azepine00

But you conveniently omitted that part in your OP and instead posted this:

Perhaps if you simply mentioned that there was one bad FA your story would look more rational and likely to believe. We all know that UA soft product is hit and miss but your write up was exaggerated beyond reason.

kv99

I don't know much about how UA crews these days-- i don't fly TPAC nearly as much as I used to.

But assuming that SFO-ICN are all SF-based crews, that would explain it to me!

My worst experiences at United have always been with SFO-based crews. I have twice gotten very sick on flights (mid-flight, both times from something I likely ate on the plane) with SF crews (once to NRT and once coming back from HKG) and both times the crews were incredibly hostile.

I personally think it's by far the worst crew base in the system for the senior crews, to the point where I actively fly ORD TPAC flights whenever I possibly can.

ORD-LIH

One of the toughest things with this is that you notice service on TPAC/TATL flights more because:

1) The experience lasts a lot longer, you may more easily forget about a hostile FA on a hop from ORD-DCA than a 14 hour jaunt across an ocean.
2) You've generally paid a great deal more to be there and have greater expectations out of the hard and soft product (rightfully so).

There just aren't that many travelers who have a significant data-set. I used to fly TATL 2-3 times a year and TPAC 1-2 times a year at most. With my girlfriend's move to LHR for a stint I did LAX-LHR RTs 13 times last year. That's where I noticed the very distinct correlation between the age/home-base of the crew and the level of overall service.

channa

I call BS.

The 80,000 employees of the new United are the "best in the business." Jeff says it before every flight.

No way the OP experienced this.

downhillcrasher

+1

WIRunner

Rar Rah Rah

garykung

I think one of the argument for UA with other airlines is the consistency of the service quality.

In my experience (about 1 month ago), I flew the same route (ICN-SFO) as OP did, but in E+. To be honest, the purser is a bxxch...but the rest of the crews are extremely good...

So flying UA - YMMV...

embarcadero1

Oddly, you seem to be the only one who has trouble believing this story.

In fact, in the pre-landing walk-through, the FA in question leaned over, moved my newspaper aside and pushed the airplane button saying "you have to put the seat upright before landing" as though I were some recalcitrant pre-schooler. When she realized that I had already done as asked, she snorted "Well it's hard to tell with these seats."

I was quite nearly assaulted by an FA who wanted me to see how annoyed she was when she believed I was non-compliant.

This is just too common on UA to ignore or to pretend that they don't happen. If you have trouble believing, that's yours, not mine.

gengar

This is why I stick to the liquor these days if I choose to have anything alcoholic at all - at least I can have a pretty good idea what I'm getting into. Thank goodness for ginger ale, right?

BTW, this is also why I get so amused when people complain about not having real "champagne" in F - the fact that the typical bottle of wine in C and even int'l F is something that 1) can be purchased for around $8-12 in your local grocery store and 2) is not even a good $8-12 bottle from that selection, is what should be complained about.


I will say that my TATL experiences have tended to be much better than my TPAC experiences, both in F and C.

kv99 mentioned poor experience with SFO crews - that may have some impact on my experience since some of my TPACs are via SFO and none of my TATLs are, although a recent experience ORD-NRT in F was not positive.

In any case, caveats on sample size of course apply.

halls120

Yes, it is, when unions are involved.

daron4000

KV99- I think you're spot on with your assessment. From my own experiences and from the numerous complaint postings I've seen on here, there seems to be a correlation between bad service and SFO-based flights. My most frequent TPAC destination is PEK. On the one hand, my ORD flights are always pleasant. Although some FA's are more refined in service delivery and appearance than others, I don't have a complaint about their attitudes. The SFO-PEK flight however can have some very nasty FAs who growl and grumble at you and clearly don't want to be there. I think I once also read that there is an internal passenger satisfaction score based off of the surveys and the SFO base is the one with the worst/negative score. Of course, even out of ORD, my flights to LHR/FRA with the internationally based crews (union, not the ex SIN/BKK crews) are even better than my other TPAC/TATL destinations and I believe I read that these bases have the highest satisfaction scores.

andyh64000

I agree...you would think with the buying power united has they could get some decent wines. But all classes serve garbage. My last intl C flight all but a couple red bottles were screw tops.

Daniel-SYD

:-P What's your point here? - the choice of screw tops isn't really a cost thing unless you're comparing against very high-quality cork which is in short supply. For maintaining the quality of a young wine, which isn't going to be aged, screw cap is probably the best option. .

Bob'sYourUncle

US carrier Should be the The First Commandment of Flying. )

Not really. I can attest to the OP's write-up being a fairly accurate description of what many many people experience aboard UA.

jfhscott

Terribly true. I do not have access to the union CBA, but based on anecdotal comments, as confirmed by my own experiences, it would seem that choices of flights/cabins served is to some extent based on seniority.

If true, this drives me batty.

I recall a LHR-IAD in F being subjected to a distinterested, grouchy dragon FA serving a nearly empty F cabin. Not even feigned interest in my comfort and she made me to feel I was being granted a favor by satisfying the smallest request.

UA likely cannot address it until the next CBA is entered, but at a minimum, if it is so difficult to get rid of nasty FA's, they should be placed in Y pending reeducation relating to customer service.