The
day started pretty early with a wake up time of 5AM 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. I parked at The Parking Spot and then took
the shuttle to Terminal E and my driver did not know what gate United flights
depart. He drove all the way to the
Delta gates 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 enjoyed the chocolate-covered macadamia nuts that I
gave her a month ago during my last United flight a month ago. I grabbed an apple and filled up my water bottle
before heading off to board my flight.
We
departed from gate E5 on an Airbus A320 aircraft. My complimentary First Class upgrade had
cleared about 4 days before the departure time and I got my favorite seat 2E on
the aircraft. We were offered pre-departure
beverages of orange juice or water (I chose the latter). There is a new welcome video shown and the
safety video has been updated for the merger alignment meaning, it should be
shown on all United and Continental operated flights. I drank Coke Zero with my breakfast that
consisted of: corn flakes, 2% milk, banana, croissant, sausage, egg omelet,
cherry tomato, and broccoli/potato cake.
The sausage was not well done in my opinion but the breakfast was just
ok. For the inflight entertainment an episode
of Up All Night was shown followed by the movie, Moneyball, which I
skipped. For the rest of the flight, I
worked on catching up on my blogging and then watched episodes of TV shows.
We
arrived into SFO about 10 minutes early and the aircraft was parked at the
International Terminal since was heading to Puerto Vallarta later. I took the opportunity to use the United Club
nearby since I usually visit the only near gate 80 most of the time. The international section terminal is about a
10 minutes’ walk to most gates that United Airlines flies out of at SFO.
Just
to compare this flight with the same route (DFW-SFO) that I took on American
Airlines last week.
|
United
Airlines
|
American
Airlines
|
|
Airbus
320
12 First Class Seats
No
in-seat power
Complimentary
headphones
Full
breakfast
No
Wifi
|
Boeing
737
16
First Class Seats
DC
power supply
Complimentary
earbuds
Cereal
or omelet option
GoGo
wifi (for a fee)
|
I had about a 90 minute layover so I took that
time to surf on the internet while charging my iPhone and laptop. Once 9:10AM hit, I left the club and headed
off to gate 82 for my connecting flight to Honolulu. By the time I arrived at
the gate, general boarding was just starting.
I took my spot on the Red Carpet (it exists for now) and the agent asked
if I was First Class or premier. I
merely flashed my boarding pass and give it for him to scan. Since the aircraft
was a 777, we boarded using both doors and the path to First Class was wide
open. I sat in seat 6B in the very last
roll of First with a very full cabin of 32 passengers.
Pre-departure
beverages of champagne, water, and orange juice were offered. After taking off, the drink and hot nuts
service began promptly. The purser came
by and greeted each passenger by name and took our lunch orders. We had an option of teriyaki chicken/macadamia
with rice or the sea bass with mushrooms.
They were both served with a green salad, bread, and an oatmeal raisin
cookie. I enjoyed the Trader Vic’s Mai
Tai on this flight as it is a Hawaii flight exclusive. The purser played the drink down and told me
it was not as good as the one they used to serve. She asked if it was possible for me to write
a letter to United and ask them to bring the other one back. I did not think the drink was bad and enjoyed
it very much especially the pineapple spear and cherry that came with the drink
stirrer.
The movie shown on the flight
was Dolphin Tale along with episodes of Up All Night, The Mentalist, Mike &
Molly, and How I Met Your Mother. The
Halfway to Hawaii game was done and the prize this time was a Hawaii guidebook
from Lonely Planet (which is better than the Hawaiian Music CD given out last
year). I guessed a halfway point time of
11:03AM but the correct answer was 10:56AM of which I was really close. I had a good conversation with my seat mate,
a civil engineer, traveling to Guam for a work project on the island’s new
landfill dump. After eating, I napped
for a bit and watched some TV. We
arrived about 10 minutes early into a beautiful day at Honolulu Airport.
After
departing from the plane, I headed towards the new Admiral’s Club co-located
with Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge. It
was great seeing Tempy, one my favorite agents, with a smiling face that
greeted me. She asked how my holidays
were and how long has it been since I visited them (6 months!) in the old
location. We chatted for about 30
minutes about the relocation, bankruptcy, and the job security for the staff
there. This location is closer to the AA
gates but lacks a showering facility.
The old lounge is operated solely by QANTAS 3 mornings a week and is
closed for the remainder of the time.
The
Sakura lounge used to be 2 separate sections but now is connected from both
sides forming a circle. The left side
was a business arrangement overlooking the garden outside with cubicle style
seating along the perimeter. There were
plenty of seating with this area and there was a small room with 2 computer
desktops for use. There was a cooler
that housed beer and canned green tea.
There was a juice and soda machine and a coffee machine was well next to
it. The food options were sparse but
they included: Chex Mix, soup, and cake wedges.
When I got there initially, Chicken Noodle soup was available and then
it switched to vegetable soup when I went back for seconds 2 hours later. The wifi was good but I was not able to
locate it using my iPad. The other half
of the lounge had a room set up for small children and then there was a
circular room that was set up like a dining room. The same food and drink options were
available here as well. I stayed for
about 2 hours at the lounge making phone calls and using the internet while
enjoying the beautiful view.
I
left at about 5PM for the bus stop located in front of the Airport. I waited for about 15 minutes to catch one of
the buses to the Ala Moana shopping center.
I headed to Walmart to buy some souvenirs and macadamia nuts. While waiting for the bus, I noticed that my
Hilton HHonors points had posted from my American Express Credit Card
spending. I called reservations to have
my 3rd night in Toyko at the Conrad Hotel booked using 50,000
points. Since I booked 2 nights already
using my Hilton 2011 Q4 promotion that allowed me to earn 2 free nights at ANY
Hilton property, adding a 3rd night was not a problem as I was
afraid that there would be no space left.
After this redemption, I have almost no points left so my account looked
very sad having drained it almost completely.
This is my first time redeeming for a hotel stay but it will be worth it
as the Conrad runs about $400 a night after taxes. I am sure I will continue to earn more
points in the future as this no fee credit card allows me to earn 6 points for all
purchases at Hilton, grocery stores, and internet/phone bill.
After
I finished shopping and checked out, I went by the food court at the Ala Moana
Shopping Center for some dinner. I got
some Thai food and it was ok, nothing spectacular to write home about
either. It was not good as the Panda
Express in my opinion and I will try the Vietnamese food next time. I waited for the bus on the other side of the
mall to return to the airport. I waited
for about 15 minutes for the bus to arrive and we got moved further down the
waiting area by a policeman since there was construction right in front of the
bus stop. I used my free bus transfer
pass from the earlier ticket purchase so I spent $2.50 for a quick trip from
the airport to (almost) Wakiki area and return.
I made it back to the airport with about 90 minutes before departure. Check-in looked like a big mess and I used a
machine to print out my boarding pass and went straight to security area. Nothing exciting at screening with the
exception of using a nude-o-scope and the agents are pretty friendly in
Honolulu. I stopped by the United Club
to change into my winter clothes and tried to use the wifi but could not get it
to work. I accidently dropped my
boarding pass in the sink and had to ask one of the agents in the club to
reprint it for me so I did not have to mess with the wet paper.
We
were schedule to board at 9:20PM local time and I arrived at gate 7 at that
time amongst a huge crowd of people. We
boarded by Global Services/military and then followed by First class/Premier
1K/Presidential Platinum/Platinum. It
was a big mad dash for these two cluster groups. Pre-departure beverages were given and we had
a few stragglers come onboard. I fell
asleep during take-off but woke up during the meal service. Our choice this evening was the Caprice
Sandwich of cheese and tomatoes served with strawberries or a grilled chicken
served with tortellini, pine nuts, and olives.
They were offered with a cheese/cracker combo and a prepackaged brownie
dessert. This is the 3rd time
within a year’s time frame that I flew United to Honolulu and the dinner
options still have not changed surprisingly.
The movie shown on this flight was, One Day, starring Anne Hathaway
which did not seem that interesting to me.
After dinner service, I managed to blog a bit until I got tired and fell
asleep as I was quite exhausted by that time.
The man across the aisle from me dropped his glass with a big
crash. Two flight attendants rushed to
go clean it up and tried their best to grab all the splinters off the ground. One even put a blanket on the floor in case
anyone walking around in their socks would not step on it and cut
themselves. For reasons such as this,
one should NEVER walk around barefoot even on an airplane. I always carry a pair of hotel slippers for
on board use when traveling internationally when the airline does not provide
them. I was impressed on how prompt the
flight attendants responded to the mess that I gave each of them a “going the
extra mile” appreciation certificate from my Elite credential packet. They appreciated the gesture and were happy
that I took the time to fill out one of the cards for each of them. The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful
and we even arrived with a smooth landing into San Francisco Airport Gate 82 a
few minutes early at the early time of 4:50AM.
I
headed towards the Domestic United Club to relax during my 3 hour layover in
SFO to both use the Wi-Fi there and to grab some breakfast before my flight
back to Dallas. I saw a woman sleeping
on one of the chairs with a familiar blue blanket, taken off an United plane,
wrapped around her. Not only was that
tacky, she also placed her feet with shoes on resting on a table. It gets even better; she apparently was not
comfortable enough… so she proceeds to sleep on the ground. At 7:45AM, I set off towards Gate 73A towards
an Airbus 319 aircraft back to Dallas.
By the time I arrived at the gate; the general boarding had begun. I wanted to make sure I had overhead space
for my duffle bag full of swag I purchased from Walmart. We initially were set to be arriving a few
minutes early but due to a late departure; we would be arriving 15 minutes late
into Dallas at 2:05PM (45 minutes before my American Airlines flight departing
for SFO at Terminal A). I was a little
worry that I will be pushing it and might not even have overhead space because
boarding would commence at 2:15PM.
We
had a rough start at the beginning of the flight from turbulence and it came
back after the breakfast service.
Breakfast was a croissant, sausage, egg omelet, cherry tomato, fruit bowl
(pineapple / honeydew melon / grapes) and potato cake. The other option was croissant, corn flakes,
2% milk, fruit bowl, and yogurt. The
funny thing is that the crew I had for this flight was the same one I flew on the
outbound the day before. The movie shown
on this flight was Real Steel and I once again, skipped watching it, worked on
blogging and catch up on my TV shows. We arrived a few minutes late into DFW
Gate E5 and I headed off to the skylink towards Terminal C to board my American
Flight.
I
received a text message letting me know that my flight originally scheduled to
leave at 2:50PM is now departing at 3:21PM.
I headed off to the Admiral’s Club at C19 to use the internet and during
that time, I received another text stating that the new departure time will be
3:30PM. At 3PM, I left the Admiral’s
Club and headed off towards my gate which took about a 5 minute walk and by the
time got to the gate, the general boarding had just started. I was the last passenger to board First Class
and I noticed that my seat of 6E was occupied.
The woman wanted to switch her window seat 6A with me so she could sit
wither her friend. Although I was not
very happy with the fact that she sat in my seat instead of waiting for me to
board first and then approach me, I went ahead and gave it to her. I prefer the aisle seat for easy access for
the bathroom and for getting off the plane.
The flight was oversold but they had already gotten enough volunteers so
I did not get a chance to take a bump.
After boarding, I was offered a pre-departure beverage (not sure if it
was the fact that I boarded late). I
dozed off a bit during take-off as I was still tired from all the flying around
these 2 days.
The
captain came on to let us know that we will be arriving 30-40 minutes late due
to the fact that we had to wait for a new 737 plane since anther flight went
mechanical and took our plane. The joys
of American Airlines… a lot of issues with the older planes and having to fix
them… I can hardly wait for the new fleet to come in and replaces these old,
inefficient, prone-to-breaking gas guzzlers.
After we took off, the hut nuts and beverage service was started
promptly and the movie shown on-board was Real Steal. Even without actually watching it, I got the
gist of the movie plot. I worked on more
blogging and caught up on more TV shows.
The
dinner options on this flight were: Grilled Salmon on green salad (green/yellow
peppers, sugar snap peas, cilantro, and green onions) served with Oriental
Sesame Dressing, Stacy’s Pita Chips, hummus and Wonton Strips or a chicken/cheese
sandwich served with Stacy’s Pita Chips, hummus, and a green side salad. I got the Salmon salad and with was really
good especially the sesame dressing. The
only thing I think can be improved would be that the fishy could be less salty.
The sweetness from the dressing did not jive with the saltiness from the
salmon. The sandwich looked really
greasy and would be the unhealthy option.
The dinner service was quick and fast served from a tray instead of
bringing it from the galley. The flight
attendant came by to collect the dinner trays and passed out our dessert:
chocolate chip cookies (I declined).
We
arrived into SFO Gate 85 about 40 minutes late.
I got off the plane and went to the Admiral’s Club to use the internet
and the facilities. The return flight AA
384 was scheduled to leave at 5:15PM but due to the late arrival of the inbound
aircraft, we were departing at 5:45PM. I
left the Admiral’s Club at 5:20PM and by the time I got to the boarding area,
the agent called for First Class and Executive Platinum members so that there
was a mad dash for boarding from the group.
I noticed that on the jet bridge, the woman in front of me was Executive
Platinum and had bought a M fare (almost full economy ticket) but was seated in row 10. That means that even though she bought an
expensive ticket, she was not upgraded since the upgrades cleared base on the
time of request (usually at booking).
No
pre-departure beverages were offered and we took off after the Virgin America
flight flying the same route. The
beverage and hot nuts service began promptly after we reached a cruising
altitude. During the dinner service, we
hit a patch of rough air and the flight was very bumpy & choppy. The meal service as delayed as the first half
of the cabin got their meals while we waited until the air smoothed out.
Dinner options were: a shrimp appetizer with
cocktail sauce, side Caesar salad, bread and a choice of Tortellini with mushroom
sauce or chicken with béarnaise sauce/rice/lima beans. I chose the latter option as I have bad
experiences with pasta dishes in the past on American. The rule is if it is a red (tomato) based
sauce- it will be good and it is a white sauce- skip it! By the time I got my food, it was still bumpy
and I sat there wanting to eat for about 5 minutes waiting for the turbulence
to pass. The food was not bad and it was
certainly not the worst food I have eaten.
The movie option on this was Dolphin Tale and I passed on it once again.
Dessert on this flight was a choice of a cheese/cracker/grape plate or ice
cream with raspberry sauce and cheesecake bites. I cannot say no to ice cream so it was very
good (beats a cookie any day). The rest of the plane ride was uneventful and we
landed at DFW Terminal C. I called
the parking spot to have them pick me up and drop me off at my car.
