Originally Posted by
williwaw
Disclaimer - I am an AS fan. But....
Two weeks back I flew the UA 772 in First/Business (2-4-2 lieflat) from Guam to HNL and then took AS in First from HNL to PDX. AS is a recliner with no leg or foot support. (AS is slowing adding foot rests, but not yet on this route.) I think the general consensus is the hard product is nothing amazing, but food and service tend to be top notch. (Tend to because on some flights.... stuff happens.) The UA seat I had was great, even in being on the aisle end of the block of 4. But I was also in it for 8 hours and at 7:00am, so it was worth it in my mind.
There are times (like morning flights) where I am not sure I'd care if I was in AS Y+ with an empty middle row versus AS F. But thats also about service - they pay attention to you pretty well in the Main cabin Y+ in my experience. But I also have status so there is more checking in. Long story short: fine seats, great service, and food is very nice at present.
I'll take the worst flat-bed over the best recliner on an overnight flight (and AS is not "the best recliner"). Who cares if it's 2-4-2? It's a flatbed and I'm asleep.
Also service in F on UA is much better than AS in my opinion.
- They will bring you whatever you want (unlike on AS where you only have the option of the F offerings -- if you want something from the back you have to pay for it).
- The food on UA is better IMO (I strongly disagree that the food on AS is top-notch -- I usually grab a burger in the airport and pre-order the cheese tray on AS, because the hot meals are not good).
- On a "snack" flight, like a red-eye from hawaii, on UA it's a hot snack -- really a mini-meal (eg, a burger). On AS it's a snack basket (processed junk food)
- On UA they have full-bar PDBs. On AS you have a choice between sparkling wine, water, or juice, and half the time the FAs are too lazy to offer it, and will refuse if you ask.
Honestly it's not even remotely close. The UA lie-flat experience is better than the AS experience by a long shot. The main reason I status matched to UA was that the AS product to/from Hawaii was so bad. I'm very happy with the switch for those flights, so far.