uchuuace
Jun 29, 09, 2:54 pm
Hi All,
Haven't done one of these before, but due to the different legs and varying level of service during the trip, thought I'd write one.
So Ms. uchuuace wanted to go back to the US, so instead of a boring NRT-SFO r/t, we made it a fun zig-zag in the spirit of FT! :D
NRT-SEA (6/19):
SEA-SFO (6/19):
Was originally on the ~6:15 flight so we could have a nice day of sightseeing, but that along with many others were delayed a couple hours, so we switched to the ~4:15 flight. Unfortunately, that was everyone else's idea, too, so no upgrades. Got some fun sightseeing in around SEA, including the waterfront and original Ivar's, the Seattle Space Needle, and a lot of shopping around town. Picked up matching Mariner's sweatshirts since SEA was crazy cold.
SFO-LIH (6/26):
Changed our original SFO-HNL routing so we could upgrade and dump some of those never-used e500s I never get to use in Asia. Had the tortellini which was better than I thought it would be. (Was expecting the equivalent of Y-cabin tortellini). Was quite surprised that the flight was full.
LIH-HNL (6/26):
Booked go! (Mesa) for LIH-HNL, which was a huge mistake. There were probably two people for the airline working at the airport, and the GA even said they didn't want to tell everyone the flight was delayed until after it was supposed to depart. Did hang around the airport and had lunch at the bar and had a delicious pulled pork sandwich. As an aside, I am definitely flying Hawaiin next time I have to flyer inter-island.
***Arrival in HNL:
So go! was delayed, and arrived at 3:00 instead of 2:00...which isn't too horrible...but here is what got me: UA decided to send my bag not on UA 41 to LIH and then transfer it to go!, but instead on UA 75...arriving in HNL at 6:00PM...this is AFTER the check-in agent in SFO SPECIFICALLY told me the bag would go straight to LIH and then transfer on go! to HNL.
When I got to HNL, go! wouldn't do anything until the next flight after mine landed...no dice. I had to call baggage services to track my bag and find out, but the CSR kept saying the fact it went on UA 75 didn't matter and that the bag was go!'s responsibility.
With go! refusing to pay for delivery of my late bag, I went over to the UA HNL baggage desk, and had the best piece of customer service in ages...UA re-routed the bag back to UA so that when it landed it would go straight to them instead of go!, and had the bag sent to my hotel that night (at their cost).
HNL was loads of fun, though the trip started a tad late. We stayed at the Moana Surfrider which is a GREAT hotel and had a great view of the ocean...waves were insane (hence the scrapes and cuts I got from wiping out!), but it was a really fun few days of connecting back.
HNL-NRT (6/29):
Called United to delay the flight one day since I wasn't feeling too well (had a horribly bad sunburn...#$#&*ing Coppertone I will NEVER buy again). While I was at it, found out that switching from a V to an H fare was only $75! With a ton of NC available, switched my and Ms. uchuuace's flights to the next day's flights and got upgraded to new config. rear-facing business class. Flight was pretty empty in business class.
On the flight, my sunburn was horribly acting up, and the service of the FAs in upstairs C-cabin was outstanding...brought everything I needed. Both myself and Ms. uchuuace has the Washoku, which was as usual (and as usual, I didn't eat much of the fish). What I was quite surprised on was the pre-landing chicken katsu which was much better than my previous C-cabin pre-arrival meals.
Overall, I would give this trip a thumbs up. Nothing I could have done about the ex-SEA delays (weather, I guess), but a few things I learned:
1) Flying ex-SFO to Hawaii, next time I'll take one of the non-HNL routes
2) Fly Hawaiin instead of go!
3) Call UA to get the HNL-NRT flight in H next time since it appears to be one of the easiest flights ever to upgrade.
Managed to write my name in Hemispheres in all of our seats, but no luck on spottings...and now the month is over! Next time!
Haven't done one of these before, but due to the different legs and varying level of service during the trip, thought I'd write one.
So Ms. uchuuace wanted to go back to the US, so instead of a boring NRT-SFO r/t, we made it a fun zig-zag in the spirit of FT! :D
NRT-SEA (6/19):
SEA-SFO (6/19):
Was originally on the ~6:15 flight so we could have a nice day of sightseeing, but that along with many others were delayed a couple hours, so we switched to the ~4:15 flight. Unfortunately, that was everyone else's idea, too, so no upgrades. Got some fun sightseeing in around SEA, including the waterfront and original Ivar's, the Seattle Space Needle, and a lot of shopping around town. Picked up matching Mariner's sweatshirts since SEA was crazy cold.
SFO-LIH (6/26):
Changed our original SFO-HNL routing so we could upgrade and dump some of those never-used e500s I never get to use in Asia. Had the tortellini which was better than I thought it would be. (Was expecting the equivalent of Y-cabin tortellini). Was quite surprised that the flight was full.
LIH-HNL (6/26):
Booked go! (Mesa) for LIH-HNL, which was a huge mistake. There were probably two people for the airline working at the airport, and the GA even said they didn't want to tell everyone the flight was delayed until after it was supposed to depart. Did hang around the airport and had lunch at the bar and had a delicious pulled pork sandwich. As an aside, I am definitely flying Hawaiin next time I have to flyer inter-island.
***Arrival in HNL:
So go! was delayed, and arrived at 3:00 instead of 2:00...which isn't too horrible...but here is what got me: UA decided to send my bag not on UA 41 to LIH and then transfer it to go!, but instead on UA 75...arriving in HNL at 6:00PM...this is AFTER the check-in agent in SFO SPECIFICALLY told me the bag would go straight to LIH and then transfer on go! to HNL.
When I got to HNL, go! wouldn't do anything until the next flight after mine landed...no dice. I had to call baggage services to track my bag and find out, but the CSR kept saying the fact it went on UA 75 didn't matter and that the bag was go!'s responsibility.
With go! refusing to pay for delivery of my late bag, I went over to the UA HNL baggage desk, and had the best piece of customer service in ages...UA re-routed the bag back to UA so that when it landed it would go straight to them instead of go!, and had the bag sent to my hotel that night (at their cost).
HNL was loads of fun, though the trip started a tad late. We stayed at the Moana Surfrider which is a GREAT hotel and had a great view of the ocean...waves were insane (hence the scrapes and cuts I got from wiping out!), but it was a really fun few days of connecting back.
HNL-NRT (6/29):
Called United to delay the flight one day since I wasn't feeling too well (had a horribly bad sunburn...#$#&*ing Coppertone I will NEVER buy again). While I was at it, found out that switching from a V to an H fare was only $75! With a ton of NC available, switched my and Ms. uchuuace's flights to the next day's flights and got upgraded to new config. rear-facing business class. Flight was pretty empty in business class.
On the flight, my sunburn was horribly acting up, and the service of the FAs in upstairs C-cabin was outstanding...brought everything I needed. Both myself and Ms. uchuuace has the Washoku, which was as usual (and as usual, I didn't eat much of the fish). What I was quite surprised on was the pre-landing chicken katsu which was much better than my previous C-cabin pre-arrival meals.
Overall, I would give this trip a thumbs up. Nothing I could have done about the ex-SEA delays (weather, I guess), but a few things I learned:
1) Flying ex-SFO to Hawaii, next time I'll take one of the non-HNL routes
2) Fly Hawaiin instead of go!
3) Call UA to get the HNL-NRT flight in H next time since it appears to be one of the easiest flights ever to upgrade.
Managed to write my name in Hemispheres in all of our seats, but no luck on spottings...and now the month is over! Next time!