Los Angeles International

I left the Hilton Garden Inn at 06:00 in the morning. I experienced the week before on my flight to Phoenix masses of people in the terminal and at the check-in counters and want to be on the safe side. So I left the hotel quite early for the 08:59 departure. In the shuttle I met flyertalker SeeYa, who was on a sort of mileage run. She invited me in the Red Carpet Club which was very nice and therefore I had not to walk the long way from Continentals President Club in Terminal 6 to the gate in Terminal 7.

Check in was fast – at least for me – because I was once again able to use the Star Silver / Star Gold, Business and First counters. This time an agent was right at the entrance and let us in. The Economy Class Counters were crowded with people. In this moment I really enjoy my status. The agent offered me an upgrade to Business for the domestic segment for 260 USD which I declined, because in my eyes this was to expensive and she was sure I only will get Economy miles for this flight. So 260 USD for a bit more space and a meal is not a deal. Especially as I later turned out the Economy Cabin was not full and the seat beside me remained empty.

Security was again fast, shoes, belt and laptop and carry on got x-rayed. We headed for the Red Carpet Club. SeeYa made a few phone calls, while I used my laptop to check mails. It is nice, that I was able to use the T-Mobile Hot Spot with my German Access Code. Though this was not free of charge, it took T-Mobile some time to make this possible. The other way round, American T-mobile users could use Germany’s T-Mobile Hot Spot Points for a longer time.

During waiting time, SeeYa decided to change flights to the later one, I was also booked on. But she was in Business, while I was in Economy. We chatted a bit about mileage runs, the London and Barcelona Do and finally it was time to head to the gate.

At gate they told us due to some thunderstorms in the Chicago area our flight would be delayed. The plane, which came just out of the hangar could be boarded right in time, but we would have to wait on the tarmac for approximately and hour.

Finally at 08:20 we were able to board the plane.

26 August 2006
LAX – ORD
[Los Angeles – Chicago O’Hare]
UA 106 (United); Boeing 767-300 (N641UA)
Gate 73'
08:59 – 14:59 [effective 09:00 – 15:22]
Economy Pluss Class
Seat 17 G

The plane was a three class configured plane and I head to the back, where my Economy Plus Class seat was. As usual blanket, pillow and head phone were lying on the seat. I stored my carry on in the overhead bin and waited for the rest of the passengers to board the aircraft. The seat beside me remained empty, so I had plenty of space.

We pushed back at 09:00 and headed for the runway, where we waited till approximately 09:45. Unfortunately there was a malfunction at the Audio-Video-System and Channel 9, which was turned on, but barely understandable.

At 09:45 we taxied to the runway and were finally in the air at 10:03 and headed after a 180° turn to the East.

20 Minutes after take off the beverage service started. Food was offered to buy, but I declined. I do not like the packets they serve on these flights. I would have bought a sandwich or a wrap, but not this packet with all the 'healthy' stuff.

The flight was a bit bumpy, so the seat belt sign were turned on several times.
Audio-Video System had to be restarted due to a malfunction.
Crew was not so friendly. Again, they do not look at you, when they serve you. But they came through the cabin and offering water.

I finished reading my book and listened to the music channel a bit and dozed a bit off.

The flight itself was uneventful. During the flight the captain informed us, that we will not arrive that late in Chicago and have only a delay of 20 minutes and that all people with connections would catch them.
We touched down at Chicago at 15:17 and were at our gate five minutes later at 15:22.

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