One of my favorite travel sites is FlyerTalk.com. It is a site for frequent fliers to share their travel thoughts, opinions and experiences. One of the open forums on FlyerTalk is the “Trip Report” page. A trip report is exactly what you would expect – a written report about someone’s trip. I’ve submitted a number of them to FlyerTalk, and will post all future reports on Latitudes & Longitudes. The one set out below is from a trip that my partner and I took to New York City in 2009 for our niece’s wedding. As you will see, it is full of a lot of geeky information that many of you won’t find interesting. Too bad – this is my blog and I find it interesting. So read on and enjoy and look for future trip reports.
New York, NY: Spring is here and love is in the air, so my better half and I set off to New York for our niece’s wedding. We were looking forward to a fun weekend with family and friends, even though we were booked on the dreaded the red eye flight to the east coast. Luckily our upgrades cleared (for both the outbound and return flights,) and I’ve always had pleasant experiences on United’s “Premium Service” flights between the west coast and JFK. In fact, I think that the PS flights are the best domestic flights around, especially if you are in First or Business Class, although the economy product is not bad either.
We would have taken a morning flight, but I had a busy day at the office, as well as a client reception in the evening. Earlier on departure day I checked in online for UA 34 (dep. time 10:20 pm - PDT). I had pre-reserved seats 6C/D -- my two favorites on the 757-200 PS configuration. We didn’t bother trying to fit everything in carry on bags, as we planned to check our luggage at San Francisco International Airport (SFO).
My partner picked me up at the client reception at 8:00 pm for the drive from downtown San Francisco to SFO. As we always do for short trips, we spent a little extra money and parked at the International Terminal G garage. Although, it is a 10 minute walk from the car to the UA premier desks in Terminal 3, I like the fact that I don’t have to take a shuttle bus to/from long term or offsite parking, especially on the back end of the trip when I am be anxious to get home. Level 3 is the best place to park. The moving sidewalks between the garage entrance and the international terminal offer excellent views of the ramp and the planes used by United and its Star Alliance partners for overseas flights. Moreover, you can swipe your credit card or use your “FasTrak” device for easy entrance and exit into the garage -- no need to worry about a lost ticket or having cash available to pay your parking fee.
We arrived at SFO around 8:35 pm. There was no line at the baggage check kiosks in T3 so we skipped the premier desk altogether and were through security at 8:50 pm. We skipped a visit to the Red Carpet Club and instead spent 30 minutes browsing in Compass Books, which is located just after the security checkpoint. Compass is one of the better airport bookstores in the United States and I always spend some time checking out the newest releases if time permits. We then wandered through the terminal before heading to Gate 80. We were the first two on the red carpet, which gave me the opportunity to listen to the banter between the gate agents and some of my fellow travelers. One lady tried to convince the gate agent to upgrade her to Business Class so that United could “resell” her coach seat “and make more money.” I couldn’t tell if she was serious or was just desperate for a Business seat (probably the latter.) In any event, she could not grasp that the entire flight was oversold and that 23 people were on the upgrade list. After she walked away the gate agent and I had a good chuckle.
Boarding began at 9:52 pm and we quickly settled into our seats for the overnight flight to JFK. I loved the quilted white blankets and pillows set out on our seats. They were much nicer than the dingy blue blankets available on other United flights. Pre-flight drink service was quite harried and did not begin until just before the doors closed. Still, the flight attendants on this flight were friendly and efficient.
The doors closed at 10:13 pm and we pushed back from Gate 80 at 10:16 pm. We taxied to Runway 1R and our wheels came up at 10:32 pm. We made a quick turn to the right and halfway across San Francisco Bay, turned left back toward the north, passing directly over the SF-Oakland Bay Bridge before ascending into the clouds. Channel 9 (which allows you to listen to communication from air traffic control) was not available.
Beverage service began about 25 minutes into the flight and was followed by a very poor excuse for a “snack.” I certainly did not expect a full meal on a red eye flight; however, the “Mideast” snack plate of hummus, baba ganoush, pita bread slices and veggie sticks was tasteless. After nibbling at the veggie sticks and enjoying my tomato juice (I don’t drink – which many of my friends think is a tragedy given how close I live to wine country) I read a few pages from my new book (purchased at Compass Books) and settled in for some shut eye. I slept until the ride got a bit rocky and I was jolted awake. This was about 2 hours and 35 minutes into the flight and I estimate that we were somewhere near the Mississippi River. Exactly 3 hours into the flight I could see the lights of Chicago and was able to make out O’Hare Airport far below. Halfway across Lake Michigan, the clouds were back and I would not see the ground again until we were on our final approach.
About an hour before landing, the flight attendants came through the cabin with hot cups of coffee served in proper mugs. Not the greatest blend, but it helped to revive me. We began our descent into JFK at 5:45 am (EDT). There were some bumps and grinds during the approach and we broke through the rain clouds only a minute before touching down on Runway 22R at 6:15 am – 4 hours and 43 minutes (thanks to very strong tail winds) after taking off from SFO. We taxied to Gate 8 at Terminal 7. The plane door opened at 6:27 am and we had our bags in hand and were on our way via car service into Manhattan by 6:40 am.
I won’t bore you with details about the hotel – the Millennium Hilton on Church Street across from the World Trade Center site -- except to say that I was very happy that we were allowed to check in when we arrived at the front desk around 7:20 am. Nor will I bother you with wedding details, except to say that the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens is a very nice place to have a wedding, and our niece looked stunning!!
For the trip home, we left the Millennium Hilton at 7:45 am (EDT) and arrived at JFK – Terminal 7 at 8:35 am for our 11:03 am departure to SFO. (I am chronically early to airports.) Again I checked in online for UA Flight 11 the day before, and again we had seats 6C/D. There was no line at the UA ticket counter, so we quickly checked our bags and headed for the security line. United, All Nippon, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, US Airways and Qantas all operate out of T7. The security lines were long because Cathay 841 from JFK to Hong Kong was scheduled to depart at 10:10 am. A number of the passengers in front of us did not speak English, so the line moved slowly as the TSA agents tried their best to ensure that everyone was following the rules. We finally made it through around 9:05 am and made our way to the nearly empty Red Carpet Club for some coffee and preflight relaxation. At 10:00 am, we did our preflight walk through the terminal and watched as the Hong Kong flight (a 777) pushed back from Gate 5.
We were on the red carpet at Gate 10 ready to go at 10:30 am. Boarding started promptly. On this flight the very friendly flight attendant offered us a drink almost immediately, and my partner and I made one last toast in honor of our niece and her new groom with our tasty Mimosas (ok – I drink a little every now and then). The doors closed at 10:52 am and we pushed back from Gate 10 exactly on time at 11:03 am. At 11:10 am we began our taxi to Runway. Even though it was overcast and rainy, there was only one other plane ahead of us and we rumbled down Runway 4L at 11:24 am.
Again, Channel 9 was not available and the ground quickly disappeared under a thick layer of clouds; however, we immediately began a long slow right turn toward the south and then to the west. I would not see the ground again for more than 5 hours.
The excellent in-flight service began almost immediately with a drink service. The flight attendants handed out menus during our taxi and our lunch orders were taken along with our drink orders. I again opted for the tomato juice and later switched to water with lemon. For lunch we had a choice of: (1) beef fillet with roasted potatoes and veggies; (2) a Reuben sandwich; or (3) grilled chicken with Thai BBQ sauce. Both of us chose the chicken, which was preceded by shrimp cocktail and an iceberg lettuce wedge. The shrimp were surprisingly good and large, but the salad was nothing special. The chicken, which came with steamed oriental veggies and rice, was dry, and I am not quite sure why they called it “Thai BBQ sauce,” as it tasted like the honey BBQ sauce you get from the grocery store. For dessert, we had ice cream sundaes with all of the fixings. Most importantly, we gobbled down the hot chocolate chip cookies that were offered about an hour before landing.
Although I had my book on hand for the long flight, I took one of the handheld in-flight entertainment (IFE) units. They are cumbersome and a poor substitute for a built-in IFE, but I liked the variety and was able to watch Revolutionary Road – a movie that I had wanted to see. I started to watch Bride Wars, but it was so bad that I decided to return to my book.
We began our descent at 1:55 p.m. (PDT) and approached the Bay Area from the Mono Lake area and the “Modesto 3” arrival. We broke through the clouds as we approached the San Mateo bridge and at 2:22 pm landed on Runway 28L – 5 hours and 58 minutes after departure. We taxied to the ramp and parked at Gate 80 at 2:24 pm. After deplaning, my partner went down to baggage claim and I headed to the parking garage to retrieve the car. By the time I pulled up to the T3 arrivals level, he was walking out the door and we were on our way back to Marin County.
All in all, two very nice flights on what I believe to be United’s best domestic product.
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