Houston Georg Bush Intercontinental

I took the shuttle leaving the Sheraton Airport Houston North hotel at 05:00 am and arrived at terminal C around 5:20 after we dropped off an US Airways crew at terminal A and another guest at the international terminal E.

I used the shortcut by passing the immigration checkpoint only open in the morning which connected the shuttle drop off stop directly with Terminal E without the need to walk through the concourse from C. In terminal E I headed for the United Club which was the one I had already visited back in 2010. I had around 50 minutes in the United Club and used the time for some phone calls and a quick breakfast. I had checked the information about the flight which United offered. The information are quite helpful since there are also information about the aircraft and the previous flight available – and this flight was delayed.

I saw the plane arriving which was still delayed and I used a visit to the restroom to inquire at the reception desk of the club about the boarding time. The agent told me, that boarding would be delayed, but should be start only 10 minutes late as they would try to make up some time on the ground.

So I left the lounge a little bit later and walked to the gate, where boarding had not started yet, but lines had formed at the different boarding zones which is United now using the speed up things. After ten minutes passengers with disabilities, families with small children and military person on duty were asked to board the plane, soon followed by passengers traveling in first glass and Global Services in Zone 1 and then on to Zone 2 and so on. We boarded with zone 2 as this is the dedicated zone for passengers with Star Gold Status.

26 June 2013
IAH – ORD
[Houston George Bush Intercontinental – Chicago O’Hare]
UA 215 (United Airlines); Boeing 757 (N511UA)
Gate 17
07:10 – 09:50 [effective 08:15 – 10:49]
Economy Class
Seat 12 C

I had a seat in the regular Economy Cabin since I buy up for Economy Plus only for flight longer than 3:00 hours or if I had to work on shorter flight and need the more space. The remaining passengers boarded the plane and some families could not sit together, so some passengers were asked or offered to change seats. Since I wanted to sleep I offered to give up my seat at the aisle against a middle seat two rows back.

In the meantime the captain informed us, that they have had some mechanical issues. The flight was now also expecting an ATC delay due to heavy rain in Chicago which could keep us on the ground for another 90 minutes. He promised to keep us updated if the situation became better. I already received a first text message by flightstats and tripit informing me about a short delay and soon later, seconds before the captain came over the intercom to inform us about the delay, that we should expect a delay of close to 90 minutes and estimated time of arrival would now be 11:11, which shortens the connection to 49 minutes. I went online with my smartphone and did a quick research and ORD was currently expecting an average delay of 166 minutes due to the bad weather. Currently my flight to Seattle was still showing as on time. But I expect this to change sooner or later …

We sat at the gate and the passengers were allowed to use the mobile phones and as far as I noticed some traveling with hand luggage got themselves rebooked and alternative flights while other were able to get on this flight instead of the later flight to Chicago. The crew offered water during the waiting time at the gate.

Approximately at 07:50 the captain mentioned that he was still dealing with the United Airlines dispatcher and air traffic control to see if he can he can get us a better slot time and a few minutes later, he informed us, that we now had a slot time at 08:30 meaning we could push back at 08:15, only 65 minutes delayed.

We were pushed back at 08:15 as announced by the captain and taxied for our runway 15L where we had to queue behind a Delta and an US Airways plane and finally at 08:33 it was our turn. The captain powered the engines and we accelerated and finally left Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental airport.

While we climbed to flight level, I would like to give some information about our Boeing 757-222, which clearly showed its age. This Boeing 757 came to United as new plane one June 20, 1990 and is now 23 years old. The plane was equipped with 24 seats in First Class and 158 seats in Economy Plus and regular Economy Class. First Class has six rows in 2 – 2 with a seat pitch of 38 inch and a seat width of 20.2 inch. Those are recliner seats with a 6.0 inch recline. Economy Plus has a seat pitch of 36 inch while regular Economy has a seat pitch of 31.0 inch. The configuration is for both 3 – 3 and the seat width is 17 inch.
Our plane was powered by two Pratt & Whitney PW2037 engines, which have a maximum thrust of 36.600 lbf or 162.8 kn each. The 757 was built between 1991 and 2004 and is mostly used by US Airlines, but also by Icelandair and Condor among others.

One we reached cruising altitude the crew did a beverage round. Available for passengers traveling in Economy were soft drinks free of charge, while spirits, beer and wine as well as snacks were available for purchase. I opted for a ginger ale and was asked if I like to have the whole can. I gladly accepted this offer. Later the items from the beverage service were collected. The flight attendants were friendly and answered questions about directions and where to go after we arrived in Chicago as some passenger worried about their connecting flights. They passed through the aisle frequently and also offered water to those who wanted something to drink.

The flight was a few times bumpy and the captain turned on the seat belt signs on. Of course it was nothing to worry about. I dozed a bit during the flight and listened to my mp3 player and relaxed. Flight time passed quite quickly and round about 1 hour and 45 minutes after we left IAH we began our descend into the rainy Chicago O’Hare airport. We touched down at 10:43 and taxied for our gate C 25 at the C Concourse where we arrived six minutes after we had touched down. The purser asked to those with Chicago as final destinations and those with longer connection to remain seated and give priority to those with tighter connection.

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