FlyerTalk Forums - OAK-EFD-SFO

I bet some of you had to dig way deep to remember that EFD is Ellington Field in Houston. Rather than fly home to NYC this weekend, I thought I'd make a quick trip back to Texas to see some family. CO flies into their hub at IAH, of course, and offers freebie puddle-jumpers to those of us going to the other side of the city. EFD is an old air base that now houses the Texas Nat'l Guard. CO has a one-room terminal with free parking there and flies EM2s and ATRs in and out about 10 times a day.

Secured a reservation on Friday afternoon for Saturday morning departure and Monday return for only $600. Not super cheap, but lots less than my usual $2350 trip to NYC. I dug up an old ticket I hadn't used from about 6 months ago and got the price down to about $225 with the exchange.

I hadn't flown out of OAK before, but hailed a cab in Union Square about 5:30a Saturday. The ride was quick with no traffic and I was in the terminal at 6:00. Departure was scheduled for 6:35a and I was really surprised at how crowded the airport was. CO, DL, AA, and WN were all boarding flights at the same time and they all looked full. Guess this idea was more popular than I thought.

The aircraft was a 737-500 and I had seat 1A. I'm a big fan of bulkhead seats and I was amazed at how much room this one had. It was a good distance back from the wall and would've been easy to get in and out even with a passenger in 1B. Lucky for me, though, 1B was empty today - the only F seat not taken. We pushed back right on time and headed out to the runway. DL, AA, and FedEx were all waiting for departures and the captain announced that we were sequencing with SFO due to noise abatement requirements. So takeoff didn't happen until almost 7:00, but we were finally off the ground.

Very pleasant FAs on this trip, and they worked very hard. Choice of drink before takeoff and they were in the cabin quickly after to take meal orders. No menu, just a choice of scrambled eggs or cereal. I chose the eggs, and what a surprise the meal turned out to be. The tray came with a fruit plate that included melon, pineapple, strawberries, and grapes. On another plate were a biscuit and a sweet roll. The scrambled eggs were served on a larger plate, along with 2 big pieces of ham, breakfast potatoes, and roasted tomatoes. It was a huge breakfast and I couldn't finish it all even though it was quite good.

It was a smooth pleasant flight and the FAs came by often to offer more drinks. In a little over 3 hours we began the descent into Houston and made our gate right on time. Usually I fly AA into HOU, but even when I fly into IAH I normally rent a car rather than take the quick flight to EFD. But this trip was short and I wouldn't need a car, so I decided to give the jumper a try. CO Express operates from Terminal B, which you get to via a monorail. At the gate, you walk down a flight of stairs onto the tarmac and a short distance to the plane. This is a major improvement over American Eagle at DFW where you have to take buses to the planes. I really hate that!

I was surprised to see the plane fill up to its capacity of 30 - I didn't think that many people would make this flight. Soon the FA closed the door, the engines started up and we were off towards the runway. It was a quick taxi with no waiting and we were in the air. It was really quite comical, because before the FA had even finished her post-takeoff announcements ("CO welcomes our OnePass flyers, yadayada...") we were descending into Ellington Field. The flight is scheduled gate-to-gate at 30 minutes, but we covered the 32 miles in less than 10 minutes. I think my favorite part was the FA's announcement "I'm sorry but due to the flight time today there will be no beverage service."

Monday morning bright and early I headed back to EFD for the hop over to IAH. Flight was scheduled for 7:45, but I didn't see much point in arriving before 7:30. It took all of 3 minutes to walk from the car to the terminal, get boarding passes, pass security, and get on the plane! Wish it could always be so easy. Our flight to IAH was a bit longer this time, as we took off to the south and had to make the u-turn. I think we were in the air for 12 or 13 minutes this time!

Unfortunately my day deteriorated pretty quickly once I arrived at IAH, but I'll let you read about that in a separate thread if you want. It's on the CO board as "IAH Cust Svc Fiasco".

Once I finally boarded my flight to SFO, eight hours after arriving that morning, the typical CO service kicked in. This 757 was full in F, but was roomy and seemed well-maintained. I love the way CO & DL have configured their 757s with mid-cabin boarding doors. It makes it so much easier to board and seems faster, too. I really wish AA did the same thing on their 757s. Again, the bulkhead row offered an amazing amount of space. FAs took drink orders before takeoff, and after a short wait at the runway we were on our way.

No menus on this flight, either. But the FA offered a choice of beef medallions or shrimp with pasta. I chose the beef. Meal service was quite good - easily on a par with AA's and DL's Biz class on their transcon flights or their upgraded F service on domestic flights. After takeoff we got fresh drinks and warm nuts, followed by a very good salad. I never like the pull-top salad dressings - in a pressurized cabin they're an accident waiting to happen! After the salad I received my entree and it wasn't beef medallions, but rather a fairly large steak filet. It was an excellent piece of meat and it was cooked perfectly - something that rarely happens on AA and never happens on DL. The steak came with green beans and a stuffed baked potato that was very good. The meal was plated rather than served in the warming dish - a big improvement over AA's service. After the meal we got the ever-popular ice cream sundae.

Once we were in flight we were shown a movie, though I didn't watch. I liked the little pop-down screens every few rows rather than the large screens attached to the ceiling on AA 757s. Much easier to see for those sitting next to windows. The FAs did make a rather big deal about collecting the headsets, which I thought was a little odd. They're such poor quality I can't imagine many people wanting them. Why is it so hard to get good sound on an airplane? Most of the time it sounds like they're playing the audio under water.... Soon we began our descent in SFO and were on the ground and at the gate right on time.

All in all, it was a great set of flights and CO performed in-flight service with their usual excellence. Apart from the nightmare of the IAH folks, it would've been a stellar trip. It's easy to see why CO fans like their airline so much.