Day 11
Friday December 30, 2005
Check out:
After going to check out I find I still have quite a few comp dollars in my account. They only last 3 months and I know I’m not going to be back that soon. So what to do? I sure couldn’t eat that much food so I went shopping at the high priced Hard Rock retail store. I got a few shirts to burn up my comp balance. Have you ever seen a $1000 T-Shirt? I have!
Flight:
I dropped the car at Avis and took the shuttle to the airport. There was a short line and I was able to check in right away. They did once again change my seat and I wasn’t very happy about being stuck on the aisle.
The walk through security was good and the wait short. There weren’t even any people there being dumb trying to get through with giant sized luggage or 10 pounds of jewelry on. Are people getting smarter or was it just my lucky day.
The flight home is on America west flight 216. It was scheduled to depart at 3:59pm. It’s a non-stop flight and is scheduled to arrive in Newark at 11:45pm.
While I was sitting in the waiting area the agent came on the PA and said the flight was oversold. Before she could finish asking for a volunteer I practically dove over a few people and moved a kid out of my way to get to the counter. For giving up my seat I was offered $200 future flight credit, $10 food coupon for the airport and an upgrade to first class on the red eye back to Newark later that night!
I called up Rich and Dawn and they came and picked me up. It was almost like getting a bonus day added to my trip.
Dining:
Before heading to the airport I met up with Rich and Dawn for one last time this trip before heading home. We went to the Orleans buffet for lunch. Rich had a 2 for 1 coupon that he and Dawn used and he even covered my meal with his points. This was my first time ever having the buffet here. The food was good and I had a small amount of a bunch of items. Now for the grand prize, many of you that read my reports know there are 3 things in Vegas you just can’t get. Those things being Chinese food, Pizza, and a Cannoli. Well I’m here to say that Orleans wins the Cannoli challenge. While not exactly like a NY Cannoli, it was pretty damn close.
After we left Fiesta Henderson we went over to Sunset Station. We were going to meet up with Anne and her friend Steve for dinner at Capri. I transferred a bunch of Fiesta points to my Stations card and we were all set. I was looking forward to my usual chicken dish there but they have changed the menu since my last visit here and it was now gone from the menu. I was a little disappointed and opted for the veal parmesan dinner instead. This came with minestrone soup and bread. The soup was very good as was the veal. I topped off dinner with Tiramisu. Actually I made everyone order a dessert because I had more than enough comp dollars for this comp and we were way under. Dinner for 5 with dessert ran only $100.
Once I got to the airport I still had my $10 coupon for airport food. $10 doesn’t go far here but I was able to get 2 chicken sandwiches at Burger King for the flight home.
Gaming:
Had I known I was getting extra time on this trip I would have never thrown out my left over coupons this morning! We hit a few casinos where Rich and Dawn did some hit and run plays with coupons. Then after a few quick stops we went up to Fiesta Henderson so they could burn a few more coupons and get some VP action for 5X points. I played 8/5 bonus triple play. I was down to my last few hands and hit a few quads. It wasn’t enough to come out ahead but I finished down $50 instead of $100.
Flight (revisited):
After getting bumped earlier I was now on flight 219 scheduled to leave at 11:58pm arriving in Newark at 7:50am. I was already checked in for this flight so didn’t have to do that again. Rich and Dawn dropped me off. It sucked this time because I knew I wasn’t getting bumped again and had to go home! I went right to security and got right through.
It sure was fun being able to pre-board and walk past all those slugs in coach! It was even more fun sipping a drink while they all walked past me on the way to their coach seats! The flight was uneventful and I slept almost the whole way home. It was really nice being able to stretch out in that extra wide seat. Being that this was a red eye there was no movie, no food, no nothing. A real waste of a first class seat but it got me an extra 8 hours in town!
Trip home from airport:
I had a rental car reserved with Avis that I would be returning to Stewart-Newburgh tomorrow. I reserved a premium car for $52 which was just $2 more than the full sized car was. I also had another $25 off coupon that I got from an agent the last time I rented because the radio in the car didn’t work. They gave me an Buick LeSabre with 9000 miles on it and I was on my way home. The ride was uneventful and I pulled into my driveway after running a few errands at about 10am. Another Christmas/Birthday trip comes to an end.
When I returned the car to the airport the next morning once again Avis of Newark changed my rate. This was once again cheerfully fixed by the Avis employee in Newburgh. They tried to change my rate to $89.99 when I had a rate of $52. This really pisses me off and I will be contacting Avis corporate about the continual problem.
Total win/loss for the day: -$50
Total comps for the day: $210
Final Thoughts
Eff Yous
Total win/loss for the trip -$3250
Total comps for the trip $2651 <-- somewhat inflated due to a few high hotel prices and double/triple booked during part of the trip