Overview:

Trip was planned as follows, a Star Alliance RTW (Round the World)
fare: MEL-SYD-SFO-SAN/SAN-DEN-DFW/DFW-ORD-IAD-LHR/LHR-FRA-SIN-AKL-MEL.
total miles: 28,514. Airlines used: United (UA), Lufthansa (LH),
Singapore Airlines (SQ - as a NZ codeshare flight) and Air New Zealand
(NZ).

The Star Alliance group of carriers seems to be much more integrated
than my last trips, but perhaps this is more aparent to me because of
my new Gold status and the ability to use the lounges, and have a better
waitlist priority on full flights (which appeared to help me in at least
one case). While it is still not perfect, and not all the carriers are
equal to eachother in terms of comfort or service, they seem to be trying
to converge on a base level, and cross promotion of eachother (eg: having
"Star Alliance" audio channels on their aircraft, placement of alliance
logos on LH boarding passes and lots of airport advertising).

I don't want to sound like the United Airlines' poster child, but really
the best service in all aspects I got and found was from United. While trye
that I flew in upgraded classes on all but 1 United flight, I am including
ground services here, the agents, the on time record, the helpfulness of
the crew and so on when making this statement. Lufthansa came a close second
as I found them, in general, to be pretty good, though they could have been
better, I had no real complaints with the way the handed situations such as
late flights, delays, connecting passengers and so on. United's inflight
mag, Hemispheres, was the most interesting of the bunch, with LH's magazine
being more "airline" oriented with a great editorial and behind the scenes
look at the work of CSR's. In contrast the SQ and NZ magazines warranted a
2 minute flip through - I didn't read any articles in either.

All in all good flights with good service on each. No real complaints.
 
Anyway, on with the flights...

28JUN99 AN0022Y MEL SYD 767-200(VH-RMK) J:100%/Y:~100% 0900 1020 0:06L/0:01E
12A A2->39 14L=>?? BACK 0906 OFF 0914 ON 1015 GATE 1019 FT=1:01 HT=0
Grade: B

I arrived at the airport around 0735. Noted on coming in on the bus a
Star Alliance (big one) billboard had been erected just in front of an
oneworld sign. That was amusing. Ansett domestic checkin was an absolute
zoo, with the Y lines zigzagging out onto the curb area. That's when I
remembered it was the first day of local school holidays. That's okay as
the Star Alliance gold checkin was located with the BusinessFirst (J)
and Golden Wing Club members checkin (and nicely signposted) so I hit
that line. Even so, this line was pretty long, and a few of us in the line
made comment about it. However I was an hour early so I wasn't fussed
at all.

Was checked in very quickly by a nice agent who, without asking, attached
a Star Alliance priority (they're bright pink!) tag to my bag and had it
all tagged through to SAN very neatly. He also handed me a little leaflet
about transitting in SYD to the international terminal and told me all I
needed to know. I was given seat 12A which was a window as is my preference
so that was fine. Noticed UA*G listed on my boarding pass, so was good to
see the status was recognised by their system. (As an aside, I noticed
credit for my flight, in AN's V class, was given at 125% - ie: Business
Class).

That done, I wandered over to QF domestic and noticed it was just about
empty. Perhaps noone flies them on school holidays? It seemed quite eerie.
Up to the observation deck to see the sum total of very little activity
on the ramp. Just a few 737's at QF domestic and one or two 747's at the
international gates. The hilight was seeing an SQ 777-300 parked at an
outer gate. Those things are *long*!

Next stop was the Golden Wing club. I went through security on the A
concourse to where it was.. and found it had moved! They're constructing
a new one there, so went out to find it, and found it just before the B
concourse. This is a nice club. I was instantly admitted upon showing my
UA Premier Exec card with Star Gold logo with a "good morning, sir" from
the front desk. Inside was very nice. Comfortable chairs, nice selection
of breads, fruit, crossaints, tea and coffee etc. I noticed quite a lot of
kids making a bit of noise which was a bit of a put off, but I guess the
business types taking their families on holiday are entitled to bring them
into the lounge. Noted a couple of 'net connected PC's so sent a few quick
email messages to friends, and sat down with some food and a drink and watched
my gate. I saw VH-RMH push back and off for SYD, and watched VH-RMK come in
from SYD though a little late to park at A2.

I hit the lounge at approx 0835 and boarding started around 0840. As usual
for Ansett they didn't bother with a preboard for J pax, or for Elite FF's
it was basically just "you can get on now" and the usual mad scramble began.
As I was in a window seat I got in there as fast as I could as I hate
disrupting people already seated to get into my seat. Luckily by the time
I got on 12B&C had not yet shown up, so I got settled in. This seat was in
front of the bulkhead, but was an okay seat as far as they go. The usual AN
tight pitch applied but my knees didn't mind too much for just an hour of
flying. The seat had wings and was quite comfortable.

Newspapers were offered - even to Y pax which was a nice touch.

The meal was titled "morning tea"and consisted of a kind of big
muffin with dates and whatnot with tea. Quite nice. As usual AN
can't make tea to save themselves, but I do insist on trying it each
time :)

I noticed one f/a was using gloves to pick up trays. Makes sense
in this health conscious world, but it stuck me as odd that one did
and one didn't. Perhaps it is a personal choice thing rather than
a company mandate. I write this recalling the issue of AN installing
syringe bins in their lavs (no, I didn't use one to check it out!).

At the end of the flight connecting flight information was given for
domestic pax, which was also useful.

All in all, a bland and routine flight. Nothing exciting at all apart
from 'RMK being my fave Ansett plane.

At Sydney I visited the Golden Wing club there quickly then zipped on
the bus over to the international terminal, picked up my boarding pass
for my UA flight, through immigration and upstairs to the red carpet
club for some drinks and a relax before the flight to San Francisco.
I noted the lounge direction signs had Star and oneworld logos, so
it was easy to see where to go depending on your alliance membership.
I was tempted to look in on the TG lounge, but decided to stay with
UA.

I met up with a nice guy in the lift up to the RCC and we had a good
chat while in there. Always nice to have someone to talk to while
waiting around an airport (specially when the plane viewing isn't
that interesting). Turns out he was booked on the day before's flight
but UA bumped him off the full flight, and compensated him with $400
in travel vouchers and an upgrade on this flight, which seemed fairly
decent.

Soon it was time to board as N120UA was towed into the gate from where
it had been sitting since arriving around 6am.

28JUN99 UA0862C SYD SFO 747-400(N120UA)         1300 0920 1:09L/1:44L
22H 51->51 ??=>?? BACK 1429 OFF 1443 ON 1051 GATE 1102 FT=13:08 HT=3 CH14=N
Grade: B

Despite all the ground time this flight had had at Sydney it didn't seem
to have been cleaned properly - the seat pocket next to me (I was in the
exit row) had an old menu in it and only one entertainment guide.

pre-departure drinks were offered, in glass (not plastic). I gather they
will move to plastic at some stage.

Just after 1300 an announcement is made by the captain. There is a problem
with the weather radar and they expect a 10 minute fix. No big deal we
just sit there, drink our drinks.. whatever.

Meantime newspapers are passed through. I take the Australian as the best
of a bad bunch of offered papers.

Next menus handed out. Still the same old United Business design. Can't they
change these every so often? I'm sick of the fruit bowl thingy! :) I recognised
one of the F/A's from many other transpacs on UA. I found that interesting.
I doubt he recognised me though (:-) ).

Soon our lunch orders are taken (meanwhile there is no word from the Captain
about the part and we are still at the gate - now about 1315). Names are
used. I keep wondering why Americans seem to have trouble pronouncing my
surname. Kiwis have no problem, or english. Hell even the girl from Singapore
could.

After this task is done the F/A's gathered at the galley(where I was
sitting) and had a good chat. It was quite interesting to hear some of
the stories (well hell there's not much else to do, and they were talking
louud enough for us to hear). One story was how some deadheading crew were
pulled off a flight and popped onto a 757 with 20 other F/A's and that
was flown on the same route. They couldn't work out if it was a ferry
flight, or specially flown to get them to where they were going and they
didn't get on the one they were on to make space for revenue pax.

At 1320 finally an update from the flight deck saying "The new part didn't
work"(whatever that meant) and that the captain refused to fly the aircraft
over the pacific without a working radar (I couldn't agree more). My question:
how come this wasn't picked up before now with all the ground time of the
a/c? Well I suppose things just break at the wrong times. I guess it was
good they picked it up in a preflight check rather than 4 hours over the
pacific. They promised would give us 15 minute updates.

Finally at 1340 an announcement is made that the problem still is not fixed
and they'll "let us know." I start to worry about my connection in SFO and
also about the crew being legal. How long before they walk off because of
the time constraints?

At 1400 we're informed that SYD have kicked the airctraft out of the gate
because they need it for another aircraft, so they move to gate 58 and
park again to still work on the problem. We're now 1 hour late.

We're all getting just a little antsy now. Some of my fellow opax have
tighter connections. A gentleman next to me has a 1050 departure for
ATL he wants to be on from SFO. He is a 1K (I later find out he has over
780,000 miles clocked up!). While some women are trying to convince one of
the F/A's to break open the Godiva chocolates as they're starving. The
F/A refuses though, but politely!

At 1425 we're told the problem is fixed, and they proceed with a departure.

After take off we have the usual drink service with (cold) nuts in ramkin.
very nice. a Hot towel is passed before the appetiser which consists of
very nice prawns and a salad. hot breads are passed garlic, herb etc and
we're allowed 2 pieces if we like.

Next came the lunch proper - Mushroom Ravioli which was very very nice
and filling. Another pass of bread was well received. Following this was
a most excellent chocolate truffle desert, port and the godiva chocolates.
Service was excellent throughout. After I had started watching a movie (Blast
from the past I think) we were given 500ml bottles of chilled spring water
which was a nice touch for the long flight.

I managed to sleep through the snacks in between, though did talk a bit
with my seatmate during the flight. It turned out he was the chair of an
ICAO committee defining the standards for inflight data services over satellite
(eg: using the same systems that make FANS possible to send/receive other
applications such as email etc). That was really interesting. They had just
held a conference in Canberra with the Aust and other governments regarding
the standards and quite a few of the pax were sitting around me in C.

Service throughout the flight was excellent. Our glasses of whatever we
were drinking were always filled - usually before they had become empty
and we weren't disturbed by the f/a's doing their work. We even spent some
time in conversation with a few and that was very nice too. Our little
part around the exit door and galley became a kind of what would have been the
smokers corner where pople stood together, chatted, stretched. whatever.
It was very refreshing.

Breakfast was filling as well and very tasty - spinich and egg roulade
with ham and other goodies. Yet again hot bread/rolls offered and
passed. A bottle of red wine was offered (and accepted by) my seatmate.
I suspect this was due to his commenting about missing his ATL connection
and the manifest obviously had him as a 1K. I thought it was a nice
touch from the crew.

One hot towel distributed just prior to landing which was a good thing to
be more fresh before getting off the plane.

So we arrived just after 11. Off the plane at approx 1105. My flight to
SAN was at 1138. I didn't think I'd have a chance, but being at door 2L
meant I was one of the first off. Now, if I could get through customs
quickly... *maybe* so I dashed down the halls and into immigration with
my documents. Wow, I ended up #4 in line behind some Japanese gentlemen
(a NH 744 was parked just near us, and I assume they came off that). I
was through there approx 1110. Go through to baggage. Pray that the
priority tag works. If I can just get the bag through customs and onto
the connecting thing, UA can deliver it if it doesn't make the shuttle
flight (which I doubted). 1115 bags start rolling. Mine is 5th bag off.
YES! score one for Star Alliance priority (or just blind luck?!). Rush
through customs who don't bother with me and turn right to UA connections.
"Where are you going?" I am asked "SAN on 2161 I reply" "Nope. you've been
rebooked for the 3:30 flight" NOT! I rush to the counter and say (it is
now around 1122). Quick, pop this bag on. I am sure I can  get to the
gate by 1130 if I run. I can make this flight. If the bag doesn't make it
then fine - UA can deliver it - I'll fill in the paperwork at the other
end. The agent stares at me then taps away "uh sir, it is 1124 you'll never
make it. I've rebooked you on the 3:30pm flight. All the others are full"
I was stunned. I was tired. I was... angry. Why wouldn't they let me try?
(she was holding my boarding pass, and I don't think she would give it
back). So I thought "okay, fine. you win" and surrended. But I didn't want
that 3:30pm flight either - that was 4 hours away, and I had a friend in
SAN who had no idea about this. Okay I said, can you put me on the waitlist
for the next flight then? "yes sir, and I'll retag your bag through on that
flight" (well at least it would get there, even if I wasn't).

That done, I went up to the SFO red carpet club (note that even walking
I made it to the north terminal and gate 70 area (where 2161 was leaving
from) approx 1140. I could have made that flight if I'd run. I just saw
it pulling back. So, I went to the RCC and presented my card to get in.
tap. tap. tap. "Uh, sir. I show no record of your membership. Do you want
to become a new member of mileage plus?" I just stared at the agent in
total disbelief. Here I am, standing in front of her with a shiny new, 1999
issue Premier Exec card and she asks if I want to be a new member. So, I
pull out my (new) boarding pass and show her that and explain I came off
862 delayed from SYD. She seems to accept the mileage plus info printed
on the BP and lets me in (sheesh). I decide to use one of the free drink
vouchers a friend gave me and I order a vodka and coke. Now, that was just
what I needed.

I decided, on a whim to go down to the gate for the next flight (2163
departing at 1240 for SAN) to see if I am indeed on their waitlist, so
I wander down to gate 69 and explain to the agent that I understand the
flight is full, but could she check if I am on the list? "yes I am" and
I said I have certs and am willing to standby for F if there is space there
also (she nods) and I explain I was 2 hours delayed off 862. She thinks
and taps away and says "oh, sir I'll bump up your priority on the waitlist"
I thank her gratefully and go and sit down thinking.. well... maybe just
maybe I'll get lucky. As I go to sit down I hear a man asking another agent
about exit row seats and which they are, and she explains she has 11B free
but for some reason he doesn't seem to want that. I don't think about it
much until as boarding is finishing I hear a name called that sounds kind
of like mine, so I jump up and ask if they paged me. Sure enough, they did.
Guess who got 11B?!

I was so happy as I would only be 1 hour late into SAN that I just did a
little yipee and jumped onto the plane. 11B wasn't quite so bad as there
is no 11A on this plane due to the exit door, so there was quite some space.
I was surrounded by Japanese businesstypes - I assume many of them connecting
from that NH plane.

28JUN98 UA2163Y SFO SAN 737-500                 1240 1409 0:07L/0:01L
11B 69->11C 1L=>?? BACK 1247 OFF 1301 ON 1408 GATE 1410 FT=1:07 CH9=Y
Grade: B

For a shuttle flight, this was good. The plane had new "United Shuttle"
paintwork and the interior was reasonably clean and tidy and the crew
were pleasant. Used channel 9 to listen into ATC and enjoyed that. I think
though I was just glad to be on my way after fearing I would have to wait
for 4 hours for my flight.

Upon arrival the rear door was used too which confused my friend meeting
me because she didn't know if she should wait at the main door, or near
security. We found eachother anyway, but it did raise an interesting
point about the dual boarding/deboarding feature of UA's.

So it was off for 4 and a bit days of beautiful San Diego.. ah.. summer..
the Padres on a winning streak, the cheap(ish) shopping and company of
friends. However come Friday it was back at the airport for my departure
to DEN and DFW.

Got to the airport approx 0950 and wandered up to UA checkin. Noted
they had split the lanes into a 1K/Star Gold/First checkin and a
Premier/Star Silver checkin. I decided to take the Star Gold line
(it having one person in it). The agent was very friendly and quite
chatty(in a nice way) and informed me that my upgrade requests had
come through and would I still like to take them? Sure I would! I
handed over 3 certificates and that was all taken care of in seconds
with me ending up the proud owner of two boarding passes for seat 1D
on both flights. I was very pleased about this as I knew the first leg
was in an Airbus A319 and figured this aircraft would have the new
first class seats in it. I thanked the agent and wandered up to the
gate.

02JUL99 UA1234F SAN DEN 319(N807UA)             1110 1417 0:01E/0:01L
1D 18->53 ??=>?? BACK 1109 OFF 1117 ON 1410 GATE 1418 HT=0 CH9=N
Grade: A-

This was quite a new aircraft, and had the new First Class seats as
I had hoped. These are like cut down versions of the international
C (business) class seats, though no in seat video and no laptop power
connection that I could see (which seemed odd to me). The head "wings"
were nice and overall the seat was wide and comfortable.

For awhile I was the only person sitting in F (I was one of the first
on board as I wanted to make sure I could stow my carry on up in the
overhead before the hoardes got to it :) I noticed an attractive young
lady hop on board and smile at me as she passed. I bet she was thinking
inside "snobbish bastard sitting in First Class" ! Still, I smiled back -
why can't the attractive women ever sit next to me? :)

SAN is one of those airports where the gates are shared, so the infamous
UA templates weren't in use (that I could see.. remembering the fuss
CO kicked up last year about it) and as a result I saw pax boarding
with some very LARGE carry on's. I didn't see the crew do anything
though or make comment (and the flight was full - I don't think there
was a free seat). I swear many of these cases should have been checked
I think.

pre-departure drinks offered as F started to fill. Service was difficult
for the F/A as pax were loading from door 1L, but there ain't many options
with a narrowbody like this but they kept getting in the way! Drinks were
served in plastic as per the new FAA regs.

The F/A's asked some pax to switch seats in F so a couple could sit together.
I gather they had been given 1B&C but wanted to sit properly together (fair
enough) and the pax moved to help them out which was nice. I ended up
having a guy who either worked for UA or definately his wife did (a F/A
for international I could gather from the conversations between him and the
lead F/A who seemed to know him). He seemed nice enough.

The door was closed at 11:07 (ie: 3 mins early) and we had a new safety
video on the A319 which I will call the "Star Alliance" safety video, as
the intro appeared to feature welcome in many of the key languages of the
alliance players (eg: English, German, French, Japanese etc). It was quite
a good production, but now all the safety videos are not in sync which seems
a little odd. Also noted in the music selection a "Star Alliance" audio
channel, with prgramming submitted by partner airlines. I think this month's
selection came from RG (Varig) as it was South American/Latino music. A
nice feature.

Menus were handed out (labelled "mid-con") and I chose the deli wrap for
"brunch" which was an absolutely lovely little meal. Very tasty and a good
size. My seatmate drank milk the whole way and ate some danish he had
bought prior to boarding.

On the way the first officer chimed in to let us know about the great
view of the grand canion on my side of the a/c - it was indeed very very
spectacular and it was a nice touch.

We rode into DEN with the usual bumpy ride from the mountain air and
arrived just a little late (by a minute). This was only due to sitting
in a mini penalty box for 5 minutes waiting for traffic to clear our
gate.

Upon leaving the aircraft I heard more than one comment to the crew
from pax saying "lovely aircraft" and "we like the A319" (true!) - I
don't know how it was in Y, but certainly the ride up front was
wonderful. Seems as though UA's bragging about it's customer satisfaction
surveys about the A319/A320 being preferred by pax would seem to be true
judging by the positive comments I heard just in a few minutes of pax
getting off.

After wandering around the gates a bit I decided to hit the RCC for
a drink. I presented my card but was refused entry because I wasn't
flying international.. then I remembered that little odd rule of UA's
and shrugged. As it turned out this was a bit of a godsend anyway.

So I wondered off and got a drink and whatnot and settled down at the
gate for my connecting flight to DFW. So as I am sitting there I am
asked the time by a pax sitting just over from it so I tellher it is
3:00 or whatever it was, and I look up properly and realise it is the
same young lady who was smiling at me on boarding the SAN flight! Turns
out she was visiting her mother in the Dallas area and we struck up
quite a conversation and passed the time companionably. As it turns out
the inbound aircraft (from OAK) was late and didn't deplane till approx
3:30pm (original sched departure was 3:40pm). So, it was nice to have
the company of this (very attractive) lady. However I felt the time could
be made up, and bet her $1 (I had a spare Australian dollar coin on me)
that we'd get there on time. She accepted the bet. Boarding began around
1550.

02JUL99 UA0450F DEN DFW 737                     1540 1828 0:27L/0:24L
1D B46->?? 17R=>?? BACK 1607 OFF 1620 ON 1848 GATE 1852 FT=1:28 HT=1 CH9=N
Grade: B

A family of 4 had the whole of the 2nd row of F taken up, and I was "lucky"
enough to get a little boy sitting behind me who kicked the back of my
chair a few times, but after a bit he settled down to play cards with his
father so that was okay.

This was a drink service flight so there really wasn't much difference between
F and Y on this aircraft except for the seats (old style F seats, not new)
which obviously was a little better than Y. However mostly the crew stood
in the galley and chatted through the flight except when turbulence forced
the captain to order them to strap in also.

Hot Towel was delivered on descent which was quite a good thing I think.

Alas we were running late so I penned a little note to my new friend and
went back to Y to hand her her dollar coin. She looked most pleased at
winning the bet :)

I mark this flight down because there was no announcement at the gate or
on board as to the reason for the delay or anything like that, and the service
was lacklustre at best.

It was a heatwave in DFW when we arrived - around 96 degrees at 7pm! So
was quick to get out of there with my friend and head to a nice cool
airconditioned theatre (except we got lost finding it, so gave up after
about an hour *laugh*).

Soon my July 4th weekend in DFW was over and I returned to DFW Monday
morning to find a fair queue at the UA checkin, so again headed for the
Premier/F line (and got some rude glances from pax - jealousy?) and
checked in. Yet again I was told my upgrades had come through(yay!)
and handed my boarding passes for DFW-ORD, ORD-IAD and IAD-LHR(which I
had previously upgraded using miles). Finally I had the seat I'd always
wanted - 1A! Okay, so it was only a 737-200, but I was excited nonetheless.

05JUL99 UA1656F DFW ORD 737-200(N980UA) 8/8 101/101 1022 1233 0:00/0:08E
1A B28->E4 18L=>?? BACK 1022 OFF 1028 ON 1217 GATE 1225 FT=1:49 CH9=N HT=1
Grade: A-

Pre departure drinks were offered - choice of OJ and OJ. There seemed to
be no other choice offered, but that was fine by me.

The pilot briefly came out from the cockpit before departure and said
hi to those of us in F, but that could have been because (I later found
out) my seatmate was a retired UA captain (of 22 years flying 737-200's
up to 747-400's).

Something odd happened when a family got on to discover their little girl
had been given the last seat in F, while the parents and other kid were
back in Y. I wonder how that worked out. She had a ball and was treated
like a queen :)

Menus were handed out and they were Taste of Chicago menus - very nice
striking artwork. Names were used when taking our orders. I noticed the
captain in 1B was very good about saying that he'd have his selection
"if there was any available" - obviously flying as nonrev. Later he told
me he was going to teach a doctor up in Maine how to fly his light plane).

Lunch was absolutely lovely. I had the baby ribs with the yummiest bbq
sauce I have ever had. oh gosh, I wanted more of that! This was an example
of food from "Charlie Robinsons" and I think in this respect the taste
of chicago campaign is a success. I certainly would like to visit that
place for a meal when I am in Chicago next. A nice hilight to try this
food. The desert was a cheesecake which was wonderful and soft.. just
right.

The crew were very eager to please and friendly although service was
a bit slow as there was only one F/A in the F area for 8 people, but
still she did very well.

The pilot next to me was very nice to talk to. We talked about UA's
new management and how proud he was of 'his' airline, and we both agreed
that the AA pilots situation was a mess in that the management didn't
handle the pilots properly. We also touched on the DL 777 pilots' pay
issue. This guy was a very proud United person and a joy to talk to.

Arrived at ORD at the E gates which was a fair walk over to the B and
C terminals. That is when I noticed my originally scheduled 1335
departure to IAD had been changed to 1310. That was Okay as I had
plenty of time, but I still found that interesting. I decided not
to bother with the RCC, though the large Star Alliance banner above the
entrance certainly made it easy to spot. I want one of those! :)

I arrived at gate C18 to see lots of people, but no aircraft. It then
became clear the 777 was turning from an international flight and they
weren't sure where the a/c was. SO they pushed back departure to 1330.

05JUL99 UA0474C ORD IAD 777(N770UA)             1335 1550 0:05L/0:52L
10J C18->C27 22L=>1L BACK 1340 OFF 1410 ON 1636 GATE 1642 FT=1:26 CH9=Y
Grade: B+

I was surprised to see this 777(A model) was still sporting the old F
and C seats. Blast from the past! This a/c was full pretty much. No
pre departure drinks offered. Menus were handed out though - more Taste
of Chicago menus.

Long delay before takeoff as there was quite a queue. We were sequenced
behind a USAir 737 and a DL 727 and waited in a penalty box for perhaps
20 minutes before finally getting off. The captain was fairly good about
explaining the situation to those not listening in on channel 9.

On rotation after takeoff there was a large crash from the galley behind
my seat (the C class galley) - something obviously wasn't secured properly
and some china/glassware appeared to have broken, or at least dropped. oops!

The food (no choice on this trip) was pretty nice: Buddy Guy's muffuletta
sandwich with ham, salami, swiss cheese, ham etc was very nice, also Elli's
sherbert cheesecake was lovely too, and very brightly coloured (I took a
picture because I'd never seen anything like it before :) ).

On arrival connection information was offered for those pax that had to
run to connecting flights, specially to places like AMS, BRU etc. That
was good of the crew to do that.

On arrival I noted my flight to LHR (UA920) wasn't even posted on the
board yet, so I went for a wander to find a post office, and after
failing at that after a trip back to the main terminal and all, I went
back and found my flight was finally posted to leave from the D concourse
so went to the RCC near gate D3. The agent was saying when I entered
that it was a small one and hardly anyone came (there are 2 others in the
C concourse areas) but this was quite nice. Mostly inhabited by a group
of arabs who either had come from or were going to a Saudi Arabian flight
(I guess). The chairs were comfortable and I got myself some munchies and
some iced water and sat down to read until it was flight time.

05JUL99 UA0920C IAD LHR 747-400(N188UA)                 1935 0730 0:00/0:12E
19H D5->13? ??=>?? BACK 1935 OFF 1951 ON 0718 GATE 0723 FT=6:27 HT=1 CH14=N
Grade: B

On boarding I was complimented by the lead F/A for my tshirt (UA 777 shirt)
which was nice. When I got upstairs I saw the pilot had some kids up in the
cockpit giving them a tour, and several more came up after that which was
nice to see some nice PR from the pilots.

The A/c was very hot after sitting in the hot sun (it was like 95 or so in
IAD that day) and the captain apologised saying that they had the aircon on
full (powered by the APU I assume) but it wouldn't cool down much until we
were in the air(which it did). Meanwhile someone had turned on the Hawaian
muzak for boarding which seemed a little odd, but I suppose a little funny
too.

Menus were handed out after the pre dept. drinks.. finally a new design
on them! Someone must have heard my comment to myself on 862! :)

Door was closed at 1931 and we proceeded to taxi out behind a VS 742 (old
livery).

The lead F/A seemed to have trouble with her announcements right through
this flight. I think she must have been from the DEL station or something
which is nothing against her, but it was hard to understand some of the things
she was saying. Strangely I could understand more of the German version!

After takeoff we had a running commentary for the first 90 minutes or so
from the cockpit as to various sights to see - Baltimore Harbour, New
York area etc. Luckily they stopped just ads I was starting to find it a
little intrusive.

Service seemed a little slow on the upper deck with the drink service not
starting till :55 after takeoff with a hot towel and the nuts and drink
followed by dinner. I chose Chicken Lasagne which was very nice. Afterwards
we were served yet another elli's cheesecake. 3 in one day! Still, this was
very nice too, so I couldn't complain. One of the F/A's, who was French
spilled something onto my seatmate and was very apologetic and cleaned things
up very quickly. I don't think it was a big spill or anything too messy -
something off a tray (I was watching a movie and just heard the noise).

The flight proceeded fairly normally and the noise reducting headsets worked
well so I could watch some of the movies ("October Sky" and "Never Been
Kissed" amongst them) and then I drifted off to sleep and slept through the
breakfast service, so don't know how it was.

We ended up in a holding pattern over London for 15 minutes or so with very
quick, steep turns by the the plane - must have been a pretty small circle
(in relative terms) they were flying.

Arrival was into a very foggy Heathrow - could hardly see the aircraft
parked next to us - they prob. had arrivals and departures slowed right
down hence the hold. Through customs in a snap and had to wait about :20
for the bags to start coming, which they finally did and then about another
:10 for mine to make it, then out the green channel and into London.

After a few fun filled days in London it was time for the long trek
home. I had decided to try a few different Star Alliance airlines on my
way back to compare. So I had LH from LHR to FRA and then SIN, SQ (as
a NZ codeshare) to AKL and NZ proper to MEL. I got to LHR approx 3:10pm
for my 5:00pm flight to FRA. The Y lines were pretty full as usual but
the F counter was empty and it had a Star Alliance Gold sign under it,
so I went there quite happily. The agent was very nice when I showed her
my card entitling me to check in there. She then gasped when she saw
the flights I was booking in for and thought I must be crazy. I agreed
with her.

I asked her about the loads on the following flight as I was going to ask
for an upgrade (as United had been first of all vague when I asked about
it, and then told me on a 2nd call that I needed a certificate printed to
upgrade, and that took 15 days, and they told me this 13 days before my
flight. I was so disappointed). Anyway she told me they were 8/16 in first
and 32/78 in business booked. She was very helpful and suggested I ask at
the gate in FRA for an upgrade and she wished me good flying.

I wandered through departures quickly at Heathrow's terminal 2, which is
quite nice with shops and whatnot. It's small enough to be managable
though - seems much smaller than T3 which I am more used to. A quick
passport check and I am through in seconds and head up to the LH lounge
which is upstairs. When I entered they checked my card and boarding pass
very carefully to see names matched properly before letting me in, which
was interesting, but no problem and soon I was in. Like the United
International lounges they had the usual self service fully stocked bar
and tea/coffee with sandwiches and small bits to eat. Very civilised along
with a swag of newspapers to read which was good. I sat down with a drink
and read the paper until it was time to find my flight.

Down to gate 5 and by 1640 no announcement by the staff although the aircraft
had been sitting there for at least an hour and was obviously ready. Finally
at around 1645 it was explained there was an ATC delay and the a/c would be
boarded at 5:05pm.

When boarding was called there was no preboard for either business
class or frequent flyers. Instead LH uses a zone system similar to
United Shuttle boarding, with the windows in Zone one right up to aisles
and so on in Zone 6. While people tried to ignore the zone system
the agent at the gate was sending people back before their time in typical
German style.

08JUL99 LH4601Y LHR FRA A300-600(D-AIAR/Bingen Am Rhein) 1710 1935 0:54L/0:54L
25A 5->A56 ??=>?? BACK 1804 OFF 1819 ON 2020 GATE 2029 FT=1:01 HT=0
Grade: B

Y seating was 2-4-2 with perhaps 32" or 33" pitch - seemed quite
generous - my knees didn't hit the seat in front which was quite
good. No inflight audio or video system, though I suppose this didn't
matter much for such a short flight.

There was a PA announcement when boarding was completed which I assume
was for the benefit of the crew, but it was interesting to know.

Still sitting at the gate 10 or so minutes later the captain comes
on and makes a long announcement in German, repeating it word for word
(as far as I could gather, though my German is pretty poor) in English
right afterwards (as with all announcements) saying that Eurocontrol
in Brussells had given them a bad slot time and that we had to sit on the
ground here for another 50 (fifty) minutes before taking off. groan!
However the Captain did say that people could use their cell phones to
call up people to let them know about the delay (and lots did) which was
nice. He seemed quite frustrated with the situation in europe, and this
seemed very common. He made it quite clear that it was Brussells that was
the problem, and nothing LH or the crew could do about it. Also I noted
a large editorial in the LH inflight mag from Jeugen Weber(?) the CEO of
LH anyway who was blasting the same situation as intolerable and that LH
were responding with standby crews and a/c in FRA, HAM and MUC to try
and help with the problems. I found this a most interesting article for
an inflight mag.

At 1740 the Captain came back on to say "your prayers have been answered"
and they had a better slot time to leave in 10 or so minutes which was
much better. He seemed to have a good sense of humour and promised to get
back to us about critical connecting flights at Frankfurt (to Munich I
gather is a bit of a well travelled route).

Crew came through handing out refresher towels in little packets...

Take off was fairly quick after pushback and the safety demo which was
in German and English (oddly every line seemed to begin with the phrase
"We'd like to aquaint you with..." the seatbelt, the exits, the life
jacket etc). The seat belt sign was off within 5 minutes of take off and
the crew were quickly up offering a snack of fresh bagettes filled with
either tomato, lettuice etc or a meat and cheese filling. I tried the
latter and found it very tasty for a snack. Also a quick drink service.
All in all the flight felt slightly better than a shuttle type flight -
quick, smooth with minimum service for Y, but certainluy nothing wrong
except perhaps for the lack of audio.

Prior to landing, as promised the Captain gave connection information
making special note of one flight saying "Don't worry about making this
flight as your flight crew is flying that flight also, so by the time
we finish here and refuel and get over to that flight you should have
time to get on board" - in general a friendly sense of humour about the
whole situation which was obviously stressful for a lot of pax. I had
a longer connection at FRA so wasn't worried.

On landing the purser welcomed us to Frankfurt and hoped that we had
a good flight from our Lufthansa Team, and that we'd have a night that
was no further delayed. Again I felt a good sense of humour, and noone
seemed to be rabidly angry about it. Perhaps they were all used to it
or maybe they just wanted to run to their connecting gate as soon as
they could and didn't have time to remonstrate with the crew.

I went over to the gate for my SIN bound flight and decided to have
a quiet word with an agent there while it was quiet. I explained what
happened with UA to her, and wondered if they perhaps had a procedure
for doing upgrades on the spot. I'm not sure if she understood what
I meant, but she wrote my name down and said she'd see what she could
do and she'd call me. I said okay, but I would go to the lounge for
awhile, and she said fine.. just ask again before I board. So I thanked
her kindly and wandered up to the lounge, which had all the Star Alliance
logos listed very brightly.

Getting in was no problem, though they tripple checked that everything
matched again and that I had a boarding pass before letting me in. Large
selection of beers, spirits and soft drinks as well as tea/coffee and
nibbles again. Very comfortable lounge but not very good views of the
ramp - all the windows were covered. I suppose that would cut out light
coming in during the day.

Around about 2130 I headed back down to the gate and entered the
lounge area. LH have an interesting setup where you enter through a
kind of gate area by them running your boarding pass through the gate
reader, and then they won't let you out of there. I guess this is so
they can be sure that all their pax are in the gate prior to boarding.
However they seem to be quite restrictive about it. I guess that is just
their way of doing it I guess.

So I was sitting near the desk area inounge but not very good views of the
ramp - all the windows were covered. I suppose that would cut out light
coming in during the day.

Around about 2130 I headed back down to the gate and entered the
lounge area. LH have an interesting setup where you enter through a
kind of gate area by them running your boarding pass through the gate
reader, and then they won't let you out of there. I guess this is so
they can be sure that all their pax are in the gate prior to boarding.
However they seem to be quite restrictive about it. I guess that is just
their way of doing it I guess.

So I was sitting near the desk area in case they wanted to come talk to
me or whatever, and heard this shrieking and shouting at a LH agent from
a female with a north American accent. Her story was, as near as I can make
out, that she missed her flights or they were cancelled and her agent (UA
I think) in CLE rerouted her onto this flight (I think she was supposed to
go to HKG or something) and had aparently spent some time on the phone with
LH to arrange an upgrade for her to first class. So she was sreetching at
the staff that she HAD to have her upgrade to First because it was promised
and that they were incompetent and so on. They seemed to handle ot fairly
quietly and had a supervisor come over. This went on for 10-15 minutes until
she disappeared, only to come back 10 or so minutes later and they produced
some kind of bp's for her. I guess in First as she didn't scream anymore.

Boarding starts, again using the zone system. It seemed to work reasonably
well, although this time there is actually noone checking so people
just made a bit of a mob. I waited around to hear about my upgrade
not wanting to bother/annoy the staff after the other annoying person
hassled them so much.

Just about everyone had boarded around 2200 (scheduled departure 2205)
so I asked the agent quietly and she said she was waiting for the flight
service director to come off the 'plane to authorise the upgrade.. I was
getting a bit edgy didn't want them to close the door on me. Eventually
she realised that a decision had to be made and went off (I assume to a
service desk or somewhere) and came back and told me no, get on board.
Maybe she thought I was after a free upgrade or something. Oh well. No
big deal.

08JUL99 LH0786Y FRA SIN 747-400(D-ABVH/Dusseldorf) 2205 1605 0:47L/0:43L
54J A26->E22 ??=>?? BACK 2252 OFF 2309 ON 1639 GATE 1648 FT=11:30 HT=2
Grade: B-

I walked on board through a mostly empty business class (so that 32/78
seats count I was told was fairly spot on I guess. sigh. they could have
given me an upgrade if they wanted). ANyway Y was pretty packed in, but
54H the seat next to me remained clear. We waited past our departure time
and announcement was made that due to the terrible ATC/slot delays affecting
most flights in Germany they were short by 70(!) pax that were connecting
in and would wait extra time so that hopefully some of them could make the
flight. They were quite reasonable about it in terms of saying "I think
you'll all understand how it is running for your next flight, specially
a big one like this and won't begrudge us waiting for them because you'd
like us to wait for you too, but we do have a deadline and can only wait
so long" - I felt this was reasonable by LH to try and keep everyone happy
and work for their customers. The Captain also added that the expected
flight time was 11:30 rather than the scheduled 12:00 so that gave a little
extra time up their sleeves. On boarding video monitors displayed the Star
Alliance and LH logos which was interesting. In fact all over the LH
mags alliances and partnerships seemed most important and they seemed to
stress them a lot. Like UA their audio has a "Star Alliance" channel, and
I noted this programme came from UA and was jazz and blues music. Also on
another channel they had something called "The Star Alliance Theme" (!) by
someone called Michael Wagner (credited as being from Lufthaansa). I quite
liked this music. Wish I could get aa copy of it! :)

Headphones were handed out, mine only seemed to want to work in mono. Oh
well. I wasn't interested in the movies on offer anyway (Bug's Life/
Shakespeare in Love). Finally blankets were handed out (the only airline
I have come across that doesn't have the blankets already on the seat).

On to the safety demo, with the musical intro being the aforementioned
Star Alliance Theme, which I thought was cute. During the safety demo (for
reasons which escape me) OJ was handed out in little containers, as well
as the cold towellet packet.

After takeoff the service description given by the flight director was
very formal and stressed a team environment on the flight.

Soon after the Captain came on and gave the usual flight plan details. He
also seemed quite chatty and decided to give MGTOW and fuel values for
the flight, take off speed and landing speed. I'm not sure how many people
cared, but it was an interesting touch (starting MGTOW was given as 370
tonnes and landing weight would be 230 tonnes).

No menus were handed out. Instead we were basically given a choice at
"cart time" which was either a pork or beef dish. I decided to try the pork
for something a little different. This was an asian style stir fry dish
with rice and lots of soy sauce. Quite nice for Y class food. As usual
however there wasn't enough. A warm roll was passed onto the tray which
was nice. Desert was a chocolate moose with the interesting addition of
a chocolate square (dark chocolate) with the following written on the top
in white chocolate: "United Airlines & Lufthansa (with logos) - Serving
our customers for 5 years" - again the alliance/partnership theme crops
up again. This was very nice (to read, and to eat! :) ).

I asked for some tea and was not offered milk/cream or sugar - the f/a
just poured it and left which I found interesting. I don't mind black
tea so it didn't bother me too much.

Most of the flight was fairly uneventful. Having 54H empty next to me was
a godsend as was having the empty space next to me and the window - almost
enough for another seat - but not quite (this is where the hull tapers in
towards the rear of the aircraft). I managed to assume a somewhat comfortable
sleeping position with my feat wedged up against the wall and my head on 2
pillows on 54H's armrest. My head only got bumped around 4 or 5 times in like
8 hours which seemed fairly good considering the traffic to/from the lavs.

Prior to breakfast a real hot towel was served by the crew. The breakfast
was the usual kind for economy class around the world - an egg omlete with
a saussage or two and something that looked like it once was tomato :) A
plus was a warm roll *and* crossaint passed onto the tray - this seemed
like luxary!

Upon landing the crew again thanked us for flying with their team and
that this was a "partnership" flight with SK and NZ (I didn't know it
had a SK flight number on it!). No mention of codeshares. I wonder if
introducing the word partner/partnership confused people who may have
been used to the codeshare term. Well it was the first mention that this
even was a codeshare.. I mean partnership flight. Apologies again for the
late departure.

Upon exiting the gate a bevy of agents were there checking everyone's
onward connections - for those with tighter connections they already
had boarding passes ready which seemed to be handled well. There were
many agents so noone had to wait very long to be checked. I had a 4 hour
wait so I just wandered off to the transfer desk and waited there in a
reasonable line. While I was in this line the agents (not sure if they were
LH or SQ) appeared and started checking people in the line which seemed
like good service. They were asking for AKL pax, but they took a look at
my ticket (I was flying the SQ flight as a NZ codeshare) and decided that
perhaps I needed to see someone at the desk afterall. When I got there it
was no problem. 30 seconds later and I had my SQ 285 boarding pass as well
as my connecting flight to MEL from AKL on NZ. Very swift and pleasant
service by the agents.

As I had much time to kill I wandered around the SIN transit areas around
the shops and gates and eventually found my way up to the business class
loungearea (the signage is excellent for most things at SIN, but a bit
confusing for the lounges as it just says "Business Class Lounge A" and
"Business Class Lounge B" upon going upstairs you discover the various
airline clubs). I did note UA's F/RCC club (closed as UA was done for
the day) seemed to be the only club with an entrance on the ground floor.
Wandered into the TG lounge and was again admtited with my card no problem-
the agent wrote down my details for some reason - perhaps they like to keep
track of alliance partner use of their lounge. I don't know.

As with the FRA lounge this was quite a nice lounge, though a little small.
Along with the drinks and munchies some hot savouries were also in a little
oven you could take from. Wide range of newspapers to choose from, as well
as phones etc. I sat for a good hour or two with the local Singpaore
paper (The Strait Times??) which was a good read, and of course a few
drinks. God bless the lounge!

In fact I was in such a good mood when I left the lounge that I accidently
left my boarding pass there! I didn't discover this until I waddled to the
gate for SQ285 and suddenly discovered it wasn't where it was supposed to
be. Still, I had plenty of time so I walked back up to the lounge and as
soon as I walked in the agent recognised me and handed me my boarding pass.
She said she'd tried to call the gate, but they weren't open. I think that's
good service - to have found the BP and tried to contact the gate about it
and recognising me when I walked in to get it. I thanked her happily and
returned to gate D51.

09JUL99 SQ0285Y SIN AKL 747-400(9V-SMH)                 2045 1005 0:11L/0:05L
40A D51->5 ??=>?? BACK 2056 OFF 2111 ON 1002 GATE 1010 FT=8:51 HT=2
Grade: B

This seat was right before the 3L exit but still reclined so that was
okay. This aircraft seemed to be of the old SQ config as I didn't see
any fancy F bed/seats on the way in and even the C seats seemed a little
plain. The pitch however was dreadful - worst than LH where my knees did
not hit the back of the seat in front (non reclined) - here they did. Quite
uncomfortable. Also the seats did not have head "wings" which didn't
help much. Still at least I didn't have a problem with reclining as there
wasn't anyone behind me to get upset about a chair in their face.

While still on the ground a HUGE hot towel (easily the biggest I have seen
in any class of service) was handed, and was very hot. Quite refreshing!

After takeoff preprared drinks were offered - OJ and champs - it was a bit
of an effort to get some water. Peanuts were handed out - I guess the great
peanut issues in the US haven't trickled into asia!

I found Krisworld entertainment system to easily be the best feature of the
entire SQ experience. The updated news channel was useful, as was destination
information - something I've not seen on any other airline. While I didn't
play any of the games there seemed to be more than enough there to amuse any
child (or child at heart!) and the controller which detached from the armrest
was a neat thing too. The screen quality was pretty good, and I was glad
that the screen could be tilted for when the person in front reclined their
seat (as they did and squashed my knees!). So I watched several films - The
Matrix and The Other Sister which were pretty good. Managed to drone off to
sleep at some point. Dinner was fair. Another rice and meat dish that I can't
remember anything about except that it wasn't bad, but wasn't great. I'd say
the Lufthansa meal was slightly better.

Breakfast was preceeded by another huge hot towel and then a usual Y class
breakfast - yes, another omlette, saussage, tomato. Funny, I just saw this
before. One thing though SQ use huge trays for their food which they manage
to fill up somehow, though I don't actually think there's much more food than
any other airline. Still the service was fairly decent for refills of OJ
and or tea and coffee.

Interestingly for landing they (SQ) required everyone to open their window
shades which I found interesting.

Landing was fairly smooth though the taxi in took a while - I'm not quite
sure why. I heard aomeone mention it was a difficult gate, but AKL is a
pretty straight forward terminal/ramp. Well it didn't bother me one iota
as I had a 6 hour wait.

After landing the local F/A assigned to sit at "our" exit was quite chatty
and asking some locals about the best AKL shopping and was very pleasant.
I was considering going into Auckland, until the captain announced it was
6 degrees centegrade outside. I then decided a hasty retreat to the UA/NZ
lounge was in order :)

After deplaning I wandered around to stretch my legs and see what was sitting
at the gates - KE MD-11, an FJ 767 (to HNL) next to a FJ 737-700 (to NAN I
assumed) along with 2 NZ 744's were about all that were there. Pretty slow
morning I guess.

I wandered upstairs to the UA/NZ joint lounge and presented my card. This
time I was admtited after they typed in my information to their computer.
Interesting. Still they were very polite. The lounge is quite large and
omfortable with lots of munchies and drinks and the usual self serve bar.
A small business area includes phone desks/cubicles/laptop connections as
well as a photocopier and a internet connected PC for web stuff (which I
used to check email and my mileage etc).

I whiled away the hours sipping drinks, reading the local papers and watching
various planes come and go - MH 777-200 from/to KUL, CX A340 from/to HKG
and the usual Polynesian 737 5W-ILF docked in for a flight to Apia.

Finally the time came to head down to gate 2 for my final leg - my NZ
flight to MEL. 1500 came and went with no a/c at the gate. A few NZ
agents appeared but sort of milled around the desk a bit unsure. Still
no a/c.

No announcements till well after 1520 when the 767-200 docked at the
gate and people got off. It was delayed inbound from SYD. The agents
promised it that although they wouldn't start boarding till 1605 (5
mins after sched departure time) it would be a quick flight over the
tasman so we would make the time up en route to Melbourne. I sure hoped
so, because even I'd had my limits of flying for that (loooong!) day!
 
Finally boarding started just after 4pm and NZ called elite level FF's
up with Business Class, so I took the chance toboard to get into my
seat quick as this looked like a full flight, and I had a exit row/bulkhead
seat so I wanted to stow my gear.

10JUL99 NZ0123Y AKL MEL 767-200(ZK-NBJ)                 1600 1810 0:26L/0:05L
16A 2->7 ??=>?? BACK 1626 OFF 1638 ON 1811 GATE 1815 FT=3:33
Grade: B-

Amazingly :01 after take off the seat belt sign went off (a/c still in
ascend) and the crew were up and starting to serve - that was amazing.
However the service was pretty standard. A friend of mine who flies
between MEL and AKL/WLG on a regular basis came up with a good word for
the service - "dour" - and this is nothing against NZ per se, but it was
like flying on an Ansett domestic service. No menus offered just an
announcement as to what the food was supposed to be, and it was okay but
nothing special (despite all the awards NZ is supposed to have won). No
blankets appeared to be onboard, and I was freezing sitting next to the
exit as the cold was leaking in(as is usual for the exit area). The tea
was lukewarm. I won't say that the service was bad, but there was nothing
outstanding about it.

A movie was shown, but was impossible to see the (old style) movie screen
but that was more due to sitting at the exit row than any real fault of NZ.
Besides, I'd had enough of movies for that day so was quite happy to try
and sleep, though I kept waking up shivering.

All in all, the two carriers I was expecting good things from (SQ and NZ)
were the most disappointing.

Arrival at MEL was normal and we docked at gate 7. Was through customs
and immigration in a flash, but had to wait maybe 20 minutes for my bag
to appear, but at least it wads never lost so I happily made my way home
and to bed and a long sleep.

--
       Richard A. Muirden, UNIX Systems Administrator and aviation nut!
"It tastes so great going down. Coming up again it's not so terrific, but--"
"Well, you'll have to change that. We can't have someone in your position
 eating at MacBari's, now can we?" - Babylon 5:"Meditations on the Abyss"