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Seattle Tacoma International
I already had checked in the day before and also received my boarding passes. The flight was really full, but not oversold according to the information in systems like expertflyer. As I woke up quite early and could not get back to sleep, I decided to head to the airport earlier than it was necessary.
I had put my United Mileage Plus Number in the system – a program I do not have any frequent flyer status with. I wanted to credit the miles of this shorter flights as I did not need the miles for my requalification and want to have some activity. With long lines for non-status passengers, I gave up experiencing the life of someone without elite status and headed for the elite line where I was allowed to enter showing my Senator Card. Of course, I could have queued, but the waiting time would have been quite long and I would have not had the chance to make a visit to the United Club, where I of course also needed the Lufthansa Senator Card to get access. It is usually not a problem to get access to a lounge showing another frequent flyer elite card than the one the flights was credited to if it is all within the same alliance.
I spend the next hour in the United Club before it was time to head down to gate A9, which was right opposite the entrance to the United Club. Boarding started with a slight delay and by Zones.
30 June 2013
SEA – SFO
[Seattle Tacoma International – San Francisco International]
UA 294 (United Airlines); Boeing 757 (N529UA)
Gate A 9
07:19 – 09:35 [effective 07:12 – 09:13]
Economy Class
Seat 28 C
I was able to store my belongings in the overhead compartment. The plane was full and the crew asked passenger to stored larger items in the overhead bin and smaller carry ons under the seat.
The safety video was shown while we were still standing at the gate. Soon later the captain also welcomed us on board and announced the flight time with a short 1:49 instead of the scheduled 2:14, which would get us much earlier into SFO than expected.
We were pushed back ahead of time and taxied to our runway. The engines of this 22 year old Boeing 757 roared as the co-pilot powered the engine and we accelerated and finally took off at 07:25. The window shades in my row were closed, so I could not see in which direction we flew, but according to the map in flightaware it was into northern direction.
Our plane was a Boeing 757-222 powered by two Pratt & Whitney PW2037 engines and was delivcered to United Airlines as new plane on March 22, 1991. It was airborne for the first time just two weeks earlier on March 05, 1991. It was painted in the current color scheme in February 2011.
The PW2000 series engines were designed for the Boeing 757, but were also used for the Ilyushin II-96M. The PW2037 have a thrust of 162,8 kN (36.600 lbf).
Once in the air, the crew announced the service, which was the usual offering of free soft drinks in Economy with alcoholic beverages and snack for purchase. The service for First Class passengers was not mentioned though. The seat belt signs were not extinguished as the captain expected turbulences and asked the passengers to remain on their seats. The turbulences never appeared and he turned the seat belt signs later off. Of course this helped the crew to get the cart out of the galley and do their service without being disturbed by passenger heading to the lavatories.
I opted for a coffee as the service had reached my seat in the rear part of the cabin.
The crew did an additional coffee and water service later in the flight and passed the aisle frequently collecting trash from the service. The crew was okay and so was the flight in general. Flight time passed quickly and soon we had begun our descend into San Francisco International Airport. The seat belt signs were turned on and the passenger asked to return to their seat.
We approached SFO from Eastern direction and touched down at 09:09 on runway 28 R as far as I notice, as the sunshades on both sides of my row were closed. We taxied to our gate 88 at terminal 3, which is exclusively used by United at San Francisco International Airport. The jetbridge was attached quickly at 09:13 ahead of schedule, but it took some time before I finally was in the terminal and walked to the United Club.