qukslvr619

Dramatic much? While it seems that everyone seems to have a UA horror story, I can't seem to put much credibility into claims about UA is terrible, UA has the worst soft product, UA hate unicorns...because they are such generalized statements and really don't seem to be based on fact or even valid comparisons.

For example:
LAXORD UA vs AA soft product in Y...can you honestly say that UA is that much worse or even that much different? Both airlines offer wifi/streaming, BoB, and have similar aircraft configurations.

FlyfromDenver

Interesting comments - nitpicking, really, because at the core, this review is saying the same things many people here have been saying for months. I actually looked carefully at the Polaris ad in a recent Hemispheres. You had to look very carefully past the copyright with almost a magnifying glass(or good readers) to see the caveat about it not be available at every location or on every aircraft.

Poor service and things not working are not an anomaly. Maybe occasional but they happen.

N1120A

1. That simply isn't true anymore.

2. That almost certainly won't be true.

FlyerJT

I'm not flying that 2-4-2 J product again. However, the statement is carefully worded: "This was by far the worst business-class flight I’ve experienced. I can easily think of a few economy products that I would’ve rather flown instead: Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa come easily to mind."

That experience was disastrous - from the disgusting neighbor (not UA's fault, but the FAs refused to deal with the situation), to the broken leg rests (that happens and from the feedback I'm getting, quite often), to the broken IFE and power (again, that happens), to the miserable service (UA's fault), to the disgusting food (broken ovens happen). I would very much rather have flown that same distance in JL Y (which I've done many times thanks to an error fare) or CX Y (which I've done less often) or LH Y (which I've done on the A380 upper deck Y). There was no way that I was getting to sleep with the constant coughing up of phlegm from the guy 5 inches away from me, so the lie-flat seat was no value.

Plus, I get it that some people want lie-flat at all costs. I'm not one of those people. I can sleep in a reclined Y seat just fine. So, there's literally no value to a crappy UA J seat with inedible food and horrible service over a functioning Y seat with decent food and good service.

InterPlace55

Really??? Their bedding is pretty amazing. Got a good 2.5 hour nap on the P.S. red-eye LAX-EWR

At least give that a pass

halls120

Indeed. I can't think of a single airline Y seat I'd choose over ANY business class seat.

porciuscato

There was another point that I missed here


Actually chewing tobacco is expressly prohibited. I've heard that announced many times.

You should only have to mention it to any FA once and they should address it immediately. Anything else constitutes a major failure and is manifestly "UA's fault," just as it would be if they allowed someone to smoke throughout the flight.

leungy18

It's true that there's a lot of hyperbole, and that opinions on food are largely subjective, but much of what FlyerJT wrote wasn't wrong. Instead of nitpicking about him not mentioning the bedding and laughing at him for writing about the teddy bear, why aren't the more truthful bits being addressed?

Chewing tobacco is disgusting. It became UA's problem the moment the FA knew about it. It sucks to watch a movie and be interrupted every now and then. A broken legrest doesn't add to your experience.

And someone here attacked FlyerJT for not understanding UA's meal ordering system in biz. Well, that's not his fault. My first time in UA biz, the FA explained how I should select my first choice, and then my second choice, and answered other questions about the meal service. The fact that the FA didn't bother explaining how entrees are selected shows that he/she was impatient, and that service is inconsistent -- you might get a good FA one flight and a really bad FA the next.

The worst J experience isn't better than the best Y. Granted, what the reviewer experienced was probably an anomaly, but many negative factors that he experienced should've been in UA's control.

tuolumne

Your review is full of ripe hyperbole. Sorry, I cannot take it seriously at all. You call yourself a global traveler, but you don't know United's meal ordering hierarchy. I mean, what??

You even dipped into your conversations with United's FAs, (galley talk YOU initiated), which was frankly incredible.

I showed this thread to my best friend who's an AA purser. Let's say they laughed out loud, and not at United or your broken footrest.

nottarockstar

Disagree. I find TPG to be very anti-UA lately. I think the cozy treatment was simply trying to get good coverage. TPG had another article about basic economy and how horrible it was and if it wasn't more than LAS-LAX, he would have been too uncomfortable in his seat to last -- btw, the guy was given an E+ , middle seat, then allowed to move to an exit row (on a $40 fare).

TPG is allowing inexperienced flyers to post for them, trying to make headlines by bashing, which has ruined the site, in my opinion. It's the same as the old NY Times review of Guy Fieri's restaurant -- writers writing for clicks, rather than real info. At least the NY Times article was funny.

leungy18

You can't possibly be serious. Sure, it's better than 10-abreast economy.

UA's 2-4-2 product is a decade behind the competition, while they (somewhat dishonestly) market a superior product and charge similar prices. FlyerJT has every right to call UA out on that.

When you charge upwards of $4,000 for a round-trip flight -- you should offer some modicum of privacy and good storage at minimum. All-aisle access is a huge plus. The 2-4-2 product is way too close to strangers for comfort.

tuolumne

This conversation has been flogged to death over the last decade.

United launched this product in 2006, and it was heralded as industry leading among it's US peers at that time, being the first lie flat of any US carrier in C (AMR/UAL had F suites in F for years before then).

A poll of FTers during integration-time even showed a near 50/50 parity preference between IPTE C and B/E Diamond seat. Remind me where the storage is in the latter seat, or in BA C for that matter. IPTE has amazing cushions, pleasing industrial design, large AVOD, collapsible armrests, and long bed length. I can't lie flat in SQ's C - I can in the middle seat of a United 3-class 777.

This 2-4-2- whining is just that - whining. I understand if you desire privacy, and the new product certainly addresses that. Go fly BA C, with it's "privacy", and you'll be crying for UAL IPTE.

I truly do not understand the hatred for IPTE F or C.

FlyerJT

Yep. Although I've flown 45 carriers, this was my first time in United international business class. So, how would I know about the meal ordering hierarchy? This review is meant to be a guide for those who aren't UA 1Ks and don't know the ins-and-outs of the airline - not 1Ks that clearly already know not only the product but the nuances UA's meal service.

Grog

Yes

Correct.

All of these service failures can (AND DO) occur in Lufthansa's Y--and the the Lufthansa Y seat NEVER gets any bigger or better.

On Lufthansa, I've experienced broken IFE, a broken seat, "hot" food that was served with an unthawed center, seat reservations that weren't honored, forced gate-checking of a carry-on within limits, even though one-third of the bins were unused and lots of other things that aren't coming to mind at the moment.

And, nice try, but it's disingenuous to compare these two things as if the Y product elsewhere is ALWAYS perfect, when of course both of them suffer from inconsistency from time to time.

If the point is "I'd rather pay $2500 and receive LH Y over UA C, it's a point I'd never concede.
If the point is "I'd rather pay $800 and receive LH Y over UA C", again, it's a point I'd never concede. If the point is "I'd rather tolerate LH Y for $800 than to spend $2500 and receive UA C, then I can get behind it.

Do you really think it's fair for a review to more or less live in a vacuum rather than to also accurately describe the usual experience as well as the immediately sampled experience?

SunLover

I gave up on TPG some time ago:

* Too much DYKWIA
* Too much feel-sorry-for-me attitude
* Too many first world problems
* Too much obligatory snark
* Too much whine with the cheezy

Effective for cutting through the internet travel blogger din I guess (and harvesting the ignorance of the casual traveler) but not much content wise for anyone with their own travel acumen. As for other airlines Y being preferred to UA J? Pick my description of that from the list above.

And FWIW check my posting history as I am not a UA loyalist or apologist.


SL