Chicago O’Hare

SeeYa waited for me and we looked for my flight to Amsterdam. It turned out to be the same plane we arrived from Los Angeles. Once again she invited me into the Red Carpet Club in the C Concourse and saved me walking to the Continental Club in the Terminal 2, where I would have had access due to my Priority Pass.

SeeYa left for her flight to LGA, while I waited for my flight to AMS. I got a Pepsi at the bar. The food options were limited to cookies and chips but the buffet was stocked with vegetables during the time I was there, but I did not notice it until I passed it as I left the lounge. I worked a bit on my trip report and checked mails and read a bit on flyertalk. I noticed the deal on priceline for the Conrad in Bangkok but was unable to book it, as I had to catch my flight and could not check many dates in the future. I presume it had already gone at this moment, nearly midnight GMT.

Boarding time had come and I left the lounge for the short walk to the near gate C 21, where the familiar Boeing 767-300 waited. Boarding had not started yet, but the announcement was made a few minutes after I arrived for First and Business Class Passengers and two minutes later for Star Gold / Star Silver and Zone 1 which were all Economy Plus Passengers. So I boarded the aircraft and took my seat.

26 August 2006
ORD – AMS
[Chicago O’Hare – Amsterdam]
UA 908 (United); Boeing 767-300 (N641UA)
Gate C 21
17:58 – 09:10 (+1) [effective 18:00 – 08:25 (+1)]
Economy Plus Class
Seat 18 A

I passed the Business Class Cabin and took my seat after I stored the things I needed during the flight in the seat pocket. The plane filled with people and a passing flight attendant told me the load was nearly 100 %, one seat remained empty, because the passengers was or had upgraded to Business.

My seat neighbour arrived a bit later and we joked about someone’s cat, which was placed in a box in the first closet. After the manually done safety demonstration we pushed back at 18:00 and taxied to the runway. I listened to channel 9, but it was still not working properly. But as far as I understand it correctly after a wait and queuing up behind several planes we could pass an American Airlines and a Northwest aircraft and head for the runway to take off. Finally 20 minutes after we were pushed back, whells were up a,d we climbed in the sky and heading eastbound to Newfoundland and the Atlantic.

After the seat belt signs were turned off the crew jumped in action and prepared the first beverage service, which started 50 minutes after we had taken off at ORD. There were some turbulences and the seat belt signs remained turned on. The beverage – for me a Tonic Water – came along with the obligatory packet of assorted nuts. The empty cans were collected and soon the meal service started approximately 85 minutes after take off. This time the famous question was “Beef or Pasta?” The beef was in this case a steak with mashed potatoes and vegetables and a barbecue sauce if I remembered it correctly, while the pasta were ravioli. Both food options came along with a salad, a roll, a cracker, cheese and some sort of cake for dessert. The food was not bad, but nothing special to report. An average airline food, so the food on my first segment with United from Amsterdam to Chicago was the best on this journey. Again I am surprised that the best food was not served on a flight from a major hub but to one. I had experienced this on Thai on my journey in May in Business Class.

As expected the Audio-Video System does not work properly. The first channel had a malfunction in sound, it was not understandable. Several passengers complained about it, especially as on channel 1 “Mission Impossible III” was shown, but the crew could not fix it. There was also some malfunction with the light, as the reading lights at several seats turned on and off without pressing a button. As I wanted to read in the Condé Nast Traveller Magazine I needed the reading light and fortunately it switched on at my seat only twice during night time.

The flight was still a bit bumpy. Due to our strong rear wind we were really fast and flight time was calculated with 7 hours instead of the 8 hours 12 minutes in the timetable. It was nice to see the sunrise at the horizon, which was possible as we flew in south-east direction at this time.

After we passed the Irish Coast and Dublin in 10668 metres the lights were turned on and the breakfast service began. This time again a box with a warm roll with ham, cheese and egg inside, which was served along with a small fruit plate and canned water. I had a coffee with it. A bit later the empty boxes were collected and we began our descend into Amsterdam airport.

We touched down at 08:30 in a rainy Amsterdam and reached our gate five minutes later. This time it took some time to deboard the aircraft, but finally I was on my way to immigration and the baggage belt.

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