Review of United Express flight from Boise to San Francisco in Economy

Introduction

After almost four weeks in Boise, my work is done and it's time to go home. Will definitely take home memories of this trip as I travelled somewhere I would have never expected to ever visit in my life.

United Airlines
UA5745
San Francisco International Airport (SFO) - Boise Air Terminal/Gowen Field (BOI)
CRJ200LR
N947SW
Economy Class
Gate B10

ETD: 06:25AM
ATD: 07:19AM (54 minutes late)
ETA: 07:19AM
ATA: 08:00AM (41 minutes late)

Check-in

I actually didn't sleep the night prior and just spent the night watching movies on the TV. I arrived quite early at the airport (roughly 3:30am) to return my rental car and to check in. Little did I know that I would be waiting almost 2 hours before I could check in. The airport was mostly empty, save a few travelers like myself who arrived early for our flights.

United's check-in area in Gowen Field. I couldn't check myself in and had to wait for an agent as I had two pieces of luggage to be checked-in.

The check-in desk finally opened an hour prior to departure.

A small airport, but a busy one indeed!

Southwest Airlines check-in area. There's no one around as they don't seem to have an early morning flight.

Airside

Boarding pass for this sector!

A familiar sight as I head to the boarding gate.

The café is open for breakfast. I was fascinated by the honor coffee, such a concept wouldn't work in Asia.

Time to head to the gates. No time to dawdle since check-in was so late.

Making my way down the long corridor to the gates.

Arrived at my gate. The same one which I arrived at too.

Seems like it's going to be a short, uneventful flight.

Seems like I still had some time so I took a quick stroll further down the terminal.

And I found myself outside Gate B14.

When I arrived back, our plane still hadn't arrived.  

My plane is finally here but with only 30min to go, I wondered if the flight would be delayed.

Evidently not as the passengers were ready and waiting to go!

Boarding commenced in a fairly orderly manner and I was headed to the plane in less than 10 minutes. I guess that's the advantage of a small plane.

Down the aerobridge…

And right outside the plane.

On-board

The CRJ200 is such a small plane. My head was pretty close to the ceiling so I can't imagine how it'd be for taller folks.

Took my seat. It's a basic seat with no ammenities.

More passengers boarding.

After the doors had closed, the captain came on the PA and informed the passengers that they were inspecting a dink on the wing. He also gave us the possibility that they would have to change the plane if the engineer deemed the dink to not be flight-worthy. This process took quite a fair bit of time but the captain was pretty good in keeping the passengers updated. I overheard some business travelers immediately calling to check on connections. I was slightly concerned but I had some time in-between my connection.

Finally after several back and forths with UA's engineers, the plane was cleared to fly and we headed off into the golden sunlight. The captain told us that they would do their best to reduce the delay. I love the expanse of the US and how wide the landmass is.

Inside the seatback there was only a safety card and an airsickness bag. The reduced number of touchpoints likely due to the pandemic.

A single drink service on this flight with no snack which was explained by the stewardess as a cutback due to the pandemic.

Finally arriving into SFO airspace.

Beginning our descent into SFO.

And touch down in SFO.

Disembarkation

We were parked a short walk away from the terminal at what seemed like an area dedicated to service small regional jets.

Gate F15 splitting into many sub gates.

I'm back inside SFO.

Onward connection

A last look at SFO's domestic terminal before we head to the international terminal.