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Other Trip Reports:
TPA-IAD-LAX-AKL-ZQN-CHC-WLG-AKL-SYD-AKL-LAX-IAD-TPA in C... it was sweet (w/PICS)
TPA-JFK/EWR-DUS-ZRH-SIN-NRT-SIN-ZRH-FRA-EWR/JFK-TPA... WOW! (w/PICS, incl. SQ new C)


Howdy Folks,

Well, here I go again. I usually wouldn’t write a trip report on a carrier like United or on a destination within the US, but I thought this weekend was special enough and merited a report. It will cover my whole trip to the Coast-to-Coast Do, the Do itself, and the return flights back home. What’s different about this for me is that I’m actually starting the trip report before the trip took place. I’m currently sitting at TPA using the free wifi, so have no clue what will happen this weekend. There’s usually some good adventures along the way even if there is no Do involved, so I figured this could get interesting. In all honest it's more about the experiences with people as opposed to the airline, so if you're looking for an in-depth report of UA's inflight service, go elsewhere please. So, here we go:

Planning:

Last February we had one of the coolest Do's IMO (not biased or anything) where 16 FlyerTalkers flew on a PS redeye together, most of us in C. Initially it was just supposed to be a dinner, but since I was on a PS redeye at first one person was going to join me, and it ended up being over a dozen of us due to the great price of the flight and the upgrade availability. It was a blast, but unfortunately it was a redeye so difficult to have any fun.

I PM'ed alliance since I really wanted to do something like this again, and we agreed to set up something. We were obviously looking for internationally configured widebodies, preferably domestically, that had plenty of upgrade space. The only flights we found were LAX-IAD (UA946) and IAD-LAX (UA947), both of which were NC9, the highest visible amount of upgrade space.

We fished around with different dates for a while, and eventually chose MLK weekend, since it would give everyone time to get to LAX for the flight, including me, since I am starting back east in Tampa. We got a pretty reasonable deal for the flight, PM'ed the people that were involved in the last Do, and wanted to see if they were interested. Eventually we had a coalition of about nine people, all of us with confirmed upgrades. We all booked at 2PM one Saturday afternoon, totally diminishing the upgrade space on the return flight while the outbound still showed NC9. Since some seats in the mini cabin were taken we decided to go with rows 13-15, since those would probably be the last to be selected by others. We then opened up the event to the public to see if we could absorb the rest of the upgrade inventory.

I had trouble finding a flight from TPA to LAX for under $400, but eventually found a decent routing which was pretty cheap after using a CS$200 voucher, not to mention included a flight on United’s Premium Service product. After a few refares my whole itinerary (two separate tickets) cost under $200 out of pocket, with the following routing:

January 18
TPA-IAD
UA1572

January 18
IAD-JFK
UA7503

January 18
JFK-LAX
UA27

January 19
LAX-IAD
UA946

January 20
IAD-LAX
UA947

January 21
LAX-IAD
UA946

January 21
IAD-TPA
UA1577

Here is my route on Great Circle Mapper.

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Day One:

Beep Beep Beep... damn, after a night of less than five hours of sleep I really wasn't in the mood for getting up, even though I knew I would be flying. It was only 5:30AM, and although my flight was only at 9:10AM I decided to get up excessively early for a couple of reasons. While I am no stranger to the 9:10AM TPA-IAD flights, I usually take it on Saturday and not Friday, so the traffic is very unpredictable. Furthermore, security at TPA has been awful recently, as much as 45 minutes on a Saturday morning, so I didn't even want to guess how bad it would be on a Friday morning.

I hopped in the shower, finished up packing my excessively large carry-ons (yes, for once I was the guy carrying on the kitchen sink, sorry!), and left the house by 6:15AM. I really didn't feel like parking my car at the airport for four days so my dad dropped me off, and fortunately the traffic wasn't half bad, getting me to TPA by around 7:10AM.

Wow, at that point I was almost ashamed to be at the airport so early. For once I was the average Ted flyer that thinks if you're not at the airport two hours before departure you'll miss your flight, and that they actually close check-in at that point. Oh well, it wasn't the end of the world, I had stuff to take care of and TPA has free wifi, so all was good.

I quickly printed out a "real" boarding pass from the Mr. Chicken and headed to security. I was expecting the worst, but was pleasantly surprised to see a wait of less than three minutes. I would really have a hard time faulting the TSA here, as they were friendly and efficient. The only thing that made me chuckle was the new "special" ID check, which is comical at best.

On the other end of security I went to Starbucks and got a piece of pound cake and a vanilla creme. I'm not a Starbucks or coffee person, but it was the only option. I might actually like them if they spoke my language, but I guess that's not an option. Since when is something that's "tall" small? Anyway, that's a whole different rant... One last comment. All I have at Starbucks in the morning are the vanilla creme drinks, which are basically just a good, steamed milk. Why is it that they always taste different? Am I not using the right term, or what?


Breakfast

I went to one of the computer booths and enjoyed the free wifi. Caught up on email and before I knew it they were making the pre-flight announcements. I was SHOCKED to hear "Ladies and gentlemen, we are looking for some volunteers since this flight appears to be oversold..." I started to tremble, since for once I didn't want a bump but the opportunity was there. I started to swell up as if I was allergic to being offered a bump and not taking it, but I stood strong and didn't approach the podium.


E Concourse in TPA

Eventually boarding began and they announced that they actually didn't need volunteers, so I felt much better. As the agent took my BP it "dinged" in the machine. I jokingly said she should make sure I'm not boarding the wrong flight. She looks, confirms it's correct, and it dings again. She takes a closer look and says "Sir, this is the flight to Chicago and you're flying to Washington." My faced turned red, I said "oh, sorry," and took that awful walk of shame. Now before someone asks how the heck I could be so dumb and even make a joke about it, I'm a creature of habit. I almost always leave from E74, and today the ORD flight was leaving from there instead.

Boarding started moments later at the gate next door, E73, and 1K boarding was called via the Red Carpet. There were four of us this morning, and strangely enough they took our BP's, put us into the "sterile area," but the door was still closed. We stood enclosed for a few minutes before the crew gave us the go-ahead, at which point we followed down a deadheading FA, who happened to be sitting in 11A.

Friday, January 18
UA1572 (Operated by Ted)
TPA-IAD
Aircraft: Airbus 320
Seat: 11C
Departure Time: 9:10AM
Arrival Time: 11:21AM
Load: 80%

Not much to say about this flight, pretty standard for Ted. FA's were attentive with drink runs throughout the flight, Captain Anderson was awesome with Channel 9 on the whole flight, and the flight passed quickly. One thing that I found semi-entertaining was the FA in 11A. She was a rather senior FA, to say the least, and was heading to BRU. Once we sat down I just said "Where are you headed today?" She responds "Brussels, but they don't pay for my trip from TPA-IAD." Not sure why she felt the need to say that, but it made me chuckle. The approach into IAD was an exciting one, or at least scared me for a second. There was around half a mile visibility and when we touched down I had no clue we were anywhere near the ground. I thought we were still several thousand feet up until we had a pretty rough landing. Scared me for just a second, but all was good then. The FA sitting next to me decided to jump in and say it was nothing since the A320 can land itself.

On the way out Captain Anderson was standing at the door and I said "Thanks for Channel 9, you seem to be in the minority nowadays, but I appreciate it." She smirked and said "my pleasure."

At IAD:

I went into the D6 RCC, and was greated by some extremely friendly agents. They welcome me in, and I began my mission of stealing Walker's Shortbread Cookies. We had made 20 gift bags for the crew on LAX-IAD the following day as well as IAD-LAX the morning after, including a Starbucks gift card, Lindt chocolate, and a bunch of cookies for everyone. I managed to snag about 20 packs of cookies, and I could see the whole time that an older gentlemen kept giving me a look, which was pretty funny. Little did he know it was all for a good cause.


RCC

My plane from the RCC

Snack bar which I visited about every six seconds

On the way out of the RCC I asked the agent if she could print out my boarding pass for the LAX-IAD flight the following morning, to which she responded "You mean IAD-LAX," and I explained it was actually the other way around. She then asked for my ID, saying "I just wanted to make sure you should be in here in the first place." Gotta love that she decided to make a BS explanation for an issue which was so simple.

I got to the gate right as boarding began for my first E170 flight.

Friday, January 18
UA7503 (Operated by ShuttleAmerica)
IAD-JFK
Aircraft: E170
Seat: 2A
Departure Time: 12:38PM
Arrival Time: 1:51PM
Load: 80%

As soon as I got aboard I was greeted by the cheery FA, and tried to stowe my bags in the overhead. Unfortunately I quickly found out that my 22" wouldn't really fit without squeezing it too much, so she recommended I gate check it. She promised it would be waiting planeside at Kennedy, so I gladly obliged. I took out all of my important belongings and stored them in the overhead.

In 1A was an Australian man, clearly leading a tour since he had a bunch of younger people (probably students) going by his seat on the way back and talking to him for a second. I believe they said they were going to Perth. Across the aisle from him was an Asian man who almost immediately fell asleep, and next to him was a VERY attractive deadheading FA, who seemed to be Dulles based. In my row was a Skywest pilot as well as a young girl in the window.

Pre-departure drinks were offered within a few minutes, and I took a water. The most stereotypically funny thing about this flight was the conversation between the FA (largely from the jumpseat) and the United FA in the window in row one. The on duty FA was talking loudly with her most of the flight "over" the Asian gentlemen, although he seemed to be asleep. Some of the things they talked about were, erm, not necessarily something a customer should hear, and I clearly heard all of this. The on duty FA was telling the deadheading UA FA about how she couldn't wear boots when she was working because her supervisor said they were too slutty. Then they started talking about the various policies that the two carriers have, and the deadheading FA was talking about the policy UA has on pantyhose, which I took much interest in, at least coming from her. The funniest thing was when they started talking about magazines and even had an onboard magazine exchange. Those FA's and the magazines, I tell ya! They also talked about the bidding on their flights. The Shuttle America FA said how she was mid seniority and didn't like doing international but rather preferred domestic, since international bidding immediately brings to my mind images of Hong Kong, Shangai, Buenos Aires, and Paris, not small Canadian cities.


Pre-departure water

Legroom in 2A

Cabin View

The flight was pretty uneventful. In-flight the FA offered the gourmet snack mix as well as pretzels, and I took both, as well as a drink. I started writing out the thank you note in each gift card holder for the FA's, which we would all later sign, but I only got through about eight before we began our final descent. The FA chatted most of the flight, and we got into Kennedy on time. I have to say the E170 is just a beautfil plane, very comfortable in F, almost more comfortable than the mainline flights. The seats are perfectly padded, IMO... just a great way to fly a regional jet.


Outside view during the flight

Inflight drink and snack

Working on the gift cards

This is where the drama starts. This flight had about eight deadheading pilots, from Virgin America to all the regionals. It was just those eight and me that had gatechecked bags. I was the first to get on the jetway, and stood there. I was quickly approached by one of the GA's with one varient of the New York attitude (not the dhammer kind). Here's how the convo went:

GA: Whaddaya waitin' for?
Me: I gate checked a bag, I'm waiting for it to be brought up.
GA: HUH, we don't do that around here?
Me: The FA specifically told me that it would be waiting planeside here.
GA: Too bad, that aint my problem. It'll be on the carousel.

At this point about five pilots are waiting too.

Me: Ma'am, if you're going to start talking about whose problem certain things are, it sure isn't my problem that you can't properly communicate with the FA's or ground agents at Dulles.
GA: It'll be waiting on the carousel.
Me: Ma'am, I have a connecting flight from here in about an hour, and I may miss it if I have to go to the carousel. Please get me my bag, I really don't want to escalate this.

At this point the Captain (who looked my age, btw) comes out.

Captain: Wait a second ma'am, this isn't right, these passengers were promised their bags planeside.
GA: Too bad, that's not my problem.
Captain: That's totally ridiculous. I'll do it myself.

By this point about half of the pilots gave up and went to the carousel, but a few of us stuck around. The Captain asks me what my bag looks like, and the alarm sounds when he opens the door to the tarmac. He tells me it'll take a couple of minutes but promises to bring it up.

A few minutes later he brings up all of our bags. I thanked him profusely, especially since he was done at JFK so could have gone home or to the hotel, but rather chose to help the customer. This guy deserves big props!^^^

At JFK:

As I enter the RCC I had to wait for a few minutes as both agents argued with a lady. She was a United Premier Executive (Star Gold) traveling domestically and insisted she was enititled to lounge access. The agents had to explain to her over and over that that only counts for international travel, but she simply didn't understand, and got quite snippy. The agent handled it pretty well, and eventually she left.

The lounge was packed except for the back room, which was totally empty. Gotta love that no one ever thinks of going there, it seems. I started working on a web assignment which was due that night for class, but unfortunately didn't manage to finish so had to save it for LAX on the other end. I headed to the gate fully anticipating a mob scene of ego-driven bankers that would be guarding the red carpet with their bluetooth headsets and Gold BP's in the shirt pocket, but was pleased to see it was quite civil. Still, this being a Friday afternoon flight I wasn't expecting too many "friendly" passengers, so was surprised to see throughout the flight how nice they were. Boarding began with F and GS followed shortly by 1K and C passengers.

Friday, January 18
UA27
JFK-LAX
Aircraft: Boeing 757-200
Seat: 9C
Departure Time: 3:25PM
Arrival Time: 6:46PM
Load: 95%

I settled into 9C, and immediately the rather clumsy looking FA (and I say that in an endearing way, I promise) said "Ah, so you're Mr. 9C, we heard all about you." We talked for a couple of minutes and she mentioned she was commited to providing excellent service, which I later tested. An FA friend had written the crew saying I was a friend, which seems to help at times.

Within a couple of minutes all of my row nine seat opponents had settled in, and the FA approached all of us saying "Hey guys, I have some cool magazines and reading materials on your seats, so please start reading them." As it turns out she had left the safety cards on the seats, so that was a funny way of putting it.

The FA's were truly amazing. They did an awesome job of balancing drinks, coat hanging, passing out eyeshades/earplugs, newspapers, menus, and just helping people settle in. Shortly after the same FA that put the reading materials on our seats came up to row nine and said "Hey, you guys are my superstars when it comes down to it, so are you willing and able to assist us in an emergency?" We all chuckled and said yes, at which point the FA said "Great, since we have this much room in front of you we'll make this the 'Dancing with the Stars' stage, with as many girls or guys dancing as you'd like, depending on which you prefer, along with my superstars."

As she finished saying that I said "Since this is going to be such a great flight and all, I guess the Captain will be turning on Channel 9, right?" She quickly wiped the smile off her face and said "Unfortunately not, this is a no channel 9 captain, he mentioned it in the pre-flight briefing. He said something about..." At that point I cut her off and with a smirk said "Let me guess, something about YouTube?" She nodded and said "Oh, I guess you'll have to explain that to me later on," and I said I was sure she would make up for it with the great service. The two GS's in A & B as well as the 1K next to me heard this, so they starting asking me about this YouTube thing. I explained my perception of it, and they all rolled their eyes. I talked to my seatmate for a few more minutes and I think I really freaked him out with my rantings, as those were basically the last words we exchanged on the flight. He did end by asking "Are you sure you don't work for United?"

The Menu read as follows:

To Begin
Orange and Ginger Duck Leg Confit and Soba Noodle Salad
Jicama and organic ginger-soy-hijiki sauce

Salad
Fresh Seasonal Greens
Ranch or Asian sesame ginger dressing

Main Course
Apricot Curry Braised Lamb Shoulder
Quinoa and vegetables

Pan-Seared Tenderloin with Morel Sauce
Vegetable risotto and steamed baby spinach

Pasta Trio with Pesto Alfredo Sauce

Dessert
Ice Cream

Cheese Plate with Fresh Seasonal Fruit
Manchego, Rosenborg Noble Blue, Montrachet

Prior to Arrival
A selection of extraordinary chocolate truffles from Gayety's Chocolates.

The FA took the meal orders and asked everyone for their first and second choice as far as I could hear, except for 9AB, to which she said "Ah, you guys are my superstars, well at least four stars, so I just need your first choice." I went with the pasta as my first choice and beef as my second choice, and ended up getting the pasta.

I was shocked to see that we were number two for takeoff, especially at Kennedy on a Friday afternoon, so we were anticipating an on-time arrival. After some very light chop on the climb the seatbelt sign was eventually turned off and the captain made his announcement, announcing the flight time at 5hr39min. The DVD players were distributed, which contained a few remotely interesting movies. I decided I would watch Knocked Up and The Simpsons Movie in that order.

The beverage service started shortly and I took a Diet Coke and hot nuts. Nuts were refilled within a few minutes. The dinner was good except for the appetizer, but that's only because I don't like duck. Both of the movies were pretty decent for airplane movies, although nothing special or worth seeing outside of a flying metal tube. There were several scenes in Knocked Up where I found myself turning the DVD player towards my seatmate and away from the aisle, and I'm sure there would be some passengers that would be gravely offended by the content. Is it just me or does the main actress in the movie look just like Jessica Simpson? Anyway....


DVD Player

Hot Nuts and Diet Coke

Full Tray

Appetizer

Salad

Whole Grain Roll

Main Course

Ice Cream

Service on this flight was truly exceptional, and upon descent the Global Services 3MM sitting across from me told one of the FA's that it was the best service he has ever received. The two C FA's working the aisle (the clumsy seeming, very friendly one, and an Asian lady that could truly have worked for SQ) really did work their tails off and were very friendly. The FA decided to give me a nice plastic cup filled with pralines and a part of the original box, which was a very nice gesture.

We landed a few minutes early but because there was no jetway operator we had to wait a few minutes. The Captain came on and said "Folks, the Flight Attendants may have told you the reason we're waiting is because of the jetbridge, but the real reason is because they said what great passengers you were and they wanted to keep you around just a little longer." Stick to Channel 9, captain. I got off on time and walked pretty quickly towards the hotel shuttle area since I had to be at dinner in a little over an hour.

At LAX:

I got to the shuttle area outside and immediately called goalie to see where him and the gang were, since he had gotten in earlier. They were in the lounge at the Hilton. I waited and waited and waited, only to see the crew from my flight waiting for a shuttle bus right next to me. Pretty pathetic. The shuttle came by around 7:30PM, and had us at the hotel shortly thereafter. So much for a shuttle every 15 minutes.

I immediately spotted alliance, Mrs. Alliance, djerikd, and goalie outside. After saying hello, goalie guided me to the club level for check-in, since I had already checked in online the night before. Within a minute I had the room key and quickly went to the room to drop off some luggage and make a quick phone call.

When I got back down I saw the rest of the gang, some familiar faces and some I had not seen before. I believe the only ones I met for the first time were UCBeau and aku, both awesome guys. We took the next bus we saw and nearly a dozen of us got aboard. The bus driver gave us a crazy look since we didn't have any luggage, and we began the drive. It was a fun ride since it was just such an awkward setting for those few non-FT'ers.


My room in the Towers wing on the 16th floor

We got off at T2 and tried to make our way to Encounter, which was right in front of us. After taking a series of elevators in different directions, going to the top of a parkhouse, and just plain walking like nutjobs all over the place, we finally realized that there was a crosswalk directly from the shuttle all along. Wow did we feel like idiots, although there was some good conversation going on.

We were about 15 minutes late due to getting lost, so there were a few people waiting downstairs for us while they took a smoking break.


Door to Encounter

Encounter Sign

Smokers

Encounter is just an awesome place, especially for aviation nuts. While the menu isn't the cheapest or greatest it has some amazing views of the airport, and just a great ambiance. From the entrance, to the elevator with the themed music, to the futuristic restaurant itself, it was great. I got to meet some FT'ers I hadn't met before, which was great, as well as some old friends. My salad was actually really good, and had a very unique look to it.


Interior of Encounter

View from Encounter

My Salad


Dinner group

Dinner group

Dinner group

Dinner group

Group outside Encounter

The service was great and by around 11PM we were all done. I would mention specific people I met, but I'm scared I'll leave out one name, not because I didn't enjoy meeting them but just because it left my mind for a second. You were all great though.

We then got on the bus back to the Hilton from T2, which was one of the highlights of the trip for me. As djerikd got on he said to the bus driver "This is the bus to the strip club, right?" Genuinely confused the bus driver says "No, no, we go to Hilton," and I think Erik said that was fine since it was close by. As we all sat down in an empty bus we vowed to make the ride as awkward as possible for any non-FTer that would enter, be it a discussion on hot nuts or whatever. I even jokingly said "How funny would it be if a flight crew joined us?" Little did I know my idea would come true. As we stopped at some terminal we were joined by a TACA flight crew, consisting of the Captain, FO, as well as some 20-something year old FA's.

We all started to giggle as we had discussed it just a few minutes prior, so eventually goalie breaks the silence by offering them all his signature Tootsie Pops. We all break out in laughter, as there is both an obvious communication problem between us and them and we can only imagine what it seemed like from their perspective. There were a dozen people without luggage that all knew each other, yet they had to sit inbetween us. Then when they entered everyone in the bus is giggling... strange, eh?

The funniest part was that the one FA acted all excited and immediately unwrapped the lollipop and sucks it. We all laughed and made jokes for the rest of the ride, but it was hilarious. Had to be there to fully appreciate it, although I think everyone gets the point.


Shuttle to the Hilton

Shuttle to the Hilton

We got back to the Hilton and bid each other goodnight. A few of us stuck around downstairs to check in for the flights and chat for a few minutes, and we were upstairs by midnight or so. I was sharing a room with Benny8444 so finished my online assignment as he was watching To Catch a Predator.

We turned off the lights by around 1AM for a 5AM wakeup call the next morning.

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Day Two:

Beeeeep.... gar, once again the alarm beeps at the frustratingly early hour of 5AM, although this morning I had no problem getting up since I was stoked. I have to say the bed was extremely comfortable, with enough pillows to please even the pickiest pillow critic, even Mr. Pillows. I knew it would be a day for the books, so I was up in no time. Benny8444 showered first and by around 5:20AM I was in the shower. We packed everything up, made sure we hadn't forgotten anything, and by 5:50AM left the room to head to the concierge level for breakfast. We had arranged for breakfast at 6AM with whoever in the group wanted to join, which is right when they opened. Since our flight was at 8AM it was pretty tight, but it worked out fine.

Benny8444 and I were the first ones waiting in front of the lounge, and at around 6:05AM the doors opened. Within no time the lounge filled up with all kinds of people, including a few flight crews, as well as some FT'ers. It was pretty clear that most of the FT'ers decided to sleep in and that breakfast aboard would suffice. The breakfast was quite continental, consisting basically of fruit, yogurt, and a bunch of different breads. The decor of the lounge itself was quite nice.


Hilton Club Lounge

Hilton Club Lounge

FT'ers in the Hilton Club Lounge

We chatted about the day ahead and looked forward to the potential awkwardness of the shuttle ride to T6 for any non-FT'ers, and by around 6:15AM decided to head to the lobby. Fortunately right as we got down there we saw some more FT'ers as well as a shuttle about to depart, so we all jumped on. The only FT'er that appeared to be missing from the group was Pat89339, although a quick call to her confirmed that she would be there shortly.

There were only two non-FT'ers aboard the shuttle, but I think we scared them enough. We told them about what we were doing, told them about the secret airline, the best in the world, namely Ted, and they seemed to think I was serious, so their reaction was funny. We were dropped off in front of T6 by around 6:35AM, and tried to find the entrance. Unfortunately it was harder than we expected, and by the time we got in it we were at T7.

We headed immediately to security, which was an interesting experience. I showed the TSA agent my ID, said "Gooood morning," and she said to her colleague also checking ID's something along the lines of "Look Kishi, he from Flo-rida" She then started singing the following lyrics, in their entirety:
"shortie had them apple bottom jeans (jeans)
boots with the fur (with the fur)
the whole club was lookin at her

she hit the floor
(she hit the floor)

next thing you know
shorty got low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low"

I think I did a good job of giving her the "wth?" look before walking away, but apparently they kept talking when it was Mrs. Alliance had her turn. Pretty darn funny.

We were all through security by around 6:45AM, and headed straight to the RCC. We met up with other FT'ers there, and worked on perfecting the goodie bags and finished signing the Starbucks gift cards for the FA's for those that weren't at dinner the night before.

We headed to the gate by around 7:10AM for 7:20AM boarding, and red carpet boarding was called shortly. After having my BP taken by one of the nicest agents I have ever had, only because she said "Thanks so much" with a bright and cheery smile, we proceeded to board onto what would be one of the best flights ever.

Saturday, January 19
UA946
LAX-IAD
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200
Seat: 15B
Departure Time: 8:00AM
Arrival Time: 3:39PM
Load: 85%

Upon boarding we were immediately greeted by the cheery FA's. I boarded right before goalie, and as goalie boarded one FA said something along the lines of "Oh, this is the tootsie pop guy they were telling us about." We all settled into our seats, took a few pictures, and then goalie and I headed to the front of the plane with the goodie bags for the FA's and pilots. There we met the purser, who happened to be flying with us both ways, and she said she was expecting us, not surprisingly since a few FA's wrote in warning them about the party.

We gave her the giftbags and I immediately asked if the Captain would be turning on Channel 9 and whether we could pay the flight deck crew a visit. She said that the cockpit crew wasn't there yet, which seemed odd since the flight was to depart in less than 30 minutes. She was very thankful for the gifts though, and we eventually headed back to our seats. We then took some cabin pics of all of us:


FT'ers

Cabin

FT'ers

FT'ers

Quite a few of the FA's came by our seats, including Griffin and Steve, who were also flying with us the next day. These two guys were simply amazing. They had it down, were hilarious, and very cool to talk to. We explained to them what exactly we were doing, and they seemed pretty surprised to hear that people would actually fly across the country as a group for fun for just a day.

By around 8AM the Captain made an announcement saying we would be delayed half an hour due to paperwork being finished up, which seemed to us as if it was because the Captain was late. We were quickly informed the Captain's last name over the PA. His last name had two words, the seconnd of which was interesting. Let's just call him Captain D***o from here on out, for no real reason. You fill in the stars.

Shortly after 8AM the safety demo began. During boarding we had decided that we wanted to make the FA doing the demo laugh. Little did we know just how funny this would be.

When the announcement was made to "please take the safety card out of the seatpocket in front of you and follow along," we did exactly that. All 16 of us took the safety cards out of the seatpockets at the same time and held them in front of our faces. The reaction on Toni's face (one of the FA's working C) was priceless. She laughed so hard to the point that she had the safety card in front of her face for quite a while. When it came time to point out where the exits were we all made that famous FA hand gesture, at which point Toni turned around because she was laughing so hard. For a moment she had to step into the galley to control herself, but we all got a good chuckle out of it.

She later came back to us and said we were too funny, and was cracking up without end. It's a good thing she wasn't working C on the way back, because we had something else in store. Meal orders were then taken, the choice being between a spinch and feta omelette and a fruit plate, and most of us chose the omelette.

We took off on 25L and not surprisingly Captain D***o didn't turn on Channel 9. As we began our climb out the seatbelt sign was eventually turned off, and the first officer made a very brief announcement. We then decided that we would all sign the Hemispheres magazines, so by the time we were done we had 16 signed copies. Be on the lookout for the Voices page on your next UA 777 flight!

Once the flight began it was just a total blast for all four hours. The food was pretty good, IMO, and the service outstanding. We had a lot of fun talking to the FA's. The FA's were just a blast, and to protect everyone involved I will avoid some details, but suffice it to say they were awesome. Prior to arrival I started to see some nuts, but I knew my eyes were playing games with me since that would never happen on a breakfast flight. I was so focused on the hot nuts that I started hearing voices in my head and stopped listening to people around me. As soon as I saw another helping I ran up to the galley to ask Toni if I saw correctly, and she said they were miscatered but she was going to serve them. Apparently some of her colleagues didn't want to because it makes people more thirsty, but she insisted. ^ to Toni for making this FT'ers day. Since DWP was the only FT'ers stuck in coach I brought him back a double helping of nuts thanks to the extras the FA's had.

Here are some random in-flight pictures:


United Voices Page in the Hemishpheres Magazine

Cabin inflight

Airshow

A certain tired FT'er

Row 14 enjoying the IFE

FlyinHawaiian's special meal

Omelette^ ^ ^

Omelette

Fruit

Bagel

Hail the Holy Hot Nuts!

The crew also gave us a sheet which everyone signed and added notes to, thanking us for the gifts. We even convinced Toni to join us for dinner and drinks at the Embassy Suites, while the others considered it. Truly a spectacular crew and an amazing flight, one which was over wayyyyyyy too quickly! We should have a few new resident FA's on FT soon, so stay on the lookout.

We touched down right about on time at IAD on runway 12 with a landing that didn't have any reverse thrust. As soon as the wheels hit the ground a loud, roaring clap filled the cabin as a thank you to the crew, something which we always love to do on in-flight Do's. We got to the D gates, and as we were taxiing in I gave flygirl94 a call since we were all meeting her at IAD. As it turns out her flight from SAN got in 20 minutes early, so we couldn't have a big red carpet greeting at her gate, but all was good.

It was awesome to meet flygirl94, she's a true class act. The whole terminal was a hilarious mob scene. There was flygirl94, in uniform, surrounded by nearly 20 FT'ers, including VPescado who caught up with us on his way to FRA. A lot of passengers walking by gave us that long, weird stare, wondering what the heck was going on. Some even decided to stop and listen in for a second, since they thought it was an expo of some sort. With permission from flygirl94 I'll post the group picture we had taken. She had a connection to ORD to catch, so we had to bid our farewells.

Simpy put, flygirl94=AWESOME^^^^!

By the time we left the terminal it was around 4:15PM, and we started our quest to find the hotel shuttles. Most of us were staying at the Embassy Suites, so we mostly stuck together. After a wonderful ride on the world famous moon buggy we made it to the main terminal but still had trouble finding the shuttles. Eventually we made it outside where the sign said the shuttles would be, and it was friggin' freezing. Being from Florida I consider 60 to be cold, let alone the 16 degrees it was at IAD.

As we crossed the street I guess I took a wrong turn, because I got separated from the rest of the group. At first I thought it was a prank, and I thought so even more when no one was answering their cell phone. I really had no clue how I could totally lose sight of the group by looking away for a second. I tried to find the shuttle, and eventually N334AA called me back. As it turns out they were at the totally other end of the terminal, already aboard the shuttle, and I was at least a three minute run away. I literally sprinted outside in the freezing weather and eventually got the last middle seat on the shuttle, totally out of breath.

We started the check-in process and by around 5PM we were all checked in. The manager's reception was at 5:30PM, so we all headed up to our rooms. Most of us were on the 6th floor, so that worked out well. I took a quick shower and by the time I was done N334AA and I headed down to join the others, and on the way met Mr. and Mrs. Alliance, who informed us they had been upgraded to a very nice suite, which was pretty huge.

I thought this event was a total blast. We had FT'ers join us from the other hotels, as well as one of the AWESOME FA's from our flights. We really had a lot of fun just talking for two hours, and you gotta love the reception that Embassy Suites has. The snacks and drinks were decent, not to mention free.^


Atrium of the Embassy Suites

From downstairs

Talk during the reception

Talk during the reception

Talk during the reception

By around 7:45PM we decided to head over to Clyde's Willow Creek Farm for dinner. Fortunately we had enough drivers so that we didn't need a shuttle, which was great. Thanks to all that helped out!^

I drove with JeepGuyDe, as well as a bunch more people than should have been in a car, although alliance and Mrs. Alliance did a pretty good job of taking up very little room.

I must say for a few moments I felt like I was in Ho Chi Minh City on the ride to Clyde's. Let's just say that JeepGuyDE knows how to drive to the point that I got calls from the others telling us to slow down.

We got lost a couple of times on the way there so only got in at around 8:30PM, which was the time our reservation was for. Our table wasn't quite ready but it was within a few minutes. We had three separate tables for 12 people each. I had the opportunity to meet a lot of FT'ers I haven't met before as well as see some familiar faces, and even got to sit across from BoyAreMyArmsTired (and I'll shut my mouth before I get in trouble).

The dinner was awesome, IMO. I had a filet mignon with sides for $16.95, which can't be beat, IMO. The decor, company, and food in this place were great. Unfortunately time is kind of an issue at this point as far as writing the report goes, so I'll have to let the pictures do most of the talking. As dinner wrapped up goalie ordered some cake for goalie-sis and FlyinHawaiian, and we got to sing Happy Birthday for both of them as they slowly began to blush.

It was around that time that ajthregreat called and said he would be stopping by the Embassy Suites, so we had to wrap things up a bit abruptly, since we didn't want to make him wait.


Dinner

Dinner

Dinner

Dinner

Dinner

Dinner

Dinner

Dinner

Dinner

Dinner

We got back to the Hilton shortly after 11:30PM, IIRC, and waited in the lobby a bit for ajthegreat. We watched the "First Swans" of the Embassy Suites, George & Martha, and pondered what life must be like from their perspective... or not.

GoingAway, thezipper, and BoyAreMyArmsTired came to the ES for a bit but left within a few minutes, IIRC.

Eventually ajthegreat showed up, and we were blessed by the presence of a Global Services. Benny8444 was tired so decided to sleep instead of going to dinner, but it's worth mentioning he was planning a prank for weeks before the Do. We figured it would be nice to turn the table, so while I wont divulge the premise, we had a few good laughs with it, after which ajthegreat left.

The highlight of my trip came as we were waiting for the elevators. Actually, I'm cracking up just thinking about it. I know people wont find this funny, but I guess it's one of those things you just had to see to find funny. There was a guy with a floor polishing machine that was, shockingly enough, polishing the floor or whatever it's called, and at the same time there was a guy sitting on top of the machine for a reason I can't quite figure out. Not sure what purpose it served, but he just looked so excited to be sitting there while the machine was running. I nearly died of laughter, and I think UCBeau recorded it, so let's hope he can upload it for our viewing pleasure.


Video of the guy on the buffer courtesy of Beau, although it doesn't fully capture how funny of a moment it was.

By around 1AM we all headed to bed, happy that we could finally sleep in the next morning.

lucky9876coins

Day Three:

Finally I got to sleep in. I woke up to the sound of N334AA saying "you want to go to breakfast?" since I didn't hear the alarm or anything else for that matter. While we had all arranged to meet downstairs by around 9AM, not surprisingly there were only Benny8444 and his mother there at that time, so we decided to go ahead and reserve a big table. Always love how breakfast at the Embassy Suites is a complete cattle call for the hot "cooked-to-order" items. By around 10AM most of the gang was there, and breakfast was pretty good. There seemed to be some cheearleader conference or something at the Embassy Suites, so that was nice to see...

Benny8444 said that he was getting sick and since he was a DC local he would skip the return, which was probably a smart decision since he ended up getting sick. By around 11AM we wrapped up breakfast and headed up to our rooms to pack up, just in time for lunch. By 11:15AM we were all downstairs and faced with transportation issues, since we only had Pat89339 and JeepGuyDE driving.

I thought the day before was freezing, but it was nothing compared to Sunday. Upon stepping outside I immediately ran back inside, and decided that would be the best place to wait for rides. Pat was nice enough to shuttle twice, so we eventually all made it to The Bungalow for lunch.


Staying warm.

How Beau feels about the weather...

The Bungalow was an interesting place for sure, and we had a pretty big crowd join us. Once again I had a great time getting to meet some new people, so I'll let the pictures do the talking:








We bid our farewells and decided to head straight to the airport instead of going to the Air & Space Museum as planned since we were pretty tired and preferred to watch the game.

Madhouse24 was generous enough to bring us a bag filled with packages of special popcorn, so I guess he'll be known as the "snack man" from hereon out, let's just hope he keeps living up to the name.

Thanks to all the locals that provided rides to the airport, which got us there very early, around 3PMish, IIRC. Sweetpea 2005 gave goalie, Daringdoo, and I a ride.

Upon getting to the airport the agent told one of us that one of the earlier IAD-LAX flights was cancelled, so UA947 was now slightly oversold in C but still had open seats in coach.

Eventually we made it past security and headed towards the C6 RCC. On the way I told BoyAreMyArmsTired that we would guest her in since she had her AC *G out, and I saw no reason to charge other airlines for UA's awful lounge whenever possible. She insisted she wanted to cost AC money, so there was no hope.

As we approached the lounge we remembered that thread about the matrons questioning passengers about them not knowing their guest, so we purposely started talking loudly in front of the RCC saying "Hey, do you want to be my guest to the red carpet club?" to each other. No bite from the agent, fortunately.

We sat down in the back corner of the lounge where we assembled all of the gift bags. N334AA wrote out the thank you notes on the gift cards, and we decided this time that Captain D***o and his FO weren't getting any.

Some of us decided to watch the football game while others just sat and talked. We stole SOOOO many cookies to put into the crew giftbags, to the point that we had ten lunch bags overfilling with snacks. As more and more of us went to get a bunch of cookies we noticed that the people that clean up after the guests started hawking the food selection more and more carefully, to the point that it was entertaining to walk up there and see their reaction. It was just priceless to see the way those people were acting, as if they were guaring gold.

I decided that I would be the official drink chit enforcer, and Pat89339 informed me that a passenger didn't get any drink chits upon entering, so she pointed him out to me. Eventually there were about 20 people staring at this guy, and he kind of noticed the look we all gave him. Eventually he gets up and I follow him to the bar. I said something along the lines of "Sir, I noticed that you didn't get two drink chits from the lady at the entrance, is that correct?" He said that he actually did, so Pat was wrong. A bit of an embarrassing moment, thanks Pat.

At this point we started discussing the flight itself and planned out what we would do. First we decided we were going to pay Captain D***o a visit in the flight deck and maybe even wait for him upon landing and say "Thanks for Channel 9, Captain D***o." Of course that would just be too mean.

We decided to take the safety video to a new level today, even beyond what we did yesterday. Pat89339 came up with the genius idea of getting styrofoam cups for everyone, and then placing them over our mouths during the oxygen mask demonstration. GENIUS!

Someone also came up with the idea of having straws to blow in while the FA desomstrates blowing into the tubes to inflate the lifevest. A few minutes later we had sneaked 14 straws and styrofoam cups from the bar area, and we were good to go.

We had all the gift bags on one table, and one of the ladies that cleans up after people in the RCC walked over to our table. My heart started to beat fast as I figured she was going to look into the bags and make us put our stash back, but apparently she just wanted to clear the glasses there. That was a huge relief.

FlyinHawaiian's mother and mother's boyfriend joined us at around 4PM, and it was great to meet them. I think they were just a bit puzzled by how darn weird we were.


Some FT'ers trying to plan trips

By around 5PM we were all briefed on the safety demonstration and headed over to the gate. The boarding area was a total mob scene, not entirely unexpected. Boarding began on-time, and we were all excited for the next part of the awesome weekend, and to once again see our friends onboard.

Sunday, January 20
UA947
IAD-LAX
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200
Seat: 15B
Departure Time: 5:50PM
Arrival Time: 8:22PM
Load: 95%

We were once again welcomed aboard by about half of the same crew, although I think the others were briefed on what to expect. Upon boarding a few of us headed up to the F galley again to drop off the goods, where we were met by the same FA as the day before. Another one of the awesome FA's (yes, I'm trying my best to avoid using names) from the day before came by to say hi to us and I asked him if "Captain D***o had a minute to talk." He obviously knew exactly why I asked and said he would check. He informed me that Captain D***o was busy today since there was someone in the jumpseat and didn't have time to talk. At that point we specifically asked them to keep the extra goddie bags and not give it to the awful cockpit crew, and they chuckled but gladly obliged.

As we walked back to C we got some dirty looks from the F passengers, although I couldn't care less. During boarding we had a few of the FA's from the day before come by to talk to us, and within a few minutes pre-departure beverages were offered. N334AA and I also found amenity kits in the seats, I'm guessing because the aircraft was connecting from Europe. We were also somewhat surprised to see that it was a different plane than the day before since all of the Hemispheres magaines weren't signed, so that gave us something to do. We distributed the cups and straws to all the FT'ers in preparation for the safety demo.

One of the C FA's came around taking meal orders as soon as everyone was aboard, and started with us in the back. The choices were between pasta, the beef tenderloin, chicken curry, as well as a kids meal. Pat89339 and UCBeau immediately started fighting over who would get the kids meal, but fortunately there were enough so they could both have one. I asked the FA why there was an extra entree choice tonight, and she said they catered the flight short so catering just brings whatever they have extras of, which was the chicken curry.

Goalie had asked his seatmate to swap seats since 14A was originally Benny8444's seat, but it was snagged by a non-FT'er when he cancelled. The guy refused to switch, which of course was fine, saying he was on the earlier flight that was cancelled. During meal orders the FA takes goalie's meal order and then says to the other guy "Sir, right now we're just taking meal orders from our 1K and Global Services passengers and no one else so if you're just going to have to wait and I'll take your order later." Alliance and I cracked up. While it was pathetic it was funny to hear at least from our perspective. The guy then said to goalie "Whoops, looks like I should have switched seats."

I asked Griffin who would be doing the safey demonstration in C, and he said it would be the new hire, which would have made it all the funnier. It happened to be a more senior FA, the same one that was taking meal orders.

The safety demo worked out well, although not as funny as the outbound. We had all the props going well, and this FA had some loud chuckles, but wasn't at the stage of crying due to laughter. The two FA's working the front of Y kept turning their heads to see what we were doing, and were cracking up. At the end of the demonstration we all clapped loudly, and the other passengers looked confused, of course. The FA then loudly proclaimed that we were awesome and explained that we had styrofoam cups to our mouths during the demonstration. It was really funny!^


Amenity Kits

Pre-departure OJ

The flight was once again awesome. The meal was pretty good, IMO, and the service was great. I'll just mention a few highlights of the flight:
- Since Captain D***o decided not to turn on Channel 9 again we wrote him a petition, signed by all of the passengers that were FlyerTalkers. It was very nice, but of course nothing came out of it. What a d***o!
- The FA brought some C passengers ice cream sundaes, which was awesome! Who doesn't love ice cream sundaes?!?!?!
- The new hire FA was quite attractive, and Beau decided to try his luck. Pat89339 talked to her first, trying to say what a great guy Beau was, and then he gave it a try himself. Daringdoo and Pat89339 sat in row 15 looking to see how it was going up front for Beau, and provide play-by-play commentary. She even had all the signs, including taking her foot out of her shoe (called "footsie" or something, don't ask me), playing with her pen, etc. Oh well, sorry Beau.
-The FA's were just amazing to talk to, really just awesome. Seriously, these folks couldn't have been any better, and we gave a couple of them GTEM's.


Hot Nut Service

Dinner

The Kids Meal

FlyinHawaiian's Special Meal

My dinner

Main Course

Salad

Dessert

Ice Cream Sundae

The flight was over too quickly. Once again we clapped as soon as we touched down. We got in on-time and bid farewell to the incredible crew, although we got info from a couple of them and they promised to join FT, so we'll see.

As soon as we got off we once again saw VPescado, who got back from his FRA run and was heading to OAK. We stood around the gate for a while just chatting, and actually were going to wait for Captain D***o to get off so we could tell him how we felt about his lack of accessibility.

The cabin crew got off the plane while we were still standing around, so we gave them a big holler and round of applause as they got off. We said our goodbye's to those that were heading to the RCC since some of us were going to In-N-Out. As we were leaving we saw Captain D***o and his FO walk by, unfortunately too late to confront them. It seems like they spent quite a bit of extra time in the cockpit considering how quickly they were in and out otherwise, so it's anyone's guess what they were doing....

We left security, went to The Parking Spot shuttle, and took it over to Sepulveda. From there we walked over to the In-N-Out, which was a first for me since I had never been to one, let alone the famous LAX location.

I went inside and at first only got a milkshake since I wasn't really hungry, and then sat down outside. I have to say the fresh air was just awesome, especially after sitting a metal tube for so long, not to mention the weather was actually pleasant. As I sat down we noticed one of the FA's calling our names out of the window. He just wanted to stop by and say hi, which was very nice of him!^

We were quickly joined by livitup, mrs. livitup, rl212, as well as SS255. It was great to meet them and talk to them, and we had some really fun conversation. I think SS255 got more than she bargained for, to say the least, although it was VERY entertaining. The conversation was mostly centered around US bashing, although as you'll see it came back to bite me in the rear the following day.

I eventually decided to get some fries, and have to say that In-N-Out rocked, especially with the airplanes roaring by. I guess I was tired due to the lack of sleep over the past few days as well as just having flown too much, but I kept referring to 767's as 777's, 757's as 767's, 320's as 757's, etc...


In-N-Out

In-N-Out

In-N-Out

By around 10PM or so we parted our ways, and Mrs. livitup was nice enough to provide me a ride to the Embassy Suites. They had only rented a two seater for the weekend, so Mr. livitup stuck around In-N-Out while I was being dropped off. Unfortunately we really had no clue where we were going, so it took quite a while, only to later realize that we had driven by it a handful of times. Mrs. livitup was quite the driver. I guess I'm just used to driving in Florida where I see more people getting pulled over for going under the minimum speed limit, but I was scared for my life a few times. (ok, just kidding) Thanks very much to her for the ride and to Mr. livitup for patiently waiting!^

By the time I got to the Embassy Suites I was VERY tired, after getting hardly any sleep over the past few days.

Now, you'd think something as simple as checking in wouldn't take much work for a front desk employee, but it was a challenge for this guy. He started by saying "It's my first day," which immediately made me think "so?" but of course I didn't say that. He decided he needed to get the manager to check me in, and within a few minutes I had my room key. I asked for a wakeup call at the unholy hour of 5:30AM, and then headed to the Business Center to print out my boarding pass for the next morning.

I'm a big fan of Embassy Suites hotels, and while I didn't have much time to enjoy this one, it was very nice.^


Bedroom

Living room

Atrium

Within about half an hour I was in bed ready to sleep, although the airplane noise kept me awake for a while. Eventually I fell asleep though.

lucky9876coins

Day Four:

Yet again, as if it wasn't a standard practice by now, the alarm went off way too early. I hopped in the shower and by 6:30AM was downstairs. The shuttle left within a few minutes, and there were just two other people aboard. One of them jokingly said with a big smirk on his face "This is the shuttle to the Ontario airport, right?" and the driver, whose English skills were lacking to say the least, became immediately concerned and started saying over and over that this shuttle was going to LAX and not ONT. The guy who made the joke had to insist several times that he wasn't serious before the guy would give up about it.

I was dropped off at T6 by around 6:40AM and printed out a "real" boarding pass. The line was very short, especially for a Monday morning, and I had all my stuff on the belt within a few minutes. The highlight of my morning was when the guy in front of (I guess he was as tired as I was), carried his 22" carry-on with him through the detector instead of placing it on the belt. I don't think he really realized he had it in his hand, so the agent at the other end was cracking up, and so was I. It was clear the guy was a frequent traveler, so his face quickly turned red. The same guy took my BP as I went through and gave it back to me immediately, and as I was collecting my stuff said "Wait a sec, yo' name is Ninja?" I told him it was actually "Benjamin" and that part of it was just cut off, but that was odd...

I headed to the RCC where the agent was chatting with the person at the desk so it took a good three minutes to get in. As soon as I set up my computer MatthewLAX sent me a text and said he was outside the RCC, so we had the chance to meet up. He was going standby on my flight, so at around 7AM left the lounge for the gate. At around 7:05AM my brother called me asking me to email him something, so I quickly ran back to the RCC and sent it off, still getting back in time for boarding. Not surprisingly boarding was a complete mob scene, with at least 100 or so people using the red carpet.

Monday, January 21
UA946
LAX-IAD
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200
Seat: 12F
Departure Time: 8:00AM
Arrival Time: 3:39PM
Load: 95%

Within a few seconds of getting aboard I could tell the crew didn't compare to the crew from the past few days. Instead of the nine FA's we had the two previous flights, we even had ten FA's on this flight, but service was still mediocre. Don't get me wrong, they were ok, but didn't go out of their way to provide good service. Since this is pretty boring stuff I'll just talk about the highlight of the flight, which was the Captain, namely Captain Morgan.

Upon boarding I had asked the FA if Channel 9 would be on, and to my surprise she said "yes." As we taxiied to the runway and climbed out it was indeed on, and it was clear that the Captain was doing the communicating with ATC today. I couldn't help but notice how dead the pilot sounded. Seriously, he sounded like he should have been in a retirement home for the past 30 years. I have never heard a voice that was so unenthusiastic and bored sounding, EVER. I was a bit surprised that he had Channel 9 on since he immediately struck me as a "I couldn't care less" type of pilot, but little did I know...

As we level off and the seatbelt sign is turned off Captain Morgan comes on the PA and makes one of the funniest announcements I have ever heard, and it lasted for the better part of ten minutes. While browsing the UA forum today I saw reference to the following, which seems to be with the same captain:
http://people.clarkson.edu/~johndan/...es/001801.html

I recommend checking out some of the hilarious stuff there, and I'll only add my favorite comment, which was "We hope you've enjoyed giving us your business as much as we've enjoyed taking you for a ride." This guy was just awesome, turned out totally different than I expected!^

We landed at IAD on-time, and MatthewLAX and I headed to the RCC. As we were entering I spotted espostor right in front of us, who was coming in from BOS. We saw him just three days earlier at dinner, so it was funny to run into him again by chance.

Eventually we all bid our farewells to each other since MatthewLAX had to leave the airport and espostor had to catch his connection, and I decided to leave the RCC too since it was totally overcrowded to the point that it was standing room only. I asked the agent if she thought my Ted flight might be oversold, and she said it's a possibility, so she added my name to the list. As a sidenote I was told the same morning by the agent at LAX that the flight was just booked even.

I went to the gate and the agent told me the flight was "grossly" oversold, which was a bit surprising. I asked her to define grossly, and she said they were over by 20. Immediately I jumped with joy at the thought of a bump. She said that the alternative option would be a flight on US through CLT the same night, leaving about two hours after the IAD-TPA flight, and getting in a little over four hours later.

The GA asked me to stick around the boarding area and was literally begging for volunteers for the flight, over and over and over. I decided not to negotiate for $$$ instead of a free ticket before the door closed like I otherwise would since the agent was totally overworked. As soon as boarding was mostly done there were about a dozen of us that were bumped, all VDB's. I have to say the agent really did a fantastic job of boarding the flight, seeking volunteers, and also being friendly.

There was also a lady with a thick accent holding her BP in the agents face. The agent said "Ma'am, please get your boarding pass out of my face, that wont get you on the flight any quicker." As it turns out the lady was a standby passenger, and continued to stand in front of the agents as she was processing our VDB's. The agent then clearly said "Ma'am, you are NOT getting on this flight tonight, it's oversold and we aren't accepting standbys." She continued to stand there as if nothing was said, and the GA once again repeated what she said, asking her to go sit down. Now it sounded like the lady could understand what the GA was saying, so I have no clue why she didn't comprehend it.

As soon as the door closed another agent came to help rebook everyone and print out the certs. I nicely asked her if there was anyway I could get $$$ instead of a free ticket since I mostly fly internationally, and surprisngly enough she said "absolutely." As soon as I said that other people started asking "what, we can get money off a ticket in the future instead?" I tried to play it down best I could because I didn't want the agent to retract the offer, so I started telling everyone how the free tickets aren't very restrictive and are a great deal and that I would take them too if I flew domestically more.

I guess my VDB and ticket were done first since I was the 1K, so I was on my way within minutes. I headed to the C16 RCC, which was finally a bit emptier, and just hung out for a bit since my flight wasn't for a while.

The rest of the story is pretty uneventful, other than the fact that USAir sucks and that there was a "disabled aircraft" on the runway at CLT so both flights were delayed a bit. US is just such a crappy airline, although to their credit I love the bigger party cups which hold a lot more drink and the FA's are usually friendly. That's about the only good thing I can say about them.

Conclusion:

It was an amazing weekend. I enjoyed every minute of it, and in the end was glad to get the bump, even though it meant I would only get to bed late and make my Tuesday the day from hell, although I wont go into detail on that one. The amazing thing about this DO, IMO, was just how a bunch of people, many of which haven't met each other, can spend a couple days together and find it interesting. It was amazing to see how well everyone got along, despite the wide variety of interests, personalities, etc... it really was awesome, and I'm hoping to do it again, so stay tuned.

Thanks for reading and any comments would be appreciated.

alliance

This looks to be a great weekend. ^


http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...08%20MEGA%20DO

RTW4

This itinerary looks absolutley fantastic. ENJOY.. WIsh I could join you

UCBeau

See you in LAX tonight Ben!

MatthewLAX

I am looking forward to dinner tonight!

das

So do we get to see a trip report?

lucky9876coins

I was just about ready to post it, but unfortunately my computer literally "broke." Going to Geek Squad to figure out what's going on, but first I need a working computer. Sorry!

livitup

Don't worry, Lucky, I'll post the trip report for you

*****
A bunch of people flew all over the country together. The crews were cool. It was fun. Join us next time.
*****

Problem solved.

Just kidding, of course... I'm sure you'll have the full report up ASAP. Hope your computer makes it through ok.

lucky9876coins

OK, I now have a working computer so should be able to have the report done in the next 24 hours or so, give or take. Thanks for your patience.

lucky9876coins

Day one is done, day two will follow shortly. If I forgot anything please PM me.

UCBeau

day one looks great, well written