Round The World and other travels

I left the rather nice United First Lounge, where I'd been very comfortable for the previous hour and a half, before any announcements were made, and made my way to the gate. I don't like leaving these things to the last minute. Shortly after arriving at the gate area, I was able to board. I was welcomed aboard and made my way to my chosen seat, 3J, where I was quickly relieved of my jacket and offered a selection of newspapers and a pre-departure tipple. The choice was Champagne, water or orange juice and - surprise, surprise! - I had the fizzy stuff.

I was in what could be described as the back corner of the F cabin, there being three rows of four seats in 1+2+1 formation. As promised by Seat Expert and Seat Guru, I quickly formed the opinion that mine was the best in the cabin, even though I knew that there would be no curtain between F and J. The equivalent seat on the other side, 3A, was set aside for crew rest purposes, but that apart, the cabin was full. I noticed that there was a higher than usual proportion of women, then quickly realised that at least four were United crew travelling in their civvies. The cabin itself was fairly pleasing, although it revealed more than a hint of age and tattiness on closer inspection. Still, the seat was comfortable and private, and I had lots of easily accessible storage space. I also quickly formed the impression that the LHR-based crew were a nice, friendly bunch, so it seemed that 18 years after my previous United flight, they were still very much the Friendly Skies!

Everything seemed to be going swimmingly, until and Captain came on the blower ten minutes before 7 o'clock to report a 'maintenance issue in the cockpit'. Uh-oh! Apparently there was a navigation system anomaly. They were re-booting the system and expected to have further news at 1915. A second glass of Champagne helped pass the time, while I looked at newspaper pictures of London under its heaviest snow covering for 18 years. Pretty much on time, the Captain advised that this had failed and that the next step was to try powering down the entire aircraft, including lights! This proceeded in a phased manner, the crew managing to take the dinner orders before the entire plane was plunged into darkness. Light was restored at 1930, the Captain advising that a further nine minutes should reveal 'where we're at'. He eventually announced it as 'bad news and good news'. The bad news was that all attempts at a fix had failed and this plane was going nowhere in the near future. The good news was that a replacement aircraft was already on its way from the hangar. Already starting to feel just a little bit tired, I collected my belongings, left the 777 and made my way to the next gate along.

Boarding the replacement aircraft started at 2045 and, once again, I was one of the first on board. I'd left my amenity kit on the first plane and was surprised and pleased that the crew had found it and brought it across for me. There was a plea for passengers to get settled quickly, as we didn't want the crew going out of hours. Amen to that! Pushback finally occurred at 2118 and we took off 18 minutes after that. There were some great views to be had as we climbed over the ocean, then turned and overflew the Golden Gate, with the city on my side of the plane.

Service started with drinks : I had some more Champagne, accompanied by ice water and mixed nuts. I'd been hoping that the nuts would be warmed, American Airlines-style, but it wasn't to be. Top-ups were offered all round, the nuts being served by spoon from a large bowl.

The dinner menu was as follows :-

I had the starter, soup and salad and the sea bass. I declined the offer of cheese or dessert, feeling the need to get some sleep, and finished off with a decaffeinated coffee in the hope that it wouldn't thwart my main objective. My memories of the meal consist of a mixture of positives and negatives, the latter sadly outnumbering the former :-

• No choice at all prior to the main course (although it's quite clear that you are welcome - expected, even - to have all three of appetiser, soup and salad)

• Only one type of bread roll on offer

• The soup was delicious and was the best part of dinner

• The sea bass was nice enough, but the beans were limp, watery and tasteless

I thought that presentation was poor overall, let down by little things like cheap plastic salt and pepper shakers - oh please, in First? It all seemed a long way from Lufty's three-tier starters and red roses! And yet it wasn't all bad; I remember being happy to see restaurant-style trolleys being used to effect. (But LH does that even in Business Class.)