More Champagne Sir?

I booked a hotel in advance of the trip, through Priceline, for the night prior to my flight at a local airport hotel. This was my first experience using priceline and to be honest I was very very sceptical. After taking advice from www.biddingfortravel.com, I placed a bid of $45 for a 3* SFO hotel which was immediately accepted by the Holiday Inn San Francisco Airport North. Reviews of this hotel on TripAdvisor were not good, but for the price, I simply could not complain especially as I'd be arriving late in the evening, departing early morning AND it had free car parking. ^^

So, I'd now been in S.F. a few days after arriving on AA (trip report here) and I arrived at the hotel at about 10.30pm in my hire car with all my luggage and a LOT of shopping after driving down from S.F. city centre to Carmel and Monterey, and then driving back to the airport via Gilroy premium outlets (which, by the way, is excellent!!). Once I eventually got all my stuff onto a trolley (no bell boy assistance) I checked in effortlessly and headed to my room. The room was surprisingly large with two double beds but a small bathroom. The interior decor was admittedly poor but after all I was paying very little for the night and the room met the three important qualities I need in a hotel room: 1) comfortable bed, 2) HOT shower (as those that have read my previous trip report will know! and 3) silence.

ANYWAY, a good night's sleep later and it was now Thursday morning, the day of my flight (having originally arrived in S.F. on the Sunday evening). I checked out where reception confirmed that the bill was $0.00 (why can't that always be the case!! ). I crammed all my luggage back into the hired Chrysler Sebring convertible and drove the short distance from the hotel to the SFO rental care building which is separated to the main terminals complex by the excellent AirTrain. After having had a very poor experience with Alamo when getting the car, I had left the hotel very early and arrived at the rental car centre at approximately 08.15, well in advance of my scheduled departure of 11.00 on UA6. I drove up to the 4th level of the centre following signs for Alamo, and after following the very well positioned signage and cones, pulled up at the front of the returns queue. As soon as I stopped, an Alamo rep scanned the barcode on the windscreen. By the time I'd taken my two bags out the car, he'd already checked the mileage, checked the car for damage and printed off a receipt from his hand-held printer. I was on my way in under three minutes from pulling up. EXCELLENT SERVICE!

I put my bags on a trolley and headed off to the Airtrain Station, as the lift doors opened on the platform the Blue Line AirTrain had just arrived so I ran to the train and JUST made it onboard!! At this point I should add that I found the AirTrain facility to be excellent. It was fast, clean and efficient with useful information inside the trains about which terminals to use for those that didn't already know. I got off at the 6th stop which was Terminal 3 where United and American Airlines depart from (amongst a few others).

The UA economy counters were very busy, with a snake queuing system which looked like it was moving pretty slowly. The elite check-in desks were however EMPTY, I was checked in efficiently by an agent who took my bags, and provided me with a Gold boarding pass in a Gold BP envelope which I thought was a nice touch over the normal blue items. He also invited me to use the Red Carpet Club (RCC) which he gave me directions for. But, I had other ideas....

It was now 08.35 and the flight was now estimated for a delayed departure at 11.35. I knew that as an F passenger on the p.s., I was entitled to use the International First Lounge (as per this page), I also knew there was not an IFL in Terminal 3, so I turned around and got back onto the AirTrain and headed across to the International Terminal. All I had to do was to persuade the TSA to let me into the wrong terminal, and then I'd be able to sit in comfort and quiet with some nice breakfast.

So, I got off at the international terminal and headed to the premium security line which was empty (as were all the normal lines). She looked at my BP, then my passport, then at me and told me I was in the wrong terminal, I explained to her that my flight from T3 was delayed and I had lounge access in this terminal and I asked kindly if she would permit me access on this occasion; to which she immediately said "sure" (I'll admit now, that I was very surprised at this, but also very pleased!). So I went through the metal detector, and was just about to collect my bag when it got picked up by a TSA guard who said she needed to check it. I knew I had nothing in there that I shouldn't so was fine with this. She opened the bag and OOPS I'd left a bottle of water in there, what a bad bad dangerous terrorist I am . With that sorted, I headed to the IFL where my troubles started. Two female lounge DRAGONS looked at my BP and told me I was in the wrong terminal and grilled me as to how I was here. They would not seem to believe the fact that the TSA had just let me through. Anyway, now that I was there, they point blankly refused to let me into the lounge. Well, I knew what I was entitled to, so I point blankly refused to leave! They called their supervisor and after a long discussion on the phone, they said that the supervisor also thought that I shouldn't be there, but as he was busy and couldn't come and explain the reasons to me face to face, they were going to make an 'exception' and let me in. I thanked them, but told them that I was not impressed that it had taken nearly 10 minutes to get this sorted, and the fact that the access they were giving me was as a favour rather than as a right.

I headed downstairs and the lounge was an empty haven. Comfortable sofas, a good selection of newspapers and an excellent fresh fruit salad as well as cereal/cookies/cake/nuts etc etc. I helped myself to some fruit and spent the next hour just relaxing and drinking OJ. At 10.30 I left the lounge and walked up the ramp to the exit of the intl terminal and took a left to the walkway to Terminal 3. The moving walkways were working and thus this walk only took a couple of minutes. I headed to yet another empty TSA security checkpoint, where I asked if I could go through the wind-blow machine, as I'd never been through one before, despite hearing so much about them on FlyerTalk. The agent was more than happy to let me threw and I got blasted with air - quite fun really!!. I walked past the busy TED gates and took a left towards the RCC walking past all the SFO artwork. I was welcomed into the smaller-than-I-expected very busy RCC, and managed to find a seat. By now the flight had been delayed to 11.45. I relaxed for a little while, and just as I was about to leave noticed the flight had now been delayed to 11.55. Nonetheless, I headed to the gate where I after waiting for about 10 minutes, First class was called to board exclusively.

So I finally stepped on board the 757 p.s. equipped aircraft and took a left turn from door 2L and headed to my seat, 1A (seatmap). The premium service is run by United on just two routes, LAX-JFK and SFO-JFK (and return journeys), and is a significant improvement over any of the other US carriers transcontinental service. It's obvious to see that United recognise that the majority of those travelling this route are premium passengers, and its easy to see this by the fact that F and J take up two thirds of the aircraft! The seat itself is similar to Singapore Airline's SpaceBed product, except there is no personal screen. My jacket was immediately taken and as I sat down I was offered OJ, Champagne or Water, to which I took OJ. My first opinions on the seat were good, it seemed quite spacious - especially for US domestic - and the legroom was good. Then unfortunately, the seat next to me 1B was taken, grrr .

United offers (at the Captains choice) the radio channel 9 facility which simply plays air traffic control radio, i.e. exactly what the pilots are listening to. I immediately plugged my headphones in and changed to channel 9 and disappointingly heard nothing . Meanwhile 11.55 went past, as did 12.15 and we eventually moved from the gate at 12.30 (an hour and a half late). We eventually took off at about 13.15, well over two hours late - not an impressive start to my first ever United experience.

Once airborne, I was handed a menu, which contained the following: (* = what I ate)


Featured Cocktails
Bellini
Kir Royale

To Begin
Mediterranean Pita Triangles with Houmous, Baba Ghanoush and Almond Romesco Hazelnut Dips*

Salad
Fresh Seasonal Greens* (with Country Ranch* or Dijon Vinaigrette)

Main Course
Mongolian Beef with Steamed Rice and Roasted Pine Nuts

Chicken with Chevre Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto with Garlic Lemon Caper Compote

Pasta Rotollo*

Dessert
Ice Cream with Sundae Toppings

Cheese Selection

Fresh Strawberries with Brown Sugar Sour Cream Dip

Prior to Arrival
A selection of extraordinarily chocolate Truffles from Gayety's Chocolates*


Sparkling Wine
Domaine Chandon Blanc de Noir NV California

White Wine
Bouchard Beaune du Chateau Premier Cru 2003 Burgundy
Selbach-Oster Riesling Kabinett 2004 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Mosel
Grove Mill Sauvignon Blanc 2003 Marlborough
Chateau Ste. Michelle Chardonnay 2003 Columbia Valley

Red Wine
Castello Vicchiomaggio Chianti Classico Riserva 2001 Sangiovese
Clos St. Anne 2003 Pomerol
Sticks Shiraz 2003 Yarra Valley
Beringer Bancroft Ranch Merlot 2000 Howell Mountain

Port
Sandeman Founders Reserve Porto


The Hors d'oeuvre was disgusting. The pita bread was cold on the verge of frozen, and apart from the houmous, the dips were not to my liking whatsoever. However, it went uphill from there. The salad was nice, but after all it is only salad, and its not difficult to get it very wrong! The ranch dressing was good. The pasta rotollo was DELICIOUS. It was egg tomato and spinach pasta filled with three cheeses (Ricotta, Mozzarella and Romaro) with lots of Marinara sauce on top. It was very filling and one of (if not THE) nicest main meals I've ever experienced in the skies!!! It was so good, I had no room to sample any of the desserts despite the purser's excellent attempts of selling them to me!

In between ordering my meal and receiving it, I was handed out a DVD pack, which consisted of 10 DVDs, a handheld DVD player, noise cancelling headphones and a power cable. According to the literature the player is designed to only accept the DVDs provided (which seems a bit silly to me) and the DVDs will only play on the player provided (understandable, to prevent theft). I'm sorry but I seem to have lost the leaflet containing info on the DVDs in the pack and therefore can't list them in this report but I remember watching The Inside Man (clever movie, but nothing special) and a few episodes of House. I must say, that I do not like the whole handheld DVD player concept. Firstly it utilises the power port, which means for those using their laptop, they can't do both at the same time (or leave their laptop charging whilst onboard) . Also, the unit has to go somewhere, which means either on your lap (not very good if you're trying to doze off) or on your tray table, also not very good if you're trying to sleep.

As the flight progressed I played more and more with the seat, and my final opinion on it: erm, 6 out of 10. Its very comfortable when in seat position, but it won't lean back without the footrest being in a certain position. Let me explain with the aid of an hour clock. Standard position is seat back at 12 o clock, and leg rest stowed at 6 o clock. When eating and watching a film, you can have seat back at 12 o clock and foot rest at 4pm, but as soon as you put the back rest towards 11 o clock, the footrest lowers to 5pm (hope that makes sense!). When fully flat, the seat is 180 degrees flat but at an angle and I constantly felt like I was slipping down the seat!!

The flight seemed to go quite quickly and before long, as we started to approach JFK, the purser came around offering us chocolates and asking how long our films had to run, saying that we could only keep the units for another twenty minutes or so. I thought this was a nice touch rather than just coming around and taking the units. Eventually my film ended and I rather unexpectingly checked out channel 9 again, which to my DELIGHT was now operational!! woohoo!

I understood most of what was being said, and it was very fun to hear the tower tell us to turn, our pilot (who must have been only 20 metres from me) confirm it, and then feel the plane turn! One thing that did make me laugh was the manner of all the American pilots and tower staff, no offence is intended here... well, it was all very abrupt, no pleases, no thank yous, no emotion (perhaps this is how it should be?). So therefore I couldn't help laughing when suddenly I heard in a quintessentially British accent (much like I imagine mine must be) "Good Evening New York, This is Virgin 25...please...thank you... etc) - made me chuckle!!

Anyway, I was given my jacket back, and we landed about an hour and a half late into the British Airways terminal at JFK (T7). Exit was via door L1, so I was one of the first to depart the aircraft and head towards baggage reclaim. The first bags appeared about 20 minutes later, and mine appeared within a few minutes, priority tags sort of working, but not perfect. From there I headed outside the terminal and caught Super-Shuttle to NYC where I spent 6 days at the Crowne Plaza Times Square!

All in all, a good performance from UA onboard, but poor on the ground. I don't like delays, and I especially don't like delays being extended on the departure boards with no reasons provided. The argument I had at the IFL was not fun, and was totally ridiculous, once inside though, it was very pleasant. The T3 RCC was small with a poor food selection. Onboard service was excellent and the food was very nice. The IFE selection was good, but the handheld unit was not good. The seat was not as good as I'd been hoping for, but is by far the best way to travel transcontinental in the US. One thing I did notice was the selection of wines onboard. I am no connoisseur and so can't judge the quality but four reds and four whites seemed very good to me and was double the selection available on AA F transatlantic!

Would I use United's Premium Service again? YES
Would I recommend it to somebody else? YES - only because there's nothing else better.

Thanks for reading! Questions and comments gratefully received...

hairpeace

Great report!

hairpeace

Also, how much was your ticket?

Seat 2A

How fortuitous that on one of my increasingly rare sessions on the Internet I should find not one but two well written and nicely detailed reports on premium inflight service.

As always, I especially appreciate your taking the time to describe the lounges and transcribe the menu. Pity so many can't be bothered. Without the meal presentation, a premium flight is nothing more than just sitting around in a comfortable chair while reading, listening to music or watching a movie. I do plenty of that at home and don't particularly care to read about it here.

Have you flown CO transcon on their International configured 757s? I believe CO offers a wider variety of food as well.

Thanks again for the fine effort! I'll certainly look forward to your future reports. ^ ^

sllevin

Just a note on the terseness of conversations -- as a pilot it was drilled into me to be as short and concise as possible, as there are (especially in, say, New York or Los Angeles) a lot of planes flying around and a finite number of seconds in which Air Traffic Controller needs to talk to them. Whilst it doesn't seem like much to tack on a few extra words, it adds up. All the controllers will be quite chatty if it's dead slow, but in crowded areas it's not that common other than at the 3:00am when I'd be out flying the SAN-BUR route.

Steve

AJLondon

Most interesting read indeed. Thanks MCS? !!

view

Good read, would like to try out p.s. if traveling those routes.

jef7

I agree, well written report!

I very much enjoyed your detailed observations particularly on the tendency of American pilots to speak abruptly and with lack of formality.

I always enjoy UA ps flights. Perhaps, you can try flying C class next time. If you can secure the 'living room seats', row 9, with so much space, I guarantee you'll find it comparably comfortable, if not equally satisfying as the F class seats.

Thank you for the report.

Fraser

Nice report ^ Glad to hear the doomsayers were wrong regarding your downgrade on the domestic segment of yor return trip

FYI AA operate a similar deal to p.s., their Flagship Service, also on JFK-LAX/SFO. In terms of seating and comfort it is a cut above the usual 2 class transcon affair. Very large armchairs on the 767-200. Pretty comfortable with DVD players like your flight. Can't say the AA menu looked as enticing as yours onboard UA. I did write a report up on here:
http://www.airliners.net/discussions...ad.main/81105/

As for the lounge issue, well I had a similar potential problem flying American Eagle out of Boston. They use a separate area away from the concourse with the Admirals Club, TSA had no problems with me accessing it and neither did the Admirals Club staff.

as219

Thanks for the great report, MCS! Very much parallels my experiences with p.s. F.

This was exactly what happened to me the one time I made the trek over to the IFL. No problems getting through the security checkpoint, then the two women at the desk wouldn't let me in. I protest, they say "no one has ever gotten into the IFL without flying int'l F ( ), and then, voila, the "exception" was made.


What, no add-ons on the salad? I've had spicy scallops and filet strips offered. This is a difference in the meal between C and F.

I hear your frustration on the seat, though to be fair, if you fiddle with it you can achieve the position you want (i.e., back at 12 o'clock, legs at 3 o'clock). It just takes some practice...

Fliar

A few weeks ago my wife and I were upgraded (she wasn't in fact, but I was perhaps because I am *G and when we pointed out we were on our honeymoon they also upgraded her) from C to F. The service was great (a major change from my previous experiences flying domestically) but this was down to one fan-tas-tic male FA who did 90% of the work by himself. Another female FA was invisible during most of the flight (which I was quite grateful for, to be honest). The food was appalling (I left almost everything as did my wife) but the wine selection good, as was the dessert and the chocolates. The seat is fine for such a short flight (although mine didn't work) and the DVD player nice to have but a bit uncomfortable as pointed out.

All in all we had a good flight - especialy the amount of legroom was very impressive (we were in row 1).

as219

Apalling? Just of out of curiosity, what airline food is not, "appalling"?

BenjaminNYC

Haven't finished reading the TR, but if you have trouble getting into the SFO IFL, bring a copy of this next time:

http://www.united.com/page/article/0...jumpLink=%2Fps

Is says:
I've had to show this to SFO IFL matrons before. To this, they've responded that the TSA shouldn't have let me in the terminal. To that I responded (1) that wasn't their concern and (2) there are domestic carriers in the Intl Terminal now. I was let in with a smile. But yes, they don't know what the rules are.

BenjaminNYC

PLEASE tell me there was a hot protein offered on top of the salad! If not, another degradation of the p.s. F product, making it more and more like C.

More Champagne Sir?

Firstly, thank you all for your kind comments about my report I'm starting the third and final report now which is UA JFK-LHR in J...

I used some of my bmi miles to buy SFO-JFK in F and JFK-LHR in J (all one-way). I booked it cleverly as SFO-LHR with a stopover in JFK rather than two separate flights, which would have been more 'expensive'.

The flights cost me 18,750 miles + £156 (~$300 USD) using the 'miles+cash' option, this is ridiculously cheap, especially when you can get 20,000 bmi miles just for signing up for their credit card!!! - lots more details about this on the bmi forum

Indeed , though, I was ready for the argument if necessary!

I'm 99% sure the option wasn't there, and I copied the menu directly from the menu which I took with me from the aircraft. So, it does indeed look like an 'enhancement' on the p.s. service . However, from a non-meat eater's personal point of view, it actually makes no difference to me! I can appreciate though for those that do eat meat, it is another reason to save money/miles and go for J over F.