Carfield
Oct 23, 99, 1:48 pm
Hi Everyone,
Here is my first trip report here for my flight from ABQ to LAX via DEN on United First/Business
UA 1009
ABQ - DEN
Pre-flight --
Check in was smooth at ABQ. The Premier line was not busy as usual. Usually the agent continues to check Y class passengers until someone show up on the Premier Gold line. I was quickly given two boarding passes for my flight to LA and my two pieces of luggage were tagged with the orange UNITED FIRST labels. Anyway, I then discovered that UA 1009 was delayed by twenty five minutes due to the late arrival of the incoming flight. I then asked the gate agent to check the connection time. She told me that I would make it to the flight, and let me know that the last flight from DEN to LAX was wide-opened in Y class. That is good to know. I proceeded to the wonderful observation deck in ABQ and listened to all the ATC conversations and watched planes land and take-off. There was quite some traffic in ABQ today (of course it was nothing compared to LAX/JFK/ORD). There was a constant line of SWA Boeing 737s. I never saw so many planes in ABQ before. Finally, the UA B727 (N7275U)got in at 5:52pm... slightly earlier than the planned time. That was good. The boarding started at 6:15pm and we were all set at 6:31pm. The F/As were great and even offered a pre-takeoff drink to everyone.
In-flight
The Boeing 727 was pretty full but there were about four empty seats on United First. We were offered a drink and those really disgusting cheese pretzels. I really missed the nuts and thought this could be a snack flight for United first passengers. It did not take much time to serve a simple sandwich and cookie (same with its breakfast flights). It was a 6pm departure and was a dinner time flight. United used to serve a snack, but… I guess it was better than a UA shuttle flight… plastic cups in first. I had a frappucino, which was great. It was also low-fat (well it is frappucino)... The flight was short and the captain tried to find a more direct routing. We made it in forty eight minutes. Our cruising attitude is about 29,000 ft...
We were parked at B25 and I had twenty minutes to rush to B38... I guess it could be worst.
UA 1639 -- United Business -- DEN to LAX
Pre take-off:
No idea what time it started to board. Everyone was pretty much on board by the time I got the gate. There were a few people using the phone and waiting for the final boarding call. The plane -- United Boeing 747-400 (N198UA) was all set to go by 5:51pm. I was seated at 15A in the upper deck -- the emergency exit row. I quickly found out that 15A technically did not have a window. I was shocked because CX offered the similar products was able to give the exit row two windows. I looked around and the flight was pretty much full. Fortunately, I had both 15A and B and the gentlemen in the back had 16B with 16A empty. Then after the door was closed, I asked the gentleman behind man if he would switch. He said, "no problem" and I was glad that I got the window. We pushed back at 7:56pm and was stuck on the ground for another half hours due to traffics in Denver. The wind shifted direction and Denver needed to change the runway directions. They needed to clear a bunch of arrival flights and clear some taxiways for planes to go. There were nonstop lines of flights and planes... It was crazy. Finally we took off at 8:23pm. It was a wonderful take-off. Those Boeing 747-400s are really nice.
In-flight
Three F/As were serving the upper deck today. The personal TV channels were available today, and we got all the programs on both the westbound and eastbound flights. We technically got ten channels to surf around. I watched a pretty good discovery documentary about the Haunted house. We were then served a beverage... trolley service. Then there was a snack... it was a simple one tray service with a fruit bowl, a quarter of a smoked salmon on foccacia bread, some cucumbers and veggies, and a pre-packaged chocolate chip cookie.
Honestly, this snack was unacceptable. A pre-packaged cookie really ticked me off. I do not understand why United cannot introduce those domestic first class standard on its C class. On a domestic first class flight, you got a choice of snacks and freshly baked cookie. Most people used coupons to upgrade anyway on most C class cabins on a three class aircraft, and most F class on a two class cabin. Its domestic C class service was unacceptable, especially compared to AA. For F class passengers on those three class aircraft, they obviously paid more than their shares to fly those sleeper seats. They paid at least the full fare C class fare. They deserved a better snack – even hot snacks and luxurious dessert. I was not too pleased. However the smoked salmon sandwich is nice, but it can be slight more heartier. The gentleman at 15B, the one who switched with me, even asked for a Y class snack box. Anyway, 7:55pm should be a dinner flight. If they could serve dinner at 7:27pm, I don’t see why not the 7:55pm flight.
After the snack, I went to the back and digged through the magazine racks. My discovery for today were one HKG-LAX menu, two NRT- West Coast menus. The plane was clean, but sometimes people left the menus in the rack. I also found a Hong Kong cooking magazine. (United usually threw all the HK newspapers and magazines out after the flight was landed in the USA. I don't know why... maybe the flight could head to other Asian destinations or US Custom laws). I decided to bring it to my mother... Anyway, it was a quick flight. After an hour and forty eight minutes, my flight landed safety and beautifully. We were parked at 74. The terminal was chaotic today becaue flights were delayed in Chicago due to wind conditions.
Arrival:
My luggages never made it to UA 1639. I was a little bit pissed off but the connection time was too short. Anyway, there were long lines on baggage desks due to a number of people losing their luggage too. I was helped quickly. They said my bags would come in with the last flight, which would arrive at midnight. I could pick them up at the airport later or they could deliver them. They told me that the luggage would arrive five or six hours after it arrived. He told me that my luggage would be delivered at 6am. Then he gave me two $25 coupons after he saw the Prem. Ex status. He was very kind... However my luggage did not come in at 6am. I actually woke up at 6am and waited for the bags. They did not come in until 10:30am.
It was a nice trip, despite of the luggage problems.
Here is my first trip report here for my flight from ABQ to LAX via DEN on United First/Business
UA 1009
ABQ - DEN
Pre-flight --
Check in was smooth at ABQ. The Premier line was not busy as usual. Usually the agent continues to check Y class passengers until someone show up on the Premier Gold line. I was quickly given two boarding passes for my flight to LA and my two pieces of luggage were tagged with the orange UNITED FIRST labels. Anyway, I then discovered that UA 1009 was delayed by twenty five minutes due to the late arrival of the incoming flight. I then asked the gate agent to check the connection time. She told me that I would make it to the flight, and let me know that the last flight from DEN to LAX was wide-opened in Y class. That is good to know. I proceeded to the wonderful observation deck in ABQ and listened to all the ATC conversations and watched planes land and take-off. There was quite some traffic in ABQ today (of course it was nothing compared to LAX/JFK/ORD). There was a constant line of SWA Boeing 737s. I never saw so many planes in ABQ before. Finally, the UA B727 (N7275U)got in at 5:52pm... slightly earlier than the planned time. That was good. The boarding started at 6:15pm and we were all set at 6:31pm. The F/As were great and even offered a pre-takeoff drink to everyone.
In-flight
The Boeing 727 was pretty full but there were about four empty seats on United First. We were offered a drink and those really disgusting cheese pretzels. I really missed the nuts and thought this could be a snack flight for United first passengers. It did not take much time to serve a simple sandwich and cookie (same with its breakfast flights). It was a 6pm departure and was a dinner time flight. United used to serve a snack, but… I guess it was better than a UA shuttle flight… plastic cups in first. I had a frappucino, which was great. It was also low-fat (well it is frappucino)... The flight was short and the captain tried to find a more direct routing. We made it in forty eight minutes. Our cruising attitude is about 29,000 ft...
We were parked at B25 and I had twenty minutes to rush to B38... I guess it could be worst.
UA 1639 -- United Business -- DEN to LAX
Pre take-off:
No idea what time it started to board. Everyone was pretty much on board by the time I got the gate. There were a few people using the phone and waiting for the final boarding call. The plane -- United Boeing 747-400 (N198UA) was all set to go by 5:51pm. I was seated at 15A in the upper deck -- the emergency exit row. I quickly found out that 15A technically did not have a window. I was shocked because CX offered the similar products was able to give the exit row two windows. I looked around and the flight was pretty much full. Fortunately, I had both 15A and B and the gentlemen in the back had 16B with 16A empty. Then after the door was closed, I asked the gentleman behind man if he would switch. He said, "no problem" and I was glad that I got the window. We pushed back at 7:56pm and was stuck on the ground for another half hours due to traffics in Denver. The wind shifted direction and Denver needed to change the runway directions. They needed to clear a bunch of arrival flights and clear some taxiways for planes to go. There were nonstop lines of flights and planes... It was crazy. Finally we took off at 8:23pm. It was a wonderful take-off. Those Boeing 747-400s are really nice.
In-flight
Three F/As were serving the upper deck today. The personal TV channels were available today, and we got all the programs on both the westbound and eastbound flights. We technically got ten channels to surf around. I watched a pretty good discovery documentary about the Haunted house. We were then served a beverage... trolley service. Then there was a snack... it was a simple one tray service with a fruit bowl, a quarter of a smoked salmon on foccacia bread, some cucumbers and veggies, and a pre-packaged chocolate chip cookie.
Honestly, this snack was unacceptable. A pre-packaged cookie really ticked me off. I do not understand why United cannot introduce those domestic first class standard on its C class. On a domestic first class flight, you got a choice of snacks and freshly baked cookie. Most people used coupons to upgrade anyway on most C class cabins on a three class aircraft, and most F class on a two class cabin. Its domestic C class service was unacceptable, especially compared to AA. For F class passengers on those three class aircraft, they obviously paid more than their shares to fly those sleeper seats. They paid at least the full fare C class fare. They deserved a better snack – even hot snacks and luxurious dessert. I was not too pleased. However the smoked salmon sandwich is nice, but it can be slight more heartier. The gentleman at 15B, the one who switched with me, even asked for a Y class snack box. Anyway, 7:55pm should be a dinner flight. If they could serve dinner at 7:27pm, I don’t see why not the 7:55pm flight.
After the snack, I went to the back and digged through the magazine racks. My discovery for today were one HKG-LAX menu, two NRT- West Coast menus. The plane was clean, but sometimes people left the menus in the rack. I also found a Hong Kong cooking magazine. (United usually threw all the HK newspapers and magazines out after the flight was landed in the USA. I don't know why... maybe the flight could head to other Asian destinations or US Custom laws). I decided to bring it to my mother... Anyway, it was a quick flight. After an hour and forty eight minutes, my flight landed safety and beautifully. We were parked at 74. The terminal was chaotic today becaue flights were delayed in Chicago due to wind conditions.
Arrival:
My luggages never made it to UA 1639. I was a little bit pissed off but the connection time was too short. Anyway, there were long lines on baggage desks due to a number of people losing their luggage too. I was helped quickly. They said my bags would come in with the last flight, which would arrive at midnight. I could pick them up at the airport later or they could deliver them. They told me that the luggage would arrive five or six hours after it arrived. He told me that my luggage would be delivered at 6am. Then he gave me two $25 coupons after he saw the Prem. Ex status. He was very kind... However my luggage did not come in at 6am. I actually woke up at 6am and waited for the bags. They did not come in until 10:30am.
It was a nice trip, despite of the luggage problems.