First half coming up now, second half next week. 12/23/01 SYR - ORD UA391 737-500 First time at Hancock Field, which is actually quite a nice airport for upstate New York. In the mid-1990s, they undertook a massive expansion which added a second concourse. Not surprisingly, US Airways is the dominate player in the market. News reports indicate that jetBlue is not doing well from the Syracuse market and is looking to pull out this summer if loads don't improve. I got the impression this was not related to September 11; rather, it has been an ongoing problem since they started service. Got to the gate around 9:30 for a 12:40 departure. Aircraft was already there from the morning run from ORD. Quick, efficient boarding and departure a few minutes ahead of schedule. In flight service was typical for UA on these type of flights--snack mix and a beverage. Plane was around 90% full. 12/23/01 ORD - LAX UA109 A319 Arrived at ORD before the 2:50 departure of the 777 to LAX. Tried to get on that flight, but they were looking for volunteers to stay behind and take later flights, so I didn't even give my name to the agent. Stopped off for lunch and then worked my way down the C concourse to the gate. They were also looking for volunteers to stay behind on this flight and were offering a seat on the 7:00PM to LAX and a free roundtrip ticket to anywhere United flies. I surrendered my boarding pass, but was told to wait around to see if they needed my seat or not. After a gate change (one end of the terminal to another), I settled in for the wait. Flight was to depart at 3:50 and around 3:20 they began to board First and assorted premier Mileage Plus members. Got through about 5 people when the gate agent was told to stop boarding. They brought everybody off the plane and closed the door. Around 3:40, they announced that there was a problem with the aircraft and more information would be available in approximately 30 minutes. Around 4 the pilot came out, announced there was a problem with the aircraft, and indicated it would be around an hour before they decided whether or not this plane would even be able to fly. Information slowly trickled out that it was a problem with the bleed valve on the left engine. Announcements by gate agents kept pushing back the time of departure with the caveat that they were not sure the plane would even be able to go. There was talk about a search for a replacement aircraft but that never materialized. Around 4:45, the pilot came back out, explained what the bleed valve does and why it is important and indicated that they were in the process of repairing the engine. $5 meal vouchers were offered to everyone. During all this, the weather was getting increasingly bad at ORD with a pretty good snow storm starting up. I got my second meal and stopped by the restaurant next to the gate to watch the two mechanics hunched over the engine for a few moments. We finally began to board around 5:30 and pushed back at 5:50, two hours late. Overall, I was impressed with the way United handled a difficult situation. At a gate crowded with folks wanting to start their holiday vacations (including several who, like me, had started their travel hours earlier) the agents remained upbeat and courteous, despite dealing with several passengers who demanded that the plane leave at that moment. I think some were ultimately booked on later United flights for LAX that left before we did as the plane was not full when they finally closed the door (most seats were taken, but there were openings here and there). We received $50 coupons for future United travel both at boarding and with our meal. I was less than impressed, though, with the 319. The much-lauded bigger overhead bins seemed no bigger than on the 737 from earlier in the day and the seats were certainly not more comfortable. The flip-down video screens have a certain 'gee wiz' quality but that is about it. Channel 9 was on for the whole flight. The co-pilot handled all radio traffic and communications with the passengers (and was, I believe, in control of the aircraft for the entire flight), despite a pretty heavy foreign accent of what I think was French extraction. Aside from the fact that ground ATC had to repeat several instructions to us because the co-pilot appeared to not be attentive to the radio, the only excitement was the diversion of UA919 to Las Vegas because of a medical emergency. They had just requested paramedic assistance at touchdown when we vectored out of that ATC area, so I never got to find out what ultimately happened. Service was a 'snack' of a ham and cheese on a bun, a cheesecake bar, United snack mix, and a beverage. Flight attendants were attentive throughout. Got to LAX about 30 minutes after my connection to SMX so I spent several hours in the United Express terminal waiting for the last flight. 12/23/01 LAX - SMX UA5180 EMB120 Typical United Express (SkyWest) service out of LAX. Snack and beverage in flight. Only one of my two bags made it all the way to SMX with me. The other arrived on the first flight the next day. Strange, with the amount of time they had on the ground at LAX to route my luggage. Even though Ray is not around, I'll do it anyway: SYR: Syracuse, NY ORD: Chicago (O'Hare), IL LAX: Los Angeles, CA SMX: Santa Maria, CA