United Global First, the name United has given to its international first class product. This should not be confused with United First or Business First \u2013 neither of which are the same as Global First.\u00a0 I have no earthly idea why United decided to make their cabin naming convention so confusing.<\/p>\n
Upon learning that I had to make a last minute trip to Hong Kong, I looked for the best way to upgrade to either business or first class. \u00a0With some last minute maneuvering, I ended up going for first class \u2013 using 160k miles – \u00a0with one segment on United Global First service. (More trip reports later on Asiana and Air China).<\/p>\n
I started my journey with United in San Francisco after a lovely July 4th<\/sup>. \u00a0I arrived at the airport 2 and 1\/2 hours before my flight – I wanted to experience the SFO United Global First Lounge and have time to take plenty of photos. \u00a0Well, it turned out that arriving early was my saving grace. So this is not only a trip report, but a cautionary tale!<\/p>\n When I arrived SFO I went to the global first check-in counter. There was another guest checking in, so someone from the business check-in helped me. \u00a0I told the agent my itinerary and asked to check one bag. \u00a0I got my boarding passes and from there, I headed straight through security and into the International Terminal. \u00a0I made a quick stop to exchange some money and then went to the lounge.<\/p>\n While checking in at the lounge, I noticed that my bag tag receipt only showed my bag checked to Seoul, South Korea, my layover city. \u00a0The lounge only had one agent and she was helping two people, so I went to the gate.\u00a0 At the gate, I explained the situation to an agent. \u00a0She become very argumentative and said that it’s not normal practice for United to check bags through on other airlines. \u00a0 This totally surprised me because I do it all the time on other Star Alliance carriers. \u00a0 She then told me that since I hadn’t shown the original agent a printed out itinerary, there’s no way he could have known to check the bag through. \u00a0Again, this seemed odd since he managed to print the boarding card for my connecting flight. Frustrated, I asked to speak with a supervisor. Now, I realize that I should have checked the bag-tag at check-in and I take responsibility for not verifying it…what really bothers me, and where I take issue is all the arguments from the agents. \u00a0Had I been flying first class on any other international airline, there would have been no arguments – they would have said “we’re sorry, let’s see how we can fix it.”\u00a0 This should be the response for all customers, not just first class\u2026but given how awful typical airline customer service is with most US Airlines, I would at least expect a little above and beyond service for Global First customers.<\/p>\n After some further argument – and I literally do mean argument at this point – another agent came over offered to help the supervisor fix the problem. \u00a0The other agent, not the supervisor, was able to track down the bag, have someone from baggage bring it up and was able to re-tag it. \u00a0It took about 1 hour in all to get the bag re-tagged, but it got done. \u00a0I thanked the agent immensely who had stepped in to help. So here\u2019s the cautionary tale \u2013 always check your bag tag.\u00a0 As a travel veteran, I know this, and I usually check it, but for some reason, on this day, I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Baggage crisis averted, I headed back to the lounge. In the lounge, I grabbed a quick drink and muffin and took some photos.\u00a0 The lounge is very nice \u2013 it was actually pretty quite too.\u00a0 I took lots of photos. Once on board a very friendly flight crew showed me to my seat. \u00a0The crew was particularly helpful and slightly sickeningly sweet. \u00a0I took my spot in seat 3G – a lie-flat suite next to the window. \u00a0The lie-flat suite is almost the exact same suite that US Air offers in its Envoy class. There are a few slight differences like the storage (US Air Envoy Suite offers more stowage space in the seat), the angle of the suites in the center is slightly different ( I think I like US Airs slightly better because they offer more privacy for people sitting next to each other in the center section) and the United seats had a massage function (US Air doesn\u2019t offer that in their Envoy Suite.)\u00a0 Otherwise, there was really no difference.<\/p>\n On my seat, there was a blanket, two pillows, headset and amenity kit. \u00a0The amenity kit, I was told by one of the flight attendants, had been upgraded recently. She laughed, and said, “it has a pen in it now.” \u00a0Then she went on to explain that it had Philosophy products and that was the true upgrade. \u00a0 I had to wonder what the amenity kit had before if United considered Philosophy an upgrade. \u00a0I will have to ask Frequently Flying as he\u2019s the expert on amenity kits! \u00a0I must say, I really did end up liking the Philosophy products because all but one item were unscented.<\/p>\n The crew offered drinks (OJ, water and champagne) and menus before takeoff. \u00a0Once in the air \u00a0we were offered warm nuts and a drink. \u00a0In addition, they passed out bottles of water and took lunch orders. \u00a0I asked if they had a list of ingredients I could look at because I’m allergic to tomatoes and wanted to find something I could eat. \u00a0They didn’t have such a list, but one flight attendant brought over pictures of the meals. \u00a0I picked the chicken and asked if they could leave the sauce off. They were happy to oblige. (I think this will be a topic for a future blog post.)<\/p>\n Lunch service included a hot appetizer, salad, soup, main course and dessert. \u00a0The hot appetizer – a tempura shrimp and some other small Asian dumpling \u2013 was pretty average. \u00a0You can judge for yourself form the photo.\u00a0 I passed on the salad because it had tomatoes on it, but the soup – a mushroom soup – was very good. I could have had two soups.<\/p>\n My main course was a Osso Bucco style breast of chicken with mushroom ragout, broccolini and garlic polenta cake. \u00a0The mushroom ragout was on the side, as I requested, and since it looked very red, I decided not to eat it. No need to go into anaphylactic shock 30 some odd thousand feet above the Pacific! The chicken was still moist and tasty even without sauce. \u00a0I was very surprised. The mushrooms on the plate though were not so good and unfortunately the broccolini was rubbery. \u00a0The garlic polenta cake was good though.\u00a0\u00a0 Dessert was a selection of cheeses and ice cream.\u00a0 Not my preference.<\/p>\n During the flight I was able to get some work done – there were outlets and USB ports which meant I could have more than one device charging and my laptop battery wasn\u2019t dead after 6 hours! \u00a0I also watched some movies and TV shows on the entertainment system. \u00a0The movie choices were okay but the TV choices were a bit more limited.\u00a0 I did discover that I actually like the Good Wife and will likely download more episodes now.<\/p>\n I did not sleep \u2013 I have a really, really hard time sleeping on 10-12 hour flights \u2013 even in lie-flat seats. And since we took off at around 11:30am, I wasn\u2019t in a sleeping state of mind.<\/p>\n Before landing, there was a breakfast service (which actually felt like it should have been dinner service) but they offered herb scrambled eggs with hash browns and sausage and a few other options.\u00a0 I had the eggs and they were pretty good.\u00a0 They served breads and jams alongside the breakfasts and offered several juice choices.<\/p>\n The flight became exceptionally turbulent and immediately after the crew cleared breakfast, the captain ordered them to be seated.\u00a0 They remained seated for the last 30 minutes of the flight and only very briefly were able to get up to do a seat-belt check and ensure the over-heads were closed before having to sit again for landing.\u00a0 It was a really, really bumpy landing.<\/p>\n So, what did I think of my first experience with United Global First?\u00a0 It was mixed.\u00a0 Nothing special with the services on the ground \u2013 I could have been flying Southwest for all I knew.\u00a0 The crew was extremely nice and those who specifically worked in first class were way beyond nice \u2013 occasionally it seemed a little fake \u2013 but ultimately they really made the flight enjoyable.\u00a0 The seats are nice in the suites and the amenities are nice as well.\u00a0 I would fly United Global First again. If I had a choice between United and Thai, Lufthansa, Singapore or Swiss who would I choose? I would choose any of those other carriers before choosing United.<\/p>\n My next trip report will be Seoul, South Korea and Asiana to Hong Kong.\u00a0 How do you think that will stack up against United? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" United Global First, the name United has given to its international first class product. This should not be confused with United First or Business First \u2013 neither of which are the same as Global First.\u00a0 I have no earthly idea…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[10],"tags":[741,299],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nI tried explaining to the supervisor that it would be very hard with a 2-hour layover to collect my bag in Seoul, re-check it, and pass through security again. The supervisor wasn\u2019t sympathetic and didn\u2019t really seem to want to help. \u00a0The supervisor told me that this has been occurring frequently since the United-Continental merger and subsequent computer system switch over.<\/p>\n
\nHaving only flown United two other times in the last 5 years, I was not completely familiar with how boarding process would work but figured it would be similar to most other airlines. Well, it\u2019s nothing like flying first on most international carriers. There was a Premier Access boarding lane and a non-Premier access boarding lane. \u00a0At boarding time, the agents called for not only first class, but all Premier access members and all members of the military in uniform. \u00a0A ton of people crowded the Premier Access lane – including me. \u00a0I have no issues at all with letting members of the Armed Services board first \u2013 it\u2019s the least we can do for them\u2026but I would have thought that first class would board before other Premier Access groups. \u00a0(Other boarding experiences: Lufthansa first class from ATL \u2013 I was met at the gate by a rep who escorted me onto the plane.\u00a0 Lufthansa first class from FRA \u2013 I was escorted from the lounge to the plane.\u00a0 Thai Air first class from BKK \u2013 I was escorted on a cart form the lounge to the plane after everyone else had boarded so there were no lines or other people to deal with.\u00a0 Singapore Air first class from FRA \u2013 I was escorted from the lounge to the plane.)<\/p>\n