After spending about 30 minutes in the American Airlines Admirals club, we gathered our things and made the long walk back to the end of terminal 2 west to board our flight to San Francisco. We actually timed it pretty well – by the time we got to the gate, they had just called our boarding group (2) so we were able to walk right onto the airplane without waiting. I wish it was always that easy. But first, let’s back up for a second so I can show you the United Airlines check in counters here at the gorgeous new terminal at SAN:
With that out of the way, let’s catch back up to real time and get this show on the road to SFO.
UA1481
San Diego (SAN) – San Francisco (SFO)
Saturday, October 4 2014
Aircraft: Boeing 737-900
Seat: 28B (economy)
It occurred to me as I was boarding the aircraft that I have been doing a lot of flying to and from San Francisco this year. I was just there in August on a trip via Virgin America, and I kicked off my trip to Seoul last April with a very similar SFO-bound United Airlines flight just like this one. Even though that totals only three flights, it didn’t stop me from thinking “here I go again”.
Immediately upon entering the aircraft, I noticed a plaque on the closet wall that signified this aircraft as being designated to the “United 100” annual award winners. I didn’t even know that they designated an aircraft for this, so that was something interesting to think about as I walked back to my middle seat in row 28.
Yeah, the dreaded middle seat. As a matter of fact, three of my flights (the longest ones) on this trip involve sitting in a middle seat so my wife could have the aisle, and that made it difficult to get excited about this adventure. But it was important to me that she was comfortable, so it wasn’t the end of the world or anything.
This particular aircraft was fitted with slimline seats, which I thought helped to make the cabin look clean and fresh. Yes, the seats were a bit more firm than a normal seat, but I didn’t find them all that uncomfortable like others have been saying. The added bonus was the in-seat power outlets. The one at my seat wasn’t tight enough to hold the plug for my iPhone however – I actually had to hold it in with the back of my leg so it wouldn’t fall out.
The flight was completely full and we departed right on time. I actually fell asleep soon after takeoff and didn’t take any more pics after that. The fact that I was able to soundly sleep in a middle slimline seat should say a lot about how comfortable this flight was. It would have been better up in first class I’m sure, but oh well.
It was a pretty nice flight up to the bay area this morning, and despite how notorious SFO is for cloudy and gloomy weather, we arrived under clear and sunny skies. That in itself isn’t very remarkable, but I thought it was interesting that every single time I’ve flown into SFO this year, the weather has been perfect. Maybe I should play the lottery or something…
