Booking Information
I booked through United online after searching for a reasonable fare for the longest time. The way I was able to make it work was to book a one way fare from Houston (IAH) to Quebec City (YQB) on United and my return one way fare from Air Canada. Per person, the IAH to YQB leg was $200.38 booked on January 26, 2019, less than a month prior. Since the first leg left Houston early in the morning, I wasn't in the right state of mind to get reporting, so this story picks up with our arrival in Newark (EWR).
united Club - Terminal C
Zach Honig wrote an article on ThePointsGuy about the frustrating state of United Clubs at Newark about eight months ago and it doesn't look like much has changed since then. We found the large lounge at Terminal C to be a little rough. The windows that looked inwards were dirty (like a hazy kind of dirty like they had been wiped off long ago with a dirty rag and then dust had settled over them). The food offerings at such a large lounge should be a little more varied. The great benefit to this lounge though is the abundance of seating available but that might be because frequent passengers just opt for the upgraded dining options below.
walk to THE gate
Eater New York said Casciano's Italian Deli was one of the best quick bites at Terminal C. I think I grabbed a Jersey Joe sandwich there, which was fantastic. I would highly recommend grabbing a sandwich here and picking up a unique selection of sides and drinks available to you within the Global Bazaar. To transfer to Terminal A, there is a shuttle service which requires you to board a bus outdoors. Once at Terminal A, we basically walked up a staircase directly to our gate (A25), where there were a couple of other dining options (like Earl of Sandwich). Our flight boarded through the jetway just a little after it's scheduled boarding time.
CABIN, seat, and service
The plane (operated by CommutAir) had seen better days. Of course, with a 1-2 layout, everyone boarding said how small the plane was and were probably surprised that only the right side of the fuselage had an overhead carry-on bin. I didn't hear anyone say how rough the thirteen-year old Embraer ERJ-145XR was but the pictures I captured should give you an idea of the environment. The cabin crew (one stewardess) was very friendly as was the pilot, who patiently waited for passengers to board ahead of him after he performed his visual inspection. For the previous flight we were given a caramel stroopwaffle; for this flight (in the afternoon), we were given pretzel sticks. Our plane was de-iced by a couple of trucks after taxiing, almost like a checkpoint that all planes were being directed to. It was pretty impressive and most passengers were snapping photos of the process. The legroom was pretty limited (I'm 5'11" and has about an extra inch or two before hitting the seat in front of me.
arrival
Despite YQB only having one other commercial flight at the airport and tons of jetways un-occupied, we pulled up near the gate but were ushered off the plane by on a set of stairs (not the airplane's and not a stair truck but something in between). It was rather strange that firefighters seemed to be assisting us onto a bus to be driven to the terminal. We were processed efficiently (with the assistance of kiosks) and waited briefly for our bags. Unfortunately, though the airport seemed very nice but we were sent outside to walk to the taxi area. Maybe there was some construction going on forcing us to have such a cold arrival…
It's amazing what crappy service American airlines aboard their passengers. Without paying any attention to the health of their passengers, various classes of snacks, such as mini pretzels, twixxx, mars, kika, etc., are served in all classes depending on the duration of the flight, thus burdening the passengers with emulgan, stabilizers and other smog. And even with a flight duration of 1.40 hrs. Apart from that, to evaluate this dirt at catering / meals even with 5 points out of 10. Simply unimaginative.
You're right. I was a little too positive.