Picking up where we left off: During Christmas 2016, Chestnut flew UA’s premium 777-200 from GSO to LAX.

This post covers the return trip from LAX to GSO.

On the night of 2017.01.02 at Los Angeles International Airport, since Chestnut was taking a Delta red-eye departing around midnight, I headed to Terminal 5 instead (at the time, Delta was still in T5) (top left).

Since there was still plenty of time, I pulled out my trusty PPS App and found that there was an Alaska Airlines lounge available in Terminal 6, so I decided to take the underground tunnel over to T6 and check out the AS lounge for myself (top right and below).

Since I didn’t have the AMEX Platinum, getting into Delta’s own lounge was out of the question (left). So the plan was to use PPS to bluff my way into the AS lounge instead (right).

You can see the lounge interior in the top-left photo. At the self-serve area, there were meatballs and fruit—good enough to fill my stomach (top right and below).

Compared with the BA lounge at IAD, which only had chips and red wine, the AS lounge in LAX T6 was actually pretty decent. Sometimes that’s just how things work out—as long as your expectations aren’t too high, you’ll often end up pleasantly surprised.

When it was about time, I took the underground tunnel back to Terminal 5 (top left and top right), where I noticed that some kid had somehow gotten a balloon stuck up on the ceiling (bottom).

Right then, I happened to see my aircraft being towed in—a Delta 757-300. Its registration was N587NW (the NW at the end shows that this 757-300 used to belong to Northwest Airlines before the merger into Delta), and its first flight was on 2002.11.25.

The visual characteristics of the 757 family are a long, slender fuselage and a two-axle main landing gear. (The 767 also has two-axle main landing gear, but it’s much bulkier than the 757.) As for telling the 757-200 apart from the 757-300: the 757-200 has four cabin doors, while the 757-300 has 5-6 doors.

The 757 family came with two engine options: the Pratt & Whitney PW2K or the Rolls-Royce RB211-535E4(B). The chunkier-looking engine with the exposed tailpipe is the Pratt & Whitney PW2K (the type shown in the photo), while the slimmer-looking one without the exposed tailpipe is the Rolls-Royce RB211.

PS: Please note that when Wikipedia says the PW2K and RB211 are “relatively quiet,” that comparison is only within their own generation. In other words, it’s relative to the era when those two engines were developed. So please don’t compare them with the engine noise on today’s 787 or A350, because the result will definitely disappoint you.

Time to board. Thanks to my Delta credit card, I got Priority Boarding. But honestly, once you watch the boarding process, you realize that the very first people to board are always passengers needing extra assistance, followed by elite frequent flyers, and then yet another batch of Sky priority passengers—only after that do credit card holders finally get called. By then, boarding is usually already one-third done (top left and top right).

PS: Let me point out something here. For AA, AS, and DL credit cards, the Priority Boarding and Free 1st Checked Baggage benefits do not require you to pay for the ticket with the corresponding credit card. You just need to enter the primary cardholder’s frequent flyer number when booking. In other words, the benefits on those three cards are tied to your frequent flyer number, not your card number. But if you want Priority Boarding and Free 1st Checked Baggage on a UA credit card, you must use a Chase UA credit card to buy the ticket on the official website and select that Chase UA credit card as the payment method. Otherwise, it won’t work. In other words, the UA card’s benefits are determined by recognizing your credit card number.

If you’ve never flown on a 757 before, take a look at the bottom-left photo. The economy cabin is arranged 3-3, just like the 737 and A320 families, so there’s really no big difference. You can basically think of the 757 as a “stretched” 737. As for the front-cabin Business on this 757-300, it was just the standard old recliner seat rather than the lie-flat Delta One product, so I didn’t bother taking photos.

My seat was the far-right window seat, directly above the giant fuel tank. Aside from being a little noisy because it was too close to the engine, there really wasn’t much to complain about (bottom right).

With a roar from the PW2K engines, we took off, and I grabbed a shot of Los Angeles at night (top left).

Since this was a midnight red-eye, the cabin lights were dimmed not long after takeoff, leaving only the pale blue ceiling night lights on (top right). In the dim cabin, the flight attendants came by with drinks and cookies (bottom left).

I like to say I sleep like a baby, so the engine noise didn’t matter at all. Before long I was asleep, and when I woke up, we were already in DTW (bottom right).

Once in DTW, I took a photo of the people mover (top). Since DTW is a pure Delta hub, there was no lounge I could bluff my way into with PPS other than Delta’s own lounge. And without the AMEX Platinum, I couldn’t get into the DL lounge either, so I just headed through the tunnel (bottom left) and waited for my next flight instead (bottom right).

Thankfully, the ground staff at DTW weren’t especially petty. I didn’t run into the kind of nonsense I once had at CLT, where a gate agent insisted that the DSLR hanging on my chest counted as a personal item and made me stuff it into my backpack before letting me board.

But while boarding was fine, takeoff turned into a different story. Our little plane taxied out onto the taxiway for a while, then left the taxiway again. Just as everyone was wondering what was going on, the captain came on and said: sorry, we had taken on too much fuel, so we needed to sit there and burn some off before taking off once the aircraft got a bit lighter... I nearly burst out laughing when I heard that. Really, the world is full of strange things—anything can happen if you can imagine it.

The top-left photo shows the small plane flying from DTW to GSO. By now I’m completely used to squeezing into these tiny regional aircraft—small airports don’t really get much else. In the top-right photo you can see the Coke and cookies that were handed out. In the upper-left corner of that photo is a very aggressively priced SAMSON active noise-canceling headset. Of course, its performance can’t compare with the Bose QC series, but considering it costs only about one-eighth as much as Bose, there’s not much room to complain.

The weather was pretty awful, with thick clouds everywhere below us (middle).

Without much else to report, we arrived in GSO. The fuel truck next to us was already in position, ready to refuel the aircraft before its next flight (bottom left).

And finally, one last shot of GSO Airport (bottom right). After picking up my bags, I waited for a classmate to come pick me up.

And with that, Chestnut’s first flying trip of 2017 came to an end. The next trip wouldn’t be until June, so stay tuned~~