V-Flyer

A belated report from me, this is. My thanks to fellow moderator Scrooge for shaming me into writing this long overdue TR. Given the elapsed time since my trip I'll combine the two segments for brevity's sake.

Needed to burn some miles so booked a return trip to Kennedy to visit relatives for the Christmas holiday. The short story follows:

As most know several years back United took its 762 fleet off the transcon run, leaving AA as the only carrier still offering twin-aisle service across the continent. UA replaced its aircraft with newly configued Boeing 752's, ripping out seats and adding a new international business class cabin along with United's 'First Suite', one of those pods that wraps the passenger up in a cocoon.
More on that in a moment.

The UA 'Premium Service' crews were uniformly friendly and professional. The aircraft (both B752) were quite clean. The seating in business, a comfortably wide recliner with plenty of positions, leg rest, perfectly sized duvet, excellent pillows (note I said 'pillows' -- had two of them on my seat) and reading light was probably the best I've encountered on a transcon. Food was fine, nothing special. Service attentive, about on par with other premium cabins.

Coming back from JFK I was offered an upgrade to 'F' for about $350. Having wanted to try the UA Suite I took the plunge. In 'F' on the inbound I had my own suite which should have been a plus. But the front of the 757 is not exactly a huge cavern on par with the 777 or 747. It's just too small for the intended design of the Suite pods. That's the beginning of the problem. In the seat I actually felt cramped (when you're 6'4' tall you're cramped almost no matter where you go) and soon after takeoff was longing for my outbound seat in business class. Perhaps it was my feeling that the cabin should be seating no more than eight of these bulky-looking suite pods rather than the dozen crammed in here. On the positive side of the ledger: the suite reclines to a nearly flat position and the large pillow (much larger than VS) provided is quite comfortable, as is the duvet. There was little difference in foodservice.

Overall space: Despite being in a single cabin aircraft, which in itself turns off many potential customers accustomed to having twin-aisle spaciousness, I never felt cramped (except after sitting down in 'F'). Even the restroom felt larger than a typical 752.

Entertainment: In both premium cabins UA offers a handheld screen which contains dozens of movies, TV shows and music options. In comparison with the similar device available up front on AA this portable entertainment system seemed a little easier to operate and there appeared to be more options.

Bottom line: the UA Premium Service routes West-East are a good opportunity to enjoy plenty of legroom and comfortable seating, reasonable food, clean airplanes and pleasant crew. Would I fly it again? Absolutely, but save your money and content yourself being in 'J' versus 'F'; in my opinion American's 'F', with its huge, open leather seat is far more comfortable. In fact if VS had AA's first class seats and somehow made them adjustable to fully flat VS would be on the cutting edge of in-flight comfort.

Chuck-

Thank you Chuck, it does sound like a good way to fly.

I have to agree with you about the seats, to date for me Maxjet had the most comfortable seats/beds, a very nice over stuffed recliner type deal that I was able to sit in and slept like a baby, to me it was far more comfortable than the UCS or NNCW seat.

Oh the bedding is from Westin and is fantastic [y]

Thanks for the belated TR![y]

Thx for the TR, wanted to try United PS, but my west-to-east is Boston, so no joy. IIRC, SAA comes the closest to the type of seat Scrooge described, simple recliner that goes flat. I'd like that, too, I have to admit in the rare occasions I've had to try UA old business class on a day flight I've liked having a recliner that goes further back - no question.

quote:Originally posted by MarkedMan
Thx for the TR, wanted to try United PS, but my west-to-east is Boston, so no joy. IIRC, SAA comes the closest to the type of seat Scrooge described, simple recliner that goes flat. I'd like that, too, I have to admit in the rare occasions I've had to try UA old business class on a day flight I've liked having a recliner that goes further back - no question.


Would be very happy if the airlines stopped trying to imitate one another and just listened to their own customers; tall people, shorter people, big people, little people and everyone else in between can handle a nice big seat that reclines.

Chuck-

Thanks Chuck, nice to read a different airline TR.

Take care,

DMB [y]

Nice TR Chuckie. IIRC UA offers lounge access for PS passengers in Business and First. This is very different from other UA domestic flights.

quote:Originally posted by mcmbenjamin
Nice TR Chuckie. IIRC UA offers lounge access for PS passengers in Business and First. This is very different from other UA domestic flights.


F cabin, yes. C cabin, no. Certainly last summer when I took a PS flight, this was the case.

Mike