The day started pretty early with a wake up time of 4:30AM
for me. It was a bit early but not something I am not used to now since I
pretty much get up at 5:30AM pretty much every day once again now that I have
gotten into the work routine. I parked at The Park N Fly due to a coupon
I got in the mail the night before and then took their shuttle to Terminal E
and my driver did not know what gate United flights depart. He drove all
the way to the US Airways gates (other side of terminal) and then circled back
around to the United Airlines gates. There were no lines at the security
and I went through with no wait or hassle besides the nude-o-scopes. I
stopped by the United Club to chat with my favorite agent, Jean, who was sick
that day so Brian covered for her. I grabbed two apples to go and ate
some yogurt before heading off to board my flight.
We departed from gate E2 on an Airbus A320 aircraft. My complimentary First Class upgrade had cleared about 4 days before the departure time. It was done after I called the 1K desk and requesting the agent to manually process my upgrade when I discovered that there were plenty of NC upgrade space available within 100 hour window before the flight. The good news is that I got one of my favorite seats (3E non bulkhead aisle) on the aircraft. We were not offered pre-departure beverages but coats were hung. We had the one of a kind Kathy King (SEA based) working as our purser and she was a hoot. She was off-the-wall wacky and crazy in a good way (the good kind).
I drank Coffee with Bailey's with my breakfast that consisted of: Total flakes, 2% milk, banana, croissant, sausage, egg omelet, and broccoli/potato cake. The sausage (aka mystery meat) was not crispy/well done (again) in my opinion but the breakfast was just ok. For the inflight entertainment an episode of The Big Bang Theory was shown followed by the movie, The Three Musketeers, which I skipped. For the rest of the flight, I worked on catching up on my blogging, napped and then watched episodes of TV shows.
Our purser Kathy was attentive and served us by herself. She did take some magazine breaks with her latest issue of People magazine. She did come by several times during the flight to check on us. The most memorable part of the flight was when she came by with personalized notes on the back of her business cards. I felt that it was a special touch of service in her part. When I spoke to her later, she told me hat she always did it for her Global Services and 1K passengers. She has only 14 years seniority so the Tokyo trips for her are a rarity with the last one being 3 years ago when she was on reserve. Her apron did say June Cleaver (from Leave it to Beaver) and that reference was lost on me... different generation I guess ;)
We arrived into SFO about 15 minutes early and the aircraft was parked at the International Terminal since it was heading to Puerto Vallarta later. The jet bridge did not work properly so we had to wait about 10 minutes for a mechanic to come and take a look before fixing it. After we finally deplaned, I made my way to the domestic terminal to the United Club near gate 80 this time. I first stopped by gate 82 to see how full that flight to HNL was and it took off with a full load of passengers (35 people on the standby list- I'm thinking non -revs). Then I went to gate 86, where my flight would depart from 2 hours later to see if I could see where I placed on the upgrade wait list and after 10 minutes, I gave up when it did not appear. There were still 2 seats open when I checked in the morning.
I decided to try my luck and ask one of the agents at the United Club who informed me that there was 1 seat left, I was #1 on the list, and 4 passengers had not checked in yet. My chances were good and she told me to check at the gate before boarding. My rest of the time was spent on trying to get the WiFi to work on my laptop (failed) but it worked for my iPad. At about 5 minutes before boarding, I headed towards the gate to see if my upgrade had cleared. When I arrived at the gate, one of the three gate agents announced that "any passengers attempting to upgrade on the flight... was not going to happen unless they were Mr Phly4Phun." I had a moment of relief when I heard that as I was prepared to go buy lunch for the five our journey ahead of me.
Since all three agents were bombarded by passengers at the counter, I waited around for the to call boarding. They went ahead its the new system where Global Services and active military were first to board. Then it was First Class and 1Ks next... so I tried to board then. When I got to the agent at the scanner, I explained that I was Mr Ply4Phun... the only person on the list with a shot for an upgrade. He directed me to his colleague who told me to wait for a few minutes to see if the last passenger would show up. The last gate agent was paging my name at that time and when my gent told her I was there waiting already, she came by to give me my boarding pass for the last seat in First class (4F). That makes me 100% on upgrades this year on United so far and I one my luck continues.
The aircraft Sitting at the gate 86 was a Boeing 777, both doors were used for boarding and the path to First Class was wide open as I was the last passenger in First class. Pre-departure beverages of water, and orange juice were offered. The purser came by and greeted each passenger by name and to take lunch orders by status (I presumed) while we waited on the tarmac to take off. We finally did at 11:03AM when we had a scheduled time of 10:27AM. After taking off, the drink and hot nuts service began promptly. The flight attendant working the galley kept on dropping glasses and it made a big clunking noise every time. I think she must have broke at least three during the flight and every time they had to clean it up promptly.
We had the lunch options: chicken breast in tomato sauce served with with rice/green beans or marinara pasta shell . They were both served with a small green salad, bread, and a salmon starter. I enjoyed the Trader Vic’s Mai Tai (cut with Sprite Zero) on this flight. Glenn tried to offer me some Wine with my meal but I replied it made me flush if I drank too much alcohol. He replied that he had the same problem and it made him itchy. My chicken dish was not that good and i did not finish it. This was a lunch flight so the dessert was a made to order sundae consisting of 2 scoops of strawberry ice cream with topping choices of maraschino cherry, caramel, fudge, whipped cream, and pecans. I got my with everything so that I did not have to make a choice. The dessert was enjoyed with a few cups of hot tea.
The movie shown on the flight was In time which I was looking forward to watch during the flight. I notice that I could not change the volume for the channels on the seat unit. The purser made an announcement that due to electrical problems, he would reboot the entertainment system since no on e in the First Class cabin could use their passenger control unit. I then found out that the problem went beyond that since the reading light and the flight attendant call button did not function either. I later found out that the overhead lights and the cabin temperature was also not working. The cabin was very cold throughout the entire five hour flight so I had to put a jacket on, use my blanket, and drink several cups of hot tea to keep warm.
I chatted with the purser, Glenn, for a bit after the lunch service. I was very impressed that he remembered my name through out the flight. I found out that he was HNL based and all of them their are truly awesome. Some do the best service onboard I have received were from the HNL based agents. He told me that they lost the HNL-DEN route and got the HNL-GUM route instead. He tried the new route for a while but it here was a lot of waiting on board when they landed in GUM so he is now the SFO-HNL flights instead.
He also told me that the menu rotates every month in cycles of 3 meaning hat Jan, Apr, July, and Oct have the same food choices. They got rid of the Caprese sandwich for the night flight from HNL as no one really ate the thick bread on it so right now it is a rotation of chicken and pasta dish that changed every month. They realigned/changed the meals on the flights recently and it I'll be similar across the board on all United/Continental flights. Before we landed, a snack basket was offered along with a last call for drinks. The snack options offered were: Emerald Cocao Roasted Almonds, mini Toblerone bar, pop chips, and bananas.
The Halfway to Hawaii game was done right before landing and the prize this time was a Hawaii guidebook from Lonely Planet (again). I had guessed a halfway point time of 11:25AM but the correct answer was 11:23AM of which I was very close. With all the flying I do to Hawaii, maybe I will win it one time. The purser came by to give everyone in First Class a skykit because of all the electrical problems. I had my laptop with me along with several magazines so I will take a skykit any day in exchange for nonfunctional entertainment equipment.
I thought that Glenn was absolutely excellent and gave him a "going the extra mile" card and told him that was going to write a letter to customer relations s well. We arrived about 10 minutes early into a beautiful day at Honolulu Airport at about 2PM and I bid the purser farewell and told I that I hope to see him on another flight soon. This flight experience was so much better than I one I had at month in just the attitude difference of the pursers alone
After departing from the plane, I headed towards the joint Admiral’s Club / Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge. I first changed out of my winter clothes in the bathroom as it was about 70 degrees in HNL. It was great seeing Diane with a smiling face that greeted me (while she was on the phone). I tried to stay near the window to enjoy the beautiful view during my stay. When my laptop ran out of battery, I pulled out the charger and discovered the I forgot one of the pieces when I packed in the morning. I relocated to the business center where two PCs were available for use. The WiFi worked well for this time so I had my iPad available as well. While I surfed the Internet, I charged my phone and did some app updates on my devices. Tempy (another AA agent) came in later and I chatted with her for a while. I stayed in the lounge until 8:30PM after I finished all the tasks I had planned for the day. What could be better than spending half a day in paradise with a beautiful view with plenty of snacks and drinks? I managed to use up my $10 promotional credit on Amazon.com that was expiring in a few days by doing some shopping.
After I bid Tempy farewell, I stopped by the United Club to ask one of the agents in the club to reprint my boarding passes as I had checked in online and I wanted paper copies in case I did not get the proper credit for my flights that I took. Mobile boarding passes disappear after the flight is over on the following day. I am paranoid about not receiving credit and the paper boarding pass to me is a proof of purchase in that case. The agents here were really nice and I chatted with them until 9:30PM. Boarding started at 9:20PM and by the time I got to the gate, they were doing the enteral boarding from the economy lane. Got to walk up the premier lane with no wait and get on the plane without any hassle. In the future, if I do not have much carry on luggage, I will wait until the elites all boarded and not have to fight or have to wait in line with them.
The purser, Val, seemed really nice and she had a big smile when I emerged from the premier jet bridge. The gate agent later came on and started yelling for people to hurry up and board as they were a lot of passengers still boarding at the time when the flight was to be closed down. Pre-departure beverages of water or orange juice were given. I fell asleep during take-off but woke up right before the meal service. Our snack this evening was grilled chicken served with 'screw'-shaped pasta in a sesame sauce that was pretty good. It was offered with a cheese/cracker combo, a bowl of fruit, and a prepackaged brownie dessert. I had my meal with my usual Mai Mai mix with Sprite Zero all garnished with a pineapple slice and cherry.
The movie shown on this flight was The Big Year which I glanced at off and on and decided it looked boring. After dinner service, I managed to blog a bit until I got tired and fell asleep as I was quite exhausted by that time and put on eye shades so I could get some rest. I was offered a glass of orange juice or water when I woke up prior to landing. The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful and we even arrived with a very smooth landing into San Francisco Airport Gate 82 a few minutes early at the early time of 4:50AM. When I landed, I got a text message informing my that my last leg on this trip had the upgrade clear. That makes a 100% perfect score on my two HNL trips this year on united. I hope the streak continues on my Continental flights next week.
I headed towards the Domestic United Club near gate 80 to relax during my 3 hour layover in SFO to use the Wi-Fi there but left after 30 minutes for the other club in the international terminal as it had a great view of all the big 747 planes parked at the gates . I asked one of the agents to print out my new boarding pass for First Class and got my favorite seat of 3E.
At 7:45AM, I set off towards Gate 75 towards an Airbus 320 aircraft back to Dallas. By the time I arrived at the gate; the general boarding had not begun yet and there was one more seat open for upgrade. When I checked the day before, the aircraft was a Airbus 319 with 8 seats in First and we now had an aircraft swap so that gave us 4 more seats in First. I know that after I got upgraded, two other seats remained in First so I know that I was not the last one that got upgraded. There was still 24 passengers on the list for upgrade and I am glad I went for 1K last year to improve my upgrade chances, better treatment, more benefits, and the 100% bonus miles for flying.
Our purser Mitch was not overly friendly but he did his job. Pre-departure beverages of water or orange juice were offered but I declined them. The flight was about half full in economy and everyone would have fit on a CRJ-700 aircraft . Breakfast was a choice between: sausage, egg omelet, cherry tomato, and potato cake or corn flakes/milk. They were served with a fruit bowl and yogurt with a choice between croissant or cinnamon roll. I had a few glasses of Coke Zero during the flight. The movie shown on this flight was Footloose and I skipped watching it but worked on blogging for this trip. I did stop by the galley and chatted with Mitch for a bit and he seemed likes pretty nice guy. He is not very extroverted so I had to break the ice and ask him a few things to get a conversation started. The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful and I watched episodes of Happy Endings to help pass the time on the remainder of the three hour flight. We arrived on time into DFW Gate E5 and I headed off to the lower level to catch a ride back to the Park N Fly. I did stop by to see if Jean was at the United Club but she was no where to be seen.
Overall, it was a great trip. I only wished I brought my headphones and laptop charger to make the trip more enjoyable. It was nice not having to worry about what to eat for a day and half or have to work. It was a mini vacation for me and now I feel more rested. I am looking forward to my next trip on Continental next week and it will good to see how the alignment of services is going on that side of the formula on their end. I am glad all my upgrades cleared and I did not have to use up any of my upgrade instruments.
We departed from gate E2 on an Airbus A320 aircraft. My complimentary First Class upgrade had cleared about 4 days before the departure time. It was done after I called the 1K desk and requesting the agent to manually process my upgrade when I discovered that there were plenty of NC upgrade space available within 100 hour window before the flight. The good news is that I got one of my favorite seats (3E non bulkhead aisle) on the aircraft. We were not offered pre-departure beverages but coats were hung. We had the one of a kind Kathy King (SEA based) working as our purser and she was a hoot. She was off-the-wall wacky and crazy in a good way (the good kind).
I drank Coffee with Bailey's with my breakfast that consisted of: Total flakes, 2% milk, banana, croissant, sausage, egg omelet, and broccoli/potato cake. The sausage (aka mystery meat) was not crispy/well done (again) in my opinion but the breakfast was just ok. For the inflight entertainment an episode of The Big Bang Theory was shown followed by the movie, The Three Musketeers, which I skipped. For the rest of the flight, I worked on catching up on my blogging, napped and then watched episodes of TV shows.
Our purser Kathy was attentive and served us by herself. She did take some magazine breaks with her latest issue of People magazine. She did come by several times during the flight to check on us. The most memorable part of the flight was when she came by with personalized notes on the back of her business cards. I felt that it was a special touch of service in her part. When I spoke to her later, she told me hat she always did it for her Global Services and 1K passengers. She has only 14 years seniority so the Tokyo trips for her are a rarity with the last one being 3 years ago when she was on reserve. Her apron did say June Cleaver (from Leave it to Beaver) and that reference was lost on me... different generation I guess ;)
We arrived into SFO about 15 minutes early and the aircraft was parked at the International Terminal since it was heading to Puerto Vallarta later. The jet bridge did not work properly so we had to wait about 10 minutes for a mechanic to come and take a look before fixing it. After we finally deplaned, I made my way to the domestic terminal to the United Club near gate 80 this time. I first stopped by gate 82 to see how full that flight to HNL was and it took off with a full load of passengers (35 people on the standby list- I'm thinking non -revs). Then I went to gate 86, where my flight would depart from 2 hours later to see if I could see where I placed on the upgrade wait list and after 10 minutes, I gave up when it did not appear. There were still 2 seats open when I checked in the morning.
I decided to try my luck and ask one of the agents at the United Club who informed me that there was 1 seat left, I was #1 on the list, and 4 passengers had not checked in yet. My chances were good and she told me to check at the gate before boarding. My rest of the time was spent on trying to get the WiFi to work on my laptop (failed) but it worked for my iPad. At about 5 minutes before boarding, I headed towards the gate to see if my upgrade had cleared. When I arrived at the gate, one of the three gate agents announced that "any passengers attempting to upgrade on the flight... was not going to happen unless they were Mr Phly4Phun." I had a moment of relief when I heard that as I was prepared to go buy lunch for the five our journey ahead of me.
Since all three agents were bombarded by passengers at the counter, I waited around for the to call boarding. They went ahead its the new system where Global Services and active military were first to board. Then it was First Class and 1Ks next... so I tried to board then. When I got to the agent at the scanner, I explained that I was Mr Ply4Phun... the only person on the list with a shot for an upgrade. He directed me to his colleague who told me to wait for a few minutes to see if the last passenger would show up. The last gate agent was paging my name at that time and when my gent told her I was there waiting already, she came by to give me my boarding pass for the last seat in First class (4F). That makes me 100% on upgrades this year on United so far and I one my luck continues.
The aircraft Sitting at the gate 86 was a Boeing 777, both doors were used for boarding and the path to First Class was wide open as I was the last passenger in First class. Pre-departure beverages of water, and orange juice were offered. The purser came by and greeted each passenger by name and to take lunch orders by status (I presumed) while we waited on the tarmac to take off. We finally did at 11:03AM when we had a scheduled time of 10:27AM. After taking off, the drink and hot nuts service began promptly. The flight attendant working the galley kept on dropping glasses and it made a big clunking noise every time. I think she must have broke at least three during the flight and every time they had to clean it up promptly.
We had the lunch options: chicken breast in tomato sauce served with with rice/green beans or marinara pasta shell . They were both served with a small green salad, bread, and a salmon starter. I enjoyed the Trader Vic’s Mai Tai (cut with Sprite Zero) on this flight. Glenn tried to offer me some Wine with my meal but I replied it made me flush if I drank too much alcohol. He replied that he had the same problem and it made him itchy. My chicken dish was not that good and i did not finish it. This was a lunch flight so the dessert was a made to order sundae consisting of 2 scoops of strawberry ice cream with topping choices of maraschino cherry, caramel, fudge, whipped cream, and pecans. I got my with everything so that I did not have to make a choice. The dessert was enjoyed with a few cups of hot tea.
The movie shown on the flight was In time which I was looking forward to watch during the flight. I notice that I could not change the volume for the channels on the seat unit. The purser made an announcement that due to electrical problems, he would reboot the entertainment system since no on e in the First Class cabin could use their passenger control unit. I then found out that the problem went beyond that since the reading light and the flight attendant call button did not function either. I later found out that the overhead lights and the cabin temperature was also not working. The cabin was very cold throughout the entire five hour flight so I had to put a jacket on, use my blanket, and drink several cups of hot tea to keep warm.
I chatted with the purser, Glenn, for a bit after the lunch service. I was very impressed that he remembered my name through out the flight. I found out that he was HNL based and all of them their are truly awesome. Some do the best service onboard I have received were from the HNL based agents. He told me that they lost the HNL-DEN route and got the HNL-GUM route instead. He tried the new route for a while but it here was a lot of waiting on board when they landed in GUM so he is now the SFO-HNL flights instead.
He also told me that the menu rotates every month in cycles of 3 meaning hat Jan, Apr, July, and Oct have the same food choices. They got rid of the Caprese sandwich for the night flight from HNL as no one really ate the thick bread on it so right now it is a rotation of chicken and pasta dish that changed every month. They realigned/changed the meals on the flights recently and it I'll be similar across the board on all United/Continental flights. Before we landed, a snack basket was offered along with a last call for drinks. The snack options offered were: Emerald Cocao Roasted Almonds, mini Toblerone bar, pop chips, and bananas.
The Halfway to Hawaii game was done right before landing and the prize this time was a Hawaii guidebook from Lonely Planet (again). I had guessed a halfway point time of 11:25AM but the correct answer was 11:23AM of which I was very close. With all the flying I do to Hawaii, maybe I will win it one time. The purser came by to give everyone in First Class a skykit because of all the electrical problems. I had my laptop with me along with several magazines so I will take a skykit any day in exchange for nonfunctional entertainment equipment.
I thought that Glenn was absolutely excellent and gave him a "going the extra mile" card and told him that was going to write a letter to customer relations s well. We arrived about 10 minutes early into a beautiful day at Honolulu Airport at about 2PM and I bid the purser farewell and told I that I hope to see him on another flight soon. This flight experience was so much better than I one I had at month in just the attitude difference of the pursers alone
After departing from the plane, I headed towards the joint Admiral’s Club / Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge. I first changed out of my winter clothes in the bathroom as it was about 70 degrees in HNL. It was great seeing Diane with a smiling face that greeted me (while she was on the phone). I tried to stay near the window to enjoy the beautiful view during my stay. When my laptop ran out of battery, I pulled out the charger and discovered the I forgot one of the pieces when I packed in the morning. I relocated to the business center where two PCs were available for use. The WiFi worked well for this time so I had my iPad available as well. While I surfed the Internet, I charged my phone and did some app updates on my devices. Tempy (another AA agent) came in later and I chatted with her for a while. I stayed in the lounge until 8:30PM after I finished all the tasks I had planned for the day. What could be better than spending half a day in paradise with a beautiful view with plenty of snacks and drinks? I managed to use up my $10 promotional credit on Amazon.com that was expiring in a few days by doing some shopping.
After I bid Tempy farewell, I stopped by the United Club to ask one of the agents in the club to reprint my boarding passes as I had checked in online and I wanted paper copies in case I did not get the proper credit for my flights that I took. Mobile boarding passes disappear after the flight is over on the following day. I am paranoid about not receiving credit and the paper boarding pass to me is a proof of purchase in that case. The agents here were really nice and I chatted with them until 9:30PM. Boarding started at 9:20PM and by the time I got to the gate, they were doing the enteral boarding from the economy lane. Got to walk up the premier lane with no wait and get on the plane without any hassle. In the future, if I do not have much carry on luggage, I will wait until the elites all boarded and not have to fight or have to wait in line with them.
The purser, Val, seemed really nice and she had a big smile when I emerged from the premier jet bridge. The gate agent later came on and started yelling for people to hurry up and board as they were a lot of passengers still boarding at the time when the flight was to be closed down. Pre-departure beverages of water or orange juice were given. I fell asleep during take-off but woke up right before the meal service. Our snack this evening was grilled chicken served with 'screw'-shaped pasta in a sesame sauce that was pretty good. It was offered with a cheese/cracker combo, a bowl of fruit, and a prepackaged brownie dessert. I had my meal with my usual Mai Mai mix with Sprite Zero all garnished with a pineapple slice and cherry.
The movie shown on this flight was The Big Year which I glanced at off and on and decided it looked boring. After dinner service, I managed to blog a bit until I got tired and fell asleep as I was quite exhausted by that time and put on eye shades so I could get some rest. I was offered a glass of orange juice or water when I woke up prior to landing. The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful and we even arrived with a very smooth landing into San Francisco Airport Gate 82 a few minutes early at the early time of 4:50AM. When I landed, I got a text message informing my that my last leg on this trip had the upgrade clear. That makes a 100% perfect score on my two HNL trips this year on united. I hope the streak continues on my Continental flights next week.
I headed towards the Domestic United Club near gate 80 to relax during my 3 hour layover in SFO to use the Wi-Fi there but left after 30 minutes for the other club in the international terminal as it had a great view of all the big 747 planes parked at the gates . I asked one of the agents to print out my new boarding pass for First Class and got my favorite seat of 3E.
At 7:45AM, I set off towards Gate 75 towards an Airbus 320 aircraft back to Dallas. By the time I arrived at the gate; the general boarding had not begun yet and there was one more seat open for upgrade. When I checked the day before, the aircraft was a Airbus 319 with 8 seats in First and we now had an aircraft swap so that gave us 4 more seats in First. I know that after I got upgraded, two other seats remained in First so I know that I was not the last one that got upgraded. There was still 24 passengers on the list for upgrade and I am glad I went for 1K last year to improve my upgrade chances, better treatment, more benefits, and the 100% bonus miles for flying.
Our purser Mitch was not overly friendly but he did his job. Pre-departure beverages of water or orange juice were offered but I declined them. The flight was about half full in economy and everyone would have fit on a CRJ-700 aircraft . Breakfast was a choice between: sausage, egg omelet, cherry tomato, and potato cake or corn flakes/milk. They were served with a fruit bowl and yogurt with a choice between croissant or cinnamon roll. I had a few glasses of Coke Zero during the flight. The movie shown on this flight was Footloose and I skipped watching it but worked on blogging for this trip. I did stop by the galley and chatted with Mitch for a bit and he seemed likes pretty nice guy. He is not very extroverted so I had to break the ice and ask him a few things to get a conversation started. The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful and I watched episodes of Happy Endings to help pass the time on the remainder of the three hour flight. We arrived on time into DFW Gate E5 and I headed off to the lower level to catch a ride back to the Park N Fly. I did stop by to see if Jean was at the United Club but she was no where to be seen.
Overall, it was a great trip. I only wished I brought my headphones and laptop charger to make the trip more enjoyable. It was nice not having to worry about what to eat for a day and half or have to work. It was a mini vacation for me and now I feel more rested. I am looking forward to my next trip on Continental next week and it will good to see how the alignment of services is going on that side of the formula on their end. I am glad all my upgrades cleared and I did not have to use up any of my upgrade instruments.
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