Trip Report - RT LAX>EWR>HKG>SIN & BOM>EWR>LAX
Feb 6, 2012, 9:21 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: NYC
Programs: UA GS/1K x6yrs, Ex-AAExecPlat, Delta 360, Mariott Plat, Hyatt Diamond, AMEX Centurion, Avis First
Posts: 165
Trip Report - RT LAX>EWR>HKG>SIN & BOM>EWR>LAX
Background - I purchased B fares *eight* months ago for my mother and I ... I was chaperoning her on a bucket list trip to the far east ... I then used SWU's to attempt to upgrade our outbound and inbound legs to BF (EWR>HKG & BOM>EWR) and F (HKG>SIN & EWR>LAX)
Process Observations - IMO the overzealous management of the R bucket is extremely frustrating and defeats the purpose of SWUs - regardless of the T&Cs ... I'm familiar with the argument which essentially boils down to "you never know who's going to buy what tickets and UACO needs to preserve flexibility to maximize revenue" but it seems ridiculous to me that R inventory against which I could use SWUs for all the various legs of this trip couldn't be released until 24 hours before departure ... in some cases, inbound legs were upgraded *before* outbound legs for the reverse of the same route??!! ... also, its entirely futile to use an SWU for any major domestic hub to domestic hub (e.g. LAX>EWR) ... in all, there were 2x 5 legs on this trip (10 in all) 6 were upgraded, 4 SWUs used ... seating near/next to one another seemed easy once an upgrade cleared ... on the IB leg, there were three BF seats unoccupied, but an upgarde standby list that was not cleared - huh??
Hard Product - the 777 is a pretty nice plane overall ... take off was surprisingly short and abrupt for such a large plane ... cruising was fine ... IFE was good - choices were current and/or classic ... plane travel map needs a redo - far too little detail and frequent glitches (e.g. not updating location for several hours of the flight) ... ergonomically the cabin was poor & the lay flat seats were disappointing ... the window/aisle seats seem to have a compressed narrower footwell in comparison to the center seats in order to accommodate the angle at which they're placed - they could fit 1 and 1/2 normal sized feet - not the two that most of us are endowed with ... the ergonomics of the seat (e.g. placement of "remote", tray, plugs, etc...) leaves a lot to be desired ... if you're wearing headsets/Bose's the cord seems to invariably get caught on some sort of hidden protrusion - requiring you to unplug, detangle/detach & replug ... seatbelt seemed to repeatedly get jammed between seat and hard plastic pod wall if its not buckled - I needed to fully extend seat to release the seatbelt head to belt up ... my tray tables on both IB/OB were broken ... on our OB leg (5A & 5B) there was some sort of weird HVAC issue - my mother and I were sweltering and had to strip down to just t-shirts ... my LL Bean travel thermometer placed on my tray table read 85 but the panel said it was 71??!! ... the attendants confirmed the temp was waaaay off, but were not willing to change the settings further since the rest of the cabin seemed to be fine
Soft Product - Where to start?? ... OMG UACO FAs can be truly and excruciatingly horrible ... I'm being gracious in describing our OB FA as an Asian version of the Drew Carey Mimi Bobeck character, with similar personal mannerisms ... As a frequent F traveler, I can tell you that we did nothing to antagonize this lady, but in all interactions, without provocation and right from the outset, we were treated with a surprising rudeness (I can't be bothered to help you even though you've come to the galley??) , lack of common courtesy (brusquely bumping into us while passing in the aisle - no acknoweldgement or apology proferred) and any sort of professional attentiveness (see below) ... examples abound - we were skipped for nearly all services and had to actively (almost using semaphore) flag this lady down to refresh water/drinks, I had ask her to move the service trays towards me since all she could manage to do was lift it an inch or so off her cart and give me a surly look expecting me to reach over my mother to retrieve it from her ... my broken table resulted in a significant angle when it was extended ... this FA would not serve me without insisting that I place a "tablecloth" on my tray - but I pointed out the broken table and that the cloth made my tray slide into my lap - nope, no tablecloth down, no tray ... When I got up to get my own water and found there was none laid out, she couldn't be bothered to look up from her US magazine even after asking a few times *politely* ... In disgust, I turned to using the FAs in the rear section who were far far more pleasant and accommodating ... gasp, they even came by and asked if I needed a refill??!! ... in a 15+ hour flight, my assigned FA independently came by precisely *****0****** times outside of meal service ... every time she "attended" to us (after having flagged her down), we were treated to a scathing look, desultory service and rude treatment ... so much for the vaunted UACO BF service product ... if there are any UA/CO FTEs on this board responsible for the FAs who want the details - you *need to get rid* of this lady ... PM me and I'll give you any info you need
the IB FA was better, not stellar - got a few "do you need anythings" ... but in comparison to the OB FA, I'd prefer a root canal so the bar was set pretty low
Process Observations - IMO the overzealous management of the R bucket is extremely frustrating and defeats the purpose of SWUs - regardless of the T&Cs ... I'm familiar with the argument which essentially boils down to "you never know who's going to buy what tickets and UACO needs to preserve flexibility to maximize revenue" but it seems ridiculous to me that R inventory against which I could use SWUs for all the various legs of this trip couldn't be released until 24 hours before departure ... in some cases, inbound legs were upgraded *before* outbound legs for the reverse of the same route??!! ... also, its entirely futile to use an SWU for any major domestic hub to domestic hub (e.g. LAX>EWR) ... in all, there were 2x 5 legs on this trip (10 in all) 6 were upgraded, 4 SWUs used ... seating near/next to one another seemed easy once an upgrade cleared ... on the IB leg, there were three BF seats unoccupied, but an upgarde standby list that was not cleared - huh??
Hard Product - the 777 is a pretty nice plane overall ... take off was surprisingly short and abrupt for such a large plane ... cruising was fine ... IFE was good - choices were current and/or classic ... plane travel map needs a redo - far too little detail and frequent glitches (e.g. not updating location for several hours of the flight) ... ergonomically the cabin was poor & the lay flat seats were disappointing ... the window/aisle seats seem to have a compressed narrower footwell in comparison to the center seats in order to accommodate the angle at which they're placed - they could fit 1 and 1/2 normal sized feet - not the two that most of us are endowed with ... the ergonomics of the seat (e.g. placement of "remote", tray, plugs, etc...) leaves a lot to be desired ... if you're wearing headsets/Bose's the cord seems to invariably get caught on some sort of hidden protrusion - requiring you to unplug, detangle/detach & replug ... seatbelt seemed to repeatedly get jammed between seat and hard plastic pod wall if its not buckled - I needed to fully extend seat to release the seatbelt head to belt up ... my tray tables on both IB/OB were broken ... on our OB leg (5A & 5B) there was some sort of weird HVAC issue - my mother and I were sweltering and had to strip down to just t-shirts ... my LL Bean travel thermometer placed on my tray table read 85 but the panel said it was 71??!! ... the attendants confirmed the temp was waaaay off, but were not willing to change the settings further since the rest of the cabin seemed to be fine
Soft Product - Where to start?? ... OMG UACO FAs can be truly and excruciatingly horrible ... I'm being gracious in describing our OB FA as an Asian version of the Drew Carey Mimi Bobeck character, with similar personal mannerisms ... As a frequent F traveler, I can tell you that we did nothing to antagonize this lady, but in all interactions, without provocation and right from the outset, we were treated with a surprising rudeness (I can't be bothered to help you even though you've come to the galley??) , lack of common courtesy (brusquely bumping into us while passing in the aisle - no acknoweldgement or apology proferred) and any sort of professional attentiveness (see below) ... examples abound - we were skipped for nearly all services and had to actively (almost using semaphore) flag this lady down to refresh water/drinks, I had ask her to move the service trays towards me since all she could manage to do was lift it an inch or so off her cart and give me a surly look expecting me to reach over my mother to retrieve it from her ... my broken table resulted in a significant angle when it was extended ... this FA would not serve me without insisting that I place a "tablecloth" on my tray - but I pointed out the broken table and that the cloth made my tray slide into my lap - nope, no tablecloth down, no tray ... When I got up to get my own water and found there was none laid out, she couldn't be bothered to look up from her US magazine even after asking a few times *politely* ... In disgust, I turned to using the FAs in the rear section who were far far more pleasant and accommodating ... gasp, they even came by and asked if I needed a refill??!! ... in a 15+ hour flight, my assigned FA independently came by precisely *****0****** times outside of meal service ... every time she "attended" to us (after having flagged her down), we were treated to a scathing look, desultory service and rude treatment ... so much for the vaunted UACO BF service product ... if there are any UA/CO FTEs on this board responsible for the FAs who want the details - you *need to get rid* of this lady ... PM me and I'll give you any info you need
the IB FA was better, not stellar - got a few "do you need anythings" ... but in comparison to the OB FA, I'd prefer a root canal so the bar was set pretty low
Last edited by circitmage; Feb 6, 2012 at 10:03 pm
Feb 7, 2012, 1:27 am
#2
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: DFW, 3.5 MM, AA EXP, LIFETIME PLATINUM, MARRIOTT LIFETIME PLATINUM, STARWOOD AMBASSADOR 223 NIGHTS, AND LIFETIME GOLD, HILTON DIAMOND, NATIONAL EXECUTIVE ELITE
Posts: 5,847
All I can say is Wow.
I would seriously rite a letter to UA/CO Customer Relations. This FA should not be working there - period - and certainly not in BF/F.
What a disgrace that FA is to the profession.
I would seriously rite a letter to UA/CO Customer Relations. This FA should not be working there - period - and certainly not in BF/F.
What a disgrace that FA is to the profession.
Feb 8, 2012, 1:55 pm
#3
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Houston based
Programs: Continental One Pass
Posts: 73
Wow - by your description I had the same FA on a FRA-EWR flight. She was downright nasty, and her attitude had the passengers around me exchanging looks and raised eyebrows. Darn tootin' I wrote a letter to customer service suggesting she was not fit for interacting with the public.
When I encounter an onboard gestapo, I politely ask for his/her name and comment that I write letters. Usually that tends to give them pause for an attitude adjustment.
I had a recent flight from NRT-IAH where the whole FA crew were pretty sour. It definitely affects the flight.
On the other side of the coin, I had an utterly fantastic FA on a UA flight from ICN-NRT who was the best. I wrote a letter of commendation, and then on my most recent trip on the same route I thought I saw her again. Indeed it was her and we talked. She was just great. In my blackberry I have the stored note under the heading: "Great Flight Attendant - Kimberly Steinke"
Thank goodness the horrid ones are an anomoly.
When I encounter an onboard gestapo, I politely ask for his/her name and comment that I write letters. Usually that tends to give them pause for an attitude adjustment.
I had a recent flight from NRT-IAH where the whole FA crew were pretty sour. It definitely affects the flight.
On the other side of the coin, I had an utterly fantastic FA on a UA flight from ICN-NRT who was the best. I wrote a letter of commendation, and then on my most recent trip on the same route I thought I saw her again. Indeed it was her and we talked. She was just great. In my blackberry I have the stored note under the heading: "Great Flight Attendant - Kimberly Steinke"
Thank goodness the horrid ones are an anomoly.
Feb 8, 2012, 2:53 pm
#4
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 12
My wife and I had similar experience on DEL-EWR flight 83 in business class
Wow - by your description I had the same FA on a FRA-EWR flight. She was downright nasty, and her attitude had the passengers around me exchanging looks and raised eyebrows. Darn tootin' I wrote a letter to customer service suggesting she was not fit for interacting with the public.
When I encounter an onboard gestapo, I politely ask for his/her name and comment that I write letters. Usually that tends to give them pause for an attitude adjustment.
I had a recent flight from NRT-IAH where the whole FA crew were pretty sour. It definitely affects the flight.
On the other side of the coin, I had an utterly fantastic FA on a UA flight from ICN-NRT who was the best. I wrote a letter of commendation, and then on my most recent trip on the same route I thought I saw her again. Indeed it was her and we talked. She was just great. In my blackberry I have the stored note under the heading: "Great Flight Attendant - Kimberly Steinke"
Thank goodness the horrid ones are an anomoly.
When I encounter an onboard gestapo, I politely ask for his/her name and comment that I write letters. Usually that tends to give them pause for an attitude adjustment.
I had a recent flight from NRT-IAH where the whole FA crew were pretty sour. It definitely affects the flight.
On the other side of the coin, I had an utterly fantastic FA on a UA flight from ICN-NRT who was the best. I wrote a letter of commendation, and then on my most recent trip on the same route I thought I saw her again. Indeed it was her and we talked. She was just great. In my blackberry I have the stored note under the heading: "Great Flight Attendant - Kimberly Steinke"
Thank goodness the horrid ones are an anomoly.
Last edited by sgupta007; Feb 8, 2012 at 4:08 pm