a nice man from the military sat in the aisle seat beside Stephanie. Luckily, the plane was not full, so we actually left only about 10 minutes late.
Arriving at Dallas Ft. Worth Airport
The flight was uneventful once we actually departed. It was just under three hours, and I think they made up some time on the way. We did discover that on American Airlines, if the flight is over two hours, drinks are free for Main Cabin passengers. The person seated with us in our row ordered something, and was never charged, and that is when he told us he thought it was for any flights more than two hours ling. We will need to check into that for our next trip to Alaska in July, we will be taking an earlier version of this same flight to Dallas-Ft. Worth for that trip.
We landed on time and then had quite a long taxi to the gate in the C Terminal. We knew we needed to go to Gate 36 in the D Terminal, so we thought it can’t be too far to go just to get to the next terminal over.
We confirmed our departure gate on the overhead screens and started to go that way. Boy were we wrong on how quick it was going to be to get to the D Terminal. Apparently the DFW Airport is just built over a large area. We found the Sky Train, and waited for the next car to arrive. There is nothing fast about this connecting train, it is really slow, and not smooth at all to ride in. We found out that there were six stops at least to get to the portion of the D Terminal with our gate. From the C terminal, we went to another portion of the C Terminal with higher numbered gates, then we went to two different sections of the next terminal over, the E Terminal. Who knew E comes after C and before D in Dallas.
Then we had to go to two different sections of the E Terminal, and one more section of the lower numbered D terminal gates. Luckily, when we got off the train, we were really close to Gate 36 in the D Terminal. They were already starting to board our flight, and we needed to make a bathroom stop. By the time we were finished in the restrooms, they were calling our Boarding Group, Group 5, and we started heading to the line to scan our boarding passes. Then they called Group 6 and we got displaced by some of those boarders before we got to the gate check-in.
We scanned our boarding passes, and Stephanie’s got flagged for a seat change. Mine had not, but I could see we were no longer in Row 12, our original seats, and now we were in Row 14. I asked a flight attendant about our seat changes when we got to the planes door, and we found out there had been an equipment change, and we were now on a slightly different size plane. The original plane was a 777-300 and this was a 787 Dreamliner.
Our seats were not the same row, but in essence, were the same seats, middle and aisle in the middle set of three seats on the plane. Once we figured this out, everything was fine, we were still in our preferred seats with extra leg room that we had purchased for this flight in order to have seats together, and, could more easily get up during the flight.
Everyone was on-board and the doors were closed for departure, right on time. There were quite a few seats open in the Main Cabin, we were not sure if this plane was bigger, or there had been last minute cancellations because when I had checked seats yesterday, the seat plan showed the flight was full in the Main Cabin section. The Captain indicated a flight time of just under 10 hours, which was just a few minutes less than scheduled. This will be our longest single flight leg in all of our travels together.
About an hour after we departed, drinks were served, and we were surprised to see they had Pinot Grigio, which we ordered instead of the heavier red wine. Dinner choices were a pasta dish or chicken with rice. I had the chicken with rice and Stephanie had the pasta. Both were actually quite good, but we were also quite hungry, not having had any time for a snack in the terminal before this flight left. By this time, we felt hungry just like it was for being 9:45 PM on our time at home.
After dinner was cleared, we both settled in to watch a movie on our individual seat back systems. I watched the Woman King, and I was not sure what Stephanie was watching, it looked like Step Brothers at first, then she was watching something else.
We were served one more round of wine during movie time, maybe two, and then after that, we headed to the back of the plane to ask for another round. We were trying not to drink too much, but we also wanted to relax to try and get some sleep in a little bit.
We both tried to get some sleep with about 5-6 hours of the flight remaining, but it was difficult, the seats wee not that comfortable, and the flight was just bumpy enough at times to wake you up. Also, sleeping with noise cancelling head phones on is just not that comfortable, but it is a lot quieter.
Maybe I got 2-3 hours of sleep, Stephanie may have gotten more, but I could just not get comfortable. We had brought Tylenol PM to take a single capsule before trying to sleep, something new we had seen suggested for sleep on long haul flights, but we forgot to take them.
About an hour before the flight was to end, the flight attendants started shuffling around getting ready for our “light” breakfast. I took the opportunity to use the restroom before they got back to our section knowing they would be blocking the aisle for some time once they passed by us and headed more toward the rear of the plane where the bathrooms were located.
Breakfast was pretty simple, vanilla yogurt with granola, which I did not see to add to my yogurt until after I finished mine, and a small fig bar. Of course, drinks were served and I had water while Stephanie had her usual morning diet coke.
Our Plane at the Buenos Aires Airport
Breakfast was cleared only about 20 minutes before we landed. The landing was not smooth at all, but we made it anyway. It was the type of landing where the overhead bins all shake and move, and I guess that is why they caution you about movement, it was certainly a possibility from this landing.
We taxied to the gate and then waited for all of the Business/First Class passengers to deplane before we were allowed to leave. There was quite a long walk to the immigration area from our arrival gate
This will end the post for today, we will pick up the story in the next post, Arrival in Buenos Aires.