SQ Lounge
Our first stop after checking in is the SQ lounge in the International terminal. Last time we had some trouble getting into the lounge, as the attendent said the Singapore flight was fully booked and expected lots of people to come into the lounge, and they would need to reject the UA passengers, even though the lounge was still pretty empty when we tried to get in. But this time we had no trouble to get into the lounge at all. The food offering in this lounge is far better than that of the RCC next door, and we expected to have nothing but a cold fruit plate for our red eye flight, so we got some hot noodle and egg rolls as dinner.
SQ lounge
Instant noodle and egg rolls
Bump
When we checked seatcounter earlier in the day, our flight was completely zero'ed out and we thought we might have a chance to pick up some bump vouchers. As we would still have plenty of time to make the connecting flight to Stockholm in the afternoon in Chicago, we would not have any problem taking the 6:00am flight next morning instead. In fact, we at one point were booked on the flight until United switched the flight to the old 747 aircraft. We asked the gate agent to place us on the volunteer list, and got the volunteer confirmation cards.
Getting on the bump list
However, once boarding started, they announced that no volunteers would be needed and that we should proceed to board. That's quite all right, as we also had a good plan to spend half a day in Chicago
Flight
UA 328 San Francisco (SFO) 11:55pm Chicago (ORD) 6:02am (+1)
Aircraft: 767-300 2-class domestic configuration
Distance: 1846 miles
Duration : 4 hour 7 min
Class: First
Our flight was on a 767 2-class domestic configuration aircraft with leather seats in the first class. The seats were quite comfortable, but we did not get the new style blankets. In fact, even the Hemisphere magazine was from last month.
2-2-2 seats on 767 domestic configurations
Old blue blankets and Hemisphere magazine
There are, however, several new UA enhancements. The wine glass was new with a longer stem, and the meal was definitely a much improved one. We had a hot turkey sandwich, with also a salad and a cookie. Towards the end of the flight, they were also passing pre-arrival snacks and bananas.
New wine glasses
Hot turkey sandwich, salad and cookies
Had we known that there would be a hot sandwich served for the flight, we probably would not have eaten as much in the SQ lounge. Oh well, it's good that we had plans to hop on a bike tour to burn off some excess calories once we arrived in Chicago. We landed around 6am, and saw the beautiful sunrise from the plane.
Chicago Sunrise