goodo
Dec 26, 05, 2:33 am
Second time writing this one. enjoy.
Here is my second attempt at writing this report, after I spent a couple of hours the first time around, I lost it all when posting to FT. I knew I should’ve done it all in word, or at least copied all the text, in case I need to paste it all again. It probably isn’t as interesting as my other RTW reports, especially as I’m not a suspected drug smuggler here, or suspected of traveling on a false passport, so no near-arrests, but it is a Trip Report nevertheless. Enjoy!
This is 2 reports in 1. I had a MEL-SYF-SFO-JFK-SFO-SYD-MEL ticket, and then bought a JFK-SFO-SEA-PDX-ORD-IAD-JFK ticket for a MR, with a 4.5 hour turnaround in PDX, in order to get up to 1P for the year. The ticket cost around $203 plus taxes, and earned 6592 EQMs, and 8242 RDMs. It was the first time I’d ever been to these cities, as I’ve only ever flying between MEL & JFK, so my connections are always LAX or SFO, and once I was IAD. The international ticket earned me just over 21k EQMs and over 26k RDMs.
2 Nov 2005
UA 840 MEL-SYD
The flight was delayed due to the late arrival of the incoming aircraft. There was no Channel 9, but the flight was alright, sitting in E+. It’s only a short hop to SYD. As usual on arrival in to SYD we need to do international transfer route, which means going through security and X-ray check again because obviously Melbourne’s x-rays aren’t enough. And again as usual there was a long line waiting.
UA 870 SYD-SFO
I went through, up the escalators, and straight to the gate where the aircraft had already boarded and was waiting for remaining passengers. I always choose the SFO flight because it departs from SYD earlier than the LAX flight and gives a pretty quick connection to the JFK flight which is almost always my final destination. Another E+ aisle, with the seat next to me empty. There was nothing major to report from this flight, service was alright, food and movies were too. Although at one point it did sound like a cell phone was ringing, which would’ve been illegal on other airlines, on UA phones can be on as long as the transmit function is off, so I’ll the owner the benefit of the doubt that they were just fiddling with the ring tones.
UA 28 SFO-JFK
I went through immigration and customs, and put my suitcases onto the conveyor belt to head to my connecting flight. The flight was almost ready to board. It was quite full, with a number of passengers from my SYD flight, as well as people connecting from UA’s Asia flights. There were a few empty middle seats, including one next to me. Among the movies they showed was The Island, which I didn’t think was that good. I also slept through a good part of the flight. We arrived early and my bags were out pretty quickly, and I went to wait for my pickup.
8 Nov 2005
UA 27 JFK-SFO
I attempted to use easy checkin online around 20 hours prior to the flight. It told me upgrades were available, and then I suddenly thought when else would I get to use my 500 milers, they usually just end up expiring. So I selected a couple of flights to upgrade – my JFK-SFO PS to Business, and my redeye PDX-ORD that night to First. JFK-SFO was confirmed instantly, and the PDX-ORD was waitlisted. I can’t remember exactly why, but I did uncheck myself for some reason that day.
In the morning I took the Long Island Rail Road to Jamaica station to connect to the airtrain to JFK. I attempted to get my BPs from the easy checkin machines, but obviously my ‘uncheck in’ the previous day had caused some problems because it told me to see an agent. No check in bags, but I the agent was shocked as BPs started flying out. You’re going to San Francisco, no, Seattle, no, Portland, no, Chicago?!? I didn’t tell her that Chicago was just a connection onto DC and back to JFK! I waited for boarding, I believe they boarded First and UGS, followed by Business after that, I don’t care because I was already on the plane. As I went into line to board, a foreigner waiting in the boarding area asked me if he is supposed to board already. I pointed to his ‘Seating 3’ and told him to wait till they call seating area 3 to board. I also noted the dreaded SSSS on his BP. He was Israeli, and I wonder if that triggered the SSSS.
The flight was absolutely marvelous. The FAs were great, and the service was spectacular, I watched a DVD and a half, and got some sleep. I love the PS Business seat, maybe one day I’ll get to try out First or a Transpacific upgrade. My meal was my special meal that was brought up from coach. We arrived late into SFO due to strong headwinds.
UA 1118 SFO-SEA
Upon landing I went to my connecting gate for my flight. I must’ve been really exhausted because I slept the whole flight, all the way up till around 10 minutes from touchdown. Great flight BTW, lol.
UA 6342 SEA-PDX
I hoped to stand by for an earlier flight to PDX as my connection was over 2 hours, but my flight was the next UA flight to PDX. So I just sat in the terminal, waiting for the Skywest EMB-120 to arrive. The flight was full and quick, but it still had a beverage service.
The flight landed in PDX, and I took the Max to Lloyd Center. The machine that accepted credit cards was playing up, so I put in my smallest bill (a 20) and I got change of around 16 or 17 dollars, in 1 dollar coins!!! It was already dark, so I didn’t think that there would be much to see, so I did a bit of shopping. After all, that’s what the USA is great for.
UA 558 PDX-ORD
On my way back, I went to checkin, combined all my shopping bags into one, and had my upgrade confirmed in 1C, and received my connecting BPs. I was waiting in the gate area, waiting for boarding and the agent announced that “we will begin boarding momentarily, starting with first class. First class passengers, you know who you are.” I certainly did, I was the first person on the plane. I should’ve done my research better, and checked First seats on seatguru, because 1C doesn’t have much legroom. Row 2 would’ve been a lot better. But I managed to sleep most of the flight and miss whatever inflight service there was anyway. The last half hour or so was pretty turbulent.
9 Nov 2005
UA 922 ORD-IAD
After landing I went straight to my connecting gate. Instead of trekking all over the terminal, the gate was a few gates away so it was a quick stroll. I don’t remember much of this flight, but I got an exit row, great legroom, and I slept all the way through to IAD.
UA 7200 IAD-JFK
I waited for my Mesa flight, a good couple of hours. We took a different route into JFK than I usually take.
12 Dec 2005
UA 7 JFK-SFO
I was looking forward to a bump opportunity. A week earlier availability had dropped rapidly, but over the last few days, it had opened up slightly. The flight was overbooked by 3, but it didn’t look like a bump was going to happen. I was also offered an upgrade by another generous FTer who had some expiring for this and my transpacific flight., but it was waitlisted and didn’t clear. Since I wasn’t 1P yet, I didn’t have an extra baggage allowance, and it was the first trip flying UA from NY since the new baggage policy was introduced. I had 4 suitcases, with all being overweight. Excess baggage charges were $260. I gate checked a suit bag. The flight was full, and I mean FULL. There was one empty seat, in the last row, a middle seat. I was stuck in the second last row, with a window seat. And to top it all off, the passenger in the seat next to me smelled real bad. 6 hours of that smell I just tried to sleep and hope it doesn’t bother me too much. They showed The Island again. It wasn’t good the first time, and it certainly wasn’t good the second time. They also showed Cinderella Man, which I had no interest in.
I was in SFO for 2 nights, having booked the Hyatt Regency SFO for $50 on Priceline. It was a nice hotel, with an airport shuttle to take the Bart into the city. One things I found on the Bart that I found stupid was that if you use a CC to buy a ticket, you can’t use it again for 24 hours. I’m glad I had 2 credit cards, because otherwise I’d have to use up my cash for tickets. I don’t know why they have this restriction, and had I known, I wouldn’t have just bought a one way ticket into the city the first time around.
Just a quick rundown of my time in SFO. Union Square, shopping, Fisherman’s Wharf, Cable car, Alcatraz, and a few restaurants.
14 Dec 2005
UA 863 SFO-SYD
On my last day I checked out. I was hoping for a bump, and availability had also dropped the week earlier, but then opened up a bit. I checked out, took the Bart into the city, did some things then I took the Bart back to SFO and the shuttle to the Hyatt. I checked availability again, and it was showing Y9, but every other class had 0. I took the shuttle back to SFO, with all my suitcases, and bags, and carry-ons. It was quite a feat maneuvering 1 luggage cart with everything piled on top. I checked in quite early, no bump, no upgrade either as I was number 7 on the waiting list. Again they wanted to charge me for excess baggage, I tried to argue but it was no use. Another $284 gone. Meanwhile at the counter next to mine, a bunch of dead heading FAs were checking in, of course they were in C class. There was my upgrade, no wonder people refer to it as employee class.
At security everything had to come off, shoes, coat, belt, thankfully they let me keep my pants on. The flight was so full that at the gate on the sign with the flight number and details, it said flight full no seat changes. There were only a handful of spare seats, and we pushed back right on time.
Again the movies were The Island which wasn’t good the first time I saw it, worse the second time, and now I had absolutely no interest in it, so after the meal I fell asleep, missing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which was the only movie I had any interest in seeing. Everything else shown was at least 2 or 3 years old and I had no interest in seeing it, like Ice Age, which I saw back in 2002 on Air NZ, A Beautiful Mind and The Grinch. I can understand UA not having money to install PTVs on every seat, but how about some current good movies instead of the rubbish they always show? And when I say always I mean every United flight I’m ever on.
16 Dec 2005
UA 839 SYD-MEL
I had a good few hour wait in SYD, but the gate didn’t open till about half an hour prior to boarding so passengers had to wait in the general gate area until the gate opened if they didn’t have lounge access. Me being one of them.
There were so many flight announcements in the Terminal it wasn’t funny. At times we’re talking about more than 1 a minute. That is crazy!!! The flight back to MEL was a usual quick hop on UA, not that full, and passengers spread out, we arrived a bit early, and I went through immigration, and customs, opening up some of my suitcases, and maneuvered my 1 luggage cart that was piled high, taller than me, outside to my pickup.
goodo
Here is my second attempt at writing this report, after I spent a couple of hours the first time around, I lost it all when posting to FT. I knew I should’ve done it all in word, or at least copied all the text, in case I need to paste it all again. It probably isn’t as interesting as my other RTW reports, especially as I’m not a suspected drug smuggler here, or suspected of traveling on a false passport, so no near-arrests, but it is a Trip Report nevertheless. Enjoy!
This is 2 reports in 1. I had a MEL-SYF-SFO-JFK-SFO-SYD-MEL ticket, and then bought a JFK-SFO-SEA-PDX-ORD-IAD-JFK ticket for a MR, with a 4.5 hour turnaround in PDX, in order to get up to 1P for the year. The ticket cost around $203 plus taxes, and earned 6592 EQMs, and 8242 RDMs. It was the first time I’d ever been to these cities, as I’ve only ever flying between MEL & JFK, so my connections are always LAX or SFO, and once I was IAD. The international ticket earned me just over 21k EQMs and over 26k RDMs.
2 Nov 2005
UA 840 MEL-SYD
The flight was delayed due to the late arrival of the incoming aircraft. There was no Channel 9, but the flight was alright, sitting in E+. It’s only a short hop to SYD. As usual on arrival in to SYD we need to do international transfer route, which means going through security and X-ray check again because obviously Melbourne’s x-rays aren’t enough. And again as usual there was a long line waiting.
UA 870 SYD-SFO
I went through, up the escalators, and straight to the gate where the aircraft had already boarded and was waiting for remaining passengers. I always choose the SFO flight because it departs from SYD earlier than the LAX flight and gives a pretty quick connection to the JFK flight which is almost always my final destination. Another E+ aisle, with the seat next to me empty. There was nothing major to report from this flight, service was alright, food and movies were too. Although at one point it did sound like a cell phone was ringing, which would’ve been illegal on other airlines, on UA phones can be on as long as the transmit function is off, so I’ll the owner the benefit of the doubt that they were just fiddling with the ring tones.
UA 28 SFO-JFK
I went through immigration and customs, and put my suitcases onto the conveyor belt to head to my connecting flight. The flight was almost ready to board. It was quite full, with a number of passengers from my SYD flight, as well as people connecting from UA’s Asia flights. There were a few empty middle seats, including one next to me. Among the movies they showed was The Island, which I didn’t think was that good. I also slept through a good part of the flight. We arrived early and my bags were out pretty quickly, and I went to wait for my pickup.
8 Nov 2005
UA 27 JFK-SFO
I attempted to use easy checkin online around 20 hours prior to the flight. It told me upgrades were available, and then I suddenly thought when else would I get to use my 500 milers, they usually just end up expiring. So I selected a couple of flights to upgrade – my JFK-SFO PS to Business, and my redeye PDX-ORD that night to First. JFK-SFO was confirmed instantly, and the PDX-ORD was waitlisted. I can’t remember exactly why, but I did uncheck myself for some reason that day.
In the morning I took the Long Island Rail Road to Jamaica station to connect to the airtrain to JFK. I attempted to get my BPs from the easy checkin machines, but obviously my ‘uncheck in’ the previous day had caused some problems because it told me to see an agent. No check in bags, but I the agent was shocked as BPs started flying out. You’re going to San Francisco, no, Seattle, no, Portland, no, Chicago?!? I didn’t tell her that Chicago was just a connection onto DC and back to JFK! I waited for boarding, I believe they boarded First and UGS, followed by Business after that, I don’t care because I was already on the plane. As I went into line to board, a foreigner waiting in the boarding area asked me if he is supposed to board already. I pointed to his ‘Seating 3’ and told him to wait till they call seating area 3 to board. I also noted the dreaded SSSS on his BP. He was Israeli, and I wonder if that triggered the SSSS.
The flight was absolutely marvelous. The FAs were great, and the service was spectacular, I watched a DVD and a half, and got some sleep. I love the PS Business seat, maybe one day I’ll get to try out First or a Transpacific upgrade. My meal was my special meal that was brought up from coach. We arrived late into SFO due to strong headwinds.
UA 1118 SFO-SEA
Upon landing I went to my connecting gate for my flight. I must’ve been really exhausted because I slept the whole flight, all the way up till around 10 minutes from touchdown. Great flight BTW, lol.
UA 6342 SEA-PDX
I hoped to stand by for an earlier flight to PDX as my connection was over 2 hours, but my flight was the next UA flight to PDX. So I just sat in the terminal, waiting for the Skywest EMB-120 to arrive. The flight was full and quick, but it still had a beverage service.
The flight landed in PDX, and I took the Max to Lloyd Center. The machine that accepted credit cards was playing up, so I put in my smallest bill (a 20) and I got change of around 16 or 17 dollars, in 1 dollar coins!!! It was already dark, so I didn’t think that there would be much to see, so I did a bit of shopping. After all, that’s what the USA is great for.
UA 558 PDX-ORD
On my way back, I went to checkin, combined all my shopping bags into one, and had my upgrade confirmed in 1C, and received my connecting BPs. I was waiting in the gate area, waiting for boarding and the agent announced that “we will begin boarding momentarily, starting with first class. First class passengers, you know who you are.” I certainly did, I was the first person on the plane. I should’ve done my research better, and checked First seats on seatguru, because 1C doesn’t have much legroom. Row 2 would’ve been a lot better. But I managed to sleep most of the flight and miss whatever inflight service there was anyway. The last half hour or so was pretty turbulent.
9 Nov 2005
UA 922 ORD-IAD
After landing I went straight to my connecting gate. Instead of trekking all over the terminal, the gate was a few gates away so it was a quick stroll. I don’t remember much of this flight, but I got an exit row, great legroom, and I slept all the way through to IAD.
UA 7200 IAD-JFK
I waited for my Mesa flight, a good couple of hours. We took a different route into JFK than I usually take.
12 Dec 2005
UA 7 JFK-SFO
I was looking forward to a bump opportunity. A week earlier availability had dropped rapidly, but over the last few days, it had opened up slightly. The flight was overbooked by 3, but it didn’t look like a bump was going to happen. I was also offered an upgrade by another generous FTer who had some expiring for this and my transpacific flight., but it was waitlisted and didn’t clear. Since I wasn’t 1P yet, I didn’t have an extra baggage allowance, and it was the first trip flying UA from NY since the new baggage policy was introduced. I had 4 suitcases, with all being overweight. Excess baggage charges were $260. I gate checked a suit bag. The flight was full, and I mean FULL. There was one empty seat, in the last row, a middle seat. I was stuck in the second last row, with a window seat. And to top it all off, the passenger in the seat next to me smelled real bad. 6 hours of that smell I just tried to sleep and hope it doesn’t bother me too much. They showed The Island again. It wasn’t good the first time, and it certainly wasn’t good the second time. They also showed Cinderella Man, which I had no interest in.
I was in SFO for 2 nights, having booked the Hyatt Regency SFO for $50 on Priceline. It was a nice hotel, with an airport shuttle to take the Bart into the city. One things I found on the Bart that I found stupid was that if you use a CC to buy a ticket, you can’t use it again for 24 hours. I’m glad I had 2 credit cards, because otherwise I’d have to use up my cash for tickets. I don’t know why they have this restriction, and had I known, I wouldn’t have just bought a one way ticket into the city the first time around.
Just a quick rundown of my time in SFO. Union Square, shopping, Fisherman’s Wharf, Cable car, Alcatraz, and a few restaurants.
14 Dec 2005
UA 863 SFO-SYD
On my last day I checked out. I was hoping for a bump, and availability had also dropped the week earlier, but then opened up a bit. I checked out, took the Bart into the city, did some things then I took the Bart back to SFO and the shuttle to the Hyatt. I checked availability again, and it was showing Y9, but every other class had 0. I took the shuttle back to SFO, with all my suitcases, and bags, and carry-ons. It was quite a feat maneuvering 1 luggage cart with everything piled on top. I checked in quite early, no bump, no upgrade either as I was number 7 on the waiting list. Again they wanted to charge me for excess baggage, I tried to argue but it was no use. Another $284 gone. Meanwhile at the counter next to mine, a bunch of dead heading FAs were checking in, of course they were in C class. There was my upgrade, no wonder people refer to it as employee class.
At security everything had to come off, shoes, coat, belt, thankfully they let me keep my pants on. The flight was so full that at the gate on the sign with the flight number and details, it said flight full no seat changes. There were only a handful of spare seats, and we pushed back right on time.
Again the movies were The Island which wasn’t good the first time I saw it, worse the second time, and now I had absolutely no interest in it, so after the meal I fell asleep, missing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which was the only movie I had any interest in seeing. Everything else shown was at least 2 or 3 years old and I had no interest in seeing it, like Ice Age, which I saw back in 2002 on Air NZ, A Beautiful Mind and The Grinch. I can understand UA not having money to install PTVs on every seat, but how about some current good movies instead of the rubbish they always show? And when I say always I mean every United flight I’m ever on.
16 Dec 2005
UA 839 SYD-MEL
I had a good few hour wait in SYD, but the gate didn’t open till about half an hour prior to boarding so passengers had to wait in the general gate area until the gate opened if they didn’t have lounge access. Me being one of them.
There were so many flight announcements in the Terminal it wasn’t funny. At times we’re talking about more than 1 a minute. That is crazy!!! The flight back to MEL was a usual quick hop on UA, not that full, and passengers spread out, we arrived a bit early, and I went through immigration, and customs, opening up some of my suitcases, and maneuvered my 1 luggage cart that was piled high, taller than me, outside to my pickup.
goodo