United Airlines p.s. Premium Service UA914 JFK - LAX Business Class

Continued from earlier post.

Before we knew it, BT and I had to leave NYC for our flight back to LAX. The night before we were automatically checked in and received our electronic boarding passes.

"Why does my boarding pass say Row 1?" he asked me.
"Surprise!"

Little did we know it would be one of the best flights we've ever had with some of the most top notch service I've ever had from United.

United BusinessFirst p.s. Premium Service Seat

I had upgraded both of us to business class for our return flight by using my miles. I could have done it both ways but there wouldn't have been meal service on the flight to JFK and honestly not that worth it on a red-eye. I know there are frequent fliers out there who believe using miles to upgrade on a domestic flight is a total waste.

So what do you get on a business class seat on these Boeing 757-200s? You get the same lay flat seat that you find on any other United BusinessFirst cabin. This alone is a great upgrade from the recliner style seat in United First (the normal premium domestic cabin). The seat comes with its own power outlet, USB port, 3.4 mm audio jack, and a larger touchscreen than can be found in economy class. You also receive meal service which can be breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack depending on what time of day you fly. To top it all off, you are granted access in to the United Club lounge at your departing airport (SFO, LAX, or JFK).

JFK Terminal 7 United Club

After going through security we went to the lounge. I checked in and promptly got distracted by some very cute Chinese lions standing guard outside the Global First lounge. Perhaps they are there to keep us riff-raff away from the first class passengers!

To be honest I'm don't feel a membership to United Club is that worth it. In this case it was included with the upgrade. If the lounge isn't too crowded you can have some peace and quiet which can be very nice after a long day. The only food options presently offered at United Clubs include cookies, bananas, apples, cheeses, crackers, and trail mix. I was a fan of the self serve hot chocolate. While there is a selection of complimentary alcoholic drinks, you have to pay for the nicer drinks. I can't help but feel a little sad for the employees who work the lounge because they are given so little to offer to passengers. I had the most unhappy looking lady pour me a glass of wine.

JFK Terminal 7 Lounge Area.
Fun fact: The Qantas tail in the background belongs to a 747-400 performing QF108 JFK-LAX!!

Food selection at United Club

BT noms

All things aside though, this lounge does provide a pretty good view of the airfield with planes landing on 31R. The coolest moment by far with all the planes landing was seeing a "Giant" coming in. We wondered if it was at the right airport...

Boeing 747 Large Cargo Freighter aka the Dreamlifter [N780BA]
Designed by Boeing and built by Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corporation

Egyptair 777-300ER [SU-GDM]
One of my all time favorite liveries!

After lots of cheese and relaxing we made our way to the gate with 5 minutes to go before boarding. I was surprised at the small size of the gate area. I wonder if people ever board the wrong flights.

Terminal 7, Gates 7 and 8

Being in business class you get to board in Group 1 so you are among the first to get on the plane. Your placement in other groups on United flights depends on your frequent flier status and your fare class. 

There are actually two business class cabins on the United p.s. configuration 757-200s. The normal boarding door happens to be 2L which is in between the two cabins. Turn left and you are in the forward business class cabin. Turn right and you are in the aft business class cabin. The forward cabin has 16 seats (Rows 1-4) in a 2-2 configuration. The aft cabin has 12 seats (Rows 6-8) in a 2-2 configuration. If you are confused you can take a look at the configuration map from United. Each cabin gets its own galley with two flight attendants. Such service!

United BusinessFirst Seat. Row 1

 I had the hardest time deciding where to sit. Initially I had us seated in the aft cabin thinking that with less seats we'll have better service. Then I realized that everyone boarding would walk through this cabin and it would be less private. I even consulted some of my frequency flier friends. Eventually I took the chance for less flight attendant attention in favor of a more private cabin and put us in Row 1. It turns out the cabin was half full and it didn't matter too much anyways!

Safety Card. There are many colors of these across the 757 fleet. I wonder why.

When we were seated we were given hot towels while the rest of the plane boarded. Economy class was completely full but with the privacy of the forward cabin I really had no idea what was going on behind me. A kind female flight attendant came over to take our pre-departure beverage orders. A different male flight attendant came around with the amenities basket. A third flight attendant passed out the printed menu. Printed menu on a domestic flight...what?!

Dental Kit and Eye Mask

p.s. BusinessFirst Dinner Menu

Drinks (Click to enlarge

Eats (Click to enlarge)

Suddenly the Captain showed up in the aisle and asked, "Where is everyone?"
The six of us in the forward business cabin laughed and someone said something about being stuck in the snow. Post 9/11 we all know that you rarely get to interact with the pilots. So this was an extremely nice gesture for him to come out and personally talk to us instead of just over the intercom.

The Captain introduced himself as Captain Scott Herman and gave us an estimated flight time and cruising altitude. He asked if we had any questions.
"Can you fly slower?" I asked in hopes of extending my time on this flight.
"No, I don't do late and I have a 2 hour drive back home after we arrive!"
Darn.

The next thing I see is Capt. Herman assisting a passenger with getting his bag in to the overhead bin. By this point I was utterly amazed by how personable he is and his level of service. He gave the same talk to the rear business class cabin and then walked back towards the cockpit. As he was walking a female passenger asked if she could go see the cockpit. "Of course! Feel free. Follow me," he motioned.

Soon afterwards our doors were closed. I had my headphones on listening to Ch9. It was my first time hearing JFK's ATC so it was pretty interesting to me. Then we heard "GIANT" on the radio. Sure enough, to our left the Dreamlifter that we saw earlier was taxiing in circles to burn some fuel before it left.

Baby Speedbird performing BAW2

Capt. Herman, in a hurry to get home taxis fast. I felt like like he was already racing home in his car. He must have missed his family. His first officer, Mark Corcoran, was also a pro on the radio. Everything that was said to them was clearly understood and responded to promptly. We were with a truly professional flight crew.

Capt. Herman, in a hurry, also takes off like a monster. I really wish we had a video of this takeoff but it was too dark. Some of you avgeeks or frequent fliers out of JFK know about the left bank immediately after takeoff from Runway 31L. Capt. Herman initiated this left bank so low to the ground and sharply that for a split second I thought we lost an engine. We even thought our winglet was going to hit the ground. Of course the Captain was in full control of the aircraft and we sped up in to the sky.

The double chimes in the cabin signified 10,000 feet altitude and the flight attendants got really busy in the galley. About 5 minutes afterwards we were given our post takeoff beverage and warm nuts. If you have never had warm nuts on a flight before please try it out some day. I ordered apple juice since I felt like a little kid and BT ordered a Heineken.

I got my drink, took a sip, and almost spit it back out because the flight attendant had mistakenly give me BT's Heineken!! I thought it was a pretty funny mistake since apple juice and Heineken are essentially the same color. The flight attendant apologized profusely but since I was laughing she had a smile on her face too. I was immediately given the correct drink with another apology on the mix up. I assured her that it wasn't a problem.

Takeoff beverage and a ramekin of warm nuts.
Apple juice or beer? :)

A little afterwards one of the flight attendants came to take our dinner order. I ordered the chicken breast while BT ordered the pork chop. For any frequent fliers out there wondering, the orders seemed to be taken front to back unless I was the highest level premier member on the flight - which I doubt. More nuts were offered but we both declined. 

Appetizer was served first along with some bread you picked out of a bread basket. I was all over the garlic bread. You also get a new drink and we both chose the white wine. 

Appetizer course

The appetizer was okay. It wasn't mind blowing but I did enjoy the garlic bread. Unfortunately the cucumbers in my salad still had ice on them. I understand that these things can happen with airplane food but it was a weird start to my dinner.BT seemed to be thoroughly enjoying his appetizer though so perhaps it was a fluke. 

Our drinks were consistently topped off throughout our dinner service. 

It was a lot of, "Would you like more wine?"

Followed by, "Yes please!"

Our appetizers were cleared away and our main courses were brought out. 

Pork chop entree

Chicken breast entree

Both of our entrees were quite tasty and delicious. BT's pork chop was pretty much as big as his face. I was expecting that the chicken breast would be dry but it was actually quite moist and full of flavor (yes all that sauce did help). The flight attendants came around with more bread. Don't mind if I do! I was getting pretty full though and I actually declined another refill of my wine. 

After the entrees came the dessert. This is my favorite part of any United dinner - the ice cream sundae. You can order it with as many or as little toppings as you like. The toppings include chocolate syrup, strawberries, cherries, whipped cream, and nuts. 

I noticed that BT ordered some double shot of liqueur and I asked for the same. I actually had no idea what it was because I had my headphones on and I just pointed to the drink and asked the flight attendant to have it exactly as he's having it. It turns out it was a double shot of Courvoisier VSOP.

I should have thought it was funny when I vaguely heard the flight attendant say, "I'll have to go look for some more of that." 

We were also having quite a bit of turbulence at this point and you can see in the photo below the drink was just sloshing around. I actually stopped eating the ice cream a few times just to hold the drinks. We don't want anything to go to waste!  

Ice cream sundae dessert

We were feeling pretty happy from the meal and probably the alcohol. So I was able to gather up the courage and asked the flight attendant if we could have another round of ice cream sundae. 

She smiled, "Of course you can. What would you like on it?"

"I'm not sure. Do you have any recommendations?"

"Well you had the nuts and the strawberries and cherries already..."

"Why don't you just put whatever you want on it?"

"Certainly," and she bounced off in to the galley to fix up our next round of sundaes. 

Because one dessert is never enough

Utterly stuffed and completely satisfied with the meal I was starting to feel buzzed. So I had BT finish the rest of my VSOP which I believe led to him passing out and snoring for a few hours on the flight. Oops. 

I stayed awake knowing that we would arrive in LAX close to midnight. Snack baskets came around around a few times during the flight but I was honestly too full to eat anymore. I stayed up and watched a few random movies before I closed my eyes for a bit to rest. 

In flight map

So you remember our cavalier Capt. Herman? He was so intent on getting back to LAX that we arrived a whole 45 minutes early! Our gate wasn't even ready when we landed on Runway 25L so we just sat in between the runways for about 10 minutes before we continued on to the gate. 

I got to go to the cockpit after we landed. The Captain was a really funny guy to chat with but we hurried along because we wanted to get home too. 

Conclusion

I haven't tried American's or Delta's transcontinental premium product, but I had a really good time on both of my p.s. flights. Of course it is well worth the 20,000 miles to upgrade if you can spare it. The service was so great on my return trip that I feel bad I wasn't able to learn more of the crew's names for my post flight survey. If this is representative of the service on a p.s. flight I wouldn't hesitate to do this again.

And because desserts are awesome..here's a parting photo.

Delicious.