InterPlace55

A little bit of back story right here, I’ve always wanted to fly a 747 in the Upper Deck, but never really gotten the chance to do so. When I heard that United were going to retire their 747 fleet, I knew that I had to jump on the occasion to fly in a United 747 before they go away. I know Lufthansa, Korean Air, Thai Airways and others fly 747’s across the globe, but United was something special as it was the airline that I decided to put my time and money on ever since I discovered this hobby. I have no idea why I chose United to be my preferred airline. Maybe cause it’s the first airline that stuck out to me. Probably because Continental was the first airline I remembered flying on around the age of 10, and yes, I’ve flown plenty of times before then but I didn’t remember the airline I flew on until this one. For me, I’ve always been the guy to stick with something after the first time if the first time went well, so once I started looking into this hobby, United was the choice since Continental was no more.

Anyways, I decided to take a chance and find some award availability on a United 747 flight. I waitlisted for a Polaris Business seat on the SFO-ICN flight on September 15th. Then, being a bit antsy and proactive, I saw availability for August 25th and changed that flight over to there to be confirmed on the upper deck!!!

My connecting flight would be the good old CVG-SFO flight that launched about 2.5 months ago. I took that flight on the way over back home in Los Angeles in First, and it was an enjoyable experience. I wouldn’t clear the flight waitlist into first though. Probably because it was an A319 being flown and that the 8 seats were sold out before check-in started which made sense, but I was livid that they were flying a 738 with DirecTV the week before that. I think I may have cleared that waitlist into first and would have an enjoyable ride.

After confirming my flight to Seoul, I needed to find my flight back home. I decided to buy the ticket outright and get an economy ticket which routed me through NRT and ORD, yet the week before this flight, I had the itch to up myself to J. I did some digging around for a good flight route to take and ended piecing together an itinerary which included the aforementioned and soon to be discontinued ICN-NRT flight, NRT-SFO on the United 77W in the new Polaris seat and SFO-EWR in J on a 752. It priced out to be the same as if I would have upped my original itinerary. Airfares are pretty weird and confusing to understand, but if one falls in your favor that you can price out, go for it!!!

In the end, this was the itinerary that I flew on:
UA502: CVG-SFO in Y on a A319
UA893: SFO-ICN in J on a B744
UA78: ICN-NRT in F on a B738
UA838: NRT-SFO in J on a B77W
UA441: SFO-EWR in J on a B752
UA3415: EWR-CVG in Y on a E170

I decided to spend all night roaming around downtown San Francisco, so no need for a hotel room over there. For accommodations in Seoul however, I decided to give Glad Live in Gangnam a shot as it was unique and I would be earning some Starwood Points due to the hotel being a Design Hotel.

InterPlace55

Now for the fun part! After I arrived at the airport, I tried to check in a bag through to Seoul, but since I had a 13-hour layover that carried over into the next day, I was unable to do that. Grumbling along, I whisked through TSA and made my way airside.

When I first arrived in Cincinnati, CVG was a small airport with nothing really much to it except for being in a wishy washy Hub relationship with Delta, at least for the time. Over the past 2 years, I’ve seen a lot of renovations here and the improvements it has made, and it’s forever growing and wanting to be the biggest small airport of all the US. I believe it is, and I can’t wait to see where CVG grows from here.

The Club at CVG
A bare bones club that was pretty packed when I got there. More packed than I usually see it when I go through here though it started to taper down when the hours got later.



There are the usual barebones snack items which is good for this type of airport and a light snack before a flight into a major hub. I especially love the flavored popcorn that they never seem to run low on. I recommend the cracked pepper and sea salt flavor.









Attendants are there to take your alcoholic drink order and there’s a soda machine with Coke products and an espresso machine ready at the go.





As you can see, it’s a pretty small lounge which pales in comparison to the Delta SkyClub in Concourse B, but then again, that came with the wishy washy relationship with Delta. It had great views of the tarmac between Gate A8 and A10 which I ended up chilling out for the majority of my wait time in CVG.



United Airlines 502 – August 24, 2017
Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky (CVG) to San Francisco (SFO)
Departing: 7:25pm (Actual: 7:19pm)
Arriving: 9:27pm (Actual: 9:08pm)
Duration: 5hrs 2mins (Actual: 4hrs 49mins)
Equipment: Airbus 319-131
Tail#: N801UA
Seat: 23A (Economy)

The Economy seat is the economy seat. The thinness of the seat really confused and disoriented me but it served the purpose. The faux-leather/leather really offset the incredible thinness it actually has. As you can see, I’m a short guy so the pitch and leg room is really not a problem for me. It’s the width of the seats that really get me off kilter about economy even after having plenty of domestic first class experiences





I decided to splurge a bit and get myself the famous United Cheeseburger which was the same cheeseburger that I had on my P.S. flight to Newark from LA. It was a fantastic and satisfying meal. Though I would have enjoyed it if the bottom bun was a bit softer. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of said burger cause of excitement of actually having burger and me wanting to get some nap time in.

Service was on par with one of the flight attendants was cracking jokes with my row mates about random stuff. They went from time to time picking and collecting trash and overall, they did their job and that’s a plus unfortunately for United and for the US Legacy carriers in general. Though I’m not one to usually bug a flight attendant about anything

Enjoyable but standard flight, and a very interesting route that United decided to throw and to continue the growth of CVG.

InterPlace55

Centurion Lounge at SFO
After a good night out in downtown, I was stuck for two hours’ landside waiting for the airport travel agency to open to retrieve my luggage. After that, I breezed through check-in mainly because there was nobody there. After passing through security, I made my way to terminal 3 and the American Express Centurion Lounge was the first thing I see when I got there. I was greeted at check in by the Living Wall and after a climb through the stairs, attendants at the ready to check me in.



The Centurion Lounge is in a class of it’s own in the fact that it’s a haven in comparison to the other domestic airline lounges in the US, but that it’s usually subjected to a lot of capacity issues at least the times I’ve been in the SFO Centurion Lounge. Thankfully since it was 6:30 in the morning, there was barely anybody there.



The food was spectacular as they had an amazing spread ready to go. I grabbed an Egg and Bacon Muffin Sandwich, some of the excellent faro with sausage, and a sausage frittata. I was able to have some mimosas for breakfast on a Friday which was a plus for me since I didn’t go out and drink that night before.





United Club SFO International Terminal
At about 7:45 and a shower and a crowd of people suddenly showing up, I made my way from the Centurion Lounge to the United Club at the International Terminal.

The first thing I have to mention is that even though the food selection is rabbit food in comparison to the Centurion Lounge, the United Club at this time is a lot quieter at the same morning hour. Maybe, it’s because of the increased square footage this lounge takes up in comparison.









I asked one of the lounge employees to see when the Polaris Lounge will soon be opening and she gave a vague timeline of end of the year, beginning of next. Love the antiquated look of the lounge though, but that’ll soon be replaced by the look of the LAX United Club when the time comes.





The food selection for the morning was just the general continental breakfast spread ranging from fruit, cereal and baked goods. There are times where it’s better to have a fulfilling meal and times where a continental breakfast is the way to go. For me, I couldn’t pass up pairing a complimentary Bloody Mary with a small bagel with cream cheese. (Bagel already gone at that point)

Overall, I would come to this lounge when I have access and if the Centurion Lounge is too loud to get any thing done peacefully.

SilverKris Lounge at SFO
At about 9:15, I decided to head to the gate to see the Queen who would be taking me to Seoul, but I made a small detour and surprisingly found the SilverKris Lounge was open. Why not check it out since it’s going to be closing anyways???



The vibe was incredibly subdued as it was mainly old Asian people in there chilling and having laksa. It had a fantastic view of the tarmac. The spread was small but adequate with a bunch of hot Asian food items, hand sandwiches and self-serve booze and soda.









Overall, the lounge was double the size of The Club at CVG but with way better food.

Now for the co-main event of the evening!!!

United Airlines 893 – August 25, 2017
San Francisco (SFO) to Seoul-Incheon (ICN)
Departing: 10:50am (Actual: 10:46am)
Arriving: 2:50pm +1 day (Actual: 2:34pm +1 day)
Duration: 12hrs (Actual: 11hrs 48mins)
Equipment: Boeing 747-400
Tail#: N119UA
Seat: 16A (Polaris Business)

I was so hyped about being in a 747 let alone an international flight by myself!!! I was happily going into the jet bridge and entering the big plane and climbing the stairs before reaching my seat. I felt like a kid in a candy shop and about 5 minutes after I sat down, I was asked for a pre-departure drink, so I went with a rum and coke served in the plastic cup with nothing to accompany it.









We taxied out of the gate at 10:46am and slowly made our way to the runway for take off. A few minutes after takeoff, the flight attendant asked for my first and second choice. Menu is as follows.



The IFE was the same selection that I had in other lie-flat seats that were on United, so I decided to indulge on some of the same episodes of How I Met Your Mother and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

I chose the beef and once cruising altitude was reached, the lunch service began. Warm nuts and still water was chosen first after the cloth was set. The flight attendants then rolled out the wine cart, and I decided to sample the red wine flight. I’m not a wine guy personally and don’t drink wine all that often as the stuff can really get me going after like 2 glasses, yet I had to try it because I was in Polaris.

She presented the labels to me which was a nice touch, and I told her how excited I was about flying in a 747 for the first and last time. She acknowledged that she had a long history with the aircraft, and that set the tone with the service I got for the entire flight as it was amazing!









Then came the tray which had the salad, appetizer and bread. The salad was meh but had some good parts to eat. I enjoyed the smoked duck appetizer especially with the mustard seeds, but the farro was extremely dry. The bread included two pieces of garlic bread which was essentially bread with a pit of garlic butter and a thing of pretzel bread which was soggy, soft on the top and hard on the bottom. Then the beef dish arrived, and the beef was extremely dry which I was saddened about. The rice had some of dry pieces, but the flavor was sweet and savory.







After that, the cheese plate was served with a thing of port to go with it, and also at that point, I switched over to something I was more familiar with (Heineken). I thought the meal was over with as I was stuffed, but boy, I was wrong as the sundae and desert cart rolled out. I had to indulge with said sundae in a paper cup which I got caramel, chocolate, strawberries and whipped cream on, served with the apple pie tart, which was warm and gooey and so good and a “brownie” which was actually more of a fudge/toffee combo.





The whole affair took 2 and a half hours to complete, and at that point, I was ready to pass out since I nearly been up for 30 plus hours. I asked the flight attendant for all the sleeping amenities you could request on a Polaris flight which included a set of pajamas! I then changed into the pajamas, converted my seat into the bed, set up the mattress pad, grabbed the small duvet, put on the eyeshades, and off to sleep I went for 6 hours, waking up periodically. When I decided to wake up, it was about 2 and a half hours till landing.





I changed back into my regular clothes and started to type up this report while seated at 16B since there was nobody sitting there. About 5 minutes later, the flight attendant who was watching over me asked if I wanted something to eat, either rice and meat or noodles. I obliged and asked for the rice and meat with a coke. The rice was extremely dry but still had that sweet and savory flavor from earlier, and this time, the meat was actually moist.



At 90 mins before landing, the lights came back on for the start of the breakfast service. The flight attendant asked me if I wanted to eat since she knew I was still pretty stuffed, I said yes but just the fruit with no cereal and came out as such. The croissant was warm and flaky, and it was capped off with a cinnamon roll which was warm and oh so gooey.





The dream was almost over with the handout of truffles as we flew over South Korea and began our descent into Seoul. Joanne was the flight attendant who was assisting me the entire flight and she was an absolutely joy to talk to. She's one of those old grandma's that Qatar's CEO was complaining about.

gaobest

Fabulous TR! I am glad you got to enjoy 747 UD.
Hope you enjoy Seoul and the rest of your vacation.

InterPlace55

Asiana Lounge Concourse A
When I checked in at ICN, I got an invitation to visit the Asiana Lounge on top of my 4 boarding passes to get back to Cincinnati. After taking a total of 4 escalators to get to the remote concourse. I made my way inside the lounge by turning right and going up the escalators.





I was greeted in Japanese (first time I had that all trip) and gave my pass to the receptionist and in I went. A pretty serene scene with dark dark mood lighting and plenty of seating. This is definitely what I see when I think of an airline lounge. It was a modest food spread akin to the Singapore Airlines SilverKris Flyer Lounge back at SFO. There is a lot of seating and I took up a place right next to the business center.



Asiana also contracts out this lounge to other airlines as well as a Priority Pass lounge. One thing that caught my eye besides the draft Cass beer, Korea’s answer to Bud Light I’m guessing. Food spread was alright but what really caught my eye was the abalone porridge or what I call chao as the Vietnamese would also say. I got myself a bowl of the stuff and it was just like how I remembered it. The place didn’t get too loud, and really only the sounds of clanking silverware was the sound that I heard the loudest.













I was definitely sad that I wasn’t able to find any shot glasses at the airport as it was mainly duty-free on display.

After that disappointment, I went to the gate and boarded this next flight

United Airlines 78 – August 27, 2017
Seoul-Incheon (ICN) to Tokyo-Narita (NRT)
Departing: 12:35pm (Actual: 12:27pm)
Arriving: 2:55pm (Actual: 3:04pm)
Duration: 2hrs 20mins (Actual: 2hrs 37mins)
Equipment: Boeing 737-800
Tail#: N39297
Seat: 2A (Business)



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This Boeing 737-800 features the old first class seat and had the DirecTV IFE set up, but only movies were available for obvious reasons. A real blast from the past, but nothing I’ve not been in before. Movies were on offer, and I decided to watch the Scarlett Johansson Ghost in the Shell which didn’t seem satisfying to me because of this inserted subplot of assets and Hitman like child experiments.



After I was seated, I was offered a predeparture drink of water, orange juice or sparkling wine. The flight attendant offered to combine them into mimosas too, so I chose that. This flight is pretty unique in the fact that it’s the only fifth freedom flight left in United’s route network. Long ago, Narita was a major United hub offering bevy of flights across Asia. Nowadays with the advent of flight technology, planes can fly longer and more efficiently.



This flight was pretty unique as well cause this flight was staffed with an all Guianese flight crew that was pretty spectacular. After take off, hot towels were distributed and the snack service was a chicken Caesar salad and a chocolate pie. The lettuce was nice and crisp while the chicken pieces were a mix of dry and moist pieces, but mainly dry. The chocolate pie was oh so good!!!





Overall, a nice pleasant flight that will be going away at the same time as the 747 to ICN with no major bumps in service.

offerendum

I would be interested in the museum. Did anyone visit?

mapleg

I find it fairly telling that the Champagne served in Cinci is Freixenet Carta Nevada.

Who knew?

Madone59

Really great TR!!

I know a lot of people that are trying to get one some of the last United 747 flights and it makes me very happy to see people writing about these trips!!! I wish my schedule would have allowed for me to make one too, but it didn't so I'll just keep enjoying TR's like these ^

InterPlace55

United Club NRT
After getting past security with them checking my duty free bag for anything dangerous, the United Club was the first thing I saw after getting to gate level. I quickly made my way in and checked it out for all of 20 minutes, and I got to say it is huge and looks spectacular. Their food bar had the usual trappings of a United Club plus some extra Asian zing to it with in the form of sushi and fried shrimp.





There are a lot of places to sit in this lounge, and I mean a lot. Plenty of sunshine coming in through the windows and lots of tarmac action.



I really enjoyed the architecture that was presented here in the club as it adds a hint of culture to this club. I wished I had more time to chill take in the ambiance, but I wanted to make a mad dash over to the ANA Lounge to see what they had to offer.



ANA Lounge NRT
Dashing from the center of the terminal to the end of satellite 3, I made my way downstairs to the ANA Lounge with Star Wars 787 on display. I handed the receptionist my boarding pass which she graciously accepted with two hands and allowed me access.





If the United Club got a lot of sun light then the ANA Lounge has no outdoor views of anything, and I mean no views.



There was a lot of seating yet there were a lot of dishes and cups that weren’t collected, but there was a return chute for dishes. I think it was either lazy people or people who didn’t realize that their flight was leaving soon (probably for like Star Alliance flights instead of ANA flights cause from what I could tell ANA would announce when their boarding times started, yet I heard a call for an Air Canada flight).





I got myself a beer from the auto pour machine, yet I was short changed pretty hard by said machine. I also really enjoy the fountain drink machine that Japan uses as multiple drinks came from the same spout as I also grabbed a Mountain Dew. Doesn’t help that Americans are probably the fattest nation and that we thrive on advertisement to warrant that. (I’ve seen it on some machines in America but they were just divided into three and such)



Afterwards, I got a thing of kitsune udon from the noodle bar in the area. I gotten my pager for it but since they weren’t that busy, I got my udon bowl within 2 mins of getting said buzzer. Probably to keep the Japanese efficiency going.





After relaxing and enjoying some food I decide to head to my gate to board this new Polaris seat flight!



United Airlines 838 – August 27, 2017
Tokyo-Narita (NRT) to San Francisco (SFO)
Departing: 4:55pm (Actual: 5:28pm)
Arriving: 10:40am (Actual: 10:40am)
Duration: 2hrs 20mins (Actual: 9hrs 12mins)
Equipment: Boeing 777-300ER
Tail#: N2135U
Seat: 17A (Polaris Business)

No doubt I was excited for this flight as it had the new Polaris seating installed and ready to go. As soon as I enter the plane I was amazed at the amount of seats this plane has of business class. Legit split right down the middle between Polaris Business and cattle class as I saw the engines right next to my window. Expanded movie selection and better airshow as interactive





I was offered a pre departure beverage which I took a rum and coke (of course of course) and it came with a box of treats but not with the Polaris logo on them. One was a chocolate truffle while the other one was a green tea truffle.



The service was pretty great when they got to you, but at the same time, it looked a bit jumbled and out of sync cause of the up and down nature of it. Maybe because I was in the second to last row of the Polaris cabin, but that was the only seat that I could grab in the A seats. Would rather not want to deal with 18A and wanted a closer window seat.

Menu as follows after they were distributed



Since the flight was delayed in boarding due to a late inbound plane, we actually left 30 minutes behind schedule, but thanks to padding, we would pretty much arrive right on time to San Francisco.

For me, it was 30 minutes after take off that table cloths were laid out in preparation for dinner service. I got my usual rum and coke with nuts and this time, with a glass of sparkling water that turned into soda water because they ran out of San Pellegrino.



The grilled shrimp appetizer had that grilled taste to it and went really well with the texture of the crème fraise and the sweetness caramelized pineapple as it brought a savory taste to it. Meanwhile, the salad was how a mixed salad tasted but I got short shafted with no thimble of dressing. It was accompanied with garlic bread that actually looked like garlic bread and a pretzel roll which was a tad bit better than the one to Seoul.





I selected the bream, and it was pretty good with a lot of flavor but it was a bit dry. The Garlic butter helped enhance the flavors but not the dryness. The rice and the eggplant were great and did compliment the flavors of the bream. The main course also included a lemon to add that extra bit of flavor as well.



Then came the cheese plate which was a slightly different mix, just replace the brie with cheddar and that’s about it except that it had only 2 grapes instead of a small branch of them. Sundae cart rolled out and I got what I got last time but add nuts to the equation too. They didn’t have the apple pie tart this time around but I got the chocolate lava cake which wasn’t really a true lava cake but plenty gooey and moist.







Dinner service took about 2.5 hours for me to complete at least which is fine for me, yet I heard from other airlines that they watch you like a hawk and swoop over to move you to the next course. After dinner service, I decided I needed to pass out cause of how my internal clock is all messed up with all the flying from the Friday going into late Friday/late afternoon Saturday. I got about four hours of sleep going on and off while only using the cooling memory foam pillow.

A little bit after, I went over to the galley and saw the snacks laid out which were uniquely Japanese. Pretty awesome, I say.







The seat is really nice for three reasons, direct aisle access, a very comfortable seat, and the fact that I can reach over and touch the screen without having to unbuckle the seat belt unlike the Boeing 747 which I was relegated to using the remote for the entire flight. Being 5’4” the world just sucks for me especially in United Business class. Thank goodness for United doing that actually.

100 mins before landing Breakfast was being prepared and served. I chose the quiche for the arrival meal. The taste of it was great but had more onion in it than actual eggs. This time they came out with a basket full of dinner rolls, croissants, and “Danishes” which were actually cinnamon rolls without the frosting upon closer inspection. The Japanese yogurt was apple flavor with apple pieces placed in them for better show which I will admit is pretty good.



Overall, I really enjoyed the flight. Loved the seat, the service wasn't bad and food was decent. Sure it wasn't amazing "I loved the flight" kind of it. But what I expect from United and the American 3

mapleg

I presume you mean too much foam. Believe it or not, that's how Japanese like their beer served

https://japantoday.com/category/feat...h-at-the-mouth


and

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/09/0...ideo%E3%80%91/

InterPlace55

Not what I meant. I was totally short changed as below. The guy next to me used the other machine and got a good pour.

Had to grab it from my Snapchat story

mapleg

Yep...definitely short changed....but at least you could have another for free

FlightNurse

Talk about tail wind, NRT-SFO in 2.37 minutes, how did you finish dinner??

Aventine

The museum at ICN is probably an exhibit with some relics from Korean history and maybe a hanbok trying station. Nice write up OP!

InterPlace55

My bad on that XD I wrote it copying and pasting the other formats and didn't notice that change