Is United really that bad?
 

Hi all. Hoping to get your insight/experiences in the United quality and services.
Taking a business flight in a week from AMS to IAH. First time with United so checking some reviews on the internet.
On below website the sentiment is not positive.
http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/ual.htm

Is it really that bad? Even for a 10 hour flight in BusinessFirst in the 777-200?

Love to hear your thoughts.

The seat will be excellent, the food fine and the service hit or miss. Overall it should be far better than KLM. The reviews on that site relate largely to domestic economy, which is very basic.

United is still going through the throes of merger related issues, so as noted above, your experience may be hit or miss. There are plenty of disgruntled passengers, and seemingly plenty of disgruntled employees.

For many of us today's service levels are way above where they were right after 3/3/12 (merger integration date) but way below the pre-merger levels.

As always, YMMV.

An adventure in flying!
 

UA isn't so much bad as it is unpredictable. Almost anything can go right, or go wrong, on any trip. Think of it as an adventure rather than a voyage, and make sure that you have nothing to do that's too important in your first 24 hours after arrival and you'll be fine.

I'll be on AMS-IAH on 11/5. If you travel first, let me know how it is! :)

(Seriously, I think it'll be fine. Nothing special, but not bad either. Especially in business class.)

Excellent advice, and ^ to the bolded language. You might have a flawless trip with excellent service and food, or the trip from he11.

Thanks all for the comforting thoughts. Looking forward to this adventure compared to the always predictive (for some people boring) services of KLM business class :p

Life is full of suprises.

I'm flying on Monday 11/4 in BF. What a coincidence that would be :)
If everything goes fine I'll be able to report in time.
(After some feedback I'm fully expecting the adventure of my life)

I'd say pack a spare bottle of water and some snacks just in case

I would say that my experiences are far more hit or miss on domestic US flights. The majority of my int'l flights -- whether the crew be sUA or sCO -- have had at least decent crews; however, I have had several flights with outstanding crews. sUA tend to be a little bit better lately, IME.

I flew in BF from HKG-SFO a couple of weeks ago and the ladies working my section were top notch. Of course YMMV, but I would say your odds of having a good or great crew in BF are higher than having a mediocre or poor crew...at least based on my experiences and preferences.

As stated above, the seat/hard product will be as good (if not better) than most of the competition. Food is IMO the biggest inconsistency...I've had some outstanding meals lately and others that really fell short.

No, it's not.

i haven't flown premium international cabins apart from UA/CO and TG, so i probably don't have an adequate basis to really comment. ~22 segs, majority of which were US/HK routes.

sleeping on the longhauls is the most important for me. if you aren't that tall, you will likely have a comfortable experience in the PMCO 772 lie flat - book bulkheads if you can. i'm 5'10 or so and i have no problem in the PMCO 772 BF seats. if you are taller though, (i think 6'1" and beyond), you might not be able to lay totally flat even with the seat down because of the pitch. read the "which has a better seat in BF, PMUA/PMCO" threads to get an idea of what the FT'ers say!

food - no matter what, it's still airline food. i'll eat what is on the menu and sometimes it's actually quite good. i do love having some baileys or kahlua with my sundaes.

i don't really have opinions on the FAs. sometimes their friendlier and seem to enjoy what they do, other times they just are going through the motions. none have done anything strange or unprofessional to me yet.

The other issue to keep in mind is that I've always found that the website you quote in your posts is usually quite skewed toward the negative since people are more likely to post about a bad experience than a good one.

In all likelihood it will be an enjoyable flight as long as you aren't too picky.

All airlines have good and bad moments. Some just have more of the former and less of the later....

As lhrsfo said, the BF seat is excellent. You can also get food / service, if you're not afraid to be pushy.

...compared to other airlines with old business class seats. Especially if you are on sCO. The seats do not compare to the new reverse herringbone seats found on Delta and others.