tfung
Jun 22, 01, 1:20 am
Trip report DFW-ORD-BOS UA1510/524 June 21st
The walk from the American baggage claim area was VERY far. I should have gotten a pushcart to push my suitcase over. Oh well... I guess it's a good workout anyways. When I got to the United check-in, the place was a mess. Due to flight cancellations to Denver the previous day, there were a lot of people trying to get on flight today. The fact that there were only 3 agents trying to check in a ton of people didn't help either. I stood in line at the F class check-in, which was only manned by one agent. It took about 40 minutes for her to get to me, and I was just behind 4 people. After getting my boarding passes, the terminal refused to print out my baggage tags. That took another 10 minutes before the agent gave up and printed it out from a different terminal. In all, I spent about an hour to get my bags checked and boarding passes printed. The people in Economy were even worse off though, and their line had about 30 people in it.
I had about an hour to spare, and since the airport was such a mess, with people everywhere and minimal air-conditioning, I decided to head to the RCC and join it. Of course, I would never pay money for something like this, so I just used my miles to join. It was 35,000 miles for a year, and it seemed an okay price to pay when you have 20 times as many miles in your account. I'd be flying quite a lot of domestic trips the next 2 months, so it'd be valuable I hope. I filled out the forms and settled in the lounge. To all those people who say the DFW lounge sucks, I think it's actually quite nice. Although very small, I found it to be quite comfortable, and the staff very friendly. I was only in the lounge for about half an hour when boarding started.
Boarding began at 13:35, and I was one of the last people to get to the gate. Boarding was very slow, and I waited in the jet-way for about 5 minutes before I got to my seat 1D. The plane was an Airbus 319, so there were only 2 rows in F class. The doors closed promptly at 13:55, and we pushed back a few minutes afterwards. We didn't taxi for too long, and I expected that it would take forever as it was an AA hub, and I figured they would give priority for AA planes to take-off and land first. Our flight time to Chicago was 2 hours 15 minutes, and cruising altitude at 33,000 feet. After take-off, the purser came around to take orders for the snack, while another took orders for drinks. Menus were not given out, but we had a choice of chicken fondue or oriental chicken salad. I picked the fondue, as I was curious how exactly they would serve a fondue on a plane. Turns out that it was actually a plate of cuscus and TWO slices of chicken. Yes, slices… not even pieces. Each slice was about 1cm thick, and a cheese sauce to dip the chicken in accompanied the dish. It was actually really good, but I wish they would give us some more chicken. The oriental chicken salad was a much larger portion. I've seen the oriental chicken salad a few times, and every time I would tell myself that I had to try it the next time. And of course, every time I forget. Have to make a mental note to myself to remember next time. A fruit plate also accompanied the dish, which was a lot better than the one with AA's breakfast. At least there was a strawberry and sweet slices of fruit.
We started our descent into Chicago about 20 minutes from landing, and we landed quite quickly. There wasn't any traffic up in the air, or on the ground, and we pulled into Concourse B within a few minutes. After disembarking, I found out that my Boston flight was leaving from Concourse B as well, so I did not go over to the RCC in Concourse C as planned. Instead, I headed to the 1K room in Concourse B which I thought was actually very nice and quiet. My flight to Boston was delayed, due to late aircraft arrival. The real reason why it was delayed was because the original plane, an Airbus 319 was scheduled to come in from Denver. But due to a hailstorm yesterday, it was one of the damaged planes. Instead, they found a replacement Airbus 320, but that took a little while. The departure was delayed for about an hour till 18:30, so I had plenty of time to spare. In the 1K room, I finished off my Tom Clancy book, and also went online for a little while. I headed over to the gate area when the flight info screen showed that the flight was boarding.
When I got to gate 20, the flight still had not boarded yet. I wonder why they even said it was boarding on the screens. The reason now, was that the flight just got in not too long ago, and it still had not been cleaned yet. We didn't start boarding the plane until 18:30. Boarding went as quick as it can get, and I took my seat in 1B. This seat had the little cutout at the feet, so I had a little more legroom that the people across the aisle. Despite the quick boarding of the full flight, we were delayed again. This time, due to a discrepancy with the maintenance paperwork, which had to be sorted out before we could push back. We waited another 15 minutes before we finally pushed back. Takeoff time was at 19:20, which more than an hour and a half behind schedule. Flight time was 1 hour 48 minutes, and as usual, it was a very routine flight. We landed at 22:15, which was more than an hour late. I'm didn't want to bother you guys with the details, as I must have written like 10 ORD-BOS or BOS-ORD trip reports already, But something nice and surprising did happen on the trip. When I was being asked for my meal choice, I didn't really care about what I wanted. Both choices sounded good to me. The menu for this flight was:
To Begin
Garden fresh salad
Country French or classic Caesar dressing
Main Course
Steak and chicken fajitas with tomatillo salsa
Spanish rice, jalapeño peppers, guacamole and tortillas
Beef, shrimp and scallop brochette with a mirin soy sauce
Garlic mashed potatoes with baby bok choy
Dessert
Eli's peach blueberry tart
I just told the purser that I didn't mind what I had, and that she should ask the other passengers first. At the time, she just gave me a funny look and moved on to the next person. However, right before she served my meal, she came by and whispered in my ear that she was very grateful I did what I did, as everyone had gotten his or her choice, all because of what I did. She then added that she was going to send me home with a bottle of bubbly! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif Just before landing, she came by and handed me a bottle of champagne wrapped with linen. I didn't even know that they had champagne on short-haul domestic flights! That was the good part of my trip. The bad part was that my luggage didn't make it to Boston on this flight, but was put on the later flight which arrived at 00:30. I had to go back to the airport to pick it up, but luckily, I was given a $50 travel certificate for my troubles. So I guess it wasn't that bad after all.
Well, that's the end of my little run for now. Will be staying put for about 2 weeks before I head out again. Will post more reports on those flights.
Terence http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
The walk from the American baggage claim area was VERY far. I should have gotten a pushcart to push my suitcase over. Oh well... I guess it's a good workout anyways. When I got to the United check-in, the place was a mess. Due to flight cancellations to Denver the previous day, there were a lot of people trying to get on flight today. The fact that there were only 3 agents trying to check in a ton of people didn't help either. I stood in line at the F class check-in, which was only manned by one agent. It took about 40 minutes for her to get to me, and I was just behind 4 people. After getting my boarding passes, the terminal refused to print out my baggage tags. That took another 10 minutes before the agent gave up and printed it out from a different terminal. In all, I spent about an hour to get my bags checked and boarding passes printed. The people in Economy were even worse off though, and their line had about 30 people in it.
I had about an hour to spare, and since the airport was such a mess, with people everywhere and minimal air-conditioning, I decided to head to the RCC and join it. Of course, I would never pay money for something like this, so I just used my miles to join. It was 35,000 miles for a year, and it seemed an okay price to pay when you have 20 times as many miles in your account. I'd be flying quite a lot of domestic trips the next 2 months, so it'd be valuable I hope. I filled out the forms and settled in the lounge. To all those people who say the DFW lounge sucks, I think it's actually quite nice. Although very small, I found it to be quite comfortable, and the staff very friendly. I was only in the lounge for about half an hour when boarding started.
Boarding began at 13:35, and I was one of the last people to get to the gate. Boarding was very slow, and I waited in the jet-way for about 5 minutes before I got to my seat 1D. The plane was an Airbus 319, so there were only 2 rows in F class. The doors closed promptly at 13:55, and we pushed back a few minutes afterwards. We didn't taxi for too long, and I expected that it would take forever as it was an AA hub, and I figured they would give priority for AA planes to take-off and land first. Our flight time to Chicago was 2 hours 15 minutes, and cruising altitude at 33,000 feet. After take-off, the purser came around to take orders for the snack, while another took orders for drinks. Menus were not given out, but we had a choice of chicken fondue or oriental chicken salad. I picked the fondue, as I was curious how exactly they would serve a fondue on a plane. Turns out that it was actually a plate of cuscus and TWO slices of chicken. Yes, slices… not even pieces. Each slice was about 1cm thick, and a cheese sauce to dip the chicken in accompanied the dish. It was actually really good, but I wish they would give us some more chicken. The oriental chicken salad was a much larger portion. I've seen the oriental chicken salad a few times, and every time I would tell myself that I had to try it the next time. And of course, every time I forget. Have to make a mental note to myself to remember next time. A fruit plate also accompanied the dish, which was a lot better than the one with AA's breakfast. At least there was a strawberry and sweet slices of fruit.
We started our descent into Chicago about 20 minutes from landing, and we landed quite quickly. There wasn't any traffic up in the air, or on the ground, and we pulled into Concourse B within a few minutes. After disembarking, I found out that my Boston flight was leaving from Concourse B as well, so I did not go over to the RCC in Concourse C as planned. Instead, I headed to the 1K room in Concourse B which I thought was actually very nice and quiet. My flight to Boston was delayed, due to late aircraft arrival. The real reason why it was delayed was because the original plane, an Airbus 319 was scheduled to come in from Denver. But due to a hailstorm yesterday, it was one of the damaged planes. Instead, they found a replacement Airbus 320, but that took a little while. The departure was delayed for about an hour till 18:30, so I had plenty of time to spare. In the 1K room, I finished off my Tom Clancy book, and also went online for a little while. I headed over to the gate area when the flight info screen showed that the flight was boarding.
When I got to gate 20, the flight still had not boarded yet. I wonder why they even said it was boarding on the screens. The reason now, was that the flight just got in not too long ago, and it still had not been cleaned yet. We didn't start boarding the plane until 18:30. Boarding went as quick as it can get, and I took my seat in 1B. This seat had the little cutout at the feet, so I had a little more legroom that the people across the aisle. Despite the quick boarding of the full flight, we were delayed again. This time, due to a discrepancy with the maintenance paperwork, which had to be sorted out before we could push back. We waited another 15 minutes before we finally pushed back. Takeoff time was at 19:20, which more than an hour and a half behind schedule. Flight time was 1 hour 48 minutes, and as usual, it was a very routine flight. We landed at 22:15, which was more than an hour late. I'm didn't want to bother you guys with the details, as I must have written like 10 ORD-BOS or BOS-ORD trip reports already, But something nice and surprising did happen on the trip. When I was being asked for my meal choice, I didn't really care about what I wanted. Both choices sounded good to me. The menu for this flight was:
To Begin
Garden fresh salad
Country French or classic Caesar dressing
Main Course
Steak and chicken fajitas with tomatillo salsa
Spanish rice, jalapeño peppers, guacamole and tortillas
Beef, shrimp and scallop brochette with a mirin soy sauce
Garlic mashed potatoes with baby bok choy
Dessert
Eli's peach blueberry tart
I just told the purser that I didn't mind what I had, and that she should ask the other passengers first. At the time, she just gave me a funny look and moved on to the next person. However, right before she served my meal, she came by and whispered in my ear that she was very grateful I did what I did, as everyone had gotten his or her choice, all because of what I did. She then added that she was going to send me home with a bottle of bubbly! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif Just before landing, she came by and handed me a bottle of champagne wrapped with linen. I didn't even know that they had champagne on short-haul domestic flights! That was the good part of my trip. The bad part was that my luggage didn't make it to Boston on this flight, but was put on the later flight which arrived at 00:30. I had to go back to the airport to pick it up, but luckily, I was given a $50 travel certificate for my troubles. So I guess it wasn't that bad after all.
Well, that's the end of my little run for now. Will be staying put for about 2 weeks before I head out again. Will post more reports on those flights.
Terence http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif