United flat-bed & food (Newark - Honolulu)?

[GeezerCouple]

Does anyone have any feedback on the United flat-bed comfort, on the Newark - Honolulu flights?

 

Are they wide enough/long enough/comfy enough for real sleep.

 

The outbound is daylight, but the return is overnight, and thus dark for much of the flight.

 

And the food?

We usually stock up with a variety of tasty and reasonably healthy packaged food from Whole Foods for long flights, which is absolutely critical in most airline's cattle car class. Is there any hope for anything better in the "Business/First" class on this flight?

 

We care MUCH more about the seat/bed comfort on this flight, but figured we might as well as about the food service, too.

 

Any suggestions to make the trip better?

 

Many thanks!

 

GeezerCouple

[CruiserBruce]

Have flown all over the world in United Business and First. The lie flat seats are amongst the best in the airline industry. Yes, if you are taller than about 6'3" they will start getting tight. But have slept just fine on them, and I am 6'2".

 

Food is very subjective. But given you aren't running a marathon, not even doing standard exercise, there isn't a need to bring food onboard.

Edited November 2, 2013 by CruiserBruce

[GeezerCouple]

Have flown all over the world in United Business and First. The lie flat seats are amongst the best in the airline industry. Yes, if you are taller than about 6'3" they will start getting tight. But have slept just fine on them, and I am 6'2".

 

Food is very subjective. But given you aren't running a marathon, not even doing standard exercise, there isn't a need to bring food onboard.

 

Thanks so much Cruiser!

That's really good to know.

(I think the domestic "Business/First" might be different from the international Business and First classes of flat-bed seats. Is that correct?)

 

These cost a small fortune, compared to puddle jumping on Jet Blue, etc., but we are trying to determine if "flying in comfort" (relatively speaking) will allow us to head out to more distant locations as we ramp up the retirement travel time.

 

As for the food, it's not so much to provide the energy (to sit and sleep, and to read ;-) but to keep us from eating too much junk food, partly out of boredom or lack of better choices.

It's easy to avoid junk food at home, because we don't keep it around.

But we've learned the hard way that on flights, it's hard to pass up when it's the only thing around for hours.

 

Assuming this goes well, our next try at flat-bed will probably be to Europe or a bit further, and we haven't yet figured out the airline choices.

 

Thank you again!

 

GeezerCouple

[CruiserBruce]

Thanks so much Cruiser!

That's really good to know.

(I think the domestic "Business/First" might be different from the international Business and First classes of flat-bed seats. Is that correct?)

 

These cost a small fortune, compared to puddle jumping on Jet Blue, etc., but we are trying to determine if "flying in comfort" (relatively speaking) will allow us to head out to more distant locations as we ramp up the retirement travel time.

 

As for the food, it's not so much to provide the energy (to sit and sleep, and to read ;-) but to keep us from eating too much junk food, partly out of boredom or lack of better choices.

It's easy to avoid junk food at home, because we don't keep it around.

But we've learned the hard way that on flights, it's hard to pass up when it's the only thing around for hours.

 

Assuming this goes well, our next try at flat-bed will probably be to Europe or a bit further, and we haven't yet figured out the airline choices.

 

Thank you again!

 

GeezerCouple

 

The Global First lie flat seat/suite is truly the top of the industry standard.

 

The domestic and international Business lie flat should be the same (not the same as Global First), although there are slight differences between the Continental and United versions. As the fleet merges, these differences are going away. Minor.

 

It isn't a buffet in Business First domestically. There will be meals. They are not the healthiest, but also not junk food. The only thing that is unlimited is drinks.

Edited November 2, 2013 by CruiserBruce

[marchanxiety]

This is a domestic flight. Are you sure there will be lie-flat seats? We did a Kona to Denver flight last summer on a 767 and it was the same old domestic business/first. I was very disappointed.

[CruiserBruce]

This is a domestic flight. Are you sure there will be lie-flat seats? We did a Kona to Denver flight last summer on a 767 and it was the same old domestic business/first. I was very disappointed.

 

United has been using planes with lie flat seats on the EWR-HNL run.

[GeezerCouple]

It wasn't easy to find flat beds from anywhere on the East Coast to HNL.

 

At first, it seemed Delta through Atlanta, but the Delta rep insisted that it was a non-stop (okay there) and that it wouldn't become flat bed until after LA (not sounding quite so good - I'm envisioning beds floating up by balloon or something...). Next Delta rep insisted it wasn't a non-stop, yet we could watch online the current day's flight trajectory, and it sure didn't seem to be stopping anywhere.

 

On to the Travel Agent, who got other weird answers from Delta.

Scratch Delta...

 

I would have expected flat beds through JFK, but apparently it's the Newark flight instead.

 

There could still be an equipment change, but as the flight gets very full, it's less likely UA will decide they "need" that aircraft on another route instead, but there could still be an equipment "problem". In that case, there probably won't be another similar aircraft to substitute.

We'll just keep our fingers crossed.

 

More and more flat beds will be coming along on various airlines.

Even Jet Blue will be adding some next summer. That was a real surprise, given their typical "one class of service" except for the "extra leg room" seats, which is how we often fly on domestic routes.

 

We'll report back on the comfort factor and "sleepability" :)

 

Thanks!

 

GeezerCouple

[marchanxiety]

I hope United puts flat beds on the flight from IAD!