It's universally referred to as Envoy or business class. The booking code differs depending on how you were ticketed - J is for upgrades, I for award travel, and C/D/Z for paid business class tickets. Shouldn't really matter as far as the trip is concerned, but there you have it...

From the Star Alliance website (since I couldn't find it on US' site), it appears US does depart from T1. I see no reason whatsoever why you couldn't use the *A shared lounge. Where have you read otherwise? For more details on the *A shared lounge in LHR, please visit this page - http://www.staralliance.com/en/benef...ounges/london/

This is correct, it is a departures-only lounge. That said, I was allowed in a few days ago as my onward connecting flight was also departing from the A-West terminal - not sure if they were just being nice or if this is an official/unofficial policy. If you are not allowed into the Envoy lounge, you can use the B/C lounge. The food selection is far more limited (quite inferior by comparison), and the mixed drinks will not be complimentary (but house wine/beer and sodas are free).

Sorry, can't help you here as I haven't flown the 332 yet nor seen much about it. Hopefully someone else can chime in...

The following review is based on two flights only, so is likely not representative of the experience. Nevertheless, since you asked: I regret to inform you that it is very much a mixed bag. I hadn't flown it for almost two years prior to last week. The Envoy lounge has been improved, with a selection of dips and light meal-like options (all cold), in addition to the standard fruit, veggies, cheese, crackers, etc. They've done away with the deli meat tray as a result.

The boarding was absolutely ridiculous - I don't recall ever seeing such a chaotic scene in recent times. Once onboard, my first greeting from a flight attendant came in the clipped command, "that bag will need to be put in the overhead bin before we takeoff". Yeah, nice to meet you too...

A pre-departure beverage was served, amenity kit and menu handed out, and that was that. Flight departed on-time with a scheduled 6:30 flight time. The service was incredibly slow for such a quick flight. At 1 hour after takeoff, drinks were served with nuts (slightly improved from 2 years ago IMO). I had to wait a half hour for a refill (glass had been empty for 15-20 minutes). The main dish was served 1h 45m after takeoff, and cleared at 2h 10m after takeoff when dessert was served. At 2h 40m after takeoff, lights were turned off.

Service was just rubbish - I can't think of any other way to describe it. I went to the back galley to ask for a drink refill (since none was offered) and was told that I needed to go to the front galley as she didn't have the drink I wanted. No offer to fetch it or deliver it to my seat. So I go up to the front galley and two f/a's are just yammering away at one another about crew scheduling and how it can be done on an iphone. For five minutes. Until they gave me an annoyed glance and asked what I wanted.

So nearly half way through a TATL flight before service was complete, and then they turn the lights back on an hour out to do breakfast. That left two hours for sleep. AVOD was broken (I believe for everyone) for basically the entire flight. I was able to watch ten minutes of "The Taking of Pelham 123" (which perhaps was a good thing) before it crapped out the first time. The AVOD was reset three times before I and the other pax around me gave up and stowed our monitors. Not to mention that it wasn't turned on until after the first drink service (more than an hour into the flight).

The return flight was much the same, but the service a little friendlier (still slow, but acceptably so given the 9h 45m flight time). The outbound was on a 333, the return on a 767, so the return had the portable IFE that actually works reasonably well. My only complaint was that the one FA on the return acted like it was a really big deal when I asked for a drink refill - "Oh, I just finished putting everything away". Well maybe you should have checked to see if I wanted a refill before you did that, huh?

The amenity kit is still in a pouch format (grey now instead of blue). It contains largely the same contents as since 2006, but with an improved toothbrush (slightly larger and more robust) and the inclusion of two L'Occitane products (I was very surprised to see that name associated with Envoy/US). The menus have changed from the blue larger paper format to a smaller color format. Personally, I preferred the new salad service, the new dessert options, but the old main options (I'm a picky eater so this is unlikely to affect most).

They also appear to have problems anticipating the pax meal selection, as quite a few people on the return were told that they could not have their first choice (pork), and some even couldn't get their second choice (salmon) - ultimately the choice for some was between a stuffed mushroom or the express dine option. Kind of tacky.

Honestly, I would not pay for business class until they can get consistent (and good) with their service, and until they're willing to provide functional products (e.g. AVOD). I used my Chairman's upgrade certificates (which was incredibly easy, BTW), and was very satisfied with what I got for what I paid, but had I paid the $2,500+ for business class, I would have been quite angry I think.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, but perhaps it will help to manage expectations. And it's entirely possible that I just had fluke bad experiences. If you are in fact on a 332, you may have brand new IFE. Really, moreso than anything else, the crew will dictate whether your experience is a good one or a poor one.

Best of luck and enjoy your trip! If I can figure out how to pull the pictures off my mobile phone, I'll be happy to post pictures of the Envoy food offerings and onboard food/beverage.

One final footnote - the domestic flights in F were amongst the best I've had all year on any carrier - PHX-PHL was a west A321 (brand new, 16F seats and one F/A, 3h 30m flight time), and the return was PHL-LAS on an east A321 (older but otherwise same config with a 5h 40m flight time), and these two F/As were just awesome - always up and down the aisle, never letting your drink go empty, friendly, etc. Really an incredible contrast when compared to the unimpressive business class service. Just another example of how great service can make up for a mediocre product.

Regards,

Sean