Euroboy

‘Fun’ on UA & SK: Up and down the west-coast plus one planned transcon segment, two unplanned and a quick trip over the pond ;-)

Recent changes in my private life is having me shuttling between SEA and WAS every 2 weeks or so… and with the holidays approaching fast I ventured out on a YATCT (Yet Another Trans Con Trip) with a stop-over in San Diego and Copenhagen ;-)
I started out by going down to San Diego for a little R&R - away from the daily routine (annual retreat to review the past year and catch up on work):

This is also only my 2nd trip report – so be gentle on me…


UA1457, SEA->SFO, 12/10/03, B757, F-class, Seat 4D
Scheduled departure: 1:25 PM. Pushback @ 1:32 PM. Wheels-up at 1:41 PM.

Arrived at SeaTac 70 minutes before my flight. Mr. EasyCheck-In barfed when I tried to check in (did not recognize my upgrades ;-( or just did not like me – which is also entirely possible! ;-)), so I waited in line for 10 minutes at the 1K line… Very nice agent – 2 minutes later and I was ready to go (I *did* check luggage – shame on me! ;-)) and I had boarding passes from SEA->SFO->SAN. But what was this???? I looked at my boarding pass and to my horror saw four ‘S’ printed in big, bold letters….Aargh! My first time with the dreaded ‘SSSS’ on my boarding pass – seriously – and I did not even notice until I reached the 1K line in SEA… ;-(. Got the ‘royal’ treatment by the TSA folks – after standing in line for 20 minutes (with only 3 people ahead of me). ‘Nice’ beginning for this trip… not!

Oh well… headed to the RCC - light load this afternoon – the club was pretty empty and after a drink (or 2) I boarded at 1:05 PM. F-class was full (but not until 1:20 PM) – Y-class around 50-70%

OJ and water offered pre departure and we took off from 16L – and I noticed a NW 747 parked in the outskirts of the airport (which seems to have been there for a few days… sp?!).

Uneventful flight – the service was great once we reached 37K feet – and I had my fair share of (bad) white wine ;-) and absolutely no problems with refills…
Touched down in SFO pretty much on time and I ventured to the RCC (BTW – the T-Mobile WiFi access in the SFO RCC seems to only getting worse these days – what is up with that??? I was not able to connect at all… ;-()

UA955, SFO->SAN, 12/10/03, B757, F-class, Seat 6B
Scheduled departure: 4:25 PM. Pushback 5:25 PM. Wheels-up @ 5:31 PM.

We were delayed an hour due to late incoming aircraft. No biggie since SAN was my final destination and I was going to hang out there for a few days anyhow, so I was chilling in the airport while doing some people-watching and catching up on e-mail…
We boarded around 5:10 PM and flight was pretty much 100% full. Again OJ and water was offered pre departure…
Once airborne (27K feet) service started and it was again *excellent* on this short flight. The FAs did a great job serving all 24 F-class passengers (pretzels and drinks ;-)) and again the wine was flowing freely… ;-) Probably one of my best SEA->SAN experiences…
We touched down at 6:41 PM – about an hour late… and I headed north to Ranch Bernardo….


UA214, SAN->IAD, 12/15/03, A320, F-class, Seat 3B
Scheduled departure: 1:04 PM. Pushback 1:01 PM. Wheels-up @ 1:07 PM.

I arrived at the airport just short of 2 hours before my flight – hoping to catch up on mail (and sample a Bloody Mary or two ;-)). What a wonderful day in San Diego – scattered clouds, but plenty of sunshine and 64+ degrees. Hard to leave - especially knowing that 6 hours later the joy of the eastern seaboard and recent snowstorms would be awaiting…Imagine me walking from the car-rental shuttle bus, across the bridge in SAN and into the terminal wearing my long, very warm and very comfy trench-coat – fully prepared for the weather in IAD – but not very appropriate for a sunny 60+ degrees day in SD – when most people were in shorts and t-shirts... Needless to say that the CSR who checked me in was quick to make a few comments about my attire ;-)
The airport was quite empty, so I decided to check in using the 1K line (which is now *clearly* marked) instead of using Mr. EasyCheckIn (that fellow and I are not best friends these days). Check-in took 32 seconds (I’m not kidding). I was the only passenger for the 1K AND 2P line – with a selection of 5 CSRs - all idle! Got my BP – and favorite seat - 3B (I know – there is a danger of equipment downgrade from 320->319 – but I love this seat) and I ventured off to the SAN RCC (who has WiFi now – yahoo). Clearing security was a breeze – took less than 3 minutes and I was in the RCC. Today was pretty busy (compared to when I usually fly out of SAN – to SFO connecting to SEA after a full day). No bar-service – so I had to settle for coffee… ;-(
Boarding started 3-4 minutes late, but was very efficient. Settled into my seat and the cabin quickly filled up. F was 100% and Y probably 70-75% full. Pre-departure drinks offered (no pre-selected OJ or water!), so I opted for white wine (hey – it is always happy hour somewhere in the world – right? ;-)).
We pushed back from the gate a few minutes early and taxied directly to 17L (sp?) and took off with a great view over the harbor.
The purser on this flight was *GREAT*! I did not get her name – but the service was just fantastic! (and completely different from recent SEA->IAD/DCA flights I have taken). We were still going through 20K when she started the drink service. It was followed by dinner:


Seasonal Greens with tomatoes and Parmesan cheese

Chicken Francaise sandwich with mozzarella cheese

Seafood stew with a puff pastry top

Mushroom Boursin agnolotti with pomodoro sauce

Ice cream with sundae toppings


I had the chicken sandwich and it was actually quite good! Throughout the meal drinks and water was served aplenty. I’m still amazed by the attention and effectiveness of the purser on this flight – given that she was working all 12 F-seats alone. I hate to do this (and open an old FT thread), but the eastbound UA transcon flights from SEA seems to have a service-level that is below par – and the funny thing is that the west-bound flights are so much better… Hmm – what am I missing here? But this SAN->IAD flight was GREAT – and I have to say that I’m beginning to like the A320 (I never thought I would say that!). The 12 seat F cabin seems wider and more spacious than 757’s (don’t even go there for 737’s and 319’s – my favorite planes to hate – space-wise…). Given upgrade space I still look for 757’s – but if an A320 is in sight – and space is available – I’ll take it any day!

The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful – our ‘Super Woman’ in front took a well-deserved break for an hour or so and I chatted a bit with her about the state of the union @ United and helped myself to more wine… ;-) We touched down 20 minutes early in IAD and parked at C3 – as far away from the moon buggies as we possibly could be. The airport was quite busy loading flights to South America and a lonely LHR departure…


UA615, DCA->ORD, 12/18/03, A319, F-class, Seat 2A
Scheduled departure: 12:00 PM. Pushback 11:55 PM. Wheels-up @ 12:15 PM.

I love my job! (I keep telling myself that every morning – just to keep it fresh in my mind – since it usually fades by the end of the day… ;-)). Due to recent changes at work I had to take a, very!!! unplanned, break from my vacation and return to Seattle for meetings Friday morning. Last minute booking and I needed a changeable & refundable fare in case I had to stay longer, so I ended up booking an A-class ticket DCA->ORD->SEA->ORD->DCA (to avoid driving to IAD – and also because the ORD->SEA segment would be on a 767 – although the domestic version – but schedule was more important that equipment for me on this trip) – too bad the 3x bonus offer is not yet in effect… ;-)
Anyhow…got to DCA about 90 minutes prior to my flight. The airport was empty – and I mean *empty*. DCA is normally pretty decent to fly in and out of (compared to IAD and BWI), but today there were no lines at the UA counters, no lines at security and only 3 people in the RCC.
Check-in took 30 seconds. Nice not to have to hand over any certs for upgrades ;-). Security took another 2-3 minutes and I settled in the RCC (BTW – the DCA RCC now has T-Mobile WiFi access – yeah!!! - although UAL.COM say it doesn’t – go figure…)
We boarded right at 11:30 AM and I settled in 2A. I tried to switch to 2B to get an aisle seat but the gentlemen sitting in 2B was not interested – at all! (which I respect – I’m a big fan of aisle seats myself). F-class on this 319 was (as always on this route) 100% full – Y probably 50-60%. Pre-departure OJ and water served (no thanks – I was still sipping my venti Latte). Nice & chatty FAs – all ORD based crew and we pushed back 5 minutes early. Due to flow-control in ORD we got a wheels-up time at 12:21, so we ended up in the penalty box for a few minutes until take-off clearance were given at 12:14.
10-15 minutes into the flight the purser came and took drink orders. I figured it was after 12 PM, so a glass of wine would be in order…
Lunch was actually served on this flight – I’m not used to that – I guess I’m either on the 6 AM or 6 PM flight our of DCA and is accustomed to no meal service. The menu was – drum roll, please…. Ta da: Deli plate or chicken salad. Applause, please.
I opted out as more food would be served again on the ORD->SEA segment.
30 mins. into the flight the seatbelt came off and it was time for more drinks... ;-)

Short flight – but half way into the flight I realized that I was sitting next to an Air Marshall (hence why I could not secure 2B and why he did not want to switch with me for the window). He was reading ‘Terrorism and Democracy’ – and showed me his boarding passes for this mornings flights – had 3 F-class flights before this one and was continuing onto Cincinnati…. He was not very talkative, but he did tell me that he was based out of DCA and pretty much logs 35,000 – 45,000 miles every month – all on F-class tickets w/o any mileage accrual… ;-(

Despite the 10 minute delay out of DCA we landed 15 minutes ahead of schedule and parked at C29 (I think).


UA575, ORD->SEA, 12/18/03, B767, F-class, Seat 5B
Scheduled departure: 2:50 PM. Pushback 2:48 PM. Wheels-up @ 2:59 PM.

2-class 767 – yeah…I like the 767 domestic over a 757… Size does matter… ;-) I picked this flight primarily due to schedule convenience. Boarding was really quick. Y was 60-70% full and the F-class cabin had 2 or 3 open seats before we pushed back – including the one next to me. I was beginning to get my hopes high as we closed the doors and the seat was still not taken. But 2 minutes later one of the FAs brought up a passenger from Coach - a UA captain who, it turned out, used to fly 767’s and now was based out of SEA flying 737’s up and down the coast. We had a great conversation about frequent flyers, planes, and other aviation related stuff pretty much throughout the entire flight. I enjoyed the company so much that I skipped the deli-plate (that one is getting pretty old by now – I wish there would be some kind of variation). Food orders were taken as UGS first, then 1Ks and as one of the last ones to pick between the salad and the deli-plate was the captain next to me. I always feel a bit funny when the FAs ask one person at the row for his/her order and then comes back 5-10 minutes later to ask for the other people’s choices (especially when they are not available).

The FAs on this flight were extremely attentive – especially to our row – probably because of the captain sitting there. I had absolutely no problems with having my water and wine re-filled aplenty throughout the flight. We touched down in Seattle 5 minutes ahead of time.


UA938, SEA->ORD, 12/19/03, B757, F-class, Seat 4B
Scheduled departure: 2:19 PM. Pushback 3:05 PM. Wheels-up @ 3:13 PM.

Oh my – this was going to be one fun trip… traffic to SEA was just brutal – even at 12:30 which is when I left for my 2:13 PM flight. But I managed to get to the airport just around 1:10 and checked in (including luggage) and received boarding passes all the way to DCA. When I asked if all the flights were on time I got a prompt ‘Yes – absolutely – we are the #1 carrier when it comes to on-time departure and arrivals’ – already there I should have know that something did not smell as it should…
The lines through security were non-existing, so 10 minutes later I was at the RCC. I had just settled in with a glass of wine and opened my laptop to download mail (yet another RCC with WiFi!) when an announcement was made that the 2:19 PM departure would be delayed until 5:05 PM due to ATC weather problems in ORD. Hmm – really – wow – that’s almost 3 hours. No panic – you have a 45 minute connection in ORD for the last flight out to DCA for the night. You know there is a later (15 minutes) flight to BWI if you miss the DCA flight. You also know that the last flight directly into IAD left an hour ago. You remember that you checked in all your luggage…. OK – fine – PANIC! So I went and talked to one of the nicest people in the RCC to explore my options - but there were not much she could do for me. She gave me F-seats on the 10:20 PM red-eye to IAD and also on the 6:10 AM ORD->DCA flight the next morning.
So I went back to my laptop, got myself another glass of wine and started debating with myself whether I should try to get to ORD and stay for the night or grab the red-eye… I settled on the red-eye – which was 8 hours later. At that moment our original departure time was moved up to 4:45 – yahoo – 20 minutes saved… ;-( Next the debate was whether to go home or stay in the airport – knowing Seattle traffic on Fridays (and especially *this* Friday!) I really was not looking forward to combat the I405 parking-lot - twice. Just as I finally convinced myself to go home for a few hours and come back for the red-eye the RCC staff announced that ‘…we would be boarding the ORD flight *now*, so please rush to the gate’. In the gate area I overheard a conversation between UA staff that ORD had not yet given clearance for departure (before the 4:45 PM slot), but that we would have a better chance to get off the ground if we were on the tarmac… Hmmm – not a good start for this flight. But we boarded and pre-departure drinks were offered. About 10 minutes after the boarding was completed we pushed back and pretty much went directly to the runway and took off.
I just won’t even mention what the lunch/dinner was ;-) - but the service was excellent on this leg – and much above what I normally see on the direct SEA->IAD flights. I’m still on a mission to figuring out why that is…
About 45 minutes before arrival the purser gave an update of connecting flights in ORD. Most of them were delayed as well, so it appeared that very few connections would be missed. EXCEPT mine – what’s up with that??? ;-( Every flight – and I mean EVERY one – but mine had a delay of 1+ hour. Hmm – I had a last drink and started to prepare myself for an overnight in ORD.
We landed almost an hour late and I went to check the departure monitors just in case – and guess what – the ORD->DCA flight was listed with a 1.5 hour delay – SCORE! ;-)
I went to the C-concourse RCC and hung around for 45 minutes before I headed to my gate.


UA626, ORD->DCA, 12/19/03, A320, F-class, Seat 2C
Scheduled departure: 8:45 PM. Pushback 10:49 PM. Wheels-up @ 11:05 PM.

We boarded late, but the entire boarding process took only 10 minutes as the load was very light (40% or so in Coach and 8 in F – on an A320). The entire row 1 in the F-cabin was empty and if it wasn’t for the bulkhead I would have switched seats. Pre-departure drinks were offered (not only OJ or water) and we pushed back from the gate a little over 2 hours late.
I was so tired and I fell asleep almost right after take-off and woke up 15 minutes before we touched down in DCA. We were at the gate around 1:50 AM and I expected an empty airport, but it was actually quite busy due to several late incoming flights. My luggage made it (at that point I really did not care…) and I ventured downtown to Dupont Circle.


SK926, IAD->CPH, 12/21/03, A343, C-class, Seat 3B
Scheduled departure: 5:45 PM. Pushback 5:59 PM. Wheels-up @ 6:10 PM.

I was traveling to Copenhagen on an award ticket, but for whatever reason SAS would not give me any seat assignments until check-in time - and that combined with the heightened security alert I decided to get to IAD almost 2 hours prior to my flight.
IAD was a mess – the check-in lines almost every flight were unbearable long and I started to feel really good that I was early. When I finally located the SK counters in IAD I found myself being the only passenger in line – with perhaps 4-5 in the Y-line - go figure…
Check-in took 3 minutes and I ventured through security which was a breeze – probably less than 10 minutes.
SAS operates out of the B-gates with their daily non-stop to Copenhagen and are using the NW lounge right next to B20. I had an hour before my flight and was told that we would be boarding directly from the lounge (although I did not believe that at the time of check-in), so I decided to check it out. The lounge is pretty basic – pretty much no food, and a selection of bad wine and no amazing beer machine (I’m getting spoiled by NRT). The cool thing is that it has big windows overlooking gate 18-22 (sp?). So I grabbed a beer and hung out watching a KLM 767 being finalized before departure. Around 5:20 a boarding announcement was made – and we were supposed to board from the far back of the lounge. Well… so much for the ‘Boarding direct from the lounge’ – after handing over my BP we walked down the corridor and out to a waiting ‘moon buggy’. When all the C-pax were onboard the mobile lounge took off and drove us to the plane. I guess it is possible to board directly from the lounge if the aircraft if parked at B20 or B18 and I suspect the people on the KLM B767 had that pleasure...
The SK926 was parked remotely – at the end of the B-concourse. Not sure why since there were a ton of empty gates – almost every single one in the B-concourse minus a couple occupied by the KL 767, an AF 330 and I think a BA 777 (but I might be wrong). But the moon buggy took us all the way up to the nose of the plane, raised itself and we boarded directly from the shuttle into the C-cabin – very nice touch.
I’m still not happy with SAS’ C-class product. It has gotten much better after the 767->A340 equipment upgrade on their intercontinental routes, but I still prefer a UA or TG 777 in C. The seats are nice, but they look cheap – not sure what it is…But I’ve said it before – and I’ll say it again: I’m in LOVE with the little snack-bar between the two C-cabins – it is so cool that one can help him/herself to snacks, drinks, etc. between the meals and when the FAs are resting. UA could learn a lot from this. Ooh – and of course I also like the double-windowed lavatories – and they are big!!! ;-) (not that it matters, but I think it was Richard Branson (sorry – SIR Richard Branson) that once was asked if it was true he in fact encouraged sexual escapades on his Virgin Atlantic international flights to which he replied: ‘I can’t comment on that, but I can confirm that our lavatories indeed are bigger than most other airlines’…’ ;-)
Anyhow – I settled into 3B in an almost empty C-cabin. Less than 30% load. I had a seatmate (a very nice physician from Germany) and 5 minutes before the doors were closed I debated whether I should snatch one of the seats in the middle-section to have more room to spread out. Right when I convinced myself that would be the right decision 8 or 10 people were brought up from coach. So much for that idea… but not a big deal. Later in the flight I asked the purser about this and she told me that since C was so light the families of the captain and the co-pilot (that were all on the same flight!) were upgraded…
Champagne, water and OJ were offered as pre-departure drinks. We were a bit late due to a missing passenger and some last-minute luggage being loaded onto the aircraft. Around 6 PM we pushed back and after a short taxi we took off. Too bad it was dark as I really enjoy watching the take-off from the nose-mounted cameras on the SAS Airbus aircrafts.
15 minutes after departure amenity kits and headsets were distributed. The SAS noise-cancellation headsets are really nice and the amenity kits are comparable with UA, LH and TG.
Drinks were served 40 minutes into the flight and was immediately followed by hot towels and dinner.
I was really not hungry, so I did not pay a lot of attention to the menu on this flight, but I think it was something like

Beef Medallions and potato wedges with mushroom and root vegetable mix and red wine sauce

Seared chicken with mashed potatoes

Vegetarian choice

I had the beef which was actually quite OK. The entire meal was served on a single tray – including the cheese selection. I guess that is how SAS has always done it, but I find it a little bit ‘rushed’ and not suitable for an intl. C-class product… I’ll stop whining now… ;-)
A drink selection was offered post the meal and that was pretty much that for the meal service on this flight.
We had a strong tail wind, so the flying time was only 7 hours or less…
I pretty much fell asleep after the meal and woke up for breakfast 2 hrs before touching down in Copenhagen – wayyyyy to little time between dinner and breakfast, so I skipped the food. We touched down 10 minutes ahead of schedule and I ventured out in the cold December morning to catch a train…

SK925, CPH->IAD, 12/28/03, A343, C-class, Seat 7D
Scheduled departure: 12:00 PM. Pushback 12:15 PM. Wheels-up @ 12:21 PM.

I arrived at CPH about 90 minutes before my trip back over the pond. I was prepared for the worst since it was Sunday and I expected a crowd in CPH. But the airport was quite empty at 10:30 AM… SAS had (first time I have seen this) separate check-in lines for their EWR and IAD flights. The Business Class lines were quite empty and check-in took about 5 minutes.
Security at CPH was, as always, a 2 minute affair and I headed for the SAS Scandinavia lounge. It turned out that the lounge was closed for Christmas, so I hung out in the SK Business lounge for half an hour or so before heading through passport control (no line, BTW) and to the gate.
We boarded approx. 30 minutes before departure, and I found seat 7D in the first C-cabin of the SK A343. The load in C was about 65% and same in Y.
Pre departure drinks served 5 minutes before push-back (OJ, water and champagne).

Quickly after takeoff menus and wine lists were distributed and drinks were served and amenity kits distributed along with the noise canceling headsets.
The menu for this flight was something like:

Snack

Mixed Salad

Duck Liver terrine with red onion marmalade

Pork medallions and potato wedges with mushroom and root vegetable mix and a red wine sauce

Or

Seared salmon with potato and parsnip mash, roasted zucchini and tomato sauce

Or

Danish beef patty served with potatoes, peas, fried onions and brown sauce

Or

Jasmine rice with vegetable ragout and red curry sauce (vegetarian)

A cheesy or sweet finish


Before landing

Dry cured ham with pasta, tomatoes, leek and caper apple + fresh fruit salad


Hot towels were handed out and the meal service started pretty much right after.
I had the salmon which was surprisingly good (despite my dislike for SAS’s food service in C… ;-)). The service was excellent on this flight – several refills of wine, water, etc. during the meal – and bread was offered 3 or 4 times.

After the meal I worked a bit, watched a movie and helped my self several times to the wine and snacks at the little galley (and of course admired the view from the lavatories ;-)) plus playing with the IFE – I just find the nose-mounted and the belly-cameras fascinating…;-)

We arrived in IAD 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Immigration took only 15-20 minutes (I recall *much* worse situations @ IAD), but we waited 20+ minutes afterwards before the luggage showed up… go figure.


UA221, IAD->SEA, 1/4/04, A320, F-class, Seat 2C
Scheduled departure: 12:45 PM. Pushback 12:42 PM. Wheels-up @ 12:51 PM.

I was originally booked on the 5:10 PM flight to SEA, but the UG list was really ugly so I opted for the 12:45 departure instead. I got to IAD pretty late – just over an hour before my flight. The airport was really empty (I feared the worst being the last day of the holidays). Check in took just 3-4 minutes – and I was on my way to the security check-point…
No real line at the security check-point (3-5 minutes or so) and I went directly to the C terminal and walked to the nearest RCC which of course did not open until 2 PM (yes – I know – I could have looked this up in advance) – so I ventured in the opposite direction, pass my gate and found a RCC that not only was open – but also was staffed with really friendly people (a rare thing @ IAD in my experience).

I boarded 20 minutes before departure and found my seat. The load turned up to be 100% in F and 90%+ in Y.
Pre-departure drinks were offered and menus were handed out. It was after 12 – so what the heck – I opted for a Bloody Mary. The menu for this transcon flight was:

Heartland field greens with carrots and yellow bell peppers
(Asian sesame ginger or classic Caesar dressing)

Chicago-style filet mignon sandwich with caramelized onions
(Horseradish mayonnaise and roasted red pepper in garlic and oil)

Breaded breast of chicken with green peppercorn sauce
(Roasted red potatoes, baby carrots and asparagus)

Portobello mushrooms stuffed gnocchi with basil cream sauce
(Toasted pine nuts and shredded Parmesan cheese)

Ice cream with sundae toppings


…and really bad wine (both red and white) to accompany the meal. And I mean *bad* wine. I already forgot the name of both the red (it was a merlot) and the chardonnay (I must have suppressed it – I tasted it and I had to switch immediately to gin + tonic – could not even finish the glass). I find this a bit surprising given this is a premium transcon flight…
Oh well – fortunately it is hard to mess up a gin & tonic, so that became my friend for the remainder of the flight ;-)

The purser started out taking my order as the first and mentioned that I was the ‘top-dog’ on this flight – the only 1K – which frankly surprised me. I could understand if I was the only UGS – but no – the only 1K on this flight…Well – did *that* make me feel special or what? ;-)

I had the breaded chicken – which again surprised me quality-wise. I guess I’m just getting used to being fed the Deli-plate, so any diversion from that is a pure gourmet meal for me… the only complaint would be that I wish there would be more greens with the meal – perhaps a separate bowl of salad as an appetizer, but that might be too much to ask for – even on a 5+ hr. transcon route.
The service was really good (as it usually is on west-bound IAD->SEA flights) – the FAs were quite attentive and accommodating during the entire flight and were all in a chatty mood which made this a very enjoyable ride. And as I mentioned earlier - I’m also starting to warm up to the A320 – even for those long transcon flights – they seem roomier than the 757’s – and they have laptop power (when turned on) – yahoo! ;-)

We had a passenger in F who needed oxygen (which I guess in itself is not that uncommon). The purser and FAs changed the cylinder once but then about 2/3 into the flight the purser asked over the PA whether we had a doctor or a nurse onboard. A minute or two later a guy came up from Y and took the seat next to this person (and the original occupant of that seat was sent down to Y…). Some talking went on for 20-30 minutes – resulting in the doctor going back to his original seat and we proceeded as planned into SEA where we arrived 10 minutes early and the plane was met by paramedics who helped the passenger out and after 2-3 minutes the rest of the pax de-planed.

The UA baggage claim in SEA was a complete zoo – there were luggage *everywhere* - on the floor spread around the carrousels – seems like luggage from one or two flights from SFO were offloaded just minutes ago and were sitting on the floor. It took 50 minutes! before my suitcase finally showed up and I could begin the last part of my journey home.

Now I just have 3 days before heading out again – and hopefully will be able to find time for another trip report...

pallensf

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Patrick A. Inouye, LMT
volunteer trip reports moderator

hamburgler

Have you tried the SEA-CPH flight? Last time I took it we had a great, multi-course meal. I think the IAD night flight gets a one-tray service due to the short length of the flight.

hamburgler

Euroboy

I have been on the SEA->CPH SK flight a ton of times (I live in SEA). I don't recall their food service being much different, but I do recall it was a multi-course meal last time I was on it. I actually like this flight much better than the IAD->CPH - seems like the 7 hours is just not enough time to eat, drink, sleep and work... ;-)

Sherman

Euroboy,

Nice trip report. I was also on SK925 on December 28th but in Y class which was 95% full.

The pax manifest revealed bunch of upgrades and frequent flyer awards in C that day. I guess you were one of them.

mad_atta

Nice report! How do you find the SK C seats for comfort, recline and space compared to UA? Am I right in thinking that even the newer config is only 50" pitch or do I have that wrong?