kemitx

It seems that most TRs are for premium cabins. Perhaps that's how it should be, but it occurs to me that most people travel in Y most of the time. Perhaps even among FTers, at least for TATL routes. It is also often your own money spent on these trips, and definitely your own back/behind/legs/etc enduring them.

I had to make a few trips from the US to MOW and back in a fairly short period of time and happened to do it via three different *A carriers, all in Y. While this may be MOW-specific, some of it must translate on other similar routes by the same carriers. No photos here, sorry, but who needs to see Y photos?

Exhibit 1: SQ for IAH-DME-IAH, which I have made a number of times. After I flew this the first time, it became my standard for great Y. The service is outstanding (by Y standards), although when the plane is 100% full, the FAs do start showing signs of stress. The plane now is a 777 (-300ER, I think) in a 3-3-3. I like that the two most aft (aftest?) bathrooms are larger (longer): it is great for taking care of a kid. The changing table pad folds down but the toilet seat cover may still be raised fully.

The seat is a Y seat, obviously. It seems, however, that there is a little more space than on normal US domestic Y. SeatGuru says 32'' pitch and 19'' width, which is indeed more than for a US carrier Y (non+). In addition, I find the seat and the back of the seat in front of you as well designed as Y can be. There are three pockets of different size covering the whole width. There is a foot rest coming out of the seat in front of you (however, not very useful for someone tall). The seat back also has a cup holder ring that folds out on the side. The seat back is also nearly rectangular. That is, unlike the UA or LH seats, the SQ seats have a narrower gap between seats and you are more insulated from the people behind you or in front of you. The armrest still can be raised. The plugs for the sound for the IFE are in the arm rests. That is good because you have no wires going from your seat to the back of the seat in front of you and your wires do not get into your food. The IFE is KrisWorld, which is pretty awesome in its breadth and quantity of movie selection. The screen is quite large, 11 or 12''.

Parenthetically, IAH-DME and back is actually a pretty good value flight. It's an 11-12 hour flight, but counts as a TATL. It may actually be the longest direct TATL flight in *A (until IAH-IST kicks in on TK?). For mileage redemption on SQ, it counts as US East Coast to Europe. It's quite a bit longer than JFK-FRA which you would get for the same number of KF or M+ miles and often similar $$.

Exhibit 2: LH DME-MUC-BOS. The MUC-BOS was on an A330 in a 2-4-2 format in Y. As a *G, got a seat blocked next to me on both flights. That's nice, except that the family split between my four-seat row and the one behind me saw the empty seat next to my aisle seat and rearranged itself (with FA's quick ok) so that instead of an empty seat I had a 240 lb fellow next to me. It wasn't too bad since he was focused on and leaning towards his little kid on the other side most of the time.

The LH seats do *look* nice, and so does the IFE screen and all. But there is definitely no 32'' pitch or the 19'' width of SQ. Also, no little useful details of the SQ Y seat (cupholder, footrest, armrest sound connection). The IFE content was an atrocious disappointment. Basically, there'd be a section 'Acton Movies' and there'd be a grand total of two movies in there. Movies I had never heard of. No biggie. I carry books. The service and the food were good. I suspect they would start to seem drab if I started flying LH a lot, but for the first TATL with LH, there may have been an element of novelty (dude, cool new colors).

On the whole, however, a solid "meh" for LH Y. Flyable, nothing truly negative, but nothing particularly positive, either.

Exhibit 3: US IAH-FRA (and back) linked to FRA-DME and VKO-FRA. Not going into the intra-European LH flights - nothing special and plenty written on them elsewhere. They were fine. For UA 46/47, I sat in Y+ on a 767 (-400ER, I think) in a 2-3-2 format. Correspondingly, extra seat pitch (what, 36''?). The extra seat pitch is nice, what can I say. The seat itself is nothing special, but the extra pitch for a tall guy like me is a big + (was pun intended??). However, note that the seat in UA Y+ is not any wider and is not as wide as on SQ Y. I am not a wide person, but that sort of room is important, too, for example when you are with a kid who wants to sleep across two seats. Again, no trick-outs in the seat as with SQ. The IFE is better than on LH, but not nearly as good as on SQ. Smaller screen and/or smaller resolution and a lot fewer movies. The headphone pluggie is in the back of the seat in front of you. The other difference is that with UA and LH, you have touchscreens, but with SQ you have an remote on an extendable cord. I find that I am much more fond of the SQ way, because you do not have to reach ahead to operate the IFE or adjust/disconnect the headphone jack. Sounds like a 1st world issue, and it is, but it gets tiresome (when you are tired) to keep leaning forward (36'' pitch in Y+!) to change the channel or pause or fast forward.

The service, well, it was UA, so no frills. It wasn't bad at all, just very basic. The service clearly lines up as SQ>LH>UA but I don't think y'all need my trip report to figure that out. Also, I do not offer this as judgment, merely as an observation, but I was struck by the relative ages of the crews and even rather how similar the ages seemed to be within each crew and totally not overlapping among SQ/UA/LH. SQ: obviously very young; LH: young looking, but not actually particularly young (35-45?); UA: ahm, not young looking.

Didn't realize until recently that SQ uniforms are color coded for rank. The minor differences in behavior now make much more sense

Anyhoo. All in all, UA was ok. Y+ makes a difference and to me definitely elevates the experience above the LH Y. Not to mention that it seems you have to pay 50% extra to get a UA mileage earning class of fare on LH. Feh. I am on the fence about UA Y+ vs SQ Y. A lot more leg space on UA vs better service, better IFE and better ergonomics of the seat on SQ. For physical comfort, I'd say UA Y+ wins.

Appendix: Now, some stuff more specific to MOW travel. Obviously, the major difference is that SQ is a direct IAH-DME flight, whereas with UA or LH you have to connect. If you are not at IAH, though, you have to connect there for SQ. MUC or even FRA are more exciting than IAH for a layover.

In MOW, if you have a choice between flying out of DME or VKO, VKO is definitely better in terms of airport experience. My ~9:30 am flight was like only the fourth of the day and the first international one. There was hardly anyone in the airport. The VKO lounge is spacious but otherwise perfunctory; it precedes the dedicated security/passport path. In the morning, since there's so few people, there's little advantage to that path. If you are connecting to a US-bound flight in Europe, you will be leaving VKO in the early am.

To end on the high note, one of the trips back from MOW I flew on an SQ J award. I'd say it was better than all them Ys.

NPF

Thanks for taking the time to make a trip report for the rest of us , and thanks again for being very observant, you comment on the small details that are important on a Y trip.

amolkold

Good report! The IAH-DME flight is an interesting one, one I hope to take advantage of.

It's a 777-300ER (77W), but I agree with everything you said as I've flown the 77W in the back on routes like SIN-BOM. Definitely more legroom than 772s in Y. A380 Y trumps both, though.

Whenever I get a seat blocked, I put as much crap on the seat as possible. Often times, if it is 2-4-2, I will take the aisle seat and put the stuff all on the window seat. I've had FAs ask if a passenger could sit there, but kindly say that it was blocked because of my status.[/QUOTE]

michlflyer

Thank you. I enjoyed reading this.

As you state at the beginning of your report, most people fly Y most of the time. I-ve had a number of very comfortable flights in J, but for me the real test of a good airline is how they treat their Y passengers. In this respect SQ, one of the airlines you discuss, does pretty well and also happens to be the airline I-ve done my longest longhaul Y flights on.

kemitx

Thanks and thanks (original post edited).



In this case, I just never had the chance to interject and I don't know that I would have as would have been a DYKWIA moment for sure. I think it's easier to "defend" a window seat, since you are the only person adjacent to it On top of it, I felt sympathetic towards a family with a small kid who all seemed exhausted. I think they were connecting in FRA from an ex-Asia flight.

kemitx

Yes, definitely. I can't quite even pinpoint how they are better in service than many other airlines in Y. It's a combination of small things. In general, I would say it's the flexibility with requests and accommodations, as well as little add-ons that make you feel a little better. They have always been willing to bring/remove the food tray a little earlier or later. Water/juice/sandwiches frequently offered btw meals. Trying to do/bring something special for my daughter even if I don't order a child meal. When she was much smaller, the FAs were always proactive in offering help: with luggage, watching her for a while, food later/earlier, milk for takeoff landing, etc. As I mentioned in the OP, though, when the flight is 100% full, some of this diminishes. Well, naturally.