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After a long time not writing any reports I thought I might as well post one up about a recent business trip i've been on.
It will be in a few parts.
Airline : United Express (Operated by ExpressJet)
Flight Number : 4228
Aircraft : Embraer ERJ-145 (N13970)
Departure Airport : Jacksonville (JAX), Florida
Scheduled Departure Time : 13:01
Actual Departure Time : 14:10
Arrival Airport : Newark Liberty (EWR), New Jersey
Scheduled Arrival Time : 15:39
Actual Arrival Time : 17:02
Seat : 7B (Economy)
I was dropped off at JAX at around 11am, giving me plenty of time to get through all of the procedures in time for my flight.
The check-in queue was relatively short, and I was checked in and through security by about 11:45. After relaxing in the departure lounge for about 20 minutes it was announced our flight was delayed for approx 30 minutes due to ATC "restrictions" in New York. I've never heard this one before
Anyway I headed back to Starbucks near the first security check. At around 13:40 our flight was called for boarding through gate A8. The departure lounge itself was quite full, so I assumed that my flight was going to be busy, but when I arrived at the gate, only about 11 people were queueing up ready to board. I was greeted on board by a kind old flight attendant who I didn't initially think was part of the crew, but she gave a friendly hello and I took my seat just in front of the wing. Due to the flight being so empty, I slid over to 7C 
After a very brief safety demonstration (while we were still parked at the gate ) the captain apologized for the delay and we were then on our way.
Over an hour late, we blasted off from runway 7, made a quick, sharp left turn and then an unusually steep climb to our cruising altitude of 35,000.
We headed up the coast heading inland, very nearly hitting Central Georgia, which I thought was an unusual route to be taking. The crew served beverages, I got myself a coke with ice, boring but, yeah. I didn't purchase anything from the snack service.
The flight seemed like it was dragging on forever, and we continued our flight towards New York, without going over the sea and staying over land the entire time, when previously when i've done this route, the flight went directly over the sea into JAX
Oh well, nearly an hour late, we reached New York, yet the captain announced that we wouldn't be on the ground for another 20 minutes, so again the flight dragged on longer, and longer.
Finally, an hour and a half late we touched down into KEWR and taxied quickly to gate A24. The crew were very apologetic about the late arrival as we disembarked.
I hopped onto the monorail to take me to Terminal C for my second flight across the pond.
Airline : United Airlines
Flight Number : 110
Aircraft : Boeing 757-200WL (N12109)
Departure Airport : Newark Liberty (EWR), New Jersey
Scheduled Departure Time : 18:20
Actual Departure Time : 18:45
Arrival Airport : London Heathrow (LHR), United Kingdom
Scheduled Arrival Time : 06:45am
Actual Arrival Time : 06:24am
Seat : 36F (Economy)
The monorail was quick, and I arrived at terminal C quickly. So I went to "The Guiness Pub" opposite of Gate C84 and thought i'd treat myself to a beer and a roast turkey sandwich
Would recommend this place to people travelling from this terminal. When I was done I headed back to my gate and realized we were boarding, I had missed my row call (boarding in row groups) and so I waited for boarding to be completed before heading through. Once it was done, I was told that "I was lucky" by the gate agent, even though I was here probably before everyone else was, and the fact that people were still in the jetway boarding. I walked down the jetway and onto the aircraft.
I was greeted by the moodiest B***H ever!
The fresh college dropout was so moody, and extremely rude to nearly all of the passengers going on before me. When it got to me, she quite literally snatched my ticket from me, and said "go that way" and pointed down the way of the aisle, as if I didn't know which way the seats were. The more senior f/a standing behind her didn't even say a word throughout all of this, and she could clearly say and hear what she was doing. I took my seat, and settled for the long flight ahead.
The safety demo was shown on the screens and we taxied to the runway. I got talking to the elderly British lady seated in 36D, she told me that she was one of the priority boarding passengers due to her being unable to walk down the jetway, and the crew were "well rude" to her. We blasted out of EWR 25 minutes late, and made about 10 sharp right turns before we eventually levelled out heading north. The AVOD was very good, MUCH better than the old United IFE which was pretty depressing. As we headed out over the Rhode Island area we encountered some pretty serious turbulence and the cabin fell into a dead silence apart from the occasional shout, and the metallic rattling of the aircraft. After this, it was as if the crew was in shock and no announcement were made, and the seatbelt stayed on for about an hour after this (even though we were FL220+). An unusually long time after take-off, the beverage service started, with nearly nobody onboard actually getting anything, this was followed by "Dinner". We were given no options because they had run out of Pasta further forward in the cabin, so i had to settle with Sausages, mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. It was really good, and I couldnt eat the salad or desert that came with it. After this I settled back with a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory. The crew occasionally came through with Snack & Beverages but were rarely stopped, I think it's because they were pushing the cart so damn fast. The one time I did stop them, I got the only thing available, Trail mix, and I got a water. As we headed over Ireland, they served breakfast, with most of the cabin still sleeping, the service was quick.
It consisted of a Cinnamon danish, Strawberry yoghurt and a Pineapple & Mango fruit salad. I was happy that the moody college drop out wasn't serving this far back in the cabin, and the lady serving me was really polite and helpful.
It was good still, and the coffee that came with it was perfect.
We started descending, and we made a long circling right turn.
As we popped out of the clouds I could see the Olympic Stadium and other London attractions appearing which was a nice view
Although my view was hindered due to the ridiculous amount of rain drops splattered all over the already dirty window.
As we flew over the Brentford FC stadium we hit a slight bit of turbulence which continued for about 2 minutes, until we finally hit the ground hard.
We turned left off of the taxiway, past all of the Cargo hangars and we parked up at gate 2. We disembarked really quickly, the crew wanted us off ASAP
Not a goodbye from any of the cabin crew but the first officer gave me a friendly goodbye as we disembarked through 2L.
The customs were ridiculous as usual at Heathrow, god knows what this place is going to be like during the Olympics. Customs took so long, that the first few bags were already on the belt as we got to baggage reclaim.
I got my bag and headed off to the Heathrow Express station.
A pretty average trip.
It will be in a few parts.
Airline : United Express (Operated by ExpressJet)
Flight Number : 4228
Aircraft : Embraer ERJ-145 (N13970)
Departure Airport : Jacksonville (JAX), Florida
Scheduled Departure Time : 13:01
Actual Departure Time : 14:10
Arrival Airport : Newark Liberty (EWR), New Jersey
Scheduled Arrival Time : 15:39
Actual Arrival Time : 17:02
Seat : 7B (Economy)
I was dropped off at JAX at around 11am, giving me plenty of time to get through all of the procedures in time for my flight.
The check-in queue was relatively short, and I was checked in and through security by about 11:45. After relaxing in the departure lounge for about 20 minutes it was announced our flight was delayed for approx 30 minutes due to ATC "restrictions" in New York. I've never heard this one before
Anyway I headed back to Starbucks near the first security check. At around 13:40 our flight was called for boarding through gate A8. The departure lounge itself was quite full, so I assumed that my flight was going to be busy, but when I arrived at the gate, only about 11 people were queueing up ready to board. I was greeted on board by a kind old flight attendant who I didn't initially think was part of the crew, but she gave a friendly hello and I took my seat just in front of the wing. Due to the flight being so empty, I slid over to 7C After a very brief safety demonstration (while we were still parked at the gate
) the captain apologized for the delay and we were then on our way. Over an hour late, we blasted off from runway 7, made a quick, sharp left turn and then an unusually steep climb to our cruising altitude of 35,000.
We headed up the coast heading inland, very nearly hitting Central Georgia, which I thought was an unusual route to be taking. The crew served beverages, I got myself a coke with ice, boring but, yeah. I didn't purchase anything from the snack service.
The flight seemed like it was dragging on forever, and we continued our flight towards New York, without going over the sea and staying over land the entire time, when previously when i've done this route, the flight went directly over the sea into JAX
Oh well, nearly an hour late, we reached New York, yet the captain announced that we wouldn't be on the ground for another 20 minutes, so again the flight dragged on longer, and longer.
Finally, an hour and a half late we touched down into KEWR and taxied quickly to gate A24. The crew were very apologetic about the late arrival as we disembarked.
I hopped onto the monorail to take me to Terminal C for my second flight across the pond.
Airline : United Airlines
Flight Number : 110
Aircraft : Boeing 757-200WL (N12109)
Departure Airport : Newark Liberty (EWR), New Jersey
Scheduled Departure Time : 18:20
Actual Departure Time : 18:45
Arrival Airport : London Heathrow (LHR), United Kingdom
Scheduled Arrival Time : 06:45am
Actual Arrival Time : 06:24am
Seat : 36F (Economy)
The monorail was quick, and I arrived at terminal C quickly. So I went to "The Guiness Pub" opposite of Gate C84 and thought i'd treat myself to a beer and a roast turkey sandwich
Would recommend this place to people travelling from this terminal. When I was done I headed back to my gate and realized we were boarding, I had missed my row call (boarding in row groups) and so I waited for boarding to be completed before heading through. Once it was done, I was told that "I was lucky" by the gate agent, even though I was here probably before everyone else was, and the fact that people were still in the jetway boarding. I walked down the jetway and onto the aircraft.I was greeted by the moodiest B***H ever!
The fresh college dropout was so moody, and extremely rude to nearly all of the passengers going on before me. When it got to me, she quite literally snatched my ticket from me, and said "go that way" and pointed down the way of the aisle, as if I didn't know which way the seats were. The more senior f/a standing behind her didn't even say a word throughout all of this, and she could clearly say and hear what she was doing. I took my seat, and settled for the long flight ahead.The safety demo was shown on the screens and we taxied to the runway. I got talking to the elderly British lady seated in 36D, she told me that she was one of the priority boarding passengers due to her being unable to walk down the jetway, and the crew were "well rude" to her. We blasted out of EWR 25 minutes late, and made about 10 sharp right turns before we eventually levelled out heading north. The AVOD was very good, MUCH better than the old United IFE which was pretty depressing. As we headed out over the Rhode Island area we encountered some pretty serious turbulence and the cabin fell into a dead silence apart from the occasional shout, and the metallic rattling of the aircraft. After this, it was as if the crew was in shock and no announcement were made, and the seatbelt stayed on for about an hour after this (even though we were FL220+). An unusually long time after take-off, the beverage service started, with nearly nobody onboard actually getting anything, this was followed by "Dinner". We were given no options because they had run out of Pasta further forward in the cabin, so i had to settle with Sausages, mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. It was really good, and I couldnt eat the salad or desert that came with it. After this I settled back with a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory. The crew occasionally came through with Snack & Beverages but were rarely stopped, I think it's because they were pushing the cart so damn fast. The one time I did stop them, I got the only thing available, Trail mix, and I got a water. As we headed over Ireland, they served breakfast, with most of the cabin still sleeping, the service was quick.
It consisted of a Cinnamon danish, Strawberry yoghurt and a Pineapple & Mango fruit salad. I was happy that the moody college drop out wasn't serving this far back in the cabin, and the lady serving me was really polite and helpful.
It was good still, and the coffee that came with it was perfect.
We started descending, and we made a long circling right turn.
As we popped out of the clouds I could see the Olympic Stadium and other London attractions appearing which was a nice view
Although my view was hindered due to the ridiculous amount of rain drops splattered all over the already dirty window.
As we flew over the Brentford FC stadium we hit a slight bit of turbulence which continued for about 2 minutes, until we finally hit the ground hard.
We turned left off of the taxiway, past all of the Cargo hangars and we parked up at gate 2. We disembarked really quickly, the crew wanted us off ASAP
Not a goodbye from any of the cabin crew but the first officer gave me a friendly goodbye as we disembarked through 2L.
The customs were ridiculous as usual at Heathrow, god knows what this place is going to be like during the Olympics. Customs took so long, that the first few bags were already on the belt as we got to baggage reclaim.
I got my bag and headed off to the Heathrow Express station.
A pretty average trip.
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