United Airlines in economy ROA --> IAD --> LHR --> EWR --> IAD --> ROA
Dec 1, 1999, 7:11 pm
#1
Original Member
Original Poster
Join Date: May 1998
Location: New York City
Posts: 3,506
United Airlines in economy ROA --> IAD --> LHR --> EWR --> IAD --> ROA
This was a ticket which was kindly given to me by my brother. He participated in UA's fly in summer to LHR, free ticket during winter promotion. Lack of availability meant that I had to fly the somewhat lengthy itinerary on the return. This trip occured in early November.
The trip started in Roanoke, VA - a city UA serves using their UA Express partner, Atlantic Coast Airlines. There were delays - largely because of the big storm that was inflicting delays in the NE. My flight left really late - probably an hour, but even though my connection was only an hour in IAD, the stewardess still thought I could make my connection because of the winds on the flight! I trusted her. She offered passengers complimentary alcoholic beverages - I'm not sure if this is normal on UA Express or not - I know it definitely is not on DL Connection ASA. It was a short flight - about 40 minutes, but by the time, we got to the gate, I had about 2 mins. to make the connection.
I was out of luck. I ran to the bus connector to Concourse C?, but made it to the gate too late. They offered no sympathy to me at the gate and sent me to the customer service desk - which seemed quite aways away. Here, I had to really push them to offer me a hotel room which they finally reluctantly did - only after I asked for the supervisor. Unfortunately, they could not find a hotel room anywhere closer than Maryland - on the other side of DC!
This would not have been too good because they had rescheduled me to leave early to connect onto their daytime flight from JFK to LHR. They offered me a blanket and a clearly used and uncleaned pillow to sleep in the airport. Naturally, I wasn't too happy about this. I asked them if they had anything going up to NYC that night - they rang around and claimed they'd all left. Since it was still relatively early and faced with the prospect of spending the entire night in the airport, I decided to check out the UA Express terminal. Low and behold, there were still flights going out to EWR and JFK (and LGA I think.) They got me onto to a JFK one. It didn't get to JFK till after midnight. Another big head-ache was to come. They took my cabin baggage (and only piece of luggage) away from me at plane-side (quite understandably) before I boarded the tiny prop to JFK. Low and behold, when I got to JFK, they didn't have any one's luggage - no checked luggage and not even the plane-side checked carry-on bags - I thought this was a bit of a joke!!
I found myself a hotel since it was too late to call a friend in Manhattan. Nothing at JFK because of the aftermath of the Egypt Air tragedy - so I ended up staying at the Clarion Inn? at LGA. I called UA that night and asked them to rebook me on a flight the next evening since I really was not convinced that UA would have my bag the next morning before I left and I didn't want to go on to London with no bags.
I left the hotel late the next morning for JFK and thank my lucky stars the bag was there. I felt especially fortunate since I don't think they had put a tag on the bag indicating its destination of JFK. Thus, I didn't have a claim stub!!
They had rebooked me on their later night flight to LHR - so I asked them if they could rebook me on the earlier one. The agent was extremely (and pleasantly nice) about it and did this for me. I asked for an exit row, but she couldn't get it for me at that point. Seeing how tall I was, she said she made a note of it and said she would try to get it for me when the computer releases them x hours before departure. I thought that was extremely kind of her.
Into the city I went by subway. A very interesting occurence happened at this point. I started talking to an AA steward at the station and he went to the same college as I go to. I know this sounds like nothing, but my college only consists of about 1,600 students! Thus, it's quite rare to bump into alumni unexpectantly on the subway. So, on we spoke until we got to the city. He told me about how much he enjoyed his work and some of the fabulous perks he got. I think he told me that he could go to Australia for some ridiculously low fare under about $500 and on Concorde to London for about the same. Jealousy naturally struck me!! I can't remember if it was him who told me this or the BA stewardess that I spoke to the next day (see below.) Since I had organized a fixed dated APEX rail ticket from London to Edinburgh, I found myself having to organize new transport up to Scotland. I went to the STA Travel in the Village. I LOVE this student travel company. They were so efficient as usual. They managed to find me a round-trip plane ticket from LHR to Edinburgh on British Midland leaving the very next day and returning the next Sunday for about $100!! I had a $100 credit with them that I was able to use. I was SO happy after that. Killed time in Manhattan before heading back out to JFK again on the subway (my way of killing more time!!) This is something to be avoided unless you really don't have much luggage at all. It will be a lot easier when JFK has the monorail connecting all the terminals and the subway station at Howard Beach? since right now it's a really long bus ride that stops at most of the terminals, the parking lots and some of the employee areas. Not much fun ...
Impressively short line at check-in - especially since it was economy. On my way in no time. They're renovating the BA / UA terminal at JFK - so although there were some shops and restaurants, there will be more in the future I think.
The flight boarded about 25 minutes before departure. I know this sounds like nothing, but it was such a light load that it was ample.
When on board, I had the whole exit row to myself on one side (so two seats on a 767.) GREAT Economy was really empty - about a third full perhaps. On-time push-back and take-off soon after.
The service was very efficient, but to be quite frank, they wouldn't have had too many excuses if it wasn't given how many people were on the plane. I was surprised that almost the entire crew was LHR-based - except the cockpit and purser I believe.
And here's the menu for Carfield and his fellow food-lovers!!
To Begin:
Smoked shrimp served with celery salad
Garder fresh salad with dressing of the day
Main Course:
Lemon rosemary chicken breast served with roasted potatoes and peas with carrots
OR
Pennini pasta primavera enhanced by tomato basil sauce and vegetables
OR
Chinatown beef with orange-ginger sauce offered with orange essence rice and vegetables
Dessert:
Apple spice cake
Breakfast:
Continental breakfast featuring a fruit appetizer, breakfast breads and fruit preserve
Wines:
Capendieu Chardonnay
And
Georges Duboeuf Merlot
I was extremely impressed with the meals - especially the main meal. I had the pasta which was good and the appetisers were pleasing too. The wines were also good for economy.
On-time arrival at Terminal Three. Using my British passport and since I only had carry-on bags, I flew through the formalities.
Had a few hours to kill before my connection. So I used the discount coupon that UA had at JFK on the Heathrow Express to go into town via Paddington. It was five pounds one-way - quite a savings off the normal ten pounds. Apparently, it's going up to twelve pounds one-way which in my opinion is absurdly high for a 15 minutes journey however convenient it is!!
British Midland and return flights to follow ...
------------------
Cheers.
Leo.
[This message has been edited by leroy11 (edited 12-01-1999).]
[This message has been edited by leroy11 (edited 12-01-1999).]
[This message has been edited by leroy11 (edited 12-01-1999).]
The trip started in Roanoke, VA - a city UA serves using their UA Express partner, Atlantic Coast Airlines. There were delays - largely because of the big storm that was inflicting delays in the NE. My flight left really late - probably an hour, but even though my connection was only an hour in IAD, the stewardess still thought I could make my connection because of the winds on the flight! I trusted her. She offered passengers complimentary alcoholic beverages - I'm not sure if this is normal on UA Express or not - I know it definitely is not on DL Connection ASA. It was a short flight - about 40 minutes, but by the time, we got to the gate, I had about 2 mins. to make the connection.
I was out of luck. I ran to the bus connector to Concourse C?, but made it to the gate too late. They offered no sympathy to me at the gate and sent me to the customer service desk - which seemed quite aways away. Here, I had to really push them to offer me a hotel room which they finally reluctantly did - only after I asked for the supervisor. Unfortunately, they could not find a hotel room anywhere closer than Maryland - on the other side of DC!
This would not have been too good because they had rescheduled me to leave early to connect onto their daytime flight from JFK to LHR. They offered me a blanket and a clearly used and uncleaned pillow to sleep in the airport. Naturally, I wasn't too happy about this. I asked them if they had anything going up to NYC that night - they rang around and claimed they'd all left. Since it was still relatively early and faced with the prospect of spending the entire night in the airport, I decided to check out the UA Express terminal. Low and behold, there were still flights going out to EWR and JFK (and LGA I think.) They got me onto to a JFK one. It didn't get to JFK till after midnight. Another big head-ache was to come. They took my cabin baggage (and only piece of luggage) away from me at plane-side (quite understandably) before I boarded the tiny prop to JFK. Low and behold, when I got to JFK, they didn't have any one's luggage - no checked luggage and not even the plane-side checked carry-on bags - I thought this was a bit of a joke!!I found myself a hotel since it was too late to call a friend in Manhattan. Nothing at JFK because of the aftermath of the Egypt Air tragedy - so I ended up staying at the Clarion Inn? at LGA. I called UA that night and asked them to rebook me on a flight the next evening since I really was not convinced that UA would have my bag the next morning before I left and I didn't want to go on to London with no bags.
I left the hotel late the next morning for JFK and thank my lucky stars the bag was there. I felt especially fortunate since I don't think they had put a tag on the bag indicating its destination of JFK. Thus, I didn't have a claim stub!!
They had rebooked me on their later night flight to LHR - so I asked them if they could rebook me on the earlier one. The agent was extremely (and pleasantly nice) about it and did this for me. I asked for an exit row, but she couldn't get it for me at that point. Seeing how tall I was, she said she made a note of it and said she would try to get it for me when the computer releases them x hours before departure. I thought that was extremely kind of her.
Into the city I went by subway. A very interesting occurence happened at this point. I started talking to an AA steward at the station and he went to the same college as I go to. I know this sounds like nothing, but my college only consists of about 1,600 students! Thus, it's quite rare to bump into alumni unexpectantly on the subway. So, on we spoke until we got to the city. He told me about how much he enjoyed his work and some of the fabulous perks he got. I think he told me that he could go to Australia for some ridiculously low fare under about $500 and on Concorde to London for about the same. Jealousy naturally struck me!! I can't remember if it was him who told me this or the BA stewardess that I spoke to the next day (see below.) Since I had organized a fixed dated APEX rail ticket from London to Edinburgh, I found myself having to organize new transport up to Scotland. I went to the STA Travel in the Village. I LOVE this student travel company. They were so efficient as usual. They managed to find me a round-trip plane ticket from LHR to Edinburgh on British Midland leaving the very next day and returning the next Sunday for about $100!! I had a $100 credit with them that I was able to use. I was SO happy after that. Killed time in Manhattan before heading back out to JFK again on the subway (my way of killing more time!!) This is something to be avoided unless you really don't have much luggage at all. It will be a lot easier when JFK has the monorail connecting all the terminals and the subway station at Howard Beach? since right now it's a really long bus ride that stops at most of the terminals, the parking lots and some of the employee areas. Not much fun ...
Impressively short line at check-in - especially since it was economy. On my way in no time. They're renovating the BA / UA terminal at JFK - so although there were some shops and restaurants, there will be more in the future I think.
The flight boarded about 25 minutes before departure. I know this sounds like nothing, but it was such a light load that it was ample.
When on board, I had the whole exit row to myself on one side (so two seats on a 767.) GREAT
Economy was really empty - about a third full perhaps. On-time push-back and take-off soon after.The service was very efficient, but to be quite frank, they wouldn't have had too many excuses if it wasn't given how many people were on the plane. I was surprised that almost the entire crew was LHR-based - except the cockpit and purser I believe.
And here's the menu for Carfield and his fellow food-lovers!!
To Begin:
Smoked shrimp served with celery salad
Garder fresh salad with dressing of the day
Main Course:
Lemon rosemary chicken breast served with roasted potatoes and peas with carrots
OR
Pennini pasta primavera enhanced by tomato basil sauce and vegetables
OR
Chinatown beef with orange-ginger sauce offered with orange essence rice and vegetables
Dessert:
Apple spice cake
Breakfast:
Continental breakfast featuring a fruit appetizer, breakfast breads and fruit preserve
Wines:
Capendieu Chardonnay
And
Georges Duboeuf Merlot
I was extremely impressed with the meals - especially the main meal. I had the pasta which was good and the appetisers were pleasing too. The wines were also good for economy.
On-time arrival at Terminal Three. Using my British passport and since I only had carry-on bags, I flew through the formalities.
Had a few hours to kill before my connection. So I used the discount coupon that UA had at JFK on the Heathrow Express to go into town via Paddington. It was five pounds one-way - quite a savings off the normal ten pounds. Apparently, it's going up to twelve pounds one-way which in my opinion is absurdly high for a 15 minutes journey however convenient it is!!
British Midland and return flights to follow ...
------------------
Cheers.
Leo.
[This message has been edited by leroy11 (edited 12-01-1999).]
[This message has been edited by leroy11 (edited 12-01-1999).]
[This message has been edited by leroy11 (edited 12-01-1999).]
Dec 1, 1999, 8:01 pm
#3
Original Member
Original Poster
Join Date: May 1998
Location: New York City
Posts: 3,506
British Midland flight:
I checked-in and received my boarding-pass at the new British Midland facility at Paddington station. It was very impressive and very quiet. However, it struck me that for all of the airlines it was handling, it was only about the same size as BA's facility for its LGW flights at Victoria. Anyway, the agent insisted upon checking my only bag because it was too heavy - fair enough - rules are rules!!
Domestic shops beyond security at Terminal One for domestic departures are somewhat limited unlike the int'l. part of the terminal although they were quite good. There was a Dixons shop (British electronics chain) and one or two coffee shops (I think one was Costa Coffee.)
Arrived at the British Midland departure lounge. They have one of these for all of their UK departures. The inbound flight was late and we would be boarding 10 minutes late - there were apologies for this short a delay - surprisingly courteous!!
When we did board, it was a little confusing since they use these letter codes to direct you to the gate. Since our gate was not in the lounge, we were lead back into the main corridor where everything was labelled in numbers! Down the hall we went and there was a small sign directing us there. Small quip I know!!
We ended up pushing-back about 10-15 mins. late if my memory serves me correctly. Took off about another 10 mins. later. The flight time was short - only about 45 minutes. The crew was extremely courteous and friendly. The pilot was nice although he was a little bold - when he announced the safety demonstration, he politely commanded people to briefly put the newspapers down and listen - I don't think I've heard that one before. He had an interesting name too - Dickey Bird - I think!
The snack was good - I think it consisted of a choice of nice sandwiches, juice and a chocolate. Complimentary wine was also available.
Arrival occured on-time or maybe a few minutes behind schedule. The baggage came extremely quickly. I bearly had time to get to the carousel before mine came.
Overall, British Midland seems to be a great airline - I was very impressed!
From the airport, I took the bus into town. They have a quick express bus that leaves every ten - 15 minutes from the airport for Waverley bridge - above the train station right in the centre of Edinburgh - near Princes Street. The jounrney was about 20 minutes and I don't think we made any stops. I had an interesting conversation with a BA stewardess who lives in Scotland, but flies out of LHR. Thus, she commutes regularly by air down to London. She often takes BD and apparently, she and other BA employees have a lot of respect for them.
So, I finally arrived to visit friends up in that great Scottish city of Edinburgh!!
To be continued ...
(British Midland and United return flights)
------------------
Cheers.
Leo.
I checked-in and received my boarding-pass at the new British Midland facility at Paddington station. It was very impressive and very quiet. However, it struck me that for all of the airlines it was handling, it was only about the same size as BA's facility for its LGW flights at Victoria. Anyway, the agent insisted upon checking my only bag because it was too heavy - fair enough - rules are rules!!
Domestic shops beyond security at Terminal One for domestic departures are somewhat limited unlike the int'l. part of the terminal although they were quite good. There was a Dixons shop (British electronics chain) and one or two coffee shops (I think one was Costa Coffee.)
Arrived at the British Midland departure lounge. They have one of these for all of their UK departures. The inbound flight was late and we would be boarding 10 minutes late - there were apologies for this short a delay - surprisingly courteous!!
When we did board, it was a little confusing since they use these letter codes to direct you to the gate. Since our gate was not in the lounge, we were lead back into the main corridor where everything was labelled in numbers! Down the hall we went and there was a small sign directing us there. Small quip I know!!
We ended up pushing-back about 10-15 mins. late if my memory serves me correctly. Took off about another 10 mins. later. The flight time was short - only about 45 minutes. The crew was extremely courteous and friendly. The pilot was nice although he was a little bold - when he announced the safety demonstration, he politely commanded people to briefly put the newspapers down and listen - I don't think I've heard that one before. He had an interesting name too - Dickey Bird - I think!
The snack was good - I think it consisted of a choice of nice sandwiches, juice and a chocolate. Complimentary wine was also available.
Arrival occured on-time or maybe a few minutes behind schedule. The baggage came extremely quickly. I bearly had time to get to the carousel before mine came.
Overall, British Midland seems to be a great airline - I was very impressed!
From the airport, I took the bus into town. They have a quick express bus that leaves every ten - 15 minutes from the airport for Waverley bridge - above the train station right in the centre of Edinburgh - near Princes Street. The jounrney was about 20 minutes and I don't think we made any stops. I had an interesting conversation with a BA stewardess who lives in Scotland, but flies out of LHR. Thus, she commutes regularly by air down to London. She often takes BD and apparently, she and other BA employees have a lot of respect for them.
So, I finally arrived to visit friends up in that great Scottish city of Edinburgh!!
To be continued ...
(British Midland and United return flights)
------------------
Cheers.
Leo.