Travel into the cold...but travel in style: UA in C/E+ TXL-FRA-ORD-MSP
Feb 10, 2006, 11:16 am
#1
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Atlanta (ATL)
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Posts: 1,590
Travel into the cold...but travel in style: UA in C/E+ TXL-FRA-ORD-MSP
Well, it´s this time of year again. Mrs berlinflyer and me have visited some friends and family in Minneapolis last February and have decided to do so this year again. Don´t ask me why we are going to MSP during a season in which Cancun, Accapulco or the Keys woud be the better and more logical choice. There are numerous reasons for this particular travel plan and that´s why there is hardly any chance for us to travel to Minessota during the summer.
I wanted to join the El Paso DO during the weekend of Feb 18th and 19th to get to warmer spheres and to meet fellow FT’er, but had to cancel that due to some family events that we wanted to attend. Finally, our routing looked as following: TXL-FRA-ORD-MSP-ORD-FRA-TXL, all except the TXL-FRA feeder on UA and both transatlantic segments on the 777, which I really enjoy each and every time.
Flight 1: 02/08/2006
Flight: LH 179 FRA-TXL
Aircraft: A321-100
Seats: 22B and 22C
Scheduled flight time: 0h45m
Actual flight time: 1h40m
We decided to arrive at Berlin`s Tegel airport (TXL) a little earlier than planned, because the winter weather was back to Germany (it has been around 0F two weeks ago) and our original flight out of TXL would have only allowed for a 50min connection time. So I thought to give it a try and show up at the airport for the earlier departure, which was a very good idea as we found out just a little later. The agent at the First Class Check-In confirmed that we could fly on the earlier flight and checked us in. But she couldn´t print our boading passes for FRA-ORD and ORD-MSP, because there had been a change in the reservation – an operational upgrade showed up in the system – not that we would mind.
We thanked the agent for letting us fly earlier and went to the Lufthansa Senator lounge to get some breakfast. Shortly after it was time for boarding and it turned out to be an almost fully booked flight. Got settled into 22B&C and waited for puh-back. The captain announced today´s flight time to be 45 minutes, which is typical for this short feeder to FRA. But it turned out to be totally wrong….
We took off into western direction and then turned south towards Frankfurt, Germanys biggest airport and often a mess in terms of delays of inbound traffic. After about 25 minutes, the captain already started the descent but stopped it just above the clouds – we were in a holding pattern. Time went by and no announcements were made. We were circling the sky and numerous passangers started to become nervous because of theire connections. It took forever until finally an anouncement was made from the flight deck and the final approach begun just minutes later. We touched down in Frankfurt with a delay of almost an hour.
Luckily, ourdeparture to Chicago was not until 1245pm, so we had plenty of time. As it turned out later, the flight that we were supposed to be on originally also came in late and we would have had a very hard time to make the conncection in FRA.
Stopped by the UA Check-In area and got our boarding passes. Indeed, we were upgraded to Business Class and got seats 13 H & J – perfect!!
After an additional hour in the Red Carpet Club, it was finally time to board the 777, which was painted in the new livery. Now all it needs are some new seats and UA will be just perfect. I am glad they just got out of Chapter 11 and are doing rather good lately.
Flight 2: 02/08/2006
Flight: UA 941 FRA-ORD
Aircraft: B 777-200
Seats: 13H and 13 J
Scheduled flight time: 8h55m
Actual flight time: 8h42m
Today´s flight was only about 60% full, with only 4 passangers in First Class and a handfull of empty seats in Business. I noticed that the crew took particular attention of people who tried to move form Economy to E+ and told them that this would be a different type of cabin. I like that a lot, as I think E+ is for those who paid for it or who earned it.
We had some champagne as pre-departure drink and shortly after, the doors were closed. We left the gate at the minute and were number 1 for take-of on runway 25R. It didn´t take us more than 6 minutes from the push-back to being airbone. Wow, never experienced that in Frankfurt before.
Very low clods and some strong winds from the West made the departure kind of bumby but at no times did it feel unsafe. We broke throught the clouds after about 10 minutes and the sun filled the cabin. This is one of the things that I like most about flying (except for some op-ups from time to time), you always get to see the sun. Warm nuts were served and our choice for a first drink was of course Baileys on ice, a tradition that we stared some time ago and that we follow until today.
We headed towards Amsterdam, London and the Irish Sea and then took a rather southerly route towards Canada. We didn´t even come close to Iceland or Greenland as I have experienced it numerous time during other flights to the US. Lunch serve started after about half an hour and today`s menu was as following:
TO BEGIN
Crabmest mousse and marinated roast beef appetizer
Fresh seasonal greens with Asian sesame ginger or bluie cheese dressing
MAIN COURSE
Filet mignon with shiitake mushroom Port dem-glace
Garlic mashed potatoes with carrots and zucchini
Breast of corn-fed chicken with blueberry peppercorn sauce
Glazed turned carrots, grilled courgette slices and almond croquettes
Ravioli stuffed with ricotta and herbs
Courgette and carrot spaghetti with olive tomato sauce and fresh parmesan
DESSERT
International cheese selcetion
Häagen-Dazs ice-cream
MIDFLIGHT SNACK
Fresh fruits and snacks
PRIOR TO ARRIVAL
Roast Beef on Ciabatta with fried corn rings
Honey mustard sauce
Cheese plate with fresh seasonal fruit
CHAMPAGNE
Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top NV Champagne, Duval-Lerby NV Brut Champagne
WHITE WINE
Laboure-Roi Chabilis, Maison Henry Brochard 2004, Geyser Peak Chardonnay 2004, Wente Vineyards Livermore Valley 2003
RED WINE
Chateau Lalande Vieliles Vignes 2002, Château la Bouitagne 2003, Bordet Norton Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, Predoncelli Three Vineyards 2002
I decided to go with the chicken, which was a good choice. Mrs berlinflyer took the Lasagne and it turned out it was even better than what I had ordered. But she wouldn´t trade with me J Of course, I finished the meal with some good ice-cream and a Port.
The food was very good and delicious and also very nicely presented. They even offered fresh parmesan cheese to go with the pasta, which was a nice detail. Actually, I wanted to try the Filet Mignon at first, but as I was watching “Babe, pig in a city” at the time the flight attended asked me for my choice of lunch, I just couldn´t order it anymore. Well, I´m just too sensitive, I guess J
The inflight entertainment programm wasn´t too impressive, as I had seen a lot of the movies before. But there was nothing to complain, since I go to finish some work, played a few games on my PSP and also started this trip report. This time, the flight went by pretty fast and after about 5 ½ hours, we came into Canadian airspace north-east of Goose Bay.
The last three hours of the flight went by smoothly and almost without any turbulences. A light snack was offerd 70 minutes prior to arrival and we both choose the Ciabatta sandwich. Shortly after, we started our decend and arrived at O`Hare at 250pm local time, almost 30 minutes ahead of schedule. No lines at the immigration but we had to wait pretty long for our luggage eventhough it was priority labeld.
Flight 3: 02/08/2006
Flight: UA 789 ORD-MSP
Aircraft: B737-200
Seats: 4A and 4B
Scheduled flight time: 1h00m
Actual flight time: 1h05m
We arrived at the gate about 30min prior to boarding and it seemded to be a full flight, since a lot of people were already waiting for the boarding call. The departure time of 5pm came cloeser and we had it all: a flight crew, flight attendends, passangers – but no plane. The indoming flight from Columbus, OH was about 45 min late, which gave us a new departure time of 530pm.
The flight turned out ot be 100% full and we finally pushed back at 545pm. Had to wait at the runway for another 10 min and off we were at just about 6pm. Made a very sharp left turn just seconds after take-off and leveled off after about 15 mnins of climbing. We had no clouds all the way to MSP and this guaranteed for some very nice impressions. Touchdown in MSP was shortly after 7pm and within 30min. we got our luggage and our rental car. Luckyli, I had reserved a SUV because it was snowing in Minessota that night – not that you would expect anything else up here J
To be continued……
I wanted to join the El Paso DO during the weekend of Feb 18th and 19th to get to warmer spheres and to meet fellow FT’er, but had to cancel that due to some family events that we wanted to attend. Finally, our routing looked as following: TXL-FRA-ORD-MSP-ORD-FRA-TXL, all except the TXL-FRA feeder on UA and both transatlantic segments on the 777, which I really enjoy each and every time.
Flight 1: 02/08/2006
Flight: LH 179 FRA-TXL
Aircraft: A321-100
Seats: 22B and 22C
Scheduled flight time: 0h45m
Actual flight time: 1h40m
We decided to arrive at Berlin`s Tegel airport (TXL) a little earlier than planned, because the winter weather was back to Germany (it has been around 0F two weeks ago) and our original flight out of TXL would have only allowed for a 50min connection time. So I thought to give it a try and show up at the airport for the earlier departure, which was a very good idea as we found out just a little later. The agent at the First Class Check-In confirmed that we could fly on the earlier flight and checked us in. But she couldn´t print our boading passes for FRA-ORD and ORD-MSP, because there had been a change in the reservation – an operational upgrade showed up in the system – not that we would mind.
We thanked the agent for letting us fly earlier and went to the Lufthansa Senator lounge to get some breakfast. Shortly after it was time for boarding and it turned out to be an almost fully booked flight. Got settled into 22B&C and waited for puh-back. The captain announced today´s flight time to be 45 minutes, which is typical for this short feeder to FRA. But it turned out to be totally wrong….
We took off into western direction and then turned south towards Frankfurt, Germanys biggest airport and often a mess in terms of delays of inbound traffic. After about 25 minutes, the captain already started the descent but stopped it just above the clouds – we were in a holding pattern. Time went by and no announcements were made. We were circling the sky and numerous passangers started to become nervous because of theire connections. It took forever until finally an anouncement was made from the flight deck and the final approach begun just minutes later. We touched down in Frankfurt with a delay of almost an hour.
Luckily, ourdeparture to Chicago was not until 1245pm, so we had plenty of time. As it turned out later, the flight that we were supposed to be on originally also came in late and we would have had a very hard time to make the conncection in FRA.
Stopped by the UA Check-In area and got our boarding passes. Indeed, we were upgraded to Business Class and got seats 13 H & J – perfect!!
After an additional hour in the Red Carpet Club, it was finally time to board the 777, which was painted in the new livery. Now all it needs are some new seats and UA will be just perfect. I am glad they just got out of Chapter 11 and are doing rather good lately.
Flight 2: 02/08/2006
Flight: UA 941 FRA-ORD
Aircraft: B 777-200
Seats: 13H and 13 J
Scheduled flight time: 8h55m
Actual flight time: 8h42m
Today´s flight was only about 60% full, with only 4 passangers in First Class and a handfull of empty seats in Business. I noticed that the crew took particular attention of people who tried to move form Economy to E+ and told them that this would be a different type of cabin. I like that a lot, as I think E+ is for those who paid for it or who earned it.
We had some champagne as pre-departure drink and shortly after, the doors were closed. We left the gate at the minute and were number 1 for take-of on runway 25R. It didn´t take us more than 6 minutes from the push-back to being airbone. Wow, never experienced that in Frankfurt before.
Very low clods and some strong winds from the West made the departure kind of bumby but at no times did it feel unsafe. We broke throught the clouds after about 10 minutes and the sun filled the cabin. This is one of the things that I like most about flying (except for some op-ups from time to time), you always get to see the sun. Warm nuts were served and our choice for a first drink was of course Baileys on ice, a tradition that we stared some time ago and that we follow until today.
We headed towards Amsterdam, London and the Irish Sea and then took a rather southerly route towards Canada. We didn´t even come close to Iceland or Greenland as I have experienced it numerous time during other flights to the US. Lunch serve started after about half an hour and today`s menu was as following:
TO BEGIN
Crabmest mousse and marinated roast beef appetizer
Fresh seasonal greens with Asian sesame ginger or bluie cheese dressing
MAIN COURSE
Filet mignon with shiitake mushroom Port dem-glace
Garlic mashed potatoes with carrots and zucchini
Breast of corn-fed chicken with blueberry peppercorn sauce
Glazed turned carrots, grilled courgette slices and almond croquettes
Ravioli stuffed with ricotta and herbs
Courgette and carrot spaghetti with olive tomato sauce and fresh parmesan
DESSERT
International cheese selcetion
Häagen-Dazs ice-cream
MIDFLIGHT SNACK
Fresh fruits and snacks
PRIOR TO ARRIVAL
Roast Beef on Ciabatta with fried corn rings
Honey mustard sauce
Cheese plate with fresh seasonal fruit
CHAMPAGNE
Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top NV Champagne, Duval-Lerby NV Brut Champagne
WHITE WINE
Laboure-Roi Chabilis, Maison Henry Brochard 2004, Geyser Peak Chardonnay 2004, Wente Vineyards Livermore Valley 2003
RED WINE
Chateau Lalande Vieliles Vignes 2002, Château la Bouitagne 2003, Bordet Norton Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, Predoncelli Three Vineyards 2002
I decided to go with the chicken, which was a good choice. Mrs berlinflyer took the Lasagne and it turned out it was even better than what I had ordered. But she wouldn´t trade with me J Of course, I finished the meal with some good ice-cream and a Port.
The food was very good and delicious and also very nicely presented. They even offered fresh parmesan cheese to go with the pasta, which was a nice detail. Actually, I wanted to try the Filet Mignon at first, but as I was watching “Babe, pig in a city” at the time the flight attended asked me for my choice of lunch, I just couldn´t order it anymore. Well, I´m just too sensitive, I guess J
The inflight entertainment programm wasn´t too impressive, as I had seen a lot of the movies before. But there was nothing to complain, since I go to finish some work, played a few games on my PSP and also started this trip report. This time, the flight went by pretty fast and after about 5 ½ hours, we came into Canadian airspace north-east of Goose Bay.
The last three hours of the flight went by smoothly and almost without any turbulences. A light snack was offerd 70 minutes prior to arrival and we both choose the Ciabatta sandwich. Shortly after, we started our decend and arrived at O`Hare at 250pm local time, almost 30 minutes ahead of schedule. No lines at the immigration but we had to wait pretty long for our luggage eventhough it was priority labeld.
Flight 3: 02/08/2006
Flight: UA 789 ORD-MSP
Aircraft: B737-200
Seats: 4A and 4B
Scheduled flight time: 1h00m
Actual flight time: 1h05m
We arrived at the gate about 30min prior to boarding and it seemded to be a full flight, since a lot of people were already waiting for the boarding call. The departure time of 5pm came cloeser and we had it all: a flight crew, flight attendends, passangers – but no plane. The indoming flight from Columbus, OH was about 45 min late, which gave us a new departure time of 530pm.
The flight turned out ot be 100% full and we finally pushed back at 545pm. Had to wait at the runway for another 10 min and off we were at just about 6pm. Made a very sharp left turn just seconds after take-off and leveled off after about 15 mnins of climbing. We had no clouds all the way to MSP and this guaranteed for some very nice impressions. Touchdown in MSP was shortly after 7pm and within 30min. we got our luggage and our rental car. Luckyli, I had reserved a SUV because it was snowing in Minessota that night – not that you would expect anything else up here J
To be continued……
Last edited by berlinflyer; Feb 10, 2006 at 11:20 am
Feb 13, 2006, 4:23 pm
#2
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Good report so far and I look forward to the rest. I must point out though that I think you were on a 757-200 to Minneapolis instead of a 737-200. Otherwise, United brought a plane out of the desert just for you!