UA-NYC

You missed the tongue-in-cheek element of my post, thought winking emoticon did it

SFflyer123

There is simply no comparison. LH is a world-class airline with one of the best first class products in the world. UA's first class is barely comparable with Emirates business class, but UA carries cheaper wines. Both seats are lie-flats, LH is just awesome. See for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbAk_Fs8sJs

There is simply no comparison, and I have flown both LH first and UA first.

eponymous_coward

Iif this is specifically about comparing UA 979 with (insert daytime LH flight from FRA/MUC here), UA 979 is a daytime flight departing in the early morning, arriving in (ZRH time) evening/(EWR time) midday.

This means that it's not going to be a night flight and thus soft product elements like food and wine, and things like lounges are likely to be more important than the bed/seat (which I would agree UA wins on when you're comparing LH old equipment).

LH's seat and cabin temps were fine for me for getting in a few hours nap during a similar daytime flight recently (LH 490 FRA-SEA). I don't generally sleep well on planes (in fact, I slept quite poorly in F on a UA flight that left at a similar midday departure time on the same trip, and was pretty spent by the time I got to HKG after 25 or so hours of flying/lounge time with little sleep). I think LH blows UA away on nearly everything else, save IFE (LH's F seat screen is not very large)- food, wine, lounges, ground handling out of FRA/MUC (where you won't get anything special as a UA customer).

If this were an eastbound flight ex-EWR where the OP was primarily interested in sleeping a full night, I might have a different answer (though in my case, I'd probably pick LH anyway because I really liked LH soft product and I slept fine in LH F seats, but I'll grant that UA's IFE and bed could tip the scales the other way). Also, whether or not the OP is having to do some hideously complicated routing that kills lounge time/ gives a long layover to fly LH and less convenient flight times might influence my answer as well.

AntonS

+1. There is absolutely no comparison. Go with LH.

MatthewLAX

Have you people bashing UA and heralding the Lufthansa first class seat flown in UA's international F-cabin?

I think there is no dispute that the UA seat is MUCH better than on LH. If you want to sleep, go with UA.

For everything else, go with LH.

EnvoyBoy

In what world are the UA C and LH C neck to neck? UA has flat bed suites in C (except a few remaining 777's) with larger IFE screen. LH has angled seats, even on it's new 380's with small screens. Hardware is hardly neck to neck??

flyhen

Personally, I don't care whether it's lie flat. In fact, with the kind of pillows UA supplies, its rather uncomfortable to "lie flat" IMHO. That's why I have always been a fan of slanted seats. Whether its the old 777, NH or LH flights. As far as IFE, ever since iPad, I found myself ignoring the IFE except to check the flight status.

In that case, I like the LH armrest Yeah! That's right, their armrest provided better supports when using the iPad. IIRC the UA seats armrest is adjustable, but relatively narrower then LH. And one last thing, which absolutely bugs me is the "Backwards" seating in UA. I always found it creepy.

So, I should probably say LH>>UA.

azepine00

And if you want to stay awake and watch IFE take UA. 7" LH screen is laughable. Also when departing at least from LAX (and IIRC SFO) I'd take UA IFL over *A lounge. And if smth goes wrong i can get some travel credits out of UA.

Aside from more consistent service and meals (can't comment on wines - don't care personally) I hardly see any reason to pick LH when flying from US.

To each his own but your preferences are really out of mainstream. Nothing wrong with it but very few people would pick slanted over horizontal for example. And I have to pay to download movies to iPad while UA selection is acceptable, free and on a great screen.

While I can in some cases agree that LH F is better that UA F, it doesn't come anywhere close to "best first class products in the world".

eponymous_coward

The OP is flying ex-Europe, if you check the post.

I would see some very good reasons to fly LH F instead of UA F ex-USA, though- if you have to connect in SFO/LAX/ORD/IAD to get a UA nonstop to Europe from a hub (like me, SEA-based) and then (possibly) connect AGAIN in FRA/MUC, as opposed to taking a nonstop/single connection, it would be a no-brainer for me- I'd take LH F to Europe without hesitation. The difference between a 15" screen and a somewhat better lie-flat, and a 7" screen and a worse lie-flat is not enough for me to not like the convenience of the nonstop on a longhaul, especially given the other advantages that LH has.

That being said... I'll take a connection if it times the flight better. I preferred HKG-ZRH-FRA over HKG-FRA on a trip because the LX flight was a night flight- it's easier for me to get a decent night's sleep in LX F then than during daytime on LH.

The bottom line is there is no right answer that will suit everyone. Everyone's needs are different, so pick what suits your needs.

SFO777

Sorry to burst your UA rah-rah bubble, but LH First pax have access to UA IFLs in the US, while UA First pax are relegated to *A lounges at FRA/MUC and have no access to the LH FCT/FCLs.

Yeah, who cares about service and meals?

And our LH seats and bed were so uncomfortable last week.

MatthewLAX

Wow--those new seats--in a 747 to boot--look great.

But with no blue and yellow, it doesn't look like LH!

Jgish

At IAD, it depends on which lounge warden is manning the front desk. Last month I was admitted to the IFL "as an exception" and only because I was meeting a colleague before my LH flight departed.

azepine00

Let's not resort to cheating here - the pics are not of current LH F.
There is no question that the upcoming one is better but how many of those are currently in the sky - a couple? I think the comparison is with current LH F where I spent two long hauls last week...

Not sure if you had a chance to fly from LAX but it's mighty hard to access UA IFL in terminal 7 when you depart on LH from Tom Bradley.

SFO777

I took those pics last Friday, so it's pretty current in my book.

Fortunately, I live in SFO and the SFO IFL is one minute from the LH gates.

fly747first

While the UA 767 F and C seats both lie entirely flat, in F, the seats are angled sideways... so much so that they require an additional seatbelt which I don't find very comfortable.