Cabo San Lucas (SJD) the long way around

[smit0847]

Great TR!

I did NGO-GUM in Jan (you may have seen my TR here) but that was the early flight. I certainly wasn't blown away by the *A lounge in NGO (or the UA lounge in GUM for that matter). The dampness you smelt on the KAL Lounge is the smell of GUM in general - its so humid and gets so much rainfall all the time that everything smells damp and never really dries out.

I'm doing your exact GUM-NRT flight in November - any recommendations for best seats?

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Great TR!

I did NGO-GUM in Jan (you may have seen my TR here) but that was the early flight. I certainly wasn't blown away by the *A lounge in NGO (or the UA lounge in GUM for that matter). The dampness you smelt on the KAL Lounge is the smell of GUM in general - its so humid and gets so much rainfall all the time that everything smells damp and never really dries out.

I'm doing your exact GUM-NRT flight in November - any recommendations for best seats?

I read your TR & stayed at the Bayview Hotel on your recommendation back in March on our first sortie to the region (haven't done a TR for that yet). Agree with you re the GUM Lounges which is why I found the article I found on the grand opening comical.

I'd try to grab seats on the left hand side like 1AB because you get great views of Tumon Bay after take-off if you turn left.

The Westin Hotel just down the hill from the Bayview has a high tea in the afternoon which we didn't do that time but will should we go again. Right after that is a happy hour that goes for maybe 4 hours from memory.

Was going to have a meal at that Green Iguana place but it wasn't open for lunch so we went to the Hard Rock Café instead then ate at a Mexican Restaurant closer to the Bayview for dinner.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Tue 15 Apr UA828 GUM/NRT 0655/0940



During the flight the cabin crew come around taking duty free orders.



Eva Mendes rocking the cover of the UA in-flight duty free magazine.



Star Wars watch anybody?



Exit rows are 16AB HJ & 39AB HJ & the above seats are row 39H&J.



The Y cabin is a 2x5x2 config AB CDEFG HJ with rows 16-37 in the first cabin, then rows 39-53 in the second cabin. Towards the rear of the plane the centre section goes down to 4 seats in the middle when the plane narrows.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Tue 15 Apr UA828 GUM/NRT 0655/0940



On descent into Narita flying over fields.



Visible out the window is the Hilton Narita Airport.



The word Narita appears in the form of a hedge. Further down there is another sign in Japanese.



A Swissair A340 parked next to our UA 777-200.



No need to clear customs as we're just in transit until our flight to Chicago later this afternoon. Next stop United Lounge.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Tue 15 Apr United Club Tokyo Narita



A post script from our 777-200 flight GUM/NRT flight & a pics of our seats 1H&1J on UA828.



Reception desk for the United Club who you initially show your boarding pass and/or *A Gold membership if applicable. Travelling in business class automatically qualifies you for admission. There is also a separate service desk around the corner to take care of other issues.



The seating area by the window that has power supply for electronic devices plus great views of the runway for arriving and departing aircraft. This lounge has awesome showers and after spending the previous night at Guam Airport there's nothing better than being able to shower, change clothes and feel human again.



A beckoning cat which Asian cultures believe brings good luck. They need to send the little fella over to the food station which needs all the help it can get.



The food station offering a plentiful supply of rice crackers in three big glass dispenser jars, raw snow peas, bananas & they had a couple of other small nibbles as I don't remember having to leave the lounge to get food from an outside source.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Tue 15 Apr Star Alliance Airlines - view from the United Club Narita



All Nippon Airways Boeing 787



United Boeing 777-200



EVA Air Airbus A330-200 "Happy Music Time" theme



Thai Airways Airbus A330-300



Turkish Airlines Boeing 777-300

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Tue 15 Apr One World Airlines - view from the United Club Narita



Japan Airlines B767-300 in current livery



Finnair A330-300



British Airways B777-300



Malaysia Airlines B777-200



Japan Airlines B787 Dreamliner in 'new' old livery

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Tue 15 Apr - not so common airlines - view from the United Club Narita



A B737-800. Skymark Airlines fly to a number of Japanese cities such as Asahikawa, Ibaraki, Ishigaki, Kagoshima, Kitakyushu, Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Sendai and Yonago from their bases in Narita, Haneda, Sapporo, Naha, Kobe and Fukuoka.



A B737-800. Spring Airlines Japan is a Narita based subsidiary of Spring Airlines from China and flies to Hiroshima, Saga and Takamatsu. They plan to fly to Taiwan and secondary cities in China.



A Jeju Airlines B737-800. They fly Narita to Seoul Incheon but also have a base in Gimpo. They also have flights GUM/ICN vv if you don't mind the ungodly departure time of 0320.



An A320. Vanilla Airlines is a wholly owned LCC subsidiary of ANA and operate domestically to Amami, Okinawa and Sapporo. Internationally they fly to Incheon & Taipei with plans to fly to Guam & Saipan in the future.



An A320. Some of you may have already heard of or even flown on Cebu Pacific who like the name suggests fly to/from Cebu. Besides Narita, the other Japanese cities they fly to include Nagoya and Kansai airports.

 

[JessicaTam]

Re: Tue 15 Apr - not so common airlines - view from the United Club Narita

Great photos ozbeachbabe. Enough to fill an av geek thread!

 

[blackcat20]

Re: Tue 15 Apr - not so common airlines - view from the United Club Narita

Some good plane candy there!

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Tue 15 Apr United Club Narita



A mural of Japanese Coy fish in the United Club. The lounge is open 0730-2030 daily. There are no smoking areas within the lounge & outside food and drinks are not permitted in the lounge.



After entering the lounge a glass elevator lead to the United Global First Lounge for eligible pax.



Is there a collective noun for ground service equipment (GSE)? A huddle perhaps?



The self-service bar. There are a couple of reds from Gentimon & Ginestet flanked by what looks to be a bottle of Tempai sake. There were also bottles of white white but I can't zoom in that close to see the labels.



Getting up close and personal with a Korean Airlines B777-300 which taxiied in to a nearby gate. The KAL Lounge is not far from the United Club and also located in the Central Building level 3 of Terminal 1.

If you're not travelling in a premium cabin or have elite status with a frequent flyer program both the United Club & the KAL Lounge are members of Priority Pass. Some credit cards also offer access to some airline lounges.

 

[jetlagger]

Re: Tue 15 Apr United Club Narita

Thanks for all the time & effort for your brilliant TR ozbeachbabe.
I'm really enjoying the journey.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Tue 15 Apr UA882 NRT-ORD 1655/1430



The United Club gets quite busy in the afternoon as all the USA Mainland & Honolulu flights are pm departures. Besides our 744 flight to ORD there was UA6 to IAH @ 1540 (777), UA838 to SFO @ 1545 (744), UA804 to IAD @ 1600 (777), UA138 to DEN @ 1700 (788), UA 78 to EWR @ 1700 (777), UA33 to LAX @ 1730 (788), UA852 to SFO @ 1755 (744), UA2 to IAH @ 1855 (777) & UA880 to HNL @ 1925 (744).



The boarding time stated 1605 which is 50 minutes prior to departure but we left the lounge about 1545 as we always like to have a last minute look at the shops, get a Starbucks coffee in order to be at the gate when boarding kicks off without any last minute dashes.



United have separate boarding lanes for all five groups & the above pic shows groups 3, 4 & 5 to the left with the Premier Access & F & J lanes 1 & 2 to the right. It does look a bit of a shermozzle however when they called for group 1 pax to board we were able to make our way through to the gate reader without any issues.

There seemed to be quite a lot of US Military pax on our flight so it's possible they are Okinawa based Marines going back home on leave.



This guy doing push-ups reminds me of those Randy Couture ("you gotta door - you gotta gym") ads for the Tower 200 which apparently gives you an absolutely ripped body by Jake in just 11 minutes per day. Let's go princess!




Our flight UA882 was departing from Gate 37 in the number 3 satellite in Terminal 1 which is only a short stroll from the lounge in the central building.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Re: Tue 15 Apr United Club Narita

Thanks for all the time & effort for your brilliant TR ozbeachbabe.
I'm really enjoying the journey.

Thanks Jetlagger - nice to have you onboard.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Tue 15 Apr UA882 NRT-ORD 1655/1430



View out the window prior to departure. We selected our 14AB forward facing seats at the time of booking in August 2013 as I always like upper deck on a 744 if I can get it.

It's a bit weird having people looking aft however it's not like they're eyeballing you but I think having everyone facing forward gives a more private feel. YMMV.



The overhead lockers on UA 744's are tiny so don't even fit a small rollaboard however the three side storage bins beside your seat do and is more secure if you're worried about your valuables while sleeping.



One of the pilots doing her pre-flight checks.



These were seats on the right hand side upper deck but give you an idea of what they look like. They do go full flat & I found them extremely comfortable. Not taking anything away from UA but I've also been told I could sleep on a barbed wire fence. :shock:



Denver bound Dreamliner flight UA138 commences its take-off roll.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Tue 15 Apr UA882 NRT-ORD 1655/1430



The Narita sign in Japanese.



There was a steady stream of aircraft behind us waiting to depart.



Entering taxiway alpha one where we hold position prior to getting our take-off clearance.



An ANA 737 ahead of us about to line up for take-off.



Lining up on RW 16R prior to take-off.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Tue 15 Apr UA882 NRT-ORD 1655/1430



A Star Alliance cluster of aircraft. From L to R NH, OZ, SQ, TG, NZ & AC.



Some sunset pics as we make our way to the windy city.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Dinner - Tue 15 Apr UA882 NRT-ORD 1655/1430



Entrée or appetiser which was Caesar salad, garlic bread, smoked salmon with capers plus a piece of sushi.



Steak with carrots, beans and cornbread. The FA came around earlier to find out how I would like my steak done & it was cooked to perfection and quite easily the nicest steak I've ever had onboard an aircraft.



Hot fudge sundae. The photo probably doesn't do it justice but it was delicious. Until flying UA I thought it was only AA that offered them.



SO had a sundae with caramel topping. I was a bit tired so I don't appear to have taken any snaps of the alcoholic beverages however we did have champagne and soft drinks throughout the flight.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Breakfast - Tue 15 Apr UA882 NRT-ORD 1655/1430

After dinner I listened to a bit of music on my phone then fell asleep while SO was happy to watch a couple of movies. I must've slept for about 6 o 7 hours as next thing I know the F/A's came through the cabin saying "one hour to go" (until landing) and breakfast was being served.

The lighting in the cabin of the UA 744 was much more subtle as it was on the side walls rather than bright overhead lights as on the BR 332 flight BNE/TPE than came on 2 hours 15 before landing for the breakfast service.



I had the noodles for breakfast, fruit compote, cinnamon scroll juice and coffee.



SO had the omelette with chipolata sausages, potatoes & fruit compote, juice & coffee.



Clear skies at the moment...



Commencing our descent into Chicago.



With the Windy city in sight only a few minutes until touchdown.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Tue 15 Apr UA882 NRT-ORD 1655/1430



Coming into land you realise what a vast metropolis Chicago is.



A golf course in amongst suburbia.



Flying over the freeway at the perimeter of the airport there's snow on the ground.



Crossing over the active runway it's obvious how busy the airport gets with one aircraft airborne, another lining up for take-off plus a queue of at least a dozen aircraft on the taxiway awaiting their turn to depart.



There's quite a few regional type jets amongst the crowd.