Trip Reports - Frankfurt Mileage Run

UA 533 BOS ORD 1042 1229 320 6A Ch9 Y (for others)
Empower Y (for others)

Leap day in Boston was pretty chaotic, with the Chickens
either dead or clucking to the tune of a different drummer.
I found one that appeared relatively normal and proceeded
through the checkin process only to see "printing 0 of 0
documents." A staffer, who had been looking hopefully over
my shoulder, groaned. I went to the desk, where a human gave
me my boarding passes after a minute of typing and frowning.

Hadn't seen Diane at the RCC for a year, so we spent a
bunch of time catching up. Russell Stover chocolate mints
at the front. An apology from Annie, who said that they
had run out of Ghirardelli.

There was F space available, but I was happy with my 6A with
the middle empty. Unfortunately, 527 had been cancelled, and
they were still trying to accommodate the overage. So my
blocked seat got taken in the end. Not a big deal, as I
slept pretty much the whole flight. Channel 9 was announced
by the pilot, but my IFE wasn't working.

We came in on time, and I tried to get onto the next SFO
flight, but it was oversold. So off to the World/President's
Club at E4, which was crowded, chaotic, and smelly. But free
Heineken on tap and chocolate cake. The wireless worked. The
stuffiness got to me in the end, so back toward my gate and
the nearby club.

So: a direct comparison between the B RCC and the E WC.

R: matron looked blankly at my boarding pass and waved me in
without checking whether I was really entitled to enter,
with a grudging-sounding "welcome."
W: minute examination of my credentials, followed by a
quite cheery "welcome."

R: tolerable booze selection, $5.
W: lousy booze selection, free.

R: snacks the usual, crudites, cheese and crackers.
W: snacks the usual, crudites, cheese and crackers. Plus
chocolate cake.

R: overcrowded but not too loud, airy and spacious.
W: overcrowded, loud, smelly, cramped and unpleasant.

R: electric outlet fairly easy to come by.
W: people almost fighting for outlets.

UA 559 ORD SJC 1509 1748 752 4A Ch9 Y Empower N

I did an FT and an e-mail run before noticing the time and
running to my gate, having forgotten to change the time zone
on my watch. This fairly full flight featured warm nuts with
macadamias and pecans, hot towels, and what turned out to be
a quite good crew, though it took a while for the FA working
our cabin to warm up.

Turkey wrap or shrimp salad. I said that if they gave me
enough alcohol I'd take anything. At the end the welcome
news came that I could have my choice. Four largish shrimp
siding a Caesar-like salad served, alas, with Asian sesame
dressing. Chocolate chip cookies for afters (I had two).
And they kept the Courvoisier coming, that and a fairly
nasty Chardonnay.

We came in half an hour early, so I hustled to the bus stop
only to see my number 10 pull away. Not to worry, the next
was in only 20 minutes, and I was in plenty of time to get
the 6:10 Caltrain to Belmont, where I summoned the aft
elevator only to be assaulted by a small gang lurking there
- said gang consisting of VPescado and travelkhatt. V had
offered me a choice of five ethnicish places, characterizing
Little Sichuan in San Mateo as "greasy, salty, yummy," so
that's what we ended up with. I said it was my turn to pick
up the tab, so V and t ordered way too much. Each of these
dishes would have served one nicely, or two with rice:

Beef with scallops and shrimp was a peculiarity, fishy and
meaty but the flavors not melding at all. Still kind of
interesting. travelkhatt doesn't do spicy (why were we at
a Szechwan place?) and ordered this with the mistaken idea
that it would be mild mild. It wasn't to her, though V and
I thought it mild enough.

Shrimp with vegetables in Cantonese white sauce was the
usual thing and of course completely bland, which the
khatt liked.

My taro duck wasn't what I expected at all. I expected
nice crispy duck either with a taro coating or as crispy
chunks in a reddish sauce. What I got: a couple wings,
hacked into bits, in brown sauce with vegetables and
chunks of the root. It tasted pretty good but was poor
value for the price.

Dumplings in red oil were dumplings in red oil.

V's favorite, salty spicy green beans, was different
from what I was used to: fresh and preserved beans
diced into tiny bits and mixed with chiles and ground
pork. Quite nice actually.

Salt pepper shrimp was perfectly done: the shrimp dusted
with red and Szechwan peppers and combined with onions,
peppers, dried hot peppers, and sliced jalapenos. We
should have gotten two of this.

Rice of course. We sent a bunch of food back with
travelkhatt to await V's triumphant return from Germany.

By the way, V made much of the fact that he was allowing
me to pick up the tab on this iDine restaurant. Afterwards,
I checked only to discover that it is in fact no longer an
iDine restaurant.

On to the SFO Four Points, where I got a two-level suite
courtesy of V's status. It was okay - some nice things, but
on the whole quite plain and in fact put me in mind of
living in a model unit in a condo development. Even the
smell was like that. The bed was too soft. Wi-fi was spotty
but sort of worked: I got up at 2 and did some FT.

UA6539 OAK LAX 0628 0750 CRJ 4A

At 4:30 V picked me up, and we hot-footed it to the airport,
where a nice agent printed all 5 of our BPs, which gave us
an estimated 5 extra minutes of Senator Lounge time on the
way back. An unremarkable flight. Slept through it.

UA 324 LAX IAD 0919 1709 319 2B Ch9 Y Empower N

The usual breakfast choices, the omelet of the day spinach
and cheese with marinara sauce on top, two-potato medley,
a pair of somewhat greasy pork sausages to get us into the
mood for the trip. Perfectly okay flight all told, though
why don't they serve lunch on a flight that lands at
almost dinnertime?

The plan was to hit all the RCCs for coups, and it was made
easier by our landing at the end of D and our connection
leaving from the end of C. So it was done, and there's not
so much fun in the game any more, as the lounge guardians
were all free-handed with the things. These were all hand
numbered, by the way; significance unknown.

UA 952 IAD FRA 1922 0915 763 20J Ch9 N

These exit-row seats are pretty acceptable, not right next
to the common area and with decent legroom; the flight
was comfortable enough, given that this was a mileage run
in Y and granted that I had plenty of drink coupons to burn.

V's video didn't work, and the FA promised a skykit - this
didn't get delivered until he had reminded the FA several
times - I'm guessing the crew have been encouraged to
minimize handing these things out.

Asked for a double Courvoisier and was charged 2 coupons.
Soon the delectable aromas of the finest cuisine wafted
through the cabin, causing murmurs of anticipation and
delight among the passengers (just kidding, it smelled
like the high school caf I recall from 40 years back). Our
choices were beef (some kind of pot roast with peas and
reconstituted mash) or pasta (manicotti in red sauce). Mine
was okay for coach food, with a big knot of gristle in the
middle. That was okay with me, because that's how I get my
glucosamine and chondroitin, except that gristle doesn't
belong in manicotti (just kidding, I had the pot roast).

About halfway across the ocean the Airshow started reporting
strange and seemingly random data, which continued through
the rest of the flight.

Despite there being weather issues all around that part of
the world, we landed after only the most minute of holding
patterns, several minutes early, at the C-gates. Immigration
took about 15 seconds, and we hoofed it to A, where V's
niece Dara was supposed to be coming in from Spain. Her
flight was caught in the hold and came in an hour and half
late. When she arrived, we fled down into the bowels of the
airport and took the train downtown for a quick tour of the
city. V took us to his favorite places, starting with the
red-light district, then proceeding to the great monument
to Mammon. A few of the architectural wonders from the
Romerberg to the Eschenheim tower. Then, as we wanted to
shower at the Senator lounge and see about getting Dara an
upgrade on her high-priced ticket, back to the Hauptbahnhof
and the Flughafen.

For trips to the US, you have to go to the upstairs part of
the FRA A terminal. Passport control and security were a
snap, though as usual VPescado was nailed.

No problem getting into the Senator lounge even on an S
ticket. The showers were nice, the catering kind of dubious
- frankfurter sausages, which disappeared almost as quickly
as they appeared, tortellini, German potato salad, some
kind of strawberry parfait.

Beck's on tap. Really cheap wine, about as good as United
wine, only these guys have the good sense to serve local
plonk rather than imported.

The lounge was very crowded until just before boarding
of the LA flight: then it cleared out almost totally.

You're q&a sections was quite funny! :D

I'm enjoying the TR and looking forward to the next installment!

Incidentally (and in one of those 'it's a small world' moments), I was awaiting the arrival of 527 at ORD on Feb 29 -- the very flight that caused your Airbus to fill up. I had just arrived on the early morning flight from BWI, and aboard 527 was an FT'er that had generously agreed to guest me into one of ORD's fine RCCs before my departure later in the morning to SEA.

Only one more installment on this one - it was an MR after all.

Curious: how did that FTer get to Chicago finally, and was s/he in
time to guest you into the club?

Cheers,
Michael
in Arkansas (another short trip report to come)

P.S. United flyers, post in the RCC Calendar! (http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=425985)

Curious: how did that FTer get to Chicago finally, and was s/he in
time to guest you into the club?



That other FT'er rerouted through DEN. I ended up not getting into a RCC that morning, but I've seen them all countless times previously and am well aware that I did not miss out on much!

[Oh, I forgot ... at security they'd pulled my bag and
asked (quite deferentially for Germans) whether I'd had
any water or Coke or anything in it. I said no, in a
puzzled way, whereupon they opened the bag and pulled
out a small can of grapefruit juice that I'd kiped from
the RCC weeks before and that had apparently been missed
through several domestic and perhaps international
security screenings. I took it from them and drank it
on the spot, which seemed to satisfy everyone's honor.]

Presently it was time leave the club. Quite a trek to the
end of the pier, where boarding was quick and easy.

UA 905 FRA LAX 1520 1814 777 30B Ch9 Y

For widebody longhauls I like the front bulkhead seats on
the 777 and (now) the second coach exit-row seats on the
763. Row 30 exit seats, though, despite their being picked
by V with the endorsement of a number of knowledgeable
FTer mileage runners, are IMO not so acceptable - people
really do congregate here, both prior to using the regal
oversize restroom and out of just plain orneriness. This
owing to the giant area out in front and the proximity to
the lavs. Life was better when the catering carts were
parked in front of us - there's a stop that, when used,
gave us about as much legroom as a C seat would provide -
not infinite, but not negligible. I still way prefer 17AB.

Dinner was a lump of chicken breast sided by rice glue and
spinach baby food. It was perhaps better than not eating at
all. I forget what dessert was, some kind of cake probably;
it was obviously not notable.

Insignificant and snooze-worthy flight, and both V and I
made significant inroads into our sleep deficits.

Second service: sausage on pretzel roll, pretty decent (I
removed the cheese and scraped off some of the Quark); red
paprika Chio Chips - quite honest red pepper flavor; and a
Mars bar. Much better than the hot meal.

Airshow was working on this flight, as was Channel 9. Also,
they finally changed the XM pseudoradio programming, yay.

We landed a bit early and decided to visit the President's
Club, which has snacks (Real Torino amaretti balls, yum),
free booze, and free wi-fi (which was working for a change).

UA6501 LAX OAK 2243 0043 CRJ 2C

V'd put himself on the VDB list; a helpful agent said that
though the flight was oversold by 9, it was still not clear
that anyone would be put off.

At the gate, the big screen was asking for volunteers even
though the agent made no announcement and in fact we took
off at 44, so there were some empties after all. V had been
looking forward to a paid-for hotel room and many hundreds
of gift dollars, poor thing.

Another unremarkable flight, shorter than advertised; the
FA did notice that V had been on her flight last week;
whether that got him extra attention I don't know, as I
conked out immediately on takeoff.

P.S. Dara's LH upgrade using Uncle Vinnie's paper SWU
didn't clear, so she traveled in greater discomfort than we.

---

Correction flights.

Got to the airport for lunchtime and went to a so-called
Internet cafe named something like Bites and Bytes - the
bites are all premade sandwiches and stuff, and the bytes
are free dialup access. Kind of underwhelming, so I went to
Harbor Express and got a plate of "Mongolian beef (spicy!),"
which was, though dead sweet, quite spicy; brought this
back to the Internet cafe and accompanied it with a draft
Sam. The dialup was pretty good, and I read FT not much
slower than I would with your average Wi-Fi connection.

UA1244 SJC ORD 1320 1933 319 2A Ch9 Y

The grim-faced FA offered me "chicken salad or chicken
sandwich," to which I said I'd take either. I got the
sandwich, which was surprisingly not unpalatable - deli
mystery poultry with lettuce, tomato, and cheese on an
onion roll, with an interesting sour cream, onion, and
mustard sauce on the side. Chocolate chip cookie. I asked
for Courvoisier, at which the FA brightened up just a
little and poured me a double. Rather bumpy flight, landing
close to on time in a windswept Chicago.

UA 828 ORD BOS 2045 2358 733 2A Ch9 Y

538 Juliet, the 1805 departure, was supposed to be delayed
3.5 hours, but in fact it was ready to take off at the same
time we were. We played tag with them the whole (slow and
also rather bumpy) flight. Very cheerful and attentive
Boston-based cabin crew, probably glad to be home and not
much delayed at that. I had another Courvoisier followed by
whatever red they were pouring. I think it was a Merlot of
some California kind: it was bright, cherryful, and pretty
nasty. 538J came in about 5 minutes before us, and we landed
about 0015.