Los Angeles International

The boarding gate for my flight to ORD was not available as I checked-in in Palm Springs. As I switched on my mobile after touch down in LAX, I received a text message by flightstats as well as by tripit that my flight was scheduled to depart from gate 60 at terminal 6. There was a United Club close to this gate, the former Continental Presidents Club in terminal 6 which I had used quite often in the past. Before the merger this was a quite good club which was less busy than the former Red Carpet Club in terminal 7. With the merger of Continental and United this has changed and this club was now as busy as the one in terminal 7.

It was full, but I was able to get a free seat. The breakfast selection was available as I entered the club and I grabbed a bagel from the buffet and a glass of orange juice. There was one guest who was annoying not only me but also other guests by making several phone calls and talking in a way that everybody in the lounge could understand it. And the calls were really important, as she mentioned in every call at least twice that she was in the VIP lounge in Los Angeles and waiting for her flight to Chicago. She also asked her son to dial the numbers every time and from his face expression he was not very happy as her mother was quite demanding to him to do this and to do that. It was funny to see, that quite a number of people sitting close to her decided to move elsewhere if other seats became available and so did I. And I also hoped that they were not sitting next to me, since we were obviously on the same flight.

Boarding time approached and I walked over to the gate. The annoying lady from the lounge also appeared soon after and tried to get a seat in First Class or at least in Economy Plus. It seems she was Premier with United and had used a lounge pass. Unfortunately – or from my point of view luckily – there were not seats in Economy Plus available and she had to take her seat back in regular Economy. She tried also to cut the line and several people were already queuing in the lines for boarding. But as she felt so important she waited at the desk right next to the Priority Access Lane and asked her son to queue. She wanted him to queue right at the front of the queue but he refused and went to the back of the line.

04 July 2013
LAX – ORD
[Los Angeles International – Chicago O’Hare]
UA 884 (United Airlines); Boeing 757-200 (N539UA)
Gate 60
12:16 – 18:14 [effective 12:09 – 18:18]
Economy Plus Class
Seat 14 C

Boarding started with families with children, members of the armed forced traveling in uniform soon followed by First Class Passengers and Global Service. As they had boarded it was Group 2 which included Star Gold. I had bought a seat in Economy Plus to have more legroom.

The plane was full and all seats were taken. The captain welcomed us on board as all passengers had boarded and announced the flight time to Chicago and also mentioned that channel 9 would be available once we were pushed back. The purser also welcomed us on board and the safety video was shown during push back.

There were some arguments about a couple sitting in the Exit Row and she was slightly handicapped but they convinced the flight attendant that they were able to open it. They did not really understand the argumentation of the flight attendant as they had paid for the seat. It is really strange to put safety of all passengers above the amount of money or elite status someone paid for a certain seat he is not entitled to have and also made during the booking process a statement that he was not able to fulfill? Anyway, the flight attendant decided not to push it further …

We taxied to the runway 25L. With only one plane ahead of us the waiting time was not long and we finally took off at 12:22 towards the Pacific Ocean before we made a turn to the south and flew back to the coast while climbing to reach cruising altitude. The captain announced some turbulence and let the fasten seat belt signs illuminated for some more time. In the meantime the crew went to the stations, closed the curtain between First and Economy Class and began the service. It was food for purchase and a beverage round.

Our Boeing 757-222 was delivered to United Airlines on August 07, 1991 as new plane and is equipped with 24 seats in First Class offering a seat pitch of 38 inch. They recline 6 inch. Economy Plus seating has a seat pitch of 36 inch while regular Economy Class has a seat pitch of 31 inch. The plane offers music channels and video monitors above the aisle.

A few passengers bought food, while others had brought the food from the terminal. I opted for a sparkling water and received the can.

During the flight I listened to channel 9, which was interesting to hear as the captain was asking for a more direct route to Chicago and also tried to avoid turbulences. I also continued to write some reports for the homepage and read in some magazine, of which I had loaded the PDF versions on my laptop since I still do not own an iPad or tablet yet..

Flight time passed quickly and an hour prior to our arrival time in ORD the second beverage round was done. This time I asked for a coffee.

Items of the beverage service as well as other trash were collected and due to some bumps the captain turned on the seats belt signs earlier and also announced that seat belt signs were not turned off until we reach our gate in Chicago. Chicago was busy as one could see a lot of other planes on the air while we approached ORD and made various turns. We touched down at 18:01 ahead of schedule but our gate C15 was not yet available and so we had to taxi over the tarmac. There was no announcement by the flight deck and some passengers wondered what was going on. The passengers listening to channel 9 knew it, but I think, an announcement by the flight deck would have been welcome. Finally our gate was available and we rolled to our gate where we arrived at 18:18.

Disembarking was fast and soon I was on my way towards the exit via the tunnel and the rental car shuttle puck up.

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