glasman19

Like most of us after Q1 of 2020, there wasn't a whole lot of travel on the agenda - and with the then unknown environment that was just fine by me. Fast forward, early bookings show 2021 will hopefully be different as two of my customers have requested early year in person meetings. But before those, Im off to Board meeting in Key Biscayne, FL to meet a few new members that were virtually installed this past November.

With LAX's 10 day quarantine sign your life away new mandate, I opted to fly out of my home airport, BFL. I typically hate double connections but my flights for the week will help me check a few early status boxes like United's PQP first flight bonus.




With 36 degree outdoor temperatures I made the 20 minute drive up the highway to a mostly deserted airport.





7 minutes later I was through security. BFL doesn't have a dedicated Pre-check lane.



No, Its not Google. Paul Allen's, Space Ship one.






January 11, 2021
BFL- SFO Gate 5, Flight 5326 on a CRJ 200 (yuck) Seat 1B
6:30AM - 7:48AM Scheduled
620:AM - 7:14AM Actual.












Beautiful decent into SFO






Green Tag luggage waiting created a wonderful early morning photo opportunity.



Waiting for my bags.



The ghost town of SFO.






With our early arrival I decided to head over to the Centurion lounge for a proper Breakfast.



Or so I thought. "Limited Hours." So back to F gates and the United Club.



Restaurant casualties along the way.












Longest Domestic jet bridge that I know of.







Self-serve prepackaged food offerings.




At T-10 I headed out for the short walk over to Gate F16.



Passing by SF Giants Restaurant, a "Priority Pass Lounge." It looked to be going strong.



SFO - IAH 737-800 Flight 439 Seat 4E
9:00AM - 2:53PM Skewed.
8:48AM - 2:38PM Actual.




Tired and worn 737-800. 14 of 16 First class seats were occupied, 30 of the 150 Economy seats were.






Map never showed an airspeed of greater than 0 MPH.



No PDB. As today was a travel day, once in the air I had coffee with Bailey's. No more glass, just cardboard.



Most in the class went with United's Economy Tapas box for their snack where as I chose a warm Turkey Monte with Raspberry Preserve - which was actualy very tasty. Easy 3 hour flight. Service was quite good lead by our purser, Abbey. We were checked on frequently throughout the flight and provided mini Dasani water bottles as needed.



Since we arrived 15 minutes early, I chose to pass on another prepackaged United Club snack.



So I headed over to D gates for a "hot" meal at the Centurion Lounge.






Nothing exciting about this lounge - well compared to some of their other locations.



Hot Korean themed buffet served by a lounge associate. Bartender took my cocktail order and delivered it my table as I went to freshen up.



I requested the Korean meatballs and jasmine steamed rice. It was just ok as the meatballs were very dry and had hardly any flavor.

IAH - MIA 737-700. Seat 3E
Booked 12 of 12.
4:40PM - 7:52PM Scheduled
4:26PM - 7:37PM Actual



Boarding had already commenced when I arrived at Gate C6. I walked right up scanned my BP headed down the jet bridge and took my seat where I then sanitized my space - as this is now the new norm.






I wasn't hungry but wanted to check out the "Carved Chicken" version of this mornings blue label sandwich. Didn't try it so I don't know if it tasted better than it looked.



I'm guessing not.



I however managed to force down a glass of United's finest Shiraz, a Woody Cape.



I watched "For Your Eyes Only" until I dozed off until we were on approach to MIA.



After arrival we disembarked by row and I was yet again in another airport ghost town.

A short 5 minutes walk later I was out door H20 and my Uber Black driver picked me up shortly thereafter for the 25 minute drive to the Ritz Carlton Key Biscayne.

Coming... Ritz Carlton Key Biscayne.

glasman19

Ritz-Carlton, Key Biscayne








Nice but small lobby.



I had booked a bay view room but was upgraded to a full ocean front upon request and my Bonvoy status.



Nice appointed room but very very small.







After dropping off my bags, I went to the property Cantina to meet up with a friend and to watch the college National Championship football game - which was actually being contested 40 minutes up the road.



For a late night snack I ordered a Cadillac margarita and we shared their "famous" Cantina nachos - which lived up to their name.







After a long travel day and an even longer evening, I slept in just long enough to get up and see a wonderful Florida sunrise - my first daylight view of the resort.







At 9AM I met up with a fellow Board Member and went down to the Light Keepers for Breakfast.



Nothing special about the food, but the service was on par of that of a Ritz.












I walked off breakfast by exploring the property before heading to my all day meeting. As dinner was a social affair I didn't take photos of the event.






Back to the Left Coast.

enviroian

Great report! Nice to see UA is at least attempting their part at catering in F (like AA is).

glasman19

Back to California - The long way.




With my meeting in the books and a fantastic night sleep, it was time to say good bye to Key Biscayne. My Uber Comfort collected me and with little traffic we were at MIA in 25 minutes.



Downtown Miami coming from Key Biscayne.






To another deserted airport with their Holiday decorations still displayed.



The checkpoint to Concourse G was closed so I made the trek down to H. With my Clear renewed I was through security in just a couple of minutes.






January 13, 2021
MIA - ORD 737-900. Seat 1E.
10:45AM - 1:03PM Skewed
10:40 - 12:50PM Actual

No PDB. I'm beginning to believe this is now the new operating procedure. The crew had to remain seated for the first 40 minutes as we flew through or around ?? a morning Florida storm. Once service commenced, Jill and her team were excellent.



Service started with mini Dasani water bottles and drink orders.



No blue label sandwiches on this flight, only snack boxes and no variety of snack boxes - only the Select box.



I only picked at a couple of items as the thought of eating white cheddar and smoked Gouda out of a tub really didn't sound appetizing.



Spent the rest of the flight watching our elected officials debating, but not over any real business.



We arrived at ORD 17 minutes early and was to the gate in Concourse C just a few minutes later. While taxing I noticed my phone was blowing up so I decided to head to the United Club to see what all the fuss was about. Good Crowds in C. Saw several fast food kiosks opened and busy.






However, The Polaris lounge is not open and now has become a lift parking lot.



.....and neither was the United Club.



As I didn't have time to head over to the Concourse B club, I grabbed a pretzel and found a place to take my call before my flight to SFO.



A couple of gals in FULL PPE.

Flight 2021
ORD - SFO 737-900 Seat 1E
2:30PM - 5:14PM Skewed
2:25PM - 4:57PM Actual







Once in the air Beverly and her team jumped into action. Drink orders were taken and delivered - then snack boxes and blue label sandwiches shortly there after.



I chose the Carved Chicken on Italian Focaccia. Very tasty but at 680 calories I only ate half.



After a very pleasant flight, we arrived 20 minutes early into SFO and were at gate F3 soon after.




As the Centurion lounge was across the way from F3, I went in for a light dinner.










Love this lounge. I just wish I had more time to spend in it tonight.



As in Houston same drill, buffet served by a lounge associate.



Not a bad menu...



but the Shoyu-Ginger Chicken Thighs were really dry and the potatoes were very oily.



Final Leg!!

Flight 535
SFO - BFL CRJ (yuck) 8B Exit Row
6:30PM - 7:34PM Skewed
6:19PM - 7:14PM Actual



OK, moved from 1B to 8B, Exit Row due to weight and balance. I'll do my part for safety.

After a short uneventful 45 minutes flight I collected my green tag bag from the jet bridge, bolted to my car, paid the parking bill and was headed South on the 99 and home a short 25 minutes later.

Thanks for traveling with me on this short domestic trip...Follow along sometime text week as I navigate the COVID requirements to get into Hawaii.

lamphs

Nice report. Looking forward to the Hawaii version!

offerendum

I saw this Jellyfish sign. I guess the ocean was not swimable because of this.

gaobest

Great TR - thanks so much!

SFO777

Nice report with lots of great pics. But what a glutton for punishment you are for sticking with UA on this trip. Thanks for posting glasman19.

glasman19

SFO777, Wait until you read about UA on my Hawaii trip. Here is a sneak.

I just don’t know what to say about the service today other than it was simply awful. Not sure if it was driven by United’s new “Leave or Retirement“ offering but it sure seemed to be the conversation with the FA’s.

pepodendron

Great report glasman! UA can do better than those blue label 600+ cal meals. Looking forward to seeing if they were the same on your HI trip. Thanks for the great TR.

Scott Kiwi

Amazing how many of your flights left early!

glasman19

Yes, me too. I think because less time is needed to board and fewer planes at the airports.

glasman19

Sadly, the Blue Labels were on the HNL flight too.

glasman19

Thank You.

glasman19

I was so busy, I never had the chance to enjoy the beach.