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BUSINESS CLASS : Widebody aircraft on international routes presently offer the old style conventional business
class seats - these have a very limited recline and are basically a poor and uncomfortable product. United are introducing
proper lie-flat beds starting from late 2007, and these will be close to Best Practice comfort levels (evaluation has not yet
been conducted by FlatSeats.com on this new product). Present seat Score : 5/10
FIRST CLASS : The long haul first class "suites" provide a good sleep position, and generally quite comfortable when assessed
for both sitting/relaxing and the full flat format. Condition wise, many of these seats are showing signs of extreme wear and tear and
this detracts from the original comfort levels - certainly a product where upgrading is required. Score : 7/10 On some domestic US routes
United has the new angled lie-flat ps seating, and this is a well ranked product for flight durations it is used on. |
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Date: 07 FEB 2007 |
Aircraft: Boeing 767 |
Cabin: First Class |
Review: Jonathan Javitt |
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RATING |
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The United First Class suite has been extensively reviewed and has it's good points and bad. Beware, however, that
United continues to use it's old 767 fleet for some international routes, including those where you are expecting a 747.
I boarded UAL from Frankfurt to IAD and suddenly walked into a time warp. Old 767 with first class seats that are
smaller than most airlines business class. 2-2-2- configuration. Narrow seat, medium recline, poor footrest. If you pay
first class for this, you will be as outraged as I was. |
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Date: 20 NOV 2006 |
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400 |
Cabin: Business Class |
Review: John Hawk |
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RATING |
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United business class seats (and the cabin itself) are showing their age and United's financial strains. Not updated in
quite some time the occurrence of broken seats (typically backrest problems), malfunctioning electronics (ie. power
outlet is dead, IFE does not work or image is of low quality), and a general lack of cleanliness has been on the rise
since 2000. The seats are highly uncomfortable for anyone over 6'2' due to the lack of length of the footrest. Cushions
tend to be worn down, resulting in an ill-supported posture. The reclining angle is poor at best and with few exceptions
the seat pitch is at the low end of business class cabins. With reclined seats, my feet hit the backrest of the seat in
front of me. Getting in and out a row becomes an acrobatic exercise. |
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Date: 27 SEP 2006 |
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400 |
Cabin: First Class |
Review: Gordon Palmer |
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RATING |
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The United suite to me was a fine and a clever bit of over-engineering - that slide-out-into-the- aisle mechanism when
the seat goes into full-recline is an amazing bit of motor mechanics, and must weigh a ton. I notice some have commented
on the narrowness of the bed - the armrest does come down, but the crew aren't often helpful in pointing that out - what
you do notice is that there's a little warning light to indicate to crew that the armrests are locked back in place, for
landing etc - again, this seat seems to have been engineered to within an inch of it's life. The tv is a small and not
avod, and I think even at the time it was commissioned United realised it's lack, giving customers the option of
selecting a tape movie to play - which was a mechanism built into the cubby. Pity also about the lack of inflight pj's,
the fact that the bedding is dumped on seats or in the cubby and passengers "are invited to make up their beds at their
own convenience" - how graceful of them. Also that the bedding feels like it's made of man-made materials, and gets
quite stuffy. Or the draw-droppingly inconsistent service in air or on ground, no assistance with overhead luggage, more
than once suffering the cabin crew talking All night behind the curtain on overnights, and on one hilarious occasion
having my coat draped over the head of my neighbour w/o apology in the centre section as the cabin attendant couldn't be
bothered to walk round to my aisle |
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Date: 30 JUL 2006 |
Aircraft: Boeing 777 |
Cabin: Business Class |
Review: J Frechet |
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RATING |
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San Francisco to Nagoya: Seat is an older design with partial recline only. As is frequently found in UA flights the
seat was not working properly, in this case the retractable part of the leg rest would not stay in the extended position
and retracted spontaneously. In addition the leg rest is always hard to bring up. The food was OK, but the wine was
terrible as usual; service was friendly and good. It is high time to consider updating the seat and spending more than
$8 for a bottle of wine! |
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Date: 30 JUL 2006 |
Aircraft: Boeing 777 |
Cabin: First Class |
Review: J Frechet |
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RATING |
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Good lie flat seat, works well with good work space and good privacy (row 1A), good pillows (unlike the "new" stiff
pillows that have appeared in some business class flights). Very good service with attentive staff and OK food. I only
wish United bought decent wines for its first class passengers (or even carried what they show on the menu, usually if
one of three choices seems OK, they do not have it on board!) |
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Date: 01 JUN 2006 |
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400 |
Cabin: Business Class |
Review: S Wilson |
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RATING |
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Hardly worth it when there is the likes of BA, Singapore, Cathay and Virgin around. Flew LHR-SFO and return. Seat
wouldn't come back from recline on its own, lumbar support lever on return leg was broken, leg rest needed to be lifted
manually and stupid headrest needs to be lowered for landing, which means it digs into the neck. Service was good, food
good from Heathrow, mediocre from San Francisco, everything else ok. Deserves a 2 for seat comfort, in that I slept. I
don't understand why so many Americans put up with this when there are much better airlines. |
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Date: 27 MAR 2006 |
Aircraft: Boeing 777 |
Cabin: Business Class |
Review: D Riskam |
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RATING |
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The Backcycler motion system is a nice touch, but it can't make up for the lack of comfort in United's business class.
The leg rest does not extend far enough. The seats are outdated and some are falling apart. The staff is inattentive,
and the food is average at best. Not what you would expect for premium class, but I have never had anything better than
an average experience in United First or Business. This airline has a long way to go to catch up with Cathay Pacific or
Singapore Airlines. |
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Date: 07 OCT 2007 |
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400 |
Cabin: Business Class |
Review: P Doggart |
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RATING |
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Frequent traveller from US to Asia - usually taking SFO - PEK, or ORD to PEK. Best service to be found upper deck - Try
and get the bulk head row window seats (Row 12A,F) - Use the window lockers as a foot rest as the normal foot rest is
too low for sleeping. Service on the upper deck is normally pretty good and very quiet. The Noise cancelling headphones
that come with the seat are poor and hurt your ears after a few hours. |
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Date: 10 FEB 2006 |
Aircraft: Boeing 777 |
Cabin: Business Class |
Review: Glenn Krochmal |
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RATING |
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IAD to MUC and back. Wife's seat was broken (seat back didn't recline). Seats are not comfortable on overnight flights.
Shabby material. Food is worse than average. |
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Date: 28 OCT 2005 |
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400 |
Cabin: First Class |
Review: Geoff Rowe |
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RATING |
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As ever United are way behind Asian carriers in First concept. Cabin 'tired' and seats/blankets fabrics should be better
quality. Food unremarkable. My seat had worn and scuffed areas and trim missing to show inner workings etc. |
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Date: 14 OCT 2005 |
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400 |
Cabin: First Class |
Review: Robert Hammond |
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RATING |
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Flew ORD to MAD and CDG to ORD. Best position is legrest up, back all the way back to about 125 degrees (I will call it
"reclined mode"). Try to lean the seat-back any further and you will be in "bed mode." This mode reduces the leg room by
60% by way of the motor wheeling the entire seat forward about two feet and forces a tall flier like me (6'1") to be
quite compressed. This bed mode forces the feet to be "docked" into the small cubbyhole that serves absolutely no
purpose other than making for quite an uncomfortable sleeping position. Better off falling asleep while in the reclined
mode watching the small outdated TV, than in the full "bed mode." Overall impression: needs substantial updating. Would
rate as a "2" since it is not truly a "3" but not as bad as a "1". |
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23 May 2005
by Robert Ber |
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Boeing 747-400 & 777-200 : First
Class
RATING:
As someone standing 5/11, the first suite is not too bad. Two drawbacks are the
width at the shoulder when flat, and not being able to hang your feet off the
end, because they're docked in the lower shelf of the desk. However, these
suites are now long in the tooth and to be re-uphosltered, or replaced.
Something a bankrupt airline is not going to do.
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21 May 2005
by Paul Gauthier |
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Boeing 747-400 : First Class
RATING:
LAX-SYD and I could not fault the seat. In as much as the seat can be on the
narrow side, it was comfortable, and the quilted blanket was perfect. Slept like
a log, and woke up refreshed.
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22 May 2005
by Robert Berg |
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Boeing 777-200 : Business Class
RATING:
Very familiar with this seat. It's a copy of the former BA business seat, long
in the tooth and in need of refurbishment. Inadequate recline, and a legrest
that is just plain uncomfortable make this seat better than economy, but not
what one would expect from a supposed world class airline. Having to pull your
leg rest up by hand to get the maximum level position is a real pain
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6 August 2004
by B Altman |
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Boeing 747-400/777 :
First Class
RATING:
Have flown both United planes over Atlantic and Pacific and the seat is much
better than the service. I too experienced the United Staff Vacation. As
peculiar as it sounds the employees were served first and got most of the
attention. It's almost as though the paying customers are an inconvenience. This
has happened on numerous flights and it appears management has no interest in
dealing with it.
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30 April 2004
by David Barbour |
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Boeing 777 : First Class
RATING:
In comparison to some of the newer model first and business class seats on other
airlines United has a way to go to. They seem not as fresh. I find the legroom
and width to be okay and the service is a 3 star.
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21 April 2004
by Drew Rydholm |
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Boeing 747-400 : First Class
RATING:
Don't think I will be flying on United anymore. This First Suite was at best OK,
But I have to agree with the other comment about employee's in First Class. I
don't have a problem with airline employee's flying for free in any class of
service, but not when over half the cabin was full of employee's and it turned
into a night club atmosphere and they wanted to party all night on this flight.
I paid a lot of money to try and get some rest. I think United needs to look at
taking better care of their full fare passengers. I would think, this is what
affords the employee's to have their benefits.
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8 April 2004
by Bruno Solnik |
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Boeing 777 : First Class
RATING:
I am a bit surprised by the previous comments about F seats. I find the seats
perfectly flat and quite good to sleep. The cubicle around the top and the feet
make me feel pleasantly isolated. Indeed they are somewhat narrow (but BA seats
are also narrow at the feet), but what an improvement on traditional F seats. My
major complaint is that the F cabin is mostly (fully) occupied by UA staff on
vacation. They are noisy and get all the FA attention; fare-paying passengers,
if any, get no service and food has become mediocre. Hard to work or sleep.
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31 March 2004
by Liam Campbell |
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Boeing 747-400 : First Class
RATING:
I agree with the previous comments that the First Suite is very narrow and
uncomfortable. When seated upright, there is a sort of shelving unit in front of
you, and when you fully recline, your feet are forced to rest on the middle
shelf. Being just 5'7 myself, I found the legroom insufficient, so most
passengers must be in agony.
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23 March 2004
by George Smith |
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Boeing 747-400 : First Class
RATING:
I have to agree with the previous review. I found the seat to be rather narrow
and uncomfortable. Service was not good with the staff inattentive and missing
for 3/4 of the flight.
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6 January 2004
by D Bouza |
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Boeing 747-400 : First Class
RATING:
The United First Suite is at first sight attractive, yet it can become quite
uncomfortable on a long journey. The only way to recline your "suite" is by
moving it all the way forward, which in turn takes away a significant amount of
leg room. Unlike British Airways or Qantas, the United First Suite feels rather
tight once in the full flat position simply because your feet are trapped within
a metal console that United intended to function as an office on the sky.
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