matt1168
02-02-2004, 09:08 PM
Airline: Spirit
Aircraft: MD80
Airport-D: ACY (Atlantic City International)
Airport-A: DTW (Detroit Metro Airport)
Seat: 16A
Dep. Time-S: 6:20 AM
Dep. Time-A: 6:10 AM
Arr. Time-S: 8:00 AM
Arr. Time-A: 7:50 AM
Getting to the Airport
I left my house at 5:00 AM to insure plenty of time- what a way to start off a weekend! I was excited nonetheless, that I would be making my first trip to DTW, an airport I was excited to see. I got to the ACY parking lot at exactly 5:10 AM. The parking lot was pretty much empty, and I got a space only a couple of rows back from the main terminal. After getting my parking ticket from the machine, I crossed the street and entered the ACY terminal, which was extremely busy for this time of morning. There were 6 representitives behind the Spirit Check in desk, and the following flights were open for check-in along with mine:
-Flight 259 to FLL and CUN at 7:15
-Flight 1153 to DTW (mine) at 6:20
-Flight to DEN at 6:20
-Flight 943 to RSW at 8:00
-Flight 311 to Orlando at 7:00
-Flight 165 to PBI at 7:05
-And a DL flight to CVG on the other side of the terminal.
Check-in, Security, and Boarding
Check-in went a bit slow, as there were 6 reps and around 100 people on line. I finally got my boarding pass (and seat assignment for seat 16A) at 5:45, and realized that my flight began boarding in five minutes! I raced across the terminal to the security checkpoint, where there were two metal detectors open, and quite a long line. Luckily though, the line moved fast and I made it through security at 5:55, getting through without any trouble. I quickly used the restroom and then looked at my boarding pass, to find that the flight was already in the process of boarding at Gate 1, the gate furthest to the left in the concourse. I rushed over and fell into the boarding line just in time, gave the rep my boarding pass, and boarded the plane... aahh... nothing like stepping onto a Spirit MD80 (again) at ACY :roll:
The flight
I slowly walked toward the back of the cabin until I found row 16 and took my seat by the window on the right. A heavyset Denver bound man sat down next to me a moment later, and he told me that this was his first time flying Spirit, although he said he flew DL and US from ACY plenty of times. We talked for a couple of minutes, until an F/A came on the loudspeaker to tell us everybody had boarded early and we were ready for push-back. We used the engines to push back, while the flight attendents began the safety briefing-- "welcome aboard Spirit Airlines flight 1153 with service to Denver International with an intermediate stop at Detroit..." We taxied for about 5 minutes, when the pilot came on to tell us that we would be second for takeoff (after a DL CRJ to CVG). About 5 minutes later we aligned with the runway and sped up. We had a short rotation and then lifted off the ground :smilewin: . The plane bumped around in the air and the pilot came on to tell us it would be a bit of a bumpy flight, and that our cruising altitude would be 30,000 feet. We were told that flight time would be about 1 hour and 40 minutes, and finally, 12 minutes later, reached cruising altitude.
The F/A's came around a few minutes later with sodas (I got a Sprite w/o the can), and I talked with the man in the seat next to me for a few minutes. Looking around the plane, I'd say the load was around 80%, as much of coach with the exception of 2 whole rows in the very back and some sparatic seats around was empty, and business class was full. We were at crusing altitude for about an hour, and then began to make our descent into DTW. Landing was uneventful and we hit the runway at 7:44. Taxiing to the gate took roughly 10 minutes, and we pulled upto the Smith Terminal's C Concourse.
In Detroit
Getting off the plane, I immediately didn't like what I saw. The Smith terminal appeared old and worn, and after using the bathroom I was eager to get out. On my way out I saw two Spirit MD80's parked at gates. The check-in area was even more unappealing and was of some ugly brown colour. I left the terminal and was eager to see the McNamera terminal. I took an Airport Shuttle van to the McNamera terminal and hopped out. The place is amazing for those of you who haven't been there. There is a people mover uptop, and its probably the longest terminal I've ever been in. I grabbed a coffee and then decided to check out the people mover thing. I walked down to the central station and got on and rode it to the end, got off, and went back and fourth twice with nobody saying anything. Then I got off at central station again and attempted to get through security, but when I showed them my boarding pass I was told that I was in the "wrong terminal" :lol: I was upset about that, but what can you do?
Anyway, long story short, I hopped a cab downtown and rode the "People Mover" to Greektown where I had an early lunch (thanks to somebody on this site), and checked out the sites, although the city itself greatly dissapointed me. At 5 PM I managed to get a cab to take me back to the airport for my flight home.
Any comments, questions, etc. greatly appreciated!
-Matt-
Aircraft: MD80
Airport-D: ACY (Atlantic City International)
Airport-A: DTW (Detroit Metro Airport)
Seat: 16A
Dep. Time-S: 6:20 AM
Dep. Time-A: 6:10 AM
Arr. Time-S: 8:00 AM
Arr. Time-A: 7:50 AM
Getting to the Airport
I left my house at 5:00 AM to insure plenty of time- what a way to start off a weekend! I was excited nonetheless, that I would be making my first trip to DTW, an airport I was excited to see. I got to the ACY parking lot at exactly 5:10 AM. The parking lot was pretty much empty, and I got a space only a couple of rows back from the main terminal. After getting my parking ticket from the machine, I crossed the street and entered the ACY terminal, which was extremely busy for this time of morning. There were 6 representitives behind the Spirit Check in desk, and the following flights were open for check-in along with mine:
-Flight 259 to FLL and CUN at 7:15
-Flight 1153 to DTW (mine) at 6:20
-Flight to DEN at 6:20
-Flight 943 to RSW at 8:00
-Flight 311 to Orlando at 7:00
-Flight 165 to PBI at 7:05
-And a DL flight to CVG on the other side of the terminal.
Check-in, Security, and Boarding
Check-in went a bit slow, as there were 6 reps and around 100 people on line. I finally got my boarding pass (and seat assignment for seat 16A) at 5:45, and realized that my flight began boarding in five minutes! I raced across the terminal to the security checkpoint, where there were two metal detectors open, and quite a long line. Luckily though, the line moved fast and I made it through security at 5:55, getting through without any trouble. I quickly used the restroom and then looked at my boarding pass, to find that the flight was already in the process of boarding at Gate 1, the gate furthest to the left in the concourse. I rushed over and fell into the boarding line just in time, gave the rep my boarding pass, and boarded the plane... aahh... nothing like stepping onto a Spirit MD80 (again) at ACY :roll:
The flight
I slowly walked toward the back of the cabin until I found row 16 and took my seat by the window on the right. A heavyset Denver bound man sat down next to me a moment later, and he told me that this was his first time flying Spirit, although he said he flew DL and US from ACY plenty of times. We talked for a couple of minutes, until an F/A came on the loudspeaker to tell us everybody had boarded early and we were ready for push-back. We used the engines to push back, while the flight attendents began the safety briefing-- "welcome aboard Spirit Airlines flight 1153 with service to Denver International with an intermediate stop at Detroit..." We taxied for about 5 minutes, when the pilot came on to tell us that we would be second for takeoff (after a DL CRJ to CVG). About 5 minutes later we aligned with the runway and sped up. We had a short rotation and then lifted off the ground :smilewin: . The plane bumped around in the air and the pilot came on to tell us it would be a bit of a bumpy flight, and that our cruising altitude would be 30,000 feet. We were told that flight time would be about 1 hour and 40 minutes, and finally, 12 minutes later, reached cruising altitude.
The F/A's came around a few minutes later with sodas (I got a Sprite w/o the can), and I talked with the man in the seat next to me for a few minutes. Looking around the plane, I'd say the load was around 80%, as much of coach with the exception of 2 whole rows in the very back and some sparatic seats around was empty, and business class was full. We were at crusing altitude for about an hour, and then began to make our descent into DTW. Landing was uneventful and we hit the runway at 7:44. Taxiing to the gate took roughly 10 minutes, and we pulled upto the Smith Terminal's C Concourse.
In Detroit
Getting off the plane, I immediately didn't like what I saw. The Smith terminal appeared old and worn, and after using the bathroom I was eager to get out. On my way out I saw two Spirit MD80's parked at gates. The check-in area was even more unappealing and was of some ugly brown colour. I left the terminal and was eager to see the McNamera terminal. I took an Airport Shuttle van to the McNamera terminal and hopped out. The place is amazing for those of you who haven't been there. There is a people mover uptop, and its probably the longest terminal I've ever been in. I grabbed a coffee and then decided to check out the people mover thing. I walked down to the central station and got on and rode it to the end, got off, and went back and fourth twice with nobody saying anything. Then I got off at central station again and attempted to get through security, but when I showed them my boarding pass I was told that I was in the "wrong terminal" :lol: I was upset about that, but what can you do?
Anyway, long story short, I hopped a cab downtown and rode the "People Mover" to Greektown where I had an early lunch (thanks to somebody on this site), and checked out the sites, although the city itself greatly dissapointed me. At 5 PM I managed to get a cab to take me back to the airport for my flight home.
Any comments, questions, etc. greatly appreciated!
-Matt-