Booking the Trip: 5,336 Miles of Flying to Nowhere
Review: United Airlines Embraer ERJ175 First Class Los Angeles to Seattle
Review: Delta Sky Club Seattle Concourse A
Review: Delta Airlines 737-900ER Main Cabin Seattle to Detroit
Review: Delta Airlines CRJ-400 Main Cabin Detroit to Houston
Review: United Club Lounge Houston Terminal E
Review: United Club Lounge Houston Terminal C (North)
Review: United Airlines 787-9 First Class Houston to Los Angeles
YOUTUBE: United Airlines: Los Angeles to Seattle
YOUTUBE: Delta Airlines: Seattle to Detroit
YOUTUBE: Delta Airlines: Detroit to Houston
YOUTUBE: United Airlines: Houston to Los Angeles
Hello all and welcome back to another trip! This one spans only a day and a half but we fly across the country in that day and a half just to review products and lounges, so I hope you enjoy these reviews and as always, there’s more to come. Cheers! Now to the bookings:
Bookings:
I wanted to try United’s regional first class as that’s one of the few domestic first-class products with UA I am yet to try. So I knew Los Angeles to Seattle had a regional aircraft with first class and made that my first flight. Also I wanted to fly from Houston to LA on UA’s 787-9 and see how it flows used on a domestic routing. It all seems random, but this was just what went through my head at that timing. But besides that, here’s what I found:
$197 for a 3 hour first class flight is not bad at all. I chose the second flight for that reason. That cost $197 and I earned 850 award miles, 1,908 premier qualifying miles, 1.5 premier qualifying segments, and $170 premier qualifying dollars. A good start. The second flight that I booked through United’s site was from Houston to Los Angeles. But wait? How do I magically go from arriving in Seattle to departing from Houston?? Here’s how:
I had Korean Air SkyPass miles that were going to expire. I would have redeemed them for an international itinerary as that’s where the value is best used, however, I did not have time for that and the miles were going to expire within days of me booking this flight. So I booked a one-way economy class from Seattle to Houston. I would have a 5-hour layover in Seattle so I decided to make a visit to the Delta SkyClub there as I’ve heard very good things about it and was excited to experience it myself. As a matter of fact, as I’m typing this I’m sitting in the SkyClub in Seattle and it has absolutely blown me away in terms of the quality of the lounge, the food, the seating, and the overall ambiance. I’ll have a full review of the lounge, but boy this is the best domestic US carrier lounge I’ve ever been to and completely demolishes UA and AA in competition.
Anyways, This is what the itinerary looked like for the Delta flights:
1 hour and 2 minutes in Detroit is very little, so this should be interesting to see how that turns out. The total cost of the itinerary is 25,000 Korean Air Skypass Miles and $11.20 in taxes and fees. 25,000 miles for domestic economy is something that I would never want to pay in my life, but I had no choice here. Either let the miles expire, or use them. Also with using Korean miles on partner airlines, you have to book a roundtrip, so essentially it was 12,500 miles one way which is not bad, but I had to void the return journey so it was basically like paying 25,000 miles one way. Now arriving into Houston at 11am, I had roughly a 7-hour layover in IAH. I decided to dedicate all to most of that time in the United Club Lounge in Terminal E. It’s supposed to be the largest UA club lounge in the network so I am hoping it will have more amenities than the other club lounges. I’ll be having a review of that as well. I also will check out the new UA club lounge in terminal C to see how that compares to the general scheme of airline lounges. Then finally here are the details for the final flight from Houston to Los Angeles:
For a good price for value, $311 is probably the upper boundary of what I would pay for this. On the bright side, this flight will have fully lie-flat seats and a hot meal because that’s what United’s rules for first class meals qualify for. Also, I earn 1,380 Award Miles, 2,758 Premier Qualifying Miles, 1.5 Premier Qualifying Segments, and $276 Premier Qualifying Dollars.
Seats
Here are the seats for my flights:
(UPDATE: I changed to 3A about a day before my flight)
Here is my seat on my first Delta flight from Seattle to Detroit:
I’ve flown this aircraft in first class so now main cabin should complete a full review of this aircraft with Delta.
And then for a 3.5-hour flight, I get to sit in a regional aircraft’s economy class. great :(.
Finally, here is my seats for my final flight from IAH to LAX:
(UPDATE: I changed to seat 2L)
A word of advice if you are traveling in First Class/ Polaris Business Class on UA’s 787-9, do not choose seats 4A or 4L as both are missing windows. Mostly all the seats have 2 windows per person but 4A and 4L have none. Just to keep in mind.
Here’s a map of the flights in total:
Otherwise here is a summary of everything:
Airline: United Express
Route: Los Angeles to Seattle
Flight Number: UA 5475
Date: 27 January 2018
Departure Time: 3:35 PM
Arrival Time: 6:00 PM
Aircraft: Embraer ERJ 175
Cabin: First
Airline: Delta Airlines
Route: Seattle to Detroit
Flight Number: DL 947
Date: 27 January 2018
Departure Time: 11:59 PM
Arrival Time: 7:18 AM
Aircraft: Boeing 737-900ER
Cabin: Economy
Airline: Delta Airlines
Route: Detroit to Houston
Flight Number: DL 4510
Date: 28 January 2018
Departure Time: 8:20 AM
Arrival Time: 10:56 AM
Aircraft: CRJ900
Cabin: Economy
Airline: United Airlines
Route: Houston to Los Angeles
Flight Number: UA 1416
Date: 22 January 2018
Departure Time: 6:10 PM
Arrival Time: 7:50 PM
Aircraft: Boeing 787-9
Cabin: First
Total Cost for UA Flights: $508.00
Total Cost for DL Flights: 25,000 Korean Air SkyPass Miles
I hope you guys enjoy these reviews and stay tuned as there’s more to come! Do be sure to check out the youtube channel as there will be videos for all of these flights uploaded as well!