Calgary: Day 1: LAX-YYC inaugural

Calgary

Day 1: LAX-YYC inaugural

Shortbread cookies.

Crowded gate.

7:12pm, scheduled departure 7:25pm.

Delayed 2hr 20min and increasing.

Canada flags and cookies.

Late aircraft, it says.

Minestrone soup, chicken breast, and broccoli at the United Club.

Inaugural flight postcards.

Now delayed even later, over 3 hours.

9:57pm, plane finally here, crew and ground staff taking photos.

10:13pm, pax lining up to board.

Full flight = long lines.

Preboarding starting a few minutes later.

United NEXT first class sseats in this old Airbus A320.

Looking towards economy.

Toward the front.

Nice new screens.

Tiny first class, only 3 rows. Good recline in the last row.

Snack boxes due to the delay.

Captain Brunlee (sp?) explaining the lengthy delay.

Inaugural flight from LAX to YYC.

Map textures never loaded right.

3:05am, finally landside in Canada.

2 hours in this hotel room.

United's most recent inaugural flights out of LAX I thought would be low-profile ones given how small the crowds were for LAX-BNE and especially LAX-AKL back in the fall. I was quite surprised how popular LAX-TQO was tho, and turns out that LAX-YYC was almost as popular.

Unlike the last three inaugurals before it, tho, LAX to Calgary ended up badly delayed due to mechanical issues on the inbound aircraft. United's managing director at LAX, David Terry, took great care of us during the 3.5 hour delay, although his promised compensation was apparently overruled by the powers-that-be (even managing director of a hub has to answer to HQ!). United ended up ferrying a spare Airbus A320 in from SFO, which at least had the added bonus of the newly refreshed United NEXT interior, which was quite nice.

Captain Brunlee (sp?) and his crew did a great job getting us to Calgary when we finally departed. In addition to Canadian flag themed cookies at the gate, there were a few little flags and some commemorative postcards. As far as compensation for the delay, the snack boxes on boarding and water bottles were sadly about it. Ultimately, due to the late departure, UA flight 1132 landed just shy of just shy of 3am at Calgary International Airport.