Frankfurt - Washington DC (Dulles)
B 777-200
Economy
Departure Time: 13:30
November 21
Check In: The check in was swift and smooth. The usual question at first then we were straight at the check in counter. We got the seats we wanted 19
A,B,C and our connecting boarding passes too!!
Boarding: The flight was basically half full so boarding began and the plane was loaded within 15 minutes. We left 5 minutes early.
The Flight: This was my second flight on UA's 777 so I knew what I was in for! The seats were ok...not the best...not the worst. The cabin crew was an electic mix from all over the world. We were handed a menu for the following:
Sliced ham with asparagus
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Garden fresh salad with vinaigrette
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Breast of Chicken Parmesan
Fettuccine with mariana sauce and green beans
OR
Cheese ravioli with pesto Alfredo sauce
Tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese
OR
Grilled salmon with herbed butter
Vegetable rice, green beans and sliced carrots
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Wild berry cake
BEFORE LANDING
Tomato and mozzarella cheese panini sandwich
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Oven grinder with American mustard sauce
Ham, salami and provolone cheese with red peppers
I chose the chicken and it was pretty good...atleast by US airline
standards. Plus before landing for the sandwich I chose the Salami one and
was very good. The one major problem I had with this flight was the
entertainment. Yes we had PTV's but mine did not work, neither did my audio.
My dad moved to the row behind us since it was empty. So I switched to 19B
and guess what.... The plug for the headphones was messed up. I would have
to push on the wire to hear something. I finally got it plugged in and used
the armrest to keep it in place. The movies was "Disney's The Kid." The
other channel had "" and the rest were Discovery channel and other stuff
like that but no comedies!!! I was looking forward to watching something
like "Fraiser" or "Friends" but no luck!!
Arrival: The arrival was swift and smooth.. We parked in the United area and
were through immigration in 5 minutes! Our bags came out in 15 minutes and we
put them on the carousel off they went.
United #1411
Washington DC (Dulles) - Tampa
B 727-200
Economy
Departure Time: 17:35
November 21 2000
Boarding: Being the Thanksgiving time of year the plane was packed! We
boarded in a pretty orderly fashion and found our seats 17 D,E,F. We left
30 minutes late.
The Flight: The seats were small and narrow and were pretty much not
comfortable bur for a 1 1/2 flight it did not matter much! We were served a
"snack" on this flight which consisted of out drink of choice, coleslaw, a
brownie and a small pressed sandwich consisting of cheese and a slice of
turkey. Considering I had flown TPA - ORD in January and was served a full
hot meal this was a disappointment.
United # 201
Tampa - Washington DC (Dulles)
A320 - 200
Economy
Departure Time: 1435
November 26 2000
Check In: There was absolutely no line which was amazing considering this was the Sunday after Thanksgiving(one of the busiest days in air travel in the US) Our bags were checked through and we were give our boarding passes straight threw to Frankfurt. We asked if we could have seats in the forward part of the aircraft since we had a 50 min connection in Dulles but could only seem to manage 17 A and 20 B,C. We left the gate at exactly 14:25. Our actual acceleration down the runway was at 15:30. Apparently there were storms around Florida and Jacksonville’s radar was out so all northbound departures were sitting on the side of the runway, CO, TW, NW etc…
The Flight: I personally like Airbus and have never flown it with a US airline. For some reason it seemed much better kept than the 737's and 727's. After some of the roughest turbulence I have ever experienced we were served drinks and a small packet of "party mix". I guess most of the passengers were connecting since the crew made an announcement stating the gate number and if they were on time, too many passengers were complaining about their close connections. We landed at 16:55.
UA #906
Washington DC (Dulles) - Frankfurt
777-200
Economy
Departure Time: 17:25
November 26 200
We landed in D15 and our flight to FRA was in gate C1!! That’s nearly 3/4ths of the terminal. So we ran and so did the passengers getting of in the two gates next to us from MIA and MCO. When we made it to the gate we were sweating with the words FINAL CALL flashing! As we stepped on the jetway we saw a few more people running on from MCO. Once we got on and found our seats 37 A,B,C, the pilot announced that we were going to have to wait for another 10 minutes for passengers from FTL. Great now they say something. Anyway the usual menus and headphones were handed out. We left at 17:35.. 10 minutes late.
The Flight: The flight was pretty much the same. The movie was "The Perfect Storm" and the menu looked like this:
Poached Salmon with fresh tomato and mayonnaise
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Garden fresh salad with balsamic vinaigrette
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Hibachi-roasted chicken
Sautéed Chinese cabbage and steamed rice
OR
Four cheese manicotti
Chunky Cajun tomato sauce
OR
Texas brisket with tangy barbecue sauce
Roasted cheese potatoes and corn with black beans
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Eli's Chocolate Mousse torte
BEFORE LANDING
Chive-n-scrambled egg cheddar cheese wrap
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Ham and Monterey Jack cheese on focaccia bread
The chicken was good and the scrambled egg thing was the worst thing I have ever had. I managed to get some sleep and woke up before breakfast.
Arrival: We arrived at 6:30 or about 35 minutes early. We were the only flight in that part of the terminal and were out of immigration in 10 minutes. Our bag was the first one on the carousel, which was a relief. So our bags made it!!
Overall United offers a product that I like and think it is similar to Lufthansa's economy product. The crew were pretty decent and there seemed to be a lot more smiles than in June (hehehe-wonder why!) The best part of the trip was listening to channel 9, "From the Cockpit"!!!!
Overall: 7/10
SR 103
