New Polaris vs LH J EWR to FRA
Feb 27, 2019, 4:27 pm
#18
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Feb 27, 2019, 4:27 pm
#19
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Hard products: UA wins with Polaris seats and you get a great night of sleep on the red eye flight. Eat at Polaris lounge and forget the cafeteria food during the flight. It is not worth it to stay awake for.
Soft Products: Don’t even bother choosing UA if you are paying J. It has been embarrassingly bad but that is just my personal opinion. For a daytime flight and if not planning to sleep, I’d pick LH for food, wine and services.
Soft Products: Don’t even bother choosing UA if you are paying J. It has been embarrassingly bad but that is just my personal opinion. For a daytime flight and if not planning to sleep, I’d pick LH for food, wine and services.
Feb 27, 2019, 4:45 pm
#20
Join Date: Jul 2013
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I have never once had an LH flight attendant hand me a tray -- or gesture for me to hand it to them when they're clearing. I think they're actually trained to serve you. United FAs, by contrast, seem to have a very hard time actually putting things on your tray, preferring the lazy route of simply holding it above your head and expecting you to reach up like a supplicant and take it out of their hands. Just one example of how United doesn't have the first clue about service.
Feb 27, 2019, 7:29 pm
#21
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While the onboard service is excellent on LH, I have not always been impressed with their food, especially the "lunch" services on westbound TATL like FRA-SFO. Nothing horrifying, but many of my experiences have been mediocre.
Feb 27, 2019, 9:22 pm
#22
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huh ... that is an opinion not commonly shared.
Feb 28, 2019, 12:37 am
#23
Join Date: Jan 2003
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Back on topic, one more vote for dinner in polaris lounge and sleep as soon as wheels are up.
Feb 28, 2019, 9:30 am
#24
Join Date: Sep 2014
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The price difference comes from available inventory. The UA flight only has D available while the LH flight is in P.
As recently discussed on another thread for this exact route, RM releases fewer discount seats / those seats get booked more quickly because the UA flight is late enough one can leave work at 5pm and make the flight, it can catch some additional connections from other cities, and/or it arrives in FRA at a more convenient hour.
Mar 7, 2019, 8:17 pm
#25
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I'll second the mediocre sentiment, while noting that i've had plenty of mediocre UA meals as well. While LH F food is simply a cut above, I've always thought there wasn;'t much difference between LH and UA business food. I've often thought the "LH has better food" mantra was a combination of the novelty of German food (or the novelty of any different airline's catering if you are used to flying UA) and the general sentiment that foreign carriers are always and in every respect better than domestic carriers. For my palate, not always the case with food.
Mar 8, 2019, 2:06 am
#26
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You must never have been offered the pigeon soufflé entree.
SL
Mar 8, 2019, 12:12 pm
#27
Join Date: Feb 2013
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There's nothing wrong with LH J when travelling with a companion, as the soft product is definitely better than UA. And, you can use the Polaris lounge, too.
Mar 8, 2019, 12:14 pm
#28
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Only at the departure point, not arrival and not at connecting points. If flying UA, you get expanded access.
Mar 8, 2019, 1:42 pm
#29
Join Date: Feb 2013
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You are, of course, right about the expanded access to the Polaris lounges, but for EWR to FRA (as per thread title) the difference will be limited to the arrival at EWR, if the return is on UA J. And, I don't think many people use the lounge after an international arrival instead of going home, to the office, to the hotel etc., but depending on the specific situation, access on arrival may be a plus.
Mar 8, 2019, 4:56 pm
#30
Join Date: Apr 1999
Location: Montréal, Canada
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Flying solo these days, my first choice would be Polaris. I try to avoid J cabins where all seats do not have direct aisle access. This, of course, is not always possible, but it is an achievable goal nonetheless. Having flown innumerable upper deck J cabins on 747 400-800's I am not as awestruck by their novelty as most. I actually prefer the A380's. As much as I enjoy LH's more sophisticated catering, their hard product's seat configuration, at least for a solo traveller. leave me underwhelmed. My favourite solo pax seat on a *A carrier is LX's throne seat, followed by OS's odd numbered window seats.