UA1593 SAN IAH 1151 1704 739 4A

I was surprised to have my upgrade cleared at the 96-hour
window (you put in for an upgrade, and seats are cleared
at 120, 96, 72, 48, and 24 hours, depending the loftiness
of your status with the airline).

Security was irritating. The TSA turns on and off PreCheck
at seemingly random times; luckily it was on at this time
of day - but still took 20 min owing to a huge line not
much improved by my bag's strap getting stuck in the conveyor,
rendering it inoperable until they took apart the mechanism,
maybe 3 minutes extra. I went to the monitors to check on my
flight and heard a guy sigh with dismay - turns out he was
flying a lesser airline (okay, JetBlue). and his flight was
2 hours delayed. So I guested him into the club. It turns out
he has a peculiar specialty - he's an ER dentist; and, which
fueled further conversation, a violin aficionado. After my
half hour was up, I admonished him to lie low (the guest is
not supposed to stay on past the host) and went off to the
gate, where boarding was pretty straightforward, but there
was a bunch of group 5ers (no carryon allowed) trying to
sneak into the group 1 line, which led to a minor holdup.

After takeoff we were served salty mixed nuts, of which as
usual I got mostly salt and fragments (perhaps they know
who has gotten upgraded vs. who paid full price) so confined
my attention to the mediocre but serviceable Camelot Merlot.

A friendly and welcoming crew.

On United, you're asked for your meal choice based on your
status rather than how much you paid, so I was asked very
early - I didn't care which lovely meal was served me, so
I told them that. I forget what the other choice was, but I
got Buffalo mac 'n' cheese, a salty Kraftish substance with
some brined chicken breast strips, all smothered with a
sauce that could have been Frank's, possibly the weaker
Crystal, hard to tell because of its antiquity, anyhow
vinegary, salty, and not very hot. A generous serving, and
I ate only part of it. There was a green salad with mandarin
segments and shaved fennel, and I ate most of that, dotted
with Conway's pomegranate acai dressing (sounds healthy,
right?), which was syrupy sweet and hardly fruit-tasting at
all but with a pleasant note of cinnamon. A whole-grain roll
was actually quite decent, not too salty, reasonably fresh.
Dessert was turtle cheesecake, probably from Eli's, though
long ago the airline stopped getting a promotional fee, so
it's unbranded now.

It was a daytime flight, and I'd gotten reasonable sleep the
night before, and this was one of United's few 737s that has
an intact entertainment system, so between yummies I got to
see parts of six or seven Bizarre Foods Delicious Destinations
- none of the bizarrenesses was as bizarre as pomegranate-acai
dressing or Bufflo mac'n'cheese.

I spent a fair amount of time at the club atoning for my
lunch. Luckily, this newest location has adequate restroom
facilities. Not feeling like alcohol, and not learning fast
enough, I had a couple cups of Ghirardelli hot chocolate
instead of my customary Evan Williams on the rocks. Back to
the restroom, which I suspected they were beginning to want
to charge me rent for. The next gate was a short quick stroll,
during which the congestion in the public area was such that I
was nearly knocked down by two electric carts and several
oblivious teens (and a couple adults) with their eyes glued to
their phones-smarter-than-they-are.
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