At long last, the second Star Alliance Circumnavigation is complete! We’re heading up the Golden State from Burbank to the Bay with United Express today.
Server: Solo
Airline: United Express (Operated by Skywest Airlines)
Aircraft: Embraer E175
Origin: Hollywood Burbank Airport, Burbank, California (BUR)
Destination: San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California (SFO)
Flight Number: UA5385
Route: KBUR-KSFO
Seat: 4A (Domestic First)
Time En Route: 1 Hour 20 Minutes
Boarding via airstair at Gate B1. Our ride up to San Fran today is 1 of 115 E175s Skywest Airlines operates under contract for United Express and 1 of the 56 in a 70-seat configuration.
Taxiing across Runway 15/33 and past the Million Air FBO ramp by a bunch of Gulfstreams, a couple Falcons, a Global 7500, a few Citations of various types and sizes, and a King Air B100.
Jungle Jet getting airborne
Climbout over the San Fernando Valley, looking down at Lake Balboa and Van Nuys Airport. Looks like there’s a NetJets Challenger 350 taking off.
Heading west towards the coast over the San Joaquin Valley, where the bulk of California’s agricultural production is located. This is a different routing than the ones we usually take up to the Bay, largely because this is the first time we’ve flown into SFO from Burbank. Domestic First on the E175 is about as comfy as it can get on a regional airliner, even if it is a completely full flight.
Starting our final descent into San Francisco over Monterey Bay via the SERFR2 approach
Landing at SFO after 80 minutes of flying
Pulling into the E Gate ramp amongst a variety of United and United Express birds
Parked at Gate E2