United airlines experinces from SYD to LAX?

[hello12345]

has anyone travelled with united from sydney to LA? what are your opinions/thoughts? worth saving the extra $$ to get a lower fare with united? or pay extra for qantas or virgin?

 

[trooper]

Entirely subjective. Especially if travelling in Y.

Upsides?

Price.

Downsides?

No individual IFE... only the "main screens"

Relatively poor on-time performance.

Variable cabin crew experiences.

 

[kpc]

Entirely subjective. Especially if travelling in Y.



Downsides?


Variable cabin crew experiences.

That's taking diplomacy to the extreme...:shock:

 

[smit0847]

That's taking diplomacy to the extreme...:shock:

What's so bad about the crew in particular? I rarely ask the crew for anything on a flight in Y as I keep myself occupied with IFE, books, sleep etc. The only real interactions is during f&b service and they simply ask you what you want and you get it.

I would never fly United anywhere but if bad crew was the only issue with the airline it wouldnt stop me from flying with them.

I pick Y flights based on more important things (to me) like price, routing, connections, IFE, flight times, food inclusions and standards etc, seat pitch etc. Crew is down the list.

 

[BAM1748]

If you're not a demanding passenger then UA is fine, they don't have sales because their fares are always at the better end of the specrum. I've used them plenty of times without any issues.

Matt

 

[docjames]

What's so bad about the crew in particular? I rarely ask the crew for anything on a flight in Y as I keep myself occupied with IFE, books, sleep etc. The only real interactions is during f&b service and they simply ask you what you want and you get it.

I would never fly United anywhere but if bad crew was the only issue with the airline it wouldnt stop me from flying with them.

I pick Y flights based on more important things (to me) like price, routing, connections, IFE, flight times, and food inclusions standards etc, seat pitch etc. Crew is down the list.

I have bolded the bits where you should lower your expectations. You wont be passing much time with IFE unless you bring your own. Maybe buy an ipad with the savings and then download some latest releases from itunes.


Routing doesnt hlep unless you want to fly (direct) to SFO ex-SYD.

 

[Isochronous]

Everything I've heard about UA long-haul is truly scary.

 

[kamchatsky]

Given it is Y usually the price between UA/NZ/QF/VA/DL is not that much different anyway. UA is probably the worst of the lot. It would need to be pretty substantial savings before I would fly UA. Definitely pay extra for VA or QF if you want a good experience.

 

[seanpodge]

I'm flying MEL-SYD-LAX, then connecting to LAS on Wednesday with United (flight UA840) in economy. I'll be writing up a trip report with some photos when I get to Vegas so I can give you my impressions. But in general, what has been said regarding objective/measurable items is accurate. Old plane, no IFE, seat pitch of 31" but it is cheap and good for getting *A miles (by the end of the trip, I'll be *A Gold). I plan on bringing along a couple of packs of biscuits and an iPad with some books and videos to keep me entertained.

To be fair, I've become less interested in IFE in recent years. For example, I was travelling with OZ from ICN-SYD in January and I only used the IFE to look at the map. Otherwise I just played games on my iPad.

 

[get me outta here]

Just wondering, has anyone 'reserved' a fare w' United and then gone back in the next day for a different date and got it cheaper, then on entering the cc details, it reverted to the 2nd date, but the first higher fare?

 

[lovetravellingoz]

The only real interactions is during f&b service and they simply ask you what you want and you get it.

.

Well I have only flown United once, but this certainly did not apply.
Delivery was more like the modern paper boy just throwing things out as they went.

Poorest service I have ever had, low cost airlines included.

 

[eastwest101]

Depends on what you define as "extra" the price difference - for Y class it would have to be at least a few hundred dollars cheaper than the competition to be a serious contender, which they often are, everyone has their own price point only some would fly UA if it were only $200 difference in price, but as the price difference starts to grow then it gets interesting.

Generally most people here think that as far as the on-board experience goes QF>VA>NZ>DL>UA, but no matter who it is - if you are flying Y class any one of them will get you there safely with some mild discomfort and jetlag....

 

[MH_fan]

Totally agree with your ranking there, eastwest. I will never fly UA again if I can help it.

 

[eastwest101]

Totally agree with your ranking there, eastwest. I will never fly UA again if I can help it.

What about J class? At what point/price difference would yo fly UA J class over QF J class for instance? $500 cheaper? $1000 cheaper? $2000 cheaper? $4000 cheaper?

For the OP its a similar question - except its Y class. But will be interesting if the OP comes back and lets us know whom he/she chose to fly with.

 

[MH_fan]

What about J class? At what point/price difference would yo fly UA J class over QF J class for instance? $500 cheaper? $1000 cheaper? $2000 cheaper? $4000 cheaper?

For the OP its a similar question - except its Y class. But will be interesting if the OP comes back and lets us know whom he/she chose to fly with.

If UA were offering J tickets to LAX for under $4000, I might consider it. Then again, I would only be prepared to pay up to $6000 on QF. It's not so much the price difference between QF and UA, it's about the absolute cost. I would not pay $7000 on QF and I certainly wouldn't pay $5000 on UA, even though it may be $2000 less than QF.

 

[georgeflightdiscounts]

United Airlines upgrades Australian product
United Airlines is set to deploy 777-200ER aircraft on its Australian routes, with the new aircraft replacing Boeing 747-400s on UA's trans-Pacific services from Sydney and Melbourne to San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The significant move for the carrier will mean that the Star Alliance member carrier will for the first time offer on-demand seat-back inflight entertainment for economy class passengers.
Effective from 01 Apr 2014 777s will operate on all United's Australian flights with a three class configuration - eight seats in Global First, 40 in BusinessFirst and 221 in Economy, including 117 Economy Plus seats which offer increased personal space and added legroom.
All seats on the 777 have multi-channel audio/video on demand and access to power outlets, and United is also outfitting the aircraft with global satellite Wi-Fi to offer inflight connectivity on long-haul international flights.
"The 777 will be the ideal aircraft for our Australian routes in terms of both capacity and customer amenities," said UA vice president Atlantic & Pacific sales, James Mueller.

 

[clifford]

If UA were offering J tickets to LAX for under $4000, I might consider it. Then again, I would only be prepared to pay up to $6000 on QF. It's not so much the price difference between QF and UA, it's about the absolute cost. I would not pay $7000 on QF and I certainly wouldn't pay $5000 on UA, even though it may be $2000 less than QF.

Is this coming out of your own pocket, ie not paid for by your business, the taxman, etc, etc. If so you must be quite wealthy.

Personally I travel cattle class and spend the big bucks on something worthwhile and lasting.

But that's just me!

 

[farstar]

I was at SYD earlier in the year and for the second day running the UA LAX flight was cancelled. The passengers were told they would be taken to hotels in Wollongong and the Blue mountains and they needed phone up about what flight they would get home. Guess could happen on any airline but Blue Mountains are not close to SYD airport, I did feel sorry for them.

 

[burmans]

While nothing to do with Sydney, I had the cancellation problem with UA in Seoul. THey also handled very poorly, we overheard them saying that one (nearby) hotel wouldnt accept us because "United had not been paying bills". Total disaster, they didn't tell us until we were on the way to the airport, stuffed us around there, had to go all the way into and back from Seoul (1 1/2 hours each way), stuffed us around at the hotel, stuffed us around on the way back (told us flight was at 1 when actually at 5:30), stuffed our flights after that (they cancelled our sector and issued new ticket hence invalidating future sectors). And when we asked (trying to be nice of the guy on the counter) if this was a hard day, he tells us this happens every second day.

However the irony is we each got nearly 22K points in consolation (on a US Airlines award flight!).

 

[aussie_sue]

So I'm scheduled to leave sydney for NYC on the 2nd of October in biz class using points. What kind of experience will I have?