FlyfromDenver

Someone else will have to answer because I flew them once(RT) last spring. It was because I got a great deal through AAvacations thanks to FT - Rt in business with 3 nights in a hotel in Barcelona or I could try United with miles and money roulette for the same # of $ (I have tons of miles so that part didn't matter). I decided to go for the sure thing. (There were other differences in benefits as well but I live in Denver and now am a mm +1K so for this year, I haven't looked elsewhere)

ctownflyer

I've had some bad UA experiences in J and even F.

But a lie flat seat being worse than Y on another carrier? That's some serious clickbait.

There's no way you pick LH Y over UA J next time, all else being equal.

FlyerJT

It's hardly clickbait when it's more than 2,000 words into the article and not mentioned in any TPG social posts. The only people that are mentioning it outside the article are here on FlyerTalk.

And, by the way, thanks for all of the views coming from FlyerTalk!

And yes. The statement isn't hyperbole. My experience on this flight was worse that what I've had on JAL Y, CX Y or LH Y. So, yes, I would've rather flown those products again than have had this experience in UA J.

You get the same choices on-board. Ordering ahead allows the airline to ensure that you get what you want while being able to stock less meals.

uastarflyer

suppose the leg rest is bad. Keep it stowed and have 60" pitch

but no, 31" is better ;rolleyes:

cairns

The following is what UAL announced to it's employees:

They blamed subsidies. The fact is they weren't competitive in either hard or soft product and once Emirates et. al. started service people choose the better airline. It's like going from here to Miami. I always take AA because UAL not only offered an inferior product they quit trying. I have found that whenever I go from here to another airline's hub you use the other airline. I used to go out of my way to take UAL but that kind of loyalty went by the boards once they started devaluing their FFP.

Also to be clear I wouldn't choose to go y over c all things being equal. But saving thousands of dollars on what I know will be a good coach flight v. a poor or iffy business experience?

In a heartbeat.

danielSuper

From the article: He is comparing that particular business class flight, not the hard products with "all else being equal" and "5 years in the future when all Polaris are rolled out". We can read such PR in Hemispheres magazine, that's not why people read blogs.

And I can totally see where is he coming from. I just landed with UA 160 from Munich. I had to escalate 3 times for my kid to be given meal - he is two with a fully paid seat. Flight attendants were impersonal, doing rolleyes and I had to grab the food from the cart, since they can't be bothered to lean in. Food was way below average.
If you have a Stockholm syndrome from flying legacy US airlines, I feel sorry for you, but I can totally see going out of my way to fly Y in LH next time.

quantumslip

It's amazing to see the lengths that people go to discredit TPG. While some of his opinions may be incorrect, there are a lot of things that he did get correct as well. Focusing on what he got wrong to the point that it invalidates the whole review does't change the fact that what he did get right he did get right, such as customer service, the soft product,etc. (Sounds like politics and the Internet these days).

United did not exactly help hen they rebranded everything Polaris, which may lead to confusion among those expecting to have the new hard product. Granted someone like him should have known, but still.

tuolumne

I sense a lot of combativeness, condescension and passive-aggressiveness coming from your posts. It's not a good look and makes it appear as though you're threatened.

Manospeed

I've flown to Europe in coach using both UA and LH, but have also flown Polaris on UA. If comparing the two products (coach), I agree that LH is on another level.

However, to state that flying coach on LH is a better offering than UA's Polaris is simply hyperbole and biased.

Catbert10

But you clearly implied that the non-truth contained within the truths rendered the truths unbelievable, i.e., non-truths. This is not true.

qukslvr619

I'd venture to say that this has been over exaggerated, and the "mass exodus" of travelers from UA to EK on the basis of EK having a superior soft/hard product should be taken with a grain of salt. For one thing EK was 10-abreast in Y vs UA's 9-abreast and most importantly, at least from the govt travel side, they wouldn't have switched travel over to EK because they were required to fly the contract carrier which was UA. It wasn't a high-yielding route for UA but having the contract in place definitely played some part in UA running it and notwithstanding the politics of the ME3, it was a pretty ridiculous action by GSA to award the route to JetBlue in the first place as they didn't even operate the route directly. The irony with that is the US govt essentially would be subsidizing EK as well.

Grog

I definitely did not, but I can't control what you infer.

I fly predominately European airlines, and predominately LH. If you actually see yourself going out of your way to fly Y in LH next time over flying ANY other airline's J product (including Norwegian Air Shuttle), why even discuss UA's J product (or anyone's J product) at all? It sounds as if Y on any carrier would fit your needs. So, go out of your way to fly LH in Y, but only if your other choices are Y, too. Cus Y on LH is comparable (except for its sub-par seat pitch) to other Y's, but usually for an extra $50-$100 per transoceanic leg and certainly nothing super-special to write home about unless you stay awake the whole time and watch IFE incessantly and wish to brag about all the international films you saw after recovering from your lack of in-air sleep. Without a doubt, it loses out to anyone's J.

In Y? or J?

IMO, a writer should use everything at their disposal--written, spoken, experienced. Otherwise how is one (including the writer) to know the brand-internal or -external benchmarks?

And I've not contested a single statement from the review referring to those types of points.

DutchessPDX

Precisely why I choose the current 5 across configuration and LOVE that solo middle seat if I'm travelling alone.

halls120

Yes, it is. Because no matter how bad the food is, no matter how surly the crew, even if the wine is swill, the J seat is bigger and more comfortable than any seat in the Y cabin.

I've been flying for over 30 years and I've yet to see the Y seat I would pick before a J seat. YMMV, of course.

cairns

Oh the irony. You say UAL can't compete unless the government subsidizes them and they say they can't compete because Emirates is subsidized.

The fact is they lost to Jet Blue/Emirates fair and square. Just like they lose to AA going to DFW or MIA or DL going to ATL. All the big three whined and protested and all three lost.

And why the big worry about 9 v 10 in coach when it's 8 across in business- a fare which is ten times more expensive? I don't notice the squeeze- (a half inch?) but I like a lot of others noticed the food, service, stretch and lower airfare.

Have you been to IAD's United concourse? Compared it with Emirates/Virgin/QATAR? Well the airlines are just as different as the concourses are- one is new, clean and bright and the other is old, dark and stinky.