Crazy Frequent Flyer Asians: UA38/37 Dreamliner Nonstop to LA, Vegas & Grand Canyon

[yflyer]

Continuing with the TR...

The transport situation on Griffith Observatory was chaotic...cars lined up chock-a-block right up Mt Hollywood to the dark driveway of the Observatory...

There was a regular bus service from the Observatory to the closest Metro station to Griffith Park, however lines were long, and we had to get to our dinner venue in a hurry...

My cell signal was erratic...the Uber app, which had served us so well during the trip, was not connecting...

And when the app finally connected over a weak cell data connection, the wait time was more than 10 minutes!

We already running a little late...how were we to get to our dinner venue in time?

An occasional empty taxi did drive through...Mrs yflyer went up to one, spoke to the driver, and gave a thumbs up....

We didn't want to be late for dinner, so we scrambled into the taxi for the long drive to Santa Monica to meet HUGE AL for dinner...

[yflyer]

Our dinner that evening was at Tar & Roses in Santa Monica, located not far from Santa Monica Pier...



HUGE AL was already inside, having literally landed back in LA just hours earlier...



The restaurant serves cuisine which is "globally inspired", according to their website...I would read that to mean modern American cuisine, and as we glanced through their menu, we saw several dishes with Asian influences...



...including "Singaporean chilli crab cake". We didn't order it on this occasion, but we were told that the Singaporean guests that had dined here had given them good feedback on this dish...

Another popular item was the bone marrow, but unfortunately it was sold out...

"Everyone said to try the bone marrow!"...HUGE AL said, looking mildly disappointed...

But of course there were many other dishes to sample...

Unusually, this restaurant did not have a bar, or serve cocktails. However the wine list was an impressive one...



They did have apple cider, though...Mrs yflyer and I had a glass of cider each, while HUGE AL ordered a glass of Barolo...



We ordered dishes to share, starting with oxtail dumplings...



...which tasted very fine and delicate...

Next up chicharon with figs...a nice combination...



The squid ink fettucini had superb flavour and texture...I would have been happy just having this one dish as a meal...



Tar & Roses had a large veggie menu...the many vegetarians on SQTalk, which include SQfanatic, would love the food here, I think!

The baby artichokes were wonderfully prepared, garnished with confit garlic, lemon yogurt, and mint...



...as were the wood roasted beets, with tarragon and feta cheese, which were an inspired combination...



We also ordered a fish, Branzino to share...also known as European Sea Bass, this was very impressive...

[yflyer]

This was the first time that Mrs yflyer and HUGE AL had met, and they seemed to hit off very well, which was not surprising given that they both were quite into food...

If these pics seemed to show a lot of food for three diners, it was...

By the time we ordered dessert, we were the the 2nd last table left in the restaurant...and the other couple sitting nearby soon paid the check and left too...



Dessert was well up to the standard of the dishes preceeding it...

A sinful Chocolate "Tar" Bar...



...and a slightly less sinful, but equally tasty, Strawberry Ricotta Crostata...



...which we accompanied with a glass of sparkling Malabaila Brachetto Birbet wine from Piedmont...



A superb restaurant with great food and wonderful staff...we would of course need to head back there at some point to sample the bone marrow and the Singaporean chilli crab cake!

[yflyer]

On the last day of our trip, we headed to Hollywood for a brief look around.

Our first stop was Amoeba Music, along Sunset Boulevard, which runs parallel to Hollywood Boulevard...

In an era where iTunes, Spotify, Tidal (My personal favourite) and other streaming music services are King, it was nice to go to a proper brick & mortar music store, to browse their selection of new and used CD's, LP's and even cassettes (!)...



The place was huge...



Apart from CDs, DVD's and Blu-ray Discs, there was a large selection of LPs, not to mention turntables...clearly LP's are currently experiencing a revival of sorts...



But what surprised me was the presence of cassettes tapes...



If I showed one of these to a kid these days, I don't think he or she would know what it was...

I was sorely tempted to pick up a few, just for old times sake...

We headed up one of the cross streets and ended up on Hollywood Boulevard, which was crowded with tourists...many many tourists...which we had managed to avoid in LA thus far...

Still, it was fun to walk along the pavement along the Hollywood Walk of Fame to read the names on the signs, and pick out those that we recognized (And many who we didn't...)...



We passed the TCL Chinese Theater, an oriental themed cinema where movies traditionally premiere, and this included "Crazy Rich Asians", which premiered here earlier in the month...



We spent a little more time wandering down Hollywood Boulevard...

Hollywood sign visible in the distance…



We caught an Uber back to the Sheraton...

[yflyer]

Back at the Sheraton, we took full advantage of the 4pm late checkout, and left our room at the stroke of four.

We left our luggage at the bell desk and headed out for a stroll and dinner.

We stopped by The Last Bookstore...



...which was a place we could have spent the rest of the day in...a very interesting selection of books, on display, and free to browse through, in a very relaxed setting...



Our dinner destination on this final evening was Grand Central Market -- the same place we had dinner when we had first landed in LA just over a week ago...

We headed to Sarita's Pupuseria...

HUGE AL had recommended this place, but it was closed when we first visited Grand Central Market just over a week ago. But Mrs yflyer, is, if nothing else, persistent when it comes to food. We headed there for our 2nd attempt to try their famous pupusas. And this time, we were happy to see that Sarita's was open.



In keeping with the Hollywood theme, there was a scene in the movie "La La Land" which was filmed at that spot, with Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone sitting at the corner bar stools...

We ordered their Pupusa, which is a Salvadoran dish made with a tortilla filled with meat, and served with a side of spicy coleslaw...

This was quite delicious...



We also sampled their tripe soup...



It was still fairly early in the evening when we went, so there wasn't much of a wait, but I have heard that later in the evening, the queues, and wait, could get very long...

A very satisfying meal...

We took a slow stroll back to the Sheraton, got our bags, and headed to LAX for our flight home...

[yflyer]

We checked in at LAX T7, which is where United's flights depart from. This includes United's international flights to Singapore and elsewhere (Not the International Terminal, which non-US airlines use!)

At 8.45pm, there was no check-in queue at the Premier / 1K / Star Gold check in counters, and almost no queue at the Premier Access security lanes either...



Once inside, we headed straight to the United Club...



This lounge was fairly busy when we first entered, but the crowd thinned out as the evening went on...

This was a very large lounge, decorated in a modern theme...

Comfortable lounge seating...





Some of the seating areas had good airside views...



High tables with bar stools...



The tables were equipped with (US) power sockets and USB charging ports...



Fresh fruit laid out under a large flight display...



There is a small outdoor verandah with seating...



It is always nice to be outside in an airport environment, to experience the sounds and smells of an airport...that said, at that spot, the smell of jet fuel was quite apparent...

[yflyer]

There is a large bar...





Many of the drinks on offer are chargeable...



...although a decent selection of beverages (Including wine, beer and liquor) were also available on a complimentary basis...



Prosecco for Mrs yflyer...



...my G&T...



There is a sit-down dining area...





The round tables have pop-up power sockets and USB points...



Coffee...



Soft beverages...



Some of the food/snack selections available...

Cookies...

[yflyer]

Snacks...



Salad...





Nuts...



Basically, at that hour, late in the evening, there were just nibbles available -- nothing more substantial than that.

[yflyer]

There are several cubicles for phone calls...



And a laser printer...



There were no showers in the lounge, although there were attached restroom facilities.

Overall a decent lounge, with stylish new decor, and a well stocked full service bar. Dining options were not up to the level of many other international airlines, though, and I wish United would include showers as part of their standard lounge facilities.

I did appreciate the well designed work tops, and ample power and charging facilities.

I would definitely want to spend time here before a flight, but would plan to have dinner beforehand.

[yflyer]

We headed to the gate for our flight, UA37 LAX-SIN, about an hour before departure.

A lot of information shown on the departure information screen, including a picture of our aircraft type, and even a picture of a Merlion…



Departure time was now 11.59pm, slightly delayed from the originally scheduled time of 11.30pm.

Once again, a very straightforward queuing system, numbered 1 & 2, with your boarding group printed on your boarding pass.



I was pleasantly surprised to see that the aircraft seat map was also displayed…today’s passenger load was very interesting indeed...for any airline looking to start non-stop service to Singapore, this would be a very interesting data point:



On this Monday evening, Business Class was nearly completely full. Apparently many companies are willing to allow their employees to travel J on long haul sectors.

On the other hand Economy Plus was nearly empty…far emptier than the regular Y cabin, in fact. For non-premium pax, the charge to sit in Y+ was quite high…and all you got was extra legroom. Note that Y+ is not the same as Premium Economy….it is just extra seat pitch, without any additional perks.

The Economy cabin was half full, with most of the empty seats towards the rear of the aircraft. Why the comparatively low Y load? Perhaps the fact that this was the start of the US school term may have had something to do with it.

I was quite delighted at this state of affairs in Economy. Like on our SIN-LAX outbound flight, Mrs yflyer and I were seated in the 2nd last row, on aisle seats on either side of the middle block, with a middle seat empty. Given the load, we were practically guaranteed an empty middle seat, or better…

Our aircraft that day was a Boeing 787-9 registration N15969, first delivered in February 2017.



A sleek aircraft, however I noticed something about this plane’s paint scheme that seemed odd. I’ll leave it to the reader to play “spot the difference”, compared to the outbound 787 on the SIN-LAX sector…

[yflyer]

Boarding was called. It seemed as if half the passengers qualified for Group 1, maybe more…

Certainly J was quite full. Business Class was, like the outbound SIN-LAX sector, the older generation fully flat product, laid out 2-2-2. While this is marketed by United as their “Polaris” product, J travellers on United should note that United positions “Polaris” as the overall J offering, including lounge, bedding, catering and other services, and not necessarily the new “Polaris” seat equipment, which is still progressively being rolled out.

The Economy Plus cabin, with extra legroom, was quite lightly loaded on this flight.



The lead cabin crew member took pains to announce over the PA that the passengers in Y+ had paid extra to sit there, and that passengers from Y were free to change seats within the Y cabin, but were requested not to move from Y to the Y+ cabin unless they had paid for the seats.



The Y cabin, laid out 3-3-3, was quite empty when we boarded, and largely remained so during the boarding process, especially in the rear of the plane.



When travelling on a red eye in Y, an empty seat next to you is good, but nothing quite beats a row of 3 seats to yourself…(Or 4 on planes that have this config…).

On this flight, it was likely that the seats around us would be empty.

On many flights, I would wait until cabin crew announce that doors were closed before changing seats to an empty row, but on this flight, I was a little more proactive (Which in this context is a synonym for “thick-skinned”…).

“Sit in the middle seat of the row”, I instructed Mrs yflyer…and put some stuff on the empty aisle seat…(“Chope!”).

I moved to the empty row next to her. 3 Y seats for each of us. So far so good.



If someone came along to claim their seat, I would move back (Which is where the “thick skin” comes in…)…but on this flight no-one did.

On this flight at least, the narrow 9-abreast Y seats on UA’s 787 would be a non-issue.

As boarding progressed, others came round to the empty rows and soon we were all nicely spaced out in the Y cabin, with many pax stretched out across 3 seats each. A win-win situation for everyone, except perhaps UA’s yield management team.

[yflyer]

A powerful night take-off on this 15 hr 33 minute flight to SIN…



Dinner was served immediately after take-off.

Two choices: Teriyaki noodles or chicken with rice. We chose one each…

The tray as served…



Mrs yflyer did not like her teriyaki noodles…



“The noodles taste strange”…she said…

I had a bite…a westerner’s view of Oriental noodles…a little too sweet…

The chicken, however, was quite tasty. Tender chunks of chicken in a mild sauce, with moist rice and vegetables which weren’t overcooked.



It was also great to get salad dressing with the salad – not something we can take for granted these days…



UA provides a very interesting selection of beers on this sector, including this Belgian Citradel, with notes of tangerine…



Vanilla ice cream for dessert…

[yflyer]

And after dinner, a long and comfortable slumber on my 3 seater Y-flat ™ bed…



Sweet dreams are made of these…I slept soundly for a long stretch of the flight…



Somewhere south of Japan, a snack was served…





Just a roll with a slice of meat and cheese, along with M&M’s…



Somewhere just past the Philippines, with 2+ hours to run…I got hungry again…



For my body clock, still on LA time, it was time for a very late breakfast / brunch...

I headed to the galley to ask for coffee and cranberry juice…



In the galley, the cheerful cabin crew were also happy to provide hot water for BYO Nongshim cup noodles...



My jetlag strategy for this westbound flight would be to sleep first (Which I did) and then stay awake for the remainder of the flight until arrival…so far so good…

[yflyer]

I checked out the inflight wifi…



A very informative web page, with flight details, and even a full airshow display…







…and live weather forecast…



All the above web pages were available free (Even if you did not sign up for a time-based internet plan).

As a bonus, several hotel and service provider websites were also available on a complimentary basis.



For example, you could access Marriott and Hyatt websites without having to sign up for inflight wifi. How convenient! A great idea…

[yflyer]

Cabin ambience in the Y+ cabin…



Note the see-through curtains to J…

Economy Class cabin ambience …



A view of the Y Emex row…



By then, the sun was rising…



I don’t think I will ever tire of watching sunrises from planes…