Greetings, Everyone!

Here's a little report for you, as I thought I'd share a few photos from a recent trip with United Express from Denver, CO to Albuquerque, NM. For my wife's 30th birthday, I had been planning to surprise her with a little trip, and after much research I chose to go to Sante Fe, NM for a weekend! From Minneapolis, the options to get there were few; we could have gone through Houston, or Denver. The times worked better for us with a Denver connection, and so after checking flight times, I booked it.

I won't cover the segment from MSP-DEN as this flight was completely routine, but I did want to share a few photos for our shorter flight to New Mexico as flying on a Dash 8 - 400 is not as common!

Friday, February 8, 2013.

After we arrived from Minneapolis, we easily found our connecting flight to ABQ at the Express gates on the far end of the B Concourse. Denver is a huge airport, and I'm always amazed at how big it is whenever I'm passing through. The airport on this Friday morning was relatively quiet, and we were lucky to find out that our flight was wide open. This is something rare these days!


CRJ's and ERJ's at the end of the B concourse

Boarding began at B-67 about 20 minutes before a 9:00am departure. My wife and I walked downstairs, and along to the gate on the ground level. Only about 20 seats of 71 were occupied this morning, so boarding was completed quickly.

Just before the door shut, one of the flight attendants asked those of us all sitting in the first 3 rows of coach if any of us could move to the rear of the aircraft and sit back there to help with weight and balance. (One side note; I cannot believe United Express offers a 2 row First Class on their Dash 8 planes!) With no one else volunteering, my wife and I both said that we would be fine to move back.

Push-back happened shortly afterwards, and the Dash engines began to start. The safety demo was conducted quickly as we taxied out. I love flying on these types of planes; it's so cool to have the landing gear right in front of you to see.

Takeoff was powerful, and with a light load, we were up in no-time. We flew out over downtown Denver as we began heading south for New Mexico.


Seconds after takeoff from Denver

The flight attendants soon began to prepare the service in the rear galley; strange, I thought the Dash galley was at the front. After one took the cart to the front to begin service, the other flight attendant asked what we would like. After I said I'd like a Tomato Juice, and my wife ordered an Orange Juice, the flight attendant said .. "Would you like Vodka as well?" to both of us. Not something I was expecting at the time, but sure, why not! I guess it pays off to give up your seat.  
My Tomato Juice turned into a Bloody Mary


My wife's new drink!


Over the Rockies


Amazing clouds!

After the service was completed, I asked if I could purchase one of the United snack-boxes as I'd not eaten since Minneapolis. The flight attendant helping us out said, "Well, I don't have any of those, but how about some pretzels from First Class?" Sure! I'll take those free pretzels!

What a great flight! We had 4-5 rows at the back to ourselves and free vodka in our drinks; this was a good day for flying!


On final approach to ABQ

Landing into Albuquerque was smooth, and we touched down after only about 1 hour and 20 minutes in the air. Nice job, United Express, and thank you to those awesome flight attendants for helping to kick-start a really fun long weekend!

Best,

Matthew (767747)