After we parked at the gate, the single jet bridge was attach to door 2L. The Business Class FAs quickly went to perform the curtain block. As I was gathering my things, Janesis asked if I wanted to take a picture with the crew, which I did. I bid the great crew a final farewell after a few snapshots. The FAs doing the curtain block had already started allowing Business Class passengers to deplane, but stopped the flow to let me pass. As soon as I got off the plane, I hurried to immigration to avoid the lines. Fortunately, we were the only flight arriving at the time, so lines were rather short. I was directed to an immigration officer by someone directing queue. But lane I was directed to wasn’t quite open yet, so that resulted in me being yelled at by the officer. I was pissed, but I bit my tongue. I was beckoned to come forward after couple minutes, after the officer finished a conversation with a fellow employee. Go figure. Anyways, I was through after a few cursory questions.
I headed down the escalators toward baggage claim. After a 10 minute wait, bags began hitting the belt and my bags were among the first out. Customs was a breeze. The only question I was asked was if I had any agricultural products. I then headed to the United transfer desk to recheck my bags. Though the agent in Hong Kong assured me my bags were checked through to Dallas, they were actually only checked through to Houston. Not a big deal since I had to claim them for customs anyways. When I got to the transfer desk, I found the Premier Access line blocked off, but there was only a short line anyways. A friendly agent, checked me in and tagged my bags to Dallas. He then handed me the ugliest boarding pass I’ve seen. Other than a small “F” by the flight number, there is nothing to indicate that what cabin you’re in.
I headed to the security checkpoint just in front of the transfer desks. Ah yes, nothing says you’re back in the good ole U.S. of A. like a TSA checkpoint. The TSA: Where efficiency is not a goal. Just like the transfer desk, the Premier Access line was closed but the regular line was pretty short. But unfortunately the line moved at glacial speeds. I was through in about 20 minutes, despite having just 10 people in front of me. Yes, I counted.
After I dressed, I made a beeline toward the United Club located in between terminal C and E. Now, as a proud United Kettle I know I don’t have access to lounges on an international itinerary. But I was hoping I’d be allowed in due to my inbound SQ flight, because I was desperate for a shower. I know Star Alliance rules don’t permit use of lounge use upon arrival, but I was technically connecting. Unfortunately, the lounge dragon wouldn’t budge, claiming there was no way they could charge SQ for my visit. So, I made my second walk of shame that day. Oh well, it was worth a shot.
Though IAH was my home airport for a number of years, I hate it with a passion. It’s dirty, horribly laid out, and devoid of any type of personality. I had absolutely no interest in walking around, so I headed to my gate. By now I was really feeling the effects of my alcohol assumption over the last 30 hours or so, and I really needed to sit down. Unfortunately, my flight was leaving out of gat C-19, one of the worse gates at IAH. It’s located in one of the corners of the terminal, crammed together with 3 other gates. And usually, there are flights leaving from all three gates. Thus, it would be very crowded and seating would be inadequate. My fears were confirmed once I reached the gate.
I did manage to find a seat, but I got up after getting a bit claustrophobic. Besides, there was only 30 minutes left until boarding. While taking a stroll around the terminal, I spotted MY SQ 77W sitting across the tarmac at Terminal D.
OH, PLEASE TAKE ME BACK
The boarding process was incredibly confusing, as the flights to LAX and ORD were departing from the neighboring were beginning to board almost simultaneously. So the gate agents were constantly making announcements to make sure people got on the correct aircraft. The gate agent working my flight was rather soft spoken, so I had to strain to hear her. But as soon as I heard the words Dallas, First, and boarding I ran to the gate with my boarding pass in hand, eager to get out of the commotion of the terminal. My boarding pass was scanned, and I was finally on my way home.
UA 391
Houston (IAH)-Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW)
Tuesday July 17, 2012
Depart: 3:43 PM
Arrive: 4:59 PM
Aircraft: Airbus Industrie A319
Seat: 1F (First Class)
I was greeted by the friendly purser as I entered the aircraft and settled into 1F. This was my first time in United First, so I was interested to see how it compared to AA First. As far as the hard product goes, I found the seats to be equally comfortable, but I would give the nod to UA since they have leather seating surfaces. I dozed off nearly immediately, but I woke up when the purser came around taking orders for PDBs. I ordered an orange juice, and fell asleep almost immediately after I drank it. 20 minutes later, I woke up only to find that we were still at the gate, since the airport had been closed due to thunderstorms in the area. We ended up pushing back about 40 minutes late. To their credit, the FAs constantly made passes in the full First Class cabin offering refills and doing a water service in the full economy cabin, while we were still at the gate.
While we were taxiing to the runway, I continued to doze in out. It felt like hours, but in reality we were only an hour late. The takeoff queue was rather long, due to the back log from the storm. We taxied into position after a Delta Mad Dog had taken off. A minute or so later, our pilots put the pedal to metal, our little V2500 engines began screaming their little guts out, and we were finally out of Houston. Unfortunately, Channel 9 was off the entire flight. After we leveled off, drinks were offered in First Class and the snack basket was passed around twice. In my opinion, I think the weakest part of AA’s F offering are short haul non-meal flights. On flights shorter than 500 miles, all AA offers is the “Premium Snack Mix”. It’s ok but it gets old after a while. A snack basket is a nice (and seemingly inexpensive way) to fill the gap. But what do I know.
Our crew was attentive and constantly passing through the cabin for refills. They certainly were comparable to a good AA cabin crew. The captain made an announcement apologizing for the delay again along with some pre-arrival information as we began to descent into the Metroplex. We touched down on runway 35R and quickly taxied to gate E5. I thanked the good crew on my way out and made it to baggage claim in a few minutes. While I was on the jet bridge, I heard the passenger in 1A tell the crew, they were the best he’s ever had. While they were good, if that was the best crew he’s had, I’d hate to see what some bad crews look like on United. Bags came out after a 10 minute wait, and I was in a taxi within 20 minutes, and made it home within an hour of deplaning. Not too shabby.
Nice additions to my boarding pass collection
That concludes the international portion of this TR.