Introduction

Since Chestnut’s former PhD advisor back in Kent retired earlier this year, I decided to make time over Thanksgiving to pay a visit. That also gave me a chance to use up an IHG FN nearby in Cleveland. Since award nights at the InterContinental Cleveland are often under 40,000 points, the old card’s FN can be applied directly by the system without any agonizing over whether it would work.

LAX Terminal 3 PPS gaming lounge

For the outbound trip, I redeemed DL miles for a classic red-eye flight. That is very much in line with my long-standing style ever since my college days as a railfan—heading out at night on red-eye trains. Even though the Delta flight was boarding from Terminal 2, I still had plenty of time, so I first stopped by the gaming lounge in Terminal 3 for a bit.

This so-called “internet cafe” was actually this place—GameWay. With PPS, you can get one drink and one hour of access.

I am not very familiar with current game consoles, so I just grabbed a PC and played for an hour.

The specs were 5700X+3070.

This machine only had 16GB of RAM, just half of what mine has…

Then it was about time to head to the gate, and I passed this Delta Club on the way.

By the time I reached the gate, boarding had already started. This economy award ticket was in Zone 1, so I made it just in time!

It is rare to see an empty jet bridge, so of course I had to take a picture.

The operating aircraft was the well-known 737-900ER, famous for losing range once fully loaded.

Nothing much to report en route; soon I arrived at CVG. After taking a quick photo of the aircraft, I headed out of the airport.

The airport was wonderfully quiet in the early morning.

I have no idea whether this mammoth skeleton is real or not.

These days, anything can happen. I ran into a broken moving walkway and ended up power-walking all over the place, which was rather frustrating.

Only when I got all the way to the end did I realize there was an APM people-mover train I could have taken… I really wanted to smack myself.

And that is how part one of this trip report ends: with an empty baggage carousel.

Back to Kent

It has now been eight and a half years since I left Kent in April 2016. The campus has not changed all that much.

The Kent State University library is probably still the tallest building in all of Kent, and that record is unlikely to be broken.

There was not much change around Smith Hall, home of the physics department.

In front of Williams Hall, where I spent six and a half years grinding away in the chemistry department, they built a new glass structure and added a feather sculpture.

The campus bus stop next to the Student Center seems to have gotten a major upgrade, with new electronic arrival and departure displays.

Downtown has been refurbished as well. Looks like after I left, they managed to extract quite a bit more money from the undergrads there. (kidding)

InterContinental Cleveland stay

After the gathering, I drove to Cleveland to check into the InterContinental I had booked in advance. At the time of redemption, this property cost under 40K points per night, so one old-card FN was enough to cover it.

Before check-in, I checked my elite status and sure enough, I had been upgraded to a suite. In any case, I headed to the front desk to check in, pick up the key cards, and ask for a breakfast voucher so I could get free breakfast the next morning.

To be honest, I am pretty relaxed about whether I get an upgrade or not.

After all, I am someone who used to spend nights on sleeper trains, so at this point I really do not ask for much.

I hung the PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door and went to sleep, only to realize it was actually made of leather!

Nothing much happened overnight. The next morning, I took a photo of Cleveland Clinic outside the window.

I mean, Sigma 24-105, why is your vignetting this bad? What good is that 82mm filter size anyway?

This InterContinental is actually right inside Cleveland Clinic, connected to the hospital by a pedestrian skybridge, and you can occasionally spot a wheelchair in the hallways.

There was also this old-fashioned phone sitting in the corridor.

First, a few shots of the lobby decor, then off to breakfast.

Probably because occupancy was low, there wasn’t even a buffet anymore, so ordering à la carte was the only option.

Just look at this empty dining room—the private-buyout feel was great. As a railfan, I have to say it felt just like riding shuttle train 8483 back in the day and having an entire car to myself. So comfortable.

Still, since I asked for breakfast vouchers at check-in, the free breakfast was secured.

After breakfast, I checked out. Walking along the elevated corridor, the InterContinental and Cleveland Clinic really felt like one integrated complex.

This is the hotel’s main entrance.

And this is downtown Cleveland.

I also stopped by Chase Western Reserve University for a look. Hard to believe that after spending six and a half years in Kent, I’d never made it over here.

This is the concert hall where the Cleveland Orchestra is based.

Rabbit-Food Lounge + Allegiant Air’s Tiny Tray Table

The return trip began at CVG, where I first got to try one of those security scanners that looks a lot like a CT machine.

A quick look at the departures board showed my flight boarding at gate A19, and the PPS lounge was also in Concourse A, so I headed straight for Terminal A.

I took the little APM train to Terminal A.

And here was the CVG lounge in question—The Club. I’d been to a The Club lounge in ATL before, and it was basically a rabbit-food lounge through and through, so I figured the CVG one today probably wouldn’t disappoint either.

I sat down and looked around.

Went to see what there was to eat. Sure enough, just as expected, there was plenty of rabbit food.

To keep myself from turning into a rabbit, I grabbed a slice of flatbread here. At least this thing could fill me up.

And of course, one more cup of coffee!

Boarding time. After getting on, my first thought was that the seat pitch actually looked pretty decent. But on closer inspection, that seemingly good legroom was achieved by using ultra-thin seats, and these seats omitted basically all mechanical structure—there wasn’t even any way to recline them!

Another ridiculous thing was this tray table—it’s not even a case of “better than nothing”; it’s basically completely useless.

Here’s an iPhone 13P as a size reference, so you can get a sense of just how small the tray table is.

While flying over the Grand Canyon, I caught an AA flight in the lower altitude layer beneath us.

Chasing at LAX—here’s a shot of Downtown in the distance.

Off the plane now, and one last shot of this Allegiant A320.

While picking up luggage, my luck struck again... Why was my suitcase at the very bottom of the pile?

A quick shot of the used bus transferred over from San Diego. It’s now being used for the LAX shuttle, and its most distinctive feature is that the paint scheme strangely resembles the Imperial Japanese Navy...

And finally, ending with the silhouette of LAX—bye-bye!

Summary

A. The overall trend for Priority Pass usability within the U.S. is getting worse and worse. Just look at the internet cafe at LAX and the rabbit-food lounge at CVG, and the conclusion is obvious. Once again, this proves Chestnut’s famous saying: when comparing things at the same tier, revisions usually make them worse, not better!

B. As for IHG, if you’re tired of the sky-high award prices at InterContinental hotels in major cities, you might want to consider places like Cleveland instead. In cities like this, award nights at InterContinental properties are generally under 40,000 points, making them a good place to use an FN. And if you pair that with IHG Diamond, there’s a pretty good chance of getting an upgrade.

PS: I don’t know whether the Platinum status that comes from a credit card can get you a complimentary room upgrade, so feel free to share any DP.

C. Allegiant Air... honestly feels even stingier than Frontier, which I’ve flown before. This tray table really redefined my worldview. Not sure whether this counts as flying the American version of Spring Airlines, but either way, my life is now complete!