TWA?

Thursday, December 15, 2016
Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
There is just a bit over an hour to spend on arrival in Charlotte where the airport—like most all U.S. airports—puts Kansas City's Mid-Continent International facility to shame. I am only going from gate B-6 to gate B-16 so my visit is an abbreviated one. But, instead of a cramped Kansas City seating area in a crowded boarding area so tiny there is not even room to add a TSA Pre-Check lane, where there is but one tiny concession stand, a line at the minimal bathroom space and where compressed quarters put both airline employees and airline customers on edge, Charlotte offers a spacious multi-concourse design with 88 American Airline gates surrounded by multiple opportunities for food and drink, reading material and gifts, no-waiting toilets galore and airline premium lounges for those of us with the "special" affinity credit card in our pocket. The walk from the inbound aircraft to the outbound aircraft may—as in my case—be short or it may be longer than it would be in Kansas City but, for those remaining here, baggage is father away and the walk to the car at the curb is longer to be sure. Rental cars and long term parking treks are the same.

The boarding lounge area at Charlotte also features another unfamiliar sight. Scattered among the gates were several folding tables upon which sat piles of various snacks free for the taking. There were muffins (cellophane wrapped), various sorts of chips and pretzels, granola bars and cold soft drinks and juice in cans. Take whatever you want. I was impressed.

From Charlotte onward to Miami (76˚ and clear) it is exit row seat 10C, American Airlines 1702 (8:01p-9:59p). This is a larger Airbus A321 which seats 165 in coach and 16 in first. Four rows of coach seats sit behind the first-class/coach cabin divider and then there is an entire row “missing” to accommodate two large exit doors, one to port and one to starboard. The row following that void is row 10 where I sit. The upside to this spot is, literally, five feet of leg room. The downside is no tray-table to fold down from the seatback in front. Instead, there is a tray-table in the armrest. That’s fine except that it reduces the seat width by a few inches. I like the extra feet of legroom as a trade.

Like the earlier Kansas City to Charlotte leg, the television monitor at the gate tells us that this flight has 17 people waiting for upgrades to first class from coach. None were accommodated. It has 14 more people standing by. I don’t know if any of them were able to board but I suspect that some did based on overheard snippets of conversations among the last few people to walk aft after I had settled in. We waited a bit for late arriving bags to be stowed in the belly and then we were off about ten minutes late.

Out the port side window I spotted a strange sight. At the next gate, B18, a 737 was parked. Nothing unusual about that. The remarkable thing was that it was painted in replica TWA livery sporting the two tapered red stripes starting at the nose and working their way down the white fuselage to the tail which was festooned with the large red background with the white “T-W-A” letters reversed out in white.

American Airlines acquired TWA back in 2001 and it soon was absorbed. Lots of flights in Kansas City were cut and lots of jobs were lost. The overhaul base was downsized. It was tough on my city.

The only other TWA logoed aircraft of which I am aware are both in Kansas City. One is an MD80 painted in “reversed” colors which sits at the downtown Wheeler Airport in Kansas City at the north end of the Broadway Bridge. On this aircraft, what was red on the TWA fleet is white and what was white is red. I believe it to be the plane that in 1994 TWA employees chipped in and bought as a gift for the airline. Imagine that. The other is a Constellation from the 1940’s which sits in a hanger on the other side of the field. They both can fly but this Airbus is the real deal running a regular schedule. Just for fun, I’d love to fly it someday. I flew a couple of million miles on the old TWA and once sat next to the Chairman, Richard Pearson, on a flight to St. Louis. We had a nice chat. He seemed to me to be a good man. That’s a long time ago.

Once on the aircraft, drinks were offered in flight but there were no pretzels to be had. I should have raided the table back in the boarding lounge for those. This leg is short lasting only one hour and twenty-seven minutes. People chatter all around me but the explanation of her job coming from the drug saleswoman and the Indian tourist describing his experiences in America all blend together into a cacophony overdubbed by engine noise and a crying infant. The man in the middle seat on my left reads his USAToday and munches on a sandwich he brought on board while the woman at the window to his right sleeps.



Captain Trent told us that we would be on time into Miami and we were. Almost.

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