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After a number of meetings, it was time to head to MORE !!
United 765
Denver Intl - Los Angeles Intl
Scheduled Lift off - 18:28
Landing - 20:00
Actual Lift off - 18:45
Actual landing - 20:14
Equipment - Boeing 757-200
Class - Coach
Seat - 18F
Well, we got to DEN at about 5pm. Grabbed a coffee and headed straight to check-in where the queues were immense, but in all fairness, United handled the situation well by allowing passengers to use Business,First desks when all First and business passengers were done.
Security was a breeze, even though it was packed.
I was rather annoyed that Many,many,many of the passengers from our flight, were using the Red Carpet Club, even though not in First, im guessing they were Mileage plus members..??
Boarding was called for Coach at 18:10.
Boarding was smooth, just some late comers delayed us slightly. Seats were just as comfortable as the IAD-DEN flight. I didnt have any seat-mates, so my Business partner sat in 18A, we had the whole of row 18 for ourselves. Take-off was suprisingly powerful, i dont know why because we had a light load. All buildings were literally blurs as we rocketed past them.
The crew came around with drinks about 45 minutes after take-off. I got a coke again, unfortunately the crew did not have the same high spirits as yesterday.
I didnt buy anything from the B-O-B.
TV monitors came down after the crew finished serving the B-O-B, and they showed a short News program, and an episode of two and a half men. XM Radio was also quite entertaining.
Started descent about 35 minutes prior to touchdown. Descent was quite turbulent, but the actual landing was so smooth. Parked up at the gate and very slowly disembarked. Crew seemed happy that their rotation had finished. Ground crew having trouble with a group of passengers who had missed their connection in LAX (I overheard that they had a connection from 20:00 to 20:23) and they were blaming United for this, even though it was clearly printed on their E-ticket.
Off too yet another meeting....
United 806
Los Angeles Intl - San Francisco Intl
Scheduled Lift off - 13:30
Landing - 14:48
Actual Lift off - 13:36
Actual Landing - 14:55
Equipment - Airbus A319
Class - Coach
Seat - 20A
Yeah so we got to LAX at about half 12, we had literally just finished our meeting downtown.
Check-in was very efficient, not standing still in a queue for more than about 2 minutes.
The originial plan was, to meet our other colleague at JFK, as our flight from LAX and his flight from SFO landed almost simultaneously, the problem was, AA had cancelled his flight, so we were going up to SFO, as if basically to pick him up. Security was easy, through in a matter of minutes. Boarding was called at 1pm, and the aircraft was completely full, it was announced that the load factor was 98%, 2 crew seats were given up. Safety demo and push back, the norm really for a short flight. Another immense take-off, up to full power. I fell asleep almost immediately after lift-off,which annoyed my partner as he wanted the window seat haha. Oh well. I woke up when we were about 700 ft above the ground, on very short finals. Just as i came to, i was flung forward as we hit the ground hard, almost hitting my head on the seat in front. Taxiied to gate, apology from captain for bad landing. Said goodbye to crew, and headed to meet Jake.
United 34
San Francisco Intl - New York JFK
Scheduled Lift off - 22:20
Landing - 06:51
Actual Lift off - 22:31
Actual Landing - 06:17
Equipment - Boeing 757-200 p.s
Class - Economy Plus (Premium Service)
Seat - 21A
After about a million phone calls, We spotted Jake "who was looking for us", sitting down on his laptop...haha. Now we had to book another ticket to JFK, and seeing as Jake had got a half refund from AA, for his flight which was cancelled earlier, I INSISTED on UA. So after considerable argument, and me being outnumbered, we found an AA desk, and got quote of $287 each one-way. I ran off and found a UA desk, One-way, for the 10pm flight was $101 each. I booked a flight for myself, i didnt care when the others got there because to be honest, it wasnt really the best day for AA today, i saw about 3 flight cancelled, and countless delayed. Well at about 5pm i got a phone call from Jake, asking where i am, what flight im on, why i ran off, why im being an idiot, and what time i get to NYC.
I gave the simplest reply.
"Well, im in starbucks, im on UA34, i ran off because you payed $287 and i payed $101, im not an idiot i just dont waste money, i get to new york at 6:50 am, race ya there, laters"
Then hung up. I wasnt mad at them, they wernt mad at me, just they were big enough suckers to get ripped off. A little while later, i found out that they were on flight AA2586, which landed at 07:40, and taking into account that our meeting was at 9am, i was a little mad, but at the same time thought it was funny that they would most likely be late haha.
Well at 9:50 pm boarding was called for all passengers, of course it was priority first, first,business,then people with disability and people with children and infants. Then the rest of economy plus. I boarded and was greeted by a very friendly crew, who's spirits were very high, i had a feeling that this was going to be a party flight. I purchased and registered in-flight internet for my iPhone which cost $7.95 for the entire flight. Crew were joking around lots, but got serious for the safety demonstration, and then snapped out of it when they finished. Push back on time.
Taxiied for a few short minutes, then got to the runway. During take-off roll, there were 2 crew members still walking to the rear galley. Take-off not as exciting but still fun, pitch black, lights stretching out as far as the eye could see. Climb was rather turbulent so the crew wernt seen much. When seatbelt sign was turned off, crew were up and running, and asking if people needed blankets pillows etc. Some people were lucky enough to get the pillows from Business class, Heavenly pillows. We were all served a free drink (whoever was awake), i got a hot chocolate which is special to premium service, it made me feel like a kid again haha.
I decided to buy something to eat, and i pressed the crew call button, and they were at my seat in a shot. I purchased a chicken wrap style sort of...thing, which came with tomatoes,pepper strips, aioli sauce and a packet of kettle chips, that all cost $9. A family in front of me were whispering (not quietly enough, i was able to earwig them :P) that they were all freezing, but didnt want to ask the crew because they were most likely asleep. As they said that, a rather hyper female flight attendant walked through the Economy Plus/Business curtain. They asked for blankets, and pillows, but as there were none readily available to Economy Plus pax, they asked them if they wanted to move to a "warmer" part of the plane. The family said dont go to so much hassle.
The F/A cleverly replied, "Maam, this is premium service dont forget.....i will be right back"
The F/A pressed the crew call button above their head, and headed down back towards Business class. About 3 minutes later, she came through, along with another f/a who im guessing was serving Business, with 5 Heavenly pillows, and 5 heavenly blankets.
"Would you like a hot drink ?" asked the f/a
A few minutes later she came back with 5 drinks, in starbucks cups, it wasnt coffee, i dunno what it was. I thought this was quite amazing on United's part. I went on my e-mails, looked at jp.net, facebook, the Gogo inflight wireless is rather slow for smartphones, but its better than nothing. I even managed to get onto youtube and watch tv programs. At around 04:30am, i heard lots of noise from the rear galley, which annoyed some people sitting around me. I found out what the noise was when i saw the food service cart whizzing past so it can start service at the front of the cabin. I was the only person who bought something, basically becuase i was the only person who was still awake. I purchased a "Continental Breakfast" which was not on the cart, but the crew went to the galley and prepared it for me. It had a bagel, cream cheese, jam, and a tiny tub of yoghurt, this cost $5. When she brought it to my seat, she asked if i would like a drink, i asked for a coffee. Breakfast at 4:30am, at 38,000 feet, quite cool i thought.
The crew, no matter what i hear about morale at United, on this particular flight, the crew were up and about almost all night, and always happy. We started descent at around 5:25, and i got up and walked back to the galley, and had a chat with the 2 female crew members, and i even had a game of cards with the male flight attendant, he kicked my ass of course i suck at card games.
I took to my seat at about 20 minutes prior to landing. Descent and landing were both amazingly smooth. Parked up next to a Shuttle America EMB-170. I said goodbye to all the crew, including the Captain and F/O, who to be honest, looked liked they were about to pass out, they must have been so tired. I collected by "bag" and headed out and waited for Jake and Kevin (might aswell all be late together at the meeting) to arrive from SFO on their flight, which wasnt expected untill 08:10, which was taking the p**s.
United 765
Denver Intl - Los Angeles Intl
Scheduled Lift off - 18:28
Landing - 20:00
Actual Lift off - 18:45
Actual landing - 20:14
Equipment - Boeing 757-200
Class - Coach
Seat - 18F
Well, we got to DEN at about 5pm. Grabbed a coffee and headed straight to check-in where the queues were immense, but in all fairness, United handled the situation well by allowing passengers to use Business,First desks when all First and business passengers were done.
Security was a breeze, even though it was packed.
I was rather annoyed that Many,many,many of the passengers from our flight, were using the Red Carpet Club, even though not in First, im guessing they were Mileage plus members..??
Boarding was called for Coach at 18:10.
Boarding was smooth, just some late comers delayed us slightly. Seats were just as comfortable as the IAD-DEN flight. I didnt have any seat-mates, so my Business partner sat in 18A, we had the whole of row 18 for ourselves. Take-off was suprisingly powerful, i dont know why because we had a light load. All buildings were literally blurs as we rocketed past them.
The crew came around with drinks about 45 minutes after take-off. I got a coke again, unfortunately the crew did not have the same high spirits as yesterday.
I didnt buy anything from the B-O-B.
TV monitors came down after the crew finished serving the B-O-B, and they showed a short News program, and an episode of two and a half men. XM Radio was also quite entertaining.
Started descent about 35 minutes prior to touchdown. Descent was quite turbulent, but the actual landing was so smooth. Parked up at the gate and very slowly disembarked. Crew seemed happy that their rotation had finished. Ground crew having trouble with a group of passengers who had missed their connection in LAX (I overheard that they had a connection from 20:00 to 20:23) and they were blaming United for this, even though it was clearly printed on their E-ticket.
Off too yet another meeting....
United 806
Los Angeles Intl - San Francisco Intl
Scheduled Lift off - 13:30
Landing - 14:48
Actual Lift off - 13:36
Actual Landing - 14:55
Equipment - Airbus A319
Class - Coach
Seat - 20A
Yeah so we got to LAX at about half 12, we had literally just finished our meeting downtown.
Check-in was very efficient, not standing still in a queue for more than about 2 minutes.
The originial plan was, to meet our other colleague at JFK, as our flight from LAX and his flight from SFO landed almost simultaneously, the problem was, AA had cancelled his flight, so we were going up to SFO, as if basically to pick him up. Security was easy, through in a matter of minutes. Boarding was called at 1pm, and the aircraft was completely full, it was announced that the load factor was 98%, 2 crew seats were given up. Safety demo and push back, the norm really for a short flight. Another immense take-off, up to full power. I fell asleep almost immediately after lift-off,which annoyed my partner as he wanted the window seat haha. Oh well. I woke up when we were about 700 ft above the ground, on very short finals. Just as i came to, i was flung forward as we hit the ground hard, almost hitting my head on the seat in front. Taxiied to gate, apology from captain for bad landing. Said goodbye to crew, and headed to meet Jake.
United 34
San Francisco Intl - New York JFK
Scheduled Lift off - 22:20
Landing - 06:51
Actual Lift off - 22:31
Actual Landing - 06:17
Equipment - Boeing 757-200 p.s
Class - Economy Plus (Premium Service)
Seat - 21A
After about a million phone calls, We spotted Jake "who was looking for us", sitting down on his laptop...haha. Now we had to book another ticket to JFK, and seeing as Jake had got a half refund from AA, for his flight which was cancelled earlier, I INSISTED on UA. So after considerable argument, and me being outnumbered, we found an AA desk, and got quote of $287 each one-way. I ran off and found a UA desk, One-way, for the 10pm flight was $101 each. I booked a flight for myself, i didnt care when the others got there because to be honest, it wasnt really the best day for AA today, i saw about 3 flight cancelled, and countless delayed. Well at about 5pm i got a phone call from Jake, asking where i am, what flight im on, why i ran off, why im being an idiot, and what time i get to NYC.
I gave the simplest reply.
"Well, im in starbucks, im on UA34, i ran off because you payed $287 and i payed $101, im not an idiot i just dont waste money, i get to new york at 6:50 am, race ya there, laters"
Then hung up. I wasnt mad at them, they wernt mad at me, just they were big enough suckers to get ripped off. A little while later, i found out that they were on flight AA2586, which landed at 07:40, and taking into account that our meeting was at 9am, i was a little mad, but at the same time thought it was funny that they would most likely be late haha.
Well at 9:50 pm boarding was called for all passengers, of course it was priority first, first,business,then people with disability and people with children and infants. Then the rest of economy plus. I boarded and was greeted by a very friendly crew, who's spirits were very high, i had a feeling that this was going to be a party flight. I purchased and registered in-flight internet for my iPhone which cost $7.95 for the entire flight. Crew were joking around lots, but got serious for the safety demonstration, and then snapped out of it when they finished. Push back on time.
Taxiied for a few short minutes, then got to the runway. During take-off roll, there were 2 crew members still walking to the rear galley. Take-off not as exciting but still fun, pitch black, lights stretching out as far as the eye could see. Climb was rather turbulent so the crew wernt seen much. When seatbelt sign was turned off, crew were up and running, and asking if people needed blankets pillows etc. Some people were lucky enough to get the pillows from Business class, Heavenly pillows. We were all served a free drink (whoever was awake), i got a hot chocolate which is special to premium service, it made me feel like a kid again haha.
I decided to buy something to eat, and i pressed the crew call button, and they were at my seat in a shot. I purchased a chicken wrap style sort of...thing, which came with tomatoes,pepper strips, aioli sauce and a packet of kettle chips, that all cost $9. A family in front of me were whispering (not quietly enough, i was able to earwig them :P) that they were all freezing, but didnt want to ask the crew because they were most likely asleep. As they said that, a rather hyper female flight attendant walked through the Economy Plus/Business curtain. They asked for blankets, and pillows, but as there were none readily available to Economy Plus pax, they asked them if they wanted to move to a "warmer" part of the plane. The family said dont go to so much hassle.
The F/A cleverly replied, "Maam, this is premium service dont forget.....i will be right back"
The F/A pressed the crew call button above their head, and headed down back towards Business class. About 3 minutes later, she came through, along with another f/a who im guessing was serving Business, with 5 Heavenly pillows, and 5 heavenly blankets.
"Would you like a hot drink ?" asked the f/a
A few minutes later she came back with 5 drinks, in starbucks cups, it wasnt coffee, i dunno what it was. I thought this was quite amazing on United's part. I went on my e-mails, looked at jp.net, facebook, the Gogo inflight wireless is rather slow for smartphones, but its better than nothing. I even managed to get onto youtube and watch tv programs. At around 04:30am, i heard lots of noise from the rear galley, which annoyed some people sitting around me. I found out what the noise was when i saw the food service cart whizzing past so it can start service at the front of the cabin. I was the only person who bought something, basically becuase i was the only person who was still awake. I purchased a "Continental Breakfast" which was not on the cart, but the crew went to the galley and prepared it for me. It had a bagel, cream cheese, jam, and a tiny tub of yoghurt, this cost $5. When she brought it to my seat, she asked if i would like a drink, i asked for a coffee. Breakfast at 4:30am, at 38,000 feet, quite cool i thought.
The crew, no matter what i hear about morale at United, on this particular flight, the crew were up and about almost all night, and always happy. We started descent at around 5:25, and i got up and walked back to the galley, and had a chat with the 2 female crew members, and i even had a game of cards with the male flight attendant, he kicked my ass of course i suck at card games.
I took to my seat at about 20 minutes prior to landing. Descent and landing were both amazingly smooth. Parked up next to a Shuttle America EMB-170. I said goodbye to all the crew, including the Captain and F/O, who to be honest, looked liked they were about to pass out, they must have been so tired. I collected by "bag" and headed out and waited for Jake and Kevin (might aswell all be late together at the meeting) to arrive from SFO on their flight, which wasnt expected untill 08:10, which was taking the p**s.