I think these will do very nicely. It's fun having so many window's to oneself too.
TWO pillows? I've made the big time at last!
This took a little getting used to. To recline, you pushed the button forward, not backward which seemed more intuitive.
A full selection of pre-departure beverages were offered. I said to the crew “well, as I'm lucky enough to fly the last bastion of the real United, I'll take champagne”. They laughed and talked about their memories of caviar and roast beef services in the 80's. My seatmate showed up around here too, he was a GS who was escorted on by a ground agent he hugged and kissed on the cheek. Me, I had to walk my own way to the plane. He seemed to have serious disdain for the inflight crew as he was very rude to them the whole flight.
We taxied out with seemingly every other aircraft at JFK and spent a lovely 30 minutes inching our way towards the runway. Luckily, views like this and Channel 9 kept my attention. If I can listen to the communication and see rare (for me) aircraft, I'm a happy camper. Plus the fact that I might have had a few adult beverages helped a bit.
United 535...winds calm, clear for takeoff! Also, it's very weird for me being so far forward of the wing and engine on a bigger plane.
Now that we're up, let's get this service going! Annoyingly, despite having a 12 seat First Class cabin, there's only one flight attendant serving it. This means on a day like today with a full cabin, service takes a while and it feels somewhat rushed.
Thank you!
Definitely a strange glass to drink my scotch out of, I'm used to squatter ones. Also, no mixed nuts...just almonds? I hate almonds! Booooooooo!
That menu is the same in First Class as it is in Business Class. On the American flights, F gets three entrees while C gets two and F has a salad cart with protein. Therefore, American First > United First.
Here is the appetizer. Let me start with the good, having a choice of dressing with one being blue cheese was good. Also, so was the duck breast. Now for the bad. A plastic bag of croutons? No bread plate? Paper salt and pepper packets? Is this really “Premium”? Or even three class First? Come on!
I decided to go with the beef today as I liked the sides the most. I saw my seatmate's chicken and it looked quite odd so I think I made the right choice. Sadly, the beef was pretty bad, though the potatoes were great. Also, the service now involves a choice of four types of bread (wheat, pumpernickel, sourdough and pretzel rolls I think) and the pretzel rolls were amazing. Probably, and this is depressing, the best part of the meal. Also, notice how there's no wine glass on my tray? Part of the crappy one-FA service meant until he noticed my empty scotch glass he didn't ask if I wanted wine.
Hey I got some! And it's only halfway-awful! Also, how about THAT contrast?
ANOTHER knock at P.S. First is that if the pilot wants to come out of the cockpit to go to the bathroom (or in this case, hang out talking for half-a-freaking-hour) service stops. I wish he'd waited until the meal was over but wishes are like candy and nuts as I'm sure you've heard.
Dessert. Do you know why Nucky Thompson is so angry looking? It's because there's no more Port. Hell, they had it in Business Class last year and now...nothing. I was offered Bailey's instead (because that's JUST LIKE WINE!). Also, the fact that I've moved from a movie to a television show means the whole dinner service took about two hours just to get to dessert. As I was hungry and wanted a nap, I really really wished for a second flight attendant.
So I decided to stroll the plane to get the blood flowing and to use the restroom. I was impressed with how easy it was to get over my sleeping seatmate (said seatmate had changed into sweatpants and a v necked t-shirt before dinner which seems odd for a daytime flight but what do I know?).
Speaking of bathroom, yay there's product in it! That always makes me happy.
This was my very lovely view for the next three hours. The media player had the excellent new Springsteen album on it and while I've knocked the crew a bit upthread, they were very good at refilling my coffee mug whenever it got below half filled. Also, the seat is very good in a fully reclined position and I was able to enjoy some shut eye. At 6'1 I found I had enough legroom (more than on AF's J seats) and I could roll over easily. Plus that's a very comfy blanket and the two pillows help.