United Business: PEK-ORD-BOS
Aug 30, 2005, 4:39 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Chicago
Programs: UA 1K, AA Gold
Posts: 3,640
United Business: PEK-ORD-BOS
Many of you are likely getting tired of my United Business flight reports, but no worries, after my upcoming flight to SYD, my SWUs for 2005 will be a fond memory….and you won't need to read anymore of these.
I arrived at PEK at around 3pm for the 4:35pm departure of UA 850 to Chicago. Unlike the SFO flight, this flight is well timed for a fairly productive workday prior to travel. By being late, I bypassed all checkin lines, but immigration lines (as usual) were slow. Today I was seated on the main deck in the forward cabin of Business Class, my SWU clearing about 2 weeks in advance.
The flight was completely full in Y, but there were 2 empty center seats in main deck business, but not next to me. For those of you interested, the F class restrooms (located at the front of C, so often confused) had a “First Class” sign on them. I wonder if that was a gift from an FTer.
There was a long line of planes to takeoff, so even though we pushed back right on time, we were not airborne until 5pm. We turned east after taking off, and then headed due north, much different than the flight path to SFO which is over Korea and Japan.
As usual, service began with hot nuts and beverages, followed by the main meal. Here is today’s menu:
To begin
Savory chili prawns, toasted goat cheese on focaccia and parma ham with cantaloupe
Lemon remoulade
Fresh seasonal greens
Oriental vinaigrette or Caesar dressing
Main course
(vegetable selection: broccoli and pumpkin batons)
Filet mignon with red wine and mushroom demi-glace
Mashed potatoes with spinach and corn and a carrots, zucchini and squash sauté
Pecan crusted breast of chicken with paprika cream sauce
Sauteed spaetzles and fresh spinach
Baked silver cod with yellow garlic sauce
Fried rice with scallops and Chinese seasonal greens
Dessert
International cheese selection
Brie and Cheddar cheese
Peach lattice pastry
Whipped cream and vanilla sauce
Midflight snack
Please help yourself to assorted treats between the two main meals.
Hot sandwiches or noodles are available upon request.
Prior to arrival
Roasted red pepper with coriander chicken ratatouille
Roasted red pepper sauce and a fresh fruit appetizer
Or
Fresh seasonal fruit plate with creamy yogurt
If this menu sounds familiar, it is the same menu (for the main meal) as on my PEK-SFO flight in July. I am wondering if it is a 2 month menu cycle or if they rotate PEK-ORD with PEK-SFO each month. The meal was exactly as described in http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...eferrerid=1841, and I had the cod once again, which was a bit overcooked but tasty. My main complaint about the meal was that the bread wasn’t warm.
Unlike on my last PEK-SFO flight, plenty of water was loaded, so water glasses (and Aquafina bottles) were not refilled from the tap, and the crew was fairly proactive at doing water runs every 30 minutes. I don’t like drinking out of a glass exposed to cabin air, so I used the mini bottles I picked up in the lounge (can’t bring your own water thru security at PEK unless you want the security officer to smell it).
Since this flight was arriving the US in the evening, I decided not to sleep and spent time reading, working, and relaxing. We flew a very northerly route, passing just below the North Pole, and there were only a few hours of darkness (you could tell by seeing the sun shining through the shades). No wonder PEK-ORD is only scheduled for 1:20 longer than PEK-SFO.
Mid flight there was the usual snack cart of sandwiches, fruit, chips, and candy. Note the sandwiches are not hot, but I like the cucumber sandwiches.
About 1:30 prior to landing, the F/A pulled up a window shade to rouse the cabin from sleeping – this was a bit more subtle than turning on the lights, and it was time for our pre arrival service. Due to the afternoon arrival in ORD, this is different from the breakfast meal on PEK-SFO.
This part of the meal service was fantastic – a large, red pepper stuffed with vegetables and ground chicken. Light, but very tasty and artfully presented. Bread rolls and croissants were offered as well. The wine glasses on the trays were filled with juice, which meant the portion of juice was very small. Tea and coffee were offered in ice cold cups (some F/As will put the cups on the trolley in advance, or warm them in the oven). I had to beg for a refill of juice when my tray was being collected, and my cup was grabbed before I could ask for another refill. My main complaint about this crew is they seemed to enjoy grabbing cups without offering refills – because there are 4 or 5 F/As serving main deck Business, the service gets really unpersonalized and sloppy. Very excited about flying upper deck to SYD.
We descended into ORD right on schedule, and when we were close to landing, we went up again and did a go-around. The captain announced there was a flock of birds on the runway and traffic was being redirected. I then listened into Channel 9 where the captain asked ATC to expedite our go-around, ATC then asked if there was an emergency, and the captain said “we’ve been flying 12 hours and need to land this plane quickly…we’re a little low on fuel”. Who knows if we were really low on fuel (or if the pilots were just ready to go home), but we landed just a few minutes later and docked at the international terminal around 4:25pm, about 10 minutes late.
The baggage claim in the International Terminal was simply chaotic. First of all, the priority tags didn’t expedite my bags. Second of all, one carousel isn’t enough for a fully loaded 747. Third of all, the carousel kept jamming up and stopping, and only after manual intervention would restart. Even though I breezed through immigration, the wait for bags was almost 30 minutes, and I had a 6:05pm connection to BOS. It is quite disturbing that ORD would build a new international terminal with such poor baggage capabilities.
After clearing customs, I rechecked my bag and boarded a crowded train to the domestic terminal, where I made it through security about 30 minutes prior to my departure to BOS, so no stop at the RCC. Conclusion – international transit at SFO is much better than ORD – but out of PEK the ORD flight is quicker and better timed…
UA 540 to BOS was on a 757, and given it was a Friday night, was completely full up front. We headed off right on schedule, and surprisingly were airborne within 15 minutes of pushback. Service began with beverages and hot nuts, but the meal wasn’t served until the second hour of the flight.
Choices were a chef salad or a hot turkey wrap. I had the turkey wrap, which was a wrap lined with salami, melted cheese and vegetables, and of course some turkey strips, with a large bowl of marinara sauce. Overall, fairly tasty, but I took out the salami because it was overkill. Dessert was an oatmeal raisin cookie, which of course was not served separately. Like typical short/medium haul domestic F meals, the presentation looked really bare and unattractive, but this meal did the trick for me. We landed in BOS just after 9pm, about 30 minutes early.
After spending an hour at the baggage claim (bags from the ORD flight took awhile to offload), my luggage didn’t arrive, so I hopped in a taxi, called the 1K baggage desk, and they confirmed my luggage was on a later flight and would be delivered to my hotel during the night. Looks like the TSA got jammed up with baggage screening.
Hope you enjoyed this report.
I arrived at PEK at around 3pm for the 4:35pm departure of UA 850 to Chicago. Unlike the SFO flight, this flight is well timed for a fairly productive workday prior to travel. By being late, I bypassed all checkin lines, but immigration lines (as usual) were slow. Today I was seated on the main deck in the forward cabin of Business Class, my SWU clearing about 2 weeks in advance.
The flight was completely full in Y, but there were 2 empty center seats in main deck business, but not next to me. For those of you interested, the F class restrooms (located at the front of C, so often confused) had a “First Class” sign on them. I wonder if that was a gift from an FTer.
There was a long line of planes to takeoff, so even though we pushed back right on time, we were not airborne until 5pm. We turned east after taking off, and then headed due north, much different than the flight path to SFO which is over Korea and Japan.
As usual, service began with hot nuts and beverages, followed by the main meal. Here is today’s menu:
To begin
Savory chili prawns, toasted goat cheese on focaccia and parma ham with cantaloupe
Lemon remoulade
Fresh seasonal greens
Oriental vinaigrette or Caesar dressing
Main course
(vegetable selection: broccoli and pumpkin batons)
Filet mignon with red wine and mushroom demi-glace
Mashed potatoes with spinach and corn and a carrots, zucchini and squash sauté
Pecan crusted breast of chicken with paprika cream sauce
Sauteed spaetzles and fresh spinach
Baked silver cod with yellow garlic sauce
Fried rice with scallops and Chinese seasonal greens
Dessert
International cheese selection
Brie and Cheddar cheese
Peach lattice pastry
Whipped cream and vanilla sauce
Midflight snack
Please help yourself to assorted treats between the two main meals.
Hot sandwiches or noodles are available upon request.
Prior to arrival
Roasted red pepper with coriander chicken ratatouille
Roasted red pepper sauce and a fresh fruit appetizer
Or
Fresh seasonal fruit plate with creamy yogurt
If this menu sounds familiar, it is the same menu (for the main meal) as on my PEK-SFO flight in July. I am wondering if it is a 2 month menu cycle or if they rotate PEK-ORD with PEK-SFO each month. The meal was exactly as described in http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...eferrerid=1841, and I had the cod once again, which was a bit overcooked but tasty. My main complaint about the meal was that the bread wasn’t warm.
Unlike on my last PEK-SFO flight, plenty of water was loaded, so water glasses (and Aquafina bottles) were not refilled from the tap, and the crew was fairly proactive at doing water runs every 30 minutes. I don’t like drinking out of a glass exposed to cabin air, so I used the mini bottles I picked up in the lounge (can’t bring your own water thru security at PEK unless you want the security officer to smell it).
Since this flight was arriving the US in the evening, I decided not to sleep and spent time reading, working, and relaxing. We flew a very northerly route, passing just below the North Pole, and there were only a few hours of darkness (you could tell by seeing the sun shining through the shades). No wonder PEK-ORD is only scheduled for 1:20 longer than PEK-SFO.
Mid flight there was the usual snack cart of sandwiches, fruit, chips, and candy. Note the sandwiches are not hot, but I like the cucumber sandwiches.
About 1:30 prior to landing, the F/A pulled up a window shade to rouse the cabin from sleeping – this was a bit more subtle than turning on the lights, and it was time for our pre arrival service. Due to the afternoon arrival in ORD, this is different from the breakfast meal on PEK-SFO.
This part of the meal service was fantastic – a large, red pepper stuffed with vegetables and ground chicken. Light, but very tasty and artfully presented. Bread rolls and croissants were offered as well. The wine glasses on the trays were filled with juice, which meant the portion of juice was very small. Tea and coffee were offered in ice cold cups (some F/As will put the cups on the trolley in advance, or warm them in the oven). I had to beg for a refill of juice when my tray was being collected, and my cup was grabbed before I could ask for another refill. My main complaint about this crew is they seemed to enjoy grabbing cups without offering refills – because there are 4 or 5 F/As serving main deck Business, the service gets really unpersonalized and sloppy. Very excited about flying upper deck to SYD.
We descended into ORD right on schedule, and when we were close to landing, we went up again and did a go-around. The captain announced there was a flock of birds on the runway and traffic was being redirected. I then listened into Channel 9 where the captain asked ATC to expedite our go-around, ATC then asked if there was an emergency, and the captain said “we’ve been flying 12 hours and need to land this plane quickly…we’re a little low on fuel”. Who knows if we were really low on fuel (or if the pilots were just ready to go home), but we landed just a few minutes later and docked at the international terminal around 4:25pm, about 10 minutes late.
The baggage claim in the International Terminal was simply chaotic. First of all, the priority tags didn’t expedite my bags. Second of all, one carousel isn’t enough for a fully loaded 747. Third of all, the carousel kept jamming up and stopping, and only after manual intervention would restart. Even though I breezed through immigration, the wait for bags was almost 30 minutes, and I had a 6:05pm connection to BOS. It is quite disturbing that ORD would build a new international terminal with such poor baggage capabilities.
After clearing customs, I rechecked my bag and boarded a crowded train to the domestic terminal, where I made it through security about 30 minutes prior to my departure to BOS, so no stop at the RCC. Conclusion – international transit at SFO is much better than ORD – but out of PEK the ORD flight is quicker and better timed…
UA 540 to BOS was on a 757, and given it was a Friday night, was completely full up front. We headed off right on schedule, and surprisingly were airborne within 15 minutes of pushback. Service began with beverages and hot nuts, but the meal wasn’t served until the second hour of the flight.
Choices were a chef salad or a hot turkey wrap. I had the turkey wrap, which was a wrap lined with salami, melted cheese and vegetables, and of course some turkey strips, with a large bowl of marinara sauce. Overall, fairly tasty, but I took out the salami because it was overkill. Dessert was an oatmeal raisin cookie, which of course was not served separately. Like typical short/medium haul domestic F meals, the presentation looked really bare and unattractive, but this meal did the trick for me. We landed in BOS just after 9pm, about 30 minutes early.
After spending an hour at the baggage claim (bags from the ORD flight took awhile to offload), my luggage didn’t arrive, so I hopped in a taxi, called the 1K baggage desk, and they confirmed my luggage was on a later flight and would be delivered to my hotel during the night. Looks like the TSA got jammed up with baggage screening.
Hope you enjoyed this report.
