SFO is a very easy airport to transfer in. On exiting Customs you take a right and follow the signs. it is but a short walk to the United terminal and if your bags are through-checked then there is a guy to take them from you just after you leave the Customs area. I had done OLCI in the Clubhouse, paying $23 for my bag which was giving me a saving of a massive $2 from the charges at the airport. I also noticed that I could buy entry to the Red Carpet Club for $39 as opposed to a $50 walk-up charge and I toyed with it for some time. My flight was leaving at 7pm so I was going to have the bones of five hours wait but I was also hoping to go on standby for an earlier flight. In the end I decided against.
Once in the United area there are a selection of kiosks for you to print your boarding pass (I wasn't able to print mine in the CH) and have your bags tagged and there are staff parading up and down the line to help you tag your bag and answer any queries. I asked about going on standby for the earlier flight but was told there is now a $50 cost. I debated as to whether I would take it but I had been aware from Expert-Flyer that that flight was zeroed out. I also wasn't told that you got your money back if you didn't get on the flight which might have made a difference to my decision but in the end I decided to wait.
Once the bag was tagged (and I had to go back to the kiosk as it hadn't printed out my boarding card) I went through security which was busy especially when held up by people being let through for imminent departures. However the guy manning the security area and checking I.Ds was as nice a person you could wish for and also exercised a bit of crowd control so you were not jostled as you went through. My gate was gate 70 and he showed me where it was. It was spacious and airy with views over the take-off runway and in the fulness of time I watched G-VWOW take off on her return journey to London.
At some stage I went for coffee to keep myself awake and noticed from the board that there was a gate change. We were now at 77B and so I made my way done there, looking longingly at the Red Carpet Club and wishing I had gone there. Still some you win.....
This gate area looks relatively new and very bright with similar views over the runway. It seemed to be used exclusively by the smaller regional aircraft. The most confusing thing was the destination boards at the individual gate. They kept on showing later flights arriving from X with a destination to Y (or even back to X) it took me some time to work out that these were later flights than the one at the very bottom of the screen which was the one next scheduled to leave and it was only when it was near boarding time did this flight made it to the centre of the screen!
Soon the flight to Eureka/Arcata began to show but before long another gate change was announced - this time to 76A. I was getting a bit fed up with playing musical gates especially as we were back into the rolling destination screen again. Oh, and if that were not enough the time of the flight was pushed back, first to 7:07pm, then to 7:14pm and finally to 7:24pm. Don't you just love American flight times? Why they can't just say 7:25pm and get on with it is beyond me!
Eventually at about 7:10pm (or perhaps it was 7:09pm, or maybe 7:08pm) boarding commenced. I knew it was a turbo-prop flight but I wasn't expecting the plane to be this small. It was like a Dinky toy! The configuration was 1-2 and I had 4A so was by myself
The plane was full and it was hot. Everyone was anxious to get started but that captain came on to say they were waiting for sodas to be loaded before we could start and he had asked for them twenty minutes ago. There was a general murmuring up and down the plane of people saying they would rather go than wait for the sodas. As for me, my watch might say it was 7:29pm but my body clock told me it was 3:29am! I just wanted to get there. Eventually the murmuring reached the captain who decided to forego the sodas and get us there so thankfully set off.Although the plane was a turbo-prop it wasn't an ATR-72 with its distinctive -and noisy - chugga, chugga, chugga sound and was relatively quiet. The flight attendant came round with glasses of water on a tray but at that time I decided to try and snatch 40 winks. Although I didn't sleep the 10-15 minutes of shut-eye helped enormously and much refreshed I was able to enjoy the northern California scenery over which we flew. The captain came on to say he was trying to make up time and in truth he did. Soon we were flying over the mighty redwoods. Sometimes there was a mist in the valleys and the trees poked their tall heads through the clouds to wave at us but eventually we began to descend with the sea on our left hand side and leaving the trees behind we glided down to Eureka/Arcata. The airport is tiny. Our local supermarket is bigger! However like all small airports it has a charm of its own. We entered from the plane across the tarmac and through a gate such as you would see at a football ground! My host was there to meet me just inside the terminal and we waited for the bags in an area roughly the size of a village hall.
In spite of my tiredness I enjoyed the quirkiness of the flight and once the bags were through I was on my way to Fortuna where a T10&T was waiting for me with my name on it.
