San Diego Lindbergh Field

I had returned the rental car at the rental car agencies in San Diego and took the shuttle to the airport, where I arrived around 11:30. I asked about the ticket I had for the evening and they expected some delays due to the bad weather at the east coast and the Californian coast. I decided to cancel this trip and instead took a night more in SFO. It was off course an easy decision, since there was a Flyertalker Do organized by lucky9867coins in SFO and near my hotel. The agents at the United Airlines counters in San Diego were very helpful and they manage to refund me the whole fare for the flight due to the weather issues, also I was only indirectly affected by the weather. So far I have always had very nice and helpful agents in San Diego on my four flights out of San Diego in the past. This is probably one of the stations with the more helpful agents. It is always nice to find a location were the agent have a really constantly helpful attitude. They are always nice, smiling and try to help you. They took care of you and really to their best to resolve problems. And although they could not always solve a problem completely they really try to minimize the hassle. And for me this means a lot, even if they can’t really solve the issue, they manner how they deal with it is always a pleasure. That is a service attitude one does not find at many locations and United could be really proud on those agents.
After this was done, I checked in and they could get me also a seat in Economy Plus on this short flight to SFO, which was very nice. I passed security quite quickly also there was a line, but only for the check of the boarding passes and the id check. As there were three security lines open, there were probably no lines at all.

I made a quick visit to the Red Carpet Club at San Diego International Airport and after a glass of coke it was time to head for the gate.

22 February 2008
SAN – SFO
[San Diego – San Francisco]
UA 468 (United), Boeing 737-300 (N318UA)
Gate 11
13:20 – 14:52 [effective 13:30 – 15:32]
Economy Plus Class
Seat 7 C

Boarding began a few minutes after I arrived at the gate. There were quite a few people already queuing and they upgraded a few to First Class. Boarding began with First Class, United p.s. services and Star Gold and Star Silver members. So I was among the first to board the plane and had enough space to store my luggage. The flight was full in First and Economy and aside me sat a man, probably with his granddaughter.

Safety demonstration was done on the ground and we pushed back a bit late at 13:30. Unfortunately we had to wait nearly 45 minutes on the tarmac due to some weather issues before we finally could take off. I napped a bit and time passed surprisingly quickly. We were finally airborne at 14:10 and climbed into the cloudy and rainy sky above San Diego.

On this flight a quick beverage service was done and non-alcoholic drinks were available for free, while alcoholic drinks had to be paid for. I noticed at least one passenger buying his glass of wine in the front and getting a real glass instead of a plastic cup.

The flight was partly a bit bumpy and seat belt signs were switched on during the flight several times, but only for a few minutes.

The first class flight attendant helped also in the back and brought some red wine left to the passengers in Economy who had bought wine for free. This was – as far as I noticed – much appreciated and it shows a bit of the big difference in terms of service attitude you find in United flights.

Flight time passed quickly and soon we began our final approach into SFO. It was again a bit bumpy during the final approach and it rained at the time we touched down at 15:25. We hat to taxi a bit on the tarmac before we finally reached our gate at 15:32.

It took me a couple of minutes before we finally could deboard the plane. I headed for the shuttle to the airport hotels and was soon later on my way to the Crown Plaza Burlingame / SFO, my home for the next three nights.

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