Flight Log of American Airlines Flight 500 and 2878 from Denver to Washington DC via Miami

My flights back to Washington DC after a week of mountaineering trips in Colorado.

National Mall

The two flights back home were actually during the early morning hours of Labor Day, September 5, so I was quite surprised that American Airlines still priced them as award flights at 9.5k miles, which was really a bargain compared with the cash prices. The only downside was that the first leg was an overnight flight to Miami.

With not much to do after sunset the previous night, I returned the rental car and arrived at the airport early, with a few hours to kill before my flight’s departure.

Click here to display photos from Denver Airport interior.

Baggage Claim at Denver Airport

The racks in the background were dedicated for ski equipment. A sign for the region’s popularity in winter sports.

Main Lobby
Some improvement projects were going on in the lower left.

Main Lobby

As a result of the improvement projects, only one security checkpoint was in operation. Not an issue for late night departures.

Headhouse for Concourse A

Denver was one of the newest airports in the country, featuring some nice design features. Like this headhouse where most of the dining and shopping options were located right above the tram station, and then terminal gates extending beyond it on two sides.

While waiting for the flight, somehow I felt the terminal was a bit hot. Maybe the air-conditioning was on “heat” as temperature was colder outside at night, or maybe I over-dressed for the day and it’s the remnant of the day’s hot feelings. Either way, it’s not the most pleasant wait.

American Airlines 500
Boeing 737-800 (N830NN)
Seat 27A
Scheduled Departure – 12:33am
Actual Departure – 12:45am
Scheduled Arrival – 06:23am
Actual Arrival – 06:13am
3 hours and 28 minutes
Here’s GPS tracking:

Not much to talk about for this flight as I slept most of the way.

American Airlines B738 (N830NN) at Miami
My plane from Denver.

Once I landed in Miami, I had a connection of just over an hour. With PPS membership, I could choose to visit Turkish Airlines Lounge in Concourse E, or visit the “Corona Beach House” restaurant. With a pleasant experience at the Turkish lounge in Dulles a few weeks ago, I decided on the former.
Which was a big mistake.
To begin, Turkish Airlines operated two lounges at Miami, one in Concourse E and one in J. Its own flights operated out of Concourse J, so I probably shouldn’t have any expectations for the lounge in Concourse E.
It turned out that the only highlight of the lounge was its comfortable chairs. Apart from that, it featured some buffet trays that were taped off, a drink counter awkwardly staffed by a waiter. And worse of all, the only (three) food options were behind a QR code, and my guess was, they were only barely edible.

Nonetheless, I didn’t have that long a connection before I was on the second flight to Washington Reagan.

American Airlines 2878
Boeing 737-800 (N862NN)
Seat 10A
Scheduled Departure – 08:30am
Actual Departure – 08:47am
Scheduled Arrival – 11:00am
Actual Arrival – 10:55am
2 hours and 8 minutes
Here’s GPS tracking:

Here’s a video of the takeoff, overlooking North Biscayne Bay, the extensive suburbia and the distant Everglades, concluding with views of a rainbow.

Hard Rock Stadium
Sign of Formula 1 track around the stadium still visible.

After that, I tried to catch more sleep from the previous flight, so there wasn’t much to talk about.
Only that I realized I lost my PPS card some time between entering the Turkish Lounge and boarding the aircraft, from the same trouser where I lost a metro card a week ago. Just some more bad memories with the Turkish Lounge in Miami…

Until we approached Washington DC, and I got one more tour of National Mall from a classic river visual approach.

Click here to display photos of the slideshow

I66-I495 Interchange

National Mall

National Mall

Here’s a video of the landing:

There was some wait at the baggage carousel, and I got my bag 27 minutes after we arrived at the gate. Combined with realization of the PPS card loss, that’s not the most pleasant way to end a journey.
END

Flight Log of American Airlines Flight 500 and 2878 from Denver to Washington DC via Miami by Huang's Site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.