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Back to reality and United

Back to Reality and United... from Chicago to John Wayne/Orange County

My wonderful 24 hours of seemless, pampered travel ended abruptly as I bid adieu to Michelle and walked from one extreme to the other... from La Première to the third world s***hole that is Chicago O'Hare.  Gone is the convenient inter-terminal train, no doubt a victim of Chicago graft, corruption and politics.   In its place is a horrific bus shuttle service where there is no schedule and no one knows anything. 

 After 10 minutes where the only bus to come by was a Lot G parking bus, I gave up and did what I should have done right away... Uber.

 

Much, much better...

A few minutes later, Terminal 1 departures.

As I had already checked in on the UA app, I headed directly to PreCheck where amazingly I was the only passenger.

Into the B concourse, looking for the United Club.

Et voila.

Even though I was crediting this Lufthansa Miles & More, an friendly and helpful UC agent processed my TAP Star Alliance Gold card for entry and welcomed me.

Upstairs in the lounge, bright and spacious with lots of attractive seating and working areas.

Cool pics of vintage United planes.

And a much better than Admirals Club selection of serve yourself snack options.

At T-50, I headed out for the long trek to the C concourse.

The shuttered Polaris Lounge, nice when it is open.

 
Chicago ORD to John Wayne-Orange County SNA
United UA 2192
737-700 (pre merger CO)
7:40pm-9:45pm
April 2, 2021
Seat 1A

Boarding began at 7pm with the usual handicapped, families, GS and 1K.  Agent forgot Group 1 and started with the rear of the plane.  I decided to join the rear of the plane gang and asked "can Group 1 board?".   Obviously yes as other Group 1s had already boarded.

On board, my 1B seat mate provided the initial entertainent by settling into my 1A as I arrived.  "Isn't this 1B?"  LOL. Nice try or just clueless?  I would get my answer once we were inflight and I heard her order her beverage.

The AB side of the bulkhead has extra leg room cut-out.

Unlike the EF side.  Thanks expertflyer.com.

Once in the air, our flight attendant came around for drink orders.  I ordered a Diet Coke.  Then she asks my seat mate....

1B: I'll have a Pellegrino, please
FA: We don't have Pellegrino
1B. Do you have Perrier?  
FA: No but we have Dasani.
 
And so it was a Dasani mini bottle for the lady in 1B.  Food options were the infamously bad Blue Label bag sandwiches or what our FA claimed was "our new Snackbox".

Which turned out to be nothing more than one of the old Snackboxes with a new box design.  Carbs anyone?

We arrive 10 minutes early at John Wayne and I figured a quick Uber and I'd be home by 10:20pm at the latest.  Wrong.  It was only then that I discovered the problem with a 10pm Uber pick-up.  OK, like 6 other flights just landed and dozens of us wanted Uber.  The app was straight forward... cars supposedly available at $32-$36.  But no driver would confirm.  Then surge pricing kicked in and the price jumped to $80-$100.  Sheesh.  Twenty minutes later and after two confirmations where drivers just disappeared, I connected witth a Lyft driver at a reasonable-ish $47, and got home in South County just before 11pm.

The United leg notwithstanding, what a memorable trip and a wonderful 24 hours with Air France La Première. Thanks for following along.