United: i like! (United Airlines)

Member Name: zingara

Product:	United Airlines
Date:	20/04/06 (293 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: friendly service, great food

Disadvantages: needs an update in entertainment

I flew from London to California over Christmas and i was able to score a bargain even if i scheduled my trip only a month before christmas. I paid about £323 for Dec14-Jan9 (just before and after the peak period) thru STA travel office. They said it was the last ticket, but I noticed there were still even cheaper (£303) fares available for the same flight if I had booked thru Travelsupermarket.com. (ebookers is cheap)

It was my first time to fly United and it was smooth and easy. The queue at Heathrow was soooo long. I was worried about not making it on time, so people should really chcek-in early especially because check-in is for all United flights, regardless of destination. They ask a few questions about security and make sure you're not wearing metal and you're wearing easy to remove shoes to go through security really quickly. If you're traveling w a laptop handcarry, make sure it's easy to retreieve coz they might want to look at that separately. In California, they had a self-check system which made check-in faster and efficient. They also gave a lot of baggage space.

Despite the hectic schedule with a fully packed plane, United staff were friendly and helpful. I think American service is really the best. They're so service-oriented. They really listen and attend to all your requests and give you extras (juice, blankets, etc) if available. The bathroom was always clean during all my visits and the plane, even if a bit old was well kept. I really liked the service, and the food was good as well. It was pretty simple stuff. Lunch/Dinner made me full, Breakfast/Snack was light.

The plane also arrived early on both directions.

The only disadvantage was the entertainment as they were not showing recent shows.

On the way back, there was an overbooking of flight so they were offering some passengers for next day flight with free upgrade and travel vouchers. I'm not sure if hotel accommodations were included. I hear overbooking is common with United. So, if you really need to fly, this might be a problem but if you don't need to fly then you could score some free tickets. If you're a Star Alliance or American airmiles member, they also give upgrades (but it takes ages and loads of flights to redeem).

If you are purchasing a ticket for the first time, you may want to get the airmiles frequent flier card in advance because they give promos that encourage you to use the card, so had i gotten the card first, I would have gotten a bonus 2000 miles just for using it. Because I got mine after, I did not get the privilege. However, it does allow you to credit applicable miles you have used in the past year.

I would recommend United to others.

Summary: I will keep flying United