I think the distinction is that wine is a consumable item while cutlery/blankets/headphones are intended to be reusable, though having been on the receiving end of a full bottle of champagne from a crew (proposed to my fiancée in BF on MEL-LAX with av-geeky references to "dream[liner]s", I thought I was being discreet--but they noticed the ring) I felt awkward accepting it but after the ISM and half the FAs tore the galleys apart searching for a bottle and their heartfelt congratulations, that it would have been more gauche to decline.

But if everyone else is looting the gas station, should you? :-P

IMO, what's done is done (and I certainly didn't intend my comment upthread to be directed at you personally but rather the activity generally) . If you suffer from a case of Tell-Tale Heart, leave it onboard your next flight, otherwise...just please don't take another so that this sticks around for at least a little longer.

I wouldn't take a blanket with me from a plane, for many reasons really, but let's not make it a bigger deal than it is. For one, it's a bloody blanket, not like he took out power tools in order to take the IFE home.

Secondly, the FA is the face of the airline to the customer on board the airplane. If you ask and they are happy to oblige then you aren't doing anything 'wrong' except perhaps in the 'manners department'. It's not a requirement that you mentally play out the conversation their manager would have with them or that you are more eager to be in line with company policy than the actual employee. Lots of policies are broken from time to time in the name of customer service.

Last year, I made my son do the walk of shame to return BF headphones that he walked off the plane with. I'd be tempted to surreptitiously drop it on your next flight.

Polaris ORD-NRT/NRT-LAX
 

Flew Polaris ORD-NRT UD 12/21 and NRT-LAX 12/24. Few observations:

The lounge in ORD is great. I went in early around 9a before the 1230 flight to work from the lounge. Never seemed too crowded. The bar was great, made a good spicy bloody mary. Looked like a great whiskey/bourbon selection along with decent wines. Saw the Prisoner which I enjoy.

ORD-NRT UD. Had two decent flight attendants. The PDB cup is odd, however seemed fine, chose a G&T. There is quite a bit of pillows/blankets, but after reading all previous posts, had no issue storing in the compartment in upper deck next to the window. During the first drink service I felt out of place ordering a cocktail as they only came by with the wine cart. I typically like another cocktail before I switch to wine. Pre Polaris they'd roll the carts twice before the main meal service, so could get a cocktail or two before switching to wine for dinner. Chose the Asian Fusion Chicken Soup for main, which was tasty. Post service, the attendants never really came down the aisle except during the seat belt announcements. That said, I got up to get a snack from the galley and the FA saw me and offered me anything I wanted. Neither attendant was overly friendly, but have no complaints.

NRT-LAX. Was a little worried as the flight was delayed an hour coming in and had a tight connection to the mountains via LAX. The departure time was only delayed 20 mins even with aircraft arriving an hour late. To my amazement, they boarded the plane in 20 mins (BF wasn't full, but economy was pretty full). The crew seemed rush with the quick boarding, trying to get everything ready. That said, they were very friendly, offered everyone PDBs, took meal orders etc. The flight attendant on my side of the aisle was extremely nice. First drink order came by with wine cart and offered me wine or remembered that I had a G&T and asked if I'd like that first, or even both that and a wine tasting. I found it nice that while she had the wine cart, she asked if I wanted a cocktail, etc., and didn't seem put off to run back to the galley and get it. Had the beef cheek for main, which was very tasty. Crew was much better on this flight. You could tell they enjoyed the new service and were overall just extremely friendly and pleasant to be around.

Overall impressed with the new service. I enjoyed the new meal options. Wine tasting was good, however I'd feel out of place ordering a cocktail unless offered. Looking forward to flying it again.

Back when p.s. had the portable video players, with headphones, I always loved the headphones - they were far, far superior to the junk that were then offered in the intl. F and C cabins, as they were full noise-cancelling.

https://s27.postimg.cc/nieflm8r7/Sc...8_42_55_AM.png

Anyhow, I always wanted a pair, especially after they were phased out (even more so after the tulip was phased out). So I bought a pair off of Ebay. It did cross my mind that the units may have been taken off of a plane but it was ~4 years (2013) after they had been gone. They still sound great, but even to this day, I dare never take them to an airport, much less aboard a UAL plane.

+1 .. those headphones beat the current ones hands down.

Yes... they were actually noise-canceling, not 'noise-reducing'.

Agree, UA has to start educating FAs on service. I use to work in Singapore and flew out of LAX or SFO to Singapore. The Singapore Air FAs were a total different class level. UA can through all the pillows, blankets, and wine at you but if you still get crappy treatment from the FA it doesn't matter.

My understanding is that that is a current work in progress. Fiancee's cousin who's a fairly junior sCO FA said he was in Polaris training a couple weeks ago.

Then don't present it as fully functional. The new stuff that is sort of available could have been a surprise and delight instead of half-......functional with confused staff. My flight to AKL was like watching the 3 Stooges service business.

You have hardened, entrenched crabs that have treated customers like the enemy for 30 or 40 years. A little extra training is not going to change that. What is needed is a complete culture change. That means about 1/3 of current FAs need to go. I would just fire them. But, it would actually be worth it to United to pay them to leave.

I will give you both of those points -- when he mentioned it [I was in ORD unexpectedly, curious if he was around/free for lunch] I was a little caught off guard since the product was already "live" (though, also with 60k FAs it will take some time to get to all of them) -- and on my two Polaris flights thus far it hasn't been quite Three Stooges, but it's also certainly not a well choreographed ballet. A bit more like watching a elementary school play: Well meaning but not well executed.

There's also that. My two Polaris flights thus far have had younger [and incidentally, sCO] crews and the service has been warm, but based on what I saw in BF in 2016, there are some who "old and bitter" doesn't begin to cover it...and of course, based on seniority, those are the FAs most likely to bid and win the long-haul/flagship services that Polaris must win to be successful. [I will never forget the sUA FA who, on SFO-SYD, after rushing to the lav to "urgently return dinner via the hole through which it entered" and popping my head into the galley across from the lav to ask for water bit my head off with "The seatbelt sign is ON. Sit DOWN." (A different FA came by my seat about 30 seconds later with water)

It doesn't help that (reading between the lines of conversations with FAs on my flights) there's a tremendous amount of acrimony between the Sr. and Jr. FAs post-contract.

As far as United FAs are concerned, I think y'all are correct all the way around. Someone who's been getting away with being barely effective at a job for 30 years is not going to change for any reason ... and doesn't have to. America does not have the culture to consistently produce FAs who graciously take care of their passengers. I wish they'd put those cranky ones in the galley to do all the prep and let the decent FAs interact with the passengers. I've learned to ignore them, but they do cast a pall on a flight. There's no question that a bright, cheerful FA who's interested in the job is a real treat.

Why would older FAs want to work the longer flights?

Has to be harder on them.

Must be better pay, like OT?

On the longer flights, you work from takeoff through the first meal service, maybe 2-3 hours max. Then you hide from passengers and kick back for 8 hours. Then you do another service before arrival. That's a pretty good work-to-relax ratio.

By contrast, on a 1-hour SFO-LAX flight, you're pretty much running around the whole time the plane's in the air.

Polaris is changing this a little bit, requiring a little more time. So we may see some of the more senior FAs shift back to domestic. Let's pray that happens.