UA2 SIN-SFO 787-9 Polaris Business to San Francisco, Baseball and Yo-Yo Ma in Chicago

[yflyer]

"Go to Chicago Chop House and grab a steak!!!", fellow SQTalker Kyo suggested, when he learned that I was in Chicago.

Kyo is a man who knows his food...I had to try it.

The Chicago Chop House was just 280m away from the Aloft. Amazing how much good food there was within a 1km radius of the Aloft Chicago River North!



This was a multi-storey restaurant with bar and high tables/stools on the ground floor...



...and regular table seating on the next level...



This was a classic steak house menu...



...with Steak as the main focus...



I liked the fact that you had a choice of both dry aged and wet aged steaks.

Sides were ordered separately...



Complimentary bread and butter to start...



Cocktails...





...and wines by the glass...



I began with a martini...

[yflyer]

Knowing my appetite, and the gargantuan size of US portions, I ordered the Petite NY Strip...

This arrived at my table sizzling hot, with a beautiful crust, adorned with a giant onion ring...



I immediately regretted ordering the smaller Petite size, instead of the Grand NY Strip. I might not have been able to finish the Grand, but I would have loved to at least make a valiant attempt to do so...

In any case, my steak was incredibly delicious...a moist, red interior and an amazing charred crust which tasted divine...



"This is F*ing good steak...I am questioning my loyalty to Rockpool Bar and Grill", I whatsApped Kyo and a few other SQTalk buddies...

My side of whipped yukon mashed potatoes was tasty as well...



...but the real star here was the spectacular steak...



I had no time to eat at the Chicago Chop House on any other occasion that week, but this place would be right on top of my list to places to return to, to if I had to head back to ORD...

[yflyer]

There was a baseball game on that week.



This was a rare game between two Chicago-based teams, the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Cubs. The rivalry between the teams, and also between the fans of the teams, was intense.

My colleagues in Chicago had tickets to the ball game, and they invited me along. I caught the subway from downtown to the ballpark...



The train was full of baseball fans. The train emerged from the tunnels under Chicago and continued overground as we headed out of the city, to Wrigley Field.



Wrigley Field was the 2nd oldest Ballpark in the USA...



Given the rivalry between the fans of both teams, and the large crowd expected, there was a large police and security presence at the game. This included mounted police...



...and also Police on more modern rides...



There were metal detectors at the entrance, and even some Police in full tactical gear. That said, the crowd, while really boisterous and enthusiastic, was good natured, and not at all aggressive, during the entire game...



...despite the copious amounts of alcohol being served...



Why was it that beer, spirits and cocktails flowed freely at baseball games in the USA, when in Europe, spectators at football (Soccer...) matches between FC Barcelona and other teams at Camp Nou had to be content with 0.0% alcohol beer?

[yflyer]

It was a full house in the ballpark, with enthusiastic fans and an electric atmosphere...



Baseball was a game you had to watch very closely.



Things did not always proceed at a very fast pace. But that also meant that it was possible to leave your seat and head to the F&B outlets to grab a snack and a drink any time you needed to...



There was an amazing selection of F&B...



Beer and cocktails were popular...



...as were the hot dogs, some of which could be had with amazing toppings like sliced beef and pickles...



I suspect I paid more attention to my hot dog than the game in progress...



I washed it all down with Goose Island beer....



The game was a thrilling one, with fans of both sides shouting themselves hoarse cheering their teams on...





The game was tied 1-1 until the 9th inning when Eloy Jiimenez hit a home run which brought the final score to 3-1 in favour of the White Sox.

It was a home run that brought the crowd (Or at least the White Sox fans) to its feet...



Perfect weather, a historic stadium packed with fans watching an exciting ball game, not to mention a lot to eat and drink... a very pleasant way to spend an evening!

[yflyer]

Regulars on SQTalk might recall that I am a fan of classical music. Close to Millenium Park was Symphony Center, home to one of the world's great orchestras, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.



Purely due to lack of foresight and planning on my part, I missed the one Chicago Symphony concert that took place the week I was there. The concert took place while I was inflight from SFO-ORD. With better planning, I could easily have caught an earlier flight into ORD and attended the concert. Oh well...hopefully there would be future opportunities...

But I was fortunate not to miss Yo-Yo Ma's free outdoor concert at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, as part his ongoing Bach Project.



Yo-Yo Ma is one of just a handful of musicians who have transcended the world of classical music, to become well known celebrities outside of their traditional audience and fan base. Not just one of the greatest cellists, his humanity and warmth of personality have won him fans and recognition worldwide.

In this free concert, he would play all six of J. S. Bach's Cello Suites...these were some of the most profound works in the classical repertoire...



The morning of the 20th of June started out cloudy, with a chance of rain forecast, but the sky miraculously cleared up by the late afternoon, and it was sunny by the time crowds had begun to form at Millenium Park.



I had arrived at 5.40pm, a full 50 minutes before the concert was due to start, and there were already long lines to get in...



Once within the perimeter of the pavilion, I wedged myself into one of the last open spots by the left side balcony, not too far from the open stage...



This was a very mixed audience, comprising people of all ages and backgrounds...



There was refreshment stand offering wine and beer, and it was doing roaring business...



Yo-Yo Ma came onstage to loud cheering and applause...



When he began to play, the crowd fell completely silent...



I listened in awe to his performance of the 1st Cello Suite...I owned many of Yo-Yo Ma's recordings but had never heard him live...

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I AGREE

Even in such a large scale setting, Yo-Yo Ma's performance went straight to the heart of the music...he was more than a musician: he was a communicator with an amazing connection with his audience...



I had a work commitment later that evening, and so I reluctantly had to tear myself away from the concert soon after the 1st Suite...not only did I miss the other 5 Suites (Which I would catch up on later through his recordings...his latest recording of the Bach Cello Suites can be found here...) but I also missed his stunning encore, where he was joined by Jim Peterik and a rock band for a performance of Eye of the Tiger!

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I AGREE

An unforgettable evening!

[yflyer]

It was a busy week in Chicago. While I had time to catch a baseball game and Yo-Yo Ma, for much of the rest of the time, I was heads-down on my MacBook, or in meetings. While I managed to head out for runs and take a look around, for much of that time, I was in the office.

Ironically, the best view I had of the Chicago skyline was from my Uber car, at the break of dawn, as I headed to the airport for my flight back to Singapore via SFO.



This being summer, daylight hours were long: the picture, above, of the Chicago cityscape was taken at 4.35am...



By 5am it was already very bright...



It was surprisingly busy in the terminal at that hour. Fortunately there were no queues at the Premier Access counters...



Security was quick as well, with a Premier Access / Gold Track lane...



I headed airside, and crossed over to another concourse via a brightly coloured underground tunnel...

[yflyer]

There were quite nice tarmac views from the concourse. I spotted this beautiful 737 in retro Continental Airlines livery...



I headed to the United Club...



This was smaller than the United Club in SFO that I visited the week before...



The seating area had a view of the tarmac...



This being morning, the F&B spread comprised just basic continental breakfast fare...

Fruit, yogurt...



...cereal...



...and bakery items.



Coffee/tea...



Water and juices...



The bar wasn't open...



Perhaps United should follow the example of lounges at airports in Europe (Or Asia, for that matter...): In the LH Senator lounge in FRA, for example, which was available to pax flying domestic sectors in Germany such as FRA-MUC, it was never too early in the day for a beer...

[yflyer]

The first hint of trouble was the SMS I received from United. United does a very good job of keeping pax updated via SMS (or their Smartphone App). The SMS stated that my flight was delayed. My flight, UA2166 was scheduled to depart at 6.45am and arrive at 9.16am in SFO. If this was on time, I would have ample time, 1 hr 39 min, to catch my connection to UA29 SFO-SIN at 10.55am.

UA2166 would now depart at at 7.31am, a 46 minute delay that slashed my transit time in half. Still, SFO's T3 and the International Terminal were close to each other. I might still have made it with the new departure time. But this was one of those rolling delays where the departure time was progressively pushed back for various reasons.

The incoming aircraft was scheduled to arrive late. United flight ops tried to remedy the situation by changing the gate, and activating a different aircraft for the flight, but it took ages for the new plane to get from the hangar to the gate, so the time of delay ended up about similar to that if we had stuck to the original equipment, despite the inbound delay.

Finally, after a lengthy wait, our aircraft arrived at the gate...



The day's flight was going to be operated by a 757. This was great -- not too many chances to fly 757's these days if you were based out of Singapore.



I watched as the first officer came down the aerobridge steps, put on a yellow high-vis jacket, and did her aircraft walkaround.

Finally time to board, more than an hour late.

Inside, the aircraft had essentially the same cabin product as my 737 on my previous SFO-ORD sector. I think UA has done a nice job of standardizing their Y cabin product across different equipment types.

Standard 3-3 layout. Just like a 737, but longer.



The emex row...





Decent legroom...



A/C power in Y...



The bathroom...





We pushed back, and after a short taxi, finally took off powerfully into the dawn sky at 8.39am...

My original connection time in SFO was 1 hour 39 minutes. My flight departed 1 hour 54 minutes late. Not a huge delay, but as far as making my connection in SFO was concerned, things were not looking good...

To be continued!

[Jumbojet Lover]

I headed to the United Club...



This was smaller than the United Club in SFO that I visited the week before...

Ahh, looks like you went to the concourse C United Club, yflyer. United actually has 3 United Clubs at Chicago O'Hare - two in the main terminal and one in concourse C. If I have time I usually head to the main main terminal United Club. It's close to where you enter airside after security. It may not have tarmac views (all windows look into the terminal) but it's large, airy and spacious, and more importantly, has hot food at mealtimes. I was at the concourse C United Club last year, and, failing to find hot food, asked a staff about it. I was told that the concourse C United Club does not serve hot food - I would need to go to the main terminal for that. I thought it was absurd, given that United's international departures were mostly from that concourse, and the United Club was right next to the Polaris Lounge - surely they could share a kitchen/facilities to keep food warm.

The concourse C lounge can get crowded too, because United only allows complimentary lounge access for their Star Gold members if they are flying internationally, and most international flights depart from that concourse.

On a positive note, I love the design of the refreshed United Clubs across UA's network. They're simple yet refined, modern yet warm, and generally bright and airy. I find that I often leave the United Club in a more positive mood than when I arrive.

[yflyer]

Ahh, looks like you went to the concourse C United Club, yflyer. United actually has 3 United Clubs at Chicago O'Hare - two in the main terminal and one in concourse C.

Thanks for the info, Jumbojet Lover! It makes sense for United to have many lounges, given how spread out ORD is. The one I went to was the closest to my original gate.

On a positive note, I love the design of the refreshed United Clubs across UA's network. They're simple yet refined, modern yet warm, and generally bright and airy. I find that I often leave the United Club in a more positive mood than when I arrive.

I also like the latest United Club design, especially the one in LAX. The United Club in Heathrow T2 is also superb!

[yflyer]

Continuing with the TR...

I was onboard UA2166 bound for SFO.

This was a 4 hour 20 minute flight. Given that my flight departed almost 2 hours late, I was, by then, resigned to the fact that I would miss my connection. Prior to take-off, I had WhatsApp'ed Mrs yflyer and the family to break the bad news.

Nothing I could do about that until we landed at SFO...I settled into my seat and tried to relax.

Cabin service began from front to rear...



Some interesting breakfast options (for a fee) were available. These were listed in the inflight magazine...





I decided to skip those and just have a complimentary beverage...



Like my previous SFO-ORD sector, this flight had wifi as well as movie/TV streaming onto your own devices...



Internet for a fee...



Although I did not purchase internet, it was possible to use the United App on my iphone over the wifi connection.

[yflyer]

I was quite impressed by the in-built United app functionality to handle flight disruptions and rebooking.

Disruptions, whether weather or technical rleated, were a fact of life for any major airline, and if it was possible to quickly resolve these online or via the App, without requiring a human agent on the phone or behind a service counter, there would be huge cost savings.

I was quite impressed by United's app functionality in this regard.

The App included notifications and services to handle service disruptions. I received this message on my app:



It indicated that my flight was delayed, and because of that, I would be able to change my flight to a different flight at no additional fee. Quite neat functionality.



I searched for flight availability...


In off-peak travel periods, or for many domestic connections, where there were many more options available, I suspect many pax would simply have rebooked the next available flight on the app, and that would be a resolution to the delay.

I was quite impressed at how seamless this could be, from disruption to rebooking, all done on the United app.

Unfortunately no other flights to Singapore were available that day...



What about UA1 that evening? That was completely full and sold out, and so were UA29 and UA1 the next day...

The next available SFO-SIN flight to Singapore was UA29 on Sunday (!) two days later. That was too late for me.

Perhaps it was because it was the June school holidays in Singapore. It looked like there was nothing else I could do while onboard. I would need to see customer service on the ground for help with my rebooking.

[yflyer]

The rest of the flight passed slowly...

I took a stroll to the front of the 757 and back...



Cabin ambience could not be compared to the wide, bright and airy 787 cabin, with its enormous windows, but I somehow preferred the long 757 cabin to the 737 or even A320 cabin, even though all these were also laid out 3-3.

Perhaps it was just the length of the cabin, that appeared to stretch forward almost into infinity, that made it feel somehow less cramped.



I was in the aisle seat. The young man in the window seat spent much of his time looking out the window at the ever-changing scenery on the ground below...

[yflyer]

We landed in SFO just after 11am, about 1 hour 40 min late.

As the 757 taxied to the gate, we passed the International Terminal...

One of the row of Dreamliners parked there must have been UA29, SFO-SIN, about to push back and fly to Singapore without me...



The flight attendant in my section of the cabin was a middle-aged gentleman, possibly of Mexican/Hispanic descent, who was one of the warmest and most helpful and friendly UA cabin crew I had ever encountered. He had a dry sense of humour that went down well with pax, and he went out of his way to speak to, and help folks who were concerned with missing their connections.

"I've missed my connection to Singapore, should I head to customer service or should I try the United Club?" I asked him...

"Better go to the United Club" he suggested...

As I deplaned and walked through the terminal, I saw a long queue of passengers awaiting their turn at the customer service desk in the terminal...

I headed to the United Club, where there were just a couple of folks in line for booking assistance...



Even so, the folks ahead of me also appeared to have non-trivial travel issues to resolve, so this took some time.

Finally, my turn...

"I've missed my connection to Singapore, could you help me rebook, please?" I asked...

[yflyer]

At the counter, my customer service agent, M, an older lady, was warm and very sympathetic, and very experienced, which was good because it was a real challenge finding a way for me to get home.

My UA ticket was ORD-SIN, which meant the misconnect in SFO was UA's responsibility and they were obliged to get me back to SIN.

However this was peak travel season, and flights to Singapore were completely booked out on most flights, whether non-stop or one-stop. From what I could gather, UA's policy for rebooking disrupted passengers was same class of service (i.e. Y), and UA metal. Perhaps UA codeshares were possible as well. But not flights on other airlines, and certainly not upgrades to J or F.

The first thing she did, which was very fortunate, was to immediately grab the last remaining seat on the next day's UA29 SFO-SIN. This seat had opened up at the last minute and she managed to snag it for me before it disappeared. This would get me back to SIN on Sunday evening, a 24 hour delay relative to my original schedule.

That wasn't ideal for me, though, as I was scheduled to fly out on Sunday, on vacation with Mrs yflyer and the family to Ho Chi Minh City (i.e. Saigon, or SGN) on SQ, and my SQ flight would depart an hour or so before UA29 landed. This was a separate SQ ticket to SGN, which meant that UA had no obligation to get me back in time for that flight.

"Are there other options to get me into Singapore earlier than Sunday night? How about UA1 today? That would get me in on Sunday morning."

Nope. UA1 that day was full.

She typed furiously on her system, trying all manner of routes, including an amazing one via SFO-LAX-HNL-TYO-SIN...if I had the time on my hands, I might have wanted to try that!

But all other options would get me in even later, on Monday the next week...we had so many options open that at one point she had forgotten that she had grabbed that initial UA29 seat for me...

When she reviewed the system, she found that I did still have the last seat on UA29 Saturday reserved, which would get me in on Sunday night. That would have to do!

While all that was going on, I was on my SQ app on my iPhone, where I switched my SIN-SGN flight from Sunday to Monday. Thankfully seats were still available on Monday. I had to pay cash and/or points to change to a different fare class for my SQ ticket, but that was unavoidable. Mrs yflyer and the family would fly up to Ho Chi Minh city on Sunday to start our vacation. I would now join them in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday, a day later. My SQ booking to SGN was on a separate reservation and PNR from the rest of the family for exactly this type of contingency.

So that was how it was settled. I would get on UA29 the next day, Saturday, at 10.55am and arrive in Singapore on Sunday night. My customer service agent and I were both so happy that she managed to grab that last seat on UA29. If she had let that slip away, the situation would have been much much worse. And while all that was happening, I had also sorted out my SIN-SGN flight on SQ, which was now confirmed for Monday.

Now the fun part...

"Will UA cover my hotel for the night?", I asked.

"Yes, I'll give you a voucher for a hotel", she replied.

More tapping on the keyboard, and she handed me a voucher for the Marriott Courtyard San Bruno, along with a small cash meal voucher, redeemable at the airport or the hotel.

"Any possibility of a hotel in the city, in San Francisco, instead of the airport?" I asked hopefully...

She smiled.

"I'm afraid not...United has arrangements with these hotels..."

"Do I get compensation for my delay?" I continued...

"You can write in to customer service and request compensation, or i can offer you a voucher, right away, for USD300 for future travel on United..."

This seemed reasonable and I accepted the offer, which she could give me right away, in the form of an e-voucher.

All right, all settled.

Not the best possible outcome in that I would start my vacation in SGN a day late, but a very acceptable one, in that I could still start my vacation with just a day lost! Any further delay would have trashed my holidays plans!

This was an outcome I was quite happy with. I think this was the best that could be done given the situation and parameters. And now I had an additional 24 hours to spend in San Francisco, one of my favourite cities.

I was quite happy with how my misconnect was resolved, both by UA, and most importantly, by my helpful agent, M, who looked to have done her best. I thanked her wholeheartedly. This couldn't be an easy job to do day-in, day-out, dealing with difficult situations, and sometimes perhaps difficult passengers too.

At least today, there was one satisfied customer, and she seemed happy that she had managed to find a solution to my difficult problem.