Flights for May 2023 Trip to Chicago

A post of the flights that I took in May 2023 to and from Chicago for a business trip.

Distant Washington DC and Reagan National Airport

In mid-May 2023, I had some business errands to run in Chicago. I will not get into the details of those errands, so this post would be about the flights I took.

Flight UA3522 from Washington Reagan to Chicago O’Hare

Overall, this was a not-so-remarkable flight on a route that I was very familiar with.
It seemed to me that for the month of May 2023, I just didn’t have good luck with airport securities. This time at Reagan National, it took me 23 minutes to clear it, longer than what I was used to with Reagan National Airport. (It could be that some agents were taking their lunch break, as I saw new lines opening up after I left.)

United Express ERJ170 (N865RW)
My plane to Chicago.
Boarding Flight to Chicago

Since I still got some work to address on my laptop, I was one of the last to board. With limited luggage rack space on a regional jet, I was forced to gate-check my carry-on bag.
In line with my experience checking my carry-on suitcase earlier this year, something in it was damaged in the process. This time, it’s the counterweight in my mouse that got loose (the mouse still worked, though).

United Airlines 3522 (Operated by Republic Airways as United Express)
Washington Reagan (DCA) – Chicago O’Hare, IL (ORD)
Embraer ERJ170 (N865RW)
Seat 17D
Scheduled Departure – 1:00pm
Actual Departure – 1:10pm
Scheduled Arrival – 2:22pm
Actual Arrival – 1:56pm
1 hour and 46 minutes

Here’s GPS tracking:

I did captured videos of both takeoff and landing. However, the windows of this ERJ170 were very dirty so I didn’t bother posting them here.

I spent the flight between working on my laptop and a few naps, so it’s not like a week ago that I appreciated the snow-capped mountains of West Virginia (I really thought they should be melted by then). It’s not until we flew past Chicago that I caught some sights.

Overlooking Chicago O’Hare Airport
Town of St. Charles along Fox River
DuPage County Airport
West Chicago Suburb
Town of St. Charles along Fox River

We had a very long final approach all the way past Fox River, evident of the traffic volume of O’Hare Airport.

After landing, our captain informed us that, because of our early arrival, we needed to wait for an available gate, which took us an additional 8 minutes. The terminal (Concourse C) looked fairly empty, but sadly the regional gates on its southern end were very occupied.

Baggage Sorting

Once at the gate, I decided to remain in my seat and watched baggage unloading, so that I could wait for my gate-checked bag seated (instead of standing in the jet bridge). In this photo, the handlers were unloading standard checked bags (with limited size of the plane, it didn’t take that long). The gate-checked bags had been unloaded onto the cart in the left background.

After that, I made it to the rental car center and started my errands.

Chicago Airport Rental Car Center
Unlike the airport itself, this felt stylish.
Rental Car
A Hyundai Santa Fe that’s almost new.

Flight UA2417 from Chicago O’Hare to Washington Reagan

Two days later, it’s my flight back.
It’s my first time departing O’Hare from United’s Terminal 1, and it’s just a very unpleasant experience.
To begin, it took an unacceptable 28 minutes to clear security. For that, the lady at the TSA directed my frustration towards the local congressman as “they changed the layout of the screening area”. So Mike Quigley, please fix your mess.
Next, the seating area at the northern end of Concourse C was crowded; to make matters worse, the WiFi was ridiculously slow and unreliable in the terminal. For that, I guessed I had to blame United?

United Airlines A320 (N489UA)

My plane to Washington DC. Somehow, the exterior paint was fading, exposing the underlying fuselage structure, which didn’t look that reassuring.
Etihad Airways A350 (A6-XWB) in Special Livery

Despite it transported me back to Washington DC in one piece, the condition of the plane (N489UA) wasn’t that reassuring, between peeling paints (pic above) and missing windows (pic below).

GoPro Mounting

Usually, an aircraft window consisted of two layers (facing passenger): an outer one (red) and an inner one (green). While the outer one was mostly for protective purposes (it even had a hole in it), it’s missing next to my seat. As a result, I could mount my GoPro directly to the inner one (green).

United Airlines 2417
Chicago O’Hare, IL (ORD) – Washington Reagan (DCA)
Airbus A320 (N489UA)
Seat 30A
Scheduled Departure – 12:45pm
Actual Departure – 1:02pm
Scheduled Arrival – 3:39pm
Actual Arrival – 3:26pm
1 hour and 24 minutes

Here’s GPS tracking:

Here’s a video of the takeoff:

Campus of Northwestern University
Mouth of Maumee River into Lake Erie
Wheeling WV

Ohio River separating West Virginia and Ohio. I visited the town a few times on my way to and from Ohio a few months later.
Morgantown WV

Apart from that, the flight itself was an uneventful one.

Winchester VA
Shenandoah River
Harry Byrd Hwy passed from left to right, Appalachian Trail passed through the woods in the right.
Overlooking Dulles Airport
Merrifield
Intersection of I66 and I495.
Overlooking Mount Vernon
Arrival at Washington Reagan

Parked next to United Airlines B753 (N57863), the largest plane that operated out of Reagan National Airport.