tfung
Jul 8, 01, 1:25 am
Trip report BOS-ORD-SJC UA523/1241 July 7th
Well, this trip was a little more exciting than my regular domestic flights, because I missed my originally scheduled BOS-IAD flight, and had to be rescheduled. Of course, that came with all the excitement of being thrown around by the booking agents, first on one flight, and then on another. I also promised you guys I would take pictures of my flights after I get back to Boston, but it was so hectic going to the airport I left my camera at home again. =P Anyways, I was scheduled to be on UA1411 at 14:25, and I got to the airport late and the plane had departed already. There was no way I could have made the connecting flight at IAD for SJC. They fiddled around and booked me on a Denver flight first, and then on a Chicago flight a few minutes later. In the end, I ended up flying through Chicago. So basically I lost my chance to test out taking a 2-class transcon. Haven't done a transcon for a while, so I was interested at the service (or the lack of it), I've been hearing so much about. Also, I was looking forward to the ice cream on that flight.
Anyhow, I hung around the RCC for a bit until my new flight was boarding and made a few phone calls. I'm glad that the people I was supposed to meet was quite flexible and was ok with meeting over a drink after dinner instead of dinner. At first, the displayed showed a 15:30 departure time, but it got pushed back to 16:15 because of the late arrival of the aircraft. The plane was the daily 767-300 flight to Chicago, and I was put in Business class on 8B. As snobbish as it may sound, I haven't been on an International Business class seat for a while, so I was actually looking forward to compare it with the International First seat. Well, guess what? They are actually very similar. Seat comfort seems the same, but the width of the seat is a lot less than the First seat, and it was very noticeable. I would say it was at least an inch or two narrower just from perception. Legroom seemed about the same, but then the bulkhead had maybe 30% more legroom than the other seats. Another thing that I started noticing is how flimsy the table tray is compared to the one-piece table in First. Anyhow, after boarding the plane, orange juice or champagne was offered, and Business class filled up completely. One thing about a Business class cabin on domestic routes, it's very similar to Economy in that ALL the families with kids were put at the rear section of C class. Since I was seated near that section, all I heard was constant screaming and kids yakking away. An announcement was made by the pilot that we were having a mechanical problem and would be delayed a bit more. No scheduled departure time was announced. After a while, the captain came on again and told us that one of the fuel pumps were not working in the center tank, and the mechanics will isolate and turn off that one since the center fuel tanks were not being used. We were told that it would be another half an hour. During this time, the FAs went around the cabin refilling passenger's drinks and took orders for the snack service for 1K members. There was a choice of a chef salad or a turkey, salami deli plate. Anyhow, at 17:00, the captain announced that the problem had been fixed, and we were on our way.
Takeoff came at 17:30, an hour and 45 minutes after the scheduled departure time. Our flying time was 2 hours, and cruising altitude at 31,000 feet. We were scheduled to arrive in Chicago a little before 7, which was fine by me, as I would still have nearly an hour to connect to my SJC flight. Shortly after takeoff, drinks orders were taken, and I ordered my ginger ale and white wine combo. At the same time, the snacks were also given out, and I had asked for the turkey salami deli plate. This time, the deli plate actually looked more appetizing than the salad. The salad still looked great, but the deli was better. The plate consisted of a small bowl of pasta, 3 big slices of turkey, and 4 big slices of salami. There was also a large piece of bread so you can make your own sandwich. I managed to get all the pieces of meat stuffed in the bread, and used the accompanying cheese sauce. It turned out very tasty, and it was much better than the deli plate I had last time on my ORD-BOS flight. I think the food coming out of Boston is probably one of the better catering that UA has. The tray also came with a bowl of fruit and some cookies for dessert. It was quite satisfying for such a short flight.
One thing that I noticed was that they only took orders for the 1K members. There were about 7 or 8 in C class on this flight. They didn't bother to take orders for other people, and basically what happened was that the person sitting next to the 1K, would get the other selection. So basically the girl sitting next to me, didn't get to choose and was given the salad. The gentlemen sitting across the aisle was also a 1K, and I heard that he asked for the salad. The other guy next to him ended up with the deli plate. I guess when you choose your selection, you effectively choose what the person next to you is having as well if they're not a 1K... =P Anyways, after the snack service, the FAs came through the cabin with some surveys. I've probably done about 10 of these in the past 15 flights, so why not just do another one. You're entered into a random drawing of 10 million people with a chance to win one economy class roundtrip ticket. I doubt anyone ever wins it…
After doing the survey, I fell asleep and when I woke up, we were already at the gate in Chicago. When I got off the plane, it was 18:45, and I had an hour to catch my next flight. We parked at concourse B, so I headed to the RCC there. It wasn't as nice as the on in C concourse, but since the 1K room in B is closed, it's better than nothing. I checked in there to my flight to SJC, and picked seat 2C. The RCC was quite busy, so I found myself a seat where the phones are, which were relatively empty. After about 30 minutes at the RCC, I headed over to Concourse E, where the plane was. The original plane was a A319, but it was changed to an Airbus 320. All the better, as there was more space throughout the plane. All I hope is that they serve a decent dinner with ice cream!
Boarding began at 17:30, and I took my seat in 2C next to an African American fellow. He was very well dressed (all in Prada), and was wearing a lot of jewelry. I take it that he must be some sort of celebrity, but didn't bother to find out, as he fell asleep immediately after push back. The flight wasn't that full, and there was still a seat free in F class. Everyone in economy had an empty seat beside them. Flight time was 4 hours 56 minutes. When we leveled off at 34,000 feet, the purser came around the First class cabin to hand out menus and take orders for drinks. I had forgotten to take the menu off the flight, as I was sort of on a hurry, so I couldn't list it all out here. But we basically had a salad and appetizer with proscuitto, sun dried tomatoes, roasted garlic and mozzarella cheese. For entrees, we had a selection of beef tenderloin, chicken, and fish. Desert was Ben & Jerry's ice cream sundae (yay!). The drinks came with a packet of mixed snack, and she came around a few times before dinner to refill drinks. The service was rather slow, as there was only one person working the First cabin, but given the length of time for this flight, I found it quite nice to stretch everything out. I had a chance to look at the manifest, and saw that the gentleman next to me was a 1K as was one other passenger. There was a total of 6 SA's in First on this flight, including two obnoxious teenagers sitting in the seats in front of me. Throughout the entire flight, the talked extremely loudly, put their feet up on the bulkhead wall and expected the purser to do everything for them (put their bags up in the overhead bins, pressing the call button to get a drink). Normally I wouldn't have cared, but when their feet were literally next to the LCD screen, it just wasn't that appealing to watch any of the programs. Also, they were dressed terribly, with sandals and a sorry excuse for a shirt (I thought SA's had a dress code when flying First?)
Anyways, dinner was served about an hour into the flight, and table linens were handed out. The FA brought a tray with the salad and appetizer on it and I immediately started eating as I was quite hungry. The appetizer didn't look very good, and was just pieces of random scattered vegetables and proscuitto on the plate. The taste was alright, but wasn't very filling. The salad was pretty standard, except that there was maybe 3 times as much dressing as needed. For the main course, I requested the almond crusted chicken, which was very similar to the Sam Choy one I had on my LAX-HNL flight a few months ago. It looked the best out of all three choices and the taste was excellent. It was accompanied by saffron rice and also mixed stir-fried vegetables. Finally, everyone finished their meals, the purser came around with the ice-cream. The taste was excellent as usual, and she offered me seconds. I happily agreed and gobbled that one down very quickly. Too bad she didn't offer me some more, as I could have easily had another one.
After the meal, I just walked around a bit and chatted with the purser for a while. She was pretty friendly and kept on giving me more ginger ale and white wine while I chatted with her. About an hour and a half before landing, the captain turned on the seatbelt signs as we were having some turbulence. He didn't switch it off for the remainder of the flight, so I just ended up sitting the rest of the flight. The programming on this flight was actually pretty bad, as they didn't show a single movie. Instead, the played 2 short subject features which basically talked entirely about Julia Roberts. There was also a short subject on Mark Bunting and his gadgets. Who the hell is this guy anyways? Someone on a previous flight asked that question and it got me thinking. Who exactly is he that makes him an authority on these gadgets and gizmos?? I've never even heard of him before seeing him on United programs. I know he's been on them forever, but I'm sure they could find someone better? We started our descent into San Jose at about 21:30 local time, and before landing the purser came around with hot towels! Wow! I thought they were all gone except for on transcon routes. We landed at 21:50 and as we were taxiing, we passed the American terminal, which actually looked quite nice. The United terminal was a dump and looked like something out of a third world country. I quickly got off the plane and rushed through the terminal as fast as I can.
Overall, the flights today weren't so bad. Besides the fact that I missed my original flight, it didn't turn out as bad as I thought it would. I still would have wanted to take the IAD-SJC transcon to see what it's like, but I'd be flying that again in 2 weeks time, so it doesn't really matter. Also, the delay on the BOS-ORD flight was one of my first United delays in a long time, but at least I still made my connection. In the end, I still feel that United domestic service is still the best US domestic service around despite some small hiccups they have once in a while.
[This message has been edited by tfung (edited 07-08-2001).]
Well, this trip was a little more exciting than my regular domestic flights, because I missed my originally scheduled BOS-IAD flight, and had to be rescheduled. Of course, that came with all the excitement of being thrown around by the booking agents, first on one flight, and then on another. I also promised you guys I would take pictures of my flights after I get back to Boston, but it was so hectic going to the airport I left my camera at home again. =P Anyways, I was scheduled to be on UA1411 at 14:25, and I got to the airport late and the plane had departed already. There was no way I could have made the connecting flight at IAD for SJC. They fiddled around and booked me on a Denver flight first, and then on a Chicago flight a few minutes later. In the end, I ended up flying through Chicago. So basically I lost my chance to test out taking a 2-class transcon. Haven't done a transcon for a while, so I was interested at the service (or the lack of it), I've been hearing so much about. Also, I was looking forward to the ice cream on that flight.
Anyhow, I hung around the RCC for a bit until my new flight was boarding and made a few phone calls. I'm glad that the people I was supposed to meet was quite flexible and was ok with meeting over a drink after dinner instead of dinner. At first, the displayed showed a 15:30 departure time, but it got pushed back to 16:15 because of the late arrival of the aircraft. The plane was the daily 767-300 flight to Chicago, and I was put in Business class on 8B. As snobbish as it may sound, I haven't been on an International Business class seat for a while, so I was actually looking forward to compare it with the International First seat. Well, guess what? They are actually very similar. Seat comfort seems the same, but the width of the seat is a lot less than the First seat, and it was very noticeable. I would say it was at least an inch or two narrower just from perception. Legroom seemed about the same, but then the bulkhead had maybe 30% more legroom than the other seats. Another thing that I started noticing is how flimsy the table tray is compared to the one-piece table in First. Anyhow, after boarding the plane, orange juice or champagne was offered, and Business class filled up completely. One thing about a Business class cabin on domestic routes, it's very similar to Economy in that ALL the families with kids were put at the rear section of C class. Since I was seated near that section, all I heard was constant screaming and kids yakking away. An announcement was made by the pilot that we were having a mechanical problem and would be delayed a bit more. No scheduled departure time was announced. After a while, the captain came on again and told us that one of the fuel pumps were not working in the center tank, and the mechanics will isolate and turn off that one since the center fuel tanks were not being used. We were told that it would be another half an hour. During this time, the FAs went around the cabin refilling passenger's drinks and took orders for the snack service for 1K members. There was a choice of a chef salad or a turkey, salami deli plate. Anyhow, at 17:00, the captain announced that the problem had been fixed, and we were on our way.
Takeoff came at 17:30, an hour and 45 minutes after the scheduled departure time. Our flying time was 2 hours, and cruising altitude at 31,000 feet. We were scheduled to arrive in Chicago a little before 7, which was fine by me, as I would still have nearly an hour to connect to my SJC flight. Shortly after takeoff, drinks orders were taken, and I ordered my ginger ale and white wine combo. At the same time, the snacks were also given out, and I had asked for the turkey salami deli plate. This time, the deli plate actually looked more appetizing than the salad. The salad still looked great, but the deli was better. The plate consisted of a small bowl of pasta, 3 big slices of turkey, and 4 big slices of salami. There was also a large piece of bread so you can make your own sandwich. I managed to get all the pieces of meat stuffed in the bread, and used the accompanying cheese sauce. It turned out very tasty, and it was much better than the deli plate I had last time on my ORD-BOS flight. I think the food coming out of Boston is probably one of the better catering that UA has. The tray also came with a bowl of fruit and some cookies for dessert. It was quite satisfying for such a short flight.
One thing that I noticed was that they only took orders for the 1K members. There were about 7 or 8 in C class on this flight. They didn't bother to take orders for other people, and basically what happened was that the person sitting next to the 1K, would get the other selection. So basically the girl sitting next to me, didn't get to choose and was given the salad. The gentlemen sitting across the aisle was also a 1K, and I heard that he asked for the salad. The other guy next to him ended up with the deli plate. I guess when you choose your selection, you effectively choose what the person next to you is having as well if they're not a 1K... =P Anyways, after the snack service, the FAs came through the cabin with some surveys. I've probably done about 10 of these in the past 15 flights, so why not just do another one. You're entered into a random drawing of 10 million people with a chance to win one economy class roundtrip ticket. I doubt anyone ever wins it…
After doing the survey, I fell asleep and when I woke up, we were already at the gate in Chicago. When I got off the plane, it was 18:45, and I had an hour to catch my next flight. We parked at concourse B, so I headed to the RCC there. It wasn't as nice as the on in C concourse, but since the 1K room in B is closed, it's better than nothing. I checked in there to my flight to SJC, and picked seat 2C. The RCC was quite busy, so I found myself a seat where the phones are, which were relatively empty. After about 30 minutes at the RCC, I headed over to Concourse E, where the plane was. The original plane was a A319, but it was changed to an Airbus 320. All the better, as there was more space throughout the plane. All I hope is that they serve a decent dinner with ice cream!
Boarding began at 17:30, and I took my seat in 2C next to an African American fellow. He was very well dressed (all in Prada), and was wearing a lot of jewelry. I take it that he must be some sort of celebrity, but didn't bother to find out, as he fell asleep immediately after push back. The flight wasn't that full, and there was still a seat free in F class. Everyone in economy had an empty seat beside them. Flight time was 4 hours 56 minutes. When we leveled off at 34,000 feet, the purser came around the First class cabin to hand out menus and take orders for drinks. I had forgotten to take the menu off the flight, as I was sort of on a hurry, so I couldn't list it all out here. But we basically had a salad and appetizer with proscuitto, sun dried tomatoes, roasted garlic and mozzarella cheese. For entrees, we had a selection of beef tenderloin, chicken, and fish. Desert was Ben & Jerry's ice cream sundae (yay!). The drinks came with a packet of mixed snack, and she came around a few times before dinner to refill drinks. The service was rather slow, as there was only one person working the First cabin, but given the length of time for this flight, I found it quite nice to stretch everything out. I had a chance to look at the manifest, and saw that the gentleman next to me was a 1K as was one other passenger. There was a total of 6 SA's in First on this flight, including two obnoxious teenagers sitting in the seats in front of me. Throughout the entire flight, the talked extremely loudly, put their feet up on the bulkhead wall and expected the purser to do everything for them (put their bags up in the overhead bins, pressing the call button to get a drink). Normally I wouldn't have cared, but when their feet were literally next to the LCD screen, it just wasn't that appealing to watch any of the programs. Also, they were dressed terribly, with sandals and a sorry excuse for a shirt (I thought SA's had a dress code when flying First?)
Anyways, dinner was served about an hour into the flight, and table linens were handed out. The FA brought a tray with the salad and appetizer on it and I immediately started eating as I was quite hungry. The appetizer didn't look very good, and was just pieces of random scattered vegetables and proscuitto on the plate. The taste was alright, but wasn't very filling. The salad was pretty standard, except that there was maybe 3 times as much dressing as needed. For the main course, I requested the almond crusted chicken, which was very similar to the Sam Choy one I had on my LAX-HNL flight a few months ago. It looked the best out of all three choices and the taste was excellent. It was accompanied by saffron rice and also mixed stir-fried vegetables. Finally, everyone finished their meals, the purser came around with the ice-cream. The taste was excellent as usual, and she offered me seconds. I happily agreed and gobbled that one down very quickly. Too bad she didn't offer me some more, as I could have easily had another one.
After the meal, I just walked around a bit and chatted with the purser for a while. She was pretty friendly and kept on giving me more ginger ale and white wine while I chatted with her. About an hour and a half before landing, the captain turned on the seatbelt signs as we were having some turbulence. He didn't switch it off for the remainder of the flight, so I just ended up sitting the rest of the flight. The programming on this flight was actually pretty bad, as they didn't show a single movie. Instead, the played 2 short subject features which basically talked entirely about Julia Roberts. There was also a short subject on Mark Bunting and his gadgets. Who the hell is this guy anyways? Someone on a previous flight asked that question and it got me thinking. Who exactly is he that makes him an authority on these gadgets and gizmos?? I've never even heard of him before seeing him on United programs. I know he's been on them forever, but I'm sure they could find someone better? We started our descent into San Jose at about 21:30 local time, and before landing the purser came around with hot towels! Wow! I thought they were all gone except for on transcon routes. We landed at 21:50 and as we were taxiing, we passed the American terminal, which actually looked quite nice. The United terminal was a dump and looked like something out of a third world country. I quickly got off the plane and rushed through the terminal as fast as I can.
Overall, the flights today weren't so bad. Besides the fact that I missed my original flight, it didn't turn out as bad as I thought it would. I still would have wanted to take the IAD-SJC transcon to see what it's like, but I'd be flying that again in 2 weeks time, so it doesn't really matter. Also, the delay on the BOS-ORD flight was one of my first United delays in a long time, but at least I still made my connection. In the end, I still feel that United domestic service is still the best US domestic service around despite some small hiccups they have once in a while.
[This message has been edited by tfung (edited 07-08-2001).]