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Intro
Flying home during winter break has always been a dilemma for most international students: go home and the airfare is too expensive; stay put and life in the dorms is too boring (NYC and LA can be ruled out?). For this winter break, after thinking it through, I still decided to go back to China. But the ticket price really had to be considered carefully. More specifically, the fare for the week when my exams ended and the week after that differed quite a bit, with some tickets costing nearly $1,000 more. That scared me into thinking about redeeming miles for a ticket.
Since it was a mileage redemption, of course it would be best if I could redeem business class. Because Chase had recently released a batch of cards that bypassed the 5/24 restriction (I had actually been pre-qualified for the Chase UA Explorer at the time), I applied for the UA card and used Plastiq to pay a tuition bill, and immediately received 65,000 points. Combined with the points I had left over from before, that was enough to redeem a ticket home. Since I didn’t want to fly on UA’s own-operated flights (UA-operated flights only require 70,000 points), I booked a more circuitous itinerary for a total of 80,000 points. (Even though it was already the lowest saver level, it still hurt. The routing didn’t go across the Pacific at all; it flew the opposite direction toward Europe. I also once flew from China to Chicago via Europe, and because it was business class the whole way, although it felt exhausting at the time, looking back it actually didn’t seem so bad? (People really do need to put themselves through a bit of hassle from time to time.)
This trip started with Air Canada from Boston BOS to Montreal YUL, then Air Canada from Montreal YUL to Paris CDG, and finally Air China from Paris CDG to Shanghai PVG. At first I had found an even more roundabout routing, with an extra segment from Paris to Italy and then from Italy to Shanghai... After thinking about it, 1. France and Italy are in the Schengen Area, so the transfer between them would be a Schengen domestic flight, which is impossible without a visa; 2. What’s the point of flying an extra segment anyway...
Boston United Airlines United Club Experience
Before heading to a lounge, I always stop by the gate first so I can estimate how long it’ll take to walk from the lounge to the gate later. Sharing this good habit here, haha. After turning left from the gate, you can see Boston Airport’s dazzling illuminated signs, which are pretty cool.
Then there’s a small path leading directly to gate B3. Along this path are displays celebrating Boston’s pride: championship teams from basketball, football, and baseball. I still remember that the Celtics display case had Pierce’s jersey on display.
After walking down that path, you can see our gate.
Since I was holding a Star Alliance business-class ticket, I searched Boston Airport in the LoungeBuddy app and found the UA Club. So I went looking for this lounge with the mindset that I was basically just going there to sit on a couch. (After all, the food is just carrot-crunching level, so there wasn’t much to expect.)
The lounge wasn’t easy to find. There was only a tiny UA Club sign between two elevators, and one of the elevators wasn’t even working... I went up, pressed the floor where the lounge is located, Level 3. When the elevator doors opened, the lounge was on the left.
From the very first glance at the UA Club, I thought it was bright, clean, and very comfortable. At the front desk, I showed my boarding pass, they scanned it, and I was let in. At first I wondered why they didn’t ask for the Wi-Fi password, but later I realized that because the lounge is on the 3rd floor, people who aren’t in the lounge can’t connect to that Wi-Fi anyway, so there was no password.
Once inside, I found that there weren’t many people. I got a cup of water and saw that I could sit by the window. The seats faced the airport’s takeoff and landing runway.
After sitting by the window for a while, I went to check out the food. What had to happen, happened: the food was indeed just like a typical UA Club—unappetizing... So I grabbed some crackers and went to sit on the couches inside.
It was really empty inside, so I casually found a couch and quickly dealt with my cracker meal.
When it was about time to board, I headed to the gate. Before boarding, I took a photo of the plane (since there wasn’t a window where I could capture the side of the aircraft, this is the only shot I got of the plane’s nose, unfortunately).
Boston BOS–Montreal YUL Flight Experience
- Aircraft type: Air Canada Bombardier CRJ 900LR
- Flight number: AC 8461
- Flight time: 52 minutes
- Distance: 409 km
Boarding
Because it was business class, I boarded right in the first group, Zone 1.
Cabin Features
I’d say the cabin features were the only disappointing part of this flight. The fixtures were quite old. The seat was basically a standard large recliner, with obvious signs of use, and the touchscreen system was unresponsive and laggy.
This single seat here was mine.
You can see that the space was actually pretty large. There weren’t many people in business class on this flight either—there were only three of us including me; the other two sat together.
I do need to complain that the charging port here was useless—it didn’t charge when plugged in. The USB port, however, did charge.
In-Flight Meal
I honestly did not expect that a flight of less than 1 hour would have smoked salmon! And the potatoes on the side, paired with my ginger ale, were delicious!
Service
The business-class cabin was served by an older gentleman who was very polite and kind. Thumbs up.
Boston Aerial Shot
I took this shot as we were leaving Boston. The sunset gave it a special charm.
Personal Wrap-Up
It’s fair to say that this leg of the trip and the experience in the UA Club were both very enjoyable. The staff were all very warm and friendly.
If I had to point out a drawback, it would be that the cabin is pretty old and the lounge food could use a bit more variety?