Charlotte / Douglas International

I took the 06:00 shuttle from the Four Points to the airport. Since I already had my boarding passes for my flight, I could proceed directly to the security checkpoint. Security had a fast lane for passengers traveling in Business or First Class as well as premium passengers. Nobody was at the beginning of the line checking if one was allowed to use the lane. I used the empty fast lane. The regular lines were long, but moved quite fast. Before entering the checkpoint, ID and boarding pass were checked. Only two lines were busy, but as there were four additional checkpoints at different locations of the airport it was okay at this early Saturday morning.

I passed security without further problem in ten minutes and went to the US Airways Club West, where I was welcomed. Boarding time was scheduled to start at 7:25, so I had 45 minutes I could spend in the lounge.

I grabbed a coffee, muffin and yoghurt from the ‘buffet’ and took a seat in the empty club. I used this opportunity to take a few pictures of the lounge. Due to privacy reasons I try to take pictures of lounges or planes without too many people on it. I have something like a database with various pictures from lounges and airports as well as planes for the use on my reports. Occasionally I also received pictures from friends and colleagues. The club offers also good views to the tarmac and sometimes I sit there and just watch the planes and the duties performed by the ground staff on the tarmac once a plane had arrived. I noticed that our plane was already at the gate. 10 minutes before scheduled departure time I went to the gate.

At the gate was waiting an Airbus A 320 with the registration N537UW. Like the plane on the flight from Denver to Philadelphia the day before it was a quite new plane delivered to US Airways on September 29, 2009. It makes it first flight just a week earlier in Hamburg Finkenwerder (XFW) on September 22, 2009. The plane had 16 seats in First and 167 seats in Economy Class. It also used the IAE V2533-A5 engines like the Airbus A 321 the day before.

Boarding started ahead of time at 7:18 with families traveling with small children, people, who need some additional time, and First Class and US Dividend Miles Preferred Members and Star Gold passengers. I was the fourth person to board the plane.

25 June 2011
CLT – SJU
[Charlotte / Douglas International – San Juan Luis Muñoz Marin International]
US 1030 (US Airways); Airbus A 321 (N537UW)
Gate D 2
08:10 – 11:47 [effective 08:05 – 11:39]
First Class
Seat 02 D

I was greeted while entering the plane. I stored my carry on in the overhead compartment of this A 321. Pillow and blankets were already placed on the seat like on the previous flights, but no water bottle this time.

The flight was full in all classes and many announcements were made to store smaller items under the seat and only larger items in the overhead bins. The crew seemed to be in good mode, though they were joking with each other. One girl brought a big teddy bear on board and put the bear on her lap. If you look down the rows in Economy Class, it seems as a big bear was sitting in one of the rows. Quite a funny sight …

It looked like there were some problems with the catering for this flight as I overheard from their conversation. Finally, we could close the doors around 08:00.

Safety demonstration was done during push back at 08:05 five minutes ahead of schedule. After a length taxi and some wait at the runway, it was finally our turn we took off at 08:22 and climbed into the partly cloudy sky above Charlotte.

Approximately ten minutes in flight, the seat belt signs were turned off and the crew began the service. In Economy it was food for purchase, while we in First Class would be served a full hot breakfast.

A few minutes later our order for our preferred choice of beverage and the breakfast was taken. For the later French Toast and a quesadilla were offered. I took the later one and asked for a coffee.

Beverages were brought first, while the meal was heated and the trays prepared. Like on the DEN – PHL flight a hot towel service followed.

The meal came with a small plate of assorted fruits, a roll and jam 15 minutes later. The first hour in flight the flight was a bit bumpy. The captain came over the microphone and updated us on the current situation and telling us, flight deck worked with air traffic control to get us a smoother ride. He also told us therefore the fasten seat belt remained turned on for some additional minutes until the flight becomes smoother.

The meal tasted again not that bad. The flight attendant noticed my empty cup of coffee and asked it would like to get some more coffee.

Trays were collected later. The crew was average attentive, after the meal service they reduced the service significantly. However, if one rang the call button or approach them, they were friendly and helpful.

I used the time to update my trip reports and also finished some hotel reports. My seat neighbor decided to take a nap after breakfast and only woke up as a flight attendant asked him to put his seat in an upright position as we had already started our descent into San Juan Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport.

Approximately 25 minutes prior to landing the captain gave us the final weather update for San Juan. It should be a sunny day, but one should expect thunderstorms in the afternoon.

Shortly after we had begun our final approach into San Juan airport, the crew began to prepare the cabin for our arrival. During the approach one got nice views towards the fort of San Juan and the highrises at the beach.

We touched down at 11:26 and taxied for the gate B 37 where we finally arrived at 11:39. During taxi one could see a lot of older planes in hangars at the airport among those at least on DC 3.

I was among the first passengers to leave the aircraft and entered the very busy terminal.

Top

Next flight