Trip Report: United Airlines SFO – SAN

March 4, 2012

United Airlines 996

San Francisco (SFO) – San Diego (SAN)

Boeing 757-200

Window Seat, 3A, First Class

 

At SFO way too early in the morning

About a day before we left San Francisco for San Diego our first class upgrades went through. I was kind of half-expecting this since we were leaving on a Sunday morning at 600am and this was a relatively short flight. There are multiple flights between SFO and SAN as well. This was also my first time ever having a complimentary upgrade on United. Being a lowly premier member meant never getting an upgrade.

Our flight was the day after United and Continental merged and switched over to the SHARES system and it was apparent at check-in that some bugs weren’t quite fixed yet.

We woke up extremely early around 245am to check out of the hotel by 330am (maybe we were a little too early). I wanted to make sure we had enough time to clear up any issues since I was a bit skeptical about the upgrade (my premier status technically ended on March 2).

We dropped the car off at the rental car center and took the Air Train to the terminal. At first I went to the regular economy line, but went to the premier access line because of the upgrade.

I tried using my old mileage plus number, credit card, and even my confirmation number, but none of that went through. When United switched systems, everything changed including my confirmation number. I was worried that my upgrade was a glitch, but after receiving my boarding passes, I was happy it wasn’t.

Since it was still early, we decided to just go to the regular security line, which didn’t take long. It was still super early before boarding so we decided to grab some breakfast.

SFO at 500am doesn’t have much going on but a few places were open for breakfast.

Plane from SFO - SAN

Before long we boarded our plane which was quite empty. We actually just boarded all rows at the same time since there were so few people flying to San Diego.

Sunrise

First class on United’s Boeing 757-200s are kind of old, nothing special. It was nice having a little extra room, although I’ve always found the legroom and configuration of legroom on these planes a little weird.

Legroom

First class was about 80% full as some crew members filled up the empty first class seats.

Different angle of legroom

Once we were airborne, we were offered some beverages and the flight attendants handed out warm blueberry scones for the inflight snack. The flight was about an hour and a half and we arrived in San Diego on time.

Blueberry scone for our in-flight snack

I’m glad we decided to park our car at Terminal 1 since we were back home in 20 minutes after we got off the plane.

For some reason my mileage plus account was not credited with this flight. I tried putting in my flight ticket number, but it said something like award miles don’t count as miles. I’m trying to get this worked out since I didn’t book this flight with miles, but with cash. If I don’t get the miles, it’s no big deal since it’s only worth about 500 miles.

Overall, first class on the Boeing 757 isn’t bad, mostly because it’s not economy. I’ve been on first class on this aircraft on the SEA – ORD and ORD – SAN routes, and they’re not bad for longer flights. I feel that as a lowly premier member (for now), your best shot at getting an upgrade is too fly at off-peak times (obviously) like on Sundays at 600am. I also think that shorter routes can raise your chances to getting an upgrade (just a speculation).

Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport Review

It wasn’t until this year that I realized that there are some benefits of having elite status with hotels. I’ve always had an account with various hotel awards programs, but I never paid attention to earning status. After reading some blogs and reviewing several hotel benefits programs, I decided to focus my stays with Hyatt, Starwood, Hilton, and Marriott.

Since our stay in San Francisco was short, I decided to book a hotel near the airport. I read two reviews on the Hyatt SFO Airport and decided to give it a try. I considered staying at a Marriott to qualify for the 2,000 mile bonus, but decided that I still have some time before April 30. I booked the cheapest AAA king-sized bed rate; nothing fancy or special.

AirTrain to the rental car center

After arriving from Phoenix, we took the AirTrain to the rental car center at the airport. It took about 20 minutes to get from the rental car front desk to leaving the rental car center in the rental car. After another 20 minute drive, we parked at the hotel parking garage (parking costs $20/night). Check-in went smoothly and I was pleased by the professionalism of the front desk.

Atrium

Room

Our room was on the eighth floor and faced the atrium which had a great view. The room smelled good and looked clean. I noticed that the room was a bit worn, but didn’t really matter. The room had an empty fridge which was nice and a plenty of desk space. The bathroom was just okay as the tiles weren’t as immaculate as I expected, but once again, not a big deal.

King sized bed

Bed

The shower head pressure was strong which I prefer. However, everything else seemed mediocre. Nothing bad and nothing too impressive.

Bathroom

We tried out the sports bar in the atrium and had some mixed feelings about it. First, the food was fairly good. We ordered a Panini and some ribs and both were decent. Service was kind of slow, but expected. It started getting crowed and I was kind of annoyed that it took a while to get our food and desserts. Never got a refill on the water.

Room fridge, water is not complimentary

The bed was comfortable and had a decent sleep, although we had to wake up early for our 600am flight back to San Diego. Check out was a simple affair, quick and efficient.

Golden Gate Bridge

Overall, I thought that our stay was great. I was a little underwhelmed with the room, but then again, it was a great price for a four-star, airport hotel. I thought the employees at the front desk were great and appreciated their professionalism. I think I would stay again, but I’m curious about the quality of the other hotels in the area.

Pros

Location

Nice atrium/lobby

Decent price for a four star

Great customer service

Cons

Rough towels

Weird, green stain on towel

A little bit worn, old

Pay for parking, can get crowded in the garage

Trip Report: US Airways SAN-PHX-SFO

March 3, 2012

US Airways 488

San Diego (SAN) – Phoenix (PHX)

Airbus A321-100/200

Window Seat, 26F, Economy

US Airways 407

Phoenix (PHX) – San Francisco (SFO)

Airbus A320-100/200

Aisle Seat, 5D, Economy

Plane going from SAN to PHX

If there’s one thing I like more than traveling it’s having a companion while traveling. Traveling is an experience that can be rewarding going solo, but I feel that it’s a lot more fun when it’s an experience that’s shared.

Since my significant other lives on the other side of the country, we don’t often travel together. It’s usually one of us traveling to the other side to meet up with the other. Before spring break, I looked for some cheap flights with decent mileage earnings departing from southern California. I ended up settling on a trip for two going to San Francisco for only one night. I wasn’t interested in exploring SF, but the whole point of the trip was to have some fun traveling with my girlfriend.

Our outbound flight was SAN – PHX – SFO and our return was SFO – SAN. We decided to leave our car at Terminal 1 and take the bus to Terminal 2. When we returned, we could easily get our car and leave (US Airways is at T2 and United is at T1).

Even though our flight was at 955am, we decided to leave early to make sure we didn’t run into any issues (forgetting something, unexpected traffic, etc.) and arrived at the airport at around 815am. Since we didn’t check in any bags, we got our boarding passes and were soon in the security line which was long for a Saturday morning.

Boarding flight to PHX

Even though it was after the United/Continental conversion and after date my Premier status technically expired, I was still boarding zone 2 on US Airways (probably a glitch in the system).

Flight to PHX

 

Tray table

Our flight to Phoenix was packed with about every seat taken. Since we were riding on an A321, we had wi-fi onboard which made the hour and a half flight go by quickly. Since the flight was short, we decided to book a window and middle seat. Before long, we arrived at Phoenix, on time and with no issues.

Legroom for window seat

 

Legroom for middle seat

Our layover in Phoenix was about 2 hours and we had plenty of time to look around and grab some lunch. PHX was an okay airport, nothing really special about it. I honestly don’t remember anything about it other than it has some seats without armrests, great for taking a nap/sleeping at the airport.

America West? Really?

 

Not bad for taking a nap

Boarding to SFO was early and not sure why we were moved to the second row behind the front of economy class. We still had the middle and aisle seat like we requested, just moved up. The plane we flew in seemed quite old. As you can see, the interior feels like we went back to 1996 and I assumed that this used to be an America West plane. No wi-fi on this plane although the flight was a mere two hours, no big deal. Once again, we left on time and with no issues. We arrived at the airport and took the AirTrain to the rental car center.

Boarding flight to SFO

 

Legroom on A320

 

Old school interior

For it’s price, less than $200 for two people, the flight to SFO was great. No delays and I had a great time having a travel companion. Earning some miles toward Premier 1k wasn’t bad either.

 

Premier 1K mileage count: 17885 miles down, 82115/100000 miles to go

From ideas to concrete plans

Next week, I’ll be heading to San Diego to kick off my travels for the next three weeks. I just booked some extra flights to ensure I hit at least 25,000 miles on United by the end of March. Here’s where I’ll be heading to:

Travel plans for Feb/March

02/24- LYH-CLT-SAN on US Airways

02/26 – SAN-CLT-LYH on US Airways

03/02- ROA-ORD-SAN on United Airlines

03/03- SAN-PHX-SFO on US Airways

03/04- SFO-SAN on United Airlines

03/05- SAN-CLT-FLL on US Airways

03/06- FLL-CLT-SAN on US Airways

03/12- SAN-ORD-ROA  on United Airlines

By March, I should accumulate around  15,830 miles to just go over the minimum of 25,000 for Premier status.

I’ll be visiting the airports at Lynchburg and Fort Lauderdale for the first time along which is something I’m actually looking forward to. I’m planning to do reviews of the flights and hotels I plan on staying at, so be on the look out for those.