TED to Vegas
Jun 1, 2004 | 10:00 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Washington, DC, USA
Posts: 215
TED to Vegas
This is my very first trip report so I am a little excited about writing this. So here goes.....
My brother announced to the family last fall that he and his bride to be wanted to get married in Vegas. HOT DAMN!!!! I love Vegas (because I have yet to lose any money gambling in the past two years). Since I being the best man, he wanted to make sure that I was able to go....of course I was going. Seems kinda cheesy having a wedding in Vegas but this being his 3rd (yes 3rd wedding, can anyone say Ross from Friends) it seemed appropriate (1st was the big blowout, 2nd was an elopement).
After switching airlines in January to patronize (I was Silver Elite with CO, but they decided to screw everybody and change their FF rules), I was looking at United flights. Since IAD now has TED, I didn't have much choice. And after reading threads about TED, I was not looking forward to it.
IAD-LAS May 26th
------------------
Our departure time was 12:40pm and I knew IAD was not going to be that busy with a mid-day, mid-week departure. Checked in via the kiosks and waited for an agent to check our bags. We waited and waited and waited. Finally after about 15 mins, someone decided to take our boarding passes and print the lovely baggage thingies (not sure what they are called) and attached them to our luggage. No sorry to keep you waiting or anything like that from the agent (and he grabbed the boarding passes and IDs from our hands, not gently taking but grabbing hard). Not a pleasant checkin experience considering there were not many people.
We made our way to the gate, grabbing some food along the way. Boarding was painless and easy. Greeted with a warm smile and hello by a lovely flight attendant, nice touch. Nestled into seat 6D (LOVE E+ since I fly coach again). I found the seat rather comfortable and reclined more than I expected. I slept most of the way so I cannot comment on service, but my partner said service was good, although he said the chicken salad was rather nasty.
Landed on schedule and of course, baggage took forever in Vegas.
LAS-IAD May 30th
-------------------
Our departure was at 11:55pm on Sunday. We decided on taking a red-eye back to get to be in Vegas as long as we can. I would have been happy to leave earlier with the way my luck was going. I said earlier that I haven't lost any money in 2 years, well, this trip I made up for that. I couldn't win if my life depended on it.
At check-in we decide to go to the Premier check-in vs. kiosk. Again, waited a little bit because the one agent for the premier line was helping these two guys (found out later that a flight to Chicago was cancelled because of the severe storms in the mid-west). After my partner *****ing that we should have used the kiosks, another agent (who was down by the kiosks) waved us down to her. VERY NICE!!!! She saw that we were waiting and instead of helping the next in line from the kiosks, she was going to help us (I am a lowly 2P). I thought that was great customer service.
Boarding again was easy. Again, slept the entire was home (again seat 6D). The flight attendants before take off described what the service on red-eyes was like and also asked that we keep our seat belts in view since they said it was going to be a bumpy ride and they really hated waking people up in order to check them. After waking up about 15 mins before landing, the flight attendants said that this was their first flight were they didn't have to wake anyone up in order to check the seatbelts. (very impressed with all the passengers, very quiet and everyone was nice as pie).
Overall, TED was a pleasant experience and I would fly TED again (and bring my own food).
Hoped you enjoyed and thanks for reading.
My brother announced to the family last fall that he and his bride to be wanted to get married in Vegas. HOT DAMN!!!! I love Vegas (because I have yet to lose any money gambling in the past two years). Since I being the best man, he wanted to make sure that I was able to go....of course I was going. Seems kinda cheesy having a wedding in Vegas but this being his 3rd (yes 3rd wedding, can anyone say Ross from Friends) it seemed appropriate (1st was the big blowout, 2nd was an elopement).
After switching airlines in January to patronize (I was Silver Elite with CO, but they decided to screw everybody and change their FF rules), I was looking at United flights. Since IAD now has TED, I didn't have much choice. And after reading threads about TED, I was not looking forward to it.
IAD-LAS May 26th
------------------
Our departure time was 12:40pm and I knew IAD was not going to be that busy with a mid-day, mid-week departure. Checked in via the kiosks and waited for an agent to check our bags. We waited and waited and waited. Finally after about 15 mins, someone decided to take our boarding passes and print the lovely baggage thingies (not sure what they are called) and attached them to our luggage. No sorry to keep you waiting or anything like that from the agent (and he grabbed the boarding passes and IDs from our hands, not gently taking but grabbing hard). Not a pleasant checkin experience considering there were not many people.
We made our way to the gate, grabbing some food along the way. Boarding was painless and easy. Greeted with a warm smile and hello by a lovely flight attendant, nice touch. Nestled into seat 6D (LOVE E+ since I fly coach again). I found the seat rather comfortable and reclined more than I expected. I slept most of the way so I cannot comment on service, but my partner said service was good, although he said the chicken salad was rather nasty.
Landed on schedule and of course, baggage took forever in Vegas.
LAS-IAD May 30th
-------------------
Our departure was at 11:55pm on Sunday. We decided on taking a red-eye back to get to be in Vegas as long as we can. I would have been happy to leave earlier with the way my luck was going. I said earlier that I haven't lost any money in 2 years, well, this trip I made up for that. I couldn't win if my life depended on it.
At check-in we decide to go to the Premier check-in vs. kiosk. Again, waited a little bit because the one agent for the premier line was helping these two guys (found out later that a flight to Chicago was cancelled because of the severe storms in the mid-west). After my partner *****ing that we should have used the kiosks, another agent (who was down by the kiosks) waved us down to her. VERY NICE!!!! She saw that we were waiting and instead of helping the next in line from the kiosks, she was going to help us (I am a lowly 2P). I thought that was great customer service.
Boarding again was easy. Again, slept the entire was home (again seat 6D). The flight attendants before take off described what the service on red-eyes was like and also asked that we keep our seat belts in view since they said it was going to be a bumpy ride and they really hated waking people up in order to check them. After waking up about 15 mins before landing, the flight attendants said that this was their first flight were they didn't have to wake anyone up in order to check the seatbelts. (very impressed with all the passengers, very quiet and everyone was nice as pie).
Overall, TED was a pleasant experience and I would fly TED again (and bring my own food).
Hoped you enjoyed and thanks for reading.
Jun 3, 2004 | 6:18 am
#3
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: From: PWM
Programs: United GS, Fairmont Platinum,SPG LTPlat, Hilton Diamond, MarriottGold..like the rest of the world
Posts: 4,401
Thanks for your report on Ted. I flew Ted (IAD - LAS) about 10 days after that route had begun. I have to say that I was disappointed. It was essentially the same as UA mainline, so that was okay. My disappointment came in that UA seemed to have missed a real opportunity to set Ted apart from the "norm" -- in the way that Jet Blue and Song have done.
The Ted crews seemed confused and kept making erroneous announcements (like "those seated in our first class cabin......oops!" and "thank you for flying United....oops!"). The only differentiation was the seat pocket materials that outlined food options, etc. The TV only and no movie was weak.
Again, we found Ted to be a perfectly good way to get to LAS, but in no way did it succeed in setting itself apart from the rest of the guys out there.
The Ted crews seemed confused and kept making erroneous announcements (like "those seated in our first class cabin......oops!" and "thank you for flying United....oops!"). The only differentiation was the seat pocket materials that outlined food options, etc. The TV only and no movie was weak.
Again, we found Ted to be a perfectly good way to get to LAS, but in no way did it succeed in setting itself apart from the rest of the guys out there.