warakorn

This early winter I had to head out to Asia. This gave me the chance to sample the IPTE Business Class product of United Airlines.
United deploys a pmUA Boeing 777-200ER on the Singapore - Hong Kong route, that continues on to Chicago O'Hare. This Fifth Freedom route is a dying breed.
The long-standing United Singapore - Tokyo route was recently cancelled and replaced with a direct Singapore - San Francisco nonstop Boeing 787-9 service.
While the seat pitch (76 inches) and (20 inches) are allright, you need to look straight into the eyes of your fellow Business Class passengers.
It doesn't feel very Polaris how the advertising would suggest.

The cabin crew was very senior. I had the feeling the FAs were either based in HKG or GUM. While the many male FAs were very courteous, the female FAs behaved in a way that you would expect from United.
Though I like that more than fake smiles from SQ or CX crews.



Some meta info about the flight:

Flight: United Airlines UA 896
Departure from: Singapore Changi Airport, Terminal 2, SIN
Take-off from: Runway 20C, length 4,000 m / 13,123 ft
Arrival: Hong Kong International Airport, Chek Lap Kok, HKG, China
Landing on: Runway 07L, length 3,800 m / 12,467 ft
Continuing to: Chicago O'Hare International Airport
Distance: 2,555 miles / 1,587 km
Duration: 3 hours and 36 minutes
Departure Lounge at Singapore: KrisFlyer Gold Lounge, Terminal 2
Arrival Loung at Hong Kong: United Club
Travel Class: United Polaris Business Class
Seat: 9K
Pitch: 76 inches
Width: 20 inches
Passenger load: approx. 100% in Business
Plane: Boeing 777-200ER
Registration: N209UA
Delivered to UA: December 1999
Engines: 2 x Pratt & Whitney PW4000 (PW4090)
Take-Off Thrust: 91.790 lbf each



Taxi drop-off Changi Airport Terminal 2 (Taxis are a very convenient mode of transportation in Singapore. The subway is not running at this hour, however, I usually skip the subway in Singapore, because I detest the train change at Tanah Merah. Why does Singapore has not a direct line between the airport and the city center?):





The United check-in area at Terminal 2 is heavily guarded by some annoying so-called "SATS auxiliary police officers" (I guess: US airline flying from a muslim country. However, this SATS guys do not wear any arms - so very useless):





Terminal 2 (tropical garden airside):





Singapore Airlines KirsFlyer Gold Lounge at Terminal 2 (I don't know why this lounge is hated so much. Hot food options were very proper.):





Once I arrived at the gate, there were no queues (I guess, everyone has boarded already).





Here is our bird - registration: N209UA - to Hong Kong and Chicago -> a plane that will turn 18 and become an adult next December:





Wingviews on the ground:







United Economy Cabin:





Aft Business Class Cabin:







My United Polaris Business Class Seat 9K (it is 76 inches long and 20 inches wide; I guess the seat is more comfortable than the regional Business Class hard products of Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines tired Boeing 777-200; and United is much cheaper than CX and SQ):











After a short taxi a take off to the south from Runway 20C (we had to circumstance a big thunderstorm east of Changi Airport):





Ready to get some sleep:







This United Boeing 777-200ER has the 2-4-2 IPTE Business Class configuration. Basically, you are looking into the eyes of your fellow passengers all the time. However, I felt very comfortable in the IPTE seat:





Ordering some alcoholic beverage (beer is the only alcoholic drink my stomach can manage):





Fish was served as Main Course (I didn't touch much of it, because I have eaten too much in the lounge. Moreover, I do not eat pre-processed fruit, hence, the fruit were not touched, as well. Why fellow FTers call it "fresh fruit" is byond me. Though, I assume the United meal is much better than the meals in Cathay Pacific Regional Business Class):





Sunrise over Johor State, Malaysia:







South China Sea, just east of the Malaysian Peninsula (I put a blanket over a small opening of the window, because I didn't want to wake up the other pax):





Quick progress towards the north (we encounter quite some tail winds; this is quite normal, because the trade winds stream in the opposite direction at 38,000 ft due to the Hadley Cell effect):





Various wingviews over the South China Sea:







Boeing 777-200ER Horizontal Stabilizer:





Pratt & Whitney PW4000 (PW4090) Engine (with a take-off thrust of 91.790 lbf it's quite capable to fly from ORD to HKG):





United Economy Cabin in Flight:





Approaching Hong Kong (weather is always miserable, when I am getting to HK. In winter it's cold and hazy. In Spring it's black rain. In summer it's thunderstorm. In autumn it's a typhoon. Today we got confronted with a cold front, which produced quite some turbulence, while descending into the Hong Kong area):





Clouds over Lamma Island:





Lantau Island:





Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge, which may or may not be opened in December 2017:





Chek Lap Kok International Airport:





Reverse Thrust after touchdown on Runway 07L:





HKG is Cathay Pacific territory:





And also the new home turf of Hong Kong Airlines ...:





It's very wet winter day in Hong Kong:





Good bye United:







Have a safe on-ward journey to O'Hare!





United Ghetto Bird to San Francisco with non-functioning Wifi (at least this was announced by the gate agent):





Competitor to CX and UA to the US -> American Airlines Boeing 777-300ER to Dallas Ft. Worth (a much better product than the tired UA offering to SFO):





HKG main terminal:





Spacious United Club at HKG (the second best non-Polaris UA Business Class Lounge in the system after LHR; I have used it as arrival lounge, because I had another flight later at night; after half an hour I headed into HK town):









I got hungry again in the lounge (they don't serve cheese crackers and mini pretzels here like they do stateside):





Here is the comprehensive travel video on this flight:





All my trip reports on FT:

Airbus:

Iberia Airbus A340-600 London - Madrid in Y

Air Caraibes Airbus A350-900 Guadeloupe - Paris in Y

Empty Finnair Airbus A350-900 Helsinki - London Heathrow in Y+ and AY Lounge Sauna

Finnair Airbus A350-900 Helsinki - Shanghai in Y+

Finnair Airbus A350-900 Hong Kong - Helsinki in Y+

Singapore Airlines Airbus A380-800 Singapore - New Delhi in Upper Deck Y

British Airways Airbus A380-800 Singapore - London Heathrow in Y



Boeing:

Asiana Boeing 747-400 Combi Tokyo - Seoul in F

Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER Montreal - Cancun in Y+

Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER Cancun - Toronto in Y

United Boeing 777-200ER Houston - Newark - Amsterdam in C

United Boeing 777-200ER Amsterdam - Houston in Y+

United Boeing 777-200ER Singapore - Hongkong in C

British Airways Boeing 777-300ER London - Shanghai in Y

ANA Boeing 777-300ER Singapore - Tokyo in C

Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Zurich - Hong Kong in Y

Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER Hong Kong - Singapore in Y

TUI Airlines Nederland Boeing 787-8 Sint Maarten - Curacao in P

TUI Airlines Nederland Boeing 787-8 Curacao - Amsterdam in P

Air Canada Boeing 787-8 Toronto - London in Y

ANA Boeing 787-8 Shanghai Pudong - Tokyo Narita in C

United Boeing 787-9 Los Angeles - Houston in C



Train:

CFR Calatori Bucharest - Istanbul Halkali in Sleeper Car

EuroNight Jan Kiepura Cologne - Warsaw in Sleeper Cabin

China High Speed Rail Shanghai - Xiamen in F

Caledonian Sleeper Train Inverness - London Euston in Sleeper Cabin

French TGV High Speed Train: Barcelona - Paris in F

China High Speed Rail Guangzhou - Shanghai Hongqiao in Y

Swiss Railways Lötschberg Mountain Line Bern - Brig in F

Ukraine Railways Kiev - Budapest in Sleeper Cabin

Virgin Trains West Coast London - Glasgow in F



Enjoy!

BenSG

Uh...Singapore isn't a muslim country.
Singapore is multi racial and has multiple religions.

hkskyline

Yuck! That's a nasty seat in either Y or J to fly across the Pacific to Chicago!

Lonsinla

The AUX police may not be armed as they act more like security personnel to deter any potential threats from rowdy passengers. There are armed police patrolling the airport at all times and there will be deployed if there are needed. Even the British Police who patrol the streets are not armed and both Singapore and Britain have very low levels of violent crime compared to other countries.

Nuster

"Though, I assume the United meal is much better than the meals in Cathay Pacific Regional Business Class)"

Why?

Nuster

Since when did that matter to some people? In fact Singapore is 14% Muslim or 86% non Muslim if you prefer. Think it is one of Singapore's strongest points - ethnic coexistence and respect. Other countries could learn from it.

TPJ

[QUOTE=Nuster;27723939]Since when did that matter to some people? .[/eQUOTE]

We might be approaching the OMNI (PR) territory here, but I was also surprised by OP's comment.

Otherwise nice report, but the flight hours are uncivilized...

BenSG

Exactly my point.
Dont know why he mentioned that one line...

djjaguar64

Report is detailed but you like the UA matrons, so I will give this report a C-!

G-CIVC

Cathay food is probably worse than US3 nowadays.

flyer121

Looks like another UA Premium Garbage flight.

ramondelapaz

somebody has to make do with no IFE?

warakorn

there is no other seat behind that. It changes from 3-3-3 to 2-3-2 between row 30 and 31 due to the toilet.
https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Un...-200_2_New.php

FlightNurse

I find it interesting that in HKG AA uses L1 and L2 to board, Haven't seen it done in the US or LHR.

warakorn

Well, I am getting a bit angry with the notion that the Polaris Business product was only a 1-2-1 configuration - claimed by many people on the internet - , which is blatantly wrong.

You may check the Cathay Pacific thread on FT.

Well, I have flown from many international outstations with UA - this kind of circus by the unarmed AUX "police" I have not experienced elsewhere. Those guys were telling me that there were "police". I have asked them why they have a big SATS sticker on their uniform and the word "police" cannot be found anywhere. I am mean, there is someone in my way with a SATS sticker (there are thousands of SATS employees at SIN) and telling me to show him all my documents. Does that mean I have to show him that - without explaining what his role is?