I had a fun weekend in Dallas with warm and sunny weather.
One of the days we visited the Southfork Ranch which was the Ewing residence in the TV-series Dallas. As a coincidence there was a country and cowboy festival going on at the ranch during that weekend, so I got to enjoy a fun afternoon with traditional Texan culture, Wild Western!
Anyway, Sunday evening it was time to leave and my friend drove me to the airport in good time for the last evening flight to Los Angeles.
The UA check-in area was quite small, and there was no one in line for the single premium check-in counter.
Once again I got to keep my economy plus seat for the flight, not a comment!
With a quick check-in process we still had plenty of time before departure so we decided to find a cafe or a bar to have something to drink. Absolutely impossible!! The best we could find was a vending machine with instant coffee!! What a find…
We went back to the UA check-in and asked the man who had just checked me, but he confirmed there is actually not a single place in the public area of terminal B to have a drink.
We then asked if my friend could join me airside, but the answer was of course no, unless I was a child, disabled, or didn’t speak English.
Well a child I’m not, and I’m certainly not disabled either, but I could always pretend not to speak a word of English! Well we didn’t try…
With not much else to do we decided to say goodbye and I went airside.
United Airlines Red Carpet Club, Dallas
The airport was very quiet this evening and the staff at the security check looked extremely bored.
I went to the UA Red Carpet Club located almost right opposite the security checkpoint.
The staff at the reception looked extremely bored as well, they were surfing the net and solving a crossword to make the time pass quicker. Well it turned out the lounge was completely empty and I ended up being the only guest inside.
The lounge was quite small, but kind of cosy, certainly one of the nicer RCCs I have visited.
It had a nice view of the apron, of the two gates mostly visited by UA metal.
The snacks and drinks selection was also quite allright with vegetables, lots of fresh fruit, and cheese and crackers. Northing extraordinary, but certainly better than some other domestic RCCs I have visited. There was also a fridge with plenty of soft drinks.
One of the lounge dragons came into the lounge and asked if I wanted anything from the bar, and I actually decided to go for a whiskey, even though I had to pay for it.
While sitting in the lounge a UA plane arrived and parked at the gate next to the lounge, and it ended up being the one that would take me to Los Angeles later that evening.
Pics
Inside the Red Carpet Club in Dallas with a nice apron view
The self-service buffet in the Dallas RCC
Dallas-Los Angeles, flight UA 359 operated by United Airlines
Departure: 20:26
Arrival: 21:39
Aircraft: Airbus A319
Class: Economy Plus
Seat: 07F
The flight time to Los Angeles was quite long, three hours. I suddenly remembered they have nothing onboard to eat so I rushed to one of the cafes to buy a takeaway sandwich as I was starting to feel hungry.
Priority boarding as usual, quite a lot of people at the gate, which also meant quite a lot of people on the flight.
However I was up for a little surprise! I’m not sure if it was a coincidence or if the check-in staff had been nice to me (I try to think the latter), but I actually ended up getting my own row, as the only person on the plane. For a three-hour flight that was very appreciated!! ^
Considering the empty lounge and the few people who boarded when seating area 1 was called there were obviously not a lot of status passengers onboard, and perhaps they decided to look after one of the few existing ones after all.
Pushback a little late, but shortly afterwards we were airborne and I got to enjoy a nice view of Dallas during the climb.
Standard drink service during the flight, and we were actually offered refills due to the long flight time. On the main screen they showed a movie with Meryl Streep, but I was too tired to watch.
Somewhere over Arizona we encountered bad weather, the seat belt sign was turned on and I could see several flashes through the window. For a moment I was actually a bit worried the plane could be hit, but the captain got permission from ATC to climb to a higher flight level where we would be safer.
All went well though and we landed in Los Angeles a few minutes ahead of timetable.
Pics
Economy Plus seating onboard
DFW Terminal B seen from my seat
The UA safety demonstration video
Dallas by night
Again we parked at terminal 6, but since this isn’t the standard UA terminal the baggage delivery took place in terminal 7, which requires the long walk again through that long corridor.
There was a brief announcement about it just before the doors were opened, but I’m pretty sure several people did not hear that or did not understand what was said and ended up in the wrong baggage hall in the wrong terminal. I was actually unsure myself where to go.
Baggage delivery took forever due to many subsequent arriving aircrafts and the bags arrived in no particular order, both in terms of priority and flight number.
I had a reservation at one of the airport hotels, but at least the shuttle bus arrived almost immediately.
Next it’s time for some proper international first class again, 11 hours to Tokyo!!