I booked the flights in August, using Diamond Club miles left over from my 'Trip of a Lifetime' to Australia in May, via SQ F. This most recent jaunt actually turned out to be a my second 'T.O.A.L.' within a short period of time, flying out on my wife's birthday (Dec 18), staying a couple of nights at the Chateau Marmont in LA and a celebration dinner at the Ivy, before flying to Tahiti for a Star Flier cruise over Christmas then back to LA for a night at the Standard Hotel before hitting Las Vegas for NYE (staying at the excellent MGM Signature), then back to Marina Del Rey for a couple of nights, before flying home.
I had done more or less the same flights last year in UC so, it was with some trepidation that I booked with United, having read mostly negative reviews of their offering, mostly based around surly crew and delays, but with nothing else available, reward-wise, on the dates I wanted, United it had to be.
This TR will hopefully offer some reassurances to any doubts anyone may have about booking a trans-Atlantic flight with UA - in First Class, at least. I have no doubts that had I been on the same flight in Y, I might not be so enthusiastic about the experience.
The only really negative aspect of the entire journey was check-in at UA's dedicated Premium counters in LHR T1, where we were actually issued with boarding passes for the wrong flight in someone else's names. I noticed their mistake just before passing through security, luckily avoiding any awkward interrogations which may have followed. We had to go back and have our correct BP's re-issued, which they were without any apology or recognition of possible consequences we might have encountered.
Anyway, a couple of pleasant hours spent in the *A First lounge set us both up for the journey ahead, stocking up on champers, free wi-fi and sausage and bacon rolls.
Back to the LAX-LHR leg, check-in was at the dedicated Premium desk at T6, followed by a queue-less jaunt through security and passport check and a short walk to UA's First Class lounge, situated on the mezzanine floor of T7.
It's a pleasant enough lounge, very roomy and lots of comfortable seating, with a good selection of self-service drinks, snacks and some hot food to choose from. There were only four other passengers in the lounge, which had a nice view over some of Continental and United's gates at T6 & T7.
Departure was 16.54 and we made our way to the gate around 16.20. There was a short pre-general boarding queue at the Premium lane and we boarded the aircraft to be greeted with a 'Welcome back, good to see you again!' by one of the flight attendants who instantly remembered us from our outward flight, over two weeks before.
She even remembered that we were both in the same seats again, 2 & 3J. I have to compliment both of the cabin crews on their friendliness and efficiency throughout both our flights - despite my initial forbodings, they were amongst the best I have ever experienced, made up of French, Irish, English and American staff - It seems to be UA's domestic routes which tend to suffer from most of the gripes towards the mostly US CCs.
As we boarded, there was a technician trying to fix one of the seats, without much success, although it appeared to be reassigned to a UA staffer, judging by their willingness to be seated in a non-operational flat bed, given that there were no other empty seats available.
The cabin itself, it has to be said, had certainly seen better days - very scruffy trim, carpeting and worn upholstery, but perfectly comfortable and serviceable and, as a 777, apparently, last in line for the fleet's refit sometime this year to UA's new F seats.
The IFE was however, pretty woeful - a poor selection of movies (about 9 channels, I think) on a loop, with a further selection of in-seat videos, none of which appealed to me at all, but then I'm not one to watch movies much on a flight anyway. Again, this is set to change for the better with the cabin re-fit
Push back was a few minutes shy of 17.00 and we were airbourne about 10 minutes later, with a flying time of about 10 hours, 10 minutes. My dinner was served about an hour into the flight which consisted of, if I remember correctly by flexing my jet-lagged brain -
Shrimp & Sweetcorn Fishcake with Jalepeno Creme
Artichoke Soup
Mixed Salad with Caesar Dressing
Filet Mignon with Spinach & Mushrooms (truly excellent, BTW)
Assorted Ice-creams with Sundae Toppings or Cheese
Plus a good selection of wines (I had the Sancerre, barbarian that I am, drinking white wine with red meat!)
Just as we were passing over Chicago, I made up the bed and was asleep within minutes until we passed over Greenland and again until just past Iceland - easily remembered as I had the Flight Map on the whole way! We passed directly over my hometown of Belfast and I was secretly hoping for last-minute divert, cutting out the Heathrow hoo-ha of having to fly all the way back again! Not to be, of course, with another four hours until I finally got home
So to summarise, an excellent holiday made even better by a memorable and enjoyable couple of flights, thanks to United Airlines and its staff, which I can thoroughly recommend as a sometimes cheaper and perfectly acceptable alternative to certain other carriers (Virgin excepted, of course!)
