US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Envoy Service Comparo

I would be interested to know how those of you who have flown Envoy would compare the trans-Atlantic product to that of other domestic carriers in terms of relative value, quality of service, amenities, etc.

I flew Envoy to CDG (from PHL) in Jan on the A330.

Also flew to LHR on UA on a 777 from IAD last month.

US Service, blew UA's out of the water and that was even with the food cutbacks due to the CDG catering strike.

This thread has a rather lengthy comparison(by yours truley):

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum51/HTML/001244.html

Summary: Envoy is awesome. Even better if you fly the A330. Having flown CO and AA in their BizClass, US Envoy is a level above it on the 330, and similar on the 767.

It's uh, horrible. Umm. yeah.Just uh, terrible. Ahem. Now shoo kid I'm trying to upgrade...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Seriously, I've done Business Transatlantic on United, Delta, Austrian (quite good actually) and US Airways.

Austrian was Austrian. Limited entertainment but some of the best food I've ever had on an Airline, period. Touch of class to just put up a wine/chocolate bar after meal service and let the passengers mingle.

US Airways didn't just win. It humiliated the other American carriers and sent them running home to mommy. It was embarrassing. They just can't keep up, especially with the awesome A330 entertainment system. Others have said it, I'll say it, it's based on the Sony passport system and allows you to select your own movies, shows and CD's and pause, rewind, etc. You get noise cancelling headsets to go with it. Add to that 160 Degree reclining seats, lil amenity kits (worth keeping, they're from Crabtree & Evelyn), the steam kitchen units in the galley for true "hot" food, lil individual blue reading lights for when the cabins dimmed, and... 60in of seat pitch!

So all in all it's just terrible, especially if you're on a late April Sat flight to either LGW or FCO. Whatever you do don't go then. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Regards,
-Bouncer-

I generally fly CO BF in 767's overseas and IMHO it is much better than the 767 US Envoy I recently flew CLT-LGW. Reasons listed below:
Boarding
US- Very limited preflight beverage selection and halfway through the boarding process when someone asked for champagne, they were told "sorry, we just threw the rest of it out, we can only give you water".
CO-Full selection of beverages available pre-flight (I know everyone's going to jump on me about supposedly international rules, but honestly I've never had a beverage request (pre take off) denied by CO. )
Seating
US- 2 x 2 x 2 with very narrow aisles. The FA's were constantly bumping into people as they made their way through. Seats felt cramped, the seating adjustments were minimal-no lumbar adjustment. No personal light, other than from the ceiling, with the control stationary on the chair side as on domestic flights. I was in the bulkhead, and the fabric facing me was torn and dirty.
There was only 1 WC in the front on the 767 cabin, whereas CO has 4 available.
CO- 2 x 1 x 2 with slightly wider aisles, comfortable seats with lumbar support. Removable control for lighting and entertainment system. In addition to overhead, theres a 'personal' light next to your headrest on a 'snakelike arm'.
Food & Beverage:
US- not trying to be picky, but CO places linen on trays with the start of service. US came out with it only with the entree. Plastic utensils, one size beverage glass for wine, champagne, liquor etc.
CO- Food somewhat better on CO, whereas US's selection seemed very similar to what you would receive on a transcon in F. I will concede that the cheese selection on US was better, as they labled each type. But where CO has a 'make your own sundae cart', US handed out dixie cups of chocolate ice cream.
Service:
US- The FA's seemed very distracted, and for the most part remained in the galley (similar to my experience on AF). They frequently seemed to confuse orders and on numerous occaisions I heard dishes and glasses being dropped in the galley -- with a consequently very noticable damp carpet area. No Airshow on US, or comments from the crew as to where we were, perhaps it is just a quirk of mine, but I really enjoy checking out my flights progress and time to destination, as well as knowing what exactly we're flying over at any given time. Does the 330's have this feature???
CO- While CO's FA's are also scarce during flight (after service), all passengers are introduced to the consierge personally and they do seem to wander around asking if one is in need of anything throughout the flight.
A Couple OF Positives on US:
I did like the fact that they offered coupons for the 'Fast Track' in Gatwick as well as information on the arrivals lounge. CO has an arrivals lounge but they don't seem to advertise it very much and CO never mentions FastTrack. I also liked that US had a large self service selection of beverages and snacks set out in the galley for travellers. CO has a limited bowl set up, although CO does hand out water bottles to all in BF prior to most bedding down.

I know I'm going to gets lots of flack from US diehards, especially about the easy availabity to upgrade on any fare (thus consequently very very full Envoy seciton)and the fact that the 330 is a much better product than US's 767. But I'm only commenting here on what I experienced in Envoy on a 767 round trip and I'm sure many of you have had horrible experiences on CO (and others) compared to US.
My home airport is EWR, and I've had lots more international flights in BF with them (and I've never been denied an upgrade both pre and post HoKeY) so I will admit my bias,
addtionally my experience with US internationally has been limited to 4 Envoy flights.

[This message has been edited by mauld (edited 04-16-2002).]

Honestly, I really would say that DL, CO, and US are all close enough I'm really fairly indifferent when you look at the actual product itself. I think AA is doing a new Biz cabin too, and so is UA, and they probably fall into the same boat with the new cabins.

The differentiation for me is in whether I can sit in the cabin ... not flying Transatlantic for work, I am flying on cheapie coach tickets, which pretty much narrows the choices to AA or US, all the others require relatively high fare tickets to be able to upgrade at a minimum (CO is a whole other story with their 30-day rule). For those who always fly on higher fares, you could really argue that the ability to upgrade more fares is not good for them, since it creates more competition for the Biz seats.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by mauld:
I generally fly CO BF in 767's overseas and IMHO it is much better than the 767 US Envoy I recently flew CLT-LGW. </font>

Not to give you flack mauld, but one thing to note is that CO's 767s are virtually brand new, as they've been brought in over the last two years to replace the DC-10s. So, they do have an interior setup similar to the 777s, and they are much newer than US' 767s (which were brought in to Piedmont starting in 1987).

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Seating
US- 2 x 2 x 2 with very narrow aisles. The FA's were constantly bumping into people as they made their way through. Seats felt cramped, the seating adjustments were minimal-no lumbar adjustment. No personal light, other than from the ceiling, with the control stationary on the chair side as on domestic flights. I was in the bulkhead, and the fabric facing me was torn and dirty.
There was only 1 WC in the front on the 767 cabin, whereas CO has 4 available.
CO- 2 x 1 x 2 with slightly wider aisles, comfortable seats with lumbar support. Removable control for lighting and entertainment system. In addition to overhead, theres a 'personal' light next to your headrest on a 'snakelike arm'.</font>

Yes, the 330 is better than the 767, and it has the Sony Passport, and the snakelight and the great seats, etc. Yes, US probably has made it a bit crowded going 2x2x2 in the Envoy cabin on the 767 - but that means 24 Envoy seats, vs 20 - meaning more seats for an upgrade. To do 2x1x2 and have the same number of Envoy seats would cut into the Y seating - and there isn't a ton of that on the 767-200 to start with. The seat mix works for them with the -200. I think they ought to have brought in 767-300s at some point - but they weren't asking me.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Food & Beverage:
US- not trying to be picky, but CO places linen on trays with the start of service. US came out with it only with the entree. Plastic utensils, one size beverage glass for wine, champagne, liquor etc.
CO- Food somewhat better on CO, whereas US's selection seemed very similar to what you would receive on a transcon in F. I will concede that the cheese selection on US was better, as they labled each type. But where CO has a 'make your own sundae cart', US handed out dixie cups of chocolate ice cream.</font>

Ah, the great utensil debate continues - I think it really depends on the catering folks. I've received silverware (except for the knife) and I've received plastic. The issue has been discussed to death elsewhere in this forum, so we'll not rehash.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Service:
US- The FA's seemed very distracted, and for the most part remained in the galley (similar to my experience on AF). They frequently seemed to confuse orders and on numerous occaisions I heard dishes and glasses being dropped in the galley -- with a consequently very noticable damp carpet area.
CO- While CO's FA's are also scarce during flight (after service), all passengers are introduced to the consierge personally and they do seem to wander around asking if one is in need of anything throughout the flight.</font>

As for sevice on the 767, I think it just depends on the crew. I've flown both the 767 and 330, and the service has been pretty good on both. They were very attentive, even between lunch and the snack service - didn't disappear on me. I had a great 767 crew from AMS to PHL in March, so maybe you just drew not as great a crew.

I have flown dozens of UA international flights in Business. I have only flown 2 international flights on US in the A330 from PHL-FCO-PHL early this year.

US's EXCELLANT points (all exceed UA's) are listed here:
- Punctuality
- Envoy Lounge
- On-board service
- On-demand movies
- Presence of NR headsets (UA dropped them in Business from October-April)
- Ability to use Arrivals service even on upgraded itin.

US's shortcomings:
- Tray is too low and crushed my thighs if I was reclined at all
- No Airshow map showing in-flight progress
- Despite 57 inch seat pitch, I got me feet (on the footrest) crushed by the seatback of the (NRSA) pax in front of me. Yes, I've heard all of the FT posters rave about the seat pitch. BTW, I'm only 6'1" tall.
- Bulkhead row looked worse than UA for legroom (I usually prefer bulkhead)

After having tried both UA and US (A330) internationally, I prefer US even though I missed the Airshow map a lot. If US would comp me to CP, I'd switch all of my business to them!

roberto99 ,
I'm sure US would comp you to a t least Gold officially, and maybe to CP on the QT as long as you don't tell anybody. I would talk to your local station manager or someone in person about a CP comp. No, I was not comped like this to CP, but I would bet anybody that quiet CP comping goes on behind the scenes. I would actually switch to UA if they were more of a northeast carrier because of channel 9. For channel 9, I had wished the US/UA merger would have gone through. I love channel 9!!!
Have not yet flown trans atlantic on US, only in CO biz first (DC10 and 777). Prefer the 777. Looking forward to my first A330 US envoy trip. Also have flown on north Atlatnic sectors in NW's DC10's and VS upper class. So far, I like VS upper class best all things considered. Only little thing VS upper class, they said no cell phones when door was open.
Also with CO in LGW, business first concierge, it was like pulling teeth with no anesthetic to get a voucher for ground transportation to London, because I was rerouted from LHR due a CO mechanical. Finally got the woman to give me a voucher for the LGW Express train, I think she meant it one-way, and on the train they asked me if I wanted a one-way or round-trip, and I'll let you guess which I chose. Saved me a few bucks. VS was apalled at how stingy CO concierge was about handing me a voucher, and the CO concierge kept saying I was not a full fare J, so shouldn't get anything.

Essentially more of what the above postings say: I flew bos-phl-mad on a us 767 and returned on ua 777 ams-iad-bos. The 777 may be a slick plane, but US envoy blew UA's business class out of the water. The service and knowledge of the FAs, the amenities and the food, even the menus -- US was superior on all counts.

[This message has been edited by iflybos (edited 04-16-2002).]

PS--further to my comparison of CO & US. The Envoy amenity on US consisted of a small blue pouch with a pair of socks, an eye shade, toothbrush/paster,lip gloss & moisturizer--if this is considered superior to US or CO, then its a sorry state of amenitities.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by battlestar galactica:
I would be interested to know how those of you who have flown Envoy would compare the trans-Atlantic product to that of other domestic carriers in terms of relative value, quality of service, amenities, etc.</font>Is there any particular reason you are soliciting our opinions and experiences?

You're not the only curious one.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by chexfan:
[QUOTE]Is there any particular reason you are soliciting our opinions and experiences?</font>

Three reasons:

1. Will be flying in Envoy to LGW shortly and was curious about what to expect
2. Am planning two more trips to Europe this year and, not having experienced the Envoy equivalent on other airlines, wanted to know if I should burn FF miles I have on other carriers instead
3. As a long-time lurker on these boards, I've found the information here very useful and accurate.

Enjoy Envoy. It is everything it's cracked up to be!

BTW, if you're flying to LGW, US has opened a new arrivals facility.

I think there is a new US Club getting ready to open there as well.

Please post a trip report when you return. We love Envoy trip reports.

Will do!

Flew Envoy several times to FRA (from Philly and Pittsburgh before and after 9/11), the newer planes A330 (nice seats once to get used to the 16 buttons and the entertainment system is state of the art) and the service beats UA and is par with BA IMHO.