TPJ

Recently, I have had an opportunity to sample two excellent products: US Airways Envoy Suites (new Business Class) and Thai Airways First Class.

Normally comparing Business with First is like comparing apples with oranges, but after my two recent trips, I wouldn’t be so sure…

Conventional wisdom is that service-wise Asian carriers are the world’s best, followed by European airlines and finally followed by US carriers that for long-haul travel should be avoided like a plague. Well, times have definitely changed – US Airways Suites concept can easily be compared with First Class on some other carriers – especially when price-to-benefit ratio is taken into consideration (disclosure: I have only had a couple of F-class experiences: with BA - last time in 2008, AA in 2008 and TG in 2010).

So this is my report:


US707

MUC-PHL (and on to CLT)

July 17, 2010

Seat 2H (Envoy Suites – Business Class) on Airbus A332

My journey commenced in KRK (Krakow, Poland) with a LH flight to MUC (LH3337 operated with an Avro AR8 aircraft). At check-in I was also given my connecting passes. Funny enough with LH Z-class is one of the First Class buckets, so my LH-issued boarding pass was showing First as the class of service for US MUC-PHL flight (in fact with US Airways Z-class is one of the Business buckets). I was also given a special F cover, picture: http://picasaweb.google.com/10012290...eat=directlink

KRK Airport Schengen lounge (used by all airlines) is small, but adequately equipped with a couple of Macs (free wi-fi is also available). Food options mostly consist of junk food items like potato chips, sweets etc.

LH flight was nothing to write home about, there were 4 passengers in C and basically each of us had 3 seats for himself. Breakfast consisted of a substantial fruit salad, some cheese, some pieces of meat, a roll and a croissant. Flight time was only about 65 minutes and we arrived in MUC on time.

I passed through Immigration/Passport control (KRK-MUC was just an intra-Schengen ‘domestic’ flight) and went to LH Senator Lounge. MUC has some of the best LH lounges in the system: food & drink options are plentiful (including pastas and soups for lunch) and of high quality, seats comfortable. A drawback: no free wi-fi is offered!

I left for the gate about 50 minutes prior to ETD, passing through an additional security check (where my LH boarding passes were exchanged for US passes – good bye First class, hello Envoy Class – this is how US Airways brands its TATL Business Class) and hand baggage control. Boarding commenced before I have reached the gate, there was no dedicated C-class boarding channel. But line was moving quickly and 4 minutes later I boarded my A330-200 equipped with Envoy Suites.

It was my fourth Suites flight and I was still EXTREMELY impressed with the product. A usairways.com presentation is available under this link: http://www.usairways.com/en-US/trave...nvoysuite.html

These who are familiar with British Airways offering will notice that Suites is just a compact version of ‘old’ BA First Class product (and in fact still a standard offering as ‘new’ First is available only on 5 or 6 aircraft). The differences I noticed are bigger PTV screens on US Airways (yes, it is not a mistake – BA’s PTVs in First Class are ridiculously small) and lack of a companion seat that BA offers. Otherwise IMHO US Airways Suites product beats BA ‘old’ First Class. US Airways cabin was spotlessly clean, everything was brand new (what is not always the case with BA First: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...ppointing.html).

My pictures are under this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/10012290...eat=directlink

Unfortunately I was a bit shy to take pictures inflight, thus flesh was not used and quality of some of these pictures is questionable. Apologies!

Menu, noise canceling headsets and amenity kit (picture: http://picasaweb.google.com/10012290...eat=directlink) were already placed on the side table. I was quickly approached by one of the F/As who offered newspapers (that I declined) and the other one that asked if I wanted champagne (aka ‘California Sparkling White’ that I accepted) or mimosa or water. As always with US carriers pre-departure drinks were served in plastic glasses (TSA or FAA requirement? normal glasses, china and stainless steel cutlery are used in flight). After distributing drinks this F/A started talking to 2 non-revs seating in 1D/F (a retired F/A and her husband). I believe there were two more non-revs seating in 2D/F (how could I tell? all these folks were dressed as for a wedding, hello airlines – it is the 21st century, so allow your employees to wear jeans pants).

Captain introduced himself over the PA and advised of a 20 minute departure delay due to air traffic restrictions (heat wave in MUC) , but promised an on time arrival (in fact we were a couple of minutes late).

After an uneventful departure F/As offered pre-lunch drinks and nuts and I asked for G&T. These of the readers who are familiar with US Airways know, that when asked for hard alcohol most ‘East’ F/As will give out 2 miniature bottles and a large can of mixer. Service was not rushed at all – folks drinking wine were offered refilling and I finished my double G&T before the meal service started.

IMHO US Airways recently revamped its menu from Europe and it looks like the ‘Brunch Menu’ is gone (for some reasons it was hated on the FT forum, actually I liked this concept) and a ‘normal’ menu is now offered instead.

Menu from my MUC-PHL flight: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo...eat=directlink

Both shrimps and salad were excellent (somehow Americans know how to make good salad; one of the big mysteries of life is why we Europeans have no clue how to make salads taste good). As for the main course I wanted to have beef, I decided to have a glass of California Cabernet Sauvignon that was quite OK.

The main course beef was the best I ever had in the air. Wine refills were offered frequently.

With other airlines I would have probable stopped eating after the main course, but knowing the pre-arrival meal was nothing special on US Airways, I decided to have cheese plate (in lieu of the pre-arrival meal, that I decided to skip - what a mistake - read on).

IFE was working absolutely fine and the amount of movies, TV shows, music album etc. was impressive.

Flight was uneventful, I watched ‘Alice in Wonderland’, listened to Michael Buble and had another G&T (as always I was given 2 miniature bottles and a large can of tonic).

Some 90 minutes prior to arrival second meal was served. Wow – they really revamped the catering – looking at what other passengers had, the pre-arrival snack was substantial and looked nice.

I have to prize F/As working this flight: service was attentive, not too fast and not too slow – just about perfect. When one of the F/As noticed ice already melted in my glass (I am a kind of slow drinker), I was asked if I wanted additional ice – wow, this kind of service one might expect from Asiana Airlines and not from a US carrier.

We arrived about 10 minutes late and it took us another 10 minutes to reach our gate position in Terminal A.

As always in the summer waiting time for Immigration check in PHL was a nightmare – the line was so long, that it took me good 60 minutes to reach the passport control booth and another 40 minutes to clear security control before reaching the airside area. The good thing is that I booked myself a longer connection, so wasn’t particularly worried about missing my flight.

Then I went to the B/C US Airways Club which is a huge, un-crowded facility. My BP was checked and I was given a card for complimentary wi-fi access. As always in US Airways Clubs food options were limited (Milano cookies, cheese and biscuits, peanuts etc – nothing substantial). Since mid-2009 wine and beer are served for free (OK – actually at PHL Clubs ‘almost for free’ – due to some bizarre Pennsylvania law they need to charge USD 1 for each drink served, magically this doesn’t happen at Envoy departing lounge upstairs).

And then the bad thing happened – I learned that my connecting flight to CLT is 2 hour late. Actually not a US Airways fault - extremely hot weather and thunderstorms caused closure of BWI airport, when the flight originated.


US1165

PHL-CLT

July 17, 2010

Seat 2F (First) on Airbus A320

So I spent 2 more hours at the B/C Club (complimentary wi fi access card was handy), had one more wine & some more Milanos and went to the gate area 45 minutes before new ETD.

Boarding was fast, push back prompt, flight uneventful. In my private rating US Airways won another prize in the ‘US airline that most consistently serves the pre departure beverages’ category (I had G&T). After take off, I asked for one more G&T (yes – I was given two mini bottles, both made it to my briefcase and were taken home). Snack basket followed and we were encouraged to take more than one or two items.

After arrival (at about 12.30am) my ‘priority’ tagged bag made it as the first one onto the belt. Kudos!

Another round of ‘Kudos’ goes to CLT Airport Courtyard Marriott, which sent a shuttle to pick me up at about 12.45am!

BONUS: PHL ENVOY LOUNGE

On my way back to Europe I have taken a couple of pictures at PHL Envoy Lounge: http://picasaweb.google.com/10012290...eat=directlink

For these who are not aware: the best Business lounge in the States (of any airline I know) is located in PHL and it is US Airways Envoy Lounge. It is huge, never crowded, food is excellent, wines good (HOWEVER: would someone know why food and wine are now so … Italian? Grazie and arrivederci).

VERDICT:

Excellent! The best experience I have ever had in Business Class and my verdict is as follows:

Seat privacy: 10 out of 10

Seat comfort: 10 out of 10

IFE: 10 out of 10

Service: 9 out of 10

Meal & drink quality: 8 out of 10 (no ‘real’ champagne)

Lounges: 7 out of 10 (no wi-fi in MUC, limited meal options in the B/C Club)

Ground experience in PHL: 6 out of 10

OVERALL: 9 out of 10 mostly for excellent hard and soft products in Suites.

And the final WARNING: for now Suites are only available on most A332’s (should be available on all A332’s from late November/early December). TATL flights operated with A333’s, B767’s, B757’s have sub-standard product in Envoy. Be careful and double check the aircraft type your flight will be operated with (and don’t blame me is your experience varies from mine…)

TPJ

And this is my report for TG flight:


TG921

FRA-BKK (and on to TPE)

September 1, 2010

Seat 1F (First) on Boeing B747-400

I guess, my flight from KRK to FRA on LH3357 (operated with B737-500 aircraft) needs a separate trip report as the flight was quite a funny one.

I arrived at KRK airport about 100 minutes prior to ETA, and was promptly checked through to TPE (BTW it is Taipei, Republic of China on Taiwan and NOT Taipei, Chinese Taipei). I visited the Lounge only to re-charge my BlackBerry and have a glass of ice tea.

We boarded some 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled departure time, only to learn that actually there aircraft went technical and we will be a couple of minutes late. No hard feelings – I had a 130 minute connection in FRA booked. There were only two of us in C and the other guy was less lucky. His original booking was with LOT from KTW (airport located some 45 miles west of KRK) to WAW and on to OTP, but LOT canceled his 6am KTW-WAW flight. They rebooked him onto LH, arranged a taxi ride to KRK and now he learned that chances are he would miss his FRA-OTP flight. (I am not sure if he made it to OTP or not.)

LH had to engage LO maintenance folks as there are no LH Technik Reps at small stations (hmmm… LH has six daily flights ex KRK - LH metal only, not counting LO metal - so how many flights LH has to have to qualify station as a large enough to have a dedicated a LH Technik employee?).

In fact, it took about 70 minutes to do the following:

- Obtain an approval from LH Technik to authorize LOT maintenance folks to perform an aircraft check (OK - I know safety first – but 737-500’s are also used by LOT, and LO is a *A partner, so why it took 50 minutes or so to get the approval?).
- Perform aircraft repair and it took only 15 minutes or so.
- Get full paperwork – and yes – LOT was able to do this in 3 minutes – KUDOS.

And then the funny stuff happened: two Polish folks asked Purser to let them be offloaded: they had no checked baggage, so no worries... Captain decided just to let them go... And, when Purser finally started updating us with new ETD/ETA, a US guy seating in the first row of the Economy cabin virtually run out of the aircraft… Yes, I mean it - he grabbed his stuff and just run… The F/As tried to catch him, as did handling agent, but the guy just run towards the terminal building (we had an apron position). About 45 seconds later the Airport Security folks shown up, stopped him in the middle of the apron area and… asked to board the airport bus, which took him just to the terminal building… (I guess he was lucky this happened in Europe and not in the States – he could end up in Guantanamo then). As he refused to re-board they had to search for his baggage, so the flight was delayed further… Then I noticed that some other folks started moving towards the front door as they wanted to be offloaded, too. Captain started announcing that all passengers that want to be offloaded need to do this immediately, but the Purser simply closed the forward door – and Captain changed the announcement saying that he just received the take-off clearance and everyone should take seats… KUDOS! KUDOS! KUDOS! Naturally this was a trick – in fact we were pushed back about 10 minutes later – but this saved my connection…

My thoughts on LH delay handling: they could do better! First of all – Captain could have been updating us more frequently (during the first 30 minutes there was just one announcement), then the F/As could be more proactive… We were offered just one round of water… And we spent something like 85 minutes on the ground… Things improved once we took off – they were keeping folks updated with rebooking information. Also LH made sure that this flight was given priority en route – normally it takes 75 minutes to get from KRK to FRA, this time it took 50 minutes or so…

I was a bit worried as TG is handled by FRAport and not LH, so they were not able to provide me with any update. But when we arrived at the gate (jetty position), I was met by a FRAport employee as TG arranged fast airside connection for me. 15 minutes later I was at the TG gate, my BP and passport were checked by FRAport Premium Services Rep and I was told that the boarding would actually start in 10 minutes. A truly good airline could easily be identified by how they handle exceptional situations and in this area TG scored 10 points out of 10, many rounds of KUDOS and thumbs up…

As I still had a couple of minutes I decided to inspect the Business Lounge upstairs (newly re-furbished Lounge above gates B41-48 – identical to the Lounge above gates B20-28, that was refurbished last year). BTW, they also installed new Boarding Pass readers: if you fly in F or C you just need to swap your BP, if you are a *A status passenger flying in Y, I guess you will still have to show your Gold card to the Lounge Rep.

Boarding was done via 2 channels (one for First, Business, XX*G and the other for Economy), FRAport Premium Service Rep (who previously checked my BP and passport) recognized me, invited to skip the line and offered escort to the aircraft via a First Class dedicated jetty – a truly premium service!

Once on board, I was a bit shocked how little privacy is offered in TG First. The seats are huge – the biggest I have ever seen in any Fist cabin, with a movable ottoman (cool), but there is very little privacy. In fact Envoy Suites offer MUCH more privacy. Also there is no permanent partition between F and C cabins – only a curtain. Initially I was a bit worried about a constant invasion of folks from C, but this never happened…

Restrooms/toilets location was also a bit bizarre – just behind 3E/F, so these seats should definitely be avoided. I didn’t see any signs of cabin being worn – everything was spotlessly clean and brand new. First Class product presentation is available on TG web site, under this link: http://www.thaiair.com/thai-services...s-services.htm

Noise canceling headsets, toiled kit and a small orchid were already placed on the side table. I was promptly offered a sleeping suit, menu, and a glass of Lanson champagne. We spent some 20 minutes on the ground waiting for the take off clearance (and for my baggage to be loaded - yes my baggage made it to TPE!) and I was a bit surprised, that champagne re-fills were not offered. I was only approached by Purser who confirmed that lobster (that I pre-ordered following an advice of fellow FTers) is loaded and asked about breakfast selection (naturally Chinese noodles were chosen). I also confirmed with her that Dom Perignon is loaded (and gave her my sincere thumbs up for not having to stick to Bollinger).

Departure was uneventful, and once the ‘Fasten Seats Belts’ were switched off, I went to the toilet to change for the sleeping suit. I didn’t notice any hanger, so just wanted to place my shirt and pants to the overhead locker, but was quickly approached by a F/A who offered to hang everything properly in the wardrobe.

Dom and some nuts were quickly distributed. Hmm… initially they were not truly liberal with Dom – only half a glass per serving and no instant re-fillings. But at one stage the Cabin Service Director (or however TG calls the most senior F/A) started helping with service and he was definitely more generous with re-fills – plus with him it was a full glass per serving The Purser followed suit and from this point I have never had to worry about my glass being empty. I believe only a gentleman in 1A and I drank Dom. Just after departure they also set up a small bar in front of 2E/F – two other two seats to avoid. 1F and 1A are definitely the best seats in the house.

Meal service was truly IMPRESSIVE: canapés, caviar, first course, lobster, cheese plate, dessert. Link to my pictures is here: http://picasaweb.google.com/10012290...eat=directlink

Meals on TG were definitely First Class – I have never seen caviar in BA or AA First Class.

The amenity kits were average (for First class), the one received on my flight from FRA to BKK was different from the one received flying on the way back from BKK to CDG. High quality (and expensive) Fergamo female and male colognes are available in the toilets. Pictures of both kits are under this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/10012290...eat=directlink

Two F/As working in the First cabin were really very nice and professional. As we were almost full (8 passengers for 10 seats, I don’t think there were any TIPs - Thai Important Persons - upgraded as Amadeus seat map shown already a full flight a couple of days in advance), also CSD and one F/A from the Business cabin started helping with the service. So at one stage there was 1 F/A for each 2 passengers… Impressive…

AVOD was working, the movie selection was huge, but I have not found anything I was really interested in… I was hoping to view ‘Robin Hood’ or ‘Inception’, but these movies didn’t make it to TG (this particular bird commenced the trip flying BKK-FRA on Aug 31, so we still had August IFE program), so I decided to watch ‘Green Zone’ (BTW – a good move). Headsets (noise canceling) were of high quality. Music collection was also impressive and for the last 2 hours I listened to Michael Buble (yes, again to Buble).

Breakfast was served some 60 minutes before ETA – fruit platter and then Chinese noodles. Yummy…

Flight arrived on time – we made these 20 minutes lost in FRA. I was met by an escort who wanted to take me to the Immigration thinking that I would like to go to the downtown area, as I had a 10 hour connection booked… I only corrected her that in fact I want to be taken to the First Lounge… Yes – I intentionally booked myself a 10 hour connection (isn’t it what a real FTer should do). I wanted to go to the First Lounge, the Spa for a full massage and visit SQ Lounge as well…

So the First Lounge is quite impressive… I asked to be given an individual Living Room, link to the pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/10012290...52921348359010

I had a shower (not pictured), then Royal Orchid Spa (definitely not pictured, also read on) and then I decided I am hungry. For the meal, you need to go to a special room where various options are presented. I asked for seafood noodles, only to be told that actually they only have chicken noodles… Quite bizarre for the First Lounge – so WHY they display something that is not available? Plus one is not really expected to hear that something is NOT available in the First Lounge.

They brought me noodles (and champagne) to my Living Room a couple of minutes later.

Unfortunately there is something not 100% correct with Thai:
- on-board they had excellent & professional F/As and a hard product I was not 100% impressed with (but I have to admit everything was spotlessly clean and looked brand new, it is just the lack of privacy that makes me reluctant to fully endorse this product),
- in the First lounge they have absolutely fantastic hard product, but Lounge Attendants could do better. Every time you go to the toilet you will be wai-ed by all the attendants, cleaning ladies, baristas etc (link to a quick how-to-wai lesson: http://www.1stopchiangmai.com/how_to/wai/), but they congregate in the bar area and just gossip there. I was virtually forgotten in my Living Room – at one stage I even went to the bar area to have my champagne re-filled (so at least I know they serve Moet & Chandon in the lounge). After the shift change at about 2PM, things definitely improved. A young gentleman took care of my Living Room and I was frequently checked if I wanted something. But unfortunately first impressions stay…

And please don’t get me wrong – TG is still an excellent airline, but they simply need to polish their services.

Where Thai excels is the Royal Orchid Spa… Oh boy… it is incredible… I had full body oil massage and it was fantastic. As it was before the afternoon & evening peak, the massage lady spent some more time with me. I was totally re-vitalized. The massage room looks impressive. I also like L’Occinane cosmetics they have in the shower & change rooms. I guess, It doesn’t cost them too much (taking wage levels in Thailand into consideration) to offer massage to First and Business Class passengers (full massage only to First), but it changes the whole premium experience.

Unfortunately, I forgot to visit the SQ Lounge and stayed at the TG Lounge for the whole 10 hours… (my record is 12 hours in HKG connecting from Cebu Pacific Airlines to Swiss, but then I visited all the *A Lounges – TG, UA, SQ and The Wing still used by LX).

TG636

BKK-TPE

September 2, 2010

Seat 11A (Business – it is a bulkhead seat, the cabin starts from row 11) on A330

This flight was quite miserable – TG regional Business Class seats on A330’s are not particularly comfortable, IFE is not an AVOD (just 1 movie and 3 short programs screened in the loop), PTV ridiculously small, headsets of average quality. On the bright side: meal (seafood) was superb and presentation was also great. I care more about good service rather than good hard product (so I love Asiana that still does not offer fully flat beds in C to Europe/Australia), but this time TG really let me down in both areas: seats/PTV/IFE all were sub-standard and after serving meals the F/As virtually disappeared in the galley. I mean it – they spent 2 hours (flight time was 3.5 hours) in the galley and never shown up in the cabin. When I decided I need something to drink, I pushed the crew call button on my IFE control and… nothing happened – the button was faulty… I tried a button at 11B – it didn’t work, either. I was about to make my way to the galley, but then noticed there was an additional button in the overhead panel. This button worked and I was promptly given a glass of tonic water… The empty glass stayed on side table till landing (1 more hour to go) - no re-fill was offered. Unfortunately (for TG, quite fortunately for me) on the following afternoon I flew with Asiana (also in C) from TPE to ICN – OZ F/As patrolled Business cabin every 3 minutes (yes – I checked it with my watch). I even started a thread on TG forum comparing OZ with TG on regional routes: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thai-...ervations.html

VERDICT:

I need to distinguish between excellent First Class experience from FRA to BKK and quite miserable flight from BKK to ICN:

Seat privacy (First): 7 out of 10

Seat comfort (First): 10 out of 10; (regional): 6 out of 10

IFE (First): 10 out of 10; (regional): 5 out of 10

Service (First): 10 out of 10; (regional): 6 out of 10

Meal & drink quality (First and regional): 10 out of 10

Lounges: 9 out of 10 (would be less without the Spa; some employees at First Class lounge in BKK need some training or supervision)

Ground experience in BKK: 10 out of 10

OVERALL (First): 10 out of 10 – I decided to give them 10 out of 10 for the FRA-BKK sector, as I am still truly grateful they managed to arrange this fast connection in FRA and that my baggage made it to TPE. Even without this, I am quite sure it would still be 10 out of 10 because of the Royal Orchid Spa. Unfortunately, TG regional Business is a different story and I cannot give them more than 6 out of 10 for the BKK-TPE flight.

BONUS: FIRST CLASS SUITES BKK-CDG

As there was some typhoon activity in Taiwan and Korea, I had to postpone my return by one day. I asked if they could re-book me via CDG and – after initial hesitation – they indeed managed to book me via CDG flying: TPE - TG - BKK - TG - CDG - LO - KRK. This was actually the best flight I ever had in any class. It was not only about Suites that are impressive, but also the cabin crew. I was served by a very young, energetic female F/A, who was smiling all the time and was really working hard to make sure I am happy (aka ‘my glass is always filled with Dom’). It was too late to order lobster, so I had to stick to ‘normal’ food that was excellent (I had scallops for the main course). A perfect combination: both hard and soft products were excellent. If TG could consistently deliver this kind of product combination, it could beat any airline, including OZ and SQ. A couple of pictures are under this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/10012290...eat=directlink

US vs. TG

I remember from my School of Business lectures, that:

- actually it is better to under promise AND then over deliver, and not overpromise AND then under deliver. This is exactly what US Airways did – they are normally quite average, but somehow managed to invest in a product that is simply the best on the trans-Atlantic market. Thai experience is slightly the other way round: in my eyes it has always been a premium airline, so I would not even think that F/As could leave the C-cabin unattended for 2 hours like during my BKK-TPE flight. Thai is still a great airline and I want to fly with them again, so dear Thai please, please, please polish your service ASAP.

- ‘Assuming is making ... of you and me’ – so I would never assume again that an average airline cannot deliver a world class product and that a premium airline may actually require some service polishing.

Flyiboy

Thanks for the great TR. It's nice to see a good one

Flyingfox

This line gave me a good chuckle today.
I think the French are good "salad makers" as well!
Believe me, Americans can do many other things "better than Europeans" besides making a good salad!

Thanks for the excellent report, quite nice!

camsean

Great report. Thanks for posting.

If your flight originated in MUC wouldn't the salad have been made by Europeans?

TPJ

A GOOOOOOOD point - thanks for your comment

SFO777

Excellent report TPJ. This is now the third very positive report I've read on US' Envoy Class TATL service. Interesting.

darby1970

Funny and interesting read. I want to try the THAI lounge spa.

TPJ

Yep - believe or not but I now rate US higher than UA

sobore

Very nice report! Thank you.

johndeere19

Great TR...almost skipped over it because there weren't any embedded pictures, but glad I didn't!

Turnus127

No kidding, eh? I think the Envoy Suite hard product is better than CO's lie-flat on the 777, too. No climbing over someone if you're at a window seat on US ^

dcmike

Great TR! You've got me wanting to try a US flight for the first time in a long time.

TPJ

But please read the final WARNING at the bottom of my Envoy Suites TR, before proceeding with booking

ArizonaGuy

Quite fond of NZ's Koru Club at LAX T2. Though it doesn't always meet your 'never crowded' argument since AF and VS use it as well. But decent food, decent beverages and great views of the north runways!

But agreed that for US carriers with business class lounges, the PHL Envoy lounge wins hands down. (UA's SFO IFL is nice but for First only unfortunately.)