I had nice views waiting at my car for a bus, but it was about 8000 degrees outside, so I wasn’t so much fond of that. My flight was at 5:47, so I didn’t have a ton of time to play with.
I did a bit of exploring around concourse F, since there was several Europe flights getting ready to go (also there was food at the Club on the upper level. That was my ulterior motive).
Back at concourse A where my flight was departing there was some other good stuff. N584NW was resting after a couple flights to Orlando and back (and several years after carrying my happy ass home from Minneapolis).
N371NW was next to us going to DTW. A lot of those A320 fuselages have seen better days.
Coming in from Phoenix for our flight was N307DX, a beautiful A321
Delta Air Lines Flight 2090
ATL-SLC
Depart ATL - 5:47pm (was actually 5:47)
Arrive SLC - 7:45pm (was actually 7:31)
Airbus A321
N307DX
After fighting through all the gate lice, I worked my way toward the aircraft. It was a nice day to not have the jetway canopy working (aside from the temperature).
I was in 23F. This is a good seat in Peasantville if you’re a taller individual like me.
And soon after I discovered the PTV also had live TV. I didn’t realize that was a thing on the A321s. That was a very nice surprise.
N550NW pulled in next to us. He was going to Minneapolis later.
On the way to runway 27R. N327DN was going to Las Vegas. Can’t tell the tail number on the other aircraft.
Whale jet!
Antonov 124 over at the cargo facility. Where it came from and where it went, I have no idea.
American E190 flashing by as we taxied down to the end.
Eventually we got in to a staring contest with a Virgin 747.
https://youtu.be/v_E1_teHFb4
Takeoff with some ATC overlayed. Good stuff to see.
Nice day for flying across the country. Unfortunately, the areas we were flying over didn’t have a whole lot to see
I think this was ICT.
Food and stuff
And there was football on TV too.
The closer we got to Salt Lake City, the more weather we were flying through. I was hoping for more bouncing and fun. No such luck.
Passing by the airport to land on runway 16R.
Pictures don’t do it justice. This rainbow was spectacular.
Turning in.
https://youtu.be/i_SiUTE1adQ
Landing was butter.
Some of the new terminal work. Looks like it will be great once it opens.
Some regional jets. N254SY was going to Burbank.
N307DX was going to Las Vegas next.
Caught N115DU going to San Francisco. The windows on this aircraft look goofy.
I had 3 hours to explore, so I did. N687DL was waiting on a redeye to JFK.
My next aircraft arrived from Las Vegas just before 8pm. Operating tonight was N334DN. After dinner and a bunch of walking around, time for my short hop to Boise eventually came.
Delta Air Lines Flight 603
SLC-BOI
Depart SLC - 10:45pm (was actually 10:P41)
Arrive BOI - 11:49pm (was actually 11:34)
Airbus A321
N334DN
It had been raining for quite a while since I landed. I was in seat 23A for this one, not as good as 23F, but this flight was very short, and also lacking in photos since it was in darkness. The airport had reversed direction since we landed, so we went to runway 34L for takeoff.
City lights before hitting the clouds.
I didn’t do much, mostly just surfed the internet since I couldn’t see anything, and there was nothing on TV.
I seem to only be able to land in Boise from the east. Tonight was no exception. We landed like butter on runway 28R and taxied to gate A20. The only other action was a Southwest flight arriving from Denver (another itinerary I considered). I didn’t have bags, so I called my buddy and walked out to meet him. I had been up since 5:30am Eastern Time. My body clock was telling it me it was just past 2am. Suffice it to say, I was tired.
Friday was game day, but it wasn’t until the evening, so we did a couple things around town before.
Including lunch at Tucano’s. Not as good as Fogo de Chao, but still delicious.
I had a few ok views of aircraft landing at BOI.
Then it was game time.
Did I mention they serve pizza in a cone at Albertson’s Stadium? They serve pizza in a cone at Albertson’s Stadium.
Elvis isn’t dead, y’all.
Also, instead of firing stupid t-shirts out of the cannon, they fire hot dogs. I like that better.
Also, I got to walk on the field after the game. That was pretty cool.
Saturday, I didn’t take hardly any photos. It consisted of delicious donuts, and watching football most of the day. I’m not complaining.
Sunday was the day to go home. Getting home was the more expensive of the two legs. Delta and Southwest were the two unexpected contenders, but there was an unexpected player that could get me home hours earlier than them for roughly the same price, United. Delta and Southwest both would get me back past 9pm Eastern time. It’s doable, but with an early wakeup for work, sleeping an adequate amount requires an early bed time.
Unlike Atlanta, I could be dropped off 90 minutes before departure with no stress, and that’s what we did. I was dropped off shortly before 6am for my 7:30 flight. There wasn’t much happening in the terminal this morning, so I didn’t bother with any pictures.
United Airlines Flight 727
BOI-ORD
Depart BOI - 7:28am (was actually 7:51)
Arrive ORD - 11:53am (was actually 11:51)
Boeing 737-900/ER
N68452
I was feeling crazy for these flights home, and put myself in Economy Plus.
For the first flight, I was in seat 9F. Oh yeah, it was raining in Boise this morning.
FedEx A300
We sat waiting and waiting, until it was announced we had a maintenance issue. Hooray. Not a huge deal. My connection in Chicago wasn’t tight (actually, it would be, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Keep reading
).
Finally we pushed at 7:51 and taxied to runway 10L. I’ve always managed to depart Boise from 10L. I keep hoping I’ll depart the other way and be able to see stuff.
737s galore here in Boise.
Old-school livery Q400.
https://youtu.be/0DCee2G3ACM
I made a takeoff video. I know 737-900s aren’t exactly known to get up and go, but damn, we used the whole friggin’ runway.
I didn’t see anything for quite a while because we were in clouds all the way up.
But there was some Nascar on, so I watched that. Love the huge channel selection United has. I just with there was a more efficient way to scroll through and find them.
Finally the clouds went away and I could see stuff.
And as we got closer back to Chicago we went back over clouds again.
We finally broke through very close to the airport
[urlhttps://youtu.be/FFw1roq4dAA[/url]
4K video of landing on runway 10C. Butter. My layover was 2 hours, so I wasn’t overly concerned with hurrying off the plane.
I was welcomed to Chicago with some metal that I never get to see at home.
And then also some metal that I do see at home.
Lots of fun stuff at the B gates. Today we were parking at gate C27.
N455UA next to us was going to DFW.
I mentioned my layover was long. While sitting on the plane in no hurry, I did some looking, and saw there was a United Express flight over an hour earlier to Atlanta, and it looked like there were a fair number of seats available. I decided to get off and see if I could make the flight (since the E175 has no middle seats), and if by chance I didn’t, I would try to see how quickly I could get to Giordano’s to fetch a couple of pizzas. So I was at gate C27 (towards the end). The United Express flight west leaving from gate E6.
Not without the obligatory photo, despite being in somewhat of a hurry now. N68452 was going to Des Moines.
I could see the aircraft I was trying to catch in the distance behind the Air Canada E175. I managed to hike my happy ass all the way to gate E6 in about 15 minutes, and made it before the end of boarding. I spoke to the gate agent, and she asked if I would check with her at the end of group 3 for standby after taking my information.
In the meantime, I settled for a very small-scale airport deep-ish-dish pizza. It would have to do today.
After group 3 I checked back in with the agent, and she handed me a boarding pass. Fully prepared to pull my credit card out, I asked her how much I owed her, and she told me, “nothing, thanks for flying United.” This turned out quite nicely. I was assigned seat 10A, a window, so that was an added bonus. Didn’t realize 10A was in Economy Plus, which was even better. I was booked in Economy Plus on my original flight home too, so I figured that was something spit out automatically. I wasn’t really worried about it even if it didn’t work out.
United Express Flight 4441
ORD-ATL
Depart ORD - 12:52pm (was actually 12:54)
Arrive ATL - 3:59pm (was actually 3:42)
Embraer 175
N604UX
This thing is so new, it doesn’t even have a picture in the database. It was delivered at the end of May this year. I see also, that this was the last E175 delivered in the old colors. So close to catching a new livery this early in the game.
I had a view of the area I just did some serious speed walking. N415AW was going to Springfield a little bit after we left.
As we pushed N135SY was arriving from (of all places) Boise! 3 hours in an ERJ-175 with those rock-hard United seats? No thanks.
While taxiing to runway 10L, we took the most circuitous routing possible. I don’t know taxiways, but I know we taxied all the way over to 9R, over to the east end, and back around the terminal, then all the way down to 10L for the intersection takeoff. Lots to see, suffice it to say.
This was my attempt at catching an aircraft taking off. I succeeded, I guess?
Small jets and stuff.
737 of some kind going who knows where.
N68452, the 737 I just took stepped off of less than an hour earlier.
I think this 777 just arrived based on how he taxied, but I could be wrong.
Some terminal 5 fun. N840AN had just arrived from London, and was being towed away before flying to London again later that evening.
Copa 737-900
This 777 could have come in from anywhere, and was being towed away for later. Check out that Lufthansa A350.
Speaking of Lufthansa, here’s a beautiful 747-8.
American ERJ. Can’t quite make out the tail number, and a Volaris A320 taking off.
Cathay 777-300.
https://youtu.be/ejUwqDyiUx4
Takeoff itself was ok. It was nice to be on the correct side and be able to see the city.
Little hard to get a decent shot with the weather.
Just like that, we were up and through the clouds and unable to see anything.
The in-flight meal was nice
It wasn’t until Tennessee when we broke free from the clouds.
I think this was Nashville. I can’t remember for certain. I didn’t purchase wifi for this flight. I do wish United allowed a day pass. For some reason, I couldn’t get Gogo to work, even though I’m a T-Mobile subscriber. No matter. It was nice to disconnect for a couple hours, and just peacefully look out the window.
Atlanta was landing from the east, so we made our way straight down roughly paralleling I-75, took a left near I-20, then out and back. This was Dobbins.
Charlie Brown Field.
Crossing over Atlanta.
Turning in for runway 26R, and a Delta MD-88 approaching parallel with us.
https://youtu.be/Hk6RJrZJi0E
4K landing video with ATC, a nice landing as always. Since we were going to the T gates, our taxi would not be long at all.
MD-90 taking off from 26L.
And an MD-88 taking off right behind it.
Welcome back to Delta Land.
Bringing it in to gate T14. N913AN was loading up for Dallas. N76505 was flying to Scotts Bluff, Nebraska. No, really, it flew there. Actually, it was going to Denver, but there was some weather, so they diverted. Sounds like more fun when you say United has direct flights from Atlanta to Nebraska.
When I’m flying Delta, I wait for everyone to get off, since there are almost certainly lots of connections, and Atlanta is home for me. I assumed everyone on this flight was terminating in Atlanta, so I got off with the masses. N604UX was going to Houston. I walked back to the bus to my car and took it on home. I ultimately made it home before my original flight from Chicago even took off. It was nice to be able to have a routine Sunday evening and be able to rest before Monday morning. N776AU, you’re rambling and need to stop. Yes I do.
Great trip. Really love Delta’s A321s. I would put those right at the top of the best aircraft in the mainline fleet from a passenger perspective. Also, a really great experience on United. I haven’t flown them in a few years, but all around it was very nice, and not just the flights and airport agents, but also the little things, like their app and text communications upon landing. Seems very streamlined and very modern from the eyes of someone who almost never flies them. Will definitely give them more of a look if my travels take me to their territory.
Thanks for reading
