Kremmen
Nov 30, 04, 4:59 pm
In the past, whenever I've travelled in business class on a 747, it's been upstairs. Admittedly, that's only been on QF and UA, but it's been quite a few times. I love the storage lockers ... for their extra space, for somewhere to put bags within reach, for somewhere to put my feet up.
The one time in the past when I had to make a last-minute change on UA and accept a downstairs seat, I managed to bump to first, so my record remained intact. This week, my run of good luck was to end....
UA has been leaving it until very close to departure time to release M+ availability, whether it be for upgrades or free tickets. ... About 3 days out, XC will go from 0 to 9 on lightly booked flights. So, looking ahead and seeing 9's across the board for paid travel, I planned on leaving either Friday or Saturday on a business class trip to Seattle.
On Wednesday, Friday availability did appear, both on SYD-LAX and SYD-SFO. Saturday (paid) availability had dropped to being awful, so Friday it was. Better the bird in the hand, and all that. As SYD-SFO had a good upstairs window seat spare, I opted for going via SFO, of course. I was amazed that 16A was still available, and lept at the opportunity. The connection to a 757 rather than a 737 to Seattle was a further bonus.
However, what UA giveth, UA can taketh away. Thursday arvo, I received a phone call from UA: My flight would be about 6 hours late, or I could shift to the LAX flight. I opted to stay with the SFO flight.
Thursday night, I checked the web and saw timings for UA870 had become much worse. Friday morning brought the dreaded marker: "Cancelled".
I phoned UA and found that the SFO flight would be leaving almost a day late -- but not quite a day, so the MEL-SYD on Saturday wouldn't connect with it! I wonder whose stupid, Sydney-centric idea that was?! They couldn't tell me what seats were available, since they were already under airport checkin control, but I ended up with an exit row window seat at checkin at least.
And so it came to pass that, for the first time in my life, I failed to get an upstairs seat when on a 747 in business class.
UA840 MEL-SYD 744 22H 26/11/04 1300-1420 (actual 1302-1402)
As usual, this leg was almost empty. 68 pax in total, I think the FA said. We received nuts, drinks, a snack plate and, of course, the tiny little cube of yummy cake. I chatted a little with the UA maintenance man, one of whom apparently flies with the plane down to MEL and back each day, since UA has no maintenance staff in MEL any more.
After a lovely smooth landing, I went off to the NZ lounge, got online, ate some nibbles, and had a nice refreshing shower.
The gate lounge was, if possible, even more of a zoo than usual. Various names being called as seats were shuffled for a plane which would be full in all classes, the merge of UA840 and UA870. I spoke to a man in the jetway whose SYD-SFO-LHR had become SYD-LAX-IAD-LHR with an 8-minute connection in IAD. He'll need amazing luck to make it... even more luck for his bags to make it.
UA840 SYD-LAX 744 22H 26/11/04 1620-1050 (actual 1648-1052)
I recognised at least 2 FAs on this flight, one of whom reminds me somewhat of Phyllis Diller.
Meal service started quite quickly and, happily for me, the entree was not as fishy as usual: BBQ chinese duck (and prawns). Main course included filet mignon, of course. The caramelized yellow onions with it were beautiful, but, sadly, the item present in the smallest quantity. Chocolate cream pie for dessert was good, too.
While eating, I was watching Collateral, a decent flick. Thankfully, it was uncensored. Next, I tried Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, which was just mindless silliness. Worse, it was censored silliness. A scene involving throwing a dog off a bridge appeared to be cut, yet an out-take of it during the credits seemed intact. :)
As they had no amenity kits at all on the plane, I was lucky I'd brought an eye mask, since it was quite bright next to the galley. Plenty of leg room, though, so almost as good as being upstairs.
After a good snooze, breakfast started. The movie channels weren't running, but BBC's Top Gear was on and, as always, quite a hoot. Loved watching them doing doughnuts and smoking the tyres on a Bentley. Breakfast was remarkably good. The yellow eggy substance was somewhat less rubbery than it sometimes is and the potatoes and chicken snags actually had some flavour.
LAX immigration was fast. I waited a couple of minutes in the queue and noticed that one agent had processed two people in the time everyone else had done only one. As it happened, I was first in line when he next became free. Apart from the obligatory how long a visit/why questions, our conversation consisted of something like:
Me: "You seem to be the fastest one here."
Him: "Yeah, the girls tell me that too." :)
Of course, quick immigration means then waiting another 15 mins for bags to appear. Then I was off to the RCC, where I was told that the reason for fast immigration was that working for holiday pay is popular and ensures plenty of staff.
After a drink and playing about with the laptop a bit, it was time to head off to SEA.
UA1228 LAX-SEA 735 1D 26/11/04 1312-1556 (actual 1327-1555)
Packed flight. It was interesting that a couple came on at the end, after other stand-bys, and was in first. I wonder if they were stand-bys who really got lucky? Drinks and disgusting snack packets were given out. As far as anything edible went, the "gourmet supreme mix" had a total of 4 almonds and 1/2 a pistachio in it. If the same company produced a "modest plain mix", I suspect the contents would be truly scary.
Lunch was a deli plate, which wasn't bad. It included a pack of some pseudo-healthy snack called Sun Chips, which are pretty cruddy. Luckily, I had a packet of proper potato chips with me.
We descended from the total grey of cruising altitude, through various other levels of grey, through the while fluffy clouds, and through some more grey, and flew over the city, past the sports arenas, before landed at Seatac.
I should be going back home in Jan via SFO. And upstairs. But who knows? ...
The one time in the past when I had to make a last-minute change on UA and accept a downstairs seat, I managed to bump to first, so my record remained intact. This week, my run of good luck was to end....
UA has been leaving it until very close to departure time to release M+ availability, whether it be for upgrades or free tickets. ... About 3 days out, XC will go from 0 to 9 on lightly booked flights. So, looking ahead and seeing 9's across the board for paid travel, I planned on leaving either Friday or Saturday on a business class trip to Seattle.
On Wednesday, Friday availability did appear, both on SYD-LAX and SYD-SFO. Saturday (paid) availability had dropped to being awful, so Friday it was. Better the bird in the hand, and all that. As SYD-SFO had a good upstairs window seat spare, I opted for going via SFO, of course. I was amazed that 16A was still available, and lept at the opportunity. The connection to a 757 rather than a 737 to Seattle was a further bonus.
However, what UA giveth, UA can taketh away. Thursday arvo, I received a phone call from UA: My flight would be about 6 hours late, or I could shift to the LAX flight. I opted to stay with the SFO flight.
Thursday night, I checked the web and saw timings for UA870 had become much worse. Friday morning brought the dreaded marker: "Cancelled".
I phoned UA and found that the SFO flight would be leaving almost a day late -- but not quite a day, so the MEL-SYD on Saturday wouldn't connect with it! I wonder whose stupid, Sydney-centric idea that was?! They couldn't tell me what seats were available, since they were already under airport checkin control, but I ended up with an exit row window seat at checkin at least.
And so it came to pass that, for the first time in my life, I failed to get an upstairs seat when on a 747 in business class.
UA840 MEL-SYD 744 22H 26/11/04 1300-1420 (actual 1302-1402)
As usual, this leg was almost empty. 68 pax in total, I think the FA said. We received nuts, drinks, a snack plate and, of course, the tiny little cube of yummy cake. I chatted a little with the UA maintenance man, one of whom apparently flies with the plane down to MEL and back each day, since UA has no maintenance staff in MEL any more.
After a lovely smooth landing, I went off to the NZ lounge, got online, ate some nibbles, and had a nice refreshing shower.
The gate lounge was, if possible, even more of a zoo than usual. Various names being called as seats were shuffled for a plane which would be full in all classes, the merge of UA840 and UA870. I spoke to a man in the jetway whose SYD-SFO-LHR had become SYD-LAX-IAD-LHR with an 8-minute connection in IAD. He'll need amazing luck to make it... even more luck for his bags to make it.
UA840 SYD-LAX 744 22H 26/11/04 1620-1050 (actual 1648-1052)
I recognised at least 2 FAs on this flight, one of whom reminds me somewhat of Phyllis Diller.
Meal service started quite quickly and, happily for me, the entree was not as fishy as usual: BBQ chinese duck (and prawns). Main course included filet mignon, of course. The caramelized yellow onions with it were beautiful, but, sadly, the item present in the smallest quantity. Chocolate cream pie for dessert was good, too.
While eating, I was watching Collateral, a decent flick. Thankfully, it was uncensored. Next, I tried Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, which was just mindless silliness. Worse, it was censored silliness. A scene involving throwing a dog off a bridge appeared to be cut, yet an out-take of it during the credits seemed intact. :)
As they had no amenity kits at all on the plane, I was lucky I'd brought an eye mask, since it was quite bright next to the galley. Plenty of leg room, though, so almost as good as being upstairs.
After a good snooze, breakfast started. The movie channels weren't running, but BBC's Top Gear was on and, as always, quite a hoot. Loved watching them doing doughnuts and smoking the tyres on a Bentley. Breakfast was remarkably good. The yellow eggy substance was somewhat less rubbery than it sometimes is and the potatoes and chicken snags actually had some flavour.
LAX immigration was fast. I waited a couple of minutes in the queue and noticed that one agent had processed two people in the time everyone else had done only one. As it happened, I was first in line when he next became free. Apart from the obligatory how long a visit/why questions, our conversation consisted of something like:
Me: "You seem to be the fastest one here."
Him: "Yeah, the girls tell me that too." :)
Of course, quick immigration means then waiting another 15 mins for bags to appear. Then I was off to the RCC, where I was told that the reason for fast immigration was that working for holiday pay is popular and ensures plenty of staff.
After a drink and playing about with the laptop a bit, it was time to head off to SEA.
UA1228 LAX-SEA 735 1D 26/11/04 1312-1556 (actual 1327-1555)
Packed flight. It was interesting that a couple came on at the end, after other stand-bys, and was in first. I wonder if they were stand-bys who really got lucky? Drinks and disgusting snack packets were given out. As far as anything edible went, the "gourmet supreme mix" had a total of 4 almonds and 1/2 a pistachio in it. If the same company produced a "modest plain mix", I suspect the contents would be truly scary.
Lunch was a deli plate, which wasn't bad. It included a pack of some pseudo-healthy snack called Sun Chips, which are pretty cruddy. Luckily, I had a packet of proper potato chips with me.
We descended from the total grey of cruising altitude, through various other levels of grey, through the while fluffy clouds, and through some more grey, and flew over the city, past the sports arenas, before landed at Seatac.
I should be going back home in Jan via SFO. And upstairs. But who knows? ...