sftrvlr

The final leg of my 10 day 10 airplane odyssey! I gave up trying to explain my bizarre travel habits to friends and family long ago. They couldn't possibly understand why anyone would spend 10 days on 10 airplanes. Even my travel agent colleagues get glassy eyed when I espouse the virtues of maintaining elite status in a frequent flyer program. But for me, flying is half the fun of vacation, so I continue on my merry way, and write about it on FlyerTalk, where this type of thing is not considered particularly unusual .

I passed the time between flights in the lovely first class section of the Red Carpet Club at Narita. For those that may not be familiar, United operates their Asia hub from Tokyo, and they have a large presence at Narita Airport. I'm not sure whether United or Northwest is the largest US carrier there, but it must be a close race. A dedicated concourse was opened quite recently to house United flights, which has significantly cut down on remote arrival stands ... a good thing! The Red Carpet Club is among the largest in the system. The lower level must seat a couple of hundred people, and the upper level contains a dedicated international first class lounge with a fantastic view. It was packed. I found a seat near the window though, and spent an enjoyable couple of hours sipping a gin and tonic (or two) and nibbling on sushi, watching the very active runway at Narita. I didn't know Turkish Airlines served Tokyo, but now I do. Boarding was called at about 430PM.

UA852 NRT-SFO
Seat 2J / United First Suite / 747-400
Scheduled: 1705-0905
Actual: Can't remember, but it was an unusually short flight (a bit less than 8 hours)

The flight was oversold and they were begging for volunteers, but didn't seem to be finding any, and there were about 20 passengers milling around the counter hoping to get on. They gate agents seemed very harried that day. Judging by the crowds in the Red Carpet Club, I think pretty much every United flight that day must have been full. I hope they were making some money! I was greeted at the door (1L) and directed to seat 2J. It was the same aircraft that had carried me to Narita earlier that day, so I had the same grungy seat. I signed the United Voices page of Hemispheres for the second time that day. Champagne, juice or water in plastic cups was offered. Amenity kits, headphones, menus and newspapers also. I noticed that the gentleman who was seated in 1J from Bangkok to Narita, was now in 3J for this flight. We started a nice conversation that was interrupted by the safety demo, and we never managed to finish. I thought he knew far too much about air travel NOT to be a FlyerTalker, but never asked him. So I posted on FT the morning after I got home to ask if anybody was on my flights, and it turned out to be our very own gabrielz!

Service was wonderful on this flight. Cocktails were offered after departure and meal choice taken. I wasn't last this time.

DINNER TOKYO-SAN FRANCISCO

To Begin
Join us in a sampling of appetizers

Crispy scallop potstickers with mild Thai chili sauce
Prosciutto ham and mozzarella cheese in endive
Ratatouille in tomato with honey mustard vinaigrette

Salad
Fresh seasonal greens with cucumber, red bell pepper and croutons
Hot sauteed herb shrimp
Asian citrus or tarragon cream dressing

Main Course
Filet mignon with shiitake mushrooms and port wine demi-glace
or
Tropical BBQ chicken with Hawaiian BBQ sauce

The above entrees include your choice of:
Oven roasted three potato hash, egg fried rice or steamed rice
Asparagus and pepper medley or broccoli florets

or
Lemongrass grouper
Chasoba noodles, mixed seafood broth and assorted vegetables
or
Japanese Obento selection
An appetizer of spicy vinegared horse mackeral, shrimp with lily root, shiitake mushroom stuffed egg, simmered sweet potato and udon noodles
A main course of silver cod in soy mirin sauce with shimeji mushrooms, vegetables, gingko nuts and steamed rice
Served with green tea

Dessert
International cheese selection
Brie, Appenzeller Swiss and Blue cheese

Haagen-Dazs ice cream with sundae toppings

Fresh seasonal fruit

Prior to arrival
Cream cheese scrambled eggs on Canadian bacon with fresh seasonal fruit
Hollandaise sauce
A low carbohydrate alternative
or
Fresh seasonal fruit with creamy yogurt

* Today's menu features beef from Australia

When making reservations on future flights to and from Japan, you may secure the Obento meal service by preordering

The wine selections were the same as the previous flight, with the addition of premium sake and Sandeman's port.

I had the chicken, which was dry with a quite unpleasant, sickly sweet BBQ sauce. Oh well, I wasn't that hungry anyway. Had some cheese for dessert, with a nice glass of port. United's food is generally good, but this time they missed the mark. I do think they need to improve their offerings in the cheese course. It's nowhere near the level of other carriers. I skipped breakfast before landing.

All-in-all, a wonderful trip to Asia, with some fantastic flights and wonderful hotels. And no major glitches, which was a plus.

I hope you had as much fun reading this as I had reporting it.

jef7

Ahhhhh, sftrvlr, flying to different exotic destinations and doing it in style! What an awesome trip report. Truly takes us all busy flyertalkers into a relax mode from very busy work schedules. Heck, why only 10 days and 10 airplanes . We want more. Thanks sftrvlr.

maspablo

Now that I stayed up an hr past my bed time , i will dream of doing this myself !
awesome report , I hope I can figure out a way to do similar trip on OW carriers , for reasonable $$ .

Imperial Special

Really good report. Many thanks. ^

Babu

Has to be one of the top 10 reports ever posted here on FT! ^ ^

Seat 2A

Right away I knew this would be a great Trip Report, with or without a glitch. Great job, sftrvlr BTW, was the title "Heavy Snack" your terminology or Asiana's?

sftrvlr

Asiana's! I thought it was rather odd terminology for what I considered a full meal service. I'm on their daytime flight LAX-ICN in a couple of weeks, so I'll be able to compare then. I had more amazing luck for a long weekend at the JW Marriott in Phuket in May. Snagged Asiana first class going, and Singapore Airlines first coming home. Maybe another trip report will be in order.

PS
I'm just about to dive in to your continuing report from South America. After I pour a glass of wine and settle in for a good read .