Our trip to Mexico City for the weekend started with pretty short lines at ORD, which allowed us quick access to the United Club. I usually only visit the United Club near B17 at ORD (it’s newer and I can almost always get a nice seat in the back area, near the bar). We were heading off on vacation and I decided to kick off my vacation with a little United Club Bloody Mary. Shortly after we arrived at the Club, my phone buzzed – our flight was now 45 minutes delayed. I had a second Bloody and after 30 minutes decided to head off to the gate. As we arrive, we found the gate area was completely empty. Boarding had began on schedule and United failed to update the big boards.
Pre-Vacation United Club Bloody Mary and Banana. Breakfast of champions.
We got on board and were met with one of the rudest flight attendants around. She was quite frustrated that we weren’t already seated. She was also quite upset that we were attempting to put our bags in the overhead bin. She, very curtly, told us to go take our seats and when I told her we were her last two passengers up front, she got even more frustrated. I stowed my bag in the only open bin I could find – above row 20 – the first class stew wouldn’t allow me to stow my bag in the closet up front either. It was clear, I had made this woman’s day utterly miserable – and she did not hide it. The door closes, we pull back from the gate and immediately go to the penalty box and sit for another 30 minutes.
Carrier: United Airlines (ORD-MEX)
Flight: UA 359
Seat: 3E
Departure: November 27, 2013 – 09h29 / 10h21
Arrival: November 27, 2013 – 13h50 / 13h47
Travel Time: 4 hours 21 minutes / 3 hours and 26 minutes
Flight Miles: 1,699
Once we were airborne the stew was still crabby, but she did make a screwdriver for me. I’m not a breakfast person in general and airline breakfasts are pretty mediocre – so when it came time for me to order breakfast I just ordered one of the buy on board options from Economy. She told me that I wasn’t allowed to order from a different cabin (that’s the first time I’ve come across that before). She finally agreed to allow me to have a sandwich when I told her I’d pay for it. The gentlemen from coach who delivered the sandwich was floored that she was going to make me pay for this meal and he gave her quite the glare as he pushed my credit card away and walked back to coach.
Other than the rough Stew up front and the pre-departure time in the penalty box, the flight was pretty smooth.We even arrived prior to our scheduled time despite leaving nearly an hour late.
We touched down and headed through customs / immigration and were in a taxi heading to the Le Meridien within 20 minutes (we even stopped at the ATM for cash). This was my first time to Mexico City. My first impression of the airport was that it stunk like no other – actually, it smelled a lot like the Frankfurt Airport – smelling of cigarettes and feces. Lovely.
Have you ever been put into the penalty box when you departing? How do you handle super cranky stews?