I am sure you will be getting a lot of people saying "we already knew this, so you can't blame UA". In fact, nothing you posted is news to me. Pretty much standard for UA.

That said, LH F will provide you everything you asked for, including cooking meats to the requested level (anything above rare, that is). Only thing you will not get is slippers. Never, ever fly UA F is you have LH F or other (non-US) airline F as an alternative.

For me, when upgrading using GPU from business, I like F for the privacy (row 2 on 747, baby!) and the great seat.

No, your name wasn't on the list because your upgrade cleared before the day of the flight. If your upgrade had cleared on the day of flight, your name would have been on that list too.

Not any more, but I'll always remember my first First Class flight on TWA where they grilled fresh swordfish on board.

That's the best looking garlic bread I've ever seen on UA. Almost SQ quality in looks at least.

You just have to look hard enough and there's good in everything!!

UA's intl first class has been substandard for years when compared to international partners, predating the current management team. Witness this elegant affair on UA in 2009:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...s-beijing.html

AA first doesn't do much better these days.

At least in business we now get real sized main courses, not the mini casserole dishes of UA past or the plastic spring rolls.

Look forward to getting a better business class product overall if first ever disappears.

When I've flown JL F, they've asked me how I wanted my steak cooked. And once in J class on a relatively empty flight they asked me.

if this is referencing LH, you are wrong. I have about 20 pair at home in US and in home in Germany. And about 30 pair of PJs.

Why do I collect? :)

It appears you did not travel in the "glory days", when first class cost 20% more than coach. Still, this line of reasoning doesn't work.

United is not competing against air travel in the 1970s. United is competing against other carriers operating today. United is failing, perhaps because they believe a bigger seat can make up for inhuman treatment, revolting food and fraudulent business practices. And because their staff have a penchant for dismissing complaints about the airline, which racked up more DOT complaints than any other carrier.

VX has better food service from SFO to ORD in F than UA has in GF from HKG to ORD. UA is incapable of offering a decent F relative to peers. That's the lesson the OP learned and very helpfully passed on.

I flew SFO-FRA in LH F for about $7K RT. I made this trip twice last year. The food was outstanding, as was the service. I'm not sure where you get the odd idea that all airlines in the "below $15K" bracket are the same. You need to check your sources as they are incorrect. LH, VS, NH, LX and CX all deliver considerably more and better "pampering" in J than UA in GF.

You might want to experience the service on other airlines before pronouncing judgment on them.

FWIW, true food poisoning is usually very fast acting, taking its toll in less time than it takes to go from ORD to SFO. Illness from bacterially contaminated food can take much longer, usually 8+ hours. Don't be so quick to dismiss claims of airplane borne illness, even if true food poisoning can be hard to distinguish from contamination.

I was served this same garbage three years ago on the same route, in J. I spent many hours trying to forget the sight and smell of it, with the help of ginger ale and crackers. I wrote a letter, was given some silly compensation that I never used, but will never forget that revolting experience.

I would say I can't believe they still serve that garbage but being that it's United, I can believe it. The only change is that it's gone from J to GF.

It wasn't more than a decade ago that CO via Chelsea Catering used to be able to serve ribeye medium rare to me regularly on flights. There always was the occasional "bad cook" in the galley.

My point is that UA is capable of a reasonable level of food service in F - or C/J for that matter. They have just chosen a lower level of catering and service as a business decision.

I wonder whether they are actually getting any feedback from customers telling them that food is a lower priority? I can't imagine that so I'm not sure what rationalization is driving this reduction in food service quality. :(

let's face it, UA's primary objective is to get me to my destination and they do a decently good job of doing that. I've had my fair share of misconnects but so far, I haven't been delayed more than a couple hours to my destination. A few times, UA even got me to my destination earlier after a misconnect. And of course, the wonderfully long connections that UA offers to me in ORD just when I need to go to ORD to visit friends who live near ORD :D

I've flown UA's GlobalFirst product and the hardware is terrific, it lays flat, it's a full suite, it's got good IFE, it's pretty darn comfortable. Am I concerned about the meal? not really, a couple years back on my first time flying GF, I managed to eat too much and had a pretty bad stomach-ache the rest of the flight. Not fun, though the FA did let me jog up and down the 747 business class stairway to help alleviate some of it. So I try to keep my eating to a minimum in the air since I'll basically be in a sedentary state the whole time. As for service, I find UA's service good enough. Yeah, I know they're better products out there, but I like UA's schedule and I'm familiar with UA's service and UA gets me where I need to go, UA's not the best, but they're good enough.

Now of course, if UA served me a coach meal in GF, I'd be pretty disappointed and unhappy with the service, but it wouldn't stop me from booking with UA again if I needed to get somewhere and UA was the most convenient option. If you really want luxury, go book a cruise. Airline flights don't have to be perfect, they just have to be good enough. If I had to vote between arriving on time versus waiting for the meals to be catered, I'd vote to leave on time and most pax would do so as well, reasonable flight length obviously.

Lol, how did I know that within a day of me posting, you would be quoting me? It's nice to have adoring fans! Really, Inhumane treatment? Really, revolting food? Really, fraudulent biz practices. I do appreciate your humor.

And I've flown premium intl long haul other than UA. LH and AA. It was AA that I experienced food poisoning symptoms on the 3rd leg of a circuitous award flight. Figuring it was 8 hours after my 1st AA meal but 16 after what I thought was bad ceviche in a restaurant, I gave AA the benefit of the doubt. Are you trying to tell me that it was AA's food instead? Now I don't feel so bad for projectile vomiting across their gate room for 30 min. You just erased the guilt ive been carrying for 5 years

I am curious as to why UA offers GF (i.e. a three-cabin setup). Does the revenue from those few people who purchase full GF fares actually make it worthwhile to run, versus an expanded BF?

I've been in GF once (TATL, on an award ticket, because there was no BF available), but I normally fly long-haul in BF, as the slightly smaller seat doesn't bother me, and I can't imagine paying the price differential, regardless of how good (or bad) the food is.

United's food offerings, in general, have gone horribly wrong. I flew PVG-LAX shortly before the merger and got a beautifully done shrimp entree in C. On an ORD-CDG flight this past summer, I was stuck with that awful spinach cannelloni that is also served in domestic F, that a friend of mine described as looking like "two loo rolls covered in sick."

Before the merger, UA signed a massive contract for new seats, which included F seats. It just made no sense to redo those cabins, some of which were not done yet, so soon after such an expensive commitment was made.

Valuing GF based solely on revenue from GF fares is as misguided valuing domestic first class solely on the value of paid first class fares.

Many people that pay for UA J with extreme frequency (i.e. GS) do so for the ability to upgrade to GF. GF provides far more than a 'slightly bigger seat'. You don't have to crawl over people, you have a much lower pax to FA/lav ratio, and generally a much more stress free travel experience. The J experience on most airlines is basically an assembly line due to how many people need to be served.

I can see why those that only upgrade to C would prefer a bigger cabin, but going forward UA needs a less dense J with all aisle access.