I posted a couple of weeks ago about United’s enhance domestic meal service. For once United made changes that were overwhelmingly positive!

Anyway, I had my first firsthand experience with the changes last night and this morning.

Last night I was on a redeye from Seattle to Washington Dulles. In the past, the snack was simply a cheese plate with a few slices of fruit and a cookie. Not very good if you ask me, since the cheese is the same kind United uses everywhere, so I’ve grown quite sick of it. If anything, it was a bit of a blessing, because I finally stopped eating the snacks on redeyes.

But now they have quite a filling meal service on redeyes! To start, the flight attendant offered the snack basket, consisting of potato chips, Ghirardelli squares, Biscoffs, and bananas.

Snack basket

Shortly thereafter the main course was served, which consisted of a hot turkey sandwich, side salad, and Sun Chips.

Turkey sandwich, salad, and Sun Chips

This sandwich was actually delicious, with quite a bit of turkey, and the salad was more than just the typical rotten lettuce.

To finish off the meal was a warm cookie, as usual.

Warm cookie and milk

I was really, really impressed. And in a way I’m dreading this, since I’ll have a hard time turning this meal down, while I had no problems turning down the cheese plate. It’s actually tasty and filling. I had low expectations after seeing Matthew’s post and the rather bare sandwich, but I thought this was really impressive.

Then came my breakfast flight, from Washington Dulles to Tampa. The choices used to be an omelet or a fruit plate. The omelet was always served with a small bowl of fruit and a croissant, and the fruit plate was always served with yogurt and a croissant.

The new choices were cereal or an omelet. I went with the cereal. I thought it was kind of funny that they served the Corn Flakes in the same plate they serve scrambled eggs in. It was served with a small bowl of fruit, croissant, yogurt, Biscoffs, and banana. The omelet, in addition to what used to be served with it, also comes with yogurt and Biscoffs now.

Breakfast

While I’m not excited to see more food on an airplane that I’m tempted to eat, this is an all around positive change.

This morning I flew from Washington Dulles to Tampa on United 99. I take this flight at least once a week and it’s very rarely exciting, but today was an exception.

I was seated in seat 2B (it was an Airbus 320), and as boarding finished up I saw the captain come aboard with five drinks from Starbucks — three for the flight attendants, and two for the pilots. One of the flight attendants asked if he had brought a straw for the Frappuccino he brought her, which he had forgotten. But despite departure time quickly approaching, he ran all the way to Starbucks t0 get her the straw, returning just in time for the flight. I was impressed a captain would take care of his crew that well, because not only did he pick up the drinks, but as far as I could tell he actually bought them for the crew.

As soon as the door closed the captain stood in the aisle, introduced himself as “John,” and made a quick announcement about the flight, first asking us to pay close attention to the safety information, and then mentioning that he’d have Channel 9 on, which he mentioned was an exclusive feature of United.

I still didn’t make a connection at the time. But as soon as we were airborne, the purser made the following announcement: “in command of our flight this morning is Captain John McFadden.” Can’t believe I hadn’t made the connection earlier!

Captain McFadden is good friends with Captain Flanagan, and I had heard about him many times. There are even several articles about him, and a few years back he appeared on TV with Captain Flanagan.

And he continued to impress. As simple as it might seem, I was happy to see that the seatbelt sign was switched off as soon as we passed through 18,000 feet. It might sound stupid, but it’s far too rare, even when there’s smooth air. He made yet another announcement welcoming us aboard, wishing us a great flight, and reminding us Channel 9 is on.

I got to talking to the purser, and she mentioned that the captain had emailed all the flight attendants beforehand to introduce himself, give them his contact information, and to ask if they wanted anything from Starbucks — his treat no less! What a class act.

And the great service continued. Right before we began our descent he made the following announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, this tends to be the least exciting part of the flight for listening to Channel 9, so instead I’m going to be talking to anyone that might be interested on Channel 9, providing some aircraft information, United trivia, flight information, and even a chance to win a 10% off certificate for a future United flight by answering a simple question.”

And as promised, moments later, he introduced himself on Channel 9 yet again. He explained that between him and the first officer, they had over 40 years of commercial flying experience and over 25,000 hours. He explained they had flown everything from Beechcraft planes to 777s. He explained the features that make the Airbus unique, all the statistics you could possibly want to know about the plane, like the maximum takeoff weight, length, wingspan, etc.

And then it got even more fun. He answered some of the most common questions he receives, like what routes a pilot typically flies.

Next, he gave passengers the opportunity to win a 10% off electronic certificate. The flight attendants passed out napkins, and he wanted passengers to write down what they like most about United. Then he would randomly draw two winners from the napkins to receive the prize.

Lastly, all first class passengers were given personalized business cards thanking them for their business and asking what could be done to make their experience better.

Captain McFadden is incredible, and clearly I wasn’t the only one that thought so. After the flight we talked in the terminal for about 10 minutes, and in that time multiple people interrupted us to tell him how great of a job he did.

The most touching had to be an actual United employee that said he worked in the airline industry for 35 years and had never seen someone so professional. Several others walked up to him and just wanted to shake his hand for the great job he did.

Captain McFadden is one of the most down to earth yet impressive people out there.  I’m really hoping to end up on another one of his flights soon.

Through September 30, Hyatt is offering 1,000 bonus United miles per Hyatt night, with a maximum of 30,000 bonus miles earned through this promotion. Registration is required using code UA30K.

Apparently this offer is not combinable with the 2,500 miles per stay offer for United elites. It would be awfully nice if it were! This is definitely useful for those that have stays longer than a few nights, where you can cash in quite nicely, compared to the other promotion which is based on stays. And I have a feeling after June 30, when the “Big Welcome Back” promotion is over, there will be less hotel hopping.

Or who knows, maybe it is combinable with the 2,500 mile offer, which would be awesome.

Well, let me first start off by saying that I’m not one to write reviews on restaurants, but since Encounter is plopped right in the middle of LAX, it’s kind of hard to not call this restaurant airline-related.

Encounter is located in the middle of LAX, in between terminals, and isn’t the easiest restaurant to find. We (friend that went with me and I) didn’t park, but it’s $6 to valet park. The restaurant is located in the iconic spider building that seems to be designed with form rather than function in mind.

As soon as we entered the building, we noticed how shabby it was. The entrance was not clean, and it was completely deserted inside which seemed a bit odd. It also smelled a bit musty. Not a very good first impression. There is an elevator near the entrance to take you up to the restaurant, and as soon as the doors close (to the elevator), it becomes apparent how cheesy the evening is going to be as sci-fi music starts to play. It was like an episode of The Jetsons.

The interior of the restaurant was obviously the follow up to the “groovy” elevator ride. The decor was very retro with bright colored carpets and lava lamps, not to mention the space-themed furniture. It was quite comical, but the views outside the windows of LAX were amazing. The windows go floor-to-ceiling, so it’s not hard to spot an aircraft while taking a bite.

Encounter bar area

Encounter restaurant

When we were eating dinner, we couldn’t take our eyes off of the windows. The views of the heavies just a couple hundred feet over at Terminal 2 were just amazing. First it was the arriving Virgin Atlantic A340-600 that caught our attention. Then it was the Air France 777-200, which distracted us from eating even more. The third strike was the Air New Zealand 747-400 that pulled in between the Air France and Virgin Atlantic bird. The views were about as good as they get.

Views from table

Unfortunately the service was as lackluster as the first impression, but that may be more a function of the number of employees working. There were only two people that we could see waiting tables in a mostly full restaurant. They were obviously overworked, but there was no excuse to just flat out ignore my request for a Diet Coke.

Regarding food, the menu consists of, “award-winning ‘California Fresh’ cuisine,” according to Encounter’s website. We noticed that the menu was quite small, and not too appealing – at least to our eyes. For an appetizer, we settled on two Caesar Salad Halo’s. They weren’t bad, but it’s hard to mess up a Caesar Salad. Along with the salads we were also served some really great rolls that were warm and soft.

Delicious rolls

Caesar salad

For my friend’s dinner, he had the lamb, which he said wasn’t very good because it was overcooked. Hmm, sounds like red meat on an airplane…

Lamb main course

I had the mushroom ravioli, which was good but that may have just been because it is a bunch of cream and cheese. Also, as you may have expected, everything is overpriced.

Ravioli

Overall, the food wasn’t great. It wasn’t bad either, but for the price I expected a bit better. The decor is also very cheesy. Not to mention the service is quite lackluster. However, these are obviously not the reasons why anyone would go to Encounter. So while the views are great, I don’t really feel the need to return. Though if you haven’t been, I’d certainly consider paying them a visit for the views…

It’s time for a reader photo. Thanks to Ken for sending in these. Since this is a toughie, we have two pictures of the same location.

Correct Answer: Kangaroo Island, Australia
Winner: Brian

If you’d like your photo featured, please email it to me at onemileatatime@hotmail.com, along with the correct answer.

Lufthansa might not have the most modern hard product or even the best food (in my opinion, though I know a lot will disagree with me), but they continue to be one of my favorite airlines. Not sure if it’s the First Class Terminal, consistently excellent onboard service, or just a bit of national pride on my part, but they just come across as one of the classiest airlines to me.

Stay tuned for the trip report!

Most reviews I’ve read suggest that Asiana is a second rate airline, at least compared to Singapore and ANA, but I disagree. I thought they were phenomenal. They were at least on par with ANA, probably even a bit better. The service, food, and seat was all top notch. Stay tuned for the trip report.

It’s time for a reader photo. Thanks to Mary for sending in this one.

Correct Answer: Berlin, Germany
Winner: Ben

If you’d like your photo featured, please email it to me at onemileatatime@hotmail.com, along with the correct answer.

Hello from the Asiana first class lounge in Incheon. There was a mild scare at check-in, as the agent asked me where I was flying today and I said Frankfurt. She said “business class, right?” and I said “no, first class.” She said “Frankfurt only two cabin today,” which scared the hell out of me for a second. She then printed out my first class boarding pass. Odd.

I took a few pictures in the lounge, and an attendant came up to me and said “sorry sir, no photo.” Gah!

I finally made it to Seoul and met up with my brother. He flew in on Asiana from Osaka (connecting from a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt). He had one story that cracked me up. On his Asiana flight from Osaka they made announcements in three languages. As soon as they landed they first made the announcement in Korean, which took about a minute. Then they made the announcement in Japanese, which took about a minute. And then the following announcement was made in English, and I remind you, this was the post-landing announcement, where you usually thank passengers for flying Asiana and not smoking in the terminal or using their cell phones. But instead they got this, in broken English:

Due to turbulence, we will not be coming through the cabin serving beverages at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you for flying Asiana, a Star Alliance member.

ROFL! Guess they read the wrong announcements page in their handbook.