I am new at this but thought that I would share some impressions on a recent trip to HKG and NRT. I am 1KMM and do most of my International flying with upgraded C seats. I thought that I would try a full C and upgrade to F. Booked the flight with 1K res without any problems and had 2A assigned for my Trans Pacific routes. HKG - NRT was in C as I had only purchased a Y fare and it was upgraded - Seat 15A upstairs.

Checked in at the 1K desk in DEN without any problems and received all boarding passes. No special recognition. Went to the Red Carpet room, showed my Boarding Passes instead of my card and was given some drink coupons. Flight to SFO was a 757 and was uneventful. Upon arrival made my own way to the shuttle bus for the connection to the International terminal. Bus was very crowded and there was a 3 elevator wait to get upstairs. Does anyone know if there are any stairs to use?? Checked into the First Class Lounge and was warmly greeted and directed downstairs. Lounge was about full - primarily with people on Mexico flights. Was not impressed with the snacks altho if one was so inclined there was plenty of liquor, beer and wine. Boarding announcement was made and we were escorted to the gate by the Concierge and quickly checked in.

Settled into my seat and there was an amenity bag already there. Was offered choice of water, juice or champagne. Menu was also distributed before take off. Dinner choices were a choice of filet, lamb chops, fish or vegetarian dish. There was a good choice of wines and the bottle was presented and held out while the wine was tasted. Took my usual long haul sleep meds and slept for about 7 hours in the comfortable sleeper seats. Water glass was constantly replenished. Individual video selections were not very good or up to date but I did find one that was not bad. There were snacks, sandwiches, etc out all during the flight. By the way, the pre meal nuts were warm! Flight was very uneventful and we landed in HKG about 10 minutes early. No problems with immigration or customs and was into my Peninsula Rolls-Royce within 30 minutes.

HKG checkin for the NRT flight was not a problem and was quick and efficient. Red Carpet room was nothing special. Boarding was quick without any hassles. As noted my seat was 15A - thanks FlyerTalk members for suggesting this seat. Flight was nothing special - similar to any Domestic 3 to 4 hour flight. No amenity bags, nothing special for breakfast, etc. FA's were very pleasant. I had to make a presentation at a meeting outside of Tokyo and planned to do it in Japanese so spent a good amount of time reviewing my pronounciation with one of the FAs who was most helpful. Arrived into NRT just about on time. The line at Immigration was huge - at least 3 747s arrived about the same time. Took over 45 minutes to get through. The 8 - 10 lanes for Japanese citizens were mostly empty. Oh well, it is their country. Made an easy connection on Narita Express into Tokyo. Point of information, not all of the ATMs accept US Bank Cards. There is a CitiBank machine way off to the right as you exit into the arrival hall - it looks as if you are going to another area but not to worry it is about 5 minute walk down on the right hand side.

Was not so lucky on my return. I did not even think about making a reservation for the Narita Express for my return and ended up standing - at least I got there early enough which turned out to be important. Very fast and easy check-in at the F counter. Very pleasant agent who when I mentioned that I was looking for some things for my 9 year old son directed me to a certain shop. As I was leaving she warned not to get lost. Did my shopping and without getting lost went fairly quickly through security. I then went to Immigration where the room was full. I thought no problem as I had a bit over an hour before my flight. The lines moved very slowly and by the time our boarding was to start I was still quite a ways from the front. Meanwhile all the airlines except UA had agents going thru the crowd, picking out there passengers who had close times and escorting them to the front and in some instances to a special line. There were agents from AA,CO,SQ,LH,CP,NW and others. All said that they could not help me as I was not one of their customers. A couple offered to try to find UA agent but both came back and said that the UA agent was no where to be seen. Finally moved myself to the front ( I really do not like to do this) and got more than a few remarks, comments in a few different languages. Question, should the check-in agents have told people about he lengthy lines and is it too much to expect an escorted trip to the front as this is what other airlines seemed to be doing?? I just kept smiling and saying that my flight was boarding - it was 10 minutes prior to scheduled departure. Of course the UA gate was the furthest one away. Is this normal at NRT. I can understand a long line at Immigration coming into a country but on leaving??

Boarded and got my 2A seat and was offered a glass of water after hanging up my own coat. Departure was delayed about 30 minutes - probably to accomodate those still in line. Juice and champagne was offered during the delay. Amenity kits were at the seats and the menu was similar to my outbound except for the addition of a Bento Box meal. Flight was not memorable. FAs were not very pleasant and in one case was surly. Never had my water glass filled and was rarely asked if I desired anything. Arrived in SFO a bit late and went to the UA arrivals lounge where I took a nice shower and then went to my connection for the return to DEN

Sorry this is so lengthy but it is my first stab at this. Question, is a full fare F ticket ever worth it. My experience makes me doubt it at least on UA. My dream is to a RTW in F taking abiut 6 months.

Thanks for you indulgence



------------------