Frankfurt Rhein Main

There was no gate information for UA 940 available at the time I checked in in Düsseldorf. Until now, the most United flights I have flown had departed from the C concourse, so the question was, to turn right and leave security or turn right and see at one of the monitors for the number of the gate I was departing from.

I had noticed a 777 on the tarmac having a bus gate position and since I do not remember any other UA 777 departing at this time from FRA than the one to ORD I was booked on I decided to head to the terminal and see at the monitors if our flight was departing from A, which is usually the case if a flight has a bus gate.

I was happy, as I read UA941 was leaving from A 53 and so the choice to remain in the security area was the right decision. Up the stairs where the immigration counters were empty and it took only seconds to pass immigration. I had app. 40 minutes before boarding started and therefore decided to give the Towers Lounge a try. It is a nice and big lounge, but it was crowded and only a few seats were empty. After a quick glass of sparkling water I decided to head to the gate area to see if the plane was overbooked and also the API were not collected yet. So I left the lounge after a quick visit after ten minutes.

The was a long line of passengers queuing at the counters. Agents were looking for passengers traveling in First Class or 1K members. I asked him what about passengers holding Star Gold Status. He asked me if I was traveling in Business Class. I replied only in Economy but he asked for my Star Gold Card, my passport and my boarding pass and together with these of another passenger headed for the counters.

A couple of minutes later he returned with a new boarding pass (18G) which meant I lost my seat in the first row. From the conversation behind me, I knew that one of them was sitting there, while they had two seats in row 17 and this was a family traveling together and one of them was also holding Star Gold Status. Not a big deal since I now had an aisle seat which I prefer over the center seat in the fist row. The plane was full, but not overbooked as I was told by the agent. The API was also done, though I was surprised that there was no need to give any information about my address in the US. Either they could access the database where I have already done the registration of this trip or they used my US address or the simply did not do it correctly. I will learn this in Chicago at immigration later.

Boarding started a few minutes ahead of the scheduled boarding time with Passengers traveling in First Class and United Global Services Members, followed by United 1Ks, Business Class Passengers and Star Gold and Star Silver Members.

Questioning was done at the gate before we had to take the stairs down to the waiting busses. I was in the second bus which headed for the plane. Two stairs were available and I used the rear stairs.

29 May 2009
FRA – ORD
[Frankfurt – Chicago O'Hare]
UA 941 (United); Boeing 777 (“N775UA”)
Gate A 53
12:45 – 14:53 [effective 12:45– 15:09]
Economy Plus
Seat 18 G

I headed towards the front of the cabin– row 18 is the second row in Premium Economy Class – and took my seat and stored my belongings in the overhead compartment. The blanket and pillow were placed on the seat, while the headphones were placed on the headrest. The problem with this seat is the big box from the audio system underneath the front seat with limits you legroom and you cannot put anything under the seat in front of you.

The plane filled with people and as expected the plane was completely full in all three classes.

A flight attendant offered the remaining glasses of water, orange juice and sparkling wine from the pre-departure drink service in Business Class to the first rows of Economy and so I got a glass of sparkling wine as pre departure drink. A nice gesture …

The safety demonstration was done at the parking position. We were pushed back at 12:45 and taxied for the runway where we took off in Eastern direction.

The seat belt signs were turned off after nearly ten minutes in flight and the crew began with a first beverage service and also distributed some pretzels. I opted for a sparkling water and as usually got the whole can.

While I chatted with my seat neighbor the crew began to prepare the meal service with started app. after 30 minutes in flight. The question was the usual one “chicken or pasta”. I opted for the pasta which came on a tray with a salad, a roll, a apple tart, butter and a small packet of vinaigrette. The pasta were not bad, they were “al dente” and tasted good. A beverage round soon followed and I opted for another can of sparkling water.

A coffee / tea round followed and soon later the trays were collected after 90 minutes in flight. The crew was friendly, but they were not looking at you and turned away while serving you your choice of beverage already addressing the passengers in the next or opposite row.

The lights were dimmed soon after the items of the tea and coffee service was cleared away. The crew had in the meantime prepared their crew rest area.

The audio jack of my seat did not work, which I mentioned to one of the flight attendants. But of course they could not do anything, since the plane was full. Since I had brought my MP-3 player with me, I listened to my music and decided not to think further on it and not to ask for any compensation later on.

We headed over The Netherlands, Great Britain and north of Ireland towards the Atlantic. We flow south of Iceland towards the most southern point of Greenland. The flight altitude was 36000 ft (10972 m). Flight time passed quickly, I listened to music form my MP3 player and worked on my trip reports among a few other things. Sitting in Economy Plus on United usually meant you could work with a laptop, due to the few inch more legroom compared to Economy, even if you have a laptop and not a netbook or sub-notebook.

We had tail wind and cruised with app. 900 km/h and I hoped at this time for an arrival ahead of schedule..

Approximately after 5 hours of flight time, a mid flight service was done, one could opt between tea and coffee and got some sweets. I took only a tea.

The crew used the crew rest area in the first three rows of Economy Plus. Therefore it was really dark in this part of the cabin due to the heavy curtain around these six seats.
Meanwhile the tailwind had changed to headwind and became really strong before the Canadian Cost. We climbed to 37000 ft, but the wind was sometimes as strong as over 100 mph. So we flew more slowly and our expected arrival time was as scheduled and changed later to a slightly delay. In this part of the flight, it became a bit bumpy from time to time.

During the flight the crew made a few rounds offering water. In the rear galley in addition to the beverage service in the cabin orange and apple juice were available. The flight itself was uneventful, not much of noise. The crew was okay, I have experienced worse crews, although they did not smile that often, but they worked quite well together.
The plane was in a more or less good shape. Some scratches and some stains in the carpet and on the cabin walls, but nothing really worth mentioning. One could clearly notice the age of the plane and the need of some refurbishment. But the inflight entertainment system is still not bad and runs more stable than on LH. However the malfunction of the audio jack is not so nice.

90 minutes prior to landing the crew offered a light pre-arrival snack in addition to another full beverage service. One got a roll with ham and cheese, a bar of chocolate and a packet of potatoes chips – not the healthiest option. I eat only the roll, but skipped the rest. I had a ginger ale with the roll. The trash were collected soon later and the captain came over the microphone and informed us about our expected arrival time and the weather We flew into Chicago from the north before heading over the Lake Michigan. I tried to listen to channel 9, which was on, however due to the malfunction of the audio jack this was a bit difficult and I gave up after twenty minutes. But it was a lot of traffic approaching ORD among them some longhauls according to the flight numbers and airlines.
The crew began to prepare the cabin for the arrival and we flew over ORD before making a U turn and approached ORD from the West. We touched down behind schedule and taxied for our arrival gate. As usual Economy Class Passengers were not hold back and so we could invade the Business Class cabin and waited there for the opening of the doors.

Together with my seat neighbor we headed for immigration which was a mess with the longest lines I have ever experienced in ORD. It took me nearly two hours to finally reach the front and enter the US.

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