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United. Positives and Negatives


casofilia
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Well thank you for the feedback on United I asked for. We have decided to "take a chance" and have booked United from Auckland to Miami via San Francisco. If all goes well it is the cheapest and quickest method of getting from AKL to MIA.

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I have never seen Johnny Walker Blue on any plane in any class of service. The Asiana F lounge at ICN used to have it and it was pour your own :).

 

Like I said, they have a bottle on China Airlines (this is the airline based in Taipei) in the Business Class bar. From what we have read on some blogs, this has been a tradition for some time. One airline blogger actually posted a video which showed the bottle on his flight. I am thinking about starting a quest to sample the Scotch offerings on every airline...but I do not think I will live that long.

 

Hank

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I have never seen Johnny Walker Blue on any plane in any class of service. The Asiana F lounge at ICN used to have it and it was pour your own :).

 

British Airways have had it for years and years, both onboard in First and in their Galleries First (LHR and LGW) and Concorde Room lounges (LHR only).

 

I flew Cathay Pacific in First longhaul earlier this week and they also had JW Blue. Whilst not standard a lot of airlines have Blue Label in international first class on longhaul flights.

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Not a dinker of Scotch of any brand, just, please, provide a Canadian whiskey. Prefer Canadian Club, but will most welcome accept Crown Royal.

 

Surprised, a bit, that even such an airline as Singapore Airlines did not offer such a beverage.

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I recommend reading this website on a regular basis: If you think those two incidents might put you off one particular airline, reading the list of things that occur day-in day-out to all airlines will pretty much guarantee that you will choose never ever to fly again.

 

I'm surprised that an experienced flyer would get this so out of perspective, or use that sort of emotive language ("racing towards the plane") to describe them. It's more the sort of attitude one would get from the tabloid press.

 

Hmmm....rather condescending ...how would you describe 10 fire trucks, 7 ambulances and 2-3 other response vehicles, all with their emergency lights on, driving towards the direction of the plane when you landed?

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Hmmm....rather condescending ...how would you describe 10 fire trucks, 7 ambulances and 2-3 other response vehicles, all with their emergency lights on, driving towards the direction of the plane when you landed?

 

I have been there. I flew 10 years as a 1K with United and the worst was when the cockpit lost all power. Stuff happens on a plane and I was thankful the pilots were skillful enough to being us home with maps and a compass.

 

26593611709_f34917469e_o_d.jpg

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I have been there. I flew 10 years as a 1K with United and the worst was when the cockpit lost all power. Stuff happens on a plane and I was thankful the pilots were skillful enough to being us home with maps and a compass.

 

26593611709_f34917469e_o_d.jpg

 

I hope that adventure wasn't part of your extra 1K benefits! Stuff does indeed happen on all lines. Loosing both autopilots and my description of the emergency response was not out of perspective as suggested in a post above. As with you I am greatful that we were able to arrive without incident thanks to the skill sets of the crew. However, recently United has not worked too well for me compared to other lines.

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Hmmm....rather condescending ...how would you describe 10 fire trucks, 7 ambulances and 2-3 other response vehicles, all with their emergency lights on, driving towards the direction of the plane when you landed?
It sounds like it was simply the standard response to a landing for which SOP was to call out the emergency vehicles, regardless of whether anyone thought they might actually be needed. A dual AP failure is close to being a merely irritating non-event; it mostly means that the pilots just have to work harder.

 

Read that website and see how often stuff like that happens. To those who like tabloid headlines, it might be drama and crisis on every occasion. To those who think that if they get on board an aircraft they are dicing with death, every incident will seem like their worst fears are coming true and they are about to meet their maker. But on any objective view, the occasions on which there is any real cause for concern are few and far between, and the occasions on which there is any real danger are fewer still.

 

In any case, your point was that a dual AP failure on your flight was symptomatic of poor maintenance that would lead you not to fly United. If you really take that attitude to routine incidents, you will end up never flying on any airline at all. This sort of non-event happens at every airline.

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It sounds like it was simply the standard response to a landing for which SOP was to call out the emergency vehicles, regardless of whether anyone thought they might actually be needed. A dual AP failure is close to being a merely irritating non-event; it mostly means that the pilots just have to work harder.

 

Read that website and see how often stuff like that happens. To those who like tabloid headlines, it might be drama and crisis on every occasion. To those who think that if they get on board an aircraft they are dicing with death, every incident will seem like their worst fears are coming true and they are about to meet their maker. But on any objective view, the occasions on which there is any real cause for concern are few and far between, and the occasions on which there is any real danger are fewer still.

 

In any case, your point was that a dual AP failure on your flight was symptomatic of poor maintenance that would lead you not to fly United. If you really take that attitude to routine incidents, you will end up never flying on any airline at all. This sort of non-event happens at every airline.

 

Your lecture is an over-reaction to my comment and subsequent illustration of a concern about United's maintenance.

I did not write that I would not fly United but rather that I would not fly their airline over any large body of water anytime soon. This was in reference to the OP's question about long-haul on United. The OP has booked, therefore any further comments are moot.

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I did not write that I would not fly United but rather that I would not fly their airline over any large body of water anytime soon.
Same difference. With that attitude towards one routine incident, I take it that you won't be planning to fly any airline over a large body of water, because they all have glitches like this.
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  • 2 weeks later...

I would avoid a connection in San Francisco if you're flying United in economy. Their new slimline lines on the domestic fleet are AWFUL. Seriously, it's like sitting on a wood plank, and San Fran-Miami is approximately 5.5 hours. Can you connect in Houston? I think AirNZ flies Auckland-Houston nonstop now.

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Researching flights from Lisbon to the United States, I obviously checked United. I was surprised to see their 767-300 planes in their new Polaris Class as having 2-1-2 seating. Whose bright idea was it to design that arrangement of seating in a "Premium product"?

 

Even their pricing on the web site was higher than some competitors.

 

Won't be booking United!

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Researching flights from Lisbon to the United States, I obviously checked United. I was surprised to see their 767-300 planes in their new Polaris Class as having 2-1-2 seating. Whose bright idea was it to design that arrangement of seating in a "Premium product"?

 

Be aware that even though UA is using the term "Polaris" for all of their business class offerings, very few aircraft actually have the new seating. Mostly, what you are finding with "Polaris" throughout the fleet is a newer version of the soft product. And the rollout of the new seating has been VERY slow for existing aircraft.

 

So, even though you see the service labeled as "Polaris", you're probably still getting the old UA (or even CO) seating.

 

For some reading on UA's Polaris rollout:

 

LINK ONE

 

LINK TWO

 

LINK THREE

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Be aware that even though UA is using the term "Polaris" for all of their business class offerings, very few aircraft actually have the new seating. Mostly, what you are finding with "Polaris" throughout the fleet is a newer version of the soft product. And the rollout of the new seating has been VERY slow for existing aircraft.

 

So, even though you see the service labeled as "Polaris", you're probably still getting the old UA (or even CO) seating.

 

For some reading on UA's Polaris rollout:

 

LINK ONE

 

LINK TWO

 

LINK THREE

 

I appreciate your reply to my post.

 

Still not impressed and the need to change terminals at EWR to board my last flight home discourages me from booking United.

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I appreciate your reply to my post.

 

Still not impressed and the need to change terminals at EWR to board my last flight home discourages me from booking United.

 

EWR is a complete Sh****** but the terminal transfer isn't that big a deal. They have a secure bus to go airside and the Airtrain (when it isn't broken down) and buses outside of security.

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I appreciate your reply to my post.

 

Still not impressed and the need to change terminals at EWR to board my last flight home discourages me from booking United.

 

I can understand and concur. The whole "Polaris" promoting from UA has almost a bait & switch feel, given how few aircraft have been re-configured. And even now, UA talks a good game about things down the road, while cutting back on current product, even on non-reconfigured aircraft.

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Thank you most sincerely for your replies. United will not be my choice for this possible itinerary.

 

I think I would prefer to endure the 2 plane change at JFK and DTW/ATL than the EWR situation as well as the Business Class product on United that seems suspect.

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  • 3 weeks later...

We traveled through EWR on United last month returning last week-Florida to EWR to LHR and Reykjavik to EWR to JAX. Connection time going was very short and involved a terminal change but everything was working fine and we ended up on a dreamliner (do not know number it said dreamliner in the details of the flight) that was not full and our best flight in years. So of course return was payback. Old plane 3-3 packed to the gills with most of us bringing all we could on board because of short connection times in EWR. Even with Global Entry, customs was slow and then a terminal change to small plane to Florida (packed but not a long trip). I would still do EWR and maybe UA again rather than go through JFK. Both need updating.

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I would still do EWR and maybe UA again rather than go through JFK.

 

Well, since UA stopped flying to JFK a few years ago, it's Hobson's choice there!

 

I'd also avoid using a broad brush to describe all JFK connections since there are five terminals that handle international arrivals. With the US approach to clearing immigration/customs on arrival no airport makes a excellent connection point off an international arrival, IMO, though IAD with the midfield immigration/customs/security is probably one of the most efficient.

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I have a flight on United on hold in March ...BOS to EWR to Shanghai, flying home from Hong Kong to EWR to BOS. I’m booked in economy and United wants over $5000 more to upgrade to business. I’m driving myself nuts over this...I just flew Frankfurt to BOS business for a much more reasonable price...yes I realize the flight was much shorter. Have been looking on Matrix for alternatives without luck. Any suggestions?

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