Friday morning at 5:45 am is a punishingly early time to wake up. Ordinarily, if someone tells me “Rise and shine!” in a sing-song voice at this hour, I shoot them, but that day I hummed it myself since it marked the start of a trip I’d been planning and waiting for with baited breath for 6 months.
Bags had already been packed and re-packed, so all that remained was a shower, a quick breakfast, and an appraising look in the mirror to decide if I was presentable for First Class. I passed. The plan was to take the bus to BART station and continue to SFO on the train, but as I descended the stairs my iPhone informed me that the bus, shockingly unlike normal MUNI operations, was arriving early by a few minutes. I grabbed my hefty carry-on in one hand and the shoulder bag in another, told myself that this is what the last few months of gym had been for and sprinted up the street to the stop. Uphill.
I made it, but barely. The driver grunted, unimpressed by my semi-Olympic performance, let me onboard and promptly slammed on the gas, living out his imaginary career as an F1 driver.
This was decidedly a Y bus and the legroom was even smaller than Lufthansa economy. But it got me to the BART station and I caught the next train to SFO, trying not to think about the origins of various interestingly shaped stains on the seats and the carpet. Yes, a carpeted commuter train. Welcome to BART.
At SFO I approached the deserted United counter and was quickly checked-in, obtaining BPs for the first three segments. I didn’t expect them to be able to print SQ ones, nor did I want them to, because, SQ F pass on UA card stock? Please.
My SFO-ORD flight was leaving from Terminal 3, but I wanted to check out the United RCC lounge in the International Terminal, which was easy, since both terminals are connected airside. Onto security theater. An inane question (what is your name?) and a quick grope later (opting out as a matter of principle), I checked in at lounge entrance and ventured upstairs to the main area.
My first impression that it was very large, very quiet, and very, very beige. I think that they tried to go for “unobtrusive”, but ended up with “bland”. It was also deserted. The whole place must have had fewer than a dozen pax, myself included, which was somewhat refreshing after the chaos of most of the domestic Admirals Clubs.
Upon seeing this sign I figured the lounge would have some food on offer:
However, after walking through the lounge end-to-end I discovered only: 1) a bowl of yogurt, 2) a tray of bananas that could perhaps achieve a measure of ripeness by the time my trip ended.
Finding myself listless, I decided to hop over to the domestic RCC in Terminal 3. This lounge was much smaller, but also much more convivial (as RCCs go).
I realized that I actually visited this lounge quite a few times when I used to fly UA in the distant past, so I turned left past the Bluetoothed corp drones and headed for the food bar, which handily beat the International one by having such exotica as bagel-shaped rubber, Bet You’ll Only Eat One™ mini-muffins, and apples. I grabbed an apple and settled down to check up on email and such.
As the boarding time approached, I bid adieu to the lounge dragons and made my way to the gate.
United 841
San Francisco (SFO) – Chicago O’Hare (ORD)
Friday, September 7, 2012
Depart: 9:09 (10:10 actual)
Arrive: 15:25 (15:44 actual)
Duration: 3h 34min
Airbus 320
Seat 2F (First Class)
[photos of the flight redacted to protect the guilty writer. Yes, I forgot to take the photos, but what’s there to see in UA domestic first?]
Settling into the cabin, I was trying to remember whether UA offers PDBs during boarding. My bet was no and I was almost proven right, but the captain came on the horn and informed us that we’d have to wait for a mechanic to fix a “minor issue”. Great, not even one flight in, and I already ran into a mechanical delay. The captain assured we'd still be on time and went back to reading Facebook or whatever it is captains do during mechanical delays. Kidding, I know they actually re-read flight manuals and play Flight Control on iPads.
PDBs were finally offered during the wait, and our departure was now estimated at 9:40 am. I passed the time by reading Hemispheres and trying to figure out if anyone ever followed one of those “3 Perfect Days” itineraries precisely and how much money they had to spend for lodgings and food. The minor issue proved minor and we pushed back at 10:10 am and took off at 10:20.
[My notes run out here, so I must have fallen into a stupor for the rest of the flight.]
ORD
United GFL
We arrived at Concourse C and I headed off in search of United Global First lounge supposedly located at gate C18 near the customer service desk. When I got there, I looked left and right a few times. Customer service was there. C18 was there. GF Lounge, however, was on a leave of absence. I circled the area a few times, thinking maybe a different perspective would help. It did not. Baffled, I approached the CS desk and sheepishly asked where the lounge was. The stylish young lady smiled, extended her hand to the right and said, “Right there, in the back”. I looked and saw the entrance door. This must be how they maintain the exclusivity of the GFL, by make it really tough to find. In the future, if you ever find yourself in my situation, just walk past the CS desk on the left side and turn left, it’ll be right there.
My BP was scanned and I was welcomed and told that the boarding would be called in an hour. This was a smallish lounge with somewhat meager (cold cuts, bread, fruit, etc) food options, but a decent collection of self-serve beverages, including Veuve Clicquot on ice.
I decided to partake of it along with some snacks. Wifi was kind of slow, but I had time to re-charge electronics and catch up on social media and FT.
Time flew by and soon the boarding was announced for my first international F flight.