RichardMEL
Dec 26, 01, 7:02 am
This trip purchased as a MEL-EUR r/t "Q" class fare and upgraded with
SWU's on all multi-class segments. Taking advantage of the liberal
transfer rules the routing was selected to optimise mileage earning
ops (and thus to retain my title of "Mr. Indirect Routing"!):
MEL-AKL-LAX-SAN-DEN-SFO-LHR-ORD-MSN-ORD-IAD-SFO-SYD-MEL
with stops in SAN, LHR & MSN.
Actual purpose of trip was to attend a conference in SAN, and visit
a friend in MSN. LHR trip was to take advantage of the fare and to
pick up some must have's for the family for Christmas.
Point-form summary of trip:
* As usual UA service is inconsistent between crews and flights - some
service cuts make sense from a cost point of view (eg: movies) while
others do not (desert on appetiser tray). Overall though, general
employee attitude is good with some very friendly folks, and only 1
really sour F/A on AKL-LAX.
* all flights mostly ontime or a bit early showing sched padding with
only 2 mechanicals, both fixed sooner than first estimates given (which
I suppose is good, if you have to have mechanicals).
* Re: moving of UAX from B20-B22 at ORD to F concourse - This isn't much
of an improvement, and a long walk for tight connections. It would also
help if the UAX folks were a little more organised.
* demerit to passengers who think it is okay to smoke their lungs out in
the RCC bathrooms!!! Endured this at AKL/SFO and ORD, and it was
gross. They should go to smoking areas. Aparently at ORD this is common-
why can't they go to a smokers area?
* All miles posted within a day or two of flying and all bonuses applied
without incident.
--
I arrived at MEL around 1115 on Tuesday 4th and found my colleague
waiting with his girlfriend. We were flying together to SAN (though
not in the same PNR) so I offered to check him in, get him into the
RCC, and see about an upgrade etc. He'd already checked in, and as
he didn't have a seat assignment with UA prior to travel (he had no
idea he could) he'd actually somehow been assigned to exit row 35
(35H). Interesting for someone with no UA status on a V fare. I guess
they took pity on him and/or all the other seats may well have been
allocated, as they were full out of AKL.
At any rate, I left him to continue saying goodbye to his girlfriend
and checked in myself at the C check-in. UA folks were pulling SYD
bound domestic pax and checking them in seperately. The wait in the
C line was around 5 or so minutes during which time I chatted to a
woman next to me who was being transferred by her company to Melbourne
and she was going home for the holidays to collect her stuff (including
husband!) to return in January.
Oneof the C check-in positions (they had 2) closed due to their PC
being inop, but I was checked in fairly quickly and issued boarding
passes to SAN. SWU was taken and annotated in the PNR as such. Reminded
of where the RCC was again - I would have figured the MELCS people
would just about recognise me by now! Still, was good to get the
reminder. I rejoined my friend and we wandered to departures.
Once into departures the line was minimal, although people still had
not filled out their departure card, and this caused a small delay
while they filled it in. Through passport control in no time and
through security with no wait.
I took my friend to the RCC and when checking in asked if there was
NC space to LAX for my friend. The agent phoned to check on meals
first and said that it was fine and took my 1K card and his boarding
pass to work on the upgrade while we went into the RCC. I was happy
at this as she had suggested she would be happy to take miles out of
my account to upgrade my friend which I would have much preferred to
using a valuable SWU. However, she wised up (alas) and quickly came
back to us to inform us he was on a V fare and miles wouldn't do. So
I pulled out a SWU and she was quite happy with that and went off to
do the upgrade.
After a few drinks, reading the paper, chatting etc it was around
1230, and I decided time to head up through the gate security check
prior to 1240 sched boarding time. Stopped my the desk and she handed
us the DM card for my friend's upgrade saying the gate would process
it. Okay, no problem.
Headed up through the bag search and wanding. Most pax seem reasonably
happy to go through their bags being taken apart by security, though
some still seem surprised. The wanding is just fine - I am now used
to "assuming the position" for them, so mine was over with fairly
quickly. At least these hired goons were nice and chatty while they did
their job, and wished people a good flight.
The gate is a bit slow in getting organised but finally call my friend
with some other upgraders, and we are all set. Boarding begins at 1300.
04DEC01 UA0842NC MEL AKL 744(N182UA) 1/14,20/73,160/260 1325 1855 0:03L/0:08E
22H 6->8 09=>25R BACK 1328 OFF 1340 ON 1842 GATE 1847 FT=3:02 HT=1 CH9=Y
Grade: B+
Pre-dept drinks served in plastic. My friend is in 22G and is enjoying the
legroom afoarded by the exit row. C class being less than 1/3 full is
very comfortable and the service is quick.
As now standard non noise-reducing headsets are on the seat, yet the purser
still gives the same spiel about NR headsets being avail in F and C class-
wish they would change this to reflect reality!
Menu's handed out prior to takeoff. I am asked fairly quickly about my
meal choice (I chose a lovely linguine carbonara with parmesan cheese). I
have no idea if the F/A's are asking 1K pax first or not - with such a
little load in C it doesn't seem to matter.
Unusual and first takeoff ever from runway 09 for me - usually they
use 16 or 34. We are in the air barely 20 seconds after the roll
begins - we must be very light. Confirmed by the captain who then
comes on with his address and tells us we'll be going up to 41,000ft
and the only reason for this is that we are so light (560,000 pounds
take off weight according to the cockpit). We are up at FL410 pretty
quickly and it is smooth sailing.
Drink service starts with usual ramekin of unheated nuts. quickly
setup for lunch, which is filling and tasty. My friend doesn't like
the crab cakes that he chose - says they are terrible. Followed up
with a seprrate service of a blackberry ice cream cup, which is really
yummy. silverware includes fork and spoon and white plastic knife, as
on previous trip.
Video is turned on and I look forward to viewing "Shrek" yet there is
a video distortion problem. EVen worse is that November entertainment
guides are still in the seat pockets, so it's hard to know exactly what
is on. Thanks to the cutbacks though UA now doesn't show 2 sets of
movies - just the one - which makes 12 hour pacific crossings drone on
just that much more.
tea and coffee service follows the ice cream - nothing is too rushed
and we are actually given time to enjoy the food - unusual for some
F/A's who seem to like to get it done with ASAP so they can go hide
in the galley and chat.
Arrival into AKL on a misty afternoon/evening has a few bumps but
nothing too bad. The F/A using "our" jump seat is quite chatty and
talks about her layover in AKL being used to relax and finish
Christmas shopping; this will be her last trip before January.
Smooth landing on Runway 25 and taxi to old familiar gate 8. This
time parked between a QF 744 and NZ 763.
My friend and I spend the time at AKL in the RCC and a quick peruse
of the duty free shops before we head back through another bag
search and security check (though at AKL they are just using the
x-ray and wanding) and it is back on the aircraft for the evening
service to LAX.
04DEC01 UA0842NC AKL LAX 747-400(N182UA/8182) 2045 1135 0:01L/0:03L
22H 8->?? 05R=>25L BACK 2046 OFF 2101 ON 1133 GATE 1138 FT=11:12 HT=2 CH9=Y
Grade: B
I arrive at my seat to find, with some surprise, amenity kit *and* noise
reduction headset!! But my friend only gets the normal crappy kind.
Looking around the downstairs C cabin before more pax arrive it seems
as though I am the only one lucky enough to get the NR headset - must be
a mistake on the cleaners part but sssssh I won't tell.
pre-dept drinks of OJ/champ etc are again provided in plastic. Decent
service while boarding and help with coats.
just before pushback one of the F/A's suddenly came out of the galley
and tipped (dried) coffee all over the floor area in front of our
feet (ie: at 2R). We looked surprise at the sudden onset of very sharp
coffee fumes "there was a smell here. I fixed it up" - well we couldn't
smell anything before, but now all we could smell was Starbucks "unique"
blend, and it threatened to keep us awake for the whole night. Several
other F/A's looked at this in some surprise, but were told it was to
fix "a smell" so they said nothing and so it remained. We were not offered
another seat. it, quite frankly, stunk.
CH9 was still on which was nice, and it was amusing to hear the radio
operator suddenly broadcast to the tower during taxi "Flight attendants
prepare for takeoff" - they soon realised their error and got it on
the internal P/A. That was amusing though.
After takeoff, newspapers passed. I took the NZ Herald with the bold
title at the top giving a laugh: "Newspaper of New Zealand's most
important city" (uh huh).
take off was fine. C cabin is pretty full even downstairs. video
system seems to have been fixed up since the incoming flight from
MEL (maybe all it needed was a reset). Dinner service is pretty
good, and the chese and tomato covered filet mignon is very tasty
and tender - cut like cheese with the plastic knife. Almost wished
for a 2nd serve. Pavalova cake for desert provided on the appetiser
tray - my friend ate his before the main arrived - I think he was
confused and thought that was all he was going to get! Unfortunately
no 2nds available for him after his main.
tea/coffee/after dinner drink service then made from cart - why they
couldn't include the desert service here remains a mystery.
Finished watching Shrek and then went to sleep. Awoke some hours later
to the snack tray - nuts, chips, chocolates etc.. no water to be
found though. I went for a walk down the back through tightly packed
(and full) Y to find a couple in the rear galley getting to "know
eachother more personally" - I am sure they were just waiting for a
lav to free up http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Crew had left out bunches of cups with ice, water,
soft drink cans, candies and snack boxes.
At 0820 LAX time (about 3 hours prior to arrival) someone obviously
decided water was a good idea for the C cabin, and water bottles
mysteriously appeared at our seats. These, at least, were chilled so
was quite refreshing. As usual the crew had all but disappeared during
the night.
Around 1040 LAX time, or an hour out, CH9 came alive with LAX Center
overload of a local LA radio station (1070 KNX) which had some bits
of news, but mostly traffic reports. This went on for 20-30 minutes-
I guess the pilots were listening in for local traffic to get home http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
breakfast service is fairly quick. A pax opened the shade at the exit
to look out, and it was promptly closed by the "coffee spilling" F/A(a.k.a
prison matron) - she didn't seem to like the light so thereafter was
known as Vampira. The tea is hot and the breakfast omlete is the usual
affair, but nothing wrong with it.
Seatbelt sign is turned on at about 9,000 feet (as reported on CH9)
which I thought was a little late to turn it on). Still, it was
a smooth flight in and a very clear morning in the LA area - we could
see all the way to the mountains.
On arrival an announcement made in German - our jumpseating F/A
informed us there was a large tour group in Y who were transferring
to LH here - that was thoughtful I thought to include the German
announcement, which I normally associated with flights to/from europe
rather than the pacific.
Quick taxi in (for LAX) to the gate and soon we are out and on our
way through customs which is no problem. A wait in the lounge and
then through to 71K to get the bus out to the UAX terminal, which I
had never been to before.
04DEC01 UA7951Q LAX SAN EM2(N299SW) 1330 1422 0:14L/0:04E
9A 71K->CT 25R=>27 BACK 1344 OFF 1348 ON 1415 GATE 1418 FT=0:27
Grade: B
Absolutely uneventful flight. Quick taxi to the runway and takeoff.
Our Captain is aparently "Skywest employee of the month" (and the
F/A asks us all for a clap). Quick bev/snack service offered - she
has to curtail it due to some bumps but other than that this is a
normal short haul UAX flight. About 95% full load.
After 4 days of conferencing it was time to head to LHR. Caught
the 0700 hotel shuttle to the airport for my 0910 departure as I
had read on FlyerTalk that lines at SAN were a mess (and besides,
the RCC usually has nice breakfast snacks!). Arrived SAN around
0720 and lines for checkin were snaking every which way. There
was a regular Y line, and a Premier/First line - each about 50
people long. I saw a 1K sign, but it was off to the side as though
there was no area for 1K, and one of the UA marshallers told us
1K's to go into the Premier/First line. Luckily there was plenty
of time so that was fine.
E-checkin kisosks were maybe used by 1 or 2 people int he time I
was waiting in line, even though they had an agent there ready to
do the bag tags and stuff for that. Premier/First line moved
very slowly however soon we came to a divider that wasn't obvious
from the outside of the line, and there was a 1K sign here, and
a position for a line. No-one was in it. At about the same time i
was considering this, the guy behind me said "hey, you're 1K - you
can go in there."(noting the 1K tag on my bag I would assume).
So I moved in here and was called up next - saving prob. another 10
minutes of waiting. Pity this "line" was mostly hidden by the other
lines, or I would have gone straight there.
Nice agent looked at my res and double checked that I wanted to
go to SFO-LHR via DEN. I said "yes, I need the miles" - so he just
smiled, nodded sagely and handed me my boarding passes.. Just
forgetting to ask for my SWU in the process. Well, I had it ready,
but since it wasn't asked for I took my BP's and headed for
security line.
Security was an even longer line than the check-in lines, but this
moved rather quickly, and I would say I passed through within 20
minutes of joining the end of the queue (which snaked back past a
number of retail shops and food court). They had 3 x ray stations
setup and so things went pretty quickly except for people "realising"
at the last minute to take their coats off and put them through, or
their laptops, or empty their pockets etc. You'd think some people
had never flown before, or neglected to read the very clear signs
posted way before you hit the checkpoint. So that slowed things down
a bit. Also some of the line grumbled when pilots and F/A's were allowed
to go to the head of the queue. At least the F/A's had the grace to
seem apologetic for their intrusion.
Finally arrived at a pretty crowded RCC around 0800 which gave me plenty
of time to relax with some juice and pastries before my flight.
Boarding commenced at 0845 and the flight was posted as full
08DEC01 UA0388NF SAN DEN A320(N446UA) 12/12, 92/126 0910 1223 0:08L/0:13L
1A 18->B28 27=>16 BACK 0918 OFF 0933 ON 1231 GATE 1236 FT=1:53 HT=1 CH9=Y
Grade: A-
Pre-dept drinks of any sort offered by the male F/A who was really nice
and had a great sense of humour and also customer contact. Made each
of us feel at home. When someone asked for a Memosa to drink he blinked
then said "Sure! Why not!!" and was happy to make coffee or whatever for
those that wanted it. Sure, it is easier in an 12 seat F cabin to do
this, but he certainly made us feel at home (F was full).
Meal choice offered by status with names used. I went for the hot
breakfast option and my seatmate went for the fruit plate. Both looked
very nice. Hot breakfast was scranmbled eggs, a saussage, a potato
pie and a slice of apple pie with custard. yum. great juice refills
and service from the lone F/A. warmed crossaint and muffins were also
offered.
On descent HT is passed and then our connecting gates are offered by
the F/A - he asks each of us where we are connecting to and gives the gate
rather than reading out a list. In my case when I said I was connecting to
SFO he had to pause for a minute to try and figure out why I would be
flying such a round robin route(the look on his face was priceless! I
think he thought I was quite mad!). Still he gave me my gate with no real
comment.
Arrival just a little bit late due to a small mechanical delay prior to
pushback.
08DEC01 UA0461NF DEN SFO 757(N538UA) 1440 1606 0:04E/0:11E
1A B39->89 25=>?? BACK 1436 OFF 1447 ON 1550 GATE 1555 FT=2:02 HT=0 CH9=N
Grade: B
pre-dept drinks offered. No names used on this flight. decent service.
meal choice: "chicken salad" or "cold chicken with a warmed fondue sauce"
(according to the F/A anyway). I said to her "no meal for me" and the
instant response was "ah! I see you have flown with us before!" (had to laugh
at that).
Good refill service through the flight and some nice views of snowy
rockies on the way. minimal announcements from the cockpit.
Arrived 11 minutes early giving ample time for me to ablee over to
SFO International, and through security there (about a 3 minute wait).
Wandered around the very empty concourse - most consessions shut and
bored people at the duty free shops. Finally found the RCC and
wandered upstairs. choice of snacks is pretty bad - packaged
cheese and crackers, some savory nut mix (yikes). hard self serve
bar and soad dispenser as well as fridge with juices, iced teas
etc is fairly well stocked.
Disappointment on entering the mens bathroom - stinks of smoke -
obviously someone has decided this is a good place to light up
(grrr). yuck.
Rest of the lounge is okay though. Read the paper and watch some
CNN for a bit before heading down to the gate for the flight to
London.
08DEC01 UA0954NC SFO LHR 777(N788UA/2788) 1730 1150 0:00/0:24E
11J 98->?? 9=>27R BACK 1730 OFF 1744 ON 1118 GATE 1126 FT=9:34 HT=2 CH9=Y/N
Grade: A-
You've simply got to love getting on a flight crewed by LHR based crews-
or any european crews come to think of it. This lot has that level of
class and sophistication that is a cut above the usual UA service. Polite
use of "Sir" and "Ma'am/Miss" used, coats stowed, nothing is too much
trouble, but always with that very Brittish flavour of service. They
might still throw you your packet of nuts, but do it with a charm and
savvy that is totally British. Got to love it.
Anyway pre-dept OJ/champ offered in plastic as usual, newspapers then
passed (I grabbed a Guardian).
After takeoff the usual service speech is given and instead of just saying
"please lower your shades to block the sunshine in the morning" we get
this cute delivery from the male Purser: "Although the sun does not always
shine on England, it _always_ shines above it..." which I thought was
quite cute.
meal orders taken - in some kind of order - although as the purser admits
to us, showing us the manifest, out of 48 pax in C, 22 of us are 1K! So
it's a hard choice as to who can get limited supplies of food that they
want. I select the Veal option and cross my fingers that I will get it.
Captain gives his address and informs us due to nice tail winds we'll have
a short flight tonight, which is good.. and also they have put on Ch9 the
"big" college football game final that was playing at that time - they would
try and keep it tuned in as we passed into Canada, but no promises.
Just as dinner is being delivered (I got the veal and it is very tasty)
there is some announced problem with the video systems and they shut down
all the IFE on the aircraft, which somehow included audio and overhead
lights. We all had to turn on the goose neck seat lights - it was quite
eerie flying through the night everyone in their little pools of light
trying to eat. Made even more fun by totally plastic utensils - not even
the usual metal forks and spoons.
water is passed after dinner (the lights are back by now) and everyone
tries to get some sleep. I get about 5-6 hours which is fine.
Awaken to breakfast service from cart, with an absolutely awful meal -
I can't even bring myself to say just how bad it was. yuck. service
was fairly quick so the offending item was soon removed. tea is hot
and good which make sup for it.
There is a call for a doctor on board, and my seatmate informs a f/a
that he isn't practicing but went to medical school, so if there is
noone else, he'd be happy to assist if he could. Aparently there is
noone else because he is soon whisked off to help. Soon he is back and
the purser is thanking him for help and offers a bottle of champ (which
he refuses, as he is transiting to AMS on business). In the end the
purser writes out a voucher for $200, but this again is refused - the
pax seems to want some miles if anything, and the purser says he doesn't
know if they can do that. At any rate they need to fill in some paperwork
and my seatmate signs that he is NOT a M.D. but has some training. Aparently
the situation is/was serious, but not serious enough for a diversion - and
we hear nothing more about it.
Landing is smooth and a pretty quick taxi to the gate.
After an afternoon/evening of shopping and ods and ends in London, where
it was cool, but not that cold (about 5 or 6 degrees C) it was back to
Terminal 3 in the morning for my flight to Chicago.
Arrived nice and early at around 0745 expecting a large crowd but found
the lines to UA empty - waltzed up to a C class checkin without any
wait and within 1 minute had my boarding pass. They could not issue my
connecting flight BP to MSN for some reason, so I was told to check-in
again at ORD to get it. CSR struck out the 1000 boarding time on my
boarding pass and write 0915 there instead and told me it would board
early due to security. Knowing LHR has gate security before you enter
the gate I thought this was a bit strange, but perhaps it would be a
bus to the hard stand or some other thing that would require a much
earlier boarding than normal.
Red "dot" sticker placed on my bp by the agent - I thought this was
an "okay to use fasttrack" but wasn't sure (and the agent didn't actually
tell me I could use fast track). I went through the normal line (where
there were no pax anyway) and was told I should go use fast track. I
said "I'm here, I might as well just go through here" to which the
response was "As you wish, sir" (but he really didn't seem too happy that
I was going through that way). Only about 10 pax in front of me for
the x-ray/security check so it was no issue and I was through in
perhaps 2-3 minutes.
Spent some time perusing the duty free and other shops, then decided
to go visit the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge - just to see if it was
any good. The agent looked at me a bit strangely saying "The RCC is
over the way sir.. you can go there" but I said I just wanted to look
around so she let me in. I went and sent some email from one of the PC's
and had a look around. some nice snacks(better than the RCC) and decent
selection at the bar, but a bit early for a drink. Had a quick look
of the the Globe & Mail newspaper and then wandered over to the RCC for
a morning Hot Chocolate before heading for the gate (it was around 0910
by now). Well, dismayed to find the RCC had removed the yummy hot chocolate
machine they used to have there - major, major drawback!! So settled for
some coffee and juice. None of the departure monitors were working this
morning, so we were relying on announcements from the staff as to what
flights were boarding where. 0915 came and went with no announcement of
UA929 to ORD, so I decided to stay put. However by 0945 I decided I better
go to the gate just in case, and I wander off to the gate, only to find
no boarding in process and everyone sitting quite happily.
They eventually boarded at 1015 - fully one hour after the agent told me
they would board. Go figure.
10DEC01 UA0929NC LHR ORD 777(N780UA/2380) 1045 1329 0:48L/0:26L
14J 17->M5 09R=>27R BACK 1134 OFF 1151 ON 1345 GATE 1355 FT=7:54 HT=2 CH9=Y
Grade: B-
It was just as pre-dept OJ and champ was being offered that a bright
young lady with beaming face came and plonked down next to me in 14H.
Somehow I didn't think her wide grin had anyhing much to do with sitting
next to me, and certinly I was right - she told me this was her first
time flying UA, and she had been granted a comp upgrade for reasons that
were unclear. Still she was not worrying, and she was so excited it was
all quite sweet. She was off to visit her Sister in SLC and it was her
first time flying alone. The trip was a gift from her parents for graduating
from university (in History). Well what a nice way to start it off for her.
She kept saying "I love Business Class!" and finding new things in the
seat, the amenity kit, getting the menu etc - it was all new and exciting
to her, and her exuberance was quite infectious - you had to smile.
Unfortunately it was about this time that the front office decided to
inform us that there would be a 1 hour ground delay due to a mechanical
problem in the cockpit. F/A's boarded and served extra drinks which was
a nice touch.
CH9 fun from Heathrow ground during the stop when a LH pilot requested
a "push back machine" for his gate. Ground controller responded back
with an approval and tacked on the end "And the word you are looking
for, Sir, is tug" - quite amusing.
Before the expected hour was up the cockpit announced the problem had
been fixed and we would be on our way, so the drink service was stopped
and everyone got back to their seats pretty quickly and soon we were
off. Purser announced "demo positions - short taxi" and indeed it was
a short taxi and soon we were off.
Meal orders taken without names, but status customers first. So I was
up pretty quickly for my choice, and they asked my young seatmate at
the same time, so she got her choice too.
Service in the air was pretty decent with good refill service, managed to
get a few hours sleep in between chatting to Joanne (my seatmate) and
watching airshow while listening to the excellent and well timed Beatles
special on channel 11. Snack service near the end of the flight was quick
and tasty, and our glasses were always refilled.
On arrival I hurried with Jo to customs - she'd never done that before so
I just ran through the procedure with her, and she was worried as she had
but an hour till her connecting flight. I made the mistake of telling her
going through ORD was quicker than most other places - immigration was
fine, but customs was shocking once the bags came through (about :15 wait
till they started) - there were terribly long lines to get through customs
and it seemed as though poor Jo would miss her flight - she disappeared so
I have no idea what happened to her, but by the time I got through to T1
it was around 1500, and her SLC flight had indeed gone - I can but hope
UA looked after her. I went for the long walk over to the F gates and got
my boarding pass to MSN, then wandered back to the B16 RCC for a drink.
The walk was good exercise so I didn't mind. Sour note on going to the
bathroom in the RCC, where again the place stunk of smoke. As a non
smoker, I find this offensive - it's clear you should not smoke in the RCC
or bathrooms, yet some passengers think they are above this rule. It's
selfish and not at all nice.
SWU's on all multi-class segments. Taking advantage of the liberal
transfer rules the routing was selected to optimise mileage earning
ops (and thus to retain my title of "Mr. Indirect Routing"!):
MEL-AKL-LAX-SAN-DEN-SFO-LHR-ORD-MSN-ORD-IAD-SFO-SYD-MEL
with stops in SAN, LHR & MSN.
Actual purpose of trip was to attend a conference in SAN, and visit
a friend in MSN. LHR trip was to take advantage of the fare and to
pick up some must have's for the family for Christmas.
Point-form summary of trip:
* As usual UA service is inconsistent between crews and flights - some
service cuts make sense from a cost point of view (eg: movies) while
others do not (desert on appetiser tray). Overall though, general
employee attitude is good with some very friendly folks, and only 1
really sour F/A on AKL-LAX.
* all flights mostly ontime or a bit early showing sched padding with
only 2 mechanicals, both fixed sooner than first estimates given (which
I suppose is good, if you have to have mechanicals).
* Re: moving of UAX from B20-B22 at ORD to F concourse - This isn't much
of an improvement, and a long walk for tight connections. It would also
help if the UAX folks were a little more organised.
* demerit to passengers who think it is okay to smoke their lungs out in
the RCC bathrooms!!! Endured this at AKL/SFO and ORD, and it was
gross. They should go to smoking areas. Aparently at ORD this is common-
why can't they go to a smokers area?
* All miles posted within a day or two of flying and all bonuses applied
without incident.
--
I arrived at MEL around 1115 on Tuesday 4th and found my colleague
waiting with his girlfriend. We were flying together to SAN (though
not in the same PNR) so I offered to check him in, get him into the
RCC, and see about an upgrade etc. He'd already checked in, and as
he didn't have a seat assignment with UA prior to travel (he had no
idea he could) he'd actually somehow been assigned to exit row 35
(35H). Interesting for someone with no UA status on a V fare. I guess
they took pity on him and/or all the other seats may well have been
allocated, as they were full out of AKL.
At any rate, I left him to continue saying goodbye to his girlfriend
and checked in myself at the C check-in. UA folks were pulling SYD
bound domestic pax and checking them in seperately. The wait in the
C line was around 5 or so minutes during which time I chatted to a
woman next to me who was being transferred by her company to Melbourne
and she was going home for the holidays to collect her stuff (including
husband!) to return in January.
Oneof the C check-in positions (they had 2) closed due to their PC
being inop, but I was checked in fairly quickly and issued boarding
passes to SAN. SWU was taken and annotated in the PNR as such. Reminded
of where the RCC was again - I would have figured the MELCS people
would just about recognise me by now! Still, was good to get the
reminder. I rejoined my friend and we wandered to departures.
Once into departures the line was minimal, although people still had
not filled out their departure card, and this caused a small delay
while they filled it in. Through passport control in no time and
through security with no wait.
I took my friend to the RCC and when checking in asked if there was
NC space to LAX for my friend. The agent phoned to check on meals
first and said that it was fine and took my 1K card and his boarding
pass to work on the upgrade while we went into the RCC. I was happy
at this as she had suggested she would be happy to take miles out of
my account to upgrade my friend which I would have much preferred to
using a valuable SWU. However, she wised up (alas) and quickly came
back to us to inform us he was on a V fare and miles wouldn't do. So
I pulled out a SWU and she was quite happy with that and went off to
do the upgrade.
After a few drinks, reading the paper, chatting etc it was around
1230, and I decided time to head up through the gate security check
prior to 1240 sched boarding time. Stopped my the desk and she handed
us the DM card for my friend's upgrade saying the gate would process
it. Okay, no problem.
Headed up through the bag search and wanding. Most pax seem reasonably
happy to go through their bags being taken apart by security, though
some still seem surprised. The wanding is just fine - I am now used
to "assuming the position" for them, so mine was over with fairly
quickly. At least these hired goons were nice and chatty while they did
their job, and wished people a good flight.
The gate is a bit slow in getting organised but finally call my friend
with some other upgraders, and we are all set. Boarding begins at 1300.
04DEC01 UA0842NC MEL AKL 744(N182UA) 1/14,20/73,160/260 1325 1855 0:03L/0:08E
22H 6->8 09=>25R BACK 1328 OFF 1340 ON 1842 GATE 1847 FT=3:02 HT=1 CH9=Y
Grade: B+
Pre-dept drinks served in plastic. My friend is in 22G and is enjoying the
legroom afoarded by the exit row. C class being less than 1/3 full is
very comfortable and the service is quick.
As now standard non noise-reducing headsets are on the seat, yet the purser
still gives the same spiel about NR headsets being avail in F and C class-
wish they would change this to reflect reality!
Menu's handed out prior to takeoff. I am asked fairly quickly about my
meal choice (I chose a lovely linguine carbonara with parmesan cheese). I
have no idea if the F/A's are asking 1K pax first or not - with such a
little load in C it doesn't seem to matter.
Unusual and first takeoff ever from runway 09 for me - usually they
use 16 or 34. We are in the air barely 20 seconds after the roll
begins - we must be very light. Confirmed by the captain who then
comes on with his address and tells us we'll be going up to 41,000ft
and the only reason for this is that we are so light (560,000 pounds
take off weight according to the cockpit). We are up at FL410 pretty
quickly and it is smooth sailing.
Drink service starts with usual ramekin of unheated nuts. quickly
setup for lunch, which is filling and tasty. My friend doesn't like
the crab cakes that he chose - says they are terrible. Followed up
with a seprrate service of a blackberry ice cream cup, which is really
yummy. silverware includes fork and spoon and white plastic knife, as
on previous trip.
Video is turned on and I look forward to viewing "Shrek" yet there is
a video distortion problem. EVen worse is that November entertainment
guides are still in the seat pockets, so it's hard to know exactly what
is on. Thanks to the cutbacks though UA now doesn't show 2 sets of
movies - just the one - which makes 12 hour pacific crossings drone on
just that much more.
tea and coffee service follows the ice cream - nothing is too rushed
and we are actually given time to enjoy the food - unusual for some
F/A's who seem to like to get it done with ASAP so they can go hide
in the galley and chat.
Arrival into AKL on a misty afternoon/evening has a few bumps but
nothing too bad. The F/A using "our" jump seat is quite chatty and
talks about her layover in AKL being used to relax and finish
Christmas shopping; this will be her last trip before January.
Smooth landing on Runway 25 and taxi to old familiar gate 8. This
time parked between a QF 744 and NZ 763.
My friend and I spend the time at AKL in the RCC and a quick peruse
of the duty free shops before we head back through another bag
search and security check (though at AKL they are just using the
x-ray and wanding) and it is back on the aircraft for the evening
service to LAX.
04DEC01 UA0842NC AKL LAX 747-400(N182UA/8182) 2045 1135 0:01L/0:03L
22H 8->?? 05R=>25L BACK 2046 OFF 2101 ON 1133 GATE 1138 FT=11:12 HT=2 CH9=Y
Grade: B
I arrive at my seat to find, with some surprise, amenity kit *and* noise
reduction headset!! But my friend only gets the normal crappy kind.
Looking around the downstairs C cabin before more pax arrive it seems
as though I am the only one lucky enough to get the NR headset - must be
a mistake on the cleaners part but sssssh I won't tell.
pre-dept drinks of OJ/champ etc are again provided in plastic. Decent
service while boarding and help with coats.
just before pushback one of the F/A's suddenly came out of the galley
and tipped (dried) coffee all over the floor area in front of our
feet (ie: at 2R). We looked surprise at the sudden onset of very sharp
coffee fumes "there was a smell here. I fixed it up" - well we couldn't
smell anything before, but now all we could smell was Starbucks "unique"
blend, and it threatened to keep us awake for the whole night. Several
other F/A's looked at this in some surprise, but were told it was to
fix "a smell" so they said nothing and so it remained. We were not offered
another seat. it, quite frankly, stunk.
CH9 was still on which was nice, and it was amusing to hear the radio
operator suddenly broadcast to the tower during taxi "Flight attendants
prepare for takeoff" - they soon realised their error and got it on
the internal P/A. That was amusing though.
After takeoff, newspapers passed. I took the NZ Herald with the bold
title at the top giving a laugh: "Newspaper of New Zealand's most
important city" (uh huh).
take off was fine. C cabin is pretty full even downstairs. video
system seems to have been fixed up since the incoming flight from
MEL (maybe all it needed was a reset). Dinner service is pretty
good, and the chese and tomato covered filet mignon is very tasty
and tender - cut like cheese with the plastic knife. Almost wished
for a 2nd serve. Pavalova cake for desert provided on the appetiser
tray - my friend ate his before the main arrived - I think he was
confused and thought that was all he was going to get! Unfortunately
no 2nds available for him after his main.
tea/coffee/after dinner drink service then made from cart - why they
couldn't include the desert service here remains a mystery.
Finished watching Shrek and then went to sleep. Awoke some hours later
to the snack tray - nuts, chips, chocolates etc.. no water to be
found though. I went for a walk down the back through tightly packed
(and full) Y to find a couple in the rear galley getting to "know
eachother more personally" - I am sure they were just waiting for a
lav to free up http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Crew had left out bunches of cups with ice, water,
soft drink cans, candies and snack boxes.
At 0820 LAX time (about 3 hours prior to arrival) someone obviously
decided water was a good idea for the C cabin, and water bottles
mysteriously appeared at our seats. These, at least, were chilled so
was quite refreshing. As usual the crew had all but disappeared during
the night.
Around 1040 LAX time, or an hour out, CH9 came alive with LAX Center
overload of a local LA radio station (1070 KNX) which had some bits
of news, but mostly traffic reports. This went on for 20-30 minutes-
I guess the pilots were listening in for local traffic to get home http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
breakfast service is fairly quick. A pax opened the shade at the exit
to look out, and it was promptly closed by the "coffee spilling" F/A(a.k.a
prison matron) - she didn't seem to like the light so thereafter was
known as Vampira. The tea is hot and the breakfast omlete is the usual
affair, but nothing wrong with it.
Seatbelt sign is turned on at about 9,000 feet (as reported on CH9)
which I thought was a little late to turn it on). Still, it was
a smooth flight in and a very clear morning in the LA area - we could
see all the way to the mountains.
On arrival an announcement made in German - our jumpseating F/A
informed us there was a large tour group in Y who were transferring
to LH here - that was thoughtful I thought to include the German
announcement, which I normally associated with flights to/from europe
rather than the pacific.
Quick taxi in (for LAX) to the gate and soon we are out and on our
way through customs which is no problem. A wait in the lounge and
then through to 71K to get the bus out to the UAX terminal, which I
had never been to before.
04DEC01 UA7951Q LAX SAN EM2(N299SW) 1330 1422 0:14L/0:04E
9A 71K->CT 25R=>27 BACK 1344 OFF 1348 ON 1415 GATE 1418 FT=0:27
Grade: B
Absolutely uneventful flight. Quick taxi to the runway and takeoff.
Our Captain is aparently "Skywest employee of the month" (and the
F/A asks us all for a clap). Quick bev/snack service offered - she
has to curtail it due to some bumps but other than that this is a
normal short haul UAX flight. About 95% full load.
After 4 days of conferencing it was time to head to LHR. Caught
the 0700 hotel shuttle to the airport for my 0910 departure as I
had read on FlyerTalk that lines at SAN were a mess (and besides,
the RCC usually has nice breakfast snacks!). Arrived SAN around
0720 and lines for checkin were snaking every which way. There
was a regular Y line, and a Premier/First line - each about 50
people long. I saw a 1K sign, but it was off to the side as though
there was no area for 1K, and one of the UA marshallers told us
1K's to go into the Premier/First line. Luckily there was plenty
of time so that was fine.
E-checkin kisosks were maybe used by 1 or 2 people int he time I
was waiting in line, even though they had an agent there ready to
do the bag tags and stuff for that. Premier/First line moved
very slowly however soon we came to a divider that wasn't obvious
from the outside of the line, and there was a 1K sign here, and
a position for a line. No-one was in it. At about the same time i
was considering this, the guy behind me said "hey, you're 1K - you
can go in there."(noting the 1K tag on my bag I would assume).
So I moved in here and was called up next - saving prob. another 10
minutes of waiting. Pity this "line" was mostly hidden by the other
lines, or I would have gone straight there.
Nice agent looked at my res and double checked that I wanted to
go to SFO-LHR via DEN. I said "yes, I need the miles" - so he just
smiled, nodded sagely and handed me my boarding passes.. Just
forgetting to ask for my SWU in the process. Well, I had it ready,
but since it wasn't asked for I took my BP's and headed for
security line.
Security was an even longer line than the check-in lines, but this
moved rather quickly, and I would say I passed through within 20
minutes of joining the end of the queue (which snaked back past a
number of retail shops and food court). They had 3 x ray stations
setup and so things went pretty quickly except for people "realising"
at the last minute to take their coats off and put them through, or
their laptops, or empty their pockets etc. You'd think some people
had never flown before, or neglected to read the very clear signs
posted way before you hit the checkpoint. So that slowed things down
a bit. Also some of the line grumbled when pilots and F/A's were allowed
to go to the head of the queue. At least the F/A's had the grace to
seem apologetic for their intrusion.
Finally arrived at a pretty crowded RCC around 0800 which gave me plenty
of time to relax with some juice and pastries before my flight.
Boarding commenced at 0845 and the flight was posted as full
08DEC01 UA0388NF SAN DEN A320(N446UA) 12/12, 92/126 0910 1223 0:08L/0:13L
1A 18->B28 27=>16 BACK 0918 OFF 0933 ON 1231 GATE 1236 FT=1:53 HT=1 CH9=Y
Grade: A-
Pre-dept drinks of any sort offered by the male F/A who was really nice
and had a great sense of humour and also customer contact. Made each
of us feel at home. When someone asked for a Memosa to drink he blinked
then said "Sure! Why not!!" and was happy to make coffee or whatever for
those that wanted it. Sure, it is easier in an 12 seat F cabin to do
this, but he certainly made us feel at home (F was full).
Meal choice offered by status with names used. I went for the hot
breakfast option and my seatmate went for the fruit plate. Both looked
very nice. Hot breakfast was scranmbled eggs, a saussage, a potato
pie and a slice of apple pie with custard. yum. great juice refills
and service from the lone F/A. warmed crossaint and muffins were also
offered.
On descent HT is passed and then our connecting gates are offered by
the F/A - he asks each of us where we are connecting to and gives the gate
rather than reading out a list. In my case when I said I was connecting to
SFO he had to pause for a minute to try and figure out why I would be
flying such a round robin route(the look on his face was priceless! I
think he thought I was quite mad!). Still he gave me my gate with no real
comment.
Arrival just a little bit late due to a small mechanical delay prior to
pushback.
08DEC01 UA0461NF DEN SFO 757(N538UA) 1440 1606 0:04E/0:11E
1A B39->89 25=>?? BACK 1436 OFF 1447 ON 1550 GATE 1555 FT=2:02 HT=0 CH9=N
Grade: B
pre-dept drinks offered. No names used on this flight. decent service.
meal choice: "chicken salad" or "cold chicken with a warmed fondue sauce"
(according to the F/A anyway). I said to her "no meal for me" and the
instant response was "ah! I see you have flown with us before!" (had to laugh
at that).
Good refill service through the flight and some nice views of snowy
rockies on the way. minimal announcements from the cockpit.
Arrived 11 minutes early giving ample time for me to ablee over to
SFO International, and through security there (about a 3 minute wait).
Wandered around the very empty concourse - most consessions shut and
bored people at the duty free shops. Finally found the RCC and
wandered upstairs. choice of snacks is pretty bad - packaged
cheese and crackers, some savory nut mix (yikes). hard self serve
bar and soad dispenser as well as fridge with juices, iced teas
etc is fairly well stocked.
Disappointment on entering the mens bathroom - stinks of smoke -
obviously someone has decided this is a good place to light up
(grrr). yuck.
Rest of the lounge is okay though. Read the paper and watch some
CNN for a bit before heading down to the gate for the flight to
London.
08DEC01 UA0954NC SFO LHR 777(N788UA/2788) 1730 1150 0:00/0:24E
11J 98->?? 9=>27R BACK 1730 OFF 1744 ON 1118 GATE 1126 FT=9:34 HT=2 CH9=Y/N
Grade: A-
You've simply got to love getting on a flight crewed by LHR based crews-
or any european crews come to think of it. This lot has that level of
class and sophistication that is a cut above the usual UA service. Polite
use of "Sir" and "Ma'am/Miss" used, coats stowed, nothing is too much
trouble, but always with that very Brittish flavour of service. They
might still throw you your packet of nuts, but do it with a charm and
savvy that is totally British. Got to love it.
Anyway pre-dept OJ/champ offered in plastic as usual, newspapers then
passed (I grabbed a Guardian).
After takeoff the usual service speech is given and instead of just saying
"please lower your shades to block the sunshine in the morning" we get
this cute delivery from the male Purser: "Although the sun does not always
shine on England, it _always_ shines above it..." which I thought was
quite cute.
meal orders taken - in some kind of order - although as the purser admits
to us, showing us the manifest, out of 48 pax in C, 22 of us are 1K! So
it's a hard choice as to who can get limited supplies of food that they
want. I select the Veal option and cross my fingers that I will get it.
Captain gives his address and informs us due to nice tail winds we'll have
a short flight tonight, which is good.. and also they have put on Ch9 the
"big" college football game final that was playing at that time - they would
try and keep it tuned in as we passed into Canada, but no promises.
Just as dinner is being delivered (I got the veal and it is very tasty)
there is some announced problem with the video systems and they shut down
all the IFE on the aircraft, which somehow included audio and overhead
lights. We all had to turn on the goose neck seat lights - it was quite
eerie flying through the night everyone in their little pools of light
trying to eat. Made even more fun by totally plastic utensils - not even
the usual metal forks and spoons.
water is passed after dinner (the lights are back by now) and everyone
tries to get some sleep. I get about 5-6 hours which is fine.
Awaken to breakfast service from cart, with an absolutely awful meal -
I can't even bring myself to say just how bad it was. yuck. service
was fairly quick so the offending item was soon removed. tea is hot
and good which make sup for it.
There is a call for a doctor on board, and my seatmate informs a f/a
that he isn't practicing but went to medical school, so if there is
noone else, he'd be happy to assist if he could. Aparently there is
noone else because he is soon whisked off to help. Soon he is back and
the purser is thanking him for help and offers a bottle of champ (which
he refuses, as he is transiting to AMS on business). In the end the
purser writes out a voucher for $200, but this again is refused - the
pax seems to want some miles if anything, and the purser says he doesn't
know if they can do that. At any rate they need to fill in some paperwork
and my seatmate signs that he is NOT a M.D. but has some training. Aparently
the situation is/was serious, but not serious enough for a diversion - and
we hear nothing more about it.
Landing is smooth and a pretty quick taxi to the gate.
After an afternoon/evening of shopping and ods and ends in London, where
it was cool, but not that cold (about 5 or 6 degrees C) it was back to
Terminal 3 in the morning for my flight to Chicago.
Arrived nice and early at around 0745 expecting a large crowd but found
the lines to UA empty - waltzed up to a C class checkin without any
wait and within 1 minute had my boarding pass. They could not issue my
connecting flight BP to MSN for some reason, so I was told to check-in
again at ORD to get it. CSR struck out the 1000 boarding time on my
boarding pass and write 0915 there instead and told me it would board
early due to security. Knowing LHR has gate security before you enter
the gate I thought this was a bit strange, but perhaps it would be a
bus to the hard stand or some other thing that would require a much
earlier boarding than normal.
Red "dot" sticker placed on my bp by the agent - I thought this was
an "okay to use fasttrack" but wasn't sure (and the agent didn't actually
tell me I could use fast track). I went through the normal line (where
there were no pax anyway) and was told I should go use fast track. I
said "I'm here, I might as well just go through here" to which the
response was "As you wish, sir" (but he really didn't seem too happy that
I was going through that way). Only about 10 pax in front of me for
the x-ray/security check so it was no issue and I was through in
perhaps 2-3 minutes.
Spent some time perusing the duty free and other shops, then decided
to go visit the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge - just to see if it was
any good. The agent looked at me a bit strangely saying "The RCC is
over the way sir.. you can go there" but I said I just wanted to look
around so she let me in. I went and sent some email from one of the PC's
and had a look around. some nice snacks(better than the RCC) and decent
selection at the bar, but a bit early for a drink. Had a quick look
of the the Globe & Mail newspaper and then wandered over to the RCC for
a morning Hot Chocolate before heading for the gate (it was around 0910
by now). Well, dismayed to find the RCC had removed the yummy hot chocolate
machine they used to have there - major, major drawback!! So settled for
some coffee and juice. None of the departure monitors were working this
morning, so we were relying on announcements from the staff as to what
flights were boarding where. 0915 came and went with no announcement of
UA929 to ORD, so I decided to stay put. However by 0945 I decided I better
go to the gate just in case, and I wander off to the gate, only to find
no boarding in process and everyone sitting quite happily.
They eventually boarded at 1015 - fully one hour after the agent told me
they would board. Go figure.
10DEC01 UA0929NC LHR ORD 777(N780UA/2380) 1045 1329 0:48L/0:26L
14J 17->M5 09R=>27R BACK 1134 OFF 1151 ON 1345 GATE 1355 FT=7:54 HT=2 CH9=Y
Grade: B-
It was just as pre-dept OJ and champ was being offered that a bright
young lady with beaming face came and plonked down next to me in 14H.
Somehow I didn't think her wide grin had anyhing much to do with sitting
next to me, and certinly I was right - she told me this was her first
time flying UA, and she had been granted a comp upgrade for reasons that
were unclear. Still she was not worrying, and she was so excited it was
all quite sweet. She was off to visit her Sister in SLC and it was her
first time flying alone. The trip was a gift from her parents for graduating
from university (in History). Well what a nice way to start it off for her.
She kept saying "I love Business Class!" and finding new things in the
seat, the amenity kit, getting the menu etc - it was all new and exciting
to her, and her exuberance was quite infectious - you had to smile.
Unfortunately it was about this time that the front office decided to
inform us that there would be a 1 hour ground delay due to a mechanical
problem in the cockpit. F/A's boarded and served extra drinks which was
a nice touch.
CH9 fun from Heathrow ground during the stop when a LH pilot requested
a "push back machine" for his gate. Ground controller responded back
with an approval and tacked on the end "And the word you are looking
for, Sir, is tug" - quite amusing.
Before the expected hour was up the cockpit announced the problem had
been fixed and we would be on our way, so the drink service was stopped
and everyone got back to their seats pretty quickly and soon we were
off. Purser announced "demo positions - short taxi" and indeed it was
a short taxi and soon we were off.
Meal orders taken without names, but status customers first. So I was
up pretty quickly for my choice, and they asked my young seatmate at
the same time, so she got her choice too.
Service in the air was pretty decent with good refill service, managed to
get a few hours sleep in between chatting to Joanne (my seatmate) and
watching airshow while listening to the excellent and well timed Beatles
special on channel 11. Snack service near the end of the flight was quick
and tasty, and our glasses were always refilled.
On arrival I hurried with Jo to customs - she'd never done that before so
I just ran through the procedure with her, and she was worried as she had
but an hour till her connecting flight. I made the mistake of telling her
going through ORD was quicker than most other places - immigration was
fine, but customs was shocking once the bags came through (about :15 wait
till they started) - there were terribly long lines to get through customs
and it seemed as though poor Jo would miss her flight - she disappeared so
I have no idea what happened to her, but by the time I got through to T1
it was around 1500, and her SLC flight had indeed gone - I can but hope
UA looked after her. I went for the long walk over to the F gates and got
my boarding pass to MSN, then wandered back to the B16 RCC for a drink.
The walk was good exercise so I didn't mind. Sour note on going to the
bathroom in the RCC, where again the place stunk of smoke. As a non
smoker, I find this offensive - it's clear you should not smoke in the RCC
or bathrooms, yet some passengers think they are above this rule. It's
selfish and not at all nice.