Business or First on United?- SFO to London

[sfvoyager]

I am taking my mom for her 80th bday to the Mediterranean. We will be flying from SFO to London, and I have enough points for upgrades.

 

I am concerned about making her comfortable and wonder if there is a significant difference between business and first. I know there are sleeper seats in first, but I read reviews that they aren't that comfortable.

 

Any thoughts?

[sobore]

I think the Biz class seats would be fine. They have a 55 inch seat pitch and recline like a lounger. The first class sleeper may be more trouble than it is worth since an older person may have difficulty with its operation. Biz class gives you decent food similar to first class also.

[critterchick]

Check out www.seatguru.com to get more info on the plane. If you've got the miles, I would spring for first class - we've done both business and first on Air France (777s), and being able to lie flat, even on a slightly uncomfortable bed, made all the difference - we were actually alert by the time we arrived in Paris 10 hours after departing LA (still had to go on to Venice and were ok even upon arrival there). Business class was nice, but we were still sleeping in a sitting position, and were pretty much basket cases by the time we got to Milan (via Paris again). If your mother has trouble operating the seat, I'm sure you and/or the flight attendant could help her. On Air France, it was just a pushbutton operation. It was only another 10,000 miles each way pp to go 1st instead of business (freebies, not upgrades), and was well sorth it IMHO.

[katiebeth]

Dear CritterChick,

 

We are scheduled to fly Air France from Atlanta to Barcelona through CDG. It will be our first time on Air France. We normally always fly Delta but have not been impressed with their in-flight service over the past year or so. Consequently, we decided to give Air France a try, even though it involves a change of planes in Paris (which we have heard can be a rather chaotic).

 

Anyway, we found a good fare in business class. Sounds like you have flown Air France several times. Do you enjoy their in-flight service? (food, flight attendants, entertainment, etc.) As far as business class, (we will be on a Boeing 777) I assume that although the seats do not "lie flat" that they do recline to a fairly comfortable posititon (similar to a lounger)?

 

Any feedback regarding your experience on Air France would be appreciated. Also, have you had any problems with lost luggage with AF? I have heard they are rather notorious fo losing bags.

 

Thanks,

 

Nancy

[katiebeth]

Dear CritterChick,

 

We are scheduled to fly Air France from Atlanta to Barcelona through CDG. It will be our first time on Air France. We normally always fly Delta but have not been impressed with their in-flight service over the past year or so. Consequently, we decided to give Air France a try, even though it involves a change of planes in Paris (which we have heard can be a rather chaotic).

 

Anyway, we found a good fare in business class. Sounds like you have flown Air France several times. Do you enjoy their in-flight service? (food, flight attendants, entertainment, etc.) As far as business class, (we will be on a Boeing 777) I assume that although the seats do not "lie flat" that they do recline to a fairly comfortable posititon (similar to a lounger)?

 

Any feedback regarding your experience on Air France would be appreciated. Also, have you had any problems with lost luggage with AF? I have heard they are rather notorious fo losing bags.

 

Thanks,

 

Nancy

[katiebeth]

Sorry for the double post!

 

Nancy

[critterchick]

Nancy, the 777s we were on both times were the older models, so they don't have all of the amenities that some of the newer planes do, so if you have a newer plane, your experience might be different.

 

In 2003, we flew LAX-CDG-Milan in business class. I found the seats to be ok, but they could have reclined a bit more (maybe they do now). The flight attendant we had in our section was great - he was a Brit and had a great sense of humor. It was an overnight flight, so we basically had dinner w/wine, napped for about 5 hours, then woke up for breakfast & landing. There were in-seat movies with a selection of 3 not very current films - nothing to write home about. Changing planes in Paris wasn't too hard, but there's a terminal change, so we had to go through customs & back through security. Perhaps there's a different way to do it, but we never could figure it out in 3 tries.

 

Our bags got to do a little sight-seeing on the tarmac while we went on to Milan. As you said, AF is notorious for bad luggage handling. The counter clerk already knew of the problem by the time the carousel stopped turning and we trudged over (along with a bunch of other American business & 1st class travellers, so I'd say it was a political statement) to report the bags missing. "E possiblie" said the woman, that the bags would be on the next flight and "e possibile" that they would deliver them to our hotel. We were moving on the next day, so we arranged for her to call us when the bags came in, but not to call after 9:00. At 10:00 the phone rang in our room and she told us that one bag had arrived, the other was on the next flight. We were able to retrieve them in the morning from the overflowing lost luggage room, although finding the room involved asked 5 different people, going through several doors marked "authorized personnel only," and having my passport stamped twice. I do love Italy!:D

 

First class was a bit of a disappointment. considering that it costs 10x a coach seat (we flew on redeemed miles). The flat sleeper seats were great, great, GREAT compared to coach or even biz class, but the upholstery was pretty well worn through to lumps, so we got an extra down quilt (:) ) from the flight attendant to make them more comfy. The service was pretty bad. One attendant didn't speak much English (fair enough, we were going to Paris on a French airline), but he was at least pleasant and tried hard to please. The main FA for our seats was just surly and rude. She forgot to cook DH's dinner, just served it to him cold, got an attitude when we asked her to heat it up. Now, she only had 12 passengers total and two people to help her, so it wasn't as if she had a tough workoad, we were mostly sleeping. The movies weren't working for a couple of hours, and again, it was stale stuff anyway, so not worth staying awake for. Our bags made it to & from without incident this time.

 

I wouldn't pay full fare for either. Last year AF had some good deals for biz class, $2200 RT LA-Venice, and that might tempt me instead of using all my miles for a freebie.

[katiebeth]

Dear Jean,

 

Thank you so much for your very detailed information regarding Air France.

Sounds like it can be pretty hit or miss, like many of the airlines these days.

Doesn't sound like your first class experience was so great. Being served a cold meal in first class and then the FA having an attitude when you asked for it to be warmed up is not exactly what one would expect.

 

We paid $2450.00 for business class from Tallahassee, Fl. (on Delta) through Atlanta and Paris and then on to Barcelona on (Air France). The return is out of Venice. Overall, it seems to be a decent rate. I will set my expectations accordingly. Hopefully, I won't regret our decision not to fly Delta transatlantic. Our experiences on Delta lately have not been so great. Their in-flight service seems to be in decline.

 

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to reply.

 

Nancy

[critterchick]

Nancy, we flew Delta from Barcelona-NY-LAX in Business Elite. The international leg was quite nice - clean plane, wonderful flight attendants. From NY-LA, the cabin configuration was the same, but the plane didn't sparkle the way the international one did, the in-seat TV at my seat didn't work, and the FAs didn't care. It was a marked difference. But I had a hot fudge sundae on each leg, so that's something.

 

I forgot to mention earlier that the Air France lounges at the airports are quite nice. I think Business class overseas qualifies you to use them. In LA, we shared the New Zealand club and got to sample some really nice NZ wines. In Paris, they had separate lounges for 1st & business class, so I know you can use the BC lounge. I went in just to investigate & it didn't look any different from 1st class - nice wines, cognacs, munchies, etc. I dumped DH there with the carryon bags & went perfume shopping. My manicurist wears a perfume that's really hard to find in the US (and I've already forgotten the name), and the airport shop in Paris was the only place I could find it during our travels.

 

I like to talk, can ya tell?:D