thetallone

I think you're misinterpreting my comments, which I should expect, since this is indeed the interwebs.

I'll make it simple:
Comments about P.S. = Good
Comments about me, or me (or anyone) posting about P.S. = waste of time (bad)

So as not to contradict my own comment, I will now state the following about P.S.: It is beginning to seem that there are indeed mixed opinions on the subject. GOOD. I'm not the only one who has an issue with P.S. This is the point of this blog; to hear thoughts and opinions about P.S. - good or bad

Not thoughts and opinions of me - good or bad

I think United shouldn't call this a premium service, and wax poetic on their website and on little cards in the seat backs about how luxurious and 'premium' this service is. E+ is a joke on this plane, everyone knows that. The cabins are dirty, grungy, and out of date. If I were paying for a First Class ticket from JFK to SFO, I would definitely not want to waste my money on an outdated cabin. I'd go Virgin America or anything else really.

Now, for upgrade prospects, P.S. is obviously better since there simply are more B and F seats. You have to fork over the 15,000 (or get lucky like I have a few times and get upgraded for operational reasons), but its definitely the best domestic front o' the cabin for United. I just think E+ needs work, and I think the whole interior of the aircraft needs an update. I can't tell you how many times those little flip down monitors in E+ were too dim to see anything, or had a chromenence problem.

as219

You've never gotten a Y->C upgrade as a 1K!?! That's fairly shocking. Either that, or (a) your profile is inaccurate and/or (b) you haven't flown p.s. routes more than once or twice.

mroban

Well without UDU on p.s. flights, he would still have to use a CR1, SWU or miles. Perhaps he hadnt realized that?? Then again, a 1K would probably know that. Anyway...

stupidhead

More pitch in Y+ requires removing one row so you can actually give 3 more inches, making ps Y+ the roomiest Y+ in the fleet at 37". They should also have the sames seats put in as the new Y seats on the 777.

SFBOS

PS may be imperfect, have ups/downs, and starting to look its age, but it is still a consistently superior product in both F and C.

SFOTurtle

Searched and couldn't find a more recent thread. Just completed a roundtrip in C SFO-JFK-SFO. My outbound was a Saturday late morning departure, with the return yesterday on UA 389 which leaves JFK at 7:29 p.m. On both flights, the pre-arrival snack service that included bananas, mini-Cliff bars, pretzels and nuts that had been offered on the PS flights I took earlier this year through June was not offered, only a pre-arrival cookie. Anyone else notice the absence of this snack offer? Also, the meal choices have basically not changed since early in the year -- still the same choice of shortribs, chicken sate, or pasta (ravioli on my outbound and lasagne on the return). Not like the snack choice was to die for, but I liked the choices and it was good to have a little snack on a 5 or 6 hour fight.

Oh and my colleague who I flew with yesterday was a GS on a paid J fare and his first choice of the pasta was not available for him (and there were open seats in F and no suggestion at any time that he should be upgraded). So much for any extra service for GSs on this flight.

UA-NYC

While he should have received his first choice of meal (can't believe there were that many other GS' who also wanted pasta), there's no reason that he should expect a free upgrade just because there are open F seats. That only comes through if there's a domino effect of opt-up'ing people from Y to C and thus C to F.

rch4u

The pre-arrival snack basket was cut from non-breakfast flights about 6 months ago. Is a cookie not a snack?

SFOTurtle

Funny, the flight attendant told me the same thing, but I had several PS flights in May and into mid-June and the snack basket was available on all of them, so the cut must have take place later in the summer.

Update: A colleague of mine flew PS C on SFO-JFK-SFO on Sun-Tues and actually had the pre-arrival snack basket on the outbound (9 a.m. departure from SFO) but not the return (5:30 p.m. flight from JFK). So apparently there are some flights where you get it, but most where you don't.

Phil Level

On the Oct 8 LAX-JFK red-eye, the old deli plate snack had been replaced with a grilled chicken breast served atop pasta salad. IMO, an improvement.

weirdlyndon

Seems to be the standard 'snack' now

UA-NYC

They've gone through a couple versions of that on LGA-ORD-LGA now - IMO pretty good. First was the pesto version, now a fresher/lighter primavera style. Nice.

ORD-LIH

Yesterday, I had the snack basket on the 6AM return of my JFK>LAX but not on my 4PM LAX>JFK on Monday. So it would appear that, indeed, it is only available on breakfast flights.

As an aside, I'm sure they model this stuff but they always seem to run out of the pasta (though I'm astonished they did so for a GS). I have actually found the premium cabins on p.s. flights not to be any more elite heavy than other elite heavy routes.

SFOTurtle

On my outbound SFO-JFK, the flight attendant told me that they only had loaded two pastas for the entire C cabin. No wonder why they would be short.

PTahCha

But by default, GS would get 4 stars next to their name and should get top priority on meal choice. Sounds like it may be a case of some FA wasn't paying attention.

If the FA was REALLY good, they would've offered the GS the pasta option from first class.