The Islands Are Calling My Name: The Journey to Maui with United Airlines

So you may have noticed that this blog has slowly become tales of my travel experiences I've had over the last few years, both on airlines and places I've been to. It may sound a little weird to be talking about Christmas in June, but I thought it would be quite to have a little Christmas during summer. Our family planned a trip to Maui over the Christmas holidays in 2009. However, due to my work schedule I would be unable to join them until Christmas Eve. Nevertheless, our family would be spending the Christmas on the beautiful beaches of Hawaii.

It wouldn't be cheap to fly to Maui on Christmas Eve, but the best deal would be with United Airlines via San Francisco (SFO). It would be an early morning flight out of Calgary, but would have an afternoon arrival into Maui/Kahului (OGG). Arriving at the airport, I was quite shocked to find how long the lineup was to enter US Customs, but thanks to my handy NEXUS card, I was able to bypass the entire line and go straight into customs without having to wait in line. It was quite fun to watch the looks on some people's faces that I was able to get ahead of them. Arriving the gate, I saw our aircraft for United Express/Skywest 6389 would be a Bombardier CRJ-700, the backbone of Skywest's fleet. Boarding commenced 25 minutes to 8am and was smooth and efficient. We pushed from the gate 5 minutes ahead of schedule which gave us plenty of time to deice and taxi out to the runway. 10 minutes later we were rolling off of Runway 28 and heading south to SFO. A beautiful sunrise was all that there was for entertainment for this flight, but for a 2 hour flight that was fine with me. Legroom on Regional Jets leave little to be desired, this was likely the most cramped RJ I've ever been on. The flight was smooth the entire way and before I knew it we were flying over the Golden Gate Bridge and lining for the approach. We touched down on Runway 28L 35 minutes ahead of schedule thanks to a nice tailwind that we had most the way here. A quick taxi to terminal 3 and lots of Merry Christmases all around from the flight crew brought an end to United Express Flight 6389. Now I had 3 hours to relax and explore SFO before continuing on the 2nd half of my journey to Maui.

On approach to San Francisco Airport

San Francisco Airport is huge and is also a United Airlines hub and because of that, all of their operations are in Terminal 3, which made transferring between flights a breeze. 3 hours gave me enough time to have a bite to eat, catch up on some emails and enjoy the many planes coming and going out of SFO. Arriving at the gate for United flight 37, I saw that my aircraft would be a Boeing 757-200, a type of aircraft I haven't been on since I was a little kid. One thing I liked with United here was the use of overhead TV's at each gate to display information about each flight from weather and destination information to passengers who have cleared the standby list. I thought it was quite clever, it reduces the amount of questions that the gate agents get. 45 minutes prior to our 1:40pm departure, the boarding process began for our flight to paradise.

Flying downwind with the Iao Valley in the distance

When I booked my flight, I purchased an option for this flight called Economy Plus, its main benefit is an extra 5 inches of legroom and for a 6 hour flight to Hawaii, I thought it would be well worth it. I boarded my flight to Maui and the moment I sat down in my seat, I could already tell that it was worth the extra money. Even with my bag underneath the seat, I still had plenty of room to stretch out. Push back from the gate was right on schedule and we began our taxi under the power of our twin Rolls Royce engines. We were departing from SFO at the perfect time as it was the quiet period, so there was a minimal wait for departure. United 37 lined up on Runway 1L and began heading southwest for Maui. This 757 was an older model and hadn't been equipped with seat back TV's yet, just the old overhead monitors. Luckily I was sitting next to 2 super friendly seatmates, one with was travelling with her family from South Dakota and the other heading back home to Maui for the holidays. Of course this being Christmas time, everyone was in a festive mood; even the flight crew was in a jolly mood. They decided to have a little fun with the passengers by playing a game called "Halfway to Hawaii". Sounds simple but its harder than you think. All you had to do was guess at what time the flight would hit the halfway mark to Hawaii using the distance, speed, altitude and wind speeds that were provided from the flight deck. I gave it my best shot but I was off by 45 minutes. The winner ended up getting a Hawaiian theme prize pack, but it was fun to try though. Most domestic flights no longer provide meal service, but I decided to try one of United's snack boxes that had a variety of goodies from Pepperoni to Chips and Salsa; I thought it was good value for $5.

Sunset from Keawakapu Beach on Maui

5 and a half hours seem to pass by way too quickly, but thanks to another tailwind, we would be landing in Maui 30 minutes ahead of schedule. The whole flight was smooth minus a few bumps halfway over the Pacific. Soon we were began our decent into Maui and we were fly low enough that you could see beautiful views of Haleakala, the Iao Valley and the fields of Pineapple and Sugar Cane that Maui is well known for. We made a final sharp right turn to line with Runway 2 and with Reverse Thrusters and Spoilers deployed marked the end to United flight 37. The flight attendants and pilots wished us lots of Aloha and Merry Christmas in both English and Hawaiian, which was my signal to officially start my 8 days in paradise. Thanks to having no checked baggage, I was able to skip the busy baggage claim area that Kahului Airport is known for and head straight to an awaiting ride from my father.

 Sitting on the patio that night overlooking the ocean with a drink in my hand, I couldn't help but think about the amazing flights that I had today, what a perfect way to start a vacation off. United Airlines did everything perfectly that day and made my trip Maui smooth and flawless. Mahalo to United Airlines and their wonderful employees that made my journey to Hawaii with them amazing!