Originally Posted by
Polytonic
Looking at some TPAC fares ex-LAX/SFO early next year in economy. Is NH economy worth flying over UA E(+)?
Price, aircraft (77W?), and fare class (K) appear to be the same for both routes.
I mainly credit discount economy to SQ, so I'd earn ~14k miles if flying UA, and apparently zero on NH. Approaching 41k on SQ this year so this flight would qualify me for *G through next August-ish.
Currently leaning towards UA since it's one less customs stop, *G qualifying flight, and will have access to E+ from Premier Silver.
I've never flown ANA before. The schedule is better and my parents gush about the service, though I've heard the seat referred to as a "knee crusher" before. Is the ANA experience really worth giving up 14k miles ... ?
Originally Posted by
goodeats21
United's 77W is 3x4x3 in economy, which I avoid. If ANA is 3x3x3, it would be my choice.
ANA service is much better than United (on average), but on a long haul in economy, seat comfort is the overwhelmingly important metric for me.
Originally Posted by
ajeleonard
United's 10 abreast is going to very unpleasant even in E+ whereas ANA is 9 abreast. Not sure where the knee-crusher reference came from, they have a well above average 34 inch pitch
It's worth 14k miles to avoid United
Be careful when booking NH from the west coast: LAX/SFO-NRT is operated by their 3-4-3 77Ws, only LAX-HND is 9-across (2-4-3) for now. Of course UA's SFO-NRT is the 10-across 77W and LAX-NRT is the 9-across 789, so they're as bad as NH if not worse, but this kinda reduces the difference between the two airlines, especially with E+.
However it looks like the UA SFO-HND is switching back to the sUA 772 (3-3-3) in January/February (and then back to the 789 in March) so if that works with your dates/fares that might be an option as well.
Also the NH knee-crushers are I believe their intra-Asia 763s, but the 2-4-3 77Ws also have the fixed-shell seats (i.e. when you recline the seat slides forward but not back), which get pretty mixed reviews. Their 3-4-3 77Ws have the normal seats that actually recline.
Overall though — NH will have significantly better food and service, UA has wifi and much better IFE selection, seat will be a wash unless you're on LAX-HND, but getting *G and E+ on UA might swing it for me (especially if you can get SFO-HND on the 772)...