shuom

msp-ord-zrh-lis, lis-mad-ams-pvg-sin-pnh, rep-bkk, bkk-ctu-pvg, pvg-cdg, gva-dub-yzz-msp

Introduction
Every year for New Years Eve, a group of friend ends up somewhere in the world. It's a great reason to try a bunch of new flights. From a flights point of view, I went a bit crazy...

Highlights that I'm excited for include

• ORD-ZRH in LX J
• AMS-PVG in KL J
• PVG-SIN-PNH in SQ F and J, respectively
• Park Hyatt Shanghai
• CTU-PVG in MU J (A350 for 2 hours)
• PVG-CDG in AF J (A380)
• DUB-YYZ in IE J

Minneapolis to Lisbon (MSP-ORD-ZRH-LIS) :: 12/15/2019

1. MSP-ORD, UA1577, 35D (economy), 737-924ER

A bit of an interesting flight. We pull out of the gate, sit on Tarmac, have our checks, Captain comes on to announce we're having an issue in the reverse thrust he can't reset directly and so we need maintenance to come and do it manually. A small delay turns into a 30 minute delay, turns into a 60 minute delay. At that point, I was wondering how much worse it was going to get... Turns out, not much. We pull out again and off we go.

Not too much to say about this flight. It's domestic economy for a 50 minute hop. Seats are crowded and there's no leg room.

What was cool was that each seat had DirectTV. This let me watch Bundesliga and Premier League games on the flight. That was cool.


DirectTV on domestic flights is cool

The only downside was the controls were on the arm rest -- which meant that every few minutes the channel would unexpectedly change. The design could use work.


United armrest, which also controls the TV. The placement doesn't make any sense.

1a. United Polaris Lounge

What a cool concept for a US airline! Talk about upping the game. The ability to sit in a quiet area, have a small meal, some nice drinks, without other worry -- very relaxing, very cool. It was so comfortable to just sit here, nibble, and type up this FR. Even the restrooms are by the individual. Good drinks, good food, good environment (the number of big United planes right outside the window is many!) -- what more could an av geek want?

The whole experience here at the Polaris lounge was great looking back at it. Between the day bed, the shower suite, the excellent food, and the general ambiance, it's a game changer for United and will probably impact how I choose to fly in the future.


Delicious food


Polaris lounge shower suites with the heated floors. Something I didn't know I needed.


Daybeds are great for taking a nap in.


All the big planes are right outside.

2. ORD-ZRH, LX9, 5K (business), A330-343

The transit from the Polaris lounge to the International terminal was a bit of a journey. There's an underground tunnel from C terminal and a bus which drives all around the airport (mine got turned around), and then you end up at the international terminal.


To help the traveler transition to terminal 5 in case of rain.

The Swiss lounge was really crowded, but the food was good. Not enough room to maneuver or be comfortable, so I didn't stay. I looked at the SAS lounge as well, which had more space and a better decor, but had rabbit food. To be honest, you're probably better off just staying at the United lounge.


Swiss lounge food. Pretty good food. Very cramped lounge.


The F cabin was in front, followed by our J cabin. The cabin is clearly on the older side, small screen, and starting to fade. On the bright side, the seats were comfortable and there was plenty of leg room. On the down side, there wasn't much storage and the headphones could be improved. The extent of storage was the space under the screen. This is the first time I haven't had much storage, and yeah... it is annoying. I slept around 2 hours and was comfortable.




The armrest didn't make sense. I put my arm down, it pushed the gamepad... and impacted the video.

The food itself was pretty good. The tomatoe sauce that came with the antipasto platter was special. The shrimp was incredibly flavorful.




A plane was here!

A quick flight finished off with a small breakfast.



Overall - it was very nice way to cross the Atlantic.

3. ZRH-LIS, LX2084, 1F (european business), A321-111

This flight was so good and it was 100% cabin crew. The cabin crew was absolutely amazing in terms of coming around and keeping everyone taken care of. I don't think they ever paused from their cabin service -- and they were more than happy to refill all drinks. At this point, I was pretty exhausted so I slept for about 1.5 hours on this flight. For a relatively short flight, the food was okay. The dessert was really good, but the main was on the dry side.

I would fly Swiss again simply based on the cabin service of this single flight.


The captain gave the flight plan briefing in person, which was pretty cool

A nice swiss lager.