House

I have just checked an itinerary for April on viewtrip.com, and got the following:

UA925
Departs: 15:15 Heathrow (LHR) London
Arrives: 18:35 Washington Dulles Intl (IAD)
Status: Confirmed for Connoisseur class
FreqFlyer: UA ************

777 - Boeing 777

and again for a flight from Hong Kong to Tokyo on May 8:

Departs: 09:20 Hong Kong Intl (HKG)
Arrives: 14:25 Narita (NRT)
Tokyo
Status: Confirmed for Connoisseur class
Seats: **A
FreqFlyer: UA ***********

Service: Arrival Terminal 1
744 - Boeing 747-400 Journey Time 4:05
Lunch

I have confirmed C upgrades on each flight. I know from doing a search here that UA used to have Connoisseur Class at some point in the past, so is this Galileo going slightly crazy or is Business Class about to get a new name...?

skofarrell

"UA Business" is the (relativley) new name.
"Connoisseur Class" is the old name.

I've seen the old name pop up in weird places (like having a segment on Thai or Air Canada).

[This message has been edited by skofarrell (edited 03-25-2002).]

House

Thanks!

*HighFlyah*

While more comfortable than before with seat enhancements, United's Business class nowadays does not deserve to be called Connoisseur Class - it's simply too luxurious a name

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When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.

- Leonardo da Vinci

cblaisd

Indeed.

As I reported on
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum50/HTML/008257.html
when "flying" the South Bay Flyer (a bus) segments SFO-SJC or SJC-SFO, the faxed itin from UA labels these segments as "Connoisseur Class"

Oh boy.

worldtrav

They paid big $$ years ago to buy the name "Connoisseur Class", I think from a Canadian carrier only to drop it some time ago when they rebranded it "United Business". Wonder how much more money they can throw away and get nothing from it..Avolar, USAirways, Connoisseur...

767-322ETOPS

From united.com: "Nov. 5, 1991 'Connoisseur Class' service, United's new international business class, is introduced." Yet no mention on when it was dropped.

. . . Allegis, Hertz, Westin, "Shuttle by United", DC-10-30F cargo service . . .

ralfkrippner

Today a booking of mine on NW showed up as 'confirmed for thrift class' on View Trip...

Shareholder

I posted somewhere many months ago, the story of how UA bought this variant of the name from Air Canada, which had used a more Frenchified version for its in-between business class product during the 80s. After using it for many years, AC decided to drop First Class altogether, and create Executive Class as its domestic/transborder front cabin product, and ExecutiveFirst as its intercontinental front cabin product. UA then launched Connoisseur Class as its intercontinental business class product when it was relaunched in the early 90s.

The terms as adoped by AC was a bilingual word which, of course, reflected refinement and appreciate of good taste.

Chiangi

I flew HKG-NRT a few days ago and the attendant who made all the announcements in Japanese constantly referred to the business class as 'Connoisseur Class.'

PremEx

When I'm traveling in First or Business on United mainline planes, my connecting United Express flights are still strangely issued as "Connoisseur Class."

Heck, those planes hardly even have Economy!

Eastbay1K

Shortly before the demise of the name (but after the demise of the product) I was simply calling it sewer class...

UA*AA

Last week I checked a bag at LGA and instead of a "Star Alliance Priority" tag I was given a "Connoisseur Class" tag. Interesting considering there is no 3-class service out of LGA.

[This message has been edited by UA*AA (edited 03-29-2002).]

UAL Traveler

The facts should never get in the way of a good story.

mgi

Is that still used to denote Business? The search only turned up old posts on the subject.

I have a segment on Signapore (LAX to NRT) - is that Business if it says CONNOISSEUR on the iterinary - heard of cases where sometimes a First award is required to get into Singapore Business?

Thanks,
MGI