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United Airlines First Class B737 Seattle to San Francisco

an airplane wing with a mountain in the background

A Weekend in la Ciudad de México – Introduction


United Airlines 1730
Seattle (SEA) – San Francisco (SFO)
Boeing 737-900
10 June 2015

I arrived at Seattle Airport about twenty minutes after leaving my house since it was mid-day and there was no traffic and I also live really close to the airport, which is a huge advantage since I’m constantly flying. The flight to San Francisco was scheduled to depart at 17:00 and I arrived at about 14:30 to visit a couple of lounges in Seattle and also to get some work done.

Most lounges were crowded as it was mid-day and there were a ton of flights departing and therefore I ended up going to my United Club to spend some time and reply to emails. I seriously can’t wait until Seattle gets the new United Club food.. right now it just plain sucks!

United Club Drink
United Club Drink

After spending about an hour in the United Club, I decided to visit my new favourite lounge in Seattle, The Club at SEA in Concourse A, where it was completely empty and quiet. The lounge is located at the far end of Concourse A therefore rarely anybody goes there. The nice thing is that the lounge is huge compared to the other ones and has great food.. I’d even say the best out of all the lounges in Seattle.

The Club at SEA Snack
The Club at SEA Snack

At about 16:20, boarding began at gate A10 for the 17:00 flight to San Francisco, which was operated by a Boeing 737-900 with IFE. I was among the last people to board via Premier Access Group 1.

United Airlines Boeing 737-900
United Airlines Boeing 737-900

I quickly found my seat, 3A, and was kind of surprised that no pre-departure beverages were offered. I think this might be the third flight this month where no pre-departure beverages were served… has that been enhanced away, or?

Legroom was quite generous and the best for a one and a half hour flight.

United B739 First Class Legroom
United B739 First Class Legroom

Upon sitting down, I immediately changed the IFE to display the Airshow map since I cannot stand the constant advertising and commercials.

United B739 First Class Seat
United B739 First Class Seat

Overall it was a gorgeous day in Seattle with a temperature of 28 degrees C. Can you believe it was colder in Mexico than in Seattle for the entire time I was in Mexico? The heat actually made me super tired and therefore I was glad that I would be ‘escaping’ the heat… in Mexico!

Seattle Airport
Seattle Airport

We pushed back on schedule and made it to runway 16L about five minutes before scheduled departure time, we were number one for departure. Here’s a video of the takeoff:

Seattle Airport Runway
Seattle Airport Runway
Seattle Airport
Seattle Airport
Seattle Airport
Seattle Airport
Seattle Airport
Seattle Airport
Seattle Airport
Seattle Airport

Since we departed in the southbound direction, I could immediately enjoy the captivating views of Mount Rainier and the surrounding areas of the pacific northwest.

Departing Seattle
Departing Seattle
Mount Rainier
Mount Rainier
Mount Rainier
Mount Rainier
Wing
Wing

I mean how beautiful is this view!?! For the entire duration of the flight, I was glued to the window just enjoying the views – a perfect cloudless day.

Mount Rainier
Mount Rainier
Washington
Washington
Washington
Washington
Washington
Washington
View
View
Wing View
Wing View

Once we reached 35k feet, the flight attendant working First Class took drink orders and also made an announcement stating that the plane wasn’t re-catered in Seattle and therefore they would only have water and orange juice for Economy Class. Apparently they somehow forgot to cater it for the return flight to San Francisco when the plane left SFO earlier.

United B739 First Class Seat
United B739 First Class Seat
United B739 First Class
United B739 First Class

And they also didn’t have any clean glasses for First Class drinks and instead most people got their drinks in plastic cups… Ay, ay, ay United! Also, they didn’t cater any snacks… I will let it go since this is the first time it has happened, plus it’s not like I was hungry after eating plenty in the lounge.

Tea
Tea

The flight went by super fast and before I knew it, we were starting to descend into San Francisco, where we met with lots of clouds.

San Francisco
San Francisco
San Francisco
San Francisco
San Francisco
San Francisco
San Francisco
San Francisco
San Francisco
San Francisco
San Francisco
San Francisco
San Francisco
San Francisco
San Francisco
San Francisco
San Francisco
San Francisco

We landed about twenty minutes before scheduled arrival time and I had about a four hour layover and therefore I decided to eat dinner in the Centurion Lounge and then later visit some new lounges in the International Terminal that I’ve yet to go to.

The dinner menu was a bit different! No fried chicken and instead they had some kind of steak and real potatoes. The salad and dressing was perfect as usual and I was able to eat a nice dinner.

AMEX Centurion Lounge Dinner
AMEX Centurion Lounge Dinner

Later I opted for a Mimosa which was served nicely in a champagne flute.

AMEX Centurion Lounge Mimosa
AMEX Centurion Lounge Mimosa

And then lastly for dessert, I went for coffee and a cookie, not the healthiest in the world, but whatever.

AMEX Centurion Lounge Coffee
AMEX Centurion Lounge Coffee

All in all, I spent about two hours in the Centurion Lounge and another two exploring additional lounges in the international terminal, reviews of those up next!