tuolumne

Hm, well I did LH F late last year and I have to say that both the old and new UA F suites beat it as far as the hard product goes. First, the LH F seat isn't really a "suite" at all leaves one completely exposed. The IPTE F suite in particular creates a far greater sense of ones own "work room", with more storage and intimacy. Second, I found both UA F suites to be more comfortable to sleep on, IPTE F being the best in this regard. Thirdly, IPTE F blows LH F out of the park with 15.4" monitors with AVOD, a function most American flyiers value highly. Forthly, I prefer the F cabin in the nose of the 744, which feels far more exclusive than the upperdeck. LH F cannot offer the same exxlusive experience of seat 1K on a UA 744.

Of course LH blows UA F out of the park with everything else, though one should also consider cabin accessibility and cost in making a conclusion here. UA F, now more than ever with the IPTE F suites, offers a remarkable hard product in an extremely accessible cabin. In the end, the hard product is what I would venture to guess drives purchasing decisions to the American captive more than an obsessive cabin service with very restrictive admittence, a la EK/SQ/LH

Thought I will still say that I have never had a bad experience with crews in an intl. UA F or C cabin, as every flight has been a pleasurable experience over the years. Yes LH crew was wonderful, but they also lacked the human touch I find thorought the UA system, something that is EXTREMELY difficult to qualify in words. Whether in Chicago, Dulles, LA, Narita, Heathrow, SFO, even Santa Barbara - they really are some of the most professional employees that I know of. A remarkable feat after the tumultrous last decade which saw massive sallary decreases, massive layoffs, and a COMPLETE divestment of their pension plans, not to mention two aircraft being involved in 9/11 - yet somehow they all went to hell and back and came out stronger than ever - giving them spines of steel and a strength that none of the employees at their foreign counterparts (SQ/EK/LH) could ever really relate to. This is what makes United United and gives PMUA employees the genuine character and human warmth that underpins the unique American approach to service.

In the end, they still love their company. There's a lot of talk about the UA culture inferior to that of their new merged workbase of Co, but I truley believe the culture instilled at the PMUA side over the last two decades (which far outnumbers CO by sheer scale) shouldn't be simply written off, much less underestimated as to shaping the newly merged culture.

global happy traveller

when i fly UA, i fly with my eyes shut......get it over and done with..... have to say though their intra-asian service is better!

mduell

Depends how much you want to cuddle with the other middle seat. The biggest problem IMO is the lack of a substantial divider like any 2 seats have between them.

Per the safety professionals on my last 747 and 777 flight, the IPTE F suite has no storage.

NickP 1K

I know there is lots of Smisek bashing ; this continual bashing here on a new topic every few months is why I don't participate that much an FT anymore. It's gotten old fast.

Back to OP post.

I've had 5 good UA flights this year mostly LAX-NRT and LAX-SYD routings. My worst flights were PEK-SFO and one NRT-SFO flight. Terrible crews, awful service.

Rest on UA are mediocre.

Contrast that to multiple CO segments I've done from IAH and EWR (EWR-NRT exceptional in BF) and some segments out of GUM . I've not had an issue with the CO service on any of these flights. For how much bunk here on it wil be cost cutting the CO way, I have no real opinion on that as I find CO to be a much more professional and well thought out Biz product than UA. UA was like this pre 9/11 - but it's pathetic now how inconsistent UA is. I feel really bad for the good UA crews that their efforts still mean little when a lot of the rest of the carrier is just so service poor. I don't see how UA side of UA/CO can get worse in today's market folks - I really don't. Yes I flew UA post 9/11 and BK and service was worse but today I don't see Smisek and crew making service worse.

Just my 2 cents; 1MM flyer who likes UA but has NO ill will to CO and would like to see CO's standards apply to UA

UA-NYC

Going OT, Taking a step back, I think CO in-flight is very different from CO pre-/post-flight and OP the loyalty program.

In-flight, newer planes are nice (and in regular options, a tight ship is run), crews are good generally, food is a strong suit, DTV is nice for those willing to pay (or get free in F), BF in the new seats is quite good (Y seat comfort the main issue overall). I say this mostly based on domestic flights; BF elevates CO overall, if my one flight is any indication.

However, to get to that point of being on the plane, your reservation may or may not get ticketed quickly, waitlisted UGs may not clear when R opens up (even though they should), EUA may not run pre-T-24, TODs get offered and undermine a cornerstone elite benefit, there are higher IDB rates and VDB process is flawed, the boarding process sucks (all elites are equal!), and heaven help you in IRROPS (SHARES...enough said).

And after flying, non-CO miles can take forever to post (or not as all), getting missing miles credited is a nightmare, the OPSC is difficult to reach and not empowered, and CS issues take forever to get resolved, if at all.

I generally don't mind being on board CO (unless stuck in Y of course), it's a lot of everything else that is a FAIL in my mind, and too much of it is going to be part of Newnited.