Chicago O'Hare

I had not yet received a text message indicating that the flight to Seattle would be delayed, but while I was searching for a monitor with the departure time, I received a text message which informed me, that the new departure time would be 12:45 and the gate would now be B 11 instead of the originally assigned gate B8.

I took the escalator down to the tunnel and decided to visit the United Club close to gate 8, which was the bigger of the two United Clubs located in concourse B. The lounge was busy and seven people were queuing at the desk on the upper floor, but this was not much compared to the long lines at the desks in the main concourse. Despite the full lounge, I had no difficulties to get a seat and after a quick visit at the bar to get a glass of ginger ale, I started my laptop and tried to connect to the WiFi. However I failed, I was able to connect but the speed was not even slow, there was no speed at all. Since my prepaid mobile data plan does not allow using my smartphone as 4G WiFi Access Point, I had no real chance to connect to the internet. I had hoped to download at least my e-mails to answer a few ones while flying to Seattle, but this was not possible at all. Never mind – this gave me at least the opportunity to continue on my reports and other work related things and I could surf the internet with my smartphone using the mobile apps of ’tripit’ and ‘flightstats’ as well as those of United Airlines. In situations like this, it is really helpful to have these tools.

The signboards in the lounge showed the plane still at 12:45 and “awaiting aircraft”, but there was another gate change to gate B 12. I searched on the United App for information of our flight and learned that the plane had already arrived, which was a contradiction to the information on the screen. So I decided to go to the gate and if there were still no plane continue to the other United Club at gate B 16. As I arrived at the gate, the boarding had just started with elite passengers in Zone 2, Zone 1 was already on board the plane. Even the monitors at the gate were still showing “awaiting aircraft” for this flight. So much for accurate information …

26 June 2013
ORD – SEA
[Chicago O’Hare – Seattle Tacoma International]
UA 241 (United Airlines); Airbus A 320 (N472UA)
Gate B 12
12:00 – 14:25 [effective 12:56 – 15:39]
Economy Plus Class
Seat 12 C

I had no difficulties to store my carry on in the overhead compartment. I had glimpsed at the seat map indicating the free seats on this flight and noticed that there were more free seat in Economy Plus than as I checked the seatmap the evening before. It seems that quite a few passengers had not made their connections. I had upgraded to Economy Plus on this flight to Seattle which was over 4 hours and I wanted to have a bit more legroom.

It is a pity, that Economy Plus is no longer available free of charge for all Star Golds but I am willing pay for these seats – depending on the distance / duration of the flights. I also recommend upgrading the Economy Class to Economy Plus to most of my clients. Since the possibility to upgrade to Economy Class for Premier Members was limited earlier and much to the displeasure of Premier Members to a window of 24 hours before departure, the chances for those with no status at United Frequent Flyer Program to get those seats have been increased. And of course this means money for United Airlines and adding to the revenue. In so far, I have to admit that these changes are not that bad …

Economy Plus was not full and I had a row of my own and many passengers moved to other rows to have a free middle seat. Regular Economy was quite full. In so far, on this flight it paid off to have booked a seat in Economy Plus.

The captain welcomed us on board of this Airbus A 320 and informed us about the flight time. A few seconds later the purser introduced herself and announced the safety video, which was shown on the small screens above the seats.

We were pushed back at 12:56 and taxied for the runway. We had to wait a little bit behind some other flights and with the rainy weather Chicago was quite busy with getting the delayed flights out of the airport to make room for the arriving planes.

Our Airbus A320 joined the fleet of United on April 03, 2001 as new plane. It then was equipped with 12 seats in First Class and 126 seats in Economy Plus / Economy Class. Three years later, on April 28, 2004 it was transferred to low cost subsidiary TED for the next five years and had a 156 all Economy Plus / Economy seating. As it came back to mainline, the plane was refitted with 12 seats in First Class and 132 seats in Economy Plus / Economy Class.
Like all Airbus in the United fleet, it was powered by two IAE V2527-A5 engines with 120kN or 27000 lbf..

The EconomyPlus seats are located in the front part of the Economy Class Cabin and offer 36 a seat pitch of 35 to 36 inch compared to 31 inch in regular Economy. The seat width is for EconomyPlus and Economy the same with 18 inch.

We took off at 13:19 with a delay of more than 60 minutes. At least the rain had stopped and even the sun was visible between the clouds. We climbed in western direction and started our 4:25 hours flight to Seattle.

The seat belt signs would be turned on longer as the captain expected some bumps in the first half hour in flight. The crew began the service with food and alcoholic beverages for purchase in Economy Class and soft drinks for free. Many passengers in the Economy Plus Cabin purchased a snack, salad or other items from the menu. Channel 9 was available and had connected my headphones already on the ground to follow the communication between cockpit and air traffic control, which is always really interesting for an airline geek like me.

In the meantime the captain had turned off the seat belt signs and we had reached our cruising altitude and flew over the Midwest towards the West Coast.

The crew did a couple of rounds offerings coffee, water and orange juice and also collected the trash. I would rate this crew as quite good and attentive. Unlike some other crews, they do not hide themselves in the galley chatting or reading.

Another beverage round with the cart was done approximately 75 minutes prior to our scheduled arrival time in Seattle. The crew collected the items from the beverage service soon later. In the same time the co-pilot came over the microphone and informed us about the remaining flight time and gave us an update about the weather situation in Seattle. The arrival was a bit bumpier due to the clouds in the sky. We approached Seattle from the North meaning we could see downtown Seattle with the famous ‘Spaceneedle’ and the waterfront before we touched down at Seattle Tacoma International Airport at 15:32.

It was raining and we had to taxi a bit before we finally arrived at 15:39 at our gate A09, just opposite the United Club at Seattle’s Terminal A. I left the airport and walked to the shuttle bus stop for the quick and short ride to the Doubletree. I had thought about walking there, as the hotel is very close, but since it was raining I thought this was a stupid plan … Especially as the shuttle pulled up shortly after I arrived at the pick up stop.

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