San Francisco International

I used the shuttle of the Hilton at 06:40 to get to the airport. The driver dropped me at terminal 3 app. 20 minutes later and I headed for the Star Gold security line which is located next to the Elite Counters next the international terminal. Unlike the regular lines, these lines where quite short and it took just a few minutes and I had passed it. Since the Red Carpet Club in the international terminal was not yet open, I headed to the one in the domestic terminal, took a seat and grabbed something to drink and waited for boarding time. Ten minutes prior to boarding time, I headed for the gate and waited for the boarding announcement. The flight was pretty packed in all classes.

Boarding started in time with First and Business Class Passengers as well as Premium Services and 1Ks followed by Premier Executives and Star Gold and passengers with special needs.

29 April 2010
SFO - ORD
[San Francisco – Chicago O'Hare]
UA 134 (United Airlines); Boeing 767 (N657UA-)
Gate 83
08:45 – 15:05 [effective 08:38 – 14:25)
Economy Class
Seat 22 J

I had used a cash upgrade to Economy Plus for this longer flight since I did not want to get stucked back in a middle seat in “Economy Minus”. Knowing about the limited overhead compartments of the 767, I stored my belongings and took a seat and waited for the fellow passengers to arrive.

Pillow and blanket were placed on the seat, the headphones were already stored in the seat pockets.

As expected, it was a major hassle for late coming passengers to store their items in the overhead compartment. I chatted a bit with my seat neighbor during boarding about passengers carrying their household on a trip in hand luggage. Trolleys were shifted and arranged, so that nearly everybodys carry on fitted in the overhead compartment.

The safety video was shown during push back, which was ahead of schedule and we taxied for our runway.

Channel 9 was on and I listened to it while we were on the ground.

We took off at 08:57 and climbed into the sky above SFO. The fasten seat belt signs remained turned on for 10 minutes. As they were turned off, the first officer informed us about our flying time and told us he expected an on time arrival. He also expected a smooth ride and gave us a weather update.

The cabin crew began to prepare the cabin for the service, and did first the “food for purchase round”, before the regular beverage was offered. I opted for a sparkling water – of course without ice.

I put a bit of work into my trip report and listened to music and talked with my seat neighbor about Munich.

The crew did several rounds in the cabin offering water and juice. There was also a second beverage round after mid in-flight time. At 3:15 flying time the first officer again came over the microphone and told us to expect and early arrival in the next twenty minutes and therefore he would turn on the seat belt signs in a few more minutes.

The crew began to prepare the cabin for our arrival 40 minutes ahead of schedule and we already had begun our approach into Chicago's O'Hare Airport.
I listened to channel 9 for the last couple of minutes. The final approach was quite bumpy and there must be strong crosswinds. We touched down safely at 14:19 and taxied for a short time until we reached our gate six minuted later and 40 minutes ahead of schedule.

Disembarking took a couple of minutes, before I was able to leave the plane through the Business and First Class Cabin.

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