Originally posted on my Travel Blog!  

I commute between New York City and LA quite frequently. Yesterday’s flight was my 20th trip across the continental US (JFK-BUR or LAX) over the last 6 months.

Below is the picture of Manhattan taken during descend into JFK on B6/358, BUR-JFK last Monday 11FEB2013. Sorry for the low quality...It’s kind of hard to do a night-shot using my iPhone 4S.

Manhattan by foppishbum, on Flickr

I usually fly B6 on the direct JFK/BUR flight but sometimes UA or DL has much cheaper fares. I flew DL on JFK-SLC-BUR/SNA-SLC-JFK last November saving over $100 and wrote up a trip report (14NOV2012 - JFK-BUR Via SLC // SNA-JFK Via SLC) . This time, I flew UA on JFK-SFO-BUR and return via the same routing.

Two days before traveling, I finally upgraded myself to an iPhone 5! I love the LTE speed!! It’s so much faster than 3G. I also grandfather’d the Unlimited Data Plan so I will probably be streaming music and videos a lot more frequently now! It started raining so I ducked into a coffee shop on 23rd (between 7th and 8th) to play with my new toy. 

IMG_0039 by foppishbum, on Flickr

24-hours before my flights, I used the United iOS app to check-in and import the mobile boarding passes to my Passbook. It's very convenient because throughout the trip, when new gates are assigned, the app will automatically update the gate info on my Passbook Boarding Pass (if you turn "auto update" on).
The UA397 JFK to SFO Passbook Boarding Pass...

IMG_0035 by foppishbum, on Flickr

The UA6421 SFO to BUR Passbook Boarding Pass...

IMG_0036 by foppishbum, on Flickr

For some odd reason, I couldn’t fall asleep the night before the commute! I’m sure it wasn’t travel anxiety or etcetera but I just couldn’t fall asleep! I ended up watching several episodes of How I Met Your Mother (overrated, IMO), filling out my Taiwanese passport renewal form, and munched on the huge buy-one-get-one-free burrito I got from Chipotle. This brought back the memories of when I was at UC Davis, I frequented Chipotle on the nights I felt too lazy to cook and the times when I went on cheap college student dinner dates.  

IMG_0040 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0042 by foppishbum, on Flickr

At 5:20 AM, I left the condo and walked to Penn Station to catch the 5:47 AM Long Island Rail Road to Jamaica and then taking the AirTrain into JFK. I had to print out my boarding passes again for my collection. However, I’m glad I had it printed out because, for some reason, the guy in front of me at the security line couldn’t go through with his mobile boarding pass. I took out my printed boarding pass reluctantly and gave it to the ID checker. Why reluctantly you ask? Because I like to collect neat boarding passes but they always write (borderline DRAW) on your boarding passes.  
IMG_0044 by foppishbum, on Flickr

I went through the security with my carry-on bag pretty smoothly without issue. Thank goodness I got to the security check point before the huge group of Chinese tourists! When I was putting my shoes and belt back on, a few TSA agents called “bag check” on on some of those unsuspecting tourist. This one grandpa was very protective of his things and was trying to reach over constantly to grab things from his bag while the TSA guy was checking (I’m sure everyone reading knows that it is a big No-No). The tour guide was nowhere to be seen and the grandpa was starting to freak out so I approached the grandpa and translated all the agent’s questions so the grandpa can answer. Well, that’s done...now the walk to the gate. From here on, it is pretty uneventful so I will let the pictures do the talking. I wasn’t able to take a good exterior picture of the B752 and forgot to take one after landing because I was rushing to the loo. 

United Airlines
Wednesday February 20, 2013
Flight UA 397 JFK - SFO
Aircraft: Boeing 757-200
Seat: 18A, Economy Plus (p.s.)
Scheduled Departure: 8:04 AM, actual: 8:23 AM
Scheduled Arrival: 11:29 AM, actual: 11:18 AM


IMG_0045 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0049 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0052 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0053 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0055 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0059 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0060 by foppishbum, on Flickr

Cabin shots after landing:

IMG_0061 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0062 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0063 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0064 by foppishbum, on Flickr

The highlight of connecting at SFO was the bus shuttle between Terminal 3 and Terminal 1. It was like a UA Tarmac tour of SFO! Below are the pictures taken during the shuttle bus ride. Again, I apologize for the low quality pictures and the lack of photo-editing skills. I don’t know how to get rid of the window reflections!   


IMG_0065 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0071 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0072 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0077 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0080 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0081 by foppishbum, on Flickr

Going through a tunnel to get to Terminal 1:

IMG_0083 by foppishbum, on Flickr

We arrived at Terminal 1 and I proceeded straight to Gate 38 to charge up my phone and take a nap. Before I knew it (actually, 2 hours later), the gate agent called for boarding.

On the little walk to the aircraft...I have yet to fly in the new UA livery CRJ. Last June, I flew LAX-SMF on a CRJ700 and it was the tulips, too! IMO, tulips livery >> globe livery.

IMG_0086 by foppishbum, on Flickr

United Airlines
Wednesday February 20, 2013
Flight UA 6421 SFO - BUR
Aircraft: Canadair CRJ-200
Seat: 2A, Economy
Scheduled Departure: 1:55 PM, actual: 1:57 PM
Scheduled Arrival: 3:08 PM, actual: 2:45 PM


IMG_0087 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0091 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0096 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0098 by foppishbum, on Flickr

You can see San Francisco waaaaay back there in the background.

IMG_0101 by foppishbum, on Flickr

Initial Descend into the San Fernando Valley.

IMG_0108 by foppishbum, on Flickr

Continuing the descend into BUR...

IMG_0110 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0115 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0118 by foppishbum, on Flickr

My other half works in an office building inside this picture. 
IMG_0123 by foppishbum, on Flickr

On the ground at Bob Hope Airport (BUR).


IMG_0127 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0129 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0130 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0131 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0133 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0135 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0136 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0137 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0138 by foppishbum, on Flickr

IMG_0139 by foppishbum, on Flickr

Terminal B is very small at BUR. It only took me 1 minute to get from Tarmac to curb.  Here’s yours truly waiting to be picked up at the curb.

IMG_0140 by foppishbum, on Flickr

This concludes Trip #20 across the US. I really enjoyed the FAs on UA and OO and the crews where very friendly. The Captain of the CRJ saw that I was taking a picture of the aircraft and asked if I wanted to be in the picture. I responded “No. Thank you very much though. I’m writing a trip report and I don’t think my readers would care much about a picture of me.”    Trip #21 going back to New York is the same routing. However, it will be a night flight so I may not be able to get decent pictures. I will comment/reply/post in this thread if I have some pictures of the return flight.

I’m looking forward to Trip #21: LGA-DEN-BUR on Thursday March 7, 2013. Thank you very much for reading. I look forward to reading your comments!  

Previous Trip Reports:
14NOV2012 - JFK-BUR Via SLC // SNA-JFK Via SLC
15AUG2012 - My Provence Trip & LCY-JFK BA 001
02MAY2008 - VX LAX-SFO First Class
25DEC2007 - B6 - SMF-JFK-BUF-JFK-BOS-IAD-LGB

[Edited 2013-02-21 12:01:42]

[Edited 2013-02-21 12:04:37]