When are United going to get some new long-haul planes?!

When are United going to get some new long-haul planes?!

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Discussion

Steve vRS

4,836 posts

240 months

Friday 9th October 2015
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I always tend to read on a plane so the lack of entertainment is not too much of an issue for me. I'll make sure the kids have a couple of movies on their iPads and that they are fully charged!

Steve

jamiebae

Original Poster:

6,245 posts

210 months

Friday 9th October 2015
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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.

ukaskew

10,642 posts

220 months

Friday 9th October 2015
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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.

surveyor

17,768 posts

183 months

Friday 9th October 2015
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American Airlines now serve quite a few US destinations from Heathrow with new 777's. They are the dogs bks and in the back I'll look out for those flights over the BA 777's.

BlackST

9,079 posts

164 months

Friday 9th October 2015
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I'm on a 767 with AA to New York and back in 3 weeks. Are they as bad as people are making out?
Never been trans atlantic before so haven't got any expectations.

Trevatanus

11,109 posts

149 months

Friday 9th October 2015
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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!

pushthebutton

1,096 posts

181 months

Saturday 10th October 2015
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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.

Otispunkmeyer

12,558 posts

154 months

Saturday 10th October 2015
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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"

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

tim0409

4,355 posts

158 months

Saturday 10th October 2015
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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.
I flew on a BA 747 last month in Club World on the UD for the first time and thought it was great; by far and away the best of the CW seats available. From memory BA do two versions of the 747, with the UD on both being club world.

Otispunkmeyer

12,558 posts

154 months

Saturday 10th October 2015
quotequote all
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.

Otispunkmeyer

12,558 posts

154 months

Saturday 10th October 2015
quotequote all
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!).

towser44

3,472 posts

114 months

Saturday 10th October 2015
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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.

ukaskew

10,642 posts

220 months

Sunday 11th October 2015
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pushthebutton said:
Are you sure? All BA 747s have Club (Business) class seats only upstairs and it's a pretty popular cabin I believe.
Sure it was BA, but could have been Virgin I guess as we've used them to fly to San Fransisco a few times. Either way it was fairly unpleasant.

jamiebae

Original Poster:

6,245 posts

210 months

Sunday 11th October 2015
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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 then

BrabusMog

20,083 posts

185 months

Sunday 11th October 2015
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Ayahuasca said:
If you think United is bad, try American Airlines.
Try Iberia from MAD to SJO. Had to take that flight 6 times I think, never again.

BrabusMog

20,083 posts

185 months

Sunday 11th October 2015
quotequote all
Otispunkmeyer 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.
Haven't gone transatlantic with Norwegian (yet) but I use them at least once a month and they are streets ahead of any other airline. Wifi on all European flights is awesome, makes the time go very quickly.

jamiebae

Original Poster:

6,245 posts

210 months

Sunday 11th October 2015
quotequote all
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...

AlexS

1,550 posts

231 months

Sunday 11th October 2015
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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.

BrabusMog

20,083 posts

185 months

Monday 12th October 2015
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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 flew business class with them the first time I took the transatlantic flight. I got a big velour chair and that was it. No IFE at all. And then, once we had taken off, people just walked into business class, said something in Spanish and were allowed to sit down. Then their baby cried for 9 hours. The flight attendants, rather curiously, couldn't speak English when I was trying to make complaints.

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.

BlackLabel

13,251 posts

122 months

Tuesday 13th October 2015
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I had the misfortune of flying across the pond with United on a narrow body 757 earlier this year and would never do it again. It did save me several hours in transit though as it was the direct Edinburgh to Chicago flight which was the only reason I selected this flight.