I can hear my mother now…I think you meant suite, not sweet. No, I actually really meant to use sweet, mom. US Air Envoy Suite is sweet!
I fly, a lot, and this Sunday was actually my first trip in US Air’s Envoy Suite product. My last few trips have all been in the old envoy configuration. (I used an upgrade certificate to book this Envoy Suite trip…worth it!)
So what’s the difference? Let’s compare:
Old Envoy Configuration Traditional Business Class seats that lie partially flat. I for one can’t sleep at an angle. I can fall asleep in
Traditional Envoy Configuration
coach sitting upright before the wheels are off the ground…but put me in an angled business class seat and I can’t fall asleep. The old style seats have you very close to your neighbors and you have to crawl over someone – or be crawled over – if you’re next to a window since the US Air 767 has a 2-2-2 configuration. Finally the TVs are portable (never figured that one out) and so you have to wait for crews to hand them out – and they frequently don’t work well.
New Envoy Suite Configuration The Suite is like a pod – self-contained and very private. The suites are angled to the left or right to give you even more privacy from your neighbors and the seats actually lie flat! That’s right, totally flat. TVs are built into the suite, so you don’t have to deal with portable units being set up by the crew. There’s a power panel with 110 volt outlets and USB ports (the USB port wasn’t powerful enough to charge my iPad 3, but I was able to plug it into the outlet and charge it. The woman next to me had her iPhone plugged into the USB port and it was charging fine)
Envoy Suite Configuration
The food is the same on both configurations, and US Air has done a great deal to improve their meal service in Envoy. For the first time I can actually say I had a better meal on US Air than on Thai Airways! (Thai trip report coming soon). I have pictures of the food below.
Service is service. It’s hit or miss. I blogged last month about stellar service on USAir – in the old Envoy configuration – and on this trip, the service was OK, not great. On this flight, there was a flight attendant who I nicknamed Oscar The Grouch. She was so grumpy and let everyone know it! There was Susan, she was pleasant, but she was not on my side of the plane – wish I could have switched to her side! Then there was another flight attendant – didn’t catch her name – who did nothing but complain about other US Air employees. I was seated behind the bulkhead and could hear everything she said. It drives me crazy when the crew talks about other people in a bad way. I’m all for overhearing funny stories, airline gossip, etc…but I really don’t want to hear someone bad mouth others (not just on US Air, in general)
Overall, the flight was good – bumpy (literally a lot of turbulence) but good. I would fly the new Envoy Suite configuration any day of the week over a traditional business class product. Here are some pictures from my flight:
Envoy Suite
Envoy Suite TV
Power Panel
Envoy Cabin
Chicken Skewers w/red peppers and apple fennel salad.
Salad with yellow peppers and croutons
Herb Chicken with Rice Pilaf
Fruit and Granola Breakfast
Great review and pictures, thank you!
Best,
PedroNY
Now that’s the way to travel!
The food must have been really amazing to exceed Thai! Do they offer noise cancellation headphones? Is there a pocket or holder for a bottle of water? Standard fabric for the seats or anything new?
Anxious for your pics/thoughts on the vintage Thai Business…have they let it run down or are they maintaining the seats.
Is Khao Lak this weekend? Love that property!
Also, what are your thoughts on the AA status match for UA including SWU’s? People look to be receiving 8 upon the instant match…poaching at its best.
@John
The food was very good, not amazing…but Thai business food has been getting consistently worse and on this trip was at its worst.
The Envoy suite does have a place for water bottles, there were several storage areas including under seat storage – I could fit my very thin backpack.
The seats are not the same fabric you’d find in the old Envoy, but nothing ultra special about it, just more modern looking.
They do provide noise canceling headphones – that seems to be the same in both configurations.
Unlike US’s envoy suites which are new and nice…Thai has let their planes show their age in business class. I think I’ll wait to fly Thai again until they get their new planes in service this year for long-haul trips out of Europe.
I am in Khao Lak…its rained for about 20 out of 24 hours each day. Hotel is lovely and food is as good as I remembered. New management team in place…so lots to blog about!