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  • Domestic Travel does not have to be boring...

    I booked a trip to Phoenix from Chicago to see some family for about five days. I just figured this trip would be typical run-of-the mill flights, but it turned out that I was wrong. Please read and leave some comments!

    Thanks,
    Patrick

    ----------------

    I was finally ready for my first flight alone...not as a UM, because I was on an adult ticket but not with my parents So that was pretty good. In good traffic, its about a 50 minute drive to O'Hare, but today it took my Mom and I about 1 hour and 45 minutes because of traffic. Good thing we left early. My mom parked her car at the Hourly Parking on Level One (The Cubs Level) of the Parking Garage and we took the elevator into the Terminal. The lines were not that bad for around 8:00am, we went to an Easy-Check-In Kiosk, the ones that allow you to check bags, and it seemed so disorganized. You have two agents behind a counter and four kiosks. You go to a kiosk, a TSA agent grabs your bag and sends it behind the counter. Now all the agents have untagged bags behind them and a machine thats spitting out bag tags. So she holds up a PHX tag, and yells really loud WHO IS GOING TO PHOENIX ON 349? and I raise my hand, and she tags the bag and gives me my boarding card.

    Said goodbye to my mom and went through security to Gate C25.
    Now the fun begins...

    Monday, June 7, 2004
    United Airlines flight 349
    Chicago O'Hare (ORD) to Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX)
    Scheduled Departure: 10:05am
    Actual Departure: 10:21am (wheels-up)
    Scheduled Arrival: 11:50am
    Actual Arrival: 11:31am (wheels-down)

    Airbus A320, N464UA (hint- look for this later )
    Coach Class, Seat 18A (Window)

    Departure Gate: Terminal 1, C Concourse, Gate C25
    Arrival Gate: Terminal 2, Gate C

    We took off a bit late, and it started out just like a normal flight. It was pretty much smooth and we leveled off at 32,000 ft and the movie "Calendar Girls" was put on. It was OK, I guess but it got really boring...really fast. A full-can beverage service was done, and a Snack Box was given out. The contents were :Cape Cod Potato Chips, Breadsticks, Cheese Dip, Oreos, Fun Size Milky Way, and Rasins. The flight attendants just put everything from the beverage and snack service away, and about three rows away the call button rang.

    Then it rang again.
    and again
    and again
    and again...

    The three flight attendants run to the back of the plane to a lady who is hyperventilating. She looked really pale and bad. A Flight Attendant gives her cool sips of water and another was holding cool napkins against her head. Then she starts coughing and makes motions saying she can't brethe. The flight attendant freaks out and runs to First Class and gets the Oxygen Tank and starts giving her oxygen. The other flight attendant comes on over the intercom and asks for Doctors, Nurses, or EMT.

    There were 9 Doctors
    There were 3 Nurses
    There were 4 EMT.

    What a safe flight. That went on for a while, and then the flight attendant got a call from the flight deck and talked to the lady- did she feel well enough to go to Phoenix? If no, Santa Fe here we come. She felt better, and we touched down at PHX and she was offloaded first. Bags were delived on time and I found my aunt for a week of fun, swimming, and baby-sitting

    The Return (My First Red-Eye)

    At about 9:30pm my Uncle drove me to Sky Harbor and I checked in and went though security. I was pulled aside because I have a cast on my arm and wrist and he needed to make sure it...blah..blah...blah. I walked though the really bright and aged Terminal Two to get to gate 7. TED sure is overhyped, United was advertising TED everywhere they could get it. On the walls, on the jetway, on the podium...etc. We finally boarded for flight 1058 to Chicago

    Friday, June 11, 2004
    United Airlines flight 1058
    Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) to Chicago O'Hare (ORD)
    Scheduled Departure: 11:59pm 7/11/04
    Actual Departure: 12:12pm 7/12/04
    Scheduled Arrival: 5:20am 7/12/04
    Actual Arrival: 4:55am 7/12/04

    Airbus A320 N464UA hmmm....
    Coach Class, Seat 15F (window)

    Departure Gate: Terminal Two, Gate 7
    Arrival Gate: Terminal One, Concourse C, Gate C25 (again)

    This flight was uneventful. Beverages and pretzels. The movie was Starsky and Hutch which was pretty good. They also showed a short segment called "Just for Laughs" which was pretty funny. It's really just about Stand-Up-Comedy and various commercials. We landed at the same gate that I left from and bags were on claim 14. My mom was outside waiting...

    I am now going to bed because I have been up for more than 24 hours. I've only been home for 2 hours!

    Later.
    Patrick



    Next Flights:

    October 14, 2006 - Airtran MDW-MSP
    October 16, 2006 - Airtran MSP-MDW

  • #2
    Great report. Congrats on your first trip by yourself!
    GO SIOUX

    Comment


    • #3
      Interesting you flew the same aircraft.....wow!!!! How odd is that?!?! I agree TED is way to overhyped. Great report, I admit, i would have been terrified to hear that going on!!! Im glad everything turned out ok. Id love to try UAL juts to say I tried them but, they are just sooo expensive out of STL...but anywa, glad your back!!
      Alex
      Stop Searching. Start Traveling. southwest.com

      Comment


      • #4
        Nice report, I hate those redeyes. UA is great and so is ORD. I agree they are expensive though. I love flying by myself. Ive been doing it since I was six (im now sixteen). The first time i did it by myself with out UM (un-necessary moms ) was when I was twelve on WN. I sure do hate UM. Going by yourself makes you feel older and gives you more photo ops around the hub airports.

        Continental Airlines + America West Airlines +James Bond= Happiness

        Comment


        • #5
          congrats on your first trip alone.
          Sounds like you had a great experience

          Comment


          • #6
            Thank you all for the warm comments.

            thunderball'65- United was the cheapest option I found- the total price was $198.50 with taxes and all.

            Ill have another report in July MDW-DEN-LAX-DEN-MDW quick one nite stay for the airline expo. It's on Frontier.

            Edited to add Frontier.



            Next Flights:

            October 14, 2006 - Airtran MDW-MSP
            October 16, 2006 - Airtran MSP-MDW

            Comment


            • #7
              Great report man!

              It's always interesting when somebody gets hurt or sick onboard...

              That happened to me on an HP 757 a few years ago PHX-EWR, but we got diverted to God Knows Where...

              anyway, a great report... describing what was in that snack box made me hungry...
              www.acairport.com

              Comment


              • #8
                Nice report Patrick.

                Remember who told you first that the Red-Eye is Rough. I hope you enjoyed PHX and once again, sorry I was unable to get a shot of your approaching A/C.
                SET LOVE FREE!!

                Comment


                • #9
                  First experiences are always interesting to read. Congrats.
                  Getting the same airplane on a same roundtrip days apart is not un-common. Personnally remember a case dating back to 08/77 with TWA when flying a NCE-GVA-JFK with the return 3 months later !.
                  Alain
                  Thanks for visiting
                  *Avimage's Monthly Slide list *
                  *JetPhotos*
                  Airliners*Pbase.com

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Now whats a red Eye?


                    P.S Nice preview
                    Airlines: XT,KL,SN,ACA,DL,AF,TV,SN,OS,LX,WA,NW,FI,US,AW,CO,OH,OO,9W,AA,AE,FL,B6

                    Aircraft:AT4,B763,B734,A321,B743,FRJ,B763ER,B772,A343,B733,F70,MD80,AR8,A319,CRJ,F50,D10,D95,A333,B752,B762,ERD,B764,CR9,B77W,AB6,ATR,B717,E190

                    Airports: ANR,AMS,ATL,BRU,ATH,JFK,LGA,GSP,CDG,FCO,EWR,FAO,VIE,ZRH,MEM,DTW,KEF,PHL,CLT,IAH,MIA,JAX

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      nice report.....I've been on N776AU twice..but my 2 trips on it were a few years apart..and from totally different airports

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Airfrancefan
                        Now whats a red Eye?


                        P.S Nice preview
                        Airfrancefan, A red-eye is a flight that leaves really late (like UA1058 left Phoenix at 11:59pm) and arrives at the other city the next day (UA 1058 landed in Chicago at 5:00am) meaning its already a new day and you don't get sleep.



                        Next Flights:

                        October 14, 2006 - Airtran MDW-MSP
                        October 16, 2006 - Airtran MSP-MDW

                        Comment

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