Good experience CA to UA at NRT
 

I was flying from Beijing to Honolulu via Narita. I took an afternoon flight on Air China with about a scheduled layover of 1:45 at NRT. I was in biz on CA and first on UA.

Firstly, service was surprisingly good on CA. It was only a 757 and seats were similar to US domestic first class. However, CA seems to be trying to step up service in advance of the Olympics. It was nothing extraordinary, everyone was just very friendly and helpful, much more than I recollect on previous flights.

We were a little delayed taking off from PEK and by the time I arrived at NRT there was only about an hour before my scheduled departure to HNL. To my surprise (I hadn't bothered checking) CA still arrives at terminal 2 while all the other Star Alliance flights leave from terminal 1 (CA is scheduled to move next month). This meant the transfer was a little dicier, especially since UA often closes the flights early at NRT.

When I exited the plane, there were two JAL gate agents waiting for me (not sure if they were sent by CA or UA...I think UA). The personally escorted me through security, on the bus to terminal 1 (we were the only people on the bus) and all the way to the UA lounge. They were going to take me to the gate since the flight was already boarding. However, I asked at the lounge if I could check in and get my boarding pass there. They said yes. The attendant in the first class lounge seemed to be expecting me. Told me to relax and eat and they would take me down to board just before the doors were ready to close.

All in all, a surprisingly smooth experience. Hard to imagine this would ever happen at a US airport.

On the flight to HNL, the crew was also excellent. They were mainly HNL based and Hawaiians. They were no younger than the typical UA international crews, but the attitude, friendliness, etc. was way better. A great example of how good US crews can be if they want to.