Little bit of a different post this week. I'm collecting my thoughts on my trip to Rome and Munich, from which I returned home yesterday, but I wanted to start with my impressions on flying there in business class, which I bought as a last-minute upgrade when checking in the day before my flight to Rome. I've been wanting to treat myself to something like that on a long flight, especially after the grim experience I had in economy on Swiss when I flew to Italy in February, and so I took the opportunity for this trip.
I wasn't able to do the same upgrade coming back, because I was code-shared onto Lufthansa (otherwise I would have waited to buy the upgrade for the trip back, of course). However, it wasn't as much of a comedown to go back to coach as I'd feared, for two reasons: the seat beside mine was empty for the flight, so there was some extra room to stretch out, and more crucially, I felt like I had more legroom than I did on the Swiss flight in February. This could be down to the two companies using different planes, or just that Lufthansa doesn't crowd us in as brutally as Swiss does.
Anyway, here are my thoughts:
The seat in Polaris is pretty nice. It's not super wide, as I discovered when trying to sleep during the flight, but all the same, it was nice not being hemmed in on either side, like I tend to be when flying in economy. The lie-flat seat is a nice touch, which I took advantage of at various points to stretch my legs while seated. There's also loads of storage, from a little alcove under your screen, to a shelf beside you where you can put bedding, electronics that are charging in the power plug (both an outlet and a USB-A port), to a little cabinet with a mirror for a water bottle and the headphones they lend you for the flight.
The inflight entertainment screen was nice and big too, though it's not clear to me if there's actually more content to watch than in economy. To give you a sense, on both flights I counted the number of movies available that I'd already seen; on the United flight I topped out at over 100, meaning there were probably around 200 to 300 movies in total, while on the Lufthansa flight home I counted about 25 or so, suggesting up to 100 total. But that difference could stem from Lufthansa not licensing as much movie and TV content as United?
The other thing that makes me wonder if the entertainment is actually better than in other classes is the games and music on offer. I always check both out, because games are a good way to pass the time, while music is good for listening to while doing something else, whether playing a game, reading, or trying to sleep. The games were the same as I've seen on other flights in the last year or so (but not the same ones I had on Lufthansa yesterday), while the music consisted of a few playlists for various genres.
Oddly, these playlists weren't on-demand: when I started one, it was in the middle of a song, and when it came to the end it just started over again from the beginning. I haven't encountered anything like that on a plane since about 2006/2007, when I first experienced on-demand entertainment, and TBH, it was a flashback to flights I took in the 80s and 90s.
The one negative about my seat was kind of my fault. In the Polaris cabin, your access to windows depends on whether your seat number is odd (which comes with more windows) or even (which has fewer). I, in fact, managed to choose the seat that didn't even have one window - this is due to the architecture of the cabin, with each seat set at diagonals to enable privacy. Because I couldn't see, I got really airsick on the landing, though it wasn't a problem during the rest of the flight. I'm just mad because when I was selecting my seat, I was originally assigned to a better row but moved up to the seat I eventually got. If you ever find yourself in Polaris class, avoid row 12, is all I'll say.
I had some apprehensions about the food, because of some reviews of Polaris class that I watched on YouTube. One, which flew on the same model of plane as me but a different route, got a pretty lackluster inflight meal, while the other (on a different model of plane and a different route) got a much better meal. This latter YouTuber then ran another video reviewing Polaris on the same kind of jet as I flew, and had a bad meal, as well.
My meal was pretty great, though. The starter was a king prawn cocktail with a couple of giant prawns on offer - shrimp is one of my favorite foods, so I was happy. The main dish was a beef short rib with broccolini and mash, which wasn't huge but was pretty tasty. It reminded me of the premium meals I'd always reserve when I used to fly on Aer Lingus to London via Dublin.
Mainly, though, it was nice to be served with proper cutlery and have my drinks poured into actual glasses. In business class, when you order a Coke they also give you the full can, which is a nice touch.
The service was okay. I don't know what I was expecting, but it didn't feel particularly special. Rather, the staff treated me like I usually get treated on planes (when I'm not flying American carriers or Lufthansa), which is to say, mostly invisible. This is fine, of course, because on quite a few other long-haul United flights I've seen staff argue or snap at customers, and generally exude an air of menace, so maybe that's the difference with economy?
As for the bathroom, it was your bog-standard (no pun intended) airplane lavvy. I suppose I'd hoped for something a little bigger, but maybe that's in first class? Anyway, compared to my Lufthansa flight yesterday it had a few more lotions, including a crease removal spray for your clothes.
I'll finish with some thoughts on the lounge, which was, of course, the first part of my experience. It was pretty nicely appointed, with quite a lot of seating along the edge of the building, giving a view of the outside of the terminal. I'm not enough of a planespotter to really appreciate that, but it was nice looking out through the huge window while I enjoyed my snack.
The food was pretty good: I had some noodles and other odds and ends from their buffet, though I didn't have a full meal in the restaurant because, my flight being at 4pm, I'd already eaten lunch and knew that I'd get dinner onboard. I also skipped the cans of Coke in the lounge's fridge because they'd just been put in, so they weren't cold yet.
Another aspect of the lounge left me a little cold, but it isn't really United's fault if shitty humans fly their airline. While I was snacking and looking out the window, I heard a couple beside me complaining about SFO and the lounge we were in. It started innocuously enough, when the woman was complaining about not being able to get a plastic water bottle "because it's San Francisco". This is actually kind of fair, because I'd brought my own bottle, but had to fill it at the fountain outside the lounge, because inside they only had the lime-infused water that somehow always makes me need the toilet.
From there, the couple moved on to bitching about "their tax-dollars" being spent on free Covid tests. This is bad enough to hear, because I love getting free Covid tests, but her husband's reaction nearly killed me right there: all he said was, "Well, it's so they can rig the election."
Which. Um. What the ACTUAL fuck?
But again, it's not United's fault if crazy rich right-wingers fly on their planes. Though it feels telling that I never encounter that kind of nonsense in coach (mainly because everyone's too miserable while waiting at the gate).
As a final verdict, I'd say it was a pretty good experience, apart from the window thing. It certainly beats my business-class flight on ITA from Rome to Turin last year, where "business class" just meant the same seats as in economy, two banks of three separated by an aisle, just with the middle seat blocked so you had no one sitting right next to you. It also beats first class on Virgin America, because the seats were actual lie-flat seats and it was designed so you could get in and out if the people around you were reclined. Frankly, it also beats those other two on duration: I got to experience Polaris class for 12 hours, rather than the 3 hours (aggregate) that I spent on those other two flights.
I think I'd like to do it again, but ideally on long-haul, transatlantic or transpacific flights, and ideally with more miles, rather than cash. For business upgrades, my rule of thumb is to consider it if it costs less than $1,000 dollars (and, er, if I have enough in my bank account). Though as I always point out, check-in is a great time to upgrade: I once scored a premium economy seat on British Airways for about $50.
No comments:
Post a Comment