United V Qantas

[madmat777]

Hi All,

Have not posted in quite some time. Normally a happy flyer but I found these experiences bad enough to write about them.

Last week I had to make a dash across to the US for business as we are opening an office there, and due to the unions decided to book on United. (Dont even get me started on the hypocrisy of people bagging Alan Joyce for holding travellers to ransom when that is exactly what the unions did for months. whoa...off that high horse). The airline was shut down when I had to fly out on the 31st so I was stuck.

It was the first time I had been on United and I was looking forward to exploring a shift to *A as I will be based in US from next year and *A provides better service to where we will be based in Charlotte. Unfortunately, I have to say I was pretty disappointed. The major issues were to do with :
* being served meals that were not heated up properly, Salmon cold is not what you want.
* J Lounges are of a poor standard compared to Qantas (esp the one in SFO) - could not even get into the lounge on a US Airways leg even though I had a fully paid for J ticket. What's with that????
* poor AVOD selections - the AVOD in my seat froze in 10 min from the end of my movie and so once i waited 10 min for it to reboot I had to spend another 10min Fast Forwarding to where I was,
* planes where the interior was warped and small holes showing (eeekkk not what you want to see on a plane),
* seats made for uncomfortable beds (but at least they were flat)

The real plus for United is that they did not charge the extra $6k to book a ticket inside 21days. I hate that on Qantas, I understand why they do it, but just feels like robbery to me.

So from a status point of view I've wasted a trip to the east coast of US as I really do not think i would cross the Pacific with United again. Just need to find a cheaper J ticket when I start to send my staff back and forth between the offices! Happy to hear anyone else's suggestions on that.

All the best

Mathew.

 

[harvyk]

Yeah, UA is usually considered to be the worst of the trans-pac options... At least you where in J and got AVOD, those in Y would have had mainscreen only...

 

[BAM1748]

Have flown transpacific UA plenty of times, I though they were fine, the first lounge in SFO I though was quite reasonable.

 

[Blackadder]

Often JAL will have good trans pac fares in J via Narita and connecting to LAX.

Some people are happy with the limited IFE on UA, but personally not for me.

 

[schomers87]

Oh not ua. Qf for sure

 

[rechoboam]

6k for the booking? Sometimes QF is no more expensive than usual only days prior to departure

 

[darrend]

I personally fly *A and not Qantas unless I must. Qantas is way to inconsistent for my liking and with their constant "enhancements" to the frequent flyer programs there is little to like. That said I am currently in Europe, took a flight to Heathrow from Melbourne via Hong Kong in Qantas First - it was the worst experience in First I have had and could not by any reasonable analysis even be rated as a J product in my opinion. They should be completely ashamed of themselves, the product was well and truely lacking and no where near the standard one would expect of a first class product. Never again!!

As for *A and united, I understand that now they have merger with Continental the LAX/SFO - SYD/MEL products will be updated, the CEO has gone on record acknowledging the product is lacking and it will be sorted. For me the flat beds are great and good fares in J can be had with a little forward planning.

 

[mannej]

How about those poor souls in the back of the bus flying united?

 

[Flying Fox]

That said I am currently in Europe, took a flight to Heathrow from Melbourne via Hong Kong in Qantas First - it was the worst experience in First I have had and could not by any reasonable analysis even be rated as a J product in my opinion. They should be completely ashamed of themselves, the product was well and truely lacking and no where near the standard one would expect of a first class product. Never again!!

Would be interested to hear what went wrong with QF F on this trip?

 

[darrend]

Would be interested to hear what went wrong with QF F on this trip?

First I'll start by saying the only thing that was of standard was the F lounge at Melbourne. Check-in - asked if I could borrow a pen, noting there was no-one behind me, so that I could complete the departure card. Response - "NO" - there are pens in the customs hall - of course they don't work but that is a separate issue. I wonder how much of an imposition loaning a pen would have been - really!! It is a small thing but it set the tone for the trip.

No priority lane cards (run out apparently) so had to queue with the masses - not amused.

Seat on aircraft very uncomfortable as a bed - would not go flat - some issue with seat - told "sorry sir the product is 14 years old and we have some problems". There were a few other seats that were empty - wondered why I was not offered the use of one of those.

No hot breakfast on offer into Hong Kong - what is with that? Bluntly the offering was cough.

Only issued with boarding pass to Hong Kong, denied access to F lounge there, had to go through customs to departures to get boarding pass for onward journey - that is just ridiculous.

Hong Kong to London sector - apparently two FA's called in sick and no replacements, service was ordinary at best.

IFE that many on this site raise as an issue with many airlines - Qantas has the worst offering by far of any airline I have travelled on - including UA. I am sure the IFE on UA last time I flew with them back in August was superior to Qantas offering.

I went on from Heathrow to Frankfurt with BA - never flown with them previously and not sure I will again by choice. They made Qantas' meagre effort look outstanding.

As I mentioned earlier I do not fly with Qantas normally and have no status – am Bronze – but I was on an F ticket and expected that would not matter. I get better treatment with *A in economy than I got with Qantas in F. Same with VA both myself and partner are Platinum and they too treat us much better than Qantas did on this trip - e.g. on last flight with them a couple of weeks back were sitting in economy, FA came up after boarding and asked if we wanted to move up to row 2 - of course!!

My view the Singapore airlines J offering on the A380’s is far superior to that garbage they offered up on Qantas F – and with status I get access to all the lounges and other benefits so last time on Qantas for me.

 

[stomplad]

WHAT A HORRIBLE FIRST EXPERIENCE DARREND

Check-in - asked if I could borrow a pen, "NO" - there are pens in the customs hall -
THATS JUST RUDE

No priority lane cards (run out apparently) so had to queue with the masses - not amused.
FIRST CLASS PASSENGER HELLO - GO AND GET SOME OR ESCORT YOU THROUGH! I THINK YOU ARE TOO POLITE I WOULD HAVE INSISTED THEY GET SOME

Seat on aircraft very uncomfortable as a bed - would not go flat - some issue with seat - told "sorry sir the product is 14 years old and we have some problems". There were a few other seats that were empty - wondered why I was not offered the use of one of those.
OBVIOUSLY AN OLD PLANE BUT AGAIN SHOULD HAVE NOT BEEN A PROBLEM. AGAIN YOU ARE TOO POLITE I WOULD HAVE ASKED TO BE MOVED. BUT THEY SHOULD HAVE OFFERED YOU ANOTHER BED.

No hot breakfast on offer into Hong Kong - what is with that? Bluntly the offering was cough.
RIDICULOUS- NOT EVEN A FULL FLIGHT

Only issued with boarding pass to Hong Kong, denied access to F lounge there, had to go through customs to departures to get boarding pass for onward journey - that is just ridiculous.
POOR CHECK IN IN MEL, THEY COULD HAVE ISSUED PASS IN LOUNGE. BUT WHY WERE YOU DENIED ACCESS?

Hong Kong to London sector - apparently two FA's called in sick and no replacements, service was ordinary at best.
OH MY GOD THEY MADE EXCUSE FOR POOR STAFFING. RIDICULOUS

As I mentioned earlier I do not fly with Qantas normally and have no status – am Bronze – but I was on an F ticket and expected that would not matter.
STATUS SHOULDNT MATTER YOU WERE FLYING F AND DENIED BASIC ENTITLEMENTS

HAVE YOU WRITTEN TO QF, YOU SHOULD.

 

[yo yo ma]

I wonder how much of an imposition loaning a pen would have been - really!! It is a small thing but it set the tone for the trip.

True, it is a small thing...

No priority lane cards (run out apparently) so had to queue with the masses - not amused.

Disappointing but again, it is a small thing.

Seat on aircraft very uncomfortable as a bed... told "sorry sir the product is 14 years old and we have some problems". There were a few other seats that were empty - wondered why I was not offered the use of one of those.

Agree you should have been offered another seat but did you ask?

No hot breakfast on offer into Hong Kong - what is with that? Bluntly the offering was cough.

Agree in F you should have a choice

Only issued with boarding pass to Hong Kong, denied access to F lounge there, had to go through customs to departures to get boarding pass for onward journey - that is just ridiculous.

Was this an airline rule or one from customs?

Hong Kong to London sector - apparently two FA's called in sick and no replacements, service was ordinary at best.

More specifics needed on definition of "ordinary".

IFE that many on this site raise as an issue with many airlines - Qantas has the worst offering by far of any airline I have travelled on - including UA. I am sure the IFE on UA last time I flew with them back in August was superior to Qantas offering.

Personal opinion... the OP has a different view and I haven't had the experience to compare.

I went on from Heathrow to Frankfurt with BA - never flown with them previously and not sure I will again by choice. They made Qantas' meagre effort look outstanding.

Must have been bad on BA then?

My view the Singapore airlines J offering on the A380’s is far superior to that garbage they offered up on Qantas F – and with status I get access to all the lounges and other benefits so last time on Qantas for me.

Sounds reasonable based on your experience.

 

[darrend]

Just in response to last couple of posts.

Small things - yes, and I agree they are - but and there is a "but", it was F and there is a handsome premium paid for the "small" things. e.g. Travelled F on Swiss Bangkok to Zurich a couple of months back. Escorted from Check-in - through customs / immigration to F lounge. Met at F lounge when time to board and escorted to gate. Hand luggage carried for us. Met at gate at Zurich escorted to F lounge, Limo from F lounge to aircraft for onward journey to Budapest. Same on the return - arrival in Bangkok and were taken on one of those golf buggies to Passport/Immigration. Fly into Frankfurt or Munich with LH and met at the gate and escorted through security to F lounge which has own passprt control facility. Big difference to Qantas - just no comparison. Similar experiences on a number of other airlines. Qantas can't even make the effort to loan a pen - seriously!!

As for the seat and asking for another - my position is - why should I have to ask - again goes to premium paid for fare and expectation small things should be dealt with. My position is simply if there is an issue with the seat and there are other empty seats then one should be offered without prompting as this is a self-evident solution to the problem. The fact no such offer was made only goes to demonstrate the level of service on offer.

Access to F lounge at Hong Kong. Denied access because I did not have a boarding pass and more than that they could not find my reservation on the system. I understand technical issue occur but really I would have thought it appropriate to follow it through but instead I was directed to the check-in. I had time to kill so I did that without question but it is not something I have ever encountered previously in my flying experiences.

I'm not going to write to Qantas for I fear it is just a waste of time. Simply they have lost my patronage and at the end of the day the experience will not kill me and it was better than the poor souls at the back of the bus.

BA - Flight itself was fine - lounge experience was lacking maining because of attitude of staff, not overly keen to help. That said finally I got a supervisor (after about 1.5 hrs later) and she was very helpful, very understanding - sorted the issue out in no time. I don't really want to go into the specifics but suffice to say it was caused by Qantas and could have been dealt with a lot better by BA.

 

[harvyk]

Access to F lounge at Hong Kong. Denied access because I did not have a boarding pass and more than that they could not find my reservation on the system. I understand technical issue occur but really I would have thought it appropriate to follow it through but instead I was directed to the check-in. I had time to kill so I did that without question but it is not something I have ever encountered previously in my flying experiences.

I'm a little puzzled as to why you didn't get your HKG - LHR boarding pass in MEL? Were both flights on the same PNR? If so you should have been issued your HKG-LHR boarding pass there, if they where not on the same PNR, and you never mentioned that you had an onward flight then that could be the reason you never got a boarding pass.

Also I can understand why the F-Lounge directed you to general check in. Did you present an actual ticket (or print out) showing that you had a F flight? I'd imagine they would get quite a few pax who are not OWE \ F flyers who try and use the F-Lounge for check-in. Alternatively they may really not have had the ability to issue boarding passes. (I know the QP in AKL can't, so stands to reason that there could be other lounges which can't issue them either).

No express cards and not allowing to use a pen does seem strange, but again there could be a real reason (eg they didn't have any spare pens there and the check in agents needed them).

As for the IFE, I have to say QF is actually one of the best IFE's I've used (not the best, so far I think AirNZ wins that award from me). So what made the IFE so bad for you? (The only complaint I really had with it was when it managed to crash twice within an 2 hours on one flight I went on a few weeks back)

 

[darrend]

Both flights were on the same PNR - I don't understand why it is either but did not question it. I just imagined I'd be able to go to the lounge and get the boarding pass for the next sector. Remember I do not fly Qantas very often so I do not know what is normal, with other airlines it has been my experience that boarding pass be issued to Asia and then need to get onwards boarding pass at Asian port - with an associated airline change but still on same ticket.

The IFE is limited in terms of movie selections beyond that I have no interest in the IFE so other aspects may be better than other airlines. Another very annoying feature is the IFE must be connected to the undercarriage pressure safety switches for as soon as the gear makes contact with the runway the unit switches off (or at least the video stops and some audio selection comes on). That is not something I have experienced elsewhere - in general (on other carriers I frequent) the system is left running gate to gate.

 

[Dee Thom]

Last flight I had BNE to LAX return was in J on the older 747's, staff were good, meals edible, lounge very tired, seats semi lie flat, IFE somewhat basic; that said, I usually fly TG via Bankok, love the feeling of a ground speed not far behind a F/A 18 over Japan, also TG use an A340/500 with great room in all classes.
Havn't flowen the Pacific on UA, but use them a lot in the States as they have a good Y+ product.

Next time over the Pacific I'll try VA.

Cheers Dee

 

[darrend]

Next time over the Pacific I'll try VA.

Flew twice last year with VA long haul in J. Product is not too bad, a little inconsistent but none the less a good offering. Lounge in LA was woeful.

 

[Jobu]

The QF first product is inconsistent unfortunately and the old F is tired and comparable to a good business class (in fact on some routes it is sold as business class), but at least it's a flat bed and they lay down a mattress which is comfy. The old IFE is ordinary at best. The new F however on the A380 is magnificent and well worth the try. Flying into / out of LHR or LAX you also get the first class hosts who are excellent. Unfortunately you will get inconsistencies on most airlines and choice of aircraft almost always has a bearing.

 

[darrend]

they lay down a mattress which is comfy.

News to me - I saw no mattress nor was I offered any. But all academic - Qantas had their chance.

 

[nlagalle]

Both flights were on the same PNR - I don't understand why it is either but did not question it. I just imagined I'd be able to go to the lounge and get the boarding pass for the next sector. Remember I do not fly Qantas very often so I do not know what is normal, with other airlines it has been my experience that boarding pass be issued to Asia and then need to get onwards boarding pass at Asian port - with an associated airline change but still on same ticket.

The IFE is limited in terms of movie selections beyond that I have no interest in the IFE so other aspects may be better than other airlines. Another very annoying feature is the IFE must be connected to the undercarriage pressure safety switches for as soon as the gear makes contact with the runway the unit switches off (or at least the video stops and some audio selection comes on). That is not something I have experienced elsewhere - in general (on other carriers I frequent) the system is left running gate to gate.

That definitely isn't the case with the newer IFE, they play gate to gate. The last time I flew on a 747 I had to stow the IFE as I was in front of the bulkhead so not sure if it stopped.

On SQ for example, they actually collect headsets on descent and you can't watch anything until well after take off.