Background
This January was going to be a busy one for me. As it was Christmas Break, a time of peace, love and caring, I decided to find some peace away from my family by traveling. I was going to start the month by seeing my friend Anosh ( SR 103 ) as he was flying through Los Angeles. We decided to meet up for a few hours during his transit. Later in the month, I was to return to my other home in Arizona to resume classes at ASU. But before I could do that, I decided to take advantage of the double miles offer AA had on their new LGA-BUF service. Another one of my friends decided I shouldn’t be allowed in Buffalo on my own (I’m only 19 after all) so Jason ( JAXPax ) said we’d meet up there. Therefore I had three places to be, Los Angeles, Buffalo and Phoenix. All of which would take place within eight days.

Preflight
SATURDAY JANUARY 8, 2005
United Flight 7
JFK-SFO
Scheduled Departure: 11:20 AM
Scheduled Board: 10:50 AM

I had originally planned to spend this weekend in Chicago with my girlfriend, but when that relationship fared as well as Metrojet did, I changed my ticket to go to Los Angeles. Using a $200 VDB voucher and some old upgrades, I was flying transcontinental in Business or First for only $138 in cash. On that January’s morn I awoke to pouring rain in New York. Ordinarily I’d say “No matter, I’m going to sunny Southern California!” but it was raining even harder there. Therefore I had to put up with my dad’s usual “you’re going to be delayed” remarks that he always makes when it rains and I’m traveling. Still, it was only a forty minute drive to Kennedy and he didn’t charge me for the ride so I suffered in silence.

Once inside the poorly designed and outdated Terminal 7, I joined the end of the Business Class line. While there were only six people in front of me, they were all on the ANA flight to Tokyo and that pesky language barrier kept their stays with the agent longer than desired. Finally after ten minutes I had both my boarding passes. Once I realized that JFK-SFO printed out as “United First”, I asked the agent if I was entitled to use the Red Carpet Club. He said he wasn’t sure so he called them and they said because I was on a two class 757 (I’d missed the P.S. plane unfortunately) I would be allowed in. After clearing security I headed to the sanctuary where only the elitist have the Red Carpet rolled out for them. Unfortunately for me, the place was teaming with people on both the ANA and UA flights to Tokyo so I was reduced to sitting in the TV room watching “The Proud Family” on ABC Kids. Still, there were free bagels and soda and after an hour I headed down to the gate.

Once at the gate I was greeted by a bizarre announcement. Even though the plane had been sitting there for over an hour and a half, it wasn’t fully catered yet. The part that wasn’t fully catered was the First Class cabin so the gate agents announced they would board coach first and we’d have to wait. They got Seating 1 and 2 fully boarded and were halfway through Seating 3 when with a dramatic hand flourish, the Gate Agent stopped the snaking boarding line and we were allowed to board:

Flying
Gate 12
Seat 2D Business Class
757-200, N567UA
Actual Board: 10:47 AM
Actual Depart: 11:18 AM – 2 Minutes Early
Take off 19 minutes after departure

As I stated beforehand, today’s flight was operated by a two class 757. While this meant we had seats not becoming of a six hour plus journey, it did mean a nice boarding process as door 2L was utilized. During the wait at the gate, our plane filled up to near capacity in First with 22 seats taken. This was complimented with about 60% of the seats in coach were taken for today’s transcon trip. While waiting, the purser, a JFK based man named Dennis came around taking pre-departure drink orders. After first being offered the specialty drinks of the month which were a perplexing Bellini and Kir Royale, I decided to stay safe and legal and partake in an orange juice. Because of the late boarding I barely had time to finish my cocktail before we pushed back. While awaiting takeoff, the pilot announced due to strong headwinds totaling over 130 MPH, we’d have a flying time of six hours and 10 minutes. I was just glad I was in the First Class cabin and not in the back of a 757 for that long a period.

Once airborne, I was struck by the sight of the sun shining brightly over the late morning. This was quite a treat as the weather in New York has been poor lately and I was promised more of the same upon reaching California. While sky gazing I was presented with the menu and asked what my requested drink was. Shortly thereafter a small bowl (and I do mean small, especially compared to AA) of mixed nuts was offered along with my Diet Pepsi. The small amount of cashews and pistachios were consumed by me while the walnuts and almonds remained in the bowl as I awaited the first course. Meanwhile my seatmate pecked away at his laptop. From what I could gather, he was a writer for a magazine and he was writing poetry that I really didn’t seem to get, must have been too deep for me.

Shortly after I tried to figure out if you can use the term “they will freak” in a published poem, the first course was presented to us. This was artfully described as

To Begin
Jumbo lump crab with spicy lime dressing
Apple Brioche quiche
- Crème fraiche

Salad
Fresh Seasonal greens with English Cucumber
- Roasted garlic red wine vinaigrette or classic Caesar Dressing
As good as all this sounds, it fell short of expectations once the tray was put atop the linens on my tray table. The jumbo lump crab was lumped into a tiny pile at the corner of the plate which was largely vacant except for the quiche and crab dressing. I was looking forward to the quiche as I love most things apple but it turned out to be quite tasteless. However the salad was well done with crisp lettuce and the vinaigrette dressing was perfect. Overall it wasn’t a bad appetizer, but I think they should use smaller plates so the tiny quiche slice and small crab pile appear bigger by comparison. The two FA’s walking the aisles did a good job seeing who was done with their appetizer so I only had a minutes wait before I was presented with my entrée. Of the three below I selected the middle choice:

Main Course
Reuben sandwich on raisin pumpernickel bread
- Sauerkraut and an apple celery and mango salad

Spiced breast of chicken with Thai barbecue sauce
- Brown rice and stir friend ****ake mushrooms with vegetables

Polenta lasagna with spinach, red peppers and ricotta cheese
- Served with roasted pepper sauce, topped with parmesan cheese

The way I saw it, I’ve never liked lasagna and raisin pumpernickel bread was designed for breakfast eating so the chicken was the obvious choice. And I am quite glad that it was so as it was a very tasty cut of meat with a perfect BBQ sauce. The rice was surprisingly high quality for an airplane and the vegetables served as a good accompaniment. I did, however, want it to actually be more spiced as I barely got a tickle in my mouth from the alleged spices. The only drawback to the meal was the wine I selected. I picked a French Burgundy and was horrified by how bad I found it. Yet another reason to make stupid, off color French jokes.

After my tray was taken I was looking forward to a good cup of coffee with dessert, but the flight crew had other plans. They removed a device which consisted of nine steel rods that strung across the front of the galley so they could serve the cockpit. I’d never seen this before as I’m used to the angled cart blocking, high tech technique of American. After twenty minutes with the barricade up, a flight attendant passed out cups and saucers for those who opted for coffee and we were then offered:

Dessert
International cheese selection with fresh fruit
- Chambert, stilton and Black Diamond Cheddar Cheese

Edy’s ice cream

Being a college student unconcerned with his weight and having recently gotten out of a relationship, the choice was again obvious. A cart laden with cheese plates and after dinner liquors was pushed down the aisle like an adult Mr. Softie Truck. I was presented with my cup of coffee and Bailey’s and my bowl of chocolate and vanilla ice cream. These went down smoothly as the ice cream had had time to soften up and cutting it wasn’t quite a Herculean effort. After the rest of my utensils had been cleared up, I reclined the seat and put a Moody Blues CD into my player. After reading for a while, I decided as I had some extra time and the cabin was quiet, why not have some slumber? I checked my watch and realized we had 3 and ½ hours to go in the flight. When I once again opened my eyes, I saw I’d been asleep for an hour, but much to my shock, the pilot came on the PA. He said that the headwinds had gotten worse and we still had 3 hours to go in-flight. Still, even I can tolerate 6 hours and 40 minutes in a 2 class 757 as long as I have amusements and thankfully I did. I alternated between glancing at NBC In Flight and reading Blue Streak: The jetBlue Story . I did hide the book whenever a flight attendant came around, I didn’t know if they hated the Low Cost Airlines or not.

About an hour out of San Francisco, the other FA working the front cabin (a very nice woman who worked well with the extremely capable purser) offered us each a truffle from a box. There were quite a few selections and I found this a nice way to end the flight as they also offered us a drink. The flight crew did a tremendous job as they spent almost all of the long flight in the aisles keeping the 22 of us happy. Therefore, I couldn’t have been more pleased with how my first P.S. flight turned out. Though I must say, without the person DVD players which are only offered on the new 757s, there is little difference between the Business Class here and on AA. Still, with a crew like this, the flight goes by quite quickly. Finally we glided through the gray clouds and Oakland Center handed us off to SFO tower and we touched down slightly late. My jacket was returned to me and I made my final goodbyes before stepping out into the terminal.
Scheduled Arrival: 2:44 PM
Actual Arrival: 3:05 PM
Gate 81

Preflight/Transit
United Flight 995
SFO-LAX
Scheduled Departure: 4:15 PM
Scheduled Board: 3:45 PM

Having been folded into my seat for over seven hours now, I desperately had to take care of some business. The best place to accomplish my mission was the San Francisco Red Carpet Club. Following my luck in New York I decided to venture over there. Unfortunately I was rejected worse than the time I asked that hot girl out as they said I wasn’t allowed in on an upgraded fare. Feeling defeated, I shuffled my way back into the terminal and parked myself down at gate 88 where no one would see my failed face. While walking to the gate, I noticed United’s usually stellar gate monitors were all down today. In fact, they had all frozen at just before 2 PM so our gate had a handwritten sign reading “FLIGHT 995, LAX, 4:15 PM THIS GATE”. This also led to repeated announcements from each gate trying to explain the situation. Deciding that this was not a situation that only one man should laugh at, I called Jason to tell him this story and a few others. Once I was done with him, it was time to board:
Flying
Gate 88
Seat 2A First Class
757-200, N563UA
Actual Board: 3:47 PM
Actual Depart: 4:12 AM – 3 Minutes Early
Take off 14 minutes after departure

Anyone who has ever taken an intra-California flight knows that they are packed with non revenue commuters. I could spin yarn about helping uniformed flight attendants stow bags until the cows came home, but today’s flight raised the bar. Of the 20 people in the First Class Cabin today, 14 of them were flight attendants. In fact, seated in 1A, 1B, 1C 1D, 2B and 2D were some of United’s finest cabin crew. They were a very jovial bunch who all knew each other and all were swapping stories, mainly related to their ex husbands. They were also very nice to me and one put it quite well when she said “there’s never a better time for you to have a heart attack, fourteen people can save your life!” During the wait, today’s working flight attendant passed out drinks and soon our lightly loaded plane took off for the brisk flight down the coast.

Usually this flight provides excellent viewing but because of all the rain in California, all I saw was the sun setting into clouds. Nevertheless, the flight went fast as I munched on United’s Gourmet Snack mix and sipped my Cran-Apple. Even though the flight was short and the working FA could have easily spent the time chatting with his fellow employees, he chose to refill all glasses in First making me quite the happy customer. Soon enough we descended over Los Angeles and I got a nice view of the freeways and airport hotels before we were back at Harley Random’s Airport.
Scheduled Arrival: 5:33 PM
Actual Arrival: 5:22 PM
Gate 75A

--January 8-9, 2005 – Los Angeles, CA --
While we had been taxing, I’d called Anosh and when he hadn’t answered, I knew I’d beaten him to LA. Therefore I exited the terminal into the rainy night (at least it was warm) and began the trek over to the TBIT. While 5:30 is usually a downtime for arrivals on domestic airlines, with the mess the weather was causing I had to push my way through hordes of people. Upon reaching the TBIT, I discovered his flight was now due at 6:10 PM. This wasn’t too bad though as I’d never spent anytime at the terminal I got some time to roam it and I must say I was disappointed. You’d think a terminal featured in as fine a film as Die Hard 2 would be nothing but amazing, but alas, it was not. Finally around 6:45, Anosh exited the secure area and we grabbed a bus over to the Doubletree. We had an enjoyable time talking airlines over dinner, even if my trip out to California on United didn’t compare to his trip in from Mumbai on Malaysia. Even so, we each slept a good sleep that night. The next day we each had early flights so the plan was to wake up at 6, shower and be in the lobby at 6:25 AM in time for the 6:30 shuttle. Unfortunately, even though I gave him more time than I gave myself, we ended up in the lobby at 6:29 and missed the shuttle bus by a minute. Therefore he had to endure my whining before we finally caught a bus at 7 putting my breakfast plans at McDonalds in serious jeopardy.