I’m considering utilizing an expiring voucher on a flight to LAX. I have no status on US so my travel will be in coach. I have only flown US one time in my life - this past January on a Priceline reservation. That trip was also to LAX in Y and there was no IFE or meal service. Has US restored IFE/meal service? If it “costs” me an extra two hours (same departure time, different connection cities, different arrival times), is it worth choosing the 767 over the 757?

I appreciate your time!

[This message has been edited by IndustrialPatent (edited 09-07-2002).]

I've never seen a transcon with no food or IFE service at all in Y except the redeyes.

Are you sure there was no food or IFE on the westbound transcon to LAX?

I traveled #95 (CLT-LAX, 4:50PM departure time, B762) on January 11. There was neither meal service nor IFE. My return was re-routed via a different airline, so this remains my sole flight on US.

That's very weird. Flt. 193 currently on the schedule departs at 515 pm and is a dinner flight in both First and Coach.... there's a 340 pm CLT-SFO flight arriving 610p, which also has a meal, marked as lunch.

These flights are too long for no meals...maybe they had cut back meals in January, but I don't remember that drastic a change. Someone else may know better.

Re: 767s, I prefer them in coach as there are lots of aisle seats and very few centers -- widebodies are always better IMO. The seats themselves may be slightly better on the Airbuses, but that's less important to me.

If you're lucky enough to get upgraded, the "First" cabin is actually the same as the int'l Envoy cabin which is really wonderful...

I'm fairly sure there are meals on all US transcons, except the eastbound redeyes. I have taken the 9:05pm PIT-SEA flight 3 times in the past few weeks and every time it is a cold snack.

But I do know the 3pm DEN-PHL flight has no meal, which is a surprise since UA has snacks on eastbound flights from DEN, and that flight lands ~8:30pm which means it flies right through dinner.

The 12:15 DEN-PHL flite has no meal either (even in F). I was advised to grab food b4 boarding, which I did.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by gardener:
The 12:15 DEN-PHL flite has no meal either (even in F). I was advised to grab food b4 boarding, which I did.</font>

On a flight from PIT to SFO (Departed PIT at 9:00 pmish..there was no meal in first...just a cold salad...but it did come with a delicious cheesecake...I ate it so fast that the FA asked if I wanted another piece...it was yummy!

There was a period last fall & winter when meal service was scarce.

Shouldn't be a problem on that flight now though.

I'd go for the 767 -- even in coach.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by MaineFlyer16:
On a flight from PIT to SFO (Departed PIT at 9:00 pmish..there was no meal in first...just a cold salad...but it did come with a delicious cheesecake...I ate it so fast that the FA asked if I wanted another piece...it was yummy!</font>

Was it the brownie cheesecake and chicken pasta salad? One case where the dessert was better than the main course. Finished my g/f's cake off too. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

On the SAN-PIT redeye, I got cold pasta salad and chicken breast with Brownie Cheescake, too. Yum.

I would NOT go for the 767 in coach class. Quite simply, it has absolutely no good coach class seats.

The A321 has a lot of great coach seats (row21 ABCDEF, row 9 ABC are the best by far). The 757 is also quite good (8ABC excellent, 7DF passable, and the back bulkhead/exit as a last resort). The exits on the A319 are perfectly suitable, though there is only one row.

The 767 has NO good seats in coach. So if I can't sit in FC on the 767, I'd rather not be on it.

That said, since you don't have elite status, you wouldn't be able to get exit rows seats in advance. I guess a regular coach seat on the 767 is better than a regular coach seat on others since the cabin is a bit more spacious feeling since its a widebody (the seats certainly aren't any more spacious. The Airbus is slightly wider, especially in centers).

I really like the sleeper-style seats on the 767 in the premium cabin, though the last time I flew on them they seemed a lot less impressive than I had remember.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by BizJet:
I would NOT go for the 767 in coach class. Quite simply, it has absolutely no good coach class seats.

The A321 has a lot of great coach seats (row21 ABCDEF, row 9 ABC are the best by far). The 757 is also quite good (8ABC excellent, 7DF passable, and the back bulkhead/exit as a last resort). The exits on the A319 are perfectly suitable, though there is only one row.

The 767 has NO good seats in coach. So if I can't sit in FC on the 767, I'd rather not be on it.

That said, since you don't have elite status, you wouldn't be able to get exit rows seats in advance. I guess a regular coach seat on the 767 is better than a regular coach seat on others since the cabin is a bit more spacious feeling since its a widebody (the seats certainly aren't any more spacious. The Airbus is slightly wider, especially in centers).

I really like the sleeper-style seats on the 767 in the premium cabin, though the last time I flew on them they seemed a lot less impressive than I had remember. </font>

BizJet -- Industrial Patent has NO status on USAirways so it's very unlikely he'll get one of the favorable seats on the 321 or 757. Given that, I think the 767 is the way to go, even in coach. Chance of being in a center is much less...

I appreciate the responses!

Yes, I have absolutly no status with US -- I have flown only one US segment in my entire life!

What about in-flight entertainment? Is this provided on transcontinental flights?

Looks like I'm leaning toward the B762. I'd prefer to get in a couple hours sooner, but comfort is my main concern. I flew standby LAX-DTW on a NW B757 last week. My status didn't get me a first class seat -- it got me "preferred placement" on the standby list and I was treated to a 5-hour middle seat. Not looking forward to that again!

Here are my flight options:
Option #1
depart DTW 12:10PM, arrive PIT 1:20PM (DH3)
depart PIT 2:30PM, arrive LAX 4:38 (757)

Option #2
depart DTW 2:30PM, arrive CLT 4:09PM (733)
deaprt CLT 5:15PM, arrive LAX 7:24PM (762)

Thanks again!

Where are you going in LA? The PIT connection gets you there right in time for rush hour. The CLT connection looks MUCH better from that perspective. And the 767 is 2-3-2 in coach, vs. 3-3.

And yes, you will have a movie on either one. I don't know what happened when you took the flight in January; I always take that flight and have always gotten dinner. But there were no movies last fall, but I thought they began again by January. Were there short subjects or anything? Did they make any annoouncement that they forgot to cater the flight?!?!? The only time I didn't get dinner was due to a mechanical we left very late, and they had given us all meal vouchers to use at the airport.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by BizJet:
I would NOT go for the 767 in coach class. Quite simply, it has absolutely no good coach class seats.</font>

The 767 is 2-3-2 vs 3-3 for the 757 & 321. If I have to sit in coach and can't swing an exit row then I'd prefer the sides of a 767. The other thing that I like about the 767 is that you can get up and stroll around much more easily than on the single aisle aircraft.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by nawlinsdoc:
On the SAN-PIT redeye, I got cold pasta salad and chicken breast with Brownie Cheescake, too. Yum.</font>

The dogfood cold chicken plate has been around for a LONG time. I started taking the fruit plate but catering has forgotten twice out of SAN.

The Westbound IFE for September is Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood. Basically, it was a slOOOOOOOw horribly booooooring movie. At one point I actually said out loud that that was the worse movie I had even seen.

I was on 95 on January 1, 2002, albeit in FC, but there was a hot meal in coach. At that time there was no movie, but there was about 4 hours of short subject programming.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by TomBascom:
The 767 is 2-3-2 vs 3-3 for the 757 & 321. If I have to sit in coach and can't swing an exit row then I'd prefer the sides of a 767. The other thing that I like about the 767 is that you can get up and stroll around much more easily than on the single aisle aircraft.</font>

Yup. My response toward the original poster mentioned this. I guess I was really directing my comments to elite FT'rs who might also be referring to this thread (since certainly no question is good just for the guy who answered it). For those who can snag exits in advance, the 757 or Airbus is far better than the 767.