UA 881F ORD-NRT, Seat 2J

After a great stay at the ORD F lounge, I was escorted to gate C10 for departure. Our departure time was delayed 30 minutes due to aircraft maintenance. As I settled in, FA's helped out with jackets and storing bags in the front closet. The Concierge from the lounge stayed in the F cabin and took time to speak with each pax, which I thought was a nice touch. She thanked me for all my business - noting I was a 1K - and gave me an update of the arrival times in NRT and then SIN. She also took care of sending the SIN concierge a message about my checked bag which I had requested in EZE (but somehow they sent on the message to ORD instead of directly to SIN).

The 744 aircraft had relatively new looking suites. During boarding, I had noticed that UA was requesting volunteers to switch to other flights to Tokyo, and the concierge confirmed to me that they were oversold in coach. However, neither C nor F was booked full, so I guess United chose not to upgrade people to fill up the plane to maximum capacity. F had only 6 suites occupied. I wonder if this is a new trend…??

Pre-departure drinks and newspapers came & went. Menus, noise reduction headsets (worked fine) and amenity kits were also passed out. After take-off, warm nuts and drinks - I selected to have some champagne (Veuve, Brut - La Grande Dame). I was a little annoyed to find that it was not chilled properly. Meal choice was taken in random order. Hot towels came before the tables were set.

[to be continued]

------------------
Gaucho100K