Thursday, October 11, 2018

United 837 SFO/NRT 2018 Sep

9月に成田線へ搭乗したので、この日本語ブログの毒者諸氏には有用と思い機内食をお見せします。
いつものように28L滑走路から離陸。几帳面な日本人が多いせいかドアを閉じて搭乗完了するのも数分早め。

座席がシン・ポラリスなのでもらった席は、お気に入りの3A。
アメニティはもう全部、座席の上に用意されています。ただし12時間以内のフライトだからパジャマは無し。

飛んで太平洋岸へ。太平洋岸の街デイリーシティからパシフィカのあたりが見えました。
午前11時発なので、霧が海のほうへ引いていく途中です。初夏から晩秋までずーっと同じ気候なSF半島。

そして、予約した和食。今年はもう2回も予約をミスって、僕にバウチャーたんまり払ったので懲りたと思われ。w
一の膳:
 前菜-那須の穴子焼き、トマトのゼリー寄せ、栗甘露煮、松葉蟹黄身酢添え、タコの柔らか煮
 煮物-若鶏甲州煮、干し葡萄、小芋、花人参、青菜
 小鉢-づけ鮪、海老の紫蘇酢和え

和食に対しては好き嫌いが激しいので批評し難いですが...

トマトのゼリー寄せは和食としては斬新。あと、煮物に添えられたふやかした干し葡萄は不思議な組み合わせ。他にはさほどの違和感はありませんが「づけマグロ」の味の浸み具合がいまひとつです。

お皿を重ねて「もう食べちゃった♪」の合図(ホントは下品)で、すぐ次が到着。
二の膳:
 主菜-鮭の麹焼き、牛蒡香味揚げ、花人参、厚焼き玉子
 御飯-ご飯、味噌汁、香の物

この日のごはんは白飯ではなく炊き込みご飯でした。個人的に、鮭は好きではない魚なので少しガッカリ。鰆の西京焼きでも出してくれたら嬉しかったけど、いちおうユナイテッドなりに季節感を追っている模様。(苦笑)

デザートはアイスクリームサンデーだけです。ガラス器に見えるカップは破損し難いプラスチック製。
チョコファッジ少なめなのは、ベイリーズ・アイリッシュクリームも追加で頼んだから。
低アルコールのアイリッシュクリームを振りかけながら食べると、なかなかいけてます。

その後、たっぷり寝ました。目が覚めたらちょうど機内のライティングが変な色になったところ...。
北海道沖で、到着の100分前くらいにこんな配色になり、その後明るいオレンジ色に変わります。

機内食の2回目は「ポークカツカレー」が和食ですが、風味がちょっとアレなのでフルーツに変更キボンヌ。
御到着の前に:季節のフレッシュフルーツ シリアル、ミルクと共に

SFO発便の安定してヘニョヘニョなクロワッサンが載ってて、シナモンロールは選べませんでした。シリアルは草食系になって藁をはんでいるような気がするレーズンブランでしたが、割と好きなシリアル。

降機態勢になって、いつものようにお約束な銚子の先っぽが窓外に見えました。
その後、22分も早着で2時13分に33番ゲートに到着。
最近はガイジン行列が大幅に改善され指紋と写真を先に撮るから入国審査も、まさかの数分で終了!

でも、入国審査をもっとスムーズにしたいと思って、自動ゲートの登録に応募したのだった。
米国の Global Entry 資格を流用して4月下旬に応募し、一次審査が通ったのが7月末。3ヶ月かかった...。
二次審査終了後にこんなカードをもらえました。有効期間が3年と短めなのが残念。
さっそく出国時に使用してみたけど... 日本人専用ゲートがみっつあるのに、ガイジン向けには日本人と兼用のゲートがひとつだけ。このカードって Suica みたいな非接触カードですが、バイオメトリック情報として両手の人差し指を認識させてからゲートが開くまで20~30秒もかかった。

「あの、初めてなので日本語で。」 ←中毒

・・・って監視している入出国管理官の兄さんに通関操作を見守ってもらいましたが、最後の認証がめっさ遅くて心配になるレベル。兄さんが言うには「このプロセスちょっと遅いんです。すいませんが安心してお待ちください...」との事でした。いずれにせよ、今後はアメリカ側で Global Entry、日本ではこの自動ゲートが利用できて簡単です。

こうなると頻繁に訪れるイスタンブールとシンガポールも自動ゲートを使いたい。申請可能か探ります。
(ちなみに、和蘭・南朝鮮・豪州や英国は Global Entry と乗り入れ済。今の険悪な状況だとトルコは無理か...)
【脱肛後追記】
昭南島は Global Entry 保持で過去2年以内に2回以上の渡航歴があれば申請可なので、応募しました♪ イスタンブールは10月下旬にシン空港(IGA)が開港予定で、Self Service Gates が用意されるらしいので期待しています。

6 comments:

  1. obaKoba-sann,

    You thought it beneficial to show an in-flight meal when you boarded Narita route in September to the regular readers of the blog written in Japanese.

    It took off from the 28L runway as always.
    The departure was several minutes earlier than scheduled time thanks to the scrupulous Japanese passengers.
    The seat which you got is Shin Polaris 3A of your favorite.

    The amenity has already been all prepared on your seat.
    However, there were no pajamas because it was the flight within 12 hours, wasn’t it ?
    It took to the air over the Pacific coast.
    You could see from the Daily City to the Pacifica of the Pacific coast.
    Because it was at 11:00 a.m., fog is going down towards the sea.
    It’s good for you the SF peninsula enjoys the same climate all the time from early summer to late fall.

    You showed the Japanese food which you made a reservation.
    Since they made mistakes of a reservation twice, they paid you a voucher a lot this year.

    It might be hard to criticize their Japanese food as the difference between your likes and dislikes were intense ;

    The jelly of the tomato seems novel for UA’s Japanese food.
    The combination of the raisin and food boiled is kind of mysterious.
    Though, there is not any sense of incongruity, right ?

    You put dishes vertically for the signal, “I’ve already eaten”, which may be a bit impolite, but next items arrived immediately.

    The rice of the day was not cooked white rice but takikomi gohan.
    You were disappointed a little since you don’t personally like salmon.
    Though, you admitted United chases a sense of the seasons for the time being.

    Thank you for reporting Japanese cuisine on United 837 SFO/NRT 2018 Sep.

    best denki

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Best Denki sensei,

      Reporting the Japanese meal on United Polaris® Business class must be very fruitful for potential Japanese passengers to avoid United because of this very unimpressive, weirdly arranged Japanese-like meal will be served. Therefore I am indirectly recommending booking ANA, then ultimately quitting MileagePlus®.
      However, if someone already sold his/her soul to United like me, have to keep flying by United and it would be productive information to know the recent changes or degradation of in-flight meals by United, hence this is such a good reference for the decision making whether book Polaris Business or not.

      And thank you for translating my Japanese document for those who learned English without communicating real English speakers. If I had a copy of RightWriter®, I would be able to evaluate your translation but I expect it is easy to understand for Japanese over 50 with bachelor’s diploma. But I’m afraid to say this translation is devastating for me because it’s killing all of humorous and cynic nuances, everything went very straightforward. No wonder you use International English for medical studies and reports, hence you don’t have to stay in real English speaking world 24/7 with some jokes and witty comments… sorry for this sour reply.

      Delete
  2. Only edible thing on the UA Premium aka Pseudo cabin are: their warm nuts, pseudo Thai ish chicken noodle, fruits and ice cream, IMO. I am keeping Mileage Plus but will go back flying with the Nice Helicopter company.
    By the way, why did you opt-in for the global entry Japan scheme? Their latest face recognition entry is effortless and usually no queue. Or you just wanted a card?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. m e m o-san,

      That was interesting for me the word you used ‘pseudo’ was a technical term for me when I was a holographer and a researcher at MIT. I was studying and researching the pseudo images by using the infringement of coherent lights.

      On the UA in-flight meals, warmed nuts are their signature but now it’s completely degraded; only includes almonds and cashews… and the “Thai-ish chicken noodle” you mentioned supposed to be their Spicy Chicken w/Udon noodles and Thai-style curry sauce, I guess. That one is getting more common for the chicken options instead of that disgusting rosemary chicken breast. Amongst those chicken dishes, a dish of Spicy chicken noodles is the best, IMHO.

      And if you didn’t sell your soul to United yet, as well as you keep your eligibility in Japan, I totally agree with you wish to go back to NH. Lucky you.

      The reason I enrolled the autogate in Japan, is because there are autogetes. (lol)
      For those several years, I was making long line, wasting an hour or two at the Gaijin Gyoretsu in NRT, I really envied that autogate where nobody go thru there. Finally, I saw the news MOJ of Japan started accepting U.S. Global Entry users so I simply applied it. I expect the autogate is the fastest way to go thru the passport control, and the best part is; No stickers/stamps will be placed on my passport so that I can save the space of my passport which is a thicker version, 52 pages total, but already the half of the visa pages are used within 3 years, and I don’t want to go to a post office to ask additional pages.

      Delete
  3. Oh, make sense, I forgot you are non-J-passport holder.
    I am wishing for J to allow dual citizenships but might come after my time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. m e m o-san,

      After my oath to be a US Citizen, I automatically but involuntarily lost my Japanese nationality due to the law in Japan. Then I went into Japanese consulate general in SF and filed “国籍喪失届.” I didn’t like the word “喪失” but so did I anyway. The clerk at the consulate surprised I am a very rare person honestly reporting. What a…

      As you may know, the issue of dual citizenship is very controversial because someone born in the States and received US citizenship, he/she must choose just one; Japanese or American. But most of them don’t and keep both. Japanese government keeps quiet for this situation but the person, who received a citizenship outside of Japan on purpose, he/she automatically looses the Japanese citizenship…
      I feel this is very unfair, not equally treated. Bunch of former Japanese who are well talented, Novel prize awarded Dr. Tonegawa at MIT for example, was Japanese but converted to the US citizen. I’m not such person, but Japan is obviously losing important people by such strict-but-not-properly-enforced law of nationalities.

      Delete