United started its non-stop 787-8 service from Christchurch to San Francisco for the summer of 23/24 & I went in mid. March. Previously, anyone living in New Zealand wanting to fly non-stop to SF had to book a flight from Auckland. So I was excited at being able to fly non-stop to make my first visit to SF, & first trip to the USA for many years. This route is an Air NZ and United code share & revenue sharing ( I think). As I expected you could check in online but had to complete the check in at the Air NZ counter rather than using a kiosk. Here's a photo of the 787 from the air bridge.
United used 787-8 planes for almost all the flights on this route but also used a 787-9 for the inaugural flight. This is the only photo I could get while boarding!
The flight up to SF took around 13 hours & was very smooth apart from when passing through the tropics. Seat belts sign was going on & off but just light turbulence. Crew was excellent. Food was good too. They served a snack and a drink, a main meal service, a mid-flight filled roll, and breakfast. Breakfast was served only about an hour before arriving at SFO, but the very experienced crew had everything cleared away with about fifteen minutes to spare. Immigration and customs was super quick - probably about six minutes from when I lined up to exiting customs!
This photo was taken from the Sky Terrace, which is open from Friday - Sunday. You get an excellent view of planes taking off on the N/W runway.
The mountain on the horizon is Mt Diablo, 3849 feet in height. As I had several hours to fill in I visited all the other terminals using the free air train. To get to my motel in San Bruno I went to the top of the domestic parking garage & then ordered an Uber. Apparently some people make the mistake of ordering their Uber before getting to the pick-up zones. My Uber driver was very nice & also very experienced. He told me he'd done over 30,000 jobs!
The next morning I took the Yellow Line BART train to SF's Embarcadero Station & walked the short distance to the Ferry Building. I skipped riding the cable car because I wanted to see all the piers.
The Transamerica tower built in 1972 was the tallest building in SF until the Salesforce tower opened.
The Blue and Gold company run harbour cruises and also operate the harbour ferries. The Clipper card can be used on the ferries. This company also used to run tourist visits to Alcatraz Island but lost that contract to Hornblower, the current provider.
The USS Jeremiah, a World War II liberty ship. I settled for a photo as I wanted to visit the aircraft carrier USS Hornet!
Leaving SF on the Alameda Seaplane ferry. The tall blue and white building is the Salesforce Tower & also a transit center for buses. More about that later!
Passing under the SF - Oakland Bridge on the way to Alameda. This is about a 20 minutes ride on the ferry.
The USS Hornet is about a 10 minute walk from the Alameda seaplane ferry wharf. This area felt very safe! There were two USS Hornets. The first Hornet launched the famous Doolittle bomber raid on Japan & this Hornet served as the recovery vessel for the Apollo 11 & 12 astronauts
This is an F-14. The Hornet hanger has a wall mural showing all the planes that flew off the carrier up to its retirement in 1970. While the F-14 never flew from this ship I bet it attracts a lot of visitors.
An Apollo capsule. The Hornet museum staff were very welcoming & the aircraft displays on the hangar deck are amazing! Highly recommended.
My ride back to the SF ferry building! The ferry goes every hour up to about 1 pm & then every hour from later in the afternoon, so check the timetable! After catching the ferry back to SF I went back to San Bruno on the BART train. (More to come with this trip report where I explain the difference between a BART train and an eBART train!)