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  • "Don't expect that 7:25 flight to leave until 10:18&quo

    Well, you will hear all about my "fun" delay experence at Hartsfield at the return portion, and this is the flight down.
    --This report is long. You have been warned. There is no turning back now, well, actually there is-- (All times are local)

    We (my Dad and I) up at 5:30am was on the road to ORD at 6:00am. This was great for me because I have never used O'Hare domestically, I used it ONCE internationally, on Air Plus Comet to Malaga, Spain. I almost fly Southwest, I flew with them 10 segments, ATA 2 segments, and Air Plus Comet 1 segment and It was time to actually use ORD! Parked at the garage, checked in at Terminal One and headed to Terminal Two. Went to Gate H4 (i think) and wandered the airport, and right as were passing gate F4/F5, our flight had a gate change there- talk about lucky.

    January 1, 2004
    United Express flight 5816 (op. by Air Wisconsin)
    Chicago O'Hare- Atlanta Hartsfield
    STD:9:05am
    ATD:9:35am
    STA:12:00pm
    ATA:12:00pm
    Flight time listed at united.com- 1hour 58minutes
    Flight time by crew-1hour 28minutes
    Coach Class,Seat 2A Canadair CL-65 Regional Jet (CRJ) N437AW
    Departure Gate: F5
    Arrival Gate: T14

    We actually got to walk outside and walk up the stairs of the plane! The CRJ was booked full, the flight attendent closed the door and did something cool- she pulled out the jumpseat out from the wall- she left it out for the entire flight, probably blocking the cockpit. Anyway, the CRJ was very comfortable, the bins were a little small, but the legroom was good and there was ample underseat storage. We were in a takeoff line along with AA, DL, U5 (USA 3000), and UA. We took off and had a really smooth climb. The engines were extremely quiet the entire time. Flight time was around one hour and twenty minutes, a quick flight. Small packets of snack mix were handed out and the lone flight attendent did a full drink service- I had water but noticed there was no full can service. Barely heard from the flight deck until decent and "Welcome to Atlanta". We were not told we had reached our crusing altitude until about one hour into the flight. We touched down at exactly twelve noon, and deplaned via the CRJ stairs at Gate T14. Looking at the flight board, it was going to keep going to Washington Dulles. Flight attendent allowed me to take pics of the cabin. The landing gear is very loud as it comes out.

    We took an airport express shuttle vans to Downtown Atlanta, and stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott Atlanta Downtown. Its a nice hotel, we had probelms at check-in, so we got a free breakfast. We stayed in Room 721, a standard room that overlooked the pool and spa. The spa was very hot and the pool was freezing. We used the wireless keyboard and paid $10.00 for in-room internet access on the TV, which did not work the next morning- so we got free internet . We went to Hooters for lunch and went to Hsu's Chinese Cusine for dinner. I highly recommend going to Hsu's. Its at International and Peachtree, I think. Got a great's night sleep at the Courtyard. Beds were great. I would totally stay there again, I really liked it.

    We went and used our free breakfast coupon at the great breakfast buffet they had, then I took a shower and we checked out, put our bags in a storage room and went to the World of Coca-Cola, which is cool, but not super impressive. Club Coca-Cola is cool, where you can sample Coke products in the US and all over the world (I had some Fanta Lemon, Fanta Birch Beer..etc. Watermelon..etc.) We explored Underground Atlanta (shopping mall) We got zoo tickets and wated for the Marta bus to the zoo for about 45 mins, until we went to go see if we could get our non-refundable tickets refunded. We did, the guy understood. We went to Mick's for lunch and went back to the hotel and got our bags and got a cab to the airport. As soon as we walk in, the fun begins.

    We took a cab to ATL, where we walked in and saw the United Airlines line had more that 200 people in it, so we went and stood in the end, and someone told us that Chicago can usually handle 25 planes in 15 minutes, but due to weather delays earlier, they are having about 50 planes in 15 minutes, and ATC wants planes to land before they let more go. He then said we would get to the front of the line in one hour and twenty minutes. Then he called for all passengers going nonstop to Chicago, Denver, or Washington Dulles could come forward and check-in. We checked bags for flight 332, a scheduled to depart ATL at 7:25pm. Now scheduled to leave at 10:18pm. We went to T15 like he said, but checking the UA monitors, there were still 3 flights that had to go to ORD before us. We could of gone standby on any other flight to ORD, but we were told we actually could not because they could not seperate us from our baggage. Most people were carring on, and they got on other flights. Lucky for us, our A319 arrived from SFO, and our departure time was changed from 10:18 to 8:30. I went to the gate agent and asked if there were any Economy Plus seats open, and he asked me for my blue boarding pass, tore it into three pieces, and handed me two gold passes, one for me and my Dad. It felt good to be moved, until there were only 20 people on our flight, and they could move wherever they wanted, but not first class. After wating in Hartsfield for about three hours and thirty minutes, Bording was finally called for United Airlines flight 332 and we got on and took our seats in Row 7.

    January 2, 2004
    United Airlines flight 332
    Atlanta Hartsfield-Chicago O'Hare
    STD: 7:25pm
    ATD: 8:40pm
    STA: 8:25pm
    ATA: 9:50pm
    Flight time listed at united.com- 2:00
    Flight time by crew: 1:35
    Economy Plus, 7A, A319-131, N825UA
    Departure Gate: T15
    Arrival Gate: C20

    The seats on United are very comfortable, right after we pushed back they put on a movie called "The fighting Temptations" it was OK, but I was mainly using channel 9, the in-flight cockpit radio channel Its great! We took off and our 3 flight attendents handed out drinks- full can- and if you wanted water, you had the option of getting more than one cup. Since we had only 20 passengers onboard a plane that can hold a lot more, you could have as many bags of pretzels as you wanted! Anyway, I was impressed with UA, showing a movie and having great service for a flight that is 1 hour and 30 minutes. Anyway, I saw an open row and went and got a window seat and turned on Channel Nine. Our little airbus was really being thrown around during desent.

    - is the tower taking.

    -United 332 cleared for landing
    United 332 Okay
    -United 332 say your gate
    United 332 Charlie 20
    -United 332 tell me if the gate is open
    United 332 gate is open
    -United 332 Okay taxi to Charlie 20 stay with me.
    United 332 goodnight.

    We got to gate C20, waited for about five minutes until the jetway was connected, we walked into ORD Terminal One and walked through the walkway with neon lights above. Got to a overcrowed Baggage Claim 6, waited 20 minutes until 332 bags started coming out, I grabbed both two bags, went to the garage and started the drive home. We finally got home at 11:00pm that night.

    I was impressed with United, showing a movie and having a good crew. They were also good with dealing with the delay.

    Patrick
    HAPPY NEW YEAR



    Next Flights:

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

  • #2
    Great report... I was never in the UA terminal at ORD... what's it like??
    www.acairport.com

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by matt1168
      Great report
      Yeah, nice one mate

      Comment


      • #4
        Re:

        Awesome report dude!

        I was at ORD in August for the first time, and I was really glad I got to see it. It's a gr8 airport. I even went through the neon-lit underground B-C connector, it's really cool.

        Btw, I flew United Express in August from Oklahoma City to Chicago and back. The service was good, not bad at all, given industry conditions.

        Good to see you had a nice experience w/ UAL/UAX.

        Happy Flying!

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by matt1168
          Great report... I was never in the UA terminal at ORD... what's it like??
          The UA termnal at ORD is really big- it has a ton of gates (B and C) and has a cool neon connection tunnel. Has big gate space and looks cool inside, big windows for spotting,

          Patrick



          Next Flights:

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

          Comment


          • #6
            Yes, I've always wanted to see the whole airport, but I've only been in T2 (CO) and T3 (Spirit)... I escpecially wanna see T5!!
            www.acairport.com

            Comment


            • #7
              Earlier, Sprit used to fly from T5. T5 is really nice, a lot of interesing tails to look at, it is far from the other terminals though (T1, 2, 3 are connected) There is no T4 at ORD.



              Next Flights:

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

              Comment

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