As you are probably aware, United has completed the installation of its new business class seats across its entire fleet of Boeing 747’s.  A few months ago, I flew in the main business class cabin (lower deck) from SFO to Tokyo and last week had a chance to fly in the upper deck cabin (SFO-ORD), also business class, and noticed some significant differences.

The length of the seat on the upper deck seems to be shorter than that of the main deck as my feet were jammed into the foot rest space and I didn’t have this problem on the main deck.

Typically on the upper deck of a 747, a few passengers get a lot of extra space due to the one exit row.  Not the case on United’s 747 because the row in front of the exit row faces forward and the one behind the exit row faces backward-wasted space?

In a previous post, I noted that in the lower deck, there was very much a feeling of facing other passengers, due to the rear facing seat configuration; this was notthe case on the upper deck due to either a greater a degree of stagger, more narrow aisles or both.

The overhead bins on the upper deck are very small and cannot fit a standard roller bag.  You will need to leave your roller bag downstairs or place in the closet in the rear of the upper deck.  You will have extra storage in the large bins between the window seat and the windows.  These bins are large enough to fit a big briefcase.

I noticed my seat, 14K, did not face the personal television directly, it was a slight angle.  Not a show stopper, but it was enough to notice.

With the high bulkheads that make up each row of seats, the upper deck of United’s 747 does not feel as spacious as many other 747 upper decks.

Verdict? The lower deck … with 2 caveats:
1) My seat faces forward
2) I am on either side of an aisle (as opposed to 4 across middles section which feels crowded and not very private)

Anything I am missing?

upper deck business class:

Typically, I don’t write much about the cities I travel to.  I’ve done a few: Taipei, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai and decided to say a few words about Saigon. I was there during Tet Nguyen Dan, the Vietnamese New Year. True to form, I had no idea this celebration was taking place until I arrived.

Saigon is upscale, clean and quite modern.  This time, I did not have the gaul to try much of the street food.  What’s different about this SE Asia city is that panhandlers can be quite aggressive in urging visitor to try out or buy whatever they are pedaling.  I had several people follow me for many blocks repeating the same offer over and over.  They seem to be harmless, but certainly annoying.  I’m not much for planning what I am going to see or going on guided tours.

Anybody been there and care to give their impression?

Here are some pictures from my 48 hours there.

opera house

opera house. open twice per month.

town hall. no visitors.

some dude

Last week, Boarding Area Bloggers & American Express ran a promotion asking readers to answer the following question:

“What’s your top tip for travelers who want to earn and use their loyalty points?”

The top tip from each blog was entered into a random drawing for a trip for 2 to Australia’s Gold Coast.

As you might imagine, many well thought out tips were submitted (373!!) and I wanted to share a few that I thought were insightful & potentially helpful to you. Many thanks to all of those who submitted their tips!
Here they are, in no particular order:

1.) Go with friends! It’s amazing how far you can get if you pool group resources — one person’s hotel upgrade with another’s free car rental etc. Works on three levels (I) You can often score a “stay with your friends” freebie (i.e., two of you have access to the first class lounge, the third can usually come along) (II) Friends who don’t have miles are often happy to pay any cash portion of a status change etc. as their contribution (III) Travelling companions!

2.) Set up a Google Alert with keywords for your favorite airline’s name and something like “frequent flier miles” or “miles promotion”–go crazy and do all the combinations–it costs nothing and can help make sure you don’t miss out on an opportunity you might not have otherwise noticed.

3.) If you’re a business traveler, ask if your company would allow you to charge your air fare to your own card, and reimburse you. That way, you get the frequent flier miles without having paid for the initial (work travel) air fare in the first place. Then, when you cash out your frequent flier miles, it is truly a “free flight.”
What a great incentive to take a vacation!

4.) Burn your miles for a few nice vacations with your better half. This way, you’ll at least find your keys still working when you get back from a MR.

5.) Don’t be afraid to check costs of adding additional legs (and miles) to your flight! I wound up paying a lot less by adding 2 more stops to my cross country trip, gaining me segments and EQM!

6.) Don’t use your miles for domestic trips, save up for a big international trip in First or Business class and your miles will be worth much more.

7.) Always keep your boarding passes until the miles post in your frequent flier account. Particularly when you’re flying a partner airline, mistakes and mess ups occur. Wouldn’t you hate to be just short of that great award trip and not have enough due to a flight not posting correctly?

8.) Don’t overlook Alaska Airline Mileage Plan – they allow you to earn miles with both Delta and American as well as many of their major international partners making it a great place for *A fliers to store orphan miles. Also, it comes time to redeem their agents are super-helpful and U.S.-based.

9.) If you only travel a moderate amount, make every hotel stay one night and then switch hotels for the next night. This is the quickest way to elite levels at the hotel chains. The hotels always require less stays than nights to reach elite levels, so by switching hotels nightly, you can earn elite status with just 2-3 stays per month. Once you have status, you’ll start earning additional bonus points and upgrades.

10.) Don’t let anyone tell you how you should use your miles. In my opinion, your miles are worth whatever they are worth to YOU. Use them to fly coach, to fly premium, for upgrades, for merchandise, or for magazines. Redeem them however you wish, and enjoy your hard-earned work!

Comment #220, submitted by Karlyn, was chosen, by yours truly, as a finalist in the BoardingArea/American Express/Planereality Trip to Australia Giveaway. One comment from each of 20 participating blogs was submitted for entry into a random drawing. The comment chosen in that random drawing will win a trip for 2 to Australia’s Gold Coast. Here is Karlyn’s tip:

“Don’t be afraid to check costs of adding additional legs (and miles) to your flight! I wound up paying a lot less by adding 2 more stops to my cross country trip, gaining me segments and EQM!”

Many thanks for all of the great tips & good luck to Karlyn!

I had a chance to test United’s newly introduced (3/19/10) Unlimited Domestic Upgrade policy for all Elite fliers.  I hold Premiere (the lowest of all elite levels) status with United and was flying from Atlanta-Washington Dulles-San Francisco.  When I originally booked the ticket, United showed a 777 would be operating the IAD-SFO sector, and really, this was the leg of the trip where I was hoping for an upgrade.  There looked to be plenty of open seats in Business Class.

A few days before my flight, United’s website showed that a 767 was now operating the route, but a 757 seat map was displayed.  I looked again the next day and United’s website showed that flight #874 was being operated by a 757 and there was a seat map to match. Forty-eight hours before departure, there was no indication of a confirmed or pending upgrade just the regular itinerary confirmation. 

One day before my flight, when I checked in on-line, the ATL-IAD route was confirmed upgraded and I was waitlisted on the IAD-SFO portion.  The morning of departure, I looked again and no upgrade was shown for IAD-SFO, waitlisted or confirmed, just my original seat.

I asked the gate agent in Atlanta about my upgrade for IAD-SFO.  He happily checked for me and said I had a pretty good shot of making it to “Connoisseur Class.”  Due to a tight connection, I did not get to the gate at IAD until the agent was calling all zones, all rows for boarding.  I thought that even if I had received the upgrade, it may have been given away.  I quickly asked the gate agent what my status was.  With a harmless chuckle she said:

“This upgrade thing…it… it stinks; you all need to call United and tell ‘em…”

That didn’t sound promising, but with that she printed me my new boarding pass: 11E Middle Seat, Middle Section, bulkhead, Business Class!  United will be giving Delta a run for my money….

UPDATE: On the return flight (SFO-ORD) I was upgraded 24 hours in advance. It’s worth noting the equipment changed from 777 to 747. No such luck on the 2nd leg (ORD-ATL) on an A320.

I needed to get from Seoul to Saigon and while there were a few direct options, I chose to make a connection in Hong Kong and fly Cathay Pacific. I did this so I could check out Cathay’s Lie Flat Seats in Business Class. Typically, one would need to get on a long-haul flight in order to experience the seats, but for whatever reason, Cathay was flying an Airbus A340-300 (they also sometimes fly a 777 on this route) on this 2 hour hop, equipped with their lie flat business class seats. The trip from Seoul to Hong Kong is HERE. At first glance, the seats look a bit narrow and cramped, but it turned out quite the contrary. There is plenty of space, comfort and privacy. Of course, I’m not sure if this would be an ideal way to fly with a companion, assuming you wanted to look or talk to one another, but you would definitely be comfortable. The story of my eventful arrival in Saigon a.k.a Ho Chi Minh City is HERE.

the tray table slides out from under the tv

a full meal, including ice cream, was served

the tv swings out and sits square in front of you

I was very impressed by the Pier, Cathay Pacific’s Business Class Lounge in Hong Kong. The Pier is one level below the departure gates, and the lounge entrance is near gate 62. For starters, it’s huge and very well appointed. I found a sea of comfortable chairs and coffee tables to give one as much or as little privacy as they wish. In addition to the self service food and beverage that is the norm in any respected business class lounge, Cathay Pacific offers several other options, dependent upon what you’re in the mood for: the coffee bar, ice cream bar, liquor bar and noodle bar are each staffed with employees to concoct whatever floats your boat. The noodle bar sits on the far end of the lounge, adjacent to the main food and beverage counters, and has large common tables and counters, almost like a cafeteria. The “Long Bar”, 27 seats to be exact, is pretty cool as it faces a wall of windows looking out to the runway.

On the opposite end of the lounge are shower rooms and computer terminals. I used the shower rooms to freshen up before my flight to Saigon and they are certainly some of the nicest I have seen. There must have been at least 50 computer terminals separated by more couches and coffee tables where one could easily conduct a meeting.

I set my belongings at a table and walked around for no more than 10 minutes. When I returned, I was surprised to see two Cathay Pacific lounge attendants standing next to my luggage. I had left my cell phone on the table and it had rung. One of the attendants simply told me that I could not leave my phone unattended. My bad, but I was pleased to know that Cathay Pacific has a handle on everything happening in the lounge, despite its vastness. With that, I was off to board my flight to Vietnam…

noodle bar

noodle bar

drinks and sandwiches

pastries

potatoes & what I think was rice

reading material

long bar; the far end is the coffee & ice cream bar

spring rolls & hot dogs (?)

shower room

work area

I’ve been on this flight before.  Sort of.  On my very first “trip” I flew Cathay Pacific from Tokyo to Hong Kong on an Airbus A330-300.  On that flight (article here), the service was pretty good but the plane featured an “old” style of business class seat.  And by all means, I would not expect to find a flat bed seat on a 4 hour flight.  Same deal for this flight from Seoul to Hong Kong: older cabin layout, also on an Airbus A330, but this time with mediocre service.  The seats are comparable, but better, than most domestic (US) First Class seats.  There seems to be more space, but I didn’t bust out the tape measure.  There is also greater recline and a foot/leg rest on these particular Cathay Pacific seats.

Upon boarding, I was escorted to my seat by one of the flight attendants. Blankets, water and juice were offered to Business Class passengers while the rest of the passengers boarded.  The tail end of boarding was a bit chaotic. FA’s were scurrying back and forth between cabins, through congested aisles, trying to upgrade frequent fliers who were originally seated in coach.  Glad I was already comfortably seated.

My personal TV was filthy with smears and smudges which I could not seem to remove.  There was no soap in the bathroom I used and my pre-meal towel was, literally, cold.  Smiles were hard to come by on this flight.  Food was tasty.

I find in incredibly annoying when the only beverages the FA’s have on hand are water juice and coffee.  Then, when one orders a cocktail, the FA looks at you somewhat puzzled and scrambles to find whatever was ordered.  I almost feel like I need to apologize for ordering a cocktail.  So here it is:

“Sorry my body is not on East Asia time, now can I have a damn drink?”

US Airlines do this better than foreign carriers.  They are very god about having booze on hand, no matter the time of day, no matter what cabin you are seated in.

morning departures from seoul

leg room

Before I talk about my Cathay Pacific Flight from Seoul to Hong Kong, I thought I would share a few pictures I took while waiting to board. The Olympics was on all televisions and large crowds were gathering and cheering on their respective countries. For whatever reasons, when I think of Asia, I think of warm tropical climates, hardly the case in Northern Asia.  Here you go:

korean air

can’t wait to fly china eastern

asiana

singapore

The Cathay Pacific flight from ICN to HKG will be posted shortly (meaning today)

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: I am continually astounded at how much better airline lounges are outside of the United States versus in the United States. Even if the lounge is that of a US Airline, it is almost always superior to its US counterpart. A perfect example of an impressive airline lounge is Cathay Pacific’s in Seoul’s Incheon Airport. Its decor is more upscale than some 4 star hotel lobbies. OBW (oh by the way), this is hardly a hub city for Cathay Pacific; their hub is 1300 miles away in Hong Kong.

Anyway, the lounge is on the second floor in the Secondary Terminal. It was quiet and relaxing with plenty of space to spread out. Instant noodles, cereal, soup, cookies, mixed nuts, fruit and some open-faced finger sandwiches were available. Just about anything you wanted to drink could be had including 6 types of liquor. There was a large selection of magazines and newspaper and free wi-fi.

Based upon my great experience in this lounge and knowing it wasn’t even a hub for Cathay Pacific, I couldn’t wait to see what awaited me in Hong Kong.

During my last connection at London’s Heathrow Airport, I was able to capture a few airplanes which I thought were memorable.  It was a Thursday morning in Janruary and the weather was real funky (or possibly quite normal for London); cloudy and misty one minute, bright and sunny the next. Enjoy!