I sleep pretty well in all of the UA GF/BF products and have about a 90% success rate in scoring bulkheads in the sCO configurations.

There are a lot of things wrong with UA, but I don't think their international premium cabins are pressing concerns. The catering is a bit tired and some of the amenities have been trimmed, but overall UA offers solid value. As noted, I'd take UA over the respective non-flat products offered by AA, US, LH, KL, AF, IB, EI, JJ, etc., and even a number of foreign carriers with flat seats.

I think it should be noted that there is no such thing as a single LH J - there are two quite different products out there. One is very good, another not so much.

Also, speaking of UA J, there is a VERY significant difference between 2-4-2 J in 777s and UA J on other types; arguably two very different experiences.

For what is worth, I have flown TATL in various J cabins over the past year or so, and this would be my ranking:

1. OS J (great cabin and LF seat, recently refreshed with excellent soft product and food - chef on board does help!)
2. LX J (same seat as OS, but not as good soft product and food)
3. UA J, minus 777 2-4-2 cabin
4. New LH J (good LF seat, subpar food)
5. UA 777 2-4-2 J
6. Old LH J (VERY dated)
7. KL (decent soft product, but very dated, with horrible seat)
8. AF (very dated as well - with wine selection shameful for a French airline!)

In sum, OS was impressive (it is recently refreshed and highly recommended), while UA was very good; I would fly any ranked 1-4. On a UA 777, I would try to upgrade to GF; the others are best avoided, IMHO. (AF/KL was a miles burn, FYI.)

For what is worth.

So since this is a YMMV thread, I'll give my opinion on a four leg trip I'm completing:

LH new business 747: food was good, and some of the presentation was nice, but I found the entrée with the top on a bit downscale; the entertainment system was confusing at first, intuitive after; the lie flat seat was hard, but more importantly LOUD - you could hear when people reclined from five rows away - honestly kept me up.

UA 777 2-4-2. I find the soft product fine, the food good, and the service actually on par with LH. I really can't abide by the four seats in the middle - it makes the product not seem worth it.

LX 330. The service was very relaxed, and I liked the fact that the f/as really seemed interested in the food they were serving; the amenities in the case were a bit sparse and only two lavs for the entire business cabin was tough. The seat was nice enough, but the feet of the person behind you are directly in your ear. When that person turns over, the plastic really transmits noise.

UA 777 2-2-2. This is honestly my favorite plane / service. I find the service to be more elegant than most (with the exception of the LX f/as actually knowing the provenance of the cheeses they were serving). I find these seats to be the most comfortable for sleeping. However, they are the hardest to "jump out of" when you need to get to the aisle.

As far as f/as go, overall I'd give the Swiss f/as the nod for their knowledge. However I've yet to have a bad pmUA or pmCO f/a (queue anecdotes from everyone else). LH f/as are another story: I've had some real ball busters lately.

To me, the new LH J seats and the current UA J seats look similar: lie-flat, 2 seats coupled together, no direct aisle access for the inner person, poor privacy, and limited/no personal storage.
A little hard to believe LH's latest hard product is just on par with UA's hard product, which was introduced way earlier.

The LH forum these days seems to be a mirror image of the UA forum ;)

We have had great experiences recently flying UA TPACs in C on the upper deck of the 747 (and as luck would have it, all have been almost on time). Never flying lower deck again if we have the option ...

You know, at UA HQ where they are monitoring your communications (:)), I can hear them saying:

"Look, one of our harshest critics on FT still finds value in flying UA 100,000 miles and spending $10K with us. We must be doing OK. (Too bad we can't find a way to get him to bite on more upsells.)"

Or on the flipside..."most of his travel $ (not miles, big difference!) have gone elsewhere, a former brand advocate now tells friends/family/co-workers to book elsewhere, and his CPM is still below our CASM" ;)

^^ to OS - I flew them in J last week, and it was an amazing experience.

Are the new LH seats 4 across in the middle? If not, that would be one clear advantage over UA's BF seats on the 777.

UA and LH seem to share ideas about things.

I hope business class catering isn't one of them.

Nothing spectacular about UA soft product, it is a bit tired, but I hope they don't go spartan like LH in the name of modernization while cutting cost.

While all aisle access business class is nice in theory, I have found the seat Delta, Austrian, and Alitalia use for 767 and Airbus aircraft is too hard. To the point I have a hard time sleeping.

The UA or CO seats on the other hand, no problem rolling over on my side and having decent enough cushion to sleep. A good value.

As for best soft product agree Austrian is the best. And I give Alitalia a second on flights to Europe.

Just FYI - IB has been offering flat seats for years, and just had a recent update with newer flat seats similar to LX

You have me excited as this is the CO J that I have not flown but I have it coming up for EWR-HKG.
These have the espresso machines, right?

2-2-2 on the 74H

http://gallery.millerworks.net/Trave...IMGP9188-M.jpg

2-3-2 on the 744

I was talking about the seats themselves and not the layout.
However, I hear ya.
2-4-2 in J is insane.