PsuedoEuropeanGuy

I've got a bunch of miles to burn on upgrades (being based in Europe I'm flying to the US every month). But I"ve noticing a lot of dissatisfaction with united's beyond Y classes.

There are recent threads on:

a) Animals in business class Crossing the line? Rights of UA passenger when animals are on the flight.
b) Crying babies in FC Lap Infant(s) in Premium Cabins
c) Bad food
etc.

Are these just anomalies and the vast majority of trips are worth it?

This begs the question: "On what fraction of trips are you satisfied with United's Premium Cabin Product?"

Feel free to break it down by domestic vs international or another way.

rankourabu

Could it possibly be that premium cabin carries a higher percentage of self-important entitled spoiled pax who think they are the shizzle because their boss paid for J on the way to the next sales meeting/convention. Or more status pax? Or more people who forked out extra cash only to be disenchanted by 8 across dorm style J?

jsloan

Mile-supported upgrades are not usually a great value due to the co-pay. You may want to use your miles for premium cabin awards instead of upgrades, or try to get to 1K (if you're not already) and then use GPUs.

My experiences with UA business and first have been fine. Not spectacular, but fine. The only time I've ever had a crying baby up front was on an LH F flight, where one of the other passengers got so fed up he went and approached the parent, sending the otherwise stoic F service manager into a fit. (In other words, this issue is not specific to UA).

I don't like the 8-across seats, although they're not as bad as I expected them to be. They're still lie flat, and I can sleep in them, and that's all I care about. I normally sleep through the meal service and I don't particularly care to be waited on hand and foot -- I'm perfectly happy to be left alone unless I need something. For me, the value proposition is about being able to enjoy my destination once I arrive, instead of landing in pain and with particularly bad jet lag.

You're the best judge of what's important for you personally, of course.

PS: domestic first is rarely worth paying for but nice to have as a free upgrade.

AugustusM

I'd say about 90% of the time. When it isn't right I write in to 1KVoice and they toss me miles however now that the new in cabin compensation has been rolling out I have been proactively given miles by the FA.

prometa

I see United pricing domestic recliner F at about $50/hr over the cost of the comparable economy fare. Premium Transcontinental flights typically have a higher differential. Other domestic flights using the lay-flat seats have variable pricing that doesn't seem to have a rhyme or reason to it as far as I can tell.

Recliner F, like jsloan says, is rarely worth paying for. I tend to do it on full early morning flights where I'm groggy and generally less willing to survive all that's necessary to travel in the back. Of note, the recliner seats are not any more comfortable to sleep in for me, because the chair backs are the same height as in Y, and I'm >6ft tall, so the top of the seat hits the middle of my neck even with the headrest full extended. I try to go "hobo first" for redeyes, when I'm forced to take them.

Domestic lay flat F is a much nicer experience and I buy-up to it a lot more often. It's obviously about 100x easier to sleep.

I don't take PS flights often because I don't travel to/through EWR. But the one $299 TOD upgrade I made on a late-evening EWR-SFO flight was so obviously worth it I wouldn't hesitate to do it every time.

For international J, I think the consensus would be that United's J is certainly better than Y, but if you are burning miles, you might as well look for *A partner awards. Miles are worth the least when used for upgrades, as jsloan hints, and you're better off booking the J ticket directly. Personally, I wouldn't want to spend more than 8 hours in Y unless I had a row to myself.

EWRMAN

I've been happy every flight this year in intl J. Nothing about it is mind blowing. But the combo of lie flat, plenty of free OK booze and warm food makes me happy.

lhrsfo

I’m very happy with premium travel but then I only bother with it for overnight flights -I’m too old to sleep in E+. So I rate it principally on the comfort of the bed. I quite like the ones on the old 747s and the 777s. I’m not so sure about the 787s

wxguy

Nearly 200K BIS miles this year so far in premium J or F. Every flight was comfortable and safe and got me to where I paid to go. Every one had same day service (except those that crossed the dateline!). Just one mechanical on a TPAC resulting in a two-hour delay. No complaints, and some great crews that provided excellent service.

United747

I think “fine” describes it pretty well. Food is hit or miss, I normally don’t drink on the flight, so cannot comment there. Service is usually average. Sometimes you get great service and other times not so much.

I like it it most for the flat bed seat. I can actually get some good sleep compared to Y.

NeilA

If I can use award miles to go to Europe from SEA evening flight it is wonderful! I don’t find premium cabin on the return trip nearly as valuable- westbound for me is just a long, long day.

Domestic (award mile usage) or paying for premium is beyond my means.

mherdeg

A while back I adopted the following strategy with respect to paying extra for UA services:

* If United is asking me, the thing they're asking about probably represents pure profit for them.

* If United has nearly convinced me to buy up / pay X extra fee, they must be making a very convincing argument. The markets underestimate the extent to which this argument is convincing if *I* who try to weasel out of every fee am about to pony up some money.

* Therefore, whenever United is about to convince me to pay extra for something (buy-up to J on a Y sector -- copay for an upgrade request -- buy up to W to apply a GPU -- buy up to a higher fare class to increase RPU clearing chances -- etc.) I buy United stock instead. There aren't many ancillary buy-up perks that are really memorable in the long run.

I have generally not regretted buying NYSE:UAL. Certainly it's more fun to periodically check the portfolio and see if it spikes vs. the time-limited fun of checking the upgrade waitlist.

StingWest

Since my flying is primarily TATL, I got fed up with United's 8-across seating in J a couple years ago, and haven't flown them since, preferring either BA or VS. For domestic, I'm now a JetBlue fan and fly their "Mint" first class whenever the price is reasonable.

However, the new Polaris business seat looks very nice indeed, and I've convinced my wife to try it for a 15 hour flight to New Zealand in February. We're burning all our UA miles to do it, so it's an important decision point for the future

StingWest

Good analogy haha but I certainly hope you sold some UAL in the Spring before it dived.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Domestically (and as a 1K who would get a free food item and booze in coach), I see a front cabin seat as more room, that's all. That's the only differential for me between coach and first.

zombietooth

Now that we are older, my SO and I always fly in J or better internationally. Being tall has made it almost intolerable for me to sit in coach for any significant length of time, even in E+. In fact, the last time that I didn't get an upgrade internationally was in 2014 from HKG-ORD where I had to stand for most of the flight just to prevent cramping.

With the above being said, all that UA has to do to get my business are the following:

1. Provide a comfortable lie-flat seat-they do.
2. Be among the cheapest-I only buy Z/P/W fares (always on my dime) and have found them very competitive internationally.
3. Treat me well in IRROPS situations-they have done an excellent job with this for me over the last several years. In fact, I feel like they give me GS level treatment sometimes e.g. when they booked us into J on another carrier to get me to Japan on time last year after our flight went mechanical.

I don't care about the substandard food, the sometimes surly FAs, and the bad IFE (my last two flights, it didn't even work for the entire flight).

My expectations match UA's reality.