InterPlace55

Truly a lot of backlash from this guy in a Perfect Storm of bad things happening to him, but it does bring up the fact that UA and essentially all US Airline Flight Crews need to act like they want to serve you. At least give me that, and I'll be just fine.

Still would take a Business class seat in United over a Y seat with anyone else any day.

uastarflyer

For all the bashing of the 4-seater center section, the weak writer wasn't in the 4, he was in a window seat requiring a climb out. Newly delivered circa 2016 (maybe 2017 too?) 789s have the same layout at the windows requiring a climb out.

The narrowly focused bashing of the sUA IPTE is demonstrably overwrought and easily debunked. The 2007 spec hard product is uncompetitive in certain respects in 2017, but what {can be said about} 2016+ rollouts being equipped with uncompetitive hard product at delivery?

FlyerJT

Good morning Nagoya! I wonder if I've got any comments on my United flight review...

Oh gawd.

As I responded to you on Twitter, I'm 100% confident of this statement (even months after I originally wrote it). I've flown almost 200k in economy since the beginning of 2016. Here's my flight log I know what I'm saying when I'd rather have flown JL, CX, and yes, even LH economy rather than this product.

The flight was sold - and marketed all over - as "Polaris". I'm only using the terminology that UA is using for this flight.

LOLZ. 147k so far in 2017 and 135k in 2016. 45 airlines in the past decade.

Not sure of your LH experience, but I quite enjoyed mine. How about free champagne in Y on the upper deck of the A380?

I did ask for the purser. I was told she was unavailable until I finally got the chance to talk with her just before landing. She confirmed that chewing tobacco wasn't allowed, but by that time it was a moot point. I'd finally been cleared to move (to take someone else's seat).

Did you see the photos of the food I got? Are you a fan of undercooked, fatty meat or something? If so, no judgement

I've flown 200k miles in economy in the past ~1.5 years. When I say that I'd rather fly economy on certain carriers than experience this flight again, I mean it. This experience was much worse than any of the economy long-haul flights I've had on JAL (787 2-4-2 arrangement FTW), CX or my long-haul experience on LH.

Fair enough. I will accept this as a mistake of mine for not raving on about the potential of a new hard product coming to this route (eventually). That said, this is the experience that UA is selling on this route at this time.

JVPhoto

Hyperbole.

I know you'll need to sit here and constantly defend yourself. We are UA fliers and when it sucks it sucks we agree on that. It's your bogus I would rather fly Y statement that's aimed at the kettles you're hocking CC sign ups to.

minnyfly

Wow, TPG. Way to throw what remaining credibility you had out the window. This is why you don't outsource your writing to the lowest bidder.

That's objectively not reality, as the 2-4-2 IPTE seat in only about 20% (and shrinking) of the business class fleet.

The current most likely outcome is that you will find a BE diamond seat, as mentioned earlier.

FlyerJT

Yep, after the flight, I chuckled wondering if the flight could have gone any worse*. Certainly seemed like a perfect storm of broken hard and soft product and the worst neighbor I've had in the skies. That said, I was assigned to review this flight - not what it could've been.

*aside from the flight itself. Mind you, I'm that annoying guy that thanks the pilots at the end of a flight. We really take for granted how safe aviation is nowadays. I actively try to appreciate this fact.

That's not an empty threat. This was a downright miserable experience. I'd easily give up this narrow broken seat with broken IFE/power, terrible food and lousy service for a JAL 787 Y seat and any experience I've had with them.

I can't speak for TPG as a whole, but I assure you that I'm trying to keep the quality of my posts high

Mind you, I'm one of you guys - an avgeek and travel hacker - who just lucked out to get a full-time gig with TPG. I'm honestly trying to stay true to my roots.

JVPhoto

Not quite. We fly for leisure or for work. Flying is not our "work".*



*save some of the pilots, FAs or ground crew like Fastair who is a great resource here.

FlyerJT

I've enjoyed TK and SQ Y as well. Mind you, my LH Y experience was pretty unusual: upper deck of the A380, complete with a storage bin to my side, free champagne, an excellent FA, and pretty good food - not to mention working IFE and power.

Well, that's harsh.

Mind you, I'm just an avgeek and lover of travel that's lucked into the dream job of being able to be paid for traveling and writing about it.

Hmm, I'm honestly trying to follow you here. What I was saying is that - at my core - I'm just a avgeek and lover of travel. I worked as a tax accountant for 11 years, longing for any days off that I could go travel the world.

I stumbled into writing for TPG in July 2015 when I was taking an Air China 747-8 Y flight from SFO-PEK. TPG was curious how an economy review would do and wondered if there'd be interest in Air China. That post blew up with positive comments about wanting more Y reviews - so I got two more reviews: LH Y PEK-FRA and AC Y ZRH-YYZ. I was over the moon that I had the opportunity to share my experiences on such a massive platform that I didn't even care if I got paid (which I did).

After I got back from that trip, I pitched some one-offs, started helping with some news. By mid-2016, my knowledge and expertise (what it might be) was in such high demand by TPG that I was working over 100 hours a week between my day job and my side hustle. So, after fall tax season 2016, I went on unpaid leave to "catch up" on my TPG articles. That turned into me turning in my notice at the tax job and becoming a full-time contributor. I accepted a full-time job offer in Feb 2017.

Yes, my work is now to travel, but I still consider myself one of y'all. Ask those that have met me at Chicago Seminars.

JVPhoto

And now you try to get people to click and share your posts by saying things like "wow this was so bad I would rather fly Y!" None of us here would say that. It's not hard to follow.

porciuscato

I've had at least half a dozen United business class experiences where I definitely would have been happier in Economy on another airline -- Lufthansa, SQ, even Air Asia or EasyJet.

I have NEVER - NOT ONCE - had staff on any of these airlines say deliberately degrading or insulting things to me as I have on United. You guys can get all gushy about the seats on United. United Business Class seats are definitely better than Economy seat elsewhere -- as they should be at 5X the price. But for many of us, the treatment matters more than the hardware.

And the treatment frankly sucks. It's little things like not putting the tray on your tray table or making you pick it up, because they are too lazy to bend a few degrees and get it. The TPG author clearly clued into this right away. But what lurks behind that is much bigger and worse things. --and the underlying antagonistic attitude toward customers that pervades United. We saw that with Dr. Dao, the poor old guy in Houston, and I see it about once a month when I end up on United.

Can you imagine as a member of a minority to have somebody call you "little boy?" Think about that. I've only had that experience on United.

Gig103

The amenity kit DID look nice. If anyone has an unused one, I'll paypal the shipping fee to ya

joshwex90

We all know the seats are cramped, but it would be the equivalent of flying slanted C on LH and swearing off their new lie-flats as well.

Preferring Y on LH to C on UA? Whatever the worst C seats and worst C service is on UA, has the author been o LH Y?

leungy18

I don't know why no one's addressed the Polaris hard product rollout yet.

J > Y in most cases, obviously. But I think I'd be pretty miserable if the legrest and IFE was broken.

Clearly, UA's Polaris marketing campaign is premature.

How long is it going to take before all the long-haul planes get a retrofit? The 2-4-2 seats are practically falling apart, as evidenced by this article. UA should get Zodiac to speed up and retrofit ahead of schedule.

Grog

Economy...on Lufthansa...? Get him to the clinic.

The Points Guy lost a LOT of points on that one.

FlyerJT

Yes. I reviewed it here.