jsgoldbe

I am curious due to an upcoming trip booked in Global First, what does UA do in the GF cabin for customers who order a special meal? Is it a BETTER (first class?) special meal, or the same as you would get in C or Y?

Kacee

That's crazy. I currently have P fare SFO-LHR on which UA is asking for over $9,000 for a one-way upgrade to GF.

Note that there's currently another thread running on which the OP is being crucified because he "should have known" a $170 one-way upgrade to C on LH EWR-MUC was "a mistake": http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...lh-denied.html

SFO_Flyer

Lets hope it sticks... If not, business will be just fine.

Would not want to be stuck in E+ on the 747.

jasonvr

Seeking opinions.

Currently have the last leg of an award ticket as:
TXL-LHR (LH intra-Europe J)
LHR-LAX (UA J 777)

Just found that the following has opened up:
TXL-FRA (LH intra-Europe J)
FRA-SFO (UA F 747)
SFO-LAX (UA Dom F 739)

We (Mrs jasonvr and I) currently have to leave TXL very early in the morning in order to make the LHR connection. Of course, that also means we get home earlier (not to mention one less connection).

The new routing leaves TXL later and of course gets us home later.

So, would you sub in the UA F and add the connection, or is it just not that great of an increase?

Ultimately, we are still shooting for LH F and would change to that if/when it becomes available.

Teeejay

Given your longest segment by far is Europe-USA and given your travel time is similar, I would pick UA F in a 747 from FRA-SFO. UA F is a better product than UA J LHR-LAX.

Ixian

I recently had my first GF experience after upgrading one leg of EWR-GVA. On the way out it was a 2-class 767, way back 3 class.

I'm 6.3/280. I just hit Platinum on United (domestic/asia) but usually fly BA to Europe. BA hasn't exactly gone up in recent years but I was surprised at the difference in BusinessFirst - I don't like the new "herringbone" BF seats on United at all. For shorter folks maybe it isn't an issue but I found the footrest/footwell to be extremely small and annoying, particularly when the seat is laid out flat. Storage is terrible - not much better than E+ - and the power ports/headphone jacks are behind you in a small cubby which I also found annoying. The seat was more comfortable than E for certain, but about as private, which is to say it wasn't. Also if you get a Window seat you're pretty much stuck in it once your seatmate lies out. Overall, I was pretty disappointed considering it was a full Business J fare. If I had upgraded to it I probably wouldn't have been as peeved. I never thought I would miss the sliding partition that you find on BA's B seats, but overall those seats are much more private, and comfortable. And the service is better.

GF on the way back was much better. The seat is bigger all around, great for tall flyers, and the mattress cover/cushion they provide makes a difference. There's also a lot more storage. And, of course, it's private, which overall made sleeping (I know it's not the longest flight in the world, but it's overnight and I like to catch a few z's since I usually walk in to a meeting from the airport) a much better experience.

Service-wise it's pretty much the same. I don't know that it's worth upgrading all the time to or paying a higher fare - really what I've taken away from all this is to not fly United to Europe.

I got to take the UA Dreamliner to NRT not long ago out of Denver and it was, as to be expected, a better experience (though we were all paranoid it would catch on fire or be forced to turn around, naturally).

Of course, United is hit-and-miss for Asia flights too - I've still caught a number of flights to NRT or HKG where business is the old "barcalounger" style seats and those are no fun at all on 12+ legs.

I don't know, I think I am going to stick with United for domestic simply because it's easier to find direct flights, it's cheaper, and with my status I can get the occasional bump/award flight, but International I am going to stick with other airlines. This is not news to many folks here, I am sure.

If you are tall and can get a good upgrade deal on GF with United than it's worth it, otherwise stick to BF, or another airline.

Kacee

Just to be clear, this was BF on a 764, which has the pmCO seat. Agreed, the footwells are too small, there's not much privacy, and a 1-2-1 layout with direct aisle access would be much preferred. Still a good seat if you get the upgrade, mid-pack if you're paying for it.

These aircraft are essentially history on the long-haul routes. You might still get one HNL-NRT, but not on any other route.

5khours

Agree PMCO seats aren't great if you're tall.


Agree. Hard product in GF is pretty good.

It mystifies me that UA does not make the effort to improve service in GF. Would not be that hard or cost that much money.


Only on NRT<>HNL.... everything else has been converted

IMHO, it depends on your choices. I'm more likely to fly another airline when I'm in F, but for me seat/bed comfort is really important so in J, I would fly PMUA over DL, AA, NH, JL, old LH, etc.

Ixian

Thanks guys, appreciate the info. I'll be 1k in September when I go to Amsterdam, the first time I have held that high a status. I'm new to the world of serious flyers

Also, SEA-NRT also has the old-school B seats, at least they did in March, though certainly they could be converted by now (I hope so because I am taking that route again in October).

jasonvr

They're all converted now. The last 777 that will be converted just popped out of conversion at SFO. The only intl route still running the old seats is HNL-NRT

sfoboy85

I guess then that I am the one, holding the official record now. I was checking the reservations of my friend who purchased a SFO-(Western Europe) ticket on UA on business and when I took a closer look, it offered him an upgrade from BF to GF for $1.90 (total for both ways).

I told him that this is the time to book it, he got it cleared immediately and he will be enjoying his GF for sure now!

Needless to say, it did not take me long to persuade him and to justify that price

mre5765

False.

5khours

How so?

Always Flyin

UA has now completed all IPTE conversions. Well, of all the aircraft it intends to convert to IPTE, that is.

There are still three 777s flying with the old seats. No one seems to count them because UA doesn't intend to convert them to IPTE (they are supposedly being converted to 2-class Hawaii birds at some point).

At present, you can get them on many different routes due to aircraft substitutions.

HNL-NRT went to IPTE the first week of July.

jasonvr

At the time I posted, I believe I was correct (that was back in July). At this point however, it is no longer true because there have been recent reports of the unconverted planes showing up on routes like ORD-FRA as well. But that is a discussion for another thread.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...seats-c-j.html

You're gonna want to post that in one of these two threads:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...iscussion.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-upgrades.html

It ought to generate a lot of interesting discussion