January 28
I’ll post my full flight review in the coming days, but I feel compelled to dedicate a post on the less than international first class service I received and observed in United Global First last week.
It’s no secret that United is remarkably inconsistent when it comes to in-flight service and I think it’s most evident when flying internationally. Last year, I had a terrific experience in United BusinessFirst from Los Angeles to Sydney with attentive and professional flight attendants who were sincere in their desire to provide exceptional service. My return from Sydney was the exact opposite with indifferent, stoic flight attendants who seemed to treat service as a chore.
I was optimistic for my San Francisco-Tokyo Narita-San Francisco flights in Global First knowing that in the past, flights to/from Japan were a particular quality control focus. While the crew I had (the same on both flights) wasn’t stoic or indifferent, the service they provided wasn’t what you’d expect for international first class. I know, I know… not really a shocker for a U.S. airline when compared to foreign carriers. But here are a few unique observations from my flights.
On the ground, the reaction by two Global First passengers arriving in the gate room in Tokyo and being told to queue in the already huge 75+ passenger Group 1 boarding lane was priceless. They were visibly shocked there wasn’t priority given over business class (or even coach passengers with elite status).
Onboard, the dislike between the purser and lead flight attendant serving Global First was palpable, something unprofessional to visibly allow and express in view of the cabin.
When a passenger couldn’t immediately find storage space for his carry-on (a problem on the 747-400), a flight attendant who wasn’t working in First told him he’d have to put it in business class and to “write to the company to complain” without offering assistance. Fortunately, the purser was more proactive and found space for him in first class.
In many cases, the menu, amenity kit and slippers are presented to you after you’re seated in first class. On both of my flights, the menus were nicely displayed on the console, though the amenity kits and slippers were stored away in the seat compartments. Not a huge deal, but there’s just something about the presentation of them personally that adds a touch of class.
United introduced turndown service in Global First? Absolutely no mention of it was made on the outbound. And on the return, I overhead the lead flight attendant say, “What are we… a hotel?!” when telling another passenger about it after he found the seat cover in his compartment. She even went on to say that flight attendants love to take them to their crew bunks for use. Sigh.
Now I should mention that the flight attendants were each friendly in their own way (particularly when I reappeared on their return flight the next day), but service elements and overall cabin management on my flights certainly weren’t worth what a normally priced Global First ticket would run.
I was hoping for a stellar experience, but I drew the short stick on these United flights. I know there are flight attendants at United who pride themselves on delivering exceptional service. It’s just a shame that the amount who don’t or won’t step up will prevent United from ever being on par with their global counterparts.
Related posts:
I’m Off on a Weeklong Mileage Run… In Style!
Amenity Kit Review: United Airlines Global First
Flight Review: United Airlines BusinessFirst Los Angeles to Sydney
Flight Review: United Boeing 787 Dreamliner Inaugural
After getting situated, I headed up to the flight deck for a chat with the pilots, as well as a quick trip to the lavatory.
While in the lav, I overheard the gate agent mention to the captain that the flight was weight restricted, there were 30 revenue standbys in the gate “biting at the bit” to get onboard the nearly full flight, and he offered up the option to offload some bags to accommodate a few passengers. I don’t know how many passengers were able to make it on, but there was one cart of huge bags they indeed pulled off that didn’t make the flight.
Flight attendants brought around the menu and 
I always appreciate how quickly United gets the meal service going on the late flights to Australia. To begin:
The non-descript “chilled appetizer” was a salmon-wrapped piece of some type of fish I couldn’t identify and I neglected to ask the flight attendant what exactly it was. I went with the buttermilk ranch dressing on my rather common, but tasty salad. Croutons were added separately from a dish from the cart.
United recently upgraded the business class menus to offer four main courses instead of three.
I went with the grilled pork chop, which ended up being huge and delicious – a marked improvement from my last international business class meal on United.
While I normally skip the cheese and dessert courses to sleep, I went ahead with them since there’s just sooo much time to sleep on the 14.5 hour flight.
Shortly after having my tray removed, a flight attendant brought bottled water prior to me reclining back into lie-flat mode to get some sleep.
I previously mentioned how I preferred the Continental lie-flat seats on my 
In addition to the sandwiches and fruit, chips and nuts were also available. When I asked for a coffee at the back galley, the flight attendant said she’d prepare it and bring it to my seat.
Now, a note about the service. The two main flight attendants serving business class upstairs were the best I’ve experienced on United. While not quite as perfectionistic as those I’ve encountered on other international airlines, they consistently smiled, had a professional disposition, weren’t rushed and accommodated every request with pleasure. By United’s standards, they were excellent and I have since sent a note to the 1K email giving them compliments. Well done, United!
My traveling companion and I were the first to board and we settled into seats 2E and 2F.
This was my first time flying in Continental’s lie-flat BusinessFirst seat, so I was excited to compare it against United’s offering. I found it much more comfortable and spacious than United’s hard product, though I do have to give United a nod for better audio and headset quality.
The aisle seat definitely has a much larger footwell, though I had no problems getting comfortable in the window seat when I eventually went into bed mode.
The connectivity sockets are in a bit of an awkward position up and behind your shoulder.
The purser came by prior to push back wishing us a pleasant flight and provided details about the service and flight time, which was a nice touch and something I’ve only previously experienced when flying first class on three-cabin aircraft. We pushed back right on-time and were airborne within five minutes at most. Service began with a beverage and hot nuts.
Meal orders were taken from probably the best menu selections I’ve experienced internationally on United in business class. To begin, here’s the drink list.
And the first two courses were as follows:
I’m not a fan of shellfish, but my traveling companion said the soup was quite tasty and I thoroughly enjoyed the beef turnover and veggie purse.
The salad was quite nice and I went with the Parmesan-pepper dressing.
The main course selections were:
I went with the grilled sirloin steak and was incredibly impressed with its size, though it was significantly undercooked for my taste. The flight attendant did offer to throw it back in the oven for a while, which was appreciated. My friend’s steak was a bit thinner and cooked through.
As I wanted to get as much sleep as possible, I skipped dessert and pre-arrival snack.
I did manage to get a solid 3 hours of sleep and REALLY could have used more, but my friend roused me with 30 minutes left in the flight, per my request. He said the breakfast salami was the “pepperiest” deli meat he’s ever had, for what it’s worth.
So… I’m sorry to disappoint with a lackluster review of this flight. I do, however, want to share my overall thoughts about Singapore Airlines and the A380.
After my lengthy and enjoyable visit to the 
I boarded on the upper deck this time and had the same seat as my outbound flight – 14A.
After I settled in, flight attendants brought around a selection of pre-departure beverages and newspapers. I had already juiced myself to death in the lounge, but went with yet another orange juice, requiring a visit to the lavatory before we pushed back.
Given the time of day, the first meal served was brunch with the following selections available from the menu.
I had the intro courses of fruit and yoghurt, but had pre-reserved artichoke-tomato crusted loin of lamb for my entrée using Singapore’s unique ‘
After the meal, I folded down the seat and took a nap for a few hours. I woke up once noticing they had darkened the cabin and figured there was quite a bit more time left, but as soon as I settled in again to go back to sleep, the lights came on and flight attendants were coming through the aisles preparing for the pre-arrival light meal.
I again went with an option from the ‘Book the Cook’ menu, which was a delicious pan-fried fillet of beef in three peppercorn sauce.
As with the outbound flight, service was good-to-very good, but impersonal as there are just soooo many different flight attendants serving the huge business class cabin. My biggest takeaway about Singapore Airlines from this trip was the exceptional quality of the meals – they rival the best you’d find when flying first class.
