I flew an eight-segment mileage run last month that included a roundtrip from Boston to Tokyo via San Francisco. And due to an unadvertised promotional first class fare (about $3,000) out of select U.S. origins to Tokyo (or Beijing), I was able to fly in comfort and nabbed my favorite seat onboard any United aircraft – 2K on a Boeing 747-400.

My Boeing 747-400, N174UA

My flight into San Francisco from Boston arrived just about on schedule, leaving me with enough time for a quick visit to the Global First lounge to catch up on emails. At the check-in desk when I was welcomed as “Mr. Booth,” the person next to me asked, “Darren Booth?” Turns out he reads my blog – what a small world. It was nice to meet you, Sean!

I headed to the gate ahead of boarding time to… well… be a “gate louse” and position myself near the front of the Premier Access lane. Why? Because those darn 747s have such limited overhead space in first class that I didn’t want to stow my bags in business class, which often happens. I was about the 10^th person on and I settled into my seat (and yes, got my coveted overhead bin space). Oh, and for those unfamiliar with United, there’s absolutely no priority given to Global First passengers over business class (or many elites).

Seat 2K

View Forward at Seat 2K

The menu, pillows and blanket were awaiting me at my seat, and the amenity kit and slippers were already stowed in the side console compartment. Pre-departure beverage service was slow as the lead flight attendant in Global First spent an inordinate amount of time gabbing with a couple of passengers. And I noted some friction between the lead and purser, which I wrote about in my “The Reality Check That Is United Airlines Global First Class” post.

Newspapers were offered and positioned on the console across from my seat. We pushed nearly on-time and were airborne within about 15 minutes.

View

The lead noticed my camera and said, “You’d better get your pictures in quick before we take the left turn toward Japan!” I chuckled and said “Thanks,” but little did she know my main intent was to capture the meals. Hot towels, warmed nuts and beverages started the lunch service. Check out the turbulence in that water glass.

Warmed Nuts and Water

Here’s the menu:

And the separate wine & bar service list:

Meal service began shortly after the seat belt sign came off with linens, silverware and bread presented first.

Table Setup

The warm appetizer and sushi were served nearly in tandem. I did quite like the beef empanada and pastry, but didn’t touch the sushi as I’m not a fan.

Sushi

Beef Empanada and Veggie & Mushroom Pastry

Besides a warm vs. cold appetizer, the only other noticeable difference from Global First to BusinessFirst meals is the addition of a soup course. It was only lukewarm and required a bit of salt to make it tastier.

Shrimp and Roasted Corn Chowder

A rather basic salad followed and I went with the Parmesan-pepper dressing.

Salad

For my main course, I chose the Tenderloin of Beef. It was very tender and delicious, the latter likely due to the Delmonico’s steak sauce. I have had decent green beans in-flight before, but these were rubbery and tasteless. And the potatoes cooled off very quickly and were equally bland. More salt.

Tenderloin of Beef

By this point, I was ready for a nap having been awake since very early Boston time to catch the 6:00 a.m. flight. And so I skipped the cheese and ice cream sundae. Here’s the remainder of the menu:

There was absolutely no mention of the “new” turn-down service for Global First passengers where flight attendants will lower your seat into bed mode and spread the sleeping cushion over the seat. And on the return flight with the same crew, the lead was very vocal how she felt about it saying, “What are we a hotel?!”

The crew spruced up the lavatory as best they could.

Lavatory Amenities

A cart was setup near the galley with the assorted sandwiches and nibbles from the “mid-flight snack” menu appearing above. They looked identical to what’s offered in BusinessFirst and not particularly appealing.

About 1.5 hours before arrival, breakfast was served although it was 2:00 p.m. local time in Tokyo. Other airlines flying this timeslot will serve a more time-appropriate meal. I went with the herbed scrambled eggs, ham, turkey sausage and potato gratin… err… tater tots.

Breakfast at 2 p.m.

While each flight attendant was friendly in their own way, there was certainly nothing exceptional about their service. It was just a typical United flight and I suppose worth what I paid. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to pay full-fare for United’s Global First.

Related posts:

The Reality That Is United Airlines Global First Class

United Global First Amenity Kit Review

Lounge Review: ANA Suite Lounge Tokyo Narita

I’m Off on a Weeklong Mileage Run

In the past two months I’ve had a rather random assortment of meals on United Airlines that differ from what’s advertised. It’s not that big of a deal, but I’ve received what I consider a “snack” for dinner and “lunch” for a snack.

On pre-merger United I could always count on a hot meal for dinner in first class, and at least one heated option for lunch. This wasn’t the case on a 7:25 p.m. Chicago to Los Angeles flight last month advertised as dinner. Here was the only selection offered for the flight – a cold chicken plate:

It was filling enough, but I recall this being more of a snack offering in the past. I did receive a hot dinner a couple of weeks later from Houston to Los Angeles on a 4:06 p.m. departure – a choice of chicken cacciatore (my selection) or penne pasta:

Yesterday on a 1:46 p.m. “snack” flight to Denver, the exact same choices as my previous dinner flight were offered. I again went with the chicken and was happy to have a hot meal.

And last night’s 7:49 p.m. flight from Denver to Washington Dulles was the first time I received this cold plate snack:

It was fine, though I wish United would make 8:00 p.m. the dinner-snack switchover time. Again, this really isn’t a huge deal, but I’m surprised at the inconsistency lately.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I’m very happy to soon be flying on my first Airbus A380 in Business Class with Singapore Airlines, and tonight took another look at my reservation as it shows up on their website. I’ve heard about the “Book A Cook” option that allows you to pre-select your meals, and this evening I did just that. I was very impressed by the variety of selections, actually, as you’d certainly never find such an option on U.S. carriers for such a “short” flight from New York’s JFK to Frankfurt.

JFK-FRA meal options:

FRA-JFK meal options:

Here are my choices (the brunch and light meal options were identical)… would you have picked the same?

Last week, the Chicago Tribune published an insightful article focused on a United-Continental merger related item not often reported in such detail – the consideration given to airline meals and galley equipment. Reporter Gregory Karp spent a day at the United Airlines test kitchen in suburban Chicago speaking with chefs, executives and other staff who make the decisions about what we as passengers eat and which items are best suited for onboard preparation and service.

Effective May 1, 2012, we as passengers will be experiencing the new menu, wine and service items under consideration in this article when we travel in First or Business class. According to John Yeng, United’s Director of Product Marketing, “We’re serious about this merger. Part of the reason we’re going through these details is that we want our customers to know that it’s not just merging things together. We’re paying attention.”

Fortunately, the article hints at the fact that chefs are “trying to emulate Continental’s food, which traditionally received high ratings, compared with United’s food, which usually scored poorly.” I tweeted a picture of my breakfast on United earlier this month noting how good it was for a change and one of my followers mentioned it’s Continental’s influence already being seen.

My recent domestic dinner flight also was a pleasant surprise with a salmon appetizer and a main dish including gnocchi.

Some decisions have already been finalized as to which way to go – the United way or the Continental way. Among them are:

• Continental’s slimmer, sleeker serving pot for coffee.
• Continental’s salt shakers vs. packets on United.
• United’s metal bowls for serving hot fudge and salad dressing.
• United’s longer, safer oven mitts.
• Continental’s cloth hot towels vs. United’s paper.
• United’s custom of serving warmed nuts in a ramekin.

The article goes deeper into the logistics and factors that determined the “winners” in each category, so I’d encourage you to read it to get a behind the scenes look into just how many decisions are made for what many travelers take for granted.

In other airline, hotel and travel industry news this week…

[Edited last minute to include:] Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has taken severe action and cancelled all flights in response to continued pressure by three union groups at the airline. He states, ”They are trashing our strategy and our brand. They are deliberately destabilising the company and there is no end in sight.” Paging Prime Minister Julia Gillard… would Julia Gillard please pick up the nearest white courtesy phone.

• All the major air carriers released their third quarter 2011 financial results in the last week. Most missed analyst expectations and all cited the approximate 40% increase in jet fuel prices from the previous year’s quarter as the main reason. Starting with the winners, United Airlines – Continental Airlines posted a combined net income of $653 million, down 23% from 2010, Delta Air Lines posted a profit of $549 million, up from $366 million in 2010 and US Airways netted $95 million, down from $243 million in 2010. Not unsurprising, American Airlines posted a $162 million loss this past quarter compared to a $143 million profit in 2010.
• The Chicago Tribune recently interviewed the founder of AirplaneFood.net, Luis Ramirez, after the reporter read an announcement that American Airlines will be working with two top chefs to provide in-flight meals on some flights. In my opinion, first class meals today are the free coach meals of 1990 and it’s a favorite gripe among travelers. Not surprisingly, Ramirez’s top three carriers for meals are foreign, namely Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Emirates. His bottom three are United Airlines, US Airways and Alitalia. I particularly like his quote about United’s meals: “Uninspired, unattractive, predictable, and most importantly, lacks minimum quality.”
• Even though domestic airlines claim they’re not seeing a drop in demand in business travelers, IATA – the International Air Transport Association – points to slowing growth for premium traffic. The association reports international premium traffic growth in August slowed to 2.3%, down sharply from July’s 7.5% rate. Routes within North America declined, actually, and were down 13.2%.
• When Google Flight Search launched last month it only offered links to book a ticket on the websites of the carriers it featured. It seems they’ve had a change of heart and now show the ability to “try this search” on the major Online Travel Agency (OTA) websites. I’m sure they had a bit of pressure from the OTAs and a Google spokesperson stated, “While this is just a start, we look forward to expanding our advertising efforts with partners and to continue experimenting with different formats, placements and targeting capabilities.” I honestly haven’t been back since I gave it a rather scathing review.
• Flight diversions make for a stressful situation for passengers, but some of the stress was shared this week with workers at Abilene Regional Airport. Dense fog at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport caused seven flights to divert to the small airport, which generally never sees that much traffic. One café ended up selling out of some items and had lines 25 people deep. A kind passenger reportedly helped the café out by changing out the trash bag!

I actually had a lot more to cover from the week, including bonus mileage and point offers from airlines and hotels, but the other fine bloggers here at BoardingArea covered them nicely. As this post goes live, I’ll be listening to View From The Wing’s Gary Leff give his Award Bookings presentation at the Chicago Seminars.

In 1991 I flew from Chicago to Paris to spend a couple of weeks with the family of an exchange student I befriended in high school. It was my first international trip (besides Canada) and I was so excited to finally leave North America. On the day of departure I got a phone call advising that my flight was cancelled and was rebooked on a Chicago to New York JFK flight on United Airlines, connecting to a Pan Am flight to Paris.

Being a Premier at the time and wanting to ensure I remained on United to accrue the elite qualifying miles, I asked instead to be rebooked via Washington Dulles where United also had a flight to Paris. Why they didn’t do that in the first place is beyond me, but I successfully got an all United itinerary. In retrospect, I wish I would have flown Pan Am.

Checking in for the flight back home to Chicago the agent in Paris asked, “Do you prefer an aisle or a window seat?” Confused as I already had pre-assigned a seat I replied, “I thought I already had seat xx booked?” She responded, “I’m upgrading you.” Why that happened I have no idea and I didn’t ask, but it was likely due to an oversold flight. I’m not so sure that would happen with Premiers today.

Not knowing that I could visit the lounge before departure as a Business Class passenger, I just headed to the gate and awaited boarding. The crew was fantastic and I do remember the movie being “L.A. Story” with Steve Martin and the then fairly unknown Sarah Jessica Parker.

Business Class in 1991 is nothing like what is today in terms of seat comfort, but service back then was stellar. It was a fantastic flight. Arriving international flights at O’Hare parked at remote stands in those days and passengers were bussed to immigration & customs, which was in the basement of the parking garage. My how times have changed.

Anyway, here was my menu. I know I had the beef tenderloin for lunch, but cannot recall what I selected for the pre-arrival snack. Only two options for entrees would probably be frowned upon today.

Last week I had a work trip to New York and flew American Airlines instead of my favorite United Airlines p.s. flights between LAX and JFK since I’m taking the challenge to achieve Platinum status in the AAdvantage program. I’ve been fortunate to have always flown in United’s Business Class on this route, so this was my first time in economy and I received the following email a few days before my trip.

American started this trial pre-order offer for the LAX/SFO-JFK flights April 1^st and it runs through August 31^st this year. Wanting to continue experiencing all things American Airlines, I signed up and was offered the following selections for my early afternoon flight to JFK:

These seem to be the same food options found on regular American flights and I chose the chicken Caesar salad. When I arrived at the airport I ended up eating at a restaurant having a full lunch before I headed for the boarding gate. The terms of pre-order service (appearing below) state no cancellations are allowed, so I figured I’d ask to have the salad later in the flight since I wouldn’t be hungry when the initial service began.

I assumed the pre-order process would be similar to a special meal order where flight attendants have a galley manifest showing the names and seat locations for those passengers with requests. As such, I expected to be approached and/or paged once the flight attendants worked the list, and waited patiently for that to happen. After the first hour or so went by and not feeling particularly hungry, I decided to instead just let it ride to see if there would be any contact attempted. None was, we landed in New York and I made my way to my hotel.

I believe United also used to offer a pre-order option for the premium service flights to/from JFK, but hunting through the website just now it appears they no longer do. My guess is there just wasn’t enough interest or activity to keep it going, and I’ll predict American’s program will end after the trial period, especially since there didn’t seem to be any onboard accountability. As it was, very few people around my seat seemed to order anything at all and I think the vast majority of people flying coach these days know what to expect and plan their food options accordingly, often not relying on what the airline might offer. So, I’ll just tally it up to another experience with American I hadn’t had before, but certainly wouldn’t repeat. Have any of my readers pre-ordered food & had a different experience?

Hope everyone has a safe & happy Forth of July weekend!