Off to Ireland
Mrs. SFO777 and I are off to Ireland today to meet our OC travel friends for a week in the Emerald Isle. They left Friday after I got them two last minute Lufthansa First seats on the evening LAX-FRA nonstop.
The idea of Ireland started last summer after our fabulous Belmond/Orient Express barge cruise in the South of France. Belmond had announced their new Grand Hibernian train touring around Ireland. We booked almost a year ago, but delays in completing the train resulted in them canceling the 1st three weeks, including our week 3 trip. Since we had already planned for Ireland, we just made other hotel and tour arrangements. We saved money on the deal and received a sizable "we're sorry" discount on a future Belmond train or cruise. Yay.
After our amazing Air France experience last year, we are both excited to be back on Air France and in La Première for the first of three long haul La Première flights in the next 6 weeks. Today, we are flying out of SFO as the return of our ex-OSL ticket from last year. So first stop is our local John Wayne Airport for the quick flight to SFO. Or so we thought. SFO weather and ATC delays gave us an extra hour on the ground at SNA as we waited for the ATC OK to depart. Fortunately, I always build in 3-4 hour connect time on separate ticket connections like today.
With only 20 minutes before our original boarding time and before any announced delays, we passed on the crowded Admirals Club and head for Gate 12.
Yeah, she looks like she's headed to the right city. As Mrs. SFO777 noted, no doubt she looked in the mirror this morning and said "damn I look good today". LOL.
Our first ATC delay.
And another one.
OK, time for something to eat.
Santa Ana-San Francisco
United Express 5337
E75
10:47a-12:17p (sked)
12:13p-1:35p (actual)
August 21, 2016
Seats 3CD
After sitting for 90 minutes at the gate and watching one delay after another, Mrs. SFO777 decided she wanted to stand and be gate lice today. You go girl. No Global Service, military in uniform or families with small children under the age of 2, so we boarded at 11:45a.
I just love when an unfiltered Mrs. SFO777 speaks her mind. She wasn't expecting a United Express flight. so I got an memorable earful as we took our seats. I know now to write to stuff down so I have her exact words today...
"… What kind of a fricking plane is this? This is not a real plane!… You never said it was United Express, you just said United...
A few seconds later, more good ones…
"... We waited all that time for this? What's the point of being in First?"
And my favorite of the morning...
"… Why don't we charter next time? How much would that cost?..."
UA messaging. Usually pretty good but a little late on the last delay.
On the other hand, pleasant FA Ricardo offered an open bar PDB and was great on the short flight.
OK, I guess this is not so bad. United's inflight entertainment system is working and Mrs. SFO777 watches a movie.
We landed at 1:20p or about an hour late, and the did a few loops around the taxiways as our gate was still occupied.
We pulled up to the gate at 1:35pm and headed for the SFO branch of Yannkee Pier, of our of faves when we lived in San Francisco.
We both had the seafood tacos, one shrimp, the other blackened snapper.
