When are United going to get some new long-haul planes?!
Discussion
DMN said:
I flew United to Newark from Birmingham last January. The seat was a little cramped, I'm six two and it was just ok. The food and inflight film selection was good. They had a chickpea curry that was very tasty.
I flew back with Lufthansa. They had more leg room and free red wine, but the films where worse.
United had free wine this time too! I think it's a recent change, but they had red, white or beer FoC, and charged for spirits and 'premium wines'. I'm sure last time I flew with them any alcohol was paid for so this is a significant improvement when you have a 9 hour daytime flight.I flew back with Lufthansa. They had more leg room and free red wine, but the films where worse.
We've used Delta and Continental for transatlantic...no better! Found it amusing that the pleasant/welcoming customer service that the US is generally known for absolutely does not apply on aircraft, BA and Virgin are streets ahead in that respect.
We went on a fairly old BA 747 about two years ago, biggest mistake was thinking it would be cool to sit up top (all economy upstairs), but it was pretty dingy, far more cramped than downstairs.
Has anyone used Norwegian for transatlantic? Heard quite a few good things about them.
We went on a fairly old BA 747 about two years ago, biggest mistake was thinking it would be cool to sit up top (all economy upstairs), but it was pretty dingy, far more cramped than downstairs.
Has anyone used Norwegian for transatlantic? Heard quite a few good things about them.
ukaskew said:
We went on a fairly old BA 747 about two years ago, biggest mistake was thinking it would be cool to sit up top (all economy upstairs), but it was pretty dingy, far more cramped than downstairs.
Are you sure? All BA 747s have Club (Business) class seats only upstairs and it's a pretty popular cabin I believe. jamiebae said:
It seems that every time I have to fly on United trans-Atlantic I end up on the world's most knackered old Boeing 767-300. Yesterday's flight was delayed by getting on for four hours due to a water leak in one of the bathrooms, on the outbound flight a number of the screens weren't working and in terms of comfort they're terrible. The screens are 5.6" and so pixelated you can't read the subtitles on the safety video, the seats are saggy and collapsed, and there are no power points anywhere in the economy cabins.
These planes are over 25 years old now, surely that's getting towards the end of their useful life? The maintenance guy at Newark said something along the lines of 'the plane is so old of course things go wrong with it' when asked how often this happened by another passenger. According to Wikipedia they still have 35 of these in the air, and no obvious replacements planned, so I guess I'm going to have to endure them for a bit longer still.
United's 767 is affectionately called the "Ghetto Bird"These planes are over 25 years old now, surely that's getting towards the end of their useful life? The maintenance guy at Newark said something along the lines of 'the plane is so old of course things go wrong with it' when asked how often this happened by another passenger. According to Wikipedia they still have 35 of these in the air, and no obvious replacements planned, so I guess I'm going to have to endure them for a bit longer still.
I went to SF a few years ago with United. Upgraded to premium when I found out the 747 was older than I was. In the premium seats we were treated to what looked like a rear projection screen (complete with warped image and a huge section of burn in) to watch the 2 movies they were putting on. Other than that though it wasn't really any worse than a more modern plane. The 747 is a comfy liner. It did smell super musty though!
I think they save their nicer planes for their own market!
Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Saturday 10th October 22:14
pushthebutton said:
ukaskew said:
We went on a fairly old BA 747 about two years ago, biggest mistake was thinking it would be cool to sit up top (all economy upstairs), but it was pretty dingy, far more cramped than downstairs.
Are you sure? All BA 747s have Club (Business) class seats only upstairs and it's a pretty popular cabin I believe. ukaskew said:
We've used Delta and Continental for transatlantic...no better! Found it amusing that the pleasant/welcoming customer service that the US is generally known for absolutely does not apply on aircraft, BA and Virgin are streets ahead in that respect.
We went on a fairly old BA 747 about two years ago, biggest mistake was thinking it would be cool to sit up top (all economy upstairs), but it was pretty dingy, far more cramped than downstairs.
Has anyone used Norwegian for transatlantic? Heard quite a few good things about them.
My mother managed to get on Norwegians 787 to NYC last year I think. Said it was great! They worked a little differently in that the ticket didn't include a meal. If you wanted a meal, that was extra and you basically just order it from your seat on the touch screen with your card details. Then rather than a trolley service, your food is simply handed to you on a tray, so the aisle never experiences the periodic clogging when the trolley comes. Same with drinks, just order, and it arrives. No waiting for the trolley.We went on a fairly old BA 747 about two years ago, biggest mistake was thinking it would be cool to sit up top (all economy upstairs), but it was pretty dingy, far more cramped than downstairs.
Has anyone used Norwegian for transatlantic? Heard quite a few good things about them.
Trevatanus said:
Only ever flew United once, was on a 767 to / from jfk back in 2000.
On the way back, the original aircraft went tech, so was substituted for a 767 that was configured for (I'm guessing) internal flights. From what I can remember, there wasn't IFE at all!
Had that before with Martin Air. We'd booked through KLM, but seems Martin is a B team or something. Stepping aboard was like taking a trip to the 80's. Musty, dusty, stale air. Seats with no IFE, not even large bulk head screens. Just drop down 14 inchers from the ceiling! A crew of elderly women from the days of Jesus and pretty much everything was a paid for extra, except your slop. I wouldn't have minded but, due to the time of year (Xmas) the tickets were a grand a piece (and there were 12 of us!).On the way back, the original aircraft went tech, so was substituted for a 767 that was configured for (I'm guessing) internal flights. From what I can remember, there wasn't IFE at all!
towser44 said:
Haven't United got Dreamliners now, the 787-9 variety? At least one of the daily services to Heathrow is a Dreamliner and think they do Frankfurt and/or Amsterdam too. Seen them on Flightradar many time over the house.
They have a handful, but still have 40+ 767s, most of which are 20+ years old, and not enough Dreamliners on order to replace thenOtispunkmeyer said:
ukaskew said:
We've used Delta and Continental for transatlantic...no better! Found it amusing that the pleasant/welcoming customer service that the US is generally known for absolutely does not apply on aircraft, BA and Virgin are streets ahead in that respect.
We went on a fairly old BA 747 about two years ago, biggest mistake was thinking it would be cool to sit up top (all economy upstairs), but it was pretty dingy, far more cramped than downstairs.
Has anyone used Norwegian for transatlantic? Heard quite a few good things about them.
My mother managed to get on Norwegians 787 to NYC last year I think. Said it was great! They worked a little differently in that the ticket didn't include a meal. If you wanted a meal, that was extra and you basically just order it from your seat on the touch screen with your card details. Then rather than a trolley service, your food is simply handed to you on a tray, so the aisle never experiences the periodic clogging when the trolley comes. Same with drinks, just order, and it arrives. No waiting for the trolley.We went on a fairly old BA 747 about two years ago, biggest mistake was thinking it would be cool to sit up top (all economy upstairs), but it was pretty dingy, far more cramped than downstairs.
Has anyone used Norwegian for transatlantic? Heard quite a few good things about them.
BrabusMog said:
Try Iberia from MAD to SJO. Had to take that flight 6 times I think, never again.
I don't do Iberia. Full stop. I'd rather fly United, via Dulles, than use them. In fact, that's exactly what I did as I could have flown to Madrid and gone direct to Mexico from there but frankly I'd rather swim.The worst leg on this trip was actually from Mexico to Chicago on a decrepit old A320 with no legroom and stuffed with badly behaved kids, fatties, and people with questionable personal hygiene. I imagine that's what a Jet 2 flight from Leeds to Malaga would be like...
towser44 said:
Haven't United got Dreamliners now, the 787-9 variety? At least one of the daily services to Heathrow is a Dreamliner and think they do Frankfurt and/or Amsterdam too. Seen them on Flightradar many time over the house.
They certainly have 787-8s, I flew out on one from Heathrow to Houston a few weeks back.jamiebae said:
BrabusMog said:
Try Iberia from MAD to SJO. Had to take that flight 6 times I think, never again.
I don't do Iberia. Full stop. I'd rather fly United, via Dulles, than use them. In fact, that's exactly what I did as I could have flown to Madrid and gone direct to Mexico from there but frankly I'd rather swim.The worst leg on this trip was actually from Mexico to Chicago on a decrepit old A320 with no legroom and stuffed with badly behaved kids, fatties, and people with questionable personal hygiene. I imagine that's what a Jet 2 flight from Leeds to Malaga would be like...
I refuse to transit through America unless it is the only option, so I can blame myself I guess. Thankfully we lost the customers we had in Panama and Costa Rica, so I won't have to fly with them again.
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