nycityny

My experience is that if you don't choose the pasta you're probably going to get your first choice regardless of where you sit. I am not GS or 1K and like to sit in 4E. I always get my first choice. I fly ps flights at least a dozen times a year and cannot remember not getting my first choice.

The only food disadvantage I experienced from being in the back of the cabin is that the flight attendant never finished passing out the bread selection. They offer the bread in increments as the trays are being passed out. After row 2 they never bothered to finish rows 3 and 4 since they got so "busy." Frankly I wish they wouldn't rush through the whole cocktail, appetizer, main dish mad dash since we have 5-6 hours to kill anyway and a leisurely meal would be nice.

WineCountryUA

IME, most would not like that -- many want to get some sleep or some time with their laptops / tablets.

anc-ord772

Just ask them for (more) bread. I make it clear that I'll always be down for the garlic bread and keep it coming if there are leftovers. I've had consistently positive results.

Have you asked them to slow your service down? They may be able to accommodate your request, by serving folks behind you first between courses.

WineCountryUA

good point -- a recent seatmate got meal service in the second half of the flight instead at the normal time.

JVPhoto

Yah if you want to slow down your p.s. service I don't think that is a problem at all. My last 3-4 have been really great crews, I would keep a little on my plate and I was never rushed or hurried to take it away. Even when I skipped the sundae and asked if I could just have a piece of Toblerone it was brought back to me on a plate with a napkin and two pieces of the chocolate.
The p.s. crews seem to be pretty engaged with pax and tell them how you like it and you should get what you want.

nycityny

It is amusing to me the various suggestions about slowing down meal service or asking for bread when it isn't offered. I generally just like to go with the flow and don't want special treatment. I know they'll do it but I wouldn't feel comfortable asking. Just a personality trait with me.

The only thing I do request when they don't offer it is a refill on the beverage - be it alcohol or water. Yes, I probably should have asked for bread when they neglected to offer it to the whole cabin, but whatever.

anc-ord772

If someone forgets something you feel weird asking?
If something isn't customized to your taste (speed), you feel weird asking?

I don't get it, especially the speed of the meal service which is subjective. There is no way the cabin crew can anticipate your preferred dining experience.

If you feel it's weird to ask for what you want I can see why the suggestions up thread won't work for you.

Eastbay1K

Eating a meal at a relaxed pace during a 5 to 6 hour flight isn't special treatment, nor is asking for a provided service item that they forgot. Asking for off-menu items or concoctions is special treatment.

When an airline advertises "Our p.s.® Premium Service flights offer an international product for an exceptional transcontinental travel experience between New York (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX) or San Francisco (SFO)." asking for bread from the basket they forgot to bring to your aisle isn't an unreasonable request.

nycityny

...unless you're a United flight attendant.

OK, OK everybody, I get your points.

Kacee

It's quite unusual IME to run into that attitude on a ps flight. These are some of the best sUA flight attendants in the system.

Eastbay1K

Well, unless they exceptionally forgot your bread, on purpose!

anc-ord772

I ran into a foul crew about a year or so ago. I've had an indifferent but perfectly pleasant crew here or there, but overwhelmingly they are top notch.

coORDinates

Isn't running into fowl very dangerous for an aircraft?

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I had my first p.s. experience a few weekends ago. It was nice. LAX-JFK.

Seats 1F and 1E worked well for me. I think 1F had slightly more legroom. Either way, I'm 6' and couldn't stretch out completely. Still managed to sleep. I concur with others' assessments - window is cozier, but you may need to climb over others; aisle seat may involve non-coordinated people slowly climbing over you.

Food was fine. Wine was fine. Pretty good movie selection, although I couldn't get my Bose headphones to work quite right on the 1F port, but worked well on the return flight (I had to fidget with the jack to get stereo sound). The provided headset worked ok when the Bose set didn't work.

On the return flight, the flight attendant made a special announcement for BusinessFirst: "Do not leave your cellphones sitting out. They will slide into your seat, and we won't be able to get them out until we land and get a mechanic to come and disassemble the seat."

I was able to use the United Club in LAX before and after the flights. JFK club was worn down and dingy.

Overall, a positive experience. Well worth the RPUs.

anc-ord772

Absolutely.

UA867 LAX-JFK 29SEP, booked today and RPU cleared today. R=5 or something like that. BF cabin showing zero seats occupied. I don't see that often.

Phil Level

Report - UG's cleared about 3 weeks out.

My September LAX-JFK red-eye went R7. No email or other notice, just my morning routine of checking for R inventory. Had been waitlisted over 1 month. Called in to get upgrade to clear and seat assigned. I was the first, but apparently not the only one, as per seatmap 5 seats got taken that day. Now the flight is back to J9 R0. Seatmap still shows over 50% of J cabin open.