Conclusion to last weekend’s trip

Sorry folks, I’ve been crazy busy for the first part of the week, but wanted to wrap up the last of my three otherwise mundane mileage runs with some positive commentary. As I posted about earlier, I had excellent service on the outbound journey. The return was even better.

First I got to enjoy dinner with some FlyerTalk friends at Cafe Figaro, a great restaurant in Burlingame which is reasonably priced too. Then about eight of us met in the Red Carpet Club before our redeyes to various cities, and I even got to catch up with a friend of mine who had just flown the newly reconfigured United 747 and had some interesting stories to share about it.

The redeye was one of those flights that made me feel like it was 2003. There were a total of about 50 passengers on this A319, so basically everyone had their own row. The service on this flight was simply superb, there’s no other way to put it. For once I can say that the PA announcements were professional, intelligent, and logical (ok, maybe that categorization is a bit redundant). The front section of Economy Plus was offered pre-departure beverages, and the FA’s were incredibly cheery, friendly, and helpful.

As we began to taxi to the runway the “Emergency Exit” signs lit up, which concerned the FA’s. We held for a few minutes as the pilots tried to figure it out, and after a few minutes the lights went off and we were good to go.

Drink service began a few minutes after takeoff, and being in row six I was served first. I was shocked to be referred to by name when being asked if I would like anything to drink, and thanked the FA profusely for such a gesture. It was clear he had the manifest on the drink cart along with a light so that he could read it since the cabin was totally dark. A few minutes later he walked by and saw me watching “Mile High,” the most addictive show ever, and mentioned how much he loved it as well.

After landing I headed straight to the RCC, where the agent immediately recognized me. She said “Hah, you’re through here basically everyday,” and I sadly informed her it would be my last time passing through EWR in quite a while. She pretended to be sad.;)

EWR-IAD departed and arrived on time, and I had one of the most amazing regional FA’s I’ve ever had. I usually don’t like the Southwest Airlines-esque humor, but this lady was absolutely friggin’ hilarious! For those not familiar with the ERJ-145, there is a voice that does the safety demo while the FA demonstrates everything that’s said. That means that the FA doesn’t have to say a word the whole demo. This FA, however, managed to have me almost die of laughter. She was lip synching the entire safety demo in the funniest way I’ve ever seen, and the way she went about demonstrating everything cracked me up. She made quite a few original jokes throughout the flight that were actually funny, none of which I’ll repeat here in order to avoid getting her in trouble.

The Ted flight was equally good. We set record time, and got to TPA 30 minutes early, breaking my previous “early record” by over 15 minutes!!! Service was once again excellent, and Channel 9 was on.

This just shows me how amazing UA can be on a great day. Every employee I interacted with truly gave their all and shined, both to and from SFO. It’s trips like these that make me love UA.

Best of all, it’s almost time for Hawaii. This Friday I’m off to Hawaii with about 20 other FlyerTalkers, many on the same flights. We’ll be staying for 26 hours, but will make the most of it. Expect a full report with pictures when I get back. In the meantime I’ll keep blogging away…