SFO-MCO-ORD-SFO-DEN
Jan 18, 2000, 3:17 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: New York
Posts: 7,347
SFO-MCO-ORD-SFO-DEN
Trip Report: MCO
I flew a quick roundtrip between SFO and Orlando this weekend. Orlando is a wonderful city and Universal Studios Florida was great. I can't wait to go visit both the Disney World and the Island of Adventure.
San Francisco is messy due to low clouds and foggy weather. However, my flights were all on time, if not early.
SFO-Orlando
UA 94 Boeing 757-200
N541UA with old seats
Originally booked on UA 142 connecting to UA 721 through Chicago (for the miles)… However, UA 142 was cancelled due to mechanical reason. Whatever…
Check-in was done at the Customer Service Center at Concourse F and I really did not like the agents at SFO. They were fake and not helpful. They simple did their jobs and their attitudes really bugged me.
Boarding took place at Gate 81 and we boarded at 1:26pm. There was a full pre-takeoff beverage service and the F/As were helpful throughout the flight. It was a full flight due to the long weekend and the destination was Florida. I took my seat at 2C and sipped a glass of orange juice. Our flying time today was four hours and thirty-eight minutes and we cruised at 37,000 ft at most time. Channel 9 was available and BTW, the seats were the old gray leather seats, which were okay.
We pushed back at 1:56pm - another on time departure and took off at 2:11pm. I saw an UAL's Boeing 747-400 taking off on Runway 28R, which was unusual. Usally Boeing 747s used the 1R - longer runway. The takeoff was quite bumpy due to unstable weather in SFO. The F/As forgot to lock one of the cart doors and plates were flying off their carts during the take-off run. Passengers in the aisle had fun catching a few plate. I got a coke and a plate. A few broken plate… luckily. The food was not ruined and they had to use small plates for the appetizers.
A beverage service… followed by a bowl of nuts. The menus reflected a slight upgrade of cuisine, despite they were still using the December's menus. The appetizer was a warmed salmon coquette offered with a cucumber salad. There was also the typical salad bowl with choice of Asian sesame vinigrette or blue cheese dressing… The salmon coquette was quite nice and I like the small cucumber salad that served as a sauce for the salmon cake. There were four main entrée choices: lamb chops, pan fried salmon with basil tomato sauce, turkey with lemon sauce, or three mushroom salad. The three mushroom salad was not a popular choice and I chose the lamb, which was moist and tasty. The vegetable nori dumplings that came with the entrée were nice. A great dinner! The meal ended with an ice-cream sundae and a tray of pralines. A wonderful dinner…
Movie today was the Red Violin, followed by an episode of Friends. The Red Violin was surprisingly interesting movie and I was surprised to see the appearance of a famous Taiwanese actress at the Chinese part - Sylvia Cheung.
Freshly baked chocolate chip cookies were served forty minutes before landing. There was a hot towel service before landing. Orlando was rather busy today and we finally landed at 9:49pm and parked at Gate 44. Overall, I will give this flight an 8.
UA 721
Orlando - Chicago DC-10
N1829U
Orlando's agents were friendly and there was no line at the Premier Gold line today. I was quickly checked-in and the agent told me that there was no delays at ORD or DEN today. I took the monorail to get to Gate 42. This flight was completely full due to the holiday season. Boarding took place at 7:31am and the F/A offered me a choice of champagne or orange juice shortly after I was seated. The door was closed at 8:06am and it was another on time departure for United.
We taxied about five minutes and took off immediately. Our flying time today was two hours and twenty-seven minutes. There was no channel 9 and our captains today were rather quiet.
Breakfast was a choice of fruit plate with yogurt and cereal or a breakfast sampler with red and green peppers frittata, has brown, sausage, bacon, and banana bread pudding, served with a fruit appetizer. The fruits were fresh but the frittata did not taste that great this morning. Bread basket followed with a choice of croissants, blueberry muffins or bagel with cream cheese. Sports Night was shown despite they should be showing Third Rock from the Sun. I already watched this episode once on United… I decided to take a nap then…
The flight landed at 9:49am and was parked at C23. The F/As were okay… Overall, it was an average United flight.
UA 137
Chicago to San Francisco
Airbus A319-100 N821UA
C29 was the boarding gate this morning and boarding took place at 10:05am. The load was light today with a full F class cabin, but a rather open Y class cabin (32 empty seats in the back). The catering company actually came aboard and took away the extra meals. There was a full pre-takeoff drink. This A319 was rather new and the seats were very comfortable, despite of the 38 inches legroom. DC-10 seems to have a bit more legroom. The taxi was only ten minutes - rather quick in ORD. There was no line and our flight took off at 10:38am. We cruised at 31,000ft until we reached the Colorado area.
Menus with the Jan, 00 design came with the old design with the breadsticks, but the menu items were new to me. Karen, the F/A, came to each passenger and introduced herself to us, and took our drink and menu orders. She took orders according to the Premier status. There was an entrée of Cheese tortellini a la nicole accented by pesto sauce with white wine and spinach, which was not available. There was a choice of "Crab cakes with a fire-roasted pepper sauce presented with asparagus and Spanish rice" or "Sauteed breast of chicken with mushroom sauce stuffed with mushrooms and grated Parmesan Cheese, complemented by herbed couscous and glazed carrots with olives." The dinner stared with nuts, and then followed by a "chilled smoked breast of duck with celery remoulade, and a spinach salad with mozzarella (two big pieces) and croutons." The appetizer was large but only few slices of duck. It tastes very well. The salad was extremely nice and my entrée, chicken, was not dry. It was moist and tasty. The portion was quite big. The dinner ended with a TCBY Strawberry yogurt bar. Karen did a great job in refilling our glasses and I gave her a service excellence award. It was tough to do all the jobs in order to serve all eight passengers.
Movie today was "Double Jeopardy," which was okay. The story line was weak and it did not make much sense. Good enough for airline movies… It was followed by my third viewing of the same Sports Night episode, and I was getting sick of it. We hit some light to moderate chops due to high clouds in the Western states and bad weather at SFO. They finally climbed up to 35,000 feet for some smooth air. Freshly baked Chocolate chip cookies were served with milk.
The flight finally landed at 1:11pm and we were at Gate 89 in five minutes.
The ABQ-DEN-SFO and back segments are getting boring, so I will just select the highlights.
UA 1032 SFO-DEN N571UA with new F class seats Boeing 757
This flight was interesting because the pretakeoff drink was a choice of champagne or orange juice. Anyway, the flight was full and I saw a F class passenger being bumped back to Y class about five minutes before the door closed. They overbooked the F class cabin and this lady holding a confirmed F class boarding pass was kicked back to Y class. She was not happy at all and the gate agent apologized and said that someone made a mistake. They would give her an upgrade in the future. The gate agent did not say much. That lady gave her the exit row, but I could tell United would get a big fat letter from her. What would you know if you were that passenger?
Personally, SFO agents were not my favorite among United's network and I would give him lots of troubles because of his bad attitudes and fake apologies. I would figure out the deal before I let him go. That lady did not negotiate with the gate agent much because she had to catch a connecting flight. I would possibly politely let him know that it was ridiculous. United needed to give me extra upgrade coupons or miles. The airline made the mistake and needed to take the full responsibility. The flight was a snack flight up front and beverage back in the main cabin. I would demand to be put on the next Denver flight in F class, unless I was in such a hurry. The destination that the lady mentioned was not a rare one, so there would be more flights later on. In conclusion, I need to get confirmed words or receipts from the gate agent about his promises before I let him close the door. What will you do if you get bumped from your F class seat five minutes before takeoff? Who should get bumped off the flight - the passenger boarded early or the late arriving passenger?
Anyway, the flight took off at 2:57pm and our flying time was only an hour and forty-six minutes today. We cruised at 37,000ft and was rather bumpy for the first half of the flight. Beverage service came first with party mix, and then we got a choice of two snacks. Smoked salmon focaccia bread sandwich with a fruit bowl, or a large plate of grilled chicken breast with Asian noodle salad and warmed roll. The chicken salad was delicious. The chicken breast came at huge chunks and was very moist and tasty. The noodle salad was delicious too. The warmed roll was a nice touch. The snack also came with the freshly baked chocolate chip cookie.
However, we had to wait for forty-five minutes on the ground today for our gate, B24. We landed at 5:43pm and there was no gate till 6:30pm. United has four gates at Concourse A and it was open when our flight landed. I could not believe that there was no gate at all at Denver. We could park at a stair gate too.
Anyway, United once again impressed me with their great food and F/A service.
------------------
Carfield
Menu Scavengers
Inflight food critics
I flew a quick roundtrip between SFO and Orlando this weekend. Orlando is a wonderful city and Universal Studios Florida was great. I can't wait to go visit both the Disney World and the Island of Adventure.
San Francisco is messy due to low clouds and foggy weather. However, my flights were all on time, if not early.
SFO-Orlando
UA 94 Boeing 757-200
N541UA with old seats
Originally booked on UA 142 connecting to UA 721 through Chicago (for the miles)… However, UA 142 was cancelled due to mechanical reason. Whatever…
Check-in was done at the Customer Service Center at Concourse F and I really did not like the agents at SFO. They were fake and not helpful. They simple did their jobs and their attitudes really bugged me.
Boarding took place at Gate 81 and we boarded at 1:26pm. There was a full pre-takeoff beverage service and the F/As were helpful throughout the flight. It was a full flight due to the long weekend and the destination was Florida. I took my seat at 2C and sipped a glass of orange juice. Our flying time today was four hours and thirty-eight minutes and we cruised at 37,000 ft at most time. Channel 9 was available and BTW, the seats were the old gray leather seats, which were okay.
We pushed back at 1:56pm - another on time departure and took off at 2:11pm. I saw an UAL's Boeing 747-400 taking off on Runway 28R, which was unusual. Usally Boeing 747s used the 1R - longer runway. The takeoff was quite bumpy due to unstable weather in SFO. The F/As forgot to lock one of the cart doors and plates were flying off their carts during the take-off run. Passengers in the aisle had fun catching a few plate. I got a coke and a plate. A few broken plate… luckily. The food was not ruined and they had to use small plates for the appetizers.
A beverage service… followed by a bowl of nuts. The menus reflected a slight upgrade of cuisine, despite they were still using the December's menus. The appetizer was a warmed salmon coquette offered with a cucumber salad. There was also the typical salad bowl with choice of Asian sesame vinigrette or blue cheese dressing… The salmon coquette was quite nice and I like the small cucumber salad that served as a sauce for the salmon cake. There were four main entrée choices: lamb chops, pan fried salmon with basil tomato sauce, turkey with lemon sauce, or three mushroom salad. The three mushroom salad was not a popular choice and I chose the lamb, which was moist and tasty. The vegetable nori dumplings that came with the entrée were nice. A great dinner! The meal ended with an ice-cream sundae and a tray of pralines. A wonderful dinner…
Movie today was the Red Violin, followed by an episode of Friends. The Red Violin was surprisingly interesting movie and I was surprised to see the appearance of a famous Taiwanese actress at the Chinese part - Sylvia Cheung.
Freshly baked chocolate chip cookies were served forty minutes before landing. There was a hot towel service before landing. Orlando was rather busy today and we finally landed at 9:49pm and parked at Gate 44. Overall, I will give this flight an 8.
UA 721
Orlando - Chicago DC-10
N1829U
Orlando's agents were friendly and there was no line at the Premier Gold line today. I was quickly checked-in and the agent told me that there was no delays at ORD or DEN today. I took the monorail to get to Gate 42. This flight was completely full due to the holiday season. Boarding took place at 7:31am and the F/A offered me a choice of champagne or orange juice shortly after I was seated. The door was closed at 8:06am and it was another on time departure for United.
We taxied about five minutes and took off immediately. Our flying time today was two hours and twenty-seven minutes. There was no channel 9 and our captains today were rather quiet.
Breakfast was a choice of fruit plate with yogurt and cereal or a breakfast sampler with red and green peppers frittata, has brown, sausage, bacon, and banana bread pudding, served with a fruit appetizer. The fruits were fresh but the frittata did not taste that great this morning. Bread basket followed with a choice of croissants, blueberry muffins or bagel with cream cheese. Sports Night was shown despite they should be showing Third Rock from the Sun. I already watched this episode once on United… I decided to take a nap then…
The flight landed at 9:49am and was parked at C23. The F/As were okay… Overall, it was an average United flight.
UA 137
Chicago to San Francisco
Airbus A319-100 N821UA
C29 was the boarding gate this morning and boarding took place at 10:05am. The load was light today with a full F class cabin, but a rather open Y class cabin (32 empty seats in the back). The catering company actually came aboard and took away the extra meals. There was a full pre-takeoff drink. This A319 was rather new and the seats were very comfortable, despite of the 38 inches legroom. DC-10 seems to have a bit more legroom. The taxi was only ten minutes - rather quick in ORD. There was no line and our flight took off at 10:38am. We cruised at 31,000ft until we reached the Colorado area.
Menus with the Jan, 00 design came with the old design with the breadsticks, but the menu items were new to me. Karen, the F/A, came to each passenger and introduced herself to us, and took our drink and menu orders. She took orders according to the Premier status. There was an entrée of Cheese tortellini a la nicole accented by pesto sauce with white wine and spinach, which was not available. There was a choice of "Crab cakes with a fire-roasted pepper sauce presented with asparagus and Spanish rice" or "Sauteed breast of chicken with mushroom sauce stuffed with mushrooms and grated Parmesan Cheese, complemented by herbed couscous and glazed carrots with olives." The dinner stared with nuts, and then followed by a "chilled smoked breast of duck with celery remoulade, and a spinach salad with mozzarella (two big pieces) and croutons." The appetizer was large but only few slices of duck. It tastes very well. The salad was extremely nice and my entrée, chicken, was not dry. It was moist and tasty. The portion was quite big. The dinner ended with a TCBY Strawberry yogurt bar. Karen did a great job in refilling our glasses and I gave her a service excellence award. It was tough to do all the jobs in order to serve all eight passengers.
Movie today was "Double Jeopardy," which was okay. The story line was weak and it did not make much sense. Good enough for airline movies… It was followed by my third viewing of the same Sports Night episode, and I was getting sick of it. We hit some light to moderate chops due to high clouds in the Western states and bad weather at SFO. They finally climbed up to 35,000 feet for some smooth air. Freshly baked Chocolate chip cookies were served with milk.
The flight finally landed at 1:11pm and we were at Gate 89 in five minutes.
The ABQ-DEN-SFO and back segments are getting boring, so I will just select the highlights.
UA 1032 SFO-DEN N571UA with new F class seats Boeing 757
This flight was interesting because the pretakeoff drink was a choice of champagne or orange juice. Anyway, the flight was full and I saw a F class passenger being bumped back to Y class about five minutes before the door closed. They overbooked the F class cabin and this lady holding a confirmed F class boarding pass was kicked back to Y class. She was not happy at all and the gate agent apologized and said that someone made a mistake. They would give her an upgrade in the future. The gate agent did not say much. That lady gave her the exit row, but I could tell United would get a big fat letter from her. What would you know if you were that passenger?
Personally, SFO agents were not my favorite among United's network and I would give him lots of troubles because of his bad attitudes and fake apologies. I would figure out the deal before I let him go. That lady did not negotiate with the gate agent much because she had to catch a connecting flight. I would possibly politely let him know that it was ridiculous. United needed to give me extra upgrade coupons or miles. The airline made the mistake and needed to take the full responsibility. The flight was a snack flight up front and beverage back in the main cabin. I would demand to be put on the next Denver flight in F class, unless I was in such a hurry. The destination that the lady mentioned was not a rare one, so there would be more flights later on. In conclusion, I need to get confirmed words or receipts from the gate agent about his promises before I let him close the door. What will you do if you get bumped from your F class seat five minutes before takeoff? Who should get bumped off the flight - the passenger boarded early or the late arriving passenger?
Anyway, the flight took off at 2:57pm and our flying time was only an hour and forty-six minutes today. We cruised at 37,000ft and was rather bumpy for the first half of the flight. Beverage service came first with party mix, and then we got a choice of two snacks. Smoked salmon focaccia bread sandwich with a fruit bowl, or a large plate of grilled chicken breast with Asian noodle salad and warmed roll. The chicken salad was delicious. The chicken breast came at huge chunks and was very moist and tasty. The noodle salad was delicious too. The warmed roll was a nice touch. The snack also came with the freshly baked chocolate chip cookie.
However, we had to wait for forty-five minutes on the ground today for our gate, B24. We landed at 5:43pm and there was no gate till 6:30pm. United has four gates at Concourse A and it was open when our flight landed. I could not believe that there was no gate at all at Denver. We could park at a stair gate too.
Anyway, United once again impressed me with their great food and F/A service.
------------------
Carfield
Menu Scavengers
Inflight food critics
Jan 20, 2000, 8:08 pm
#2
In Memoriam
Join Date: May 1999
Location: San Francisco UA1K; AA Gold
Posts: 937
I agree - bumping from first back to coach is pretty much inexcusable, except where there's been an aircraft substitution. My understanding is that airlines (at least United) don't overbook first for just that reason (although sometimes mistakes happen. Yes, even with computers 
).
As to who gets kicked back to coach, my first inclination is that it should be the last passenger to show up. But I can certainly understand if the airlines would rather seat that full-fare first passenger and kick back somebody who upgraded. Anybody know the airlines' policies on this one?
[This message has been edited by johna (edited 01-20-2000).]
).As to who gets kicked back to coach, my first inclination is that it should be the last passenger to show up. But I can certainly understand if the airlines would rather seat that full-fare first passenger and kick back somebody who upgraded. Anybody know the airlines' policies on this one?
[This message has been edited by johna (edited 01-20-2000).]