Originally Posted by
airzim
Fair enough. Although I did enjoy the Concorde Room on my last BA First flight.
The last time I flew BA J (2 years ago), I was upstairs at the exit door facing backwards on a 747. I found the seat pretty flimsy, especially the foot stool. Also quite narrow although it was easier to climb over the neighbor than a UA non aisle seat. The crew were typical of what I'd see on most US carriers, and the food was nothing spectacular.
As for VS, I was going to make a disparaging remark about their looks rather than their behavior, which honestly isn't fair, so I refrained. Needless to say, I once found VS young, hip, attractive, and exciting. After nearly 40 years in business, the luster has worn off. The seats aren't that special, the lounges aren't that unique, and the special amenities are gone (inflight massage and standup bar no longer staffed). They are just like everyone else.
As for the topic at hand. I've flown quite a few J classes recently, (SQ, LH, LX, CX, NH, EK). UA is pretty competitive, and not because they've risen to the level of other carriers (although there are improvements to the hard product), the other carriers have also lowered their offerings to more closely match UA.
I think "back in the day", VS was flat in K when others weren't, they had a J lounge that was unusually cool, and they had the inflight massage stuff. Well, everyone has lie flat J, plenty have cool lounges, they don't offer massages, but they do have a very limited route network.
As for premium cabin travel in general, I guess Y has become so miserable, that you have shoulder space domestically. So its really more about misery avoidance than "luxury". Clearly, the food is garbage, the service is nothing special.
Internationally, for me its pretty much about comfort, and getting sleep. I'm not thrilled with most catering these days, including int'l, and including some F on BA and LH.
Without being overly classist, har, I also find value in the LH FCT and bypasses of the "masses" (e.g. the MUC FCL bypass for immigration, car transfers). Its a major weakness of BA where you're stuck in a long line thru security, and have to schlep to the satellites in LHR , rather than being escorted/driven.