josephstern

I haven't read the posts, but I've definitely never seen a UA lounge that I admire. Hard to believe.

char777

I've never been to the new one at LHR, but in general, it is pretty well-received.

I'll wait until he publishes his full reviews, but it does seem a little strange to rave about UA F, especially after having just gotten off the new KE F.

AAerSTL

The post is full of immature comments asking what happened with UAL in 2011...

cruisr

The UA GF lounge in LHR is very nice. I had a champagne breakfast served to me and had plenty of room as I was one of two people there.

If he raves about UA GF it is a blatant case of sucking up to UA and trying to get into their good graces again after being banned for the reusing a cert incident.

If one has never been in Intl F on any airline then maybe one could rave. Maybe. Of the 15 Airlines on which I have experienced Intl F, UA comes in at number 15. There is no way he could rave about UA GF and maintain any credibility. Not that credibility matters much to him.

AAerSTL

I agree to an extent, but it's also a case of people going in with beaten down expectations, and the fluke of a good crew could leave a very favorable impression. The UA Lounges at LHR T2 do look spectacular, the new Cowsheed amenity kit is certainly in-line with what BA or LH F offer, and the GF seat is very spacious and well padded.

I doubt he will get off whatever "blacklist" he may be placed on for participation in UA MP. Even the other major bloggers aren't big at pimping UA, one of the assistants at TPG (Zach H) seems to fly them a lot but it doesn't seem they have special "access" per se. IMO in the past five years or so the airlines reluctantly invited in these bloggers once it became clear they were gaining many followers and some attention from the mainstream media.

People here may remember the ill-fated attempts (C) 2009-2011 from the user AmericanAirlines who posted on the AAdvantage forum, really didn't add any value and simply restated what others had posted. CO and SPG were particularly effective in their presence on FT, but UAInsider has basically just become a corporate mouthpiece posting news releases and short snippets relating to policy information.

For now there are a few bloggers that have virtual megaphones but as programs continue to get devalued, MS opportunities fade away, card issuers clamping down on excessive applicants their relevance and influence will fade away, IMO.

oliver2002

Isn't United dropping the F product altogether with the introduction of Polaris?

AAerSTL

Yes, won't be several years. Unclear what direction UA will go with the wind down. Given their history of selling 3-cabins domestically even ORD-DEN/IAD/etc when operated with three-cabin equipment I assume it will be sold until the very end. About 18 months ago AA tried flagship suite F sold as J on MIA-EZE/BCN/MAD/SCL and reverted back to selling and operating it as a separate cabin, due in part to the delay of new 772 J rollout.

Maybe they will try to do like USAIR did with Envoy Sleeper and simply upcharge for the better seat in the interim but I wouldn't count on it.

oliver2002

Ladies & Gentlemen, Dear Kids,
one swallow doesn't make a summer. Until you see a clear pattern that OmmaT has gone back to United, lets not speculate of what exactly has happened. One post deleted.

Regards Oliver2002
Mod EM&PR forum

MatthewLAX

^^^^

iadisgreat

Sparkling comment!

Renes Points

+1 ^ BBB

AAExPlat

Just so I am clear since it seems my post was deleted...speculation of any kind is prohibited?

Astrophsx

LOL, speculation? You wrote you were 100% certain!

Astrophsx

Today's post by Ford:
"How to be treated like you’re a loyal guest (even when you’re not)"

Steps:

1. Have your parents spend a lot of money to send you to an Ivy Leauge school.
2. Finish school, find and quit your job.
3. Meet a popular travel blogger who has a need for companionship.
4. Travel the world on your partner's points and get treated like a loyal guest based upon your partner's hotel status and their influence as a top travel blogger.
5. Get a job as a travel agent so you can say you don't live off your parent's money.
6. Ask boyfriend if you can write articles in order to promote your services and mask the blatant advertisement as advice to travelers so that you can tell people you are successful at your job and that you write for a blog that gets millions of views.

pairofkeets

So I had been wondering for a while now why the "top credit card offers" never contained the CSR. It has the Jetblue Card (LOL) and the Ritz Card, even the CSP. But no CSR.

Lo and behold today's post on the "Quadrafecta", no links to the CSR. He managed to slip in links to the CSP though. I have been wondering why that card hasn't been pumped into oblivion. I guess Lucky wasn't able to get commission what so ever, direct or otherwise, on it and as a result he hasn't been pumping it or even really mentioned it in the past month. Now the Ritz on the other hand gets pumped like no other.