JFK-SFO-BUR and a Surprised Upgrade on UA p.s.

Background:

I fly United for westbound flights and JetBlue for eastbound flights. Most of the flights are nothing to write home about because I sit in coach (not Y+) but this time it’s different. I recently became Premier Silver in June and am excited about the opportunities for CPUs, Priority Access, and access to Economy Plus T-24hr at check-in. I know that Silver is the lowest of low status so I probably won’t be getting any upgrades for JFK/EWR/LGA to DEN or SFO/DEN to BUR flights. Also, transcontinental p.s. flights are not eligible for CPUs so I was only hoping for a CPU on SFO-BUR on this trip. As you can see below, all First Class seats are taken on this tiny CRJ-700 and I was #3 on the waiting list. I thought to myself, “hey, maybe...just maybe I’ll get upgraded at gate.”

The Trip:

I took the Long Island Rail Road from NY Penn Station to Jamaica then AirTrain to JFK. LIRR service has been stable for me (thankfully) and there was no AirTrain service interruptions. I checked in at the Priority Access desk tucked away in Terminal 7 and checked my luggage. Everything went smoothly and the agent informed me that the flight is completely full. It took me a total 1h15m to get from door to gate which was not that bad considering taking the taxi may get me stuck on Van Wyck. As I sat at Gate 10 waiting for boarding, I got curious and checked the upgrade list, standby list, and seatmap on my phone. I suddenly saw that my seat (18A, Economy Plus) was open! I figured there must be a glitch in the system or something because sometimes the app gets a little crazy. Right before I went on line for boarding, I got a push notification saying my seat has been changed to 7A! I thought to myself, “wait...isn’t that business class?” However, I didn’t believe the notification because I JUST became a Premier Silver, the flight is completely full, and p.s. flights are not eligible for CPUs. I quickly pushed the thought away and convinced myself the app is really acting crazy today. I thought I would just use the paper boarding pass printed at home to board the flight.

Boarding:

Pre-boarding was called and people who required additional help/time started to board the flight. Then, the gate agent called boarding for Global Services, military personnels in uniforms, and Group 1. Everyone boarded the plane in an organized and efficient manner. Since I am a Silver, I get to board in Group 2. When the gate agent scanned my paper boarding pass, the machine beeped. I got a little excited considering there may be a chance for a surprised upgrade because where else can they move me?? The gate agent shuffled around the boarding passes on his desk and informed me that I was upgraded to Business Class! I was dumbfounded and muttered, “ oh wow!” He scanned the new boarding pass, handed me the new boarding pass, and I checked the seat assignment...it WAS 7A. The app didn’t lie...I was moved to 7A! I thanked the gate agent and went on to the airbridge.

I quickly board the plane and settled into my lovely seat at 7A. It was a transcontinental p.s. plane in the old 3-class configuration. The only downside of 7A was that I only had one window but who cares! It’s a complimentary upgrade on a p.s. flight without using cash or miles! :D Needless to say, I was very excited for my first experience of p.s. Business Class.

Flight Information:
Airline: United Airlines
Aircraft: Boeing 757-200
Registration: N554UA
Cabin: Business Class (old p.s. 3-class configuration)
Seat: 7A, window
From: New York- JFK
To: San Francisco- SFO
Date: September 04, 2013
Scheduled Departure: 12:00 EDT
Actual Departure: 12:29 EDT
Scheduled Arrival: 15:15 PDT
Actual Arrival: 15:02 PDT
Duration: 5 hours 33 minutes

I will let the photos speaks for themselves from here on now because I’m sure many of you have read plenty of United’s p.s. trip reports. All the FAs were nice and sweet. Lunch was good enough to eat.

Legroom shot after I settled in:

At JFK Terminal 7, Gate 10:

Take-off from runway 4L and a distant view of Manhattan:

Drink and warm nuts after reaching cruising altitude. I had a rum and coke:

The portable media player was passed out. The collection of movies are surprisingly good. I watched Argo and Life of Pi. The FAs then started lunch service. I had chicken (my second choice). Beef/steak was offered but the full-fare passengers and higher elite members probably all ordered the steak. Haha! I wasn’t complaining though. It was nice for UA to upgrade me to being with.

Then, the dessert came. I had a sundae with chocolate syrup and strawberries. By this time, Pi was trying to figure out how to survive with a tiger out in the Pacific.

Another legroom shot after the meal service ended and the trays were taken away. I was in a cradled/reclined position and still had a lot of legroom:

Well, good things never last long. We were approaching SFO flying near the Yosemite fire. It looks really awful and I hope the firefighters can contain it soon. I want to send a big thank you to the firefighters who are battling the fire in such intense CA summer heat.

Approach, landing, and taxiing to Gate 81 at SFO:

A last look at seat 7A before I deplaned. This is probably my last time to experience the old transcontinental p.s. Business Class and the only time I’m lucky enough to get a complimentary upgrade on p.s. flights.

The next leg of the flight is SFO to BUR on a tiny CRJ-700. Here are the flight info:
Airline: United Airlines
Aircraft: Canadair CRJ-700
Registration: N724SK
Cabin: Economy Plus
Seat: 5A, window
From: San Francisco-SFO
To: Burbank-BUR
Date: September 04, 2013
Scheduled Departure: 16:02 PDT
Actual Departure: 16:46 PDT
Scheduled Arrival: 17:01 PDT
Actual Arrival: 17:31 PDT
Duration: 51 minutes

I slept for the last leg of the flight probably because I had plenty of wine during the previous flight. I took a cab home and that was the end of the trip. I enjoyed the p.s. Business Class very much and the services were great. Thanks, United, for the upgrade and an opportunity to experience the 3-class p.s. Business Class before they’re all reconfigured. :) :) :)

Thanks for reading.
foppishbum

Previous Trip Reports:
21FEB2013 - From John F Kennedy to Bob Hope - A Photo TR
14NOV2012 - JFK-BUR Via SLC // SNA-JFK Via SLC
15AUG2012 - My Provence Trip & LCY-JFK BA 001
02MAY2008 - VX LAX-SFO First Class
25DEC2007 - B6 - SMF-JFK-BUF-JFK-BOS-IAD-LGB

From John F Kennedy to Bob Hope - A Photo TR

I commute between New York City and LA quite frequently. Yesterday’s flight was my 20th trip across the continental US (JFK-BUR or LAX) over the last 6 months. Below is the picture of Manhattan taken during descend into JFK on B6/358, BUR-JFK last Monday 11FEB2013. Sorry for the low quality...It’s kind of hard to do a night-shot using my iPhone 4S.

I usually fly B6 on the direct JFK/BUR flight but sometimes UA or DL has much cheaper fares. I flew DL on JFK-SLC-BUR/SNA-SLC-JFK last November saving over $100 and wrote up a trip report (14NOV2012 - JFK-BUR Via SLC // SNA-JFK Via SLC) . This time, I flew UA on JFK-SFO-BUR and return via the same routing. Two days before traveling, I finally upgraded myself to an iPhone 5! I love the LTE speed!! It’s so much faster than 3G. I also grandfather’d the Unlimited Data Plan so I will probably be streaming music and videos a lot more frequently now! It started raining so I ducked into a coffee shop on 23rd (between 7th and 8th) to play with my new toy.

24-hours before my flights, I used the United iOS app to check-in and import the mobile boarding passes to my Passbook. It's very convenient because throughout the trip, when new gates are assigned, the app will automatically update the gate info on my Passbook Boarding Pass (if you turn "auto update" on). The UA397 JFK to SFO Passbook Boarding Pass...

The UA6421 SFO to BUR Passbook Boarding Pass...

For some odd reason, I couldn’t fall asleep the night before the commute! I’m sure it wasn’t travel anxiety or etcetera but I just couldn’t fall asleep! I ended up watching several episodes of How I Met Your Mother (overrated, IMO), filling out my Taiwanese passport renewal form, and munched on the huge buy-one-get-one-free burrito I got from Chipotle. This brought back the memories of when I was at UC Davis, I frequented Chipotle on the nights I felt too lazy to cook and the times when I went on cheap college student dinner dates.

At 5:20 AM, I left the condo and walked to Penn Station to catch the 5:47 AM Long Island Rail Road to Jamaica and then taking the AirTrain into JFK. I had to print out my boarding passes again for my collection. However, I’m glad I had it printed out because, for some reason, the guy in front of me at the security line couldn’t go through with his mobile boarding pass. I took out my printed boarding pass reluctantly and gave it to the ID checker. Why reluctantly you ask? Because I like to collect neat boarding passes but they always write (borderline DRAW) on your boarding passes.

I went through the security with my carry-on bag pretty smoothly without issue. Thank goodness I got to the security check point before the huge group of Chinese tourists! When I was putting my shoes and belt back on, a few TSA agents called “bag check” on on some of those unsuspecting tourist. This one grandpa was very protective of his things and was trying to reach over constantly to grab things from his bag while the TSA guy was checking (I’m sure everyone reading knows that it is a big No-No). The tour guide was nowhere to be seen and the grandpa was starting to freak out so I approached the grandpa and translated all the agent’s questions so the grandpa can answer. Well, that’s done...now the walk to the gate. From here on, it is pretty uneventful so I will let the pictures do the talking. I wasn’t able to take a good exterior picture of the B752 and forgot to take one after landing because I was rushing to the loo.

United Airlines

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Flight UA 397 JFK - SFO

Aircraft: Boeing 757-200

Seat: 18A, Economy Plus (p.s.)

Scheduled Departure: 8:04 AM, actual: 8:23 AM

Scheduled Arrival: 11:29 AM, actual: 11:18 AM

Cabin shots after landing:

The highlight of connecting at SFO was the bus shuttle between Terminal 3 and Terminal 1. It was like a UA Tarmac tour of SFO! Below are the pictures taken during the shuttle bus ride. Again, I apologize for the low quality pictures and the lack of photo-editing skills. I don’t know how to get rid of the window reflections!

Going through a tunnel to get to Terminal 1:

We arrived at Terminal 1 and I proceeded straight to Gate 38 to charge up my phone and take a nap. Before I knew it (actually, 2 hours later), the gate agent called for boarding. On the little walk to the aircraft...I have yet to fly in the new UA livery CRJ. Last June, I flew LAX-SMF on a CRJ700 and it was the tulips, too! IMO, tulips livery >> globe livery.

United Airlines

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Flight UA 6421 SFO - BUR

Aircraft: Canadair CRJ-200

Seat: 2A, Economy

Scheduled Departure: 1:55 PM, actual: 1:57 PM

Scheduled Arrival: 3:08 PM, actual: 2:45 PM

You can see San Francisco waaaaay back there in the background.

Initial Descend into the San Fernando Valley.

Continuing the descend into BUR...

My other half works in an office building inside this picture.

On the ground at Bob Hope Airport (BUR).

Terminal B is very small at BUR. It only took me 1 minute to get from Tarmac to curb. Here’s yours truly waiting to be picked up at the curb.

This concludes Trip #20 across the US. I really enjoyed the FAs on UA and OO and the crews where very friendly. The Captain of the CRJ saw that I was taking a picture of the aircraft and asked if I wanted to be in the picture. I responded “No. Thank you very much though. I’m writing a trip report and I don’t think my readers would care much about a picture of me.” Trip #21 going back to New York is the same routing. However, it will be a night flight so I may not be able to get decent pictures. I will comment/reply/post in this thread if I have some pictures of the return flight. I’m looking forward to Trip #21: LGA-DEN-BUR on Thursday March 7, 2013. Thank you very much for reading. I look forward to reading your comments!

Previous Trip Reports:

14NOV2012 - JFK-BUR Via SLC // SNA-JFK Via SLC

15AUG2012 - My Provence Trip & LCY-JFK BA 001

02MAY2008 - VX LAX-SFO First Class

25DEC2007 - B6 - SMF-JFK-BUF-JFK-BOS-IAD-LGB