Trip Reports - UA GRU-MIA in F on B777

This is my first shot at a real trip report, so go easy on me!

UA872
20 March 2002
GRU-MIA
B777
Seat 3F

SAO PAULO:
For those of you that know Sao Paulo, you know how pleasant the ride out to GRU airport is: horrible traffic and very unattractive scenery. This is followed by arriving at an airport that has not had any serious renovations since the 1980's.

Check-in was pleasant enough and I chose to spend the time left with colleagues from Brazil that had accompanied me to the airport.

Boarding was orderly enough with the proverbial security checks being completed in the loading bridge.

This was my first time in First on a UA 777 so I was quite excited. I took my seat in the "suite" and was immediately offered a selection of movies (I passed, hoping to sleep on the flight) and champagne or water. I chose the champagne which was quite good, and was then given an amenity kit and menu.

The amenity kit was acceptable, quite typical of U.S. carriers.

Push-back and departure was delayed due to the arrival of a thunderstorm. We left the gate :30 late and joined the queue of aircraft departing to the U.S. I refer to this as the "race to Miami" as UA / AA / JJ all depart to Miami within about :15. RG's Miami departure is the last of the lot.

Channel 9 was on which fascinated me, as I could listen to Ground Control talking to the various aircraft, and speaking Portuguese to Varig and Tam flights. Interesting note: When RG and JJ request clearance to taxi from Ground Control, they always give their passenger counts!

After we departed, the crew immediately began the drinks service along with warm nuts (my favorite!) and took dinner orders. I chose to have a glass of champagne, noting that UA was serving Dom tonight (I thought they had dropped this?)

The Menu:

To Begin:
Warm Crab Cake on spinach galette
or Smoked Ham, salami and Swiss cheese antipasto.

Garden salad with lemon shallot vinaigrette or creamy tarragon dressing.

Main Course
Mustard and crumb-coated Chateaubriand
Rioja wine sauce, bundled carrots with rosemary and artichoke pesto

Poached shrimp and scallops in sherry tomato thyme broth
Onion and leek risotto

Penne pasta with basil Alfredo sauce adn Parmesan cheese
Roasted eggplant, zucchini and artichoke hearts.

Dessert

International cheese plate
Gouda, Camembert and Gorgonzola cheese

Ice cream with sundae toppings

Fresh seasonal fruit

I chose the crab cake starter and it was excellent, followed by the chateaubriand. The meal really could not have been nicer. For dessert the flight attendant, who was very plesant and accomodating, coerced me into trying the sundae - the brazilian ice creams were excellent!

Featrued wines

Champagne
Brut, Dom Perignon

White Wine
Burgundy
Chablis Bearegards 1998, La Chalisienne

Chardonnay
Kunde Estate Sonoma Valley 2000

Red Wine
Robert Mondavi Napa Valley 1997

Regional Wines
Selected flights to and from South America except Argentina
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cousino Macul, Maipo Valley Finis Terrae 1997

I had the Chilean Red wine - an outstanding wine and the flight attendant was more than generous with refills!

The crew on this flight, while mostly a more senior group, could not have been nicer. They were constantly smiling and very friendly with everyone.

Prior to arrival
Seasonal fresh fruit appetiser with breafast breads

For the heartier appetite
Gruyere cheese and spinach omelette with rosated tomato sauce
Home-fried potatoes and pork sausage

I only had the fruit plate as this was being served at 4:30 am Miami time.

My only negative comment concerns the "office suite". Supposedly this seat comfortably accomodates people up to 6'6". I am 6'4" and found the sleeping position very uncomfortable. I could not lay completely flat without having my head off the top end of the seat. Most annoying to me was the fact that you could not simply recline the seat back and raise the foot rest: the seat moves forward and your legs become cramped into the work table in front. Sleep was difficult for me during most of the flight, although I did manage to get a few hours. Perhaps I was not operating the seat properly - although I do not have problems with the BA First seats which I find very comfortable. Maybe some of you know the secret to the UA seat.

All in all, a very nice experience on UA. I have travelled AA often and really enjoy their service to Latin Am, so this was a very pleasant surprise.

Crew: A
Food Quality/Quantity: A
Seat Comfort: C
Overall Experience: A

It seems that all the US carriers only serve ice cream in First Class. The only US carrier I have taken in First was TWA and they used to serve it on every transatlantic flight.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Interesting note: When RG and JJ request clearance to taxi from Ground Control, they always give their passenger counts!</font>

That is interesting. I've never flown UA in or out of Brazil, so I've never had the chance to listen to Channel 9. I wonder why they do this?

Thanks for this report. I enjoyed reading it. How full was your flight, by the way?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Bretteee:
It seems that all the US carriers only serve ice cream in First Class. The only US carrier I have taken in First was TWA and they used to serve it on every transatlantic flight. </font>

Flaming Baked Alaska isn't practical. What else would you want?

Nice report. Thanks for posting it.

Thanks for the report. I'm surprised that you didn't like the First Suite but liked the service. Normally the suite is great, but the service disappointing.

The comment about channel 9 being on was a real surprise. On all my UA flights on this route they have never turned it on. It's only been in the US airspace that channel 9 has been on.

Awsome trip report! For me with the suite, it has been hit or miss. Sometimes I like it, and sometimes I hate it. I always enjoy the biz class seats as they cradel my body quite well. I belive that on the ottoman, you can flip part of it up to provide you with more space.

Just curious, did they close the curtains on your flight?

Glad you enjoyed the report, I look forward to posting others in the future.

Blair - the flight was surprisingly full. Both F & C were 100%, Economy looked like it was probably 80%. I'm not sure what was going on - but I know the AA GRU-MIA flight was completely sold out.

Iluv767 - the cabin divider curtains were kept open the entire flight - the purser even made an annnoucement that due to security reasons the curtains would remain open however she asked the passengers' cooperation in using the facilities and amenities in the class of service they paid for! I thought that was funny!

"This is my first shot at a real trip report, so go easy on me!"

&gt;&gt;&gt; NO! LOL We have a nice parana waiting for you when you come back to Brasil, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.

Outstanding! I don't believe this was your first trip report. It is very good and interesting reading. Very descriptive.

I loved the channel 9 part. Would you mind elaborating? i.e. at what point do the Brazilian carriers and ATC switch off from Portugese to English? Many countries do this, i.e. my beloved France, and it is a dangerous practice driven by national linguistic pride, which I understand. Then the other pilots who don't "fala Portugues"
are lost and out.

How was customs for you at MIA as a neighbor from the North(eh http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) ? Do they ever allow you to sneak into the US citizen lines or are you relegated to the (awful) everyone else line? just curious. At MIA, that would be hell, sorry about that. We still love our Canadian neighbo(u)rs. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

muy bem!

------------------
Michael
AA PLT,1 MLN Miles+
HH GLD, SCI GLD, MM SIL
LE PRESIDENT ETERNEL DE CAMAIR-CAMEROUN AIRLINES :)

I suppose they are getting an update of souls on board just prior to taxi. By then, all the standbys, dead headers, etc. will have been boarded. any other number on the flight plan may no longer be accurate.

Not sure about flight plans in other countires, but in the USA, they want to have an exact count of total people on board. I'm sure its the same on an ICAO international flight plan as well.

AS far as English goes, its the international language of ATC. By convention (ICAO membership, I think), ATC is required to speak English when crews speak to them in English. But they can speak in native lanugages. And I a gree this can be problematic, as frequently you can pick up cluse as to what is going on by listeneting to communications between ATC and other aircraft. It just makes you more aware if you can understand everything. You never know if you may pick up another pilot's or ATC's blunder.

"You never know if you may pick up another pilot's or ATC's blunder."

Ah, exactamundo http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. It is a conflict between national linguistic pride and air safety.

The Air France pilots speak only in French to the ATC in France. So the other pilots have to play a guessing game and rely more on the ATC.

Thanks for the info. I always take my ATC radio when I travel.

This makes me think of the incident here in France earlier this month where ATC and pilots speaking English as a second language led to a lttle confusion.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) - France went on full hijack alert apparently because an air traffic controller misunderstood a warning message in English from a pilot, officials said on Wednesday.

According to Europe 1 radio, the pilot said "fire on board" in English, the international language of air communications, but a controller in Bordeaux understood "five men on board," concluded a hijack was underway and called for high alert.

Two French air force jets scrambled and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin raced back to his office from his election campaign headquarters in case a terrorist attack was underway.</font>

Full story (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020313/od_nm/alert_dc_1016034193)

World Traveller - (Michael)

Oddly enough I never did hear the Varig pilots switch over to English. Interestingly enough they used quite a mix of English in their conversations however, ie "pushback" and "cleared for take-off".

Re Customs in Miami: In my opinion, it has to be the worst in the U.S. I do hold a U.S. passport, so I can use the shorter (sometimes) lines. However the treatment is abysmal. I generally keep my mouth shut so that I do not get "flagged" in the computer and have to go to secondary. The U.S. usually reserves that pleasure for me returning from Canada where you pre-clear U.S. customs, especially in Vancouver!

BVH-thanks for the report, ou merci pour le rapport http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. Which airline was it? It didn't say. An A320, now I am guessing. I could look it up in the OAG... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

C/G- ouch on Miami. I just saw your response in the other thread. I avoid arriving at MIA internationally like a hole in the head, in every literal sense. It costs me miles as you can fly AA from LA via Miami to Europe(which I do in this direction) and yes, the miles add up and then some. I am gonna see if they will allow me to fly to Miami but stop in NY or someplace else, then to MIA, and I hate the AA at JFK ordeal, yuck...EWR is probably one of the best and nicest ports of entry to the country.

What happens at Vancouver? I had one pain in the butt there but normally YVR is a breeze. Ironically, the land border at Niagara can be the worst, of all places, where I have been asked some very personal questions and the like...

I luv this stuff!! Can you tell? This thread is getting me excited...