MatthewLAX

I don't know if you want to read this before or after your United flight, but here is my recent report in Asiana First from Incheon to Narita.

I was on a business class ticket and got a free ugprade to first class. Full hot meals--much better than United and even my ANA Business Class flight from Hanenda to Gimpo.

Be sure to leave time to check out the excellent Asiana Star Gold Lounge.

cesco.g

How the wine selection on that flight: Same as TPAC - champagne, 2 white, 2 reds ..... ?

MatthewLAX

I'll see if I can fish out the menu, but IRRC there was only once choice of each.

ande777emt

OZ must have made some significant improvements sin you've flown it.

I would take OZ C over UA F on this flight 10 out of 10 times. On a flight of 2.25 hours in length, the difference in hard products is negligible, but the OZ soft product on this flight by far kills the F is F C is C argument. H

Having done this route on OZ and UA, I don't think you can really call a sandwich, one pass with drinks, and a cheaper liquor selection a first class product. Compared to multi-course meal with a decent appetizer, steak, sides, and a dessert, frequent drink service, and much higher quality wines and liquors; I think C wins in this game.

William S. I will say it is definitely worth your while and hassle to do OZ instead of UA on NRT-ICN.

N227UA

As you see MatthewLAX trip report, everything is served in one tray, and OZ does not do multiple trips for meal service. Nothing has changed since the last time I did OZ C ICN-NRT. Yes, UA's sandwich is pathetic (used to serve better meals) on this flight. However, a dessert comes with it. Also, it is not one pass with drinks. UA does two passes; shortly after take-off and during meal service. In fact, the FAs come quite often to fill up your water and tea. I have done ICN-NRT with UA and OZ a lot more than you have (probably), and I do not really notice difference except for the sandwich. Cannot say anything about liquor since I do not drink alcoholic beverage, but I find non-alcoholic beverage selections on UA are far better than those on OZ.

wendySFO

Nice pictures. This is the main lounge which is a lot nicer than the other lounge at the remote gate.

1kBill

I would say ... not so fast, that it depends.

If you are traveling just intra-Asia, then the advantages of a flat bed in UA F or new UA C are less. However, if you are on a TPAC connecting in NRT to ICN - as many pax are - then the flat beds offer significant sleep advantages over OZ C seats.

Me, I am ready to go into a coma when I get on board the flight to ICN. Yes, it is only a <2 hour flight, but flat is flat, slanted is not.

OZ food is better than UA, but it is still airline food.

ande777emt

The last time I did this round trip on OZ (November and December) they did two passes for meals. I've done a few RT's on UA on this route and with only 2 drink passes, there's probably a fair amount of time my glass is empty, as opposed to OZ where my glass usually doesn't stay empty for very long.

For this route specifically, as I said, seat is less important (2.5 hours or less). Obviously for something like SFO-ICN or another TPAC angled lie flat vs fully flat seat would be a much more substantial difference.

William S

Well I am pretty sure I'll have a great time anyway. Thank you for the info. Will check out OZ biz lounge in ICN. The price on a return ticket on businessclass for this flight is about 1000 USD which is about what I paid for all 100k US Airways Miles. My route is LH OSL-FRA-ICN in C/F, UA ICN-NRT in C, NRT-ZRH-OSL in F/C so I think I anyhow paid a reasonable amount for such a trip. Next time I'll try OZ.

1kBill

And for this route specifically, I said the seat is more important for pax connecting to ICN in NRT from a TPAC. At that point, many people are dead tired and really just looking to sleep. (But that is no excuse for UA to have skimped on the meal!)


Which is the exact opposite of my many experiences on UA vs. most Asian airlines, including OZ. On UA, many water passes, glass always refilled. FA's on Asian carriers remove the glass the minute they see it empty.

N227UA

Care to tell what they served in the first meal pass and in the second meal pass? I have never seen them doing two passes for meal service on this flight, so I am interested how they split up the service into two. Also, I mentioned that the FAs come quite often to fill up your water and tea. The two drink passes are with the cart, but the FAs come with tea and water often afterwards.




Same here.

William S

You may be interested to know what happened. When checking in online for the flight a cash upgrade to first was offered. I selected yes and got seat 2A. Have nothing to complain over when you take into consideration that it is a 2 hr flight. Crew was friendly, trilingual (announcements in English, Japanese and Korean) and the seats were very nice. One featured I liked on the IFE system was the abillity to hear the ATC communication. Thumbs up United. Imo the F class seats there are much more comfortable than old LH F. Too bad the flight was only two hours. I would recommend them.

However checkin agents at ICN were not very professional. They made a mess about my name which contains Norwegian characters and of course that is not 100% the same on the ticket which can only contain English characters A to Z without any accents. I guess many Asian names are transliterated more strange than my Norwegian name so they should know about that tbh. Never happened to me anywhere in the world except for a TSA agent at HNL who did not like that. The agents were also unsure about whether I needed a visa for Japan (Norwegian citizens like most other Western citizens dont for short term visit) and not and they studied my (expired) American student visa more than they studied the photo page in my passport.

SkyTeam777

I must say that I am shocked UA serves just a snack on this flight. I am actually taking the reverse...NRT-ICN at 6.20pm, which I would expect to be a hot dinner. Does this mean C only gets a sandwich? No printed menus on this segment like OZ? Is it a one-tray service with salad, sandwich, dessert? Are hot nuts served with beverages before hand?

For a dinner flight within Asia, I am disappointed there is no hot entree on this flight.

ORDnHKG

This is UA we are talking about, what's so shock about it ? Is this your very first time flying UA ?

No matter F or C on this route, it is either the cold open face sandwhich (in the past it had the salad like you see in domestic first lunch) with dessert one tray service or a cold bento box. No printed menus, they do have nuts though.

If you want better food, you have to fly the longer intra-asia routes like NRT-HKG.

Btw, OZ is also one tray service too unless you are flying F (true F, not 3 class sold as 2), the only difference is their food are hot.

wendySFO

I was on NRT-ICN flight in June, upgraded to C. Service was poor and food was terrible. Was served a turkey sandwich and a desert, don't recall any nuts and don't recall any other options. Just get some food on the ground before the flight if you have time. No amenity kit as expected (usual items in basket to pick), no slipper neither.

Sat in 6J so got to see some activities in F and think that was on par with international C. Never like the new config 777 in C so glad it was a short flight.