Itinerary and Award Redemption

After moving home from Ohio to North Carolina, Chestnut’s base airports changed from CLE and CAK to CLT and GSO. But driving from Windsor to Charlotte is really too far, so unless it’s absolutely necessary, I still choose flights departing from GSO! (For that same reason, even though CLT is right next to me and it’s an AA hub, redeeming BA for a 7,500-point short-haul still doesn’t really appeal to me.)

When I was booking Christmas tickets, I casually searched on the United Airlines website and found that for departures from GSO, the flight connecting through IAD to LAX was actually being operated by a fancy 777-200ER, and there was Business Seat availability on December 24. So I didn’t hesitate and paid 25,000 points + 11.2 USD (U.S. airlines don’t have fuel surcharges, but they do charge a 9/11 Security Fee, which can’t be covered with miles. Because the connection was longer than 4 hours, I was charged the fee twice at 5.6 USD each, for a total of 11.2 USD) to redeem a one-way ticket.

After I booked it, some fellow flyers complained that I had made a terrible redemption. Chestnut’s logic was: “If you fly back to China, the trip takes 12-13 hours, and a Business redemption costs 70,000 points on UA or 80,000 on partners, which works out to about 5,000 points per hour. An IAD-LAX flight is close to 5 hours, and Business costs 25,000 points, which is also about 5,000 points per hour. So the burn rate is basically the same.” (On routes operated by UA’s three-cabin aircraft, redeeming First on UA itself costs 10,000 points more than Business. In Chestnut’s case, paying an extra 10,000 points doesn’t really make sense; but if you’re flying back to China, a First redemption of 80,000 points, i.e. 70,000 + 10,000, could be worth considering.) :mrgreen:

After booking, it was just a matter of waiting. During that time I was really worried that United Airlines would repeat its old habit of deciding the plane wasn’t going to be full and swapping aircraft at the last minute. If they switched me to something like a 767-400, that would be fine, but if they changed it to a 737 or something like that... then I’d be so annoyed that I’d really want to give UA two forehead flicks just to blow off some steam! :grin:

Flight and Lounge Experience

However, on Christmas morning, the thing I had been worried about still happened. When I checked the flight status, it said “Aircraft switch”... speechless! What’s going on?

GSO-IAD

After looking more closely, it turned out to be okay. They had only changed the first GSO-IAD segment from a Bombardier Q200 turboprop to an ERJ-145, while the later IAD-LAX 777-200ER was still operating normally. Fine, I’ll live with it. It just meant Chestnut’s plan to ride a turboprop on the way was ruined!

The trip itself was uneventful, and it was a quiet morning at GSO airport. Pretty empty—almost nobody around. That’s the advantage of a small airport. After security, I wandered around a bit and saw an old Douglas DC-8 relic, registration N782SP. It was born in Long Beach, California in January 1969, and its age had already surpassed 48 years!

The first flight was delayed, and the aircraft didn’t arrive until half an hour late!

Registration N14204. Built in 2006, so it’s just over 10 years old—still pretty young! Since the plane had finally arrived, boarding began after the arriving passengers got off. Hurry up, Chestnut still had to go lounge-hopping at IAD!

Washington Dulles Airport Lounge Experience

We arrived at IAD and were met by stairs. Welcome to Virginia—the airport is called Washington Dulles, but it’s actually in Virginia (if anyone didn’t know that IAD is in VA, raise your hand)~~

PEK is actually even stranger—everything around it is Shunyi, but the airport belongs to Chaoyang. Beijing Capital International Airport is an enclave of Chaoyang District...

Next, I used the PPS that comes with the Chase Sapphire Reserve to talk my way into the lounges, starting with the British Airways lounge!

What kind of luck is this? The coffee machine was broken! :!:

The only good thing about the BA lounge is probably the wine...

Then I went to check out the KLM and Air France lounges~~

This side felt a bit better. At least there was real food that could actually fill you up.

In the KLM lounge, I also got to admire IAD’s bizarre shuttle bus!

I don’t know why Qatar Airways used a 777-200LR for IAD that day? The distance is more than enough for a 777-300ER! It feels like using anti-aircraft artillery to shoot mosquitoes... But hey, they’re rich Middle Eastern oil barons—when they have money, they’re not afraid to burn fuel!

It was about time, so I took the little train over to the other terminal to catch my next flight!

IAD-LAX UA 777-200ER Flight Experience

Chestnut’s ride for this leg was one of United Airlines’ current premium birds, the 777-200ER.

Looking more closely, the engines turned out to be Pratt & Whitney PW4000s. I was stunned... I had thought their 777-200ERs, like American Airlines’, used Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines!

Here’s a quick primer on how to identify Boeing 777 variants: first, the single-deck fuselage plus the three-wheel main landing gear bogies (ignoring the A350-1000 for now, since it doesn’t exist yet) confirms that it’s a Boeing 777 family aircraft. Then count the cabin doors to tell the 200/300 series apart—aircraft with four doors are 777-200 series, while those with five doors are Boeing 777-300 series.

Among the various 777 variants, the 777-300ER and 777-200LR (which can be identified by their raked wingtips, also a characteristic of the 767-400) are, to put it bluntly, only able to take General Electric GE90 engines and have no other option (the 300ER uses the GE90-115B, while the 200LR uses the smaller GE90-110B). In practice, you can see that the 777-200LR is basically a shortened, lighter 777-300ER with almost the same configuration, so it ends up with a longer range—nothing particularly fancy in the design. That brings to mind a saying: when brute force can solve the problem, don’t bother thinking too much!

As for the other variants, the 777-200ER/non-ER and 777-300 non-ER have three engine options: GE90, Rolls-Royce Trent 800, and Pratt & Whitney PW4000. Based on Chestnut’s personal airplane-spotting statistics, the most commonly chosen engine among major airlines is the Rolls-Royce Trent 800, followed by the PW4000, while GE90 is used the least (probably because of a combination of fuel burn, noise, and resale value when the aircraft is sold second-hand—people say the Trent 800 is a bit quieter and also holds its value better when converted for cargo use)!

How to tell engines apart — if you’re identifying them by appearance, look at the N1 fan blades at the intake. When you’re facing the engine, the N1 fan blades that rotate clockwise are the Rolls-Royce Trent 800 (thanks to my avgeek friend Steel Plate for the lesson), while the ones that rotate counterclockwise are the Pratt & Whitney PW4000 or the GE90. The GE90 can then be recognized by its wavy, flashy fan blades, which the other two engines don’t have. If you’re identifying them by sound on takeoff, the GE90 series makes a high-pitched scream, the Rolls-Royce Trent 800 gives off a low rumbling roar, and the least distinctive of them all is the PW4K (neither its appearance nor its sound is anything special)!

We’ve boarded. The legendary backward-facing business-class seat is about to take us, leaning against the window all the way to Los Angeles!

Chestnut is reminded once again of the days of riding a train backward... :razz:

Takeoff! Virginia in the night!

Business class is laid out 2-4-2. It’s actually pretty cramped. But since the seats recline flat, a lie-flat seat hides a multitude of sins!

Dinner time. First up was orange juice plus almonds and cashews. Then came the salad. Finally, chicken cutlet rice. The food was just okay — don’t expect too much from UA!

The gentleman in the aisle seat went to the restroom, so Chestnut took the opportunity to stand up and stretch for a bit.

The economy cabin behind us still had the classic 3-3-3 layout.

UA still has a few surviving economy cabins with the 2-5-2 seating arrangement. I wonder if any of you have a masochistic streak and want to try what it’s like to be squeezed into the middle seat (Chestnut has experienced it already anyway)! :grin:

Back to my seat, I watched the PTV for a bit and then lay down to sleep. When I woke up, we were approaching LAX!

Every time Chestnut flies, he picks a window seat by hand, and every time he flies to LAX, he sits on the right side, so that on approach he can photograph Downtown LA!

Six months later, I was back in a familiar place again!

Summary

Chestnut’s review ends here, so let’s wrap it up. Back when AA’s three-cabin Domestic Business required an additional 7,500 miles, meaning you needed 32,500 miles to redeem it, UA did not have such an odd surcharge rule. You could still redeem a three-cabin Domestic Business ticket for 25,000 miles, which is still a pretty good value.

A reminder: when you redeem tickets, please pay attention to the aircraft type. For Business class on aircraft like the 737 or A320, just don’t bother — it’s basically a torture seat and there’s no point if it doesn’t lie flat. If you can find three-cabin 777-200ER flights, two-cabin 767-400ER flights on wide-body domestic routes, or two-cabin 757-200PS flights, then spending 25,000 miles to lie flat for four and a half to five hours across the continental United States is still a great deal!

PS: The seat map is from SeatGuru. If you’re not sure whether a seat fully reclines, I also recommend checking SeatGuru!

One last thing: Master Yue also flew the UA 777-200ER from PEK to IAD on Christmas Eve. It’s just that by the time his plane had not yet arrived at IAD, Chestnut’s plane had already taken off, so we never ended up meeting!

Mountains remain, rivers flow on. We’ll meet again someday!