BlissWorld

Due to the recent amazing LAX-FRA fare deal, I decided to take a last minute pseudo MR/trip to Deutschland. Since it was an el cheapo ticket, I was not able to upgrade any of the segments except for LAX-IAD. However, because I mistakenly booked LAX-AMS as a through flight, and not LAX-IAD-AMS, I was not able to put myself on the upgrade list until the day of departure I know, I know, I wasn't paying attention.

Day 1 LAX-IAD-AMS-FRA
I got out of bed fairly early in anticipation of horrendous LA traffic. To my surprise, the freeways were not as heavily congested as it normally would have been on a Friday morning. I guess a lot of folks decided to make it a long Presidents' Day weekend like I did. I parked my car in my usual parking spot in lot C, took the shuttle to terminal 6, and arrived at the check in counter 90 minutes before my flight. Premier lobby was fairly empty. Since 1K/F line was occupied, a staff at C counter waved me over. She was friendly, so I thought I'd push my luck in trying to upgrade an nonupgradeable fare . I first asked her if I could upgrade LAX-IAD (although the availability the night before showed C0 ). She asked me if I wanted to use 500 milers. I told her if I could upgrade all the way through AMS, then I'd be glad to use my SWU. To my surprise, she said yes (Don't get too excited). So, I retrieved my boarding passes in Y and my DM card waitlisted for C to the RCC.

I got a glass of water and sat down to relax. I looked through my boarding passes only to find that I was only waitlisted for United Business LAX-IAD, and NOT IAD-AMS!!! So, I called Hal at United, only to find out the dumb agent had taken 3 SWUs out of my account to upgrade LAX-IAD!!! I decided to get in line at RCC to check to see what was going on with my upgrade only to get stuck in line behind this guy trying to ticket a complicated itinerary Since it was time to board, I decided to head over to the gate instead. I approached the podium and asked the agent to see if I were put on the waitlist for IAD-AMS. She told me unfortunately my PNR was not eligible for upgrade (figures ). So I asked her to switch my upgrade instrument from SWUs to 500 milers but she told me she couldn't do it! At the same time, I looked up the new status monitor and saw I was #3 on the waitlist.

I called MP, explained what had happened, and surprisingly the agent was able to fix everything for me. Just as I was about the hang up, I heard my name being paged. YAY, I got my business seat. At least I can sit comfortablyfor a few hours before continuing my journey to Frankfurt.

I boarded the int'l configured 777, settled into my seat, said hello to seatmates, and took a short nap. Normally, this same aircraft continues onto AMS, which was where I was headed, but I knew there would be a aircraft change at IAD-to a 767. I guess they weren't anticipating that many passengers. Shortly after take off, the purser came to take meal orders. She came to me first (weird, as I couldn't have possibly been the only 1K onboard) and offered the usual omelette or fruit plate. I picked the omelette knowing I should eat a hearty meal before I get stuck in E+ for the next 8 hours

The service was decent. Coffee and water refilled offered throughout the flight.

We landed at Washington Dulles a few minutes ahead of schedule. I proceeded to the Red Carpet Club at concourse C. The RCC agent gave me my drink chits (if you follow the UA forum, you'd know that the RCC agents are infamous for not handing out drink chits so I was surprised she offered me a couple) and sent me downstairs. I logged onto FT to visit my friends and got ready to board my next flight IAD-AMS. This time, however, I will be in E+

I boarded a fairly full 767. I ended up getting a seatmate. I settled into my seat. After everyone boarded, a NRSA stormed in and sat in a row and placed all of his belongings in all three seats The FAs came by to pass out headsets. This was when things got interesting. I noticed that my audio jack was missing. I wasn't going to put up with not being able to watch the movies for the next 8 hours. So I asked the FA if I could sit in the aisle of that row the NRSA was sitting. He said it wouldn't be a problem. So I moved over and the NRSA got nasty. He kept staring at me and looked behind. I just ignored him and went on my business. Then, he proceeded to call over a female FA, told her something in Dutch (must be really obnoxious, as the 2 dutch girls sitting next to me were totally staring at me at this point). The FA, came over to me with an attiude, asked me where my assigned seat was. I told her my audio jack was missing, so I moved. She then blatantly lied to my face and told me the video wasn't working at my row. She then took my to the back of E+. At this point, I said to her firmly: "I know he wants a row to himself, but he's a NRSA and I'm an 1K." After discovering my 1K status, her attitude changed dramatically. She started to apologize to me profusely (a little too late!). She then told me she would have someone bring me a skykit (compensation) for the inconvience. I didn't want to make it a bigger scene than it already was, so I just settled into my seat. I went back to the NRSA's row to get my pillow and he had the audacity to say to me "Crew rest, this row is blocked" I just glared at him and went back to my seat. At this point, the FA realized what she had done, and came back to apologize again and brought me another skykit (can you say, guilt?). She then made an effort to appreciate my business as an 1K. More details can be found the thread I started in UA forum. I actually got a couple of responses from UA and I have yet to submit a formal complaint, so I'll keep you updated.

Anyway, other than that, the flight was fine. Economy plus was actually doable. I later found out my 2 skykits were worth 10,000 miles total. Not bad, I suppose. We arrived at AMS a few minutes early.

I wandered around the enormous Amsterdam Schiphol airport.



At this point, I was really tired and I just wanted to sit down. I cleared immigration and headed straight to the Star Alliance lounge. It wasn't an official Star Alliance lounge. Rather, a contracted lounge was available for all Star Alliance Gold and premium cabin passengers. The lounge was pretty spacious with lots of chairs. The food offering was limited, but plenty of snacks and drinks were available.




There were a couple of people snoozing on the sofas. They must have come in from a long flight. I drank a strong cup of espresso, lounged for a few more minutes and headed for my flight to my final destination, Frankfurt.

The AMS-FRA segment was on a LH 737. It was just a standard 737 short hop plane, nothing to write home about. A snack was offered but I didn't touch it. We landed at FRA a few minutes late.

BlissWorld

Day 2
Frankfurt

Fortunately, immigration clearance is only needed upon the first entry of a Schengen Staaten. I was able to exit Frankfurt airport quickly. I went to the nearest currency exchange, got some Euros (learned US dollars are pretty much worthless), and followed the sign to S-Bahn.

I don't speak German that well so I just stood in front of the fare machine trying to figure out my destination code. It was a bit overwhelming and intimidating since people were waiting behind me. Just as I was about to give up, the lady behind me and her son helped me getting my ticket. With limited English skills, she said to me "I go mit." I understood her! She'll go with me! I showed her a subway map and the station I needed to get off, and she took me to the S-Bahn and got on the same train. She tried to talk to me with her broken English, and I tried to respond with my broken German I don't know where she was headed, but she told her son to get off at a station and she would take me to my station!! I was really surprised to find such a friendly lady who was willing to personally take me to where I was trying to go. If I were lost in NYC with limited English speaking skills, I'd get kicked off the platform After a short 15-20 minute train ride, we got off at Konstablerwache, which was apparently a popular shopping destination: Zeil Straße. She pointed at the direction that I needed to go, wished me a good trip and went back to the S-Bahn ^

I was looking at my map and realized she had pointed me to the wrong direction See, I'm not totally clueless afterall I immediately turned around, walked back a couple of blocks and found my hotel, Westin Grand Frankfurt.

I entered the lobby and found the hotel to be very inviting. The hotel had recently been remodeled and it showed. Everything looked brand spanking new and was tastefully decorated. The entrance sitting area along with the back lobby were accented with Vintage automobiles.





Upon walking to the check in counter, I was greeted warmly by the staff. He went to retrieve my Platinum folder already set aside with Platinum amenity card and room keys in it. I was informed that I was upgraded to a junior suite. However, since I was at the hotel early, the room was not yet ready. So, he took my luggage and I walked around town for a bit. I decided to walk along Zeil Straße, only to find it a bit overwhelming as there were a lot of people shopping on a Saturday afternoon. I walked along Zeil, and decided to go to Romer/Romerberg. There, I saw a couple of historic German buildings:







I took some pictures, walked around, and just people watched. There were quite a few people hanging out despite it being a pretty chilly day. I walked along Romerberg and to the Rhein River and the bridge to get a pretty good view of Frankfurt.







I stood there taking in the view for a while. It was lovely. When the windchill finally got to me, I decided to head back to the hotel. I walked along the river and found the Museum für Moderne Kunst (Museum of Modern Art),



which just happened to be on my agenda. I really enjoy modern/contemporary art, so I had to visit. I entered a modern lobby (of course)


to find 4 levels of contemporary art pieces scattered around the museum. First, I entered a room filled with 3 colorful barrels and a light over them.



Don't ask me what that's supposed to mean. I don't try to understand art, I just observe them. I continued to walk around, looking at difference pieces, until I came to a corner with floor and ceiling windows with a view of streets of Frankfurt.



I stood there for a while, tried to look out and enjoyed the view. I took a picture, and went on to explore the rest of the museum. The museum was pretty interesting and filled with many great pieces. I thoroughly enjoyed my tour until I saw this piece



Now I interpreted it as modern "Heil Hitler" since the arms were dressed with dress clothes. At first, I found it to be disturbing, but I realized I was in Germany and people no longer tried to hide the unfortunate past. Many people decide to express the emotions through modern art.

I left the museum, went to a grocery store to pick up some water and chocolate, and headed back to my hotel.

Upon returning, there was a long line of people checking in. One of the check in agents went to the back room to get the agent who helped me earlier. As soon as he came out, he recognized me and waved me over to give me my room keys and sent me to my suite.

As soon as I entered the suite, I was wow'd by the amenities. I love modern decor, but YMMV. There was a half bath right by the foyer.



A goodies bar was to the left that included a complimentary bottled water and an expresso machine.



The living room had a sofa and chair, plasma TV, Bose surround stereo system, and a dining area.







Even though the agent told me it's a jr suite, the suite was fully separated and looked more like a full one bedroom suite. I was pleasantly surprised to find fresh flowers/orchids on the coffee table decorated tastefully. There were also fresh orchids in the bathrooms.



The master bedroom had the infamous heavenly bed and a large working area with plasma TV. I really like the lighting in the room, there were various types of mood lighting and all the switches were either by the bed or the door.





There was a see through window separate the master bathroom and the bedroom The master bathroom had a large soaking tub, a shower pick for the tub (cool looking), modern sink area, separate heavenly shower, separate WC, BLVGARI bath amenities along with Heavenly Bath products, and most impressively, heated floors! It made the bathroom very warm and cozy and was much appreciated during the cold months in Frankfurt. The bathroom was also wired with speakers.





Just as I finished my initial exploration of the room, the bellman brought up my luggage. He showed me the room (and how to use some of the functions) and made a cup of espresso for me ^ When are we going to get this feature in the US Westins?

There were a few restaurants within the hotel and they all looked very nice. Unfortunately, I was way too tired to want to go to a restaurant. So, I decided to order room service. They actually had an impressive menu with plenty of healthy and delicious choices. I ordered some frankfurt sausages and applestrudel with a pot of herbal tea. It very delicious and the table setup was top notch.





Shortly after dinner, I unwound, watched some TV, and went to bed. I had to get up in just a few hours to catch for ICE train to Munich for the Team DO in Munich.

BlissWorld

Day 2
MUC rolleyes Team DO

I woke up at the crack of dawn to catch my ICE train from Frankfurt to Munich. I didn't sleep much as I was still pretty jetlagged. I made myself a cup of extra strong espresso and walked along Zeil Straße for a bit. Wow, what a difference! The usually crowded street was now completely empty! I walked around and took some random pictures



I went to the S-Bahn Konstablerwache station to catch the train to Frankfurt Hbf. The S-Bahn station was almost empty.



It only took a couple of minutes until the S-Bahn arrived at Frankfurt Hbf. I went up to the platform level to find an amazing huge train station. There were more than 20 platforms throughout the station. There were trains ready to depart to various parts of Europe. My train was the ICE (Inter City Express) and was scheduled to depart in 40 minutes. With some time to kill, I decided to go outside of the train station. The train station exterior was beautiful and grand. I was also able to catch a glimpse of the sunrise slowly crawling above the Frankfurt skyline.





It was getting really chilly outside, so I went back into the station hoping to get warm. Unfortunately, because the station was open to so many tracks, there was no heat. Not wanting to freeze my butt off, I decided to go into a bookstore to join the rest of the people inside pretending to look at magazines but really just wanted to get warm About ten minutes before the scheduled departure time, I went to take some pictures of the train station.







Finally, I saw my train arriving slowly onto platform 6.



My car was at the very end, so I had to walk all the way to the end of the platform. As a California native, I have never even been on an amtrak (I have been on various types of trains, however), let alone a high speed train. I was very excited to try it out. I got on the train, found my seat, and immediately started comparing the train seat with an airline seat Well, it was pretty spacious. I was in 1 Klasse, so it was 1-aisle-1-1. I had the window seat on the left side.



Each seat had a personal screen and various channels of music. Unfortunately, the screen wasn't working. Shortly after we left the station, the train attendant came to collect my ticket. Surprisingly, she spoke no English at all, but it was fine, as I didn't really want service anyway. She did bring me a box of yummy chocolate though. I lounged into my seat, and started listening to some German classical music and enjoyed a great sceneary of the German countryside.



We were going pretty fast throughout the journey, at around 90-120 mph. It wasn't until after we had reached Nurnberg did we accelerate towards our maximum speed at 200 mph. Despite the extremely fast speed, the ride was pretty smooth. Although it was probably a bad idea at that point for me to get up to use the WC I lost balance a couple of times on my way back to my seat



After three hours, I arrived at Munich Hbf. I wasn't supposed to meet the team until 30 minutes later, so I exited the train and headed towards to exit to take some pictures. Then I heard someone called out my name. It was szg. I was totally obliviously that he was standing there pretending to hold a sign It was good to see him again. We caught up and went up to the mezzanine coffee house to wait for another team member, rorschi.

As soon as rorschi arrived, the DO began at the Olympia Tower, the memorial tower for the 1972 Munich Olympics games. The weather was cooperating so the visibility was pretty good. We took the elevators to the top observatory. team gave me a quick 360 degree tour of Munich. I took some panaramic pictures









Originally, we wanted to have lunch on top of the observatory, but they were fully booked. But rorschi informed us that the nearby BMW heardquarters actually had a great in house restaurant open to the public. The chef also happened to be the head chef for Austrian Airlines, who supposedly offers the best in flight meal experience out there. So, we decided to head over there. The meal was great. We had some yummy pumpkin soup drizzled with some top quality olive oil and wienerschnitzel with 3 different types of German salads. The meal was delicious ^





After lunch at BMW headquarters, we went to the Deutsche Aviation museum outside of downtown area. The museum looked small from the outside, but actually had quite a large collection of German planes. It reminded me a lot of the Washington Dulles Airport Air and Space museum. We wandered around. I took some great pictures and szg got his pilot license (No, it wasn't really a real license, it's a long story ). He did, however, get to sit in the pilot seat of an awesome jet while a knowledgeable man showed him the aircraft in detail



We continued to walk around the museum and found quite a few old first class seats through out the museum as benches. We really wanted to take them home with us











We wanted to go up to the communication towers upstairs but unfortunately it was closed so we decided to go to a Bier Garten by a beautiful lake. We drove around in circles trying to find this place but we kept getting lost (I wasn't driving ). Finally, we found the entrance to the lake and were really looking forward to having some awesome German beer. We walked around the beautiful lake only to find out the lakeside Bier Garten was temporarily closed due to change of ownership I still enjoyed the walk very much because the lake was really really beautiful.



We ended up finding a little restaurant in the immediate area that happened to serve some fantastic Weiß Bier. It was delicious ^ I ended up having a couple pints while szg, using the excuse of having to drive, only had 1. And, rorschi only drank coffee. Lame!



After an hour of great beer and conversation, the boys drove me back to Munich Hbf, where I took the ICE train back to Frankfurt.

FRA-LAX was rather uneventful so I will skip it and go on to NYC.

BlissWorld

I made sure to get up extra early in the morning in order to fully take advantage of the United International First Class Lounge at LAX

As usual, the UA Premier Lobby at LAX was rather empty. There was a long line of people waiting for int'l F, so I simply went to one of the chickens. As I stepped at the queue entrance, an UA agent asked me if she could help me. I said I was flying p.s. F. She looked and said excuse me? p.s. F I proclaimed and she still looked confused. So I said premium service first class to JFK and she finally got it. I told her there's a long line at int'l F so I'm just going to use the chickens. (I should've just told her I'm 1K) Anyway, there's another reason to use Chickens nowadays since all LAX counter agents print your BP on el cheapo white flimsy BP now. Only the Chickens still print on gold BPs.

I went through the nonexistent security line and headed straight to the International First Class lounge. I showed the concierge my boarding pass, asked for a T-mobile pass, and went to my favorite corner of the lounge to hide





I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the recliner. Whenever I have a chance to visit the IFL at LAX early in the morning, I also snooze on the recliner and have the concierge wake up when it's time to board. I put down my belongings and went to see what they had to offer for breakfast.









Of course, I went straight to the booze station , got my self a glass of mimosa immediately. The booze station was pretty darn good actually. They had just about anything one would need for a sinful concoction. I sipped the bubbly while deciding what to eat for my pre-departure snack. There was a pastry station with a variety of criossant, bagels, muffins, cookies, and danish. There were also a variety of cakes, cereals, yogurt, and fresh fruit. I didn't feel like eating too much before my flights, so I got a fruit skewer with yummo mint coulis and a slice of cheesecake.



There was a pretty decent espresso machine. I wanted to test it out. Unfortunately, it was nothing like the neato espresso machine I had at Westin Frankfurt. In fact, the whole thing was kind of falling apart. But then again, this is United I got myself a cup of cappucino. I couldn't remember if I even drank it I was doing very well on the mimosa In fact, those little United bubbly flute was too darn small for a real serving of mimosa. So, after several small glasses of poison, I decided to upgrade and switched it to an extra tall water glass:



Wait, there's the cappucino! LOL I really don't remember whether or not I even drank that sucker I had too much poison.

As I was contemplating on whether to induldge in more bubbly fun, the concierge came by and told me it was time to board. I thanked her and stumbled over to the gate. By the time I got to the gate, they pretty much had already finished boarding. The gate agent wished me a pleasant flight and off I went to p.s. F



I settled into my favorite seat, 2D. I had a seatmate and he was quite polite. There was already a hanger sitting on my chair with 2D labeled on it. So, I put my jacket on the hanger and the FA promptly came to hang it for me. He also came to offer a beverage of my choice and I opted for some for bubbly poison: Bellini As I was sipping my who knows how many glasses I've had bubbly, the purser came to give us hot towels. Wow, I was surprised. A predeparture beverage service with hot towels? Could this be a sign of a true UA enhancement?? We shall see. Menus were distributed shortly after.


to begin

fresh from the bakery
A selection of Danish, croissants and bagels with butter, cream cheese and fruit preserves

a healthy start
Muesli or whole-grain cereal with your choice of pecan and shredded coconut toppings

Fresh seasonal fruit plate

Yogurt

breakfast selection

Mushroom and cheese omelette with red pepper sauce
Flame-roasted potato medley

Apple and cranberry filled pancakes with creamy maple syrup

The above selections are served with a breakfast skillet with your choice of sautéed turkey sausage, Canadian bacon and Black Forest ham

New York City Lox and bagels
with cream cheese, capers and red onions

a finishing touch

Mango Sorbet

prior To arrival

Buffalo chicken breast deli plate
Cheddar cheese, grapes and vegetable batonnets with ranch dressing

Cheese plate with fresh fruit
Cheddar, Swiss Emmenthal, Pepper Jack

Eli's citrus cake

-----------------------------------


There was no traffic at LAX so we quickly taxi'd to the tarmac. Our flight was scheduled for 6 hours and 30 minutes. That's quite an unusual lengthy flight for this segment. The purser came to take meal orders as we were on the tarmac. I chose the NYC lox and bagels. I plugged into channel 9 and enjoyed the wonderful view of the Los Angeles coastline.

As soon as we had reached a workable altitude, the FAs and purser came to set up our table for breakfast service. I was quite surprised to see a true enhancement breakfast service on p.s. F. The offering was pretty similar with international first class meal on one of the infamous airlines like SQ which included a separate fruit plate, yorgurt, and cereal appetizer before the main course. They also came to give us the new digital media player:



I was really impressed. The new digital player offered a variety of programming including movies, TV shows, games, and music. The battery also lasted a lot longer with having to charged them like the old DVD players. I decided to watch Dan in Real Life.

All of a sudden, the purser came to deliever my breakfast. Instead of serving them course by course like he was supposed to do, he just put everything on one tray. I would've preferred to be served course by course since there was a lot of food on my table all at once. I barely had any room left for anything else.



It was really refreshing to have something else other than omelette or fruit plate for once. The lox was tasty. The bagels, however, were hardly NYC grade. As usual, one could probably kill a bird with the bagel served onboard I took my time to enjoy all the breakfast items (or maybe I was just really incoherent at that time ). I wanted to finish them all, but I just couldn't because there was just too much food. The FAs came to clean up our tables and offered the mango sorbet.



Shortly after meal service and listening to Celine , I reclined my seat into the lie-flat position and passed out shortly after.

The next thing I knew, the purser came and asked me if I wanted a snack before arrival. Wow, apparently I slept the whole way through. I guess the poison was indeed strong enough He quickly came by and set up me table for me. I decided to have the buffalo chicken plate:



I only had a piece of the chicken. It was quite delicious. However, I just wasn't that hungry considering the amount of food that was already served for breakfast.

After the snack service, the purser came to offered the 2nd round of hot towels before arrival. I think I might have been 80% sober by that time The purser came by to give me back my coat and did the usual UA "we appreciate your business" speech shortly before landing to JFK.

Man, it sure beats the back of the bus! Off I go to the big apple.

BlissWorld

It's such a beautiful day in New York City. I was lucky as I narrowly escaped a huge storm hitting the city just a couple of days ago. I took the airtrain to Jamaica station and caught the E train. There weren't too many people onboard and I thought it was a bit strange for a Saturday afternoon. I prefer taking the subway over taxi/bus for a couple of reasons. First, E train is more reliable. I know I will be in Manhattan in less than 45 minutes. Second, the traffic in manhattan is about as predictable as the winning lottery numbers . There's always a chance that I will get stuck somewhere in Queens.

I was going to W Times Square but I wanted to avoid Times Square at all cost. So, I got off at 49th St/8th Ave. It was a wise decision as always There were no tourists and the station was a breeze to get through. I walked a couple of blocks to 47th St and found W.

The doormen greeted me and opened the doors for me. I quickly took the elevator to the 7th floor lobby to check in. One of the agents, M, saw me. With a big smile, she welcomed me to W Times Square. W Times Square is one of my favorite hotels in the world. I usually stay there whenever I go to NY. The rooms are great and staff is amazing. They always treat me well. Before I could opened my mouth, she asked "Mr. BlissWorld, right?" I asked how she knew and she said "Well, we've been expecting you. Let's see here, we have upgraded you to our fantastic suite on the 25th floor. Wait, 25th floor for Mr BlissWorld? That won't do, let me see..." A key stroke here and there later "Here it is, 4611, I have a fantastic suite on the 46th floor for ya." ^ (How did she know I prefer higher floor?)

I handed her my credit card. She offered me my platinum amenity and gave me 2 keys. Before I could say anything, she said "Mr. BlissWorld, I have already programmed your key to work until 4PM on your departure day. I hope you enjoy your W experience with us again. You know where the elevator is, right? If there is anything I can do for you, and I mean anything, please give me a call at the front desk. My name is M" ^ 4PM late check out offered without asking? Nice ^ Great service and attitude as usual.

I took the express elevator to 46st floor. Having stayed in a fanatstic suite previously, I knew what to expect: a spacious living room with outstanding view of Times Square, comfy lounge area with chairs, work area, 2 plasma TVs, bang & olufsen stereo syste with sirius, half a bath in the living room, and a master bathroom in the bedroom:























Just as I was about to enter my suite, housekeeping was exiting. She told me she left my flowers on the table. Flowers? It turned out they left some fresh orchids on the table for me. Nice ^ I love orchids.



I put my luggages down, unpacked, and went out to explore the city. I had a few beers with a friend. We picked up some NYC street food: Kabobs, nuts 4 nuts, and some mini calzone with marinara sauce. Man, I love NYC street food! After we caught up, we went to see Mary Poppins at Amsterdam Theater.



I wasn't really sure what to expect. I wasn't sure what they were going to do with some of the magic stuff. But, in the end, I was very impressed. The actors were great and some of the magic was cool. The only bad thing about the show was the dance. I LOVE tap dancing and many broadway shows often incorporate fantastic tap dancing into the program (42nd St, the Producer, etc). Mary Poppins did as well, but they weren't that good. Nevertheless, we had a great time.

After the show, we went back to the suite and ordered some room service. When I opened the door, I heard soft music in the background so I knew someone came to turn the bed down. I went into the bedroom and found some chocolate and 2 bottles of Voss water along with a greeting card sent by the manager palced neatly on the illuminated night stand ^ A very nice gesture. They always take good care of me here.



W Times Square has an excellent in room dining menu. They feature many items from their outstanding inhouse restaurant, Blue Fin. I ordered some fresh oysters with difference sauces, a Blue Fin lobster sandwich (yummo!) and a caramel apple bread pudding. As always, the quality of the food was superb and they arrived with 25 minutes.







Ordering room service is a must whenever I stay at W Times Square since they offer a fantastic menu. Because I usually get high floor suites, the view is also amazing. It beats any other restaurant in town. So, we usually end up eating great food and enjoying the fantastic view of Times Square:





We went to bed at a decent hour (I think ) and were going to do some low key shopping in the big city the following day-SOHO.

BlissWorld

I was having so much fun at the W, I didn't want to go home! Thankfully, I had p.s. to look forward to I left a little early to enjoy the IFL. I walked to the Premier lobby near the end of the terminal. There was no one in line so all the employees were congregating having fun. I walked up to the counter and they asked me if I were in F. I confirmed, and they quickly went back to their stations. The helpful agent quickly checked me in and was able to ticket a reservation I had held. Everything was done in under 5 minutes. He was very helpful.

I went through the security and went to the IFL. The Lounge had more offerings in the afternoon. I took some snacks and went into my favorite spot in the lounge: private phone rooms. There were 3 rooms with doors that provided a lot of privacy. I worked a little, enjoyed the snack, until I heard the annoucement for boarding. Here are some pics of the lounge:

















I left the lounge quickly to the gate. They had already finished boarding. The gate agent smiled, took my BP, and wished me a good flight. I quickly settled into my seat and the purser came to offer a beverage, took my coat, and gave me an eye shade and ear plugs. I leaned back and looked out my window. She came to give me the menu for the evening:


Join us for a glass of our featured cocktails:
Kir Royale
Bellini

to begin
T Roasted mushroom duck tart and organic kalamata olive-caper vinaigrette

salad
Fresh seasonal greens
blue cheese or roasted garlic red wine vinaigrette

main course

T Mustard braised pork filet with french green lentils
yukon gold potato and turnip cake

T Capellini galette
with rosemary olive oil poached tomatoes, Japanese eggplant and warm chevre

Rotisserie roasted chicken with roasted garlic tomato sauce
Asian rice cake and braised Swiss chard

dessert

Ice crean with sundae toppings

Cheese selection: jarsberg, reny picot fontina, st. andre triple creme

fresh strawberries with brown sugar sour cream dip

prior To arrival

A selection of extraordinary chocolate truffles from Gayetty's chocolate

T items designed especially for United Airlines by Charlie Trotter

--------------------------

I decided to have the mustard braised pork filet. Shortly after take off, the purser came to take meal order and brought us a beverage of our choice with warm nuts and set up our table:



As I was sipping the bubbly, she came to distribute the new digital player. I finished watching Dan in Real Life and the meal came









The food was fantastic. It's slightly weaker than p.s. was first introduced but a nice meal nonetheless. After the meal, the FAs came to clean up the table and gave us a bottle of water. I watched a couple of movies and we arrived in LAX almost an hour early!!

We arrived LAX at 8:06PM. I walked to the baggage claim and started chatting with a friend because baggage claim is usually very slow at LAX. To my surprise, within 5 minutes, the bags started to come out and my bag was #5!!! I grabbed my bag, went out and immediately saw the parking lot C bus. From the time I got off the plane to getting my checked bag to getting on the shuttle bus: 13 minutes!!!! I think I might have broken a record. What a nice way to end the trip

BlissWorld

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lucky9876coins

Great report so far, can't wait for the rest!^ Even after reading about the NRSA in the UA forum, I still get angry when I read it!

BlissWorld

Day at Frankfurt has been updated.

Meriem

Great trip report. Oh, I miss Frankfurt !

notsosmart

The Westin looks great. I've seen Westins in the US that look like a motel 6 in comparison.

Two question: what's an NRSA? Is that like a non-rev? Or a dead-header? or what?

Did you have a polarizing filter on your camera in the pictures you took in Frankfurt? Just curious...

BlissWorld

NRSA = Non revenue service agent

I actually only have a point and shoot camera, not DSLR It's a darn good P&S though - Canon

ua_to_ord

Actually, Non Revenue / Space Available. Or so I believe.

Very entertaining trip report! Many of the pictures remind me of my own frequent visits to Frankfurt years ago.

UCBeau

great read ^

1P

Terrific report!

ua_to_ord is correct. A non rev who can only travel if there's space available. If the plane had been full, that obnoxious person would not have entered FT history....