tfung
Jul 9, 01, 1:19 am
Trip report SJC-IAD-BOS UA192/186 July 8th
Well, another exciting and hectic day for me getting back to Boston. I thought yesterday's experience was bad enough, but today was even worse. Firstly, I had a pretty bad night's sleep, and caught a cold of some sort during the night as the air-con was on full blast and I couldn't turn it down. I was originally scheduled on UA212 to IAD at 08:00, so I woke up at 7, and thought that I had plenty of time to get to the airport. How wrong I was. I basically stood outside the hotel from 07:15 to 07:45 waiting for the hotel shuttle. By the time it got me to the airport, I missed my flight. I called in to the 1K desk to reschedule, and they put me on the 12:40 flight to IAD. So I checked in for that flight, and decided to return to the hotel since I had a few hours to catch some more sleep. I got back to the hotel, and set a wake up call at 11:30, so I was sure I had enough time to wait for the shuttle. I went back downstairs to wait, and the shuttle didn't arrive until 12:15 this time! That was fine, as I had checked in already, and had half an hour to get to the airport. Well, guess what? There was a horrendous traffic jam from the hotel to the airport. We basically sat in it for 15 minutes without moving an inch, so I decided that I had to walk to the terminal, which was half a mile away. The minute I stepped out of the shuttle, the traffic cops came around and I hopelessly saw the shuttle zoom right to the airport. I spent the next 15 minutes walking to the terminal, and thank god the flight was delayed for 15 minutes, or else I would have missed it. At this time, combined with the stress and fatigue from the walking, I started sniffling and felt pretty sick.
Boarding started at 12:45, so I made it just in time for boarding. The plane was an Airbus 320, and my assigned seat was 2D. I wanted an aisle seat, but there were none available, as the flight was completely full. They plane also had the old style F seats, which weren't very comfortable at all and I didn't really look forward to being on this plane for so many hours in my current state. Boarding was completely in about 15 minutes, and we were on our way. The pilot seemed to be in a big hurry to take-off, and pre-departure drinks were only served to the passengers in row 1. Take-off was at 13:15, and we were on our way to IAD. Flight time was 4 hours 49 minutes, and our cruising altitude at 33,000 feet. After we leveled off, the purser came around to take orders for drinks and handed out small bowls of nuts like the ones on International C and F. Unfortunately, they were not heated, and she didn't have any extra ones when I asked for seconds. As we were enjoying our beverages, she came around taking meal orders. There were five 1Ks on board, and I was the 3rd to be asked. Our lunch menu today was as follows:
To Begin
Black pepper-crusted tuna with vegetable slaw
Wasabi and Asian sesame dressing
Main Course
Deluxe double Cheddar cheese burger
Mustard potato salad
Shrimp paella with a tomato and olive ragout
Sautéed shrimp in brown rice with a bell pepper medley
The above entrees are accompanied by a southwestern salad with roasted corn and tortilla chips
and Italian herb vinaigrette or original ranch dressing
Pretzel-crusted breast of chicken over a mixture of seasonal greens
Bell pepper confit with honey Dijon dressing
served with a fresh fruit appetizer
Dessert
Ice cream sundae
Ben & Jerry's Vanilla and Chocolate ice cream
Hot fudge sauce, wafer and whipped cream
I picked the cheeseburger as I've heard so much about it from other FTer's on their trips. I asked the purser how it was, and she said it was probably the best choice out of the three. So I decided to give it a try so I can put my comments in my trip report. The family who was sitting in 2A, 2B and 2C were vegetarians, and they did not order a vegetarian meal. They put up a big fuss and the purser had to check with Economy class to see if there were any vegetarian entrees. Luckily for them, there was a pasta dish and they had that for the main course.
Lunch took a while to come, as the FA's like to take their time on these long domestic flights. First, the tray with the appetizer and the salad came. The people who ordered the chicken had a fruit bowl with their appetizer. The appetizer contained two pieces of seared tuna with the vegetable slaw. The tuna was amazing when you dipped it in the sesame dressing, and I highly recommend people trying it. The vegetable slaw itself was alright, but I the wasabi in it didn't really fit into the dish. The southwestern salad was also very good. It was better than the plain salad they usually have, and I highly recommend that as well. The cheeseburger took a while to come, and when I was waiting, the family started eating their pasta. I thought it was kind of strange that they were served in the Y plastic dishes. I would have thought that the FA would have the sense to put it on the F tableware before serving them. Oh well… Anyways, my cheeseburger finally came, and it seemed like I was the only one who asked for it. Everyone else was having either the paella or the chicken. To my surprised, the cheeseburger was very tasty. I had expected it to be like a MacDonald's cheeseburger or something, and it turned out to be a gourmet cheeseburger. The patties were very juicy and it came with a compliment of tomatoes, lettuce and onions. It definitely looked a lot better than the other choices, and if I was given the choice, I would ask for it again next time. I asked the purser later, and she told me the secret was not to overheat the burger. You had to heat it just the right amount to make it taste good. I actually made a mess when I was eating the burger and got the juice all over my t-shirt. Luckily I had extra clothes and quickly changed out of it. After lunch, I fell asleep for a while before the purser came around asking if we wanted cookies and ice-cream. The cookie was a Mrs. Fields one - so they actually were still giving these out. Alas, this time, there was just enough ice-cream to go around, so I didn't get seconds. Besides, I was feeling pretty sick and decided to sleep the rest of the flight.
Unfortunately, my noise was all stuffed up and I kept on sneezing. So I didn't manage to get any good rest at all. I also felt kind of bad for the guy sitting next to me, having to bear with my sneezing. I actually felt a little better standing up, so I hung around the galley for a while. I got some aspirin and just stood around talking to the purser. After that, I felt a little better, but the moment I sat down for landing, I felt sick again. We landed at Washington at 21:00, about 15 minutes after the scheduled arrival time. I practically stumbled off the plane and headed for my connecting flight.
My connecting flight to Boston was delayed for half an hour, due to some problem at Logan airport. Later, I found out that they had actually closed Logan for 3 hours earlier because there was an accident with some plane. It forced the airport to close down, so there was a huge backlog of traffic. During the wait, I hung around the RCC and the 1K center. I was feeling kind of groggy so I don't really remember what exactly I did. But boarding on the 757 to Boston began at 21:45, and I promptly took my seat in 5B. The flight wasn't very full, and about 1/3 of the seats in F were free. Economy was only half full. The doors closed at 22:05, and we pushed back from the gate within a few minutes. At that time, an FA came around asking us what drinks we wanted after take-off, and I asked for some more aspirin and a glass of ginger ale. I fell asleep immediately after that, and woke up while we were airborne. I got my aspirin and ginger ale and gulped it down before falling asleep again. The flight time was about an hour and 15 minutes, and we landed in Boston at 23:45. As usual, Logan C terminal was pretty deserted at this time of the night, and it didn't take me too long to disembark and head outside to the curb area.
Overall, I was quite impressed with the food and service on the trans-con. I don't really remember properly, but the last trans-con I took in F about 2 years ago was about the same. They did away with the nice trolleys, but service and food wise was about the same, if not better. I really think it all depends on the crew you have. It's pretty much the luck of the draw and could make or break your flight. I've been pretty lucky lately to have great crews on my trips. Anyhow, I wish I was feeling better on this trip, as traveling when you're sick basically sucks. I'll be doing the BOS-SJC in two weeks time, and I'll post a report if there's anything different between these two trips. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
Terence
[This message has been edited by tfung (edited 07-09-2001).]
Well, another exciting and hectic day for me getting back to Boston. I thought yesterday's experience was bad enough, but today was even worse. Firstly, I had a pretty bad night's sleep, and caught a cold of some sort during the night as the air-con was on full blast and I couldn't turn it down. I was originally scheduled on UA212 to IAD at 08:00, so I woke up at 7, and thought that I had plenty of time to get to the airport. How wrong I was. I basically stood outside the hotel from 07:15 to 07:45 waiting for the hotel shuttle. By the time it got me to the airport, I missed my flight. I called in to the 1K desk to reschedule, and they put me on the 12:40 flight to IAD. So I checked in for that flight, and decided to return to the hotel since I had a few hours to catch some more sleep. I got back to the hotel, and set a wake up call at 11:30, so I was sure I had enough time to wait for the shuttle. I went back downstairs to wait, and the shuttle didn't arrive until 12:15 this time! That was fine, as I had checked in already, and had half an hour to get to the airport. Well, guess what? There was a horrendous traffic jam from the hotel to the airport. We basically sat in it for 15 minutes without moving an inch, so I decided that I had to walk to the terminal, which was half a mile away. The minute I stepped out of the shuttle, the traffic cops came around and I hopelessly saw the shuttle zoom right to the airport. I spent the next 15 minutes walking to the terminal, and thank god the flight was delayed for 15 minutes, or else I would have missed it. At this time, combined with the stress and fatigue from the walking, I started sniffling and felt pretty sick.
Boarding started at 12:45, so I made it just in time for boarding. The plane was an Airbus 320, and my assigned seat was 2D. I wanted an aisle seat, but there were none available, as the flight was completely full. They plane also had the old style F seats, which weren't very comfortable at all and I didn't really look forward to being on this plane for so many hours in my current state. Boarding was completely in about 15 minutes, and we were on our way. The pilot seemed to be in a big hurry to take-off, and pre-departure drinks were only served to the passengers in row 1. Take-off was at 13:15, and we were on our way to IAD. Flight time was 4 hours 49 minutes, and our cruising altitude at 33,000 feet. After we leveled off, the purser came around to take orders for drinks and handed out small bowls of nuts like the ones on International C and F. Unfortunately, they were not heated, and she didn't have any extra ones when I asked for seconds. As we were enjoying our beverages, she came around taking meal orders. There were five 1Ks on board, and I was the 3rd to be asked. Our lunch menu today was as follows:
To Begin
Black pepper-crusted tuna with vegetable slaw
Wasabi and Asian sesame dressing
Main Course
Deluxe double Cheddar cheese burger
Mustard potato salad
Shrimp paella with a tomato and olive ragout
Sautéed shrimp in brown rice with a bell pepper medley
The above entrees are accompanied by a southwestern salad with roasted corn and tortilla chips
and Italian herb vinaigrette or original ranch dressing
Pretzel-crusted breast of chicken over a mixture of seasonal greens
Bell pepper confit with honey Dijon dressing
served with a fresh fruit appetizer
Dessert
Ice cream sundae
Ben & Jerry's Vanilla and Chocolate ice cream
Hot fudge sauce, wafer and whipped cream
I picked the cheeseburger as I've heard so much about it from other FTer's on their trips. I asked the purser how it was, and she said it was probably the best choice out of the three. So I decided to give it a try so I can put my comments in my trip report. The family who was sitting in 2A, 2B and 2C were vegetarians, and they did not order a vegetarian meal. They put up a big fuss and the purser had to check with Economy class to see if there were any vegetarian entrees. Luckily for them, there was a pasta dish and they had that for the main course.
Lunch took a while to come, as the FA's like to take their time on these long domestic flights. First, the tray with the appetizer and the salad came. The people who ordered the chicken had a fruit bowl with their appetizer. The appetizer contained two pieces of seared tuna with the vegetable slaw. The tuna was amazing when you dipped it in the sesame dressing, and I highly recommend people trying it. The vegetable slaw itself was alright, but I the wasabi in it didn't really fit into the dish. The southwestern salad was also very good. It was better than the plain salad they usually have, and I highly recommend that as well. The cheeseburger took a while to come, and when I was waiting, the family started eating their pasta. I thought it was kind of strange that they were served in the Y plastic dishes. I would have thought that the FA would have the sense to put it on the F tableware before serving them. Oh well… Anyways, my cheeseburger finally came, and it seemed like I was the only one who asked for it. Everyone else was having either the paella or the chicken. To my surprised, the cheeseburger was very tasty. I had expected it to be like a MacDonald's cheeseburger or something, and it turned out to be a gourmet cheeseburger. The patties were very juicy and it came with a compliment of tomatoes, lettuce and onions. It definitely looked a lot better than the other choices, and if I was given the choice, I would ask for it again next time. I asked the purser later, and she told me the secret was not to overheat the burger. You had to heat it just the right amount to make it taste good. I actually made a mess when I was eating the burger and got the juice all over my t-shirt. Luckily I had extra clothes and quickly changed out of it. After lunch, I fell asleep for a while before the purser came around asking if we wanted cookies and ice-cream. The cookie was a Mrs. Fields one - so they actually were still giving these out. Alas, this time, there was just enough ice-cream to go around, so I didn't get seconds. Besides, I was feeling pretty sick and decided to sleep the rest of the flight.
Unfortunately, my noise was all stuffed up and I kept on sneezing. So I didn't manage to get any good rest at all. I also felt kind of bad for the guy sitting next to me, having to bear with my sneezing. I actually felt a little better standing up, so I hung around the galley for a while. I got some aspirin and just stood around talking to the purser. After that, I felt a little better, but the moment I sat down for landing, I felt sick again. We landed at Washington at 21:00, about 15 minutes after the scheduled arrival time. I practically stumbled off the plane and headed for my connecting flight.
My connecting flight to Boston was delayed for half an hour, due to some problem at Logan airport. Later, I found out that they had actually closed Logan for 3 hours earlier because there was an accident with some plane. It forced the airport to close down, so there was a huge backlog of traffic. During the wait, I hung around the RCC and the 1K center. I was feeling kind of groggy so I don't really remember what exactly I did. But boarding on the 757 to Boston began at 21:45, and I promptly took my seat in 5B. The flight wasn't very full, and about 1/3 of the seats in F were free. Economy was only half full. The doors closed at 22:05, and we pushed back from the gate within a few minutes. At that time, an FA came around asking us what drinks we wanted after take-off, and I asked for some more aspirin and a glass of ginger ale. I fell asleep immediately after that, and woke up while we were airborne. I got my aspirin and ginger ale and gulped it down before falling asleep again. The flight time was about an hour and 15 minutes, and we landed in Boston at 23:45. As usual, Logan C terminal was pretty deserted at this time of the night, and it didn't take me too long to disembark and head outside to the curb area.
Overall, I was quite impressed with the food and service on the trans-con. I don't really remember properly, but the last trans-con I took in F about 2 years ago was about the same. They did away with the nice trolleys, but service and food wise was about the same, if not better. I really think it all depends on the crew you have. It's pretty much the luck of the draw and could make or break your flight. I've been pretty lucky lately to have great crews on my trips. Anyhow, I wish I was feeling better on this trip, as traveling when you're sick basically sucks. I'll be doing the BOS-SJC in two weeks time, and I'll post a report if there's anything different between these two trips. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
Terence
[This message has been edited by tfung (edited 07-09-2001).]