United Airlines
Business Class
YVR-ORD (Vancouver International Airport – Chicago O’Hare Terminal 1)
UA 1405 – Business Class (I)
11:00 AM – 5:02 PM
November 4, 2013
Booked: Boeing 737-800
Flown: Boeing 737-700
At about T - 45, we left the lounge for the gate. Today's flight was departing from E78, one of Vancouver's swing gates (which can be shared with International Departures).
After boarding Group 1, we settled in on board. Pre – Departure Beverage offering of water and orange juice in the usual picnic plastic cup.
Lunch meal orders taken at seat while still at the gate in YVR.
We had beautiful mountain views on the climb out of YVR thanks to recent snows. These photos are of the Cascade Mountains in Washington, USA.
Towel service was offered with a pretty tired looking nuked towel.
For entertainment, free Direct TV was offered, although there isn’t much to watch with only 6 movies available and a few TV channels of each category loaded with commercials. It seems a shame to have to pay for channels if in economy, only to have to sit through all the advertising.
No printed menus today with a verbal choice given of the infamous shrimp salad w/ croutons and a balsamic vinaigrette or a chicken sandwich. Tomato and red pepper soup was offered as a starter, along with the usual warmed nuts. Wine on offer today were Two Oceans Sauvingon Blanc in the tiny thimble glass. Funny since the photo on the Two Ocean's bottle of Cape Point was exactly where we were headed.
As some of you may know, Mrs WT73 and I have vastly different food tastes. I’d consider myself a foodie, whereas Mrs WT73 prefers the tried and traditional foods. Today’s food fit into the “traditional” category and that was putting it generously. The sandwich looked pretty depressing. It reminded me of something I would expect to get in my kids grade school cafeteria. It was deemed “OK” for Mrs WT73 although eating this on a repeated basis commuting would probably get tiring quickly.
Cookie for desert, which was quite tasty, despite the McDonald’s fast food wrapping.
Good wine refills all afternoon with today’s SFO based crew.
Arrived in Chicago after dark and minimal holding pattern without incident ready to start the next leg of our adventure.
After reading many trip reports on here, I’d have to conclude with many other posters that American Airlines seems to have United beat in terms of Domestic Business Class. An interesting choice too with Direct TV, since you can't watch a movie start to finish unless you're organized enough to catch it right from the start. I think it fits into background entertainment as opposed to a genuine way of passing the time with a true Advanced Video on Demand system.