Tag: DCA

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Inside the US Airways Club at Washington DC's Reagan National Airport

November 29, 2011 at 4:00 PM | by | Comments (2)

Have you ever entered a fancier doctor's office and been directed to "take a seat," and then looked around and thought, "hey, this isn't all that bad?" Of course you have; an experience like this is common enough, but what isn't so common is finding that exact same feel in an airline lounge.

Every so often we fly through Washington DC's Reagan National Airport and, this last time, we actually had enough of a layover to warrant spending some time drinking the complimentary coffee and soaking up the tarmac views from the US Airways Club in Concourse C.

Getting there: The lounge is after security, but up an elevator before you head down the concourse to the gates. A simple silver plaque lets you know this, and upstairs you'll hit the regular reception desk. It's here however that you may encounter problems if you're a Star Alliance Gold member, but not with US Airways. The receptionist at first wouldn't allow us entry, because we weren't traveling on an international ticket.

WRONG. Star Alliance Gold members (*of airlines other than Continental, United and US Airways) are allowed up there, so long as they're traveling on a Star Alliance flight in any class that day. Explaining the right to enter a lounge is not only embarrassing but it also immediately sours our impression of the place.

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Three Hours at DCA and We Spot Four Special Airplanes

Where: Washington Reagan National Airport [map], Washington, DC, United States
November 10, 2011 at 4:51 PM | by | Comments (0)

When we have to fly US Airways we don't exactly jump for joy. After all, we've not had the best of luck getting our luggage back or even convincing friends the airline still exists. There's not a whole lot of options for one-ways from Detroit-Metro to New York-LaGuardia however, and thus we occasionally find ourselves stuck on a layover at Reagan-National Airport.

After yesterday's experience plane spotting from the US Airways club overlooking the C gates though, we must admit that we regret it doesn't more often. Four—count 'em—four special liveries were on the tarmac. We were like a kid in a candy store (an adult in an airport—ha).

Above is US Air's retro ode to PSA (Pacific Southwest Airlines) whom they merged with back in 1987. The plane is smiling! Here's the other three we snapped:

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A 9-Foot-Tall Ronald Reagan Will Watch You Run for Your Flight at DCA

November 7, 2011 at 2:15 PM | by | Comments (0)

Get ready to wave at—or high-five—former President Ronald Reagan on your way to and from the airport this holiday season.

Reagan National Airport in DC has just added a nine-foot-tall bronze statue outside the entrance to the airport. Just in case you’re not too familiar with presidential history—he wasn’t really that tall. Anyway, this is like the fourth likeness of the former president dedicated this year, as 2011 is the 100th anniversary of his birth.

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Japan Explains 'Grope and Change' TSA Policy

September 28, 2011 at 2:22 PM | by | Comments (0)

On one hand, it's a little bold for Japanese comics to be spoofing American behavior on the same week that Japanese scientists are showcasing their hilariously disturbing pregnancy simulator vest around the country. Japan doesn't have a lock on Jaunted's weird travel category, but they're not exactly under-represented either (not one but two separate posts just about weird bras!) So a little bit of cross-cultural modesty is called for here.

On the other hand, the Washington Post did just publish a story about a TSA agent who got somewhat flummoxed by something "shiny." Literally. Too sparkly!

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Forget Plastic Wings! Air Wisconsin Gives First Flight Certificates

June 8, 2011 at 12:47 PM | by | Comment (1)

We have a really excellent series here at Jaunted (if we do say ourselves), called "My First Flight." Readers like you are invited to send us the story of your first trip in the skies, which we'll share on the site, because everyone's got to have a first time and it makes for a truly enjoyable read. The thing is, these stories come years and years after the first flight, when the moment has been relegated to the memory bank. It's not often that we hear from a newbie to the skies...until now. Kinda.

Yesterday while traveling on a regular ol' flight from DTW to DCA, we were witness to a tiny baby's very first plane trip. It was onboard a half-full Air Wisconsin Canadair Regional Jet that seats max 50 people, so this little girl could have disturbed everyone with her crying. Alas, she didn't cry one bit; instead, she spent the little-over-one-hour flight happily smiling at her mom and making courteous little giggles at the flight attendant's cooing. For her perfect behavior, the FA awarded the baby with a Certificate of First Flight.

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Travel Rant: US Airways' Incandescent Incompetence with a Single Checked Luggage

January 12, 2011 at 3:31 PM | by | Comments (0)


Some old school US Airways planes

Who doesn't love a good travel rant? Well we're here to make you day with a sweet little rant from Jaunted writer Omri, who had the pleasure of checking a bag and having it lost in transit. It sucks, sure, but then it became a nightmare. Now let's get to the ranting...

Welcome to Part I of our two-part series on the borderline comedic but mindblowingly frustrating experience we're having with US Airways. Last Sunday they were supposed to get us from Washington DC to Los Angeles on a couple of morning flights, with everything being wrapped up by about 10am. Fast forward to 7:30pm Sunday night and we've gone through four flights at three airports on two airlines, all over 14 hours...and the airline lost our luggage. The emphasis is on lost because—had they merely delayed our luggage—we wouldn't need two different posts to peel back the many layers of airline incompetence on display.

But we do need two posts, because this has been such a learning experience and—if we here at Jaunted are about anything—we're all about learning. So today we'll go over what happened and the things we learned about the airports we "visited." And on Friday we'll dive into our in-depth investigation of their baggage recovery policy, complete with stonewalling by US Airway's press people. Preview: outsourcing baggage recovery services to India is fun for everyone, except anyone who loses baggage.

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Snowpocalypse! East Coast Blizzard Causes Epic Shutdown

December 27, 2010 at 11:11 AM | by | Comments (0)

We thought Midwest (not to mention UK) air traffic two weeks ago was a total mess, and that things couldn't get much worse. Turns out we called that putt a little too early. If you're reading this right now, you're not suffering power outages like the 60,000 people in Massachusetts or the 16,000 people in New York or the 2,300 people in Rhode Island or the 40,000 people in Canada. So congratulations on that we suppose.

You're also not reading this from a New York airport, since those have been shut since last night. JFK, EWR, and LGA aren't projected to reopen until 4pm EST today, at which point they will have been offline for about about 24 hours each. That shouldn't be a problem, since it's not like a lot of people live in that region or like this was a weekend where lots of people were vacationing.

Ditto for the wave of airport cancellations that hit all three DC airports, plus Boston, Charlotte, Philadelphia, etc etc. Amtrak between New York and Boston is also shut down, so if you were desperately hoping to get to Logan and take the train into New York—which you probably couldn't do anyway—that won't work either.

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Wow, Chicago's O'Hare Airport is a Total Mess Right Now

Where: Chicago O'Hare Airport [map], Chicago, IL, United States
December 13, 2010 at 1:14 PM | by | Comments (2)

Regarding the monumental clusterfark going on in the Midwest, the Associated Press just posted a story optimistically headlined "Illinois recovers from windy winter storm." Yeah listen. We were in O'Hare last night, and we saw what the board looked like, and we read about the thousands of canceled flights...and we're not so sure about that.

We were in ORD as part of an itinerary that began in London and concluded at DCA-Reagan National. Why would we go through Chicago, which isn't between those two cities, to get between those two cities? Because that's how American Airlines wanted it. What they didn't mention at booking time was that they'd be canceling our Chicago to DC flight six or seven hours before takeoff, which means that the physical plane failed to get off the ground from wherever it was originally coming from. "Cascading failure," is what the engineers call it.

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Jennifer Hudson Dares to Wear a Blue Unitard for Her Flight from DC

November 11, 2010 at 1:05 PM | by | Comments (0)

No one would argue with the fact that Jennifer Hudson looks amazing after dropping five dress sizes earlier this year, but that doesn't mean she can wear whatever she wants.

The Oscar winner was spotted yesterday at Washington DC's Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) wearing a blue lace body suit with matching ribbed leggings and black boots.

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Jetblue 'Collaborates' With American To Score New Reagan-National Routes

March 31, 2010 at 10:27 AM | by | Comments (2)

You know what they say—if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. And no one knows this better than American Airlines and Jetblue today, since this morning they announced an interline agreement to "collaborate" on routes where they aren't directly at each other's necks in competition. The focus is on three airports: New York-JFK, Boston-Logan and Washington DC-Reagan National. Jetblue being the largest domestic airline at the first two airports, they are looking to trade some dominance for some access to Reagan National by being all buddy-buddy with American.

The terms of the agreement have American giving 8 slot pairs (a slot being the block of time during which an airline can operate a flight at an airport) at DCA and one slot pair at Westchester Airport to Jetblue and Jetblue giving back to American with 12 slot pairs at New York-JFK. Does this mean that we'll soon be sharing Terminal 5's breakfast buffet and free WiFi with passengers departing on American jets? It'd be crazy, but it could also be the future.

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The Best Plane Spotting Happens Just Outside Of DC's Restricted Airspace

Where: Reagan National Airport [map], Arlington, VA, United States
December 10, 2009 at 5:56 PM | by | Comments (3)

Lately in our series of stories on the best places to plane spot, we've focused on warm weather destinations, but some of us won't be taking tropical trips this winter and maybe still want to check out a little aviation action on our home turf. So we turn to Washington DC's Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA), located in Arlington, Virginia, but still within sight of the Capitol and the Washington Monument.

DCA is a plane spotters dream; it has a park with scenic views to the city, over the water, and onto the airport right at the end of the runway. This is Gravelly Point Park, and those biking the paths or picnicking on the grass are usually all here for the same reason: a little outdoors activity on a nice day, with the additional benefit of watching the mostly domestic flights zoom a few hundred feet above them and then make a left turn to avoid restricted airspace over DC.

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Airport Photo Shoot: Gold Medal Grin

October 7, 2008 at 9:15 AM | by | Comments (0)

Light enough to carry on: Gold medal winning gymnast Shawn Johnson lands at Reagan National before heading to the White House to meet President Bush along with a delegation of other Olympians.

The race may be won, the distinctions awarded, but for most Olympic athletes the sprint to take advantage of their 15 minutes of fame is still going on. (We recently saw Usain Bolt leaving David Letterman's stage, and he looked ti-yerd.)

Not every returning hero gets a Phelpstival, but those endorsements and that attention will only be up for grabs for so long before Americans forget about the Olympics. At least Shawn is allowed to wear a T-shirt and Uggs when she's out meeting the nation instead of a leotard and chalk.

Related Stories:
· Phelpstival Finally Official [Jaunted]
· Forget Gymnastics: US Now Challenging China's Olympic Architecture [Jaunted]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Just Jared]

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