brendog
May 21, 12, 12:14 pm
Just returned from a couple of weeks in Bali on an award trip. As there was ample saver Y available, but nothing reasonable in C or F, I bit the bullet and booked a 140k award for my wife and I IAD-LHR-BKK(SIN)-DPS. Amazingly, the 2 UA legs were the best, save for the SQ leg LHR-SIN. Here's a synopsis:
UA 924 IAD-LHR (772 new config)
CBP decided to hold the plane for an extra 2 hours after it came in from FRA, thus pretty much ensuring that we would miss our TG connection to BKK. That notwithstanding, I scored 20J and K, which are absolutely brilliant coach seats in the new config. Service was great and the flight was comfortable. Upon arrival in T1 at LHR, a UA rep was waiting for us and apologized profusely for the delay. She has already rebooked us on SQ, so we headed over to T3 and the SQ lounge. The agents working the SQ lounge were outstanding, saving us a trip to the transit desk by getting us great seats and chasing down our bags.
SQ 319 LHR-SIN (773)
The SQ folks got us two Y seats with a blocked middle for the longest flight of the trip, which allowed us to stretch out and sleep most of the 14 hours we were on board. The food was by far the best, and the service was courteous, albeit it a bit cold. All in all, the entire experience was exactly what Y travel should be. I understand that they are shortly replacing the 773 on this flight with another 380.
SQ 946 SIN-DPS (772)
Older plane packed with folks on holiday. The plane was definitely tired, but they still managed a full food and drink service on a sub-2 hour flight. They did manage to leave our bags in SIN, but the agents in DPS stated they would get them up to Ubud as soon as possible. They weren't kidding, as we were sitting at the hotel bar an hour after we checked in, and our bags arrived.
TG 432 DPS-BKK (772)
Another beat-up plane stuffed with folks on holiday. Service was mediocre and the food was utterly inedible. Someone managed to decorate the lav, the aisle, and the escalator at BKK with their stomach contents, which pretty much summed up the flight for me.
TG 910 BKK-LHR (346)
Plane was in much better condition, but was packed to the gills. Service wasn't any better, nor was the food, which bordered on inedible without 3 Singhas to wash it down. The Recaro seats reminded me of the US CRJ900s, and were abysmal for a 12 hour flight.
UA 919 LHR-IAD (772)
Another new config 772. We were supposed to fly out on 939, which is a 763, but it was cancelled. UA again stepped up and proactively rebooked us onto another, earlier, flight. We did end up with separated E+ middles, but pharmaceuticals helped out immensely. The plane was clean, the service very good, and the food moderately edible.
In summary, I'm not at all surprised that SQ was, by far, the best of the bunch, but I really did expect much more out of TG. My UA experience was actually very good, although charging for booze TATL is somewhat tacky (I'm usually in C when I do TATL for work, so I was unaware of this...). TG just plain sucked, and reminded me of flying US, which surprised the hell out of me. It's probably a much better experience up front, although the seats really didn't look that great.
I came home to an e-mail from UA letting me know that my UG for 76 tomorrow cleared 3 days out, as well.
UA 924 IAD-LHR (772 new config)
CBP decided to hold the plane for an extra 2 hours after it came in from FRA, thus pretty much ensuring that we would miss our TG connection to BKK. That notwithstanding, I scored 20J and K, which are absolutely brilliant coach seats in the new config. Service was great and the flight was comfortable. Upon arrival in T1 at LHR, a UA rep was waiting for us and apologized profusely for the delay. She has already rebooked us on SQ, so we headed over to T3 and the SQ lounge. The agents working the SQ lounge were outstanding, saving us a trip to the transit desk by getting us great seats and chasing down our bags.
SQ 319 LHR-SIN (773)
The SQ folks got us two Y seats with a blocked middle for the longest flight of the trip, which allowed us to stretch out and sleep most of the 14 hours we were on board. The food was by far the best, and the service was courteous, albeit it a bit cold. All in all, the entire experience was exactly what Y travel should be. I understand that they are shortly replacing the 773 on this flight with another 380.
SQ 946 SIN-DPS (772)
Older plane packed with folks on holiday. The plane was definitely tired, but they still managed a full food and drink service on a sub-2 hour flight. They did manage to leave our bags in SIN, but the agents in DPS stated they would get them up to Ubud as soon as possible. They weren't kidding, as we were sitting at the hotel bar an hour after we checked in, and our bags arrived.
TG 432 DPS-BKK (772)
Another beat-up plane stuffed with folks on holiday. Service was mediocre and the food was utterly inedible. Someone managed to decorate the lav, the aisle, and the escalator at BKK with their stomach contents, which pretty much summed up the flight for me.
TG 910 BKK-LHR (346)
Plane was in much better condition, but was packed to the gills. Service wasn't any better, nor was the food, which bordered on inedible without 3 Singhas to wash it down. The Recaro seats reminded me of the US CRJ900s, and were abysmal for a 12 hour flight.
UA 919 LHR-IAD (772)
Another new config 772. We were supposed to fly out on 939, which is a 763, but it was cancelled. UA again stepped up and proactively rebooked us onto another, earlier, flight. We did end up with separated E+ middles, but pharmaceuticals helped out immensely. The plane was clean, the service very good, and the food moderately edible.
In summary, I'm not at all surprised that SQ was, by far, the best of the bunch, but I really did expect much more out of TG. My UA experience was actually very good, although charging for booze TATL is somewhat tacky (I'm usually in C when I do TATL for work, so I was unaware of this...). TG just plain sucked, and reminded me of flying US, which surprised the hell out of me. It's probably a much better experience up front, although the seats really didn't look that great.
I came home to an e-mail from UA letting me know that my UG for 76 tomorrow cleared 3 days out, as well.