LAS VEGAS TO SAN FRANCISCO- I havent flown with United ever until this trip. I was flying with my mother and sister and a few relatives back home to JFK from Las Vegas. So our first flight was from LAS (Las Vegas) to SFO (San Francisco) because United DOES NOT offer NON-STOPS from LAS TO JFK. So we had to connect in SFO. We left the hotel at 4 A.M. because we had a 6:30 A.M. flight. We arrived at the airport and they only had curbside check-in for this flight. The line was not too bad but it was a good 20 minute wait to actually check our bags. We had E-TICKETS, so they printed our boarding cards for us at the check-in. We were then off to the gate/security. We went to the security first because LAS has this train that takes from from the main terminal to the individual gates. Security was pretty good considering it was after all post sept. 11. Anyway we went on the 3 minute train ride to the gates. Now our flight was delayed because the flight crew for this flight got in late the night before from Denver and ALL crew MUST HAVE A MINIMUM RESTING PERIOD. So we sat at the gate and watched pilots and passengers pass by as we sat waiting. Finally the crew arrived. In total, our flight was delayed about 90 minutes. We boarded and that went smoothly considering the long wait. We sat in our seats and the plane pushed back for taxiing. Now, one thing I love about United is that on EVERY flight, they have a person that kind of informs the passengers about the flight itself and they always happen to add a little bit of humor in it. It’s quite nice... We took off and since this flight to SFO was only about 2 hours 10 minutes, they did NOT serve any food. Although they did serve water. The flight itself was fabulous turbulence wise. There was clouds and not such a nice day and the flight was fantastic, considering the weather and that the plane was an old, old B737-300. We landed and we had to connect to our JFK flight and eventhough we were delayed we made the JFK fight by about 20 minutes.
SFO AIRPORT We exited the plane and immediately looked for our gate to the New York flight. Surprisingly, our gate was right around the corner and time wise we were fine. My mother and sister went to the bathroom and I stayed with my cousins and uncle at the gate. I looked around the airport and I must say SFO is a very pretty airport. Clean, new-looking and not too crowded, but still busy. United has monitors above the entrance to the planes at the gates at airports worldwide. (and SFO is one of the airports that has them) These monitors tell you ALL the info on your flight, like flight time, aircraft type, meals being served, weather in your destination (in our case, NY) and count down until boarding.
Flight from SFO TO JFK- So we boarded and sat in out seats all together. Our flight time today was 6 hours and 3 minutes (estimated) The weather at SFO wasn’t so nice, a little rain, but it didn’t affect our departure or flight. We sat in our seats for about 15 minutes and then our captain told us info on our flight and so forth, and we pushed back for our taxiing/departure. Then as we were taxiing, the person I told you about before came on the speaker and told us all of the fight info and entertainment info. We were on schedule for departure and were airborne on time. Take off went very well and we were on our way. Our flight took off at about 11:00 A.M. from SFO. Since it was a morning flight, they served us a total of 2 meals. A snackish type sandwich and a meal which was lunch. Lunch came first at about an hour into the flight. And by the way the stewardess was very nice (and good looking, ALL of them were) and she gave me a drink right before takeoff. My mother and uncle ordered a special meal in advance, a Kosher meal, but I didn’t want that. I just had the regular meal and it was really good, it was a choice of chicken or steak with all these hot vegetables and potatoes. Very nice and a fresh fruit salad and of course free drinks throughout the flight. My mothers and uncles meal for lunch was a Kosher version pretty much of what I had. Since I was sitting next to my mother, I tasted her food and it was good as well. She also got a slice of cake and a fruit salad. My cousins and sister had the regular meal and they said they enjoyed it. Now since our flight was aboard a B767-300ER, (ER stands for ’’EXTENDED RANGE’’) there was Personal TV’S at every seat in economy, (which we were in) business and first class. There were no games but 6 movies to choose from and like 20 audio channels. There was although NEWS and shows that you could watch at your disposal. Very nice entertainment. We had our I guess you could call our prelanding snakish sandwich. I got a sandwich with pastrami and vegetables inside, a slice of cake and trail mix. My mothers Kosher meal consisted of crackers with different things to put on them, such as cream cheese and jellies. She also got trail mix which was really good. And of course any drinks we wanted. We were ready to begin our descent and I should mention that early in the flight we encountered slight turbulence while flying over the mountains in Colorado, but whenever you fly over mountains, there will ALWAYS be turbulence. We descended and landed. Landing was a breeze and smooth. I must say United Airlines pilots are quite good. And I should also mention that on both flights, I got to see both of the pilots. (2 on each) We taxid (not sure how to spell taxid) to the gate and we got our baggage. Exiting a plane isn’t always that fast and it was the same case here. But it wasn’t too bad. The line to exit was about 15 mins from when we got out of our seats. We went down to baggage and our baggage came like within 10 minutes. I mean ALL OF OUR BAGS, including my mothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, and cousins and obviously mine. We then moved on to the the door and went home. I almost forgot to say about how the seats were. They were actually pretty comfortable. Nothing special, but descent seat space.
All in all, I must say that United is a huge corporation, they are not doing so great financially, but which airlines are? Not too many are doing well right now. Anyway from the food to the PTV’S to how the flights themselves were to check-in, I must say they were all absolutely fantastic. I rate United for a first time flyer with them a 9.5 out of 10