Bernoulli

Just thought I'd post my experience flying on United's direct EWR-CPT route and back over the last two months. I looked for info before my flights and did not see much beyond many photos of inflight food on domestic Polaris routes (much of it sponsored it would seem).

I'm a relatively new United customer - or perhaps "renewed" as I flew them often for work +10 years ago but not again until they added this Cape Town route. The aircraft configurations on this route are a bit unusual - sort of three versions of Economy and then what is probably best described as Business Basic. That said, it's not bad value and the route is a good alternative to flying to Europe and then south.

Outbound we had the pleasure of the Polaris lounge at EWR - very nice and certainly better than any of the BA Business lounges I've visited. We had two different 787 configurations. On the outbound flight the layout differed from the seatmap when purchased - it would appear a different plane was substituted. This meant our chosen seats were in a different space within the cabin but no big deal. On the return, the seats were as displayed online. Outbound was not as comfortable - slightly tighter (both times we had two center seats) but we were given a sleeping pad (there is so much stuff but nowhere to stash it). On the return a slightly nicer, more spacious seat (both lie-flat Polaris) but no pads.

While the equipment was fine, the level of service was nothing much to write home about. I've had more attentive service in BA's lowest Economy sections. The attendants had the air of day-care employees providing snacks to five-year olds. On the long overnight flights, there was no extra water or other drinks offered. The attendants were either on their phones (in-flight wifi) or chattering to each other in the galley. Very low-rent, IMO. The food was just OK (eat in the lounge!) no better than standard Econ fare on any major int'l flight. Entertainment differed as well - many more choices on the return (+1 mo later) but I assume the outbound plane had been diverted from another (possibly domestic) route.

The return had that horrible problem that many (if not all) US international connecting flights suffer - obviously you must clear Customs with your bags so they can be sent on to your final destination, and you must clear Immigration, BUT, you are then forced outside the "secure airside" into the hell of Newark airport to do a U-turn and get back on another flight. Madness - and off-putting enough to make me reconsider this route and go back to flying through Europe (I'm a one-hour flight from EWR, but can take a direct bus to BOS, so when I arrive back at BOS, I'm done flying)

Lounge access in Cape Town was a pass to the (pitiful) BA lounge. I had a glass of wine that was so awful I had to pour it down the sink. Still a very cobbled-together experience at CPT - the BA lounge was using the Emirates wifi :-) Food was OK (better than in-flight) but several notches below the Polaris lounge at EWR. We also visited an EWR Club lounge as much closer to the gate for our connecting flight home. That was definitely "high-school cafeteria" class - better options out in the retail offerings.

I'm not the most experienced Business flyer, but I've flown BA and Virgin dozens of times and United has a long, long way to go to measure up against the in-flight service from them. I'm sure Emirates, Singapore, etc. are at an even higher level. I guess time will tell