Wow. What a difference a change of crew makes! Not to mention it’s a normal time for me to be awake right now.
So I was completely wrong about the crew probably remaining the same. My guess is that ALB-DCA was a reserve crew given the overnight and short hop prior to being done for the day. That aside, this crew is great.
Same pre-departure beverage service. Anything that’s available. Please UA, for the love of your passengers, give up the water or oj crap. Too much oj destroys my stomach, and water is boring! I had a cup of coffee (US serves disgusting coffee compared to the “starbucks” special blend that UA serves).
Taking off from DCA, as usual, is absolutely terrible. They seem to use 2 runways…one of which is always available for express planes only. That means only 1 runway for departures and arrivals for mainline aircraft. Annoying! After a 25 minute taxi/hold, we took off towards Tampa.
It was noon somewhere, and in true FT tradition, it was time to have a cocktail. I noticed service starts as soon as we reach 10k feet instead of cruise altitude…which is a welcome change from UA. Since it’s so early, I chose my normal early morning beverage, cranberry and vodka. The great part about the first class FA on this flight was that she insisted on providing me a mini whenever I finished the previous. There were only short periods of time between when I crafted my own cocktail and when another cranberry juice or vodka was delivered. These are the time when I wish I could use my GTEMs on US.
The flight was great. Very little turbulence, nice crew, and nice flight pattern for takeoff and landing.
Some random thoughts…
The sodoku in the US magazine (which has to be the worst I’ve seen as far as the articles are concerned) is much more challenging than the UA equivalent. Much appreciated.
The uniform options for both in-flight and ground crews for US employyes are extensive. Some wear what I’d call fleece shirts. Some wear proper uniforms. And others need some help! I would normally say that this promotes laziness (I’m a suit and tie kinda guy)…but the friendliest and most customer-service oriented employees I’ve met are wearing the fleeces.
That’s all for now. We’re on final. Not a bad trip all-in-all!
