das
May 22, 00, 12:05 am
UA 3, Thursday May 18, 2000
JFK-SFO, 6:30pm to 9:50pm
I used a service check to upgrade the JFK-SFO-SYD trip to Business Class. It is good for one flight number. I was originally booked on the UA 863 JFK-SFO-SYD through flight, departing at 6:30pm. But UAL changed the schedule so 863 departed JFK at 5:20pm – not legal for my connection, so to play it safe, I convinced them to rebook me on UA 3, so I could leave JFK at 6:30pm as originally scheduled. Still had a safe 1:20 layover in SFO, or so I thought.
I get to Terminal 6 around 4:45pm…all the flights to LAX and SFO are running late, because all the inbounds were held on the West coast due to weather in the midwest. Flight 3 is delayed indefinetely, and flight 863 (the 5:20pm to SFO) was delayed until 7:10pm. I was connecting to UA 863 in SFO to SYD, but was booked out of JFK on UA 3 because my Delta flight from DCA did not allow for a legal connection to UA 863 JFK-SFO.
I check in and they tell me that I might misconnect in SFO tonight, but if so, I would be given a hotel. They put me on standby for UA 863 JFK-SFO to increase my chances of making the SYD connection.
I go to the RCC (since I am on a Intl C class ticket), but they don’t ask for any credentials to enter the club. There was some cheese and crackers, packaged cakes, nothing too good. But at least comfortable chairs and plenty of phones. Was a bit busy, but I’m not complaining…I don’t see airline lounges much.
UA 863, which I was on stand by for JFK-SFO, started boarding around 7pm. There was a mob of people at the gate, trying to switch from UA 3 to this flight. My name was called as having cleared standby, but all they could give me was a center seat in coach. The flight was running so late and the weather in JFK was so bad, I was questioning whether I would even make the connection, so I opted to keep my Biz seat on UA 3, which was now scheduled for a 10:50pm departure, and then overnight in SFO (at UA’s expense as promised) and fly to SYD the next day.
I go to the RCC to get reprotected on SFO-SYD in C the next day. It is full. They checked LAX, it is also full. So…I offer to travel in Y SFO-SYD, as long as they upgrade my return to C…the upgrade is one way. Actually, I prefer to be in C for the trip back from SYD, because it is a day flight and I have more time to enjoy the amenities. Good deal for me, because I still get C JFK-SFO and they upgraded my whole SYD-SFO-JFK to C, since I am on UA 862 the whole way. The agent in the RCC makes sure she documents my record accordingly so that I am authorized for all these upgrades.
At around 10:30pm, the inbound 767-200ER for UA 3 arrives from LAX, it is unloaded, serviced, and cleaned. We begin boarding at 11:20pm. They ask us to board very quickly, because the flight attendants are close to being illegal and will walk off the plane of the doors are not shut by 11:40pm. Passengers want the flight to leave, and the full load is on board by 11:30pm.
I am in Biz class, seat 6C. No pre departure menu or beverage is offered. F/As are very cold and are all hovering near the front of the plane talking with the captain. 11:40pm comes and goes, and the door is still open. At 11:45pm, the captain announces the F/As are illegal and are leaving the plane. The captain cites some federal law. (This must be a union rule, because I was not aware of legal duty limits for F/As.) The cockpit crew announces that they will go illegal around 1:20am and that the plane has not been fueled due to lightning. At around 11:50pm, the captain announces that fueling has begun, but there are no backup F/As available. He says that UA 863, the earlier SFO flight, is still sitting on the runway waiting to take off, and that perhaps they could split the cabin crew from that plane, since they only need 4 F/As.
Things don’t seem to make sense. This was the start of the duty day for these JFK based F/As and cockpit crew. UA knew the flight would be running late because the planes were being held on the west coast. Yet, the crew was not informed of the delay and reported to work on time. Weird. But what’s stranger is that the F/As go illegal before the cockpit goes illegal. And then the idea of sharing F/As from 863…wasn’t that crew about to go illegal? 863 departed around 8pm, but was scheduled for 5:20pm. Maybe that crew was informed of the delay and actually reported for work later than the UA 3 crew.
Anyway, the pax are all nervous and calling travel agents and hotels, because we all know the flight isn’t going anywhere. Indeed, around midnight, the captain announces the flight is canceled, along with UA 863, which pushed just after 8pm and never took off, and two flights to LAX.
Since I am in biz, I am one of the first off the plane in the line to be reaccommodated. I know that it doesn’t look good – 4 full transcons canceled, and apparently weather problems that are even worse in ORD. I ask for C class tomorrow, and am told it is full. All that is left is a 4:30pm Y class JFK-SFO or a 6:45pm Y class EWR-SFO. Ask to check BWI/IAD/PHL/BDL and am told no F or Y. I realize I am pushing my luck to get an upgrade on the transcon, so I ask to be rebooked the next day on the flight from EWR. Makes me nervous because it has only a 1:20 layover in SFO for my SYD flight.
Now, I need a hotel. UA won’t help because it’s weather. I make a few calls and it seems stuff is sold out. It is still 18 hours til my flight, and I am not prepared to sleep in JFK for 18 hours, nor do I want to spend $200 on a hotel. I find a hotel in Mahwah, NJ for $68 a night. But Mahwah is 40 miles from JFK, so it would be an expensive cab ride. I decide that this flight at 6:45pm out of EWR isn’t going to work – I need a morning flight, so I can sit in the airport. Then, I can get a dayroom at a SFO airport hotel.
So I call UA reservations and get a very nice agent. She tells me there are no morning flights available from any of the NYC area airports. I read off all these cities within 200 miles of NYC, and there is nothing. Seems like the problem is that ORD is having worse weather problems, so my only hope is to find an open seat on a transcon to SFO. She is very patient, and finally we find there are seats from BOS to SFO in the morning. I ask to be rebooked from BOS and explain that I will get to BOS. After checking with her supervisor, I am rebooked BOS-SFO at 11:15am on UA 167. Didn’t even ask about an upgrade.
Now it’s 1am and I have a 11:15am flight from BOS. I figure my “hotel room” for the night will be Amtrak or Greyhound. I find that there is a 3:30am Greyhound trip to BOS, so I head out to the bus stop, to get to the subway station. It is pouring rain, and the bus to long term parking and the subway doesn’t seem to be running. There are people who have been waiting 45 minutes for it. So I decide to scratch the subway idea and take a cab to the bus terminal. The taxi line is a mile long. I ask for someone to share a cab with me, but there are no takers.
Finally, a cab driver, who has already picked up a fare, asks if anyone wants to share. Seeing that I am nowhere close to the front of the line, I jump on it. The cab takes the other fare to uptown and then takes me to the bus terminal. I am charged the full fare of $30, but by this point, I really don’t care, because it sure beat standing in line. It’s 2:45am and the Port Authority bus terminal is closed up…there’s a small entrance for people riding on late night buses. I buy my Greyhound ticket – it’s $38 one way. I thought it would be a bit cheaper (I once rode NYC-DC for $26), but at this point I didn’t care. It was a cheap hotel room.
I realize I am hungry. I haven’t eaten all night and even skipped lunch, in anticipation of my C class dinner. So I take my luggage up a few blocks to a McDonalds – peddlers keep asking me if I need help with my luggage.
I get back to the bus terminal at 3:15am for my trip to BOS. The bus is full, and I think they even add a second section. It’s a fairly new bus, but the seats are smaller than a plane. I don’t really mind, because I want to sleep, I doze on and off for the trip. The bus stops in Hartford around 5:40am and we sit there until 6:15am. Arrival in BOS is slightly late, around 8:15am. It is rainy, foggy, gloomy. Yikes. I hope my flight is okay.
The bus terminal in BOS is very attractive – seems quite new. But I get out quickly and into a cab for Logan. Was going to ride the subway, but it requires 2 transfers, and I am not in the mood. It is a $15 cab ride and I get to the UA counter around 8:45am. It is a zoo – the line is snaking out the door. But I am Premier, so I get privileges… As an added bonus, I see the long line is for ORD/DEN/IAD. LAX/SFO/LHR have their own line, which is deserted, especially the Premier line.
I ask to have my luggage checked to SYD. Thought it might be a problem due to the 9 hour layover in SFO, but it is checked with no hassle. I also get my SYD boarding pass and ask for an exit aisle. Score! I get 46H. Apparently, this seat can only be prereserved by upper level Premiers (not regular Premiers like me), or requested on the day of travel. Since I was checking in 17 hours before my flight, I had a very good chance of getting this seat. Maybe I should purposely book long layovers for future intl trips; fare rules require a maximum of 24 hours.
I ask about an upgrade to SFO and the agent lists me for it, although F is full. He says I need 3000 miles in certificates. Ouch. I don’t have any certificates. JFK kept my transcon upgrade for me as a courtesy for me switching my SYD upgrade to my return trip. Oh well, I will discuss it with the gate agent if the upgrade clears. Am informed the flight is delayed til 12:30pm. No big deal.
I am very tired and basically wander around BOS for 4 hours. I was going to take a shuttle to an airport hotel for breakfast, but I realize I’m not really hungry. Many of the ORD flights are canceled, and some people seem to have been sleeping in the airport.
But the plane for my SFO flight (a 757) is already there at the gate, when I sit down at 11am. Apparently the delay is because the cockpit crew is running late on an inbound flight. At around 12:15pm, boarding begins, and we are informed the delay will probably run until around 1pm. A list of 7 possible upgrades is called, and I am on the list. At around 12:30pm, my upgrade clears. I am asked for certificates. I show my boarding pass (C class) from my canceled JFK-SFO and explain that the RCC in JFK authorized this upgrade. Agent gets confused and tells me I haven’t told this to anyone in BOS. Well, I guess I haven’t. Second agent looks at the remarks in my record and says I am fine. I get seat 5D.
UA 167, Friday May 19, 2000
BOS-SFO, 11:15am to 1:15pm (scheduled), 1:00pm to 3:45pm (actual)
B757, N534UA
Seems like the new F/C seats, but honestly, this only my second time in F, and first time in F on UA. All I can say about the seat was that it was so comfortable, I had no need to recline it. I am immediately offered orange juice or water, and a few minutes later, we push back and take off shortly after. It is raining, and am I relieved to finally be on the way out the of the east coast. The view out the window is beautiful – I very seldom travel on daytime flights, so I really enjoyed it.
Menus are distributed, and since I haven’t eaten since my late night McDonalds visit, I am excited about the offerings:
To Begin
Chilled salmon presented with a fennel and mustard seed salad. (Phenomenal – very good flavor and quality.)
Main Course
Lam chops Provencal with a red pepper sauce, baked with a breadcrumb and mustard crust, complemented by dill gnocchi and a vegetable nori featuring sweet potatoes, parsnips and leeks.
Sauteed turkey piccata in a lemon caper sauce, topped with herbs and parmesan cheese, accompanied by sauteed spinach with nutmeg and yellow rice with orange rind.
Seared fillet of salmon enhanced by basil tomato sauce, complemented with steamed bok choy and Parisienne potatoes with parsley.
(above entrees are accompanied by a garden fresh salad with Parmesan pepper or Asian sesame ginger dressing)
Pan-seared yellowfin tuna served atop baby spinach greens, accompanied by ruby red grapefruit, Roma tomatoes and Javanese dressing, offered with a fruit appetizer.
(I picked the salmon – it was overdone and dry, but still good. But the vegetables were exceptional. My seatmate had the tuna, which did not look very good. It was served plain and hot, with a side of cold baby spinach. Seemed a bit strange. There were real salt and pepper shakers.)
Dessert was a Ben & Jerrys vanilla and chocolate sundae – no complaints. And an hour out of SFO, they served hot oatmeal raisin cookies.
Throughout the flight, drinks were replenished continuously. They ran out of glasses halfway through the flight, so glasses weren’t changed, and wine glasses were used for the milk with the cookies. The 2 first class F/As were working continuously to serve the full cabin of 24. In coach, the service moved very slowly, since there were only 2 coach class F/As. (I think UAL normally staffs 6 on the 757.) After I was all done with lunch, coach was still being served.
I never felt like this crew was hiding from the passengers; they were all very accommodating and also called the F passengers by name. The priority for meal choice was interesting. I think I came up relatively early. Weird, because I am a lowly Premier (not Premex or 1K) and I was traveling on a deep discount ticket. But perhaps since I had been rebooked due to weather, I was actually coded as full fare. I noticed some passengers were given bottles of wine.
Overall, an A+ flight. Good food, excellent service, friendly crew. Sure, a bit of a delay was a nuisance, especially after being up all night on Greyhound, but it got me to SFO with plenty of time for my connection.
I put my laptop in a domestic terminal locker, and headed out to catch a bus to the Colma BART station. I figured I would spend some time in SF because my SYD connection wasn’t until 11:10pm. I should have just spent $11 and taken the Airporter bus to a downtown hotel, because the bus to Colma was standing room only and was on surface streets most of the time. I rode the bus to Powell St. and did some shopping on Union Square. Then, I visited the newly restored Fairmont Hotel where I used to work, the lobby looks spectacular. Finally, I took a walk down the Embarcadero to Fishermans Wharf and had some clam chowder. Beautiful views. Brought back lots of memories, because I lived in the Bay area last summer.
Finally, I walked back to the Hyatt at the Embarcadero to catch the Airporter bus to SFO. I thought it ran every 15 minutes, but it turns out it runs every half hour, and I had just missed the 9:05pm. Seeing that I had things in the domestic terminal locker, and an international flight at 11:10pm, I needed to get back to SFO ASAP.
So I hopped on BART to Daly City, and then took a cab to SFO. Not too cheap, it was a $20 cab ride, but I didn’t want to risk missing my flight. I raced to the domestic terminal to get my laptop and then went over to Gate 55 on the international terminal, arriving there around 10:20pm. Boarding had not yet begun, but I had some last minute phone calls to make.
UA 863, Friday May 19, 2000
SFO-SYD, 11:10pm to 6:35am+2
B747-400, N179UA
Boarding began around 10:30pm and I was one of the first ones on (Premier privileges)…. 46H was a nice exit aisle, adjacent to the mid cabin galley. Tremendous amount of unobstructed leg space. The plane quickly filled up – we had 299 on board – about a 75% full load. I heard that F and C were full. I didn’t ask about an upgrade; after all, my return SYD-JFK is upgraded and I was more than happy with my exit row seat.
We held at the gate until 11:40pm to wait for late connections; the captain said that we had strong tailwinds and would have had to hold anyway, due to the 6am curfew in Sydney. After we board the final connecting passengers, we take off, after a quick taxi. Some F/A jumpseats were directly across from me, so I had a good chat with the F/As. One was on her first trip to Australia, she is a new hire flying reserve. The other was a veteran F/A, who told me SYD is one of her favorite trips. (I can imagine – the long flight means lots of hours, and the layover must be interesting.)
Dinner was served shortly after we reach a cruise altitude of about 32,000 feet. The choices were pasta with meat sauce, teriyaki chicken, and chilled beef wellington. I chose the chicken, which was a good choice. It was moist and tasty. There was a side salad, a sesame roll, and some packaged Peppridge Farm Brussels cookies. The bread roll was shrinkwrapped, which kept it fresh and moist. Much better than those disgusting soft breadsticks that are common with UA meals. No after dinner liqueurs offered.
I dozed for a few hours, but I then decided to do some reading. After all, it was still daytime in Australia and I shouldn’t be sleeping until it is nighttime in Australia. My seatmate got visibly annoyed when I turned the reading light, but tough for him. I wasn’t too happy with him anyway, because he didn’t seem to realize that the armrest is shared space.
About 8 hours into the flight, a snack box was served. It was a packaged foccacia roll with turkey and swiss cheese, with a side of fresh salsa, a packet of sesame breadsticks, some M&Ms, and a cup of grapes. No complaints.
I then dozed, listened to music, and did some reading for the rest of the flight. I couldn’t sleep, which was strange because I had spent Thursday night on a Greyhound bus.
About 1 hour out of Sydney, breakfast service began. This was very late, and I was getting worried that the service wouldn’t be completed. They started serving from the front of coach and the back of coach. Lucky me was in the center of coach, so I got the last choice. They had run out of fruit plates, so I ended up with a ham and cheese roll. It tasted more like a breakfast burrito and quite honestly was not what I was in the mood for. There was also a cinnamon roll, sesame roll, and a side of fruit (honeydew and grapes).
We landed early around 6:15am, it was still dark, and parked next to UA 815, which had landed from LAX a few minutes earlier. When deplaning, it SEEMED that the plane had the First Suites….but am not really sure, because it was hard to see.
Customs clearance was slow. Being an Australian passport holder didn’t seem to save me any time either. But luggage took even longer, especially since UA 863 was sharing the carousel with UA 815. Then, a long line at the taxi stand. But it was Sunday morning, and the roads were quiet, so I reached my destination in Bellevue Hill by 7:30am.
Sunday was a tough day for me…I was sleepy all day and the bed looked very tempting. But I stuck it out and took a bus to Circular Quay in the afternoon to take a walk in the Botanical Gardens. It was a beautiful afternoon and I had a great time. On the bus going back, however, I fell asleep and missed my stop. I was then woken up by the driver, not because he cared about me missing my stop, but because the bus was outside the zone I had paid for. He told me to cross the road and take the next bus back two stops and assured me I would not be charged, because I had a receipt. The next bus came and the driver told me that I would have to pay, regardless of what I had been told. I was quite upset, especially because it was only a half mile, and I could have easily walked it, but I didn’t really know where I was. The driver then made a racist remark about me being an American. Oh well, I am an Australian citizen but am treated as a foreigner.
This is just a rest and relaxation trip for me, as I am staying with some relatives. I was planning a trip to MEL later this week with a relative, but it has fallen through, so I might go by myself. Or, I might head to BNE to visit some other relatives. We will see. I have a domestic QF award ticket, so I have some flexibility.
SYD-SFO-JFK flight, UA 862, is on Monday May 29. Am upgraded to C, so it should be a good trip. Flying SFO-SYD in Y wasn’t bad at all…my fifth time doing the trip, and having that exit row was like an upgrade for me.
JFK-SFO, 6:30pm to 9:50pm
I used a service check to upgrade the JFK-SFO-SYD trip to Business Class. It is good for one flight number. I was originally booked on the UA 863 JFK-SFO-SYD through flight, departing at 6:30pm. But UAL changed the schedule so 863 departed JFK at 5:20pm – not legal for my connection, so to play it safe, I convinced them to rebook me on UA 3, so I could leave JFK at 6:30pm as originally scheduled. Still had a safe 1:20 layover in SFO, or so I thought.
I get to Terminal 6 around 4:45pm…all the flights to LAX and SFO are running late, because all the inbounds were held on the West coast due to weather in the midwest. Flight 3 is delayed indefinetely, and flight 863 (the 5:20pm to SFO) was delayed until 7:10pm. I was connecting to UA 863 in SFO to SYD, but was booked out of JFK on UA 3 because my Delta flight from DCA did not allow for a legal connection to UA 863 JFK-SFO.
I check in and they tell me that I might misconnect in SFO tonight, but if so, I would be given a hotel. They put me on standby for UA 863 JFK-SFO to increase my chances of making the SYD connection.
I go to the RCC (since I am on a Intl C class ticket), but they don’t ask for any credentials to enter the club. There was some cheese and crackers, packaged cakes, nothing too good. But at least comfortable chairs and plenty of phones. Was a bit busy, but I’m not complaining…I don’t see airline lounges much.
UA 863, which I was on stand by for JFK-SFO, started boarding around 7pm. There was a mob of people at the gate, trying to switch from UA 3 to this flight. My name was called as having cleared standby, but all they could give me was a center seat in coach. The flight was running so late and the weather in JFK was so bad, I was questioning whether I would even make the connection, so I opted to keep my Biz seat on UA 3, which was now scheduled for a 10:50pm departure, and then overnight in SFO (at UA’s expense as promised) and fly to SYD the next day.
I go to the RCC to get reprotected on SFO-SYD in C the next day. It is full. They checked LAX, it is also full. So…I offer to travel in Y SFO-SYD, as long as they upgrade my return to C…the upgrade is one way. Actually, I prefer to be in C for the trip back from SYD, because it is a day flight and I have more time to enjoy the amenities. Good deal for me, because I still get C JFK-SFO and they upgraded my whole SYD-SFO-JFK to C, since I am on UA 862 the whole way. The agent in the RCC makes sure she documents my record accordingly so that I am authorized for all these upgrades.
At around 10:30pm, the inbound 767-200ER for UA 3 arrives from LAX, it is unloaded, serviced, and cleaned. We begin boarding at 11:20pm. They ask us to board very quickly, because the flight attendants are close to being illegal and will walk off the plane of the doors are not shut by 11:40pm. Passengers want the flight to leave, and the full load is on board by 11:30pm.
I am in Biz class, seat 6C. No pre departure menu or beverage is offered. F/As are very cold and are all hovering near the front of the plane talking with the captain. 11:40pm comes and goes, and the door is still open. At 11:45pm, the captain announces the F/As are illegal and are leaving the plane. The captain cites some federal law. (This must be a union rule, because I was not aware of legal duty limits for F/As.) The cockpit crew announces that they will go illegal around 1:20am and that the plane has not been fueled due to lightning. At around 11:50pm, the captain announces that fueling has begun, but there are no backup F/As available. He says that UA 863, the earlier SFO flight, is still sitting on the runway waiting to take off, and that perhaps they could split the cabin crew from that plane, since they only need 4 F/As.
Things don’t seem to make sense. This was the start of the duty day for these JFK based F/As and cockpit crew. UA knew the flight would be running late because the planes were being held on the west coast. Yet, the crew was not informed of the delay and reported to work on time. Weird. But what’s stranger is that the F/As go illegal before the cockpit goes illegal. And then the idea of sharing F/As from 863…wasn’t that crew about to go illegal? 863 departed around 8pm, but was scheduled for 5:20pm. Maybe that crew was informed of the delay and actually reported for work later than the UA 3 crew.
Anyway, the pax are all nervous and calling travel agents and hotels, because we all know the flight isn’t going anywhere. Indeed, around midnight, the captain announces the flight is canceled, along with UA 863, which pushed just after 8pm and never took off, and two flights to LAX.
Since I am in biz, I am one of the first off the plane in the line to be reaccommodated. I know that it doesn’t look good – 4 full transcons canceled, and apparently weather problems that are even worse in ORD. I ask for C class tomorrow, and am told it is full. All that is left is a 4:30pm Y class JFK-SFO or a 6:45pm Y class EWR-SFO. Ask to check BWI/IAD/PHL/BDL and am told no F or Y. I realize I am pushing my luck to get an upgrade on the transcon, so I ask to be rebooked the next day on the flight from EWR. Makes me nervous because it has only a 1:20 layover in SFO for my SYD flight.
Now, I need a hotel. UA won’t help because it’s weather. I make a few calls and it seems stuff is sold out. It is still 18 hours til my flight, and I am not prepared to sleep in JFK for 18 hours, nor do I want to spend $200 on a hotel. I find a hotel in Mahwah, NJ for $68 a night. But Mahwah is 40 miles from JFK, so it would be an expensive cab ride. I decide that this flight at 6:45pm out of EWR isn’t going to work – I need a morning flight, so I can sit in the airport. Then, I can get a dayroom at a SFO airport hotel.
So I call UA reservations and get a very nice agent. She tells me there are no morning flights available from any of the NYC area airports. I read off all these cities within 200 miles of NYC, and there is nothing. Seems like the problem is that ORD is having worse weather problems, so my only hope is to find an open seat on a transcon to SFO. She is very patient, and finally we find there are seats from BOS to SFO in the morning. I ask to be rebooked from BOS and explain that I will get to BOS. After checking with her supervisor, I am rebooked BOS-SFO at 11:15am on UA 167. Didn’t even ask about an upgrade.
Now it’s 1am and I have a 11:15am flight from BOS. I figure my “hotel room” for the night will be Amtrak or Greyhound. I find that there is a 3:30am Greyhound trip to BOS, so I head out to the bus stop, to get to the subway station. It is pouring rain, and the bus to long term parking and the subway doesn’t seem to be running. There are people who have been waiting 45 minutes for it. So I decide to scratch the subway idea and take a cab to the bus terminal. The taxi line is a mile long. I ask for someone to share a cab with me, but there are no takers.
Finally, a cab driver, who has already picked up a fare, asks if anyone wants to share. Seeing that I am nowhere close to the front of the line, I jump on it. The cab takes the other fare to uptown and then takes me to the bus terminal. I am charged the full fare of $30, but by this point, I really don’t care, because it sure beat standing in line. It’s 2:45am and the Port Authority bus terminal is closed up…there’s a small entrance for people riding on late night buses. I buy my Greyhound ticket – it’s $38 one way. I thought it would be a bit cheaper (I once rode NYC-DC for $26), but at this point I didn’t care. It was a cheap hotel room.
I realize I am hungry. I haven’t eaten all night and even skipped lunch, in anticipation of my C class dinner. So I take my luggage up a few blocks to a McDonalds – peddlers keep asking me if I need help with my luggage.
I get back to the bus terminal at 3:15am for my trip to BOS. The bus is full, and I think they even add a second section. It’s a fairly new bus, but the seats are smaller than a plane. I don’t really mind, because I want to sleep, I doze on and off for the trip. The bus stops in Hartford around 5:40am and we sit there until 6:15am. Arrival in BOS is slightly late, around 8:15am. It is rainy, foggy, gloomy. Yikes. I hope my flight is okay.
The bus terminal in BOS is very attractive – seems quite new. But I get out quickly and into a cab for Logan. Was going to ride the subway, but it requires 2 transfers, and I am not in the mood. It is a $15 cab ride and I get to the UA counter around 8:45am. It is a zoo – the line is snaking out the door. But I am Premier, so I get privileges… As an added bonus, I see the long line is for ORD/DEN/IAD. LAX/SFO/LHR have their own line, which is deserted, especially the Premier line.
I ask to have my luggage checked to SYD. Thought it might be a problem due to the 9 hour layover in SFO, but it is checked with no hassle. I also get my SYD boarding pass and ask for an exit aisle. Score! I get 46H. Apparently, this seat can only be prereserved by upper level Premiers (not regular Premiers like me), or requested on the day of travel. Since I was checking in 17 hours before my flight, I had a very good chance of getting this seat. Maybe I should purposely book long layovers for future intl trips; fare rules require a maximum of 24 hours.
I ask about an upgrade to SFO and the agent lists me for it, although F is full. He says I need 3000 miles in certificates. Ouch. I don’t have any certificates. JFK kept my transcon upgrade for me as a courtesy for me switching my SYD upgrade to my return trip. Oh well, I will discuss it with the gate agent if the upgrade clears. Am informed the flight is delayed til 12:30pm. No big deal.
I am very tired and basically wander around BOS for 4 hours. I was going to take a shuttle to an airport hotel for breakfast, but I realize I’m not really hungry. Many of the ORD flights are canceled, and some people seem to have been sleeping in the airport.
But the plane for my SFO flight (a 757) is already there at the gate, when I sit down at 11am. Apparently the delay is because the cockpit crew is running late on an inbound flight. At around 12:15pm, boarding begins, and we are informed the delay will probably run until around 1pm. A list of 7 possible upgrades is called, and I am on the list. At around 12:30pm, my upgrade clears. I am asked for certificates. I show my boarding pass (C class) from my canceled JFK-SFO and explain that the RCC in JFK authorized this upgrade. Agent gets confused and tells me I haven’t told this to anyone in BOS. Well, I guess I haven’t. Second agent looks at the remarks in my record and says I am fine. I get seat 5D.
UA 167, Friday May 19, 2000
BOS-SFO, 11:15am to 1:15pm (scheduled), 1:00pm to 3:45pm (actual)
B757, N534UA
Seems like the new F/C seats, but honestly, this only my second time in F, and first time in F on UA. All I can say about the seat was that it was so comfortable, I had no need to recline it. I am immediately offered orange juice or water, and a few minutes later, we push back and take off shortly after. It is raining, and am I relieved to finally be on the way out the of the east coast. The view out the window is beautiful – I very seldom travel on daytime flights, so I really enjoyed it.
Menus are distributed, and since I haven’t eaten since my late night McDonalds visit, I am excited about the offerings:
To Begin
Chilled salmon presented with a fennel and mustard seed salad. (Phenomenal – very good flavor and quality.)
Main Course
Lam chops Provencal with a red pepper sauce, baked with a breadcrumb and mustard crust, complemented by dill gnocchi and a vegetable nori featuring sweet potatoes, parsnips and leeks.
Sauteed turkey piccata in a lemon caper sauce, topped with herbs and parmesan cheese, accompanied by sauteed spinach with nutmeg and yellow rice with orange rind.
Seared fillet of salmon enhanced by basil tomato sauce, complemented with steamed bok choy and Parisienne potatoes with parsley.
(above entrees are accompanied by a garden fresh salad with Parmesan pepper or Asian sesame ginger dressing)
Pan-seared yellowfin tuna served atop baby spinach greens, accompanied by ruby red grapefruit, Roma tomatoes and Javanese dressing, offered with a fruit appetizer.
(I picked the salmon – it was overdone and dry, but still good. But the vegetables were exceptional. My seatmate had the tuna, which did not look very good. It was served plain and hot, with a side of cold baby spinach. Seemed a bit strange. There were real salt and pepper shakers.)
Dessert was a Ben & Jerrys vanilla and chocolate sundae – no complaints. And an hour out of SFO, they served hot oatmeal raisin cookies.
Throughout the flight, drinks were replenished continuously. They ran out of glasses halfway through the flight, so glasses weren’t changed, and wine glasses were used for the milk with the cookies. The 2 first class F/As were working continuously to serve the full cabin of 24. In coach, the service moved very slowly, since there were only 2 coach class F/As. (I think UAL normally staffs 6 on the 757.) After I was all done with lunch, coach was still being served.
I never felt like this crew was hiding from the passengers; they were all very accommodating and also called the F passengers by name. The priority for meal choice was interesting. I think I came up relatively early. Weird, because I am a lowly Premier (not Premex or 1K) and I was traveling on a deep discount ticket. But perhaps since I had been rebooked due to weather, I was actually coded as full fare. I noticed some passengers were given bottles of wine.
Overall, an A+ flight. Good food, excellent service, friendly crew. Sure, a bit of a delay was a nuisance, especially after being up all night on Greyhound, but it got me to SFO with plenty of time for my connection.
I put my laptop in a domestic terminal locker, and headed out to catch a bus to the Colma BART station. I figured I would spend some time in SF because my SYD connection wasn’t until 11:10pm. I should have just spent $11 and taken the Airporter bus to a downtown hotel, because the bus to Colma was standing room only and was on surface streets most of the time. I rode the bus to Powell St. and did some shopping on Union Square. Then, I visited the newly restored Fairmont Hotel where I used to work, the lobby looks spectacular. Finally, I took a walk down the Embarcadero to Fishermans Wharf and had some clam chowder. Beautiful views. Brought back lots of memories, because I lived in the Bay area last summer.
Finally, I walked back to the Hyatt at the Embarcadero to catch the Airporter bus to SFO. I thought it ran every 15 minutes, but it turns out it runs every half hour, and I had just missed the 9:05pm. Seeing that I had things in the domestic terminal locker, and an international flight at 11:10pm, I needed to get back to SFO ASAP.
So I hopped on BART to Daly City, and then took a cab to SFO. Not too cheap, it was a $20 cab ride, but I didn’t want to risk missing my flight. I raced to the domestic terminal to get my laptop and then went over to Gate 55 on the international terminal, arriving there around 10:20pm. Boarding had not yet begun, but I had some last minute phone calls to make.
UA 863, Friday May 19, 2000
SFO-SYD, 11:10pm to 6:35am+2
B747-400, N179UA
Boarding began around 10:30pm and I was one of the first ones on (Premier privileges)…. 46H was a nice exit aisle, adjacent to the mid cabin galley. Tremendous amount of unobstructed leg space. The plane quickly filled up – we had 299 on board – about a 75% full load. I heard that F and C were full. I didn’t ask about an upgrade; after all, my return SYD-JFK is upgraded and I was more than happy with my exit row seat.
We held at the gate until 11:40pm to wait for late connections; the captain said that we had strong tailwinds and would have had to hold anyway, due to the 6am curfew in Sydney. After we board the final connecting passengers, we take off, after a quick taxi. Some F/A jumpseats were directly across from me, so I had a good chat with the F/As. One was on her first trip to Australia, she is a new hire flying reserve. The other was a veteran F/A, who told me SYD is one of her favorite trips. (I can imagine – the long flight means lots of hours, and the layover must be interesting.)
Dinner was served shortly after we reach a cruise altitude of about 32,000 feet. The choices were pasta with meat sauce, teriyaki chicken, and chilled beef wellington. I chose the chicken, which was a good choice. It was moist and tasty. There was a side salad, a sesame roll, and some packaged Peppridge Farm Brussels cookies. The bread roll was shrinkwrapped, which kept it fresh and moist. Much better than those disgusting soft breadsticks that are common with UA meals. No after dinner liqueurs offered.
I dozed for a few hours, but I then decided to do some reading. After all, it was still daytime in Australia and I shouldn’t be sleeping until it is nighttime in Australia. My seatmate got visibly annoyed when I turned the reading light, but tough for him. I wasn’t too happy with him anyway, because he didn’t seem to realize that the armrest is shared space.
About 8 hours into the flight, a snack box was served. It was a packaged foccacia roll with turkey and swiss cheese, with a side of fresh salsa, a packet of sesame breadsticks, some M&Ms, and a cup of grapes. No complaints.
I then dozed, listened to music, and did some reading for the rest of the flight. I couldn’t sleep, which was strange because I had spent Thursday night on a Greyhound bus.
About 1 hour out of Sydney, breakfast service began. This was very late, and I was getting worried that the service wouldn’t be completed. They started serving from the front of coach and the back of coach. Lucky me was in the center of coach, so I got the last choice. They had run out of fruit plates, so I ended up with a ham and cheese roll. It tasted more like a breakfast burrito and quite honestly was not what I was in the mood for. There was also a cinnamon roll, sesame roll, and a side of fruit (honeydew and grapes).
We landed early around 6:15am, it was still dark, and parked next to UA 815, which had landed from LAX a few minutes earlier. When deplaning, it SEEMED that the plane had the First Suites….but am not really sure, because it was hard to see.
Customs clearance was slow. Being an Australian passport holder didn’t seem to save me any time either. But luggage took even longer, especially since UA 863 was sharing the carousel with UA 815. Then, a long line at the taxi stand. But it was Sunday morning, and the roads were quiet, so I reached my destination in Bellevue Hill by 7:30am.
Sunday was a tough day for me…I was sleepy all day and the bed looked very tempting. But I stuck it out and took a bus to Circular Quay in the afternoon to take a walk in the Botanical Gardens. It was a beautiful afternoon and I had a great time. On the bus going back, however, I fell asleep and missed my stop. I was then woken up by the driver, not because he cared about me missing my stop, but because the bus was outside the zone I had paid for. He told me to cross the road and take the next bus back two stops and assured me I would not be charged, because I had a receipt. The next bus came and the driver told me that I would have to pay, regardless of what I had been told. I was quite upset, especially because it was only a half mile, and I could have easily walked it, but I didn’t really know where I was. The driver then made a racist remark about me being an American. Oh well, I am an Australian citizen but am treated as a foreigner.
This is just a rest and relaxation trip for me, as I am staying with some relatives. I was planning a trip to MEL later this week with a relative, but it has fallen through, so I might go by myself. Or, I might head to BNE to visit some other relatives. We will see. I have a domestic QF award ticket, so I have some flexibility.
SYD-SFO-JFK flight, UA 862, is on Monday May 29. Am upgraded to C, so it should be a good trip. Flying SFO-SYD in Y wasn’t bad at all…my fifth time doing the trip, and having that exit row was like an upgrade for me.