JFK - SFO United P.S. First Class
Booked via United Companion fare from JFK to SFO on Saturday August 22nd. Best thing about these tickets is the automatic upgrade to first (or biz if no room) but they're hard to obtain through a close friend / retiree of United. The worst part is that, like nearly all employee travel, it's a NRSA standby queue.
My parents attempted to leave for OGG from JFK via SFO on Wednesday August 19th. Although not widespread, a concentrated series of strong storms swept through New York Tuesday night (these were responsible for the downed trees in Central Park and shattered windshields all over Queens and BX) and as a result forced a large wave of bumped passengers onto the Wednesday morning United flights. Needless to say it was a hellish day communicating with them as they were wait-listed from UA005 (0600) all the way to the last flight (UA863; 1715) which still had no room. Picked the poor souls up for a diner lunch and after the second dropoff was able to to sit at The Mounds for some time - unprepared with a puny 1100 ELPH. Finally I dropped them at Aunt's house for a night in Rockville Centre which brought them back to JFK Thursday morning, and they finally made it out on UA893 at 0815 in time to catch UA037 at 1215 bound for OGG. One hectic departure, but well worth the mere pennies for First Class on both legs.
Summary of the flight can be seen in this lackluster throw-together of departure and arrival footage:
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Anyways, my sister and I were number 5 and 6 for standby on UA005 Saturday morning. We were called as Economy started boarding and given boarding passes for 1C & 1D. Perhaps a favorite moment is when the Economy line of passengers is halted to allow us to enter through the Plus* queue.
Enter the three-cabin 752 (minus winglets) and the large Heavenly pillows and down comforters fill the twelve first seats. Of the twelve seats, two were booked and the rest were filled either through NRSA or upgrade standby. I didn't want to gawk around with my camera so kept shooting to a minimum, but was able to get these.
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Also, if anyone can help me out with this, I believe we departed via 31L as per visual observation but could have sworn this was a full closure (see video posted above).
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After takeoff came Mimosa followed by the Breakfast succession. Breakfast was broken into three segments. The first (pictured below) included a yogurt-berry parfait, choice of bagel, muffin, or croissant, and a fruit plate. Next was choice of eggs benedict or banana pancakes with Canadian bacon and/or sausage. Towards the end of the flight came three half-sandwiches including turkey, crab salad and ham.
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The United media players were distributed, which are great devices with an excellent choice of movies and TV shows. The music selection was a little weak so I used the phenomenal noise-reduction headphones on my crackberry. Flight attendant very attentive and explained to us how Pierce Brosnan and wife had been sitting in our seats four days ago on a flight from LAX. At one point I was the only passenger in First awake.
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The approach into SFO was smooth for the most part and we arrived approximately 15 minutes early on 28R but as expected had to wait for a gate. I had forgotten the UAL traffic at SFO with nearly seven 744's in sight and an array of 772's and 767's.
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After four relaxing days throughout SF and Sonoma wine country it was back to SFO for UA014 departure at 1620. At first we were concerned being placed at 10 and 11 for standby as Business was full. Several of the top names were called with no response, and soon we were announced and given 1C & 1D again. Making our way onto the aircraft without winglets, we were immediately offered champagne and began a taxi to 1R. This late it the day it was no surprise that many of the gates were empty as only a few CRJ's and American narrows could be spotted.
Departure brought us directly over OAK and beyond between Lake Tahoe and Yosemite Valley. Pilot announced the view of the wildfire sending a small but noticeable plume of smoke into the sky.
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Dinner involved three courses again. First came an appetizer consisting of an awesome shrimp cocktail, an iceberg and walnut salad with choice of dressing and dinner rolls. The entree was between Mango Pecan Chicken, Scallion Beef Strips or Halibut so opted for the Beef which was excellent with mashed potatoes and carrots/asparagus. Later in the flight came chocolate chip cookies. Throughout all of this white wine was flowing and a raspberry mojito, not as strong as I'd hoped but not over-sweetened.
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Arrived into JFK at 0030 and promptly entered a taxi at 0050 bound for Astoria. Overall, the service in First was on par with what I expected but not supreme. There was noticeable wear and tear throughout the cabin and the seats were somewhat filthy. Although the media players were great they required an A/C adapter which became a corded mess and took up the electrical outlet (violins, right? ;p) Still, the service was impeccable and Business received most of, if not all of the First amenities with the exception of the sleeperette seats.
Thanks for reading and Happy Flying :borat:
