usoftie
Dec 12, 00, 11:30 pm
Dec 10 UA 552 C class
This flight was on an internationally configured 777 with suites. I was in the first row of C, which is a very good place to sit. Just a couple of things I noticed during the flight:
- F was totally empty when I boarded, and I was right before they called general boarding. By the time they ended boarding, it was 100% full. At least 6 people in F had crew or United tags, although none were in uniform.
- No menus, in fact no choice of entree on lunch, but then again it was just a 2 hour flight. Lunch was a cheese ravioli in spinach ravioli with sauce, salad, and apple pie for dessert. The ravioli was a bit overdone on the edges but I wasn't all that hungry anyway.
- This was my first time with the gold boarding passes and as I promised, I have a picture up: http://www.lemson.com/lemson/pictures/boardingpasses.jpg
I didn't get to the gate in time to hear how they called the boarding process, and since there is no E+ on this plane, it wasn't as much of an issue.
- The FAs were all busy in the galleys playing with beads, putting together beads and little things like airplanes to put onto their lanyards that have their ID cards. I thought it was kind of odd, but they all seemed quite into it.
- They ran two 90 minute films: Toy Story 2 and Coyote Ugly, as well as the short subjects. That was a nice touch.
- This flight took off on time and actually landed a bit early. Snow was scheduled to start in Denver but we lucked out and beat it.
- F got hot towels, at least on landing, but none in C. I guess they have to have a differentiator.
UA 450 DEN-DFW
- I knew it was a bad omen when the departure still showed as "on time" even when the plane was only arriving at the gate 25 minutes before scheduled departure. We finally boarded at about departure time (still on time) but we didn't go anywhere. We sat in the plane at the gate for about 90 minutes while they had the mechanics buzzing about. Someone noticed that a hydraulic system at the aft of the plane was leaking but they couldn't see where after they filled it up again. After all that time, they finally decided that it was a leak that occurred while the tail skid was rubbing the ground and they didn't do anything but fill it up. Antique 727... it had a plaque christening it after someone (sorry didn't note the name) in 1974!. One interesting moment came when the mechanics were arguing with the crew because the third crewman wouldn't get out of the cockpit and the mechanics needed to get in there. He finally acquiesced but it seemed like it was more of a misunderstanding that the mechanic made into a bigger thing than it was (the mechanic said in a loud voice "OK I'm going to report that I was unable to enter the cockpit because the crew would not yield it").
- Once we finally got underway, the service was reasonable. One FA for F, she filled me up with water several times. I was in 3B, which is kind of right in the center of things, so it's easier to get better service there. She handed out both the nasty pretzel and cheese nip mixture as well as the older white package snack mix.
- We landed and taxied for roughly 2 miles, I'd say. DFW is one large airport.
- Arriving into DFW, I had pre-reserved ExecuCar, a service of SuperShuttle. The driver was waiting for me at the gate, despite the fact that we were arriving about 75 minutes late. Overall pretty good service, only about 20% more money than just taking a taxi (depending how you tip the taxi driver), and comfort in a town car. I'll take SuperShuttle back to the airport at 1/3 the price to even out the average price http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.
This flight was on an internationally configured 777 with suites. I was in the first row of C, which is a very good place to sit. Just a couple of things I noticed during the flight:
- F was totally empty when I boarded, and I was right before they called general boarding. By the time they ended boarding, it was 100% full. At least 6 people in F had crew or United tags, although none were in uniform.
- No menus, in fact no choice of entree on lunch, but then again it was just a 2 hour flight. Lunch was a cheese ravioli in spinach ravioli with sauce, salad, and apple pie for dessert. The ravioli was a bit overdone on the edges but I wasn't all that hungry anyway.
- This was my first time with the gold boarding passes and as I promised, I have a picture up: http://www.lemson.com/lemson/pictures/boardingpasses.jpg
I didn't get to the gate in time to hear how they called the boarding process, and since there is no E+ on this plane, it wasn't as much of an issue.
- The FAs were all busy in the galleys playing with beads, putting together beads and little things like airplanes to put onto their lanyards that have their ID cards. I thought it was kind of odd, but they all seemed quite into it.
- They ran two 90 minute films: Toy Story 2 and Coyote Ugly, as well as the short subjects. That was a nice touch.
- This flight took off on time and actually landed a bit early. Snow was scheduled to start in Denver but we lucked out and beat it.
- F got hot towels, at least on landing, but none in C. I guess they have to have a differentiator.
UA 450 DEN-DFW
- I knew it was a bad omen when the departure still showed as "on time" even when the plane was only arriving at the gate 25 minutes before scheduled departure. We finally boarded at about departure time (still on time) but we didn't go anywhere. We sat in the plane at the gate for about 90 minutes while they had the mechanics buzzing about. Someone noticed that a hydraulic system at the aft of the plane was leaking but they couldn't see where after they filled it up again. After all that time, they finally decided that it was a leak that occurred while the tail skid was rubbing the ground and they didn't do anything but fill it up. Antique 727... it had a plaque christening it after someone (sorry didn't note the name) in 1974!. One interesting moment came when the mechanics were arguing with the crew because the third crewman wouldn't get out of the cockpit and the mechanics needed to get in there. He finally acquiesced but it seemed like it was more of a misunderstanding that the mechanic made into a bigger thing than it was (the mechanic said in a loud voice "OK I'm going to report that I was unable to enter the cockpit because the crew would not yield it").
- Once we finally got underway, the service was reasonable. One FA for F, she filled me up with water several times. I was in 3B, which is kind of right in the center of things, so it's easier to get better service there. She handed out both the nasty pretzel and cheese nip mixture as well as the older white package snack mix.
- We landed and taxied for roughly 2 miles, I'd say. DFW is one large airport.
- Arriving into DFW, I had pre-reserved ExecuCar, a service of SuperShuttle. The driver was waiting for me at the gate, despite the fact that we were arriving about 75 minutes late. Overall pretty good service, only about 20% more money than just taking a taxi (depending how you tip the taxi driver), and comfort in a town car. I'll take SuperShuttle back to the airport at 1/3 the price to even out the average price http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.