I have always wanted to take a direct flight to the west coast of the US. Something about flying over Greenland and Northern Canada has always appealed to me, and the easiest way to do this would be to head from Europe to San Francisco. United still operate the B747-400 on this route, and when a cheap fare came up I managed to book ARN-FRA-SFO-LHR for just £340, and planned it for mid summer when I would be able to see the scenery in daylight, as well as scoring one last trip on a 747-400.
Of course, in the meantime, the whole saga of United Airlines PR came up, and I started to get very nervous ahead of my flight as to whether I would be allowed to film, whether the crew would be rude, or simply whether I'd have an awful flight. I was not looking forward to it at all, but giving up would have been worse than having a go, so with some trepidation I set foot onboard United's beautiful B747-400 at Frankfurt. The trepidation lasted as far as the boarding door, when I was greeted by perhaps the most friendly American FA I've ever encountered. This service continued as I met the other crew members, some of the friendliest US crews I've met across any North American legacy carrier. The flight was absolutely beautiful, with some of the greatest scenery I've ever seen across Greenland, Baffin Island, Northwest Territories, Alberta and the west coast of the US down to SFO, where I had a tear in my eye as I saw the most beautiful city from the very best position. The crew were amazing, very happy and friendly and more importantly didn't have an issue with me filming. The food was mostly pretty great, and I was fed throughout the flight with dinner, snacks, drinks, ice cream, chocolate, it seemed like I was eating throughout the flight! Of course there were no PTVs which was a bit of a shame, but with the views from the window, none were needed!
I left this flight with a changed perception of United, I was even chatting to the purser as we queued for CBP. Sure they've had some bad press, but in my experience from this flight (and my return flight which I'll post soon), United were amazing. Perhaps it's just SFO based crews, perhaps it's because I had such low expectations to start with, but this ranked as one of my most enjoyable flights yet.
I like to film each flight in full length, so you can watch the entire flight or just click through to the parts you're interested in. The full length flight video is here:
Full Length Flight Video
Airline: United Airlines
Flight: UA927 (callsign "UNITED 927")
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400 N181UA
From: Frankfurt (FRA)
To: San Francisco (SFO)
Departure: 17:50
Arrival: 19:33
Flight Time: 10:43
Seat: 53A
Flight Path: http://infl.it/fnotmOur trip to San Francisco begins today in the terminal at Frankfurt International Airport. We make our way to our gate, Z25, where our beautiful aircraft is waiting for us. After a secondary security check and document check we board our aircraft and take our seat in row 53. Before long we are welcomed onboard by our captain, Molly Flanagan, who welcomes us aboard 'this beautiful Boeing 747, which we have the privilege of flying to San Francisco today'. We soon push back from the stand and the mighty engines power into life, before we taxi to runway 25C. We make a heavy climb out, before making a right turn to head towards Germany's north coast. We fly north over the North Sea, before hitting the east coast of Greenland around 3.5 hours into the flight. We are treated to fantastic views of the mountains in the east of Greenland, before heading across the enormous Greenland Ice Sheet, which is 680 miles wide. After we cross Greenland's west coast, we fly over Baffin Island, Canada, and get some amazing views of Canada's frozen north. We head down across the Northwest Territories towards Yellowknife, before the ground gradually changes from ice to rock, and eventually plains as we fly over Alberta. We get a great view of Edmonton, and Banff National Park. From there we head into the US over Washington which is cloudy. The cloud clears again as we pass into Oregon, giving us great views of the Beaver State. We head towards the border with California, crossing more beautiful scenery as we head south. We commence our descent and are soon getting a wonderful view of San Francisco. We pass the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, downtown and the entire bay area all within a few minutes. We then make a sweeping left turn over the mountains, taking a visual approach to runway 28R. We approach over the bay and touch down very smoothly on runway 28R. We then exit the runway and taxi into the terminal, disembarking through the forward doors and saying goodbye to Captain Molly Flanagan as we leave the aircraft. We head to CBP (passport control) and then through the baggage claim and customs, emerging from the airport on a beautiful sunny evening.
TIMELINE
0:00:06 Walking through Frankfurt Airport to departure gate
0:06:38 Our Boeing 747 on stand
0:07:18 Boarding and taking our seat in 53A
0:48:47 Captain Molly Flanagan welcomes us onboard
0:58:00 Pushback and engine start
1:00:04 Safety video
1:05:40 Taxi to runway 25C
1:11:13 Takeoff from runway 25C
1:37:39 After takeoff water
1:39:34 After takeoff snack
1:44:15 Crossing Dutch coast near to Groningen
1:52:43 Cabin overview
2:06:14 Checking our progress on the Flight Nav app and FlightRadar24
2:16:55 Dinner service
2:26:55 Wine service
2:44:32 Cabin overview
4:35:46 Cabin overview
4:37:14 Crossing east coast of Greenland
5:04:57 Rear cabin overview
5:12:42 Cabin overview
5:30:37 Cabin overview
6:23:11 Ice floes in Baffin Bay
6:31:23 Crossing Canadian coast over Baffin Island
6:43:52 Beautiful inlets on Baffin Island
7:37:59 Drinks service
9:04:30 East of Fort McMurray, Alberta
9:30:00 Edmonton, Alberta
9:51:38 Banff National Park
10:47:47 Malheur National Forest, OR
10:48:58 Snack service
10:58:33 Lake Abert, OR
11:04:28 Fremont National Forest, OR
11:14:53 Burney Mountain, CA
11:24:00 Close flyby: Alaska Airlines B737-800, SJC-PDX
11:28:45 Top of descent
11:29:35 Antelope Valley, CA
11:30:08 ATC: Contacting Oakland Center
11:36:02 Petaluma, CA
11:38:32 San Pablo Bay, CA
11:40:29 San Franciso Bay, Golden Gate Bridge
11:41:06 San Francisco, CA
11:43:52 San Mateo Bridge
11:44:40 Foster City, CA
11:52:38 Turning onto final approach to runway 28R
11:55:15 Landing on runway 28R, taxi to gate
12:06:20 Disembarking through forward doors, walking through terminal