RAR937

Hello all,

First post, please be gentle, LOL.
(If this should be posted elsewhere, please advise)

I'm prompted to sign on because I just flew an around-the-world
itinerary w/ Star members CO, TG and UA in Business Class.
I have had the pleasure of traveling in these cabins on some of the
"great airlines" of the world such as LH, BA, Swiss, South African, Cathay,
Qantas & Air New Zealand to name a few. I would say I'm easy
to please but yet savvy enough to know what I should be getting.

CO (Orlando-Newark-Tokyo) and TG (Tokyo-Bangkok-Dubai) could
not have been better w/ respect to staff interaction, aircraft appearance,
food presentation & taste, as well as cabin layout. Both were very consistent and enjoyable experiences. Exactly what I expected.

What a shock it was then to fly UA, Dubai to Washington.
For those of you familiar w/ their 777's I was seated in the second
section of J between the galley and economy.

I still cannot get over being in a middle seat in Business Class. In a
nutshell I found their cabin layout made for a cramped experience.
The cabin was really ugly, a gray bulkhead but old-fashioned looking gold along the outside of the bathroom itself. It looked hodge-podge and
reminded me of a car with primer on a door panel.

Amenity kit was a joke. Really? A mesh bag w/ no-name toothpaste
and some socks? Is that the best they can do? The menu was disappointing as well as it appeared very little thought went into anything creative and it seemed a little classless when the flight attendents
ran a bar-cart down the aisle. I know others do this too, but I like the CO
way better, bringing drinks/meals out by hand. Moving along, being tired of airline steaks I went with the vegetable curry, which lacked imagination but was just edible. Toliets, 2? Yes sir, 2 for both cabins. I guess it
might not have been an issue except the cabin layout was such that
both doors opened and closed constantly flooding the cabin with light.
It was far from relaxing being in a middle seat in J with basically a strobe light on all night.

The part of my experience I was most disappointed in was the 10 hours
between the late dinner and breakfast (more later). Not once did a flight
attendant come thru the cabin inquiring about likes or needs.
I'm used to airlines handing out at least of bottle of water for the night.
UA didn't even do that. A cheap bottle of water. Wow.
A tray of wrapped sandwiches on a serving cart sat in front of the exit door. It was a self-serve system I'm not unfamiliar with but the annoyance came
when no crew ever came thru the cabin to pick up trash. Self-serve continued when the customer was expected to carry wrappers, napkins etc to the galley. Drinks? Yes please. Oh wait, I'll go get it.

Breakfast? I think what they meant to say was "Would you like
breakfast? Forgive me, I'm just not used to being barked at.
IMO, the crew could use some polish. I replied yes,
I'd like the fruit plate. Before bringing my breakfast I was brought a
danish which was just plopped down on my linen. Even at Denny's
I believe the customers are served food on a plate, no?

Now to that fruit plate. A crew member layed down the most
uninteresting looking omlette in front of me. I mentioned I'd ordered the
fruit plate to which she replied "All out." Ok, well I don't like eggs, maybe you
could've asked me. She returned to the galley and left it in front of me.
At this point, it's just a matter of whatever, at least it'll soon be over.

I know about the merger, blah, blah. I've seen the new logo, the backdrops, etc and it is growing on me. Merging with Continental the new UA sits on the balance of whether to be an innovative world leader or just be the biggest and defacto choice in a market. Hopefully in time, we'll see improvments.

The final comment I have is, I'm really confused by all I read on here that
some find UA's "new and refurbished F & J" experiences wonderful. I didn't.
I find it hard to believe they are in the same alliance with Lufthansa, Singapore, Thai, etc. Again, Star partners Thai and Contential
were great. I loved the class on Thai, and the professionalism on CO, but
I know that's another thread.

So, I ask you, "is it just me, or is UA really that bad?"

Santander

UA has a few good things but overall, yes they really are that bad. I would rather fly even CA over UA if it weren't for the relatively cheap upgrades and 100% mileage.

UAPremExecflyer

Welcome to FT!
As your post is pretty much a long complaint about UA, I'd suggest your thread is better off in the UA forum. Not sure why you posted it here?
Also, the basis of your complaint is nothing really new ... UA's new hard product (seat, IFE) stacks up pretty well against most carriers. It's soft product doesn't. Here's a similar thread from 2009, and there are many more since!
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...as-become.html

Markie

I'll move this to United where you may get more agreement.

However as a regular UA flyer, what you describe is typically United!

RAR937

Thanks guys. Yeah I guess it did turn into a complaint. Sorry.
As for where to post it, I didn't know there was an area for each
airline. I'll try to do better next time.

Basically I guess I just wanted to say that it seems incredible that with
all of the options around the market doesn't force them to be better.
Lesson learned. In hindsight I would've done DXB-USA thru Europe
on LH or Swiss.

Unrelated, but wasn't Air India's invitation to join Star revoked because
of a failure to meet certain requirements? Has anyone ever heard
of a requirement to maintain basic service standards inflight?
.

mh3265a

When did you travel to Dubai? I went there on Tuesday the 15th and returned from Kuwait on the 20th. Both times I had equipment changes to the old config 777s. They are very tired cabins and the crews were so-so out of IAD.

avidflyer

I spent a decade flying Delta and NW domestically and I do not think UA J is that bad. I live in Hong Kong part time and also fly Emirates FC and some of the worlds best carriers but I put them in a different category. All US airlines have very hit or miss crews. On Delta, the J product is definitely a notch above UA but UA has 3 class and DL 2 so it is really a hybrid. The middle seat J thing is bad but frankly the fix is easy: Do not take a flight in the middle seat. I have been in UA J 8 times in 2 months and never once was forced into a middle seat. If I were I would not book the flight.

1. AVOD. The UA AVOD is one of the best looking out there and certainly the best of the US carriers. 15.1" screen dwarfs the DL 11" screen.

2. Service. I have ad pretty good service and horrible service on UA. This is completely down to bad employees. I guess it just doesn't bother me as much because if I want water, or a Bloody Mary, or a snack, I will just get up and ask. Should I have to? No. But it solves the problem.

3. Price. UA J is far cheaper than SQ/LH/CX. Particularly with UG ability form a pretty low fare class the cost is significantly lower. I take the good with the bad for that reason alone.


You are spot on: This is an easy fix and it has to do almost completely with BAD FAs and bad attitudes. I doubt the new UA?CO will be able to impart the professionalism and pride I see more often than not on CO but we can hope.

Generally for transportation and value I find UA as good as DL. but I fly every week. For somebody looking for a "special" experience then my advice is to pony up a little more cash and go with a non-US carrier.

Weatherboy

I recently flew in/out of HKG and had the chance to enjoy an upper deck seat. The service/seat/service was great ...comparable to the J experience I've had on other carriers. The amenity kit is a joke though...and I hope the CO J amenity kit becomes the new standard in the new year. Downstairs the plane is tired... and a middle seat in J downstairs seems weird, but upstairs it felt like the way the J cabin should be.

SFO777

@:-)
Live and learn.
Welcome to FT.

EnvoyBoy

Depends on your priorities. For some of us, UA direct overnight to arrive the following morning at IAD is far preferable--soft product aside--to switching flights in the early hours of the morning in Europe and extending the total travel time by hours to do so.

Luvs2snowbordbut1kSEA

Sorry for your experience... sounds like you got the shaft. Unfortunately, since Smisek has taken over many of the former pleasant items in UA C are gone. I am surprised about your CO comments, however, as they are run by the same guy... certainly their are attitude issues in both airlines that need to be addressed.

I am curious as to why you booked a middle seat if you have such hatred for them? Someone like yourself who has traveled extensively certainly could benefit from a site like seatguru.com. F and Seatguru could give you insight on seating and airplane preferences. For instance, UA has been updating their 76/777/74 fleet with a much higher quality product.

Best of luck.

goingbananas

Bolding mine....

hmm..don't know about that one. Planning a trip to Asia for Jan today and I was just pricing a CX, SQ, and OZ from the west coast to SIN. I am finding a range of $4,500 to $6,200 for Fully refundable flexible (on those 3 carriers) compared to a UA Z fare at like $6,400 or $7,700 for fully refundable. It is better than UA was quoting last year for fully refundable at around $9,000, but still not cheaper than the Asia carriers.

This fare is what I have been paying all year for my trips to Asia on these 3 carriers, (usually penciling out at 6.5K, fully flexible in J).

At least for UA (it is nice to see), they are reducing the fully refundable fares by about $1,300 "to get somewhat price competitive" but still not good enough.

kcblakely

Yeah, sometimes I think I'm lucky that I decided early on to be a UA whore and I haven't really experienced C on any other airline, other than recently on Continental, which was outstanding.....

rankourabu

you are... if you are rating Continental outstanding - you are best kept blissfully ignorant

Robert N

I fly SQ and UA pretty much exclusively, and I reckon SQ is a bit better, but only a bit.

Hard product - yes the seats are narrow in J but they lie flat and are very comfortable to put back and watch stuff on the video or read with. The SQ seats are wider, but only the 777ER and A380 lie flat. While SQ lie flats are spectacularly comfortable to sleep in, they are not that good for watching TV on, IMO.

Soft product - the United food is not as good as SQ, but there is not a lot in it. Just done Heathrow - Dulles, and I thought breakfast and lunch were really very damn nice.

Re the crews, I have spent a lot of time reading people sledging UAL crews, and I just do not get it. I have never had a bad one, and a SFO - SYD crew last year was I reckon the best I have ever had on anyone.

SQ crew obviously are good, however there is I think a robotic sameness to them, whereas with UAL one feels one is dealing with real people.

The one thing where SQ clearly wins and IMO is the one weak spot in the UAL product is the breadth of media available in SQ's Krisworld. The ability to spend a good deal of time going through a huge range of options, and the choices one can make add hugely to the pleasure of the trip.

Mr Smisek pay attention.