Re: United Airlines
 

I flew in a Comet, there was a bucket in the isle to catch the drips.

I have a friend who is a pilot for Frontier, the stories....

Re: United Airlines
 

A Dan Air Comet was it?

Re: United Airlines
 

I make around a dozen or so trans-Atlantic round-trips each year, about 75% on BA and 25% on Virgin Atlantic. I fly mostly premium economy with occasional upgrades to business.

Most BA flights are on 4-class 777s, most of which now have refitted interiors in economy/premium economy, and the general condition of these aircraft is good. BA's 747s are a different matter, with outdated IFE and crusty seats - generally these planes are held together with cellotape and bits of string. I'll avoid where I can unless flying business in which case I'll forgive al these shortcomings for a seat upstairs. I'm looking forward to the introduction of 787-9s on the Boston run in October.

Most Virgin Atlantic planes are in a similar condition to BA's 747s, although I was lucky enough to enjoy a few 787 flights while they were on the Boston run briefly about a year ago. Virgin's smaller fleet and fewer flights means an increased risk from disruption to operations in my experience.

I generally prefer Virgin's service and catering to BA, prefer BA's lounges (and T5) over Virgin's (and Terminal 3) at LHR but prefer Virgin's lounges at BOS and JFK.

So swings and roundabouts, really.

Re: United Airlines
 

I've often wondered about BA, the last long haul I did with them was LHR->SIN and it was pretty good. That said, I have zero status with them and that scares the crap out of me.

Re: United Airlines
 

Re: United Airlines
 

Right now I fly exclusively BA TATL and AA domestic as I did so much TATL flying over the last year (dying family member sadly) that I achieved BA Gold status. I do tend to prefer BA over the other options for daytime UK flights from New York (Virgin, United) as on balance I think their service is better. I've also got the BA Chase card which gets me 10% off all bookings that are wholly on BA metal, plus 3 Avios per dollar spent with BA.

The IFE on their un-refurbed 747s is pretty dreadful, but the four-class 777s that usually share the JFK run have decent IFE, and the newly refurbed "super-hi J" 747s (with 86 business class seats) which frequently appear on that run now have the best IFE of all.

Re: United Airlines
 

Speaking to one of the engineers before flying United once, I can confirm the UA 767's are extremely old and beat up.

I still have lots of contacts with the airline, so when I fly home, it's always BA. Looking forward to the San Jose route starting next month with the Dreamliner.

Re: United Airlines
 

Before I moved to the US, I flew United from London to Houston often enough for work to reach platinum status, and I still have over 300,000 lifetime miles in my United frequent flyer account. These days, though, I generally only fly with them if they provide the only direct flight. I will fly domestic returns with them twice this year, which won't be anywhere near enough to get silver status.

We're flying BA when we go to the UK for two weeks of family vacation in August. Looks like they are currently running one 777 and one 787 on the route right now, which should be OK.

Re: United Airlines
 

Those were the days. Flew on those and British Eagle Britannia's.

http://www.airteamimages.com/pics/181/181399_800.jpg

Re: United Airlines
 

They were noisy, think I went to Venice on one.

Re: United Airlines
 

First aircraft I flew on a Hermes. Prefer an old 767 over a Hermes longhaul.
http://www.airteamimages.com/pics/165/165401_800.jpg

Re: United Airlines
 

I think my first flight was the one to Venice, can not think of a prior one.

http://cdn1.airplane-pictures.net/im.../5/5/14488.jpg

Oldest type I have been in.

Re: United Airlines
 

We got 2 of our Hawaii flights paid for with our United Points so they are in my good graces just now, plus we were able to buy points to top up for the third flight which saved us a few hundred buckaroos. We were just going to upgrade 'The Dude' to economy plus as he is 6’4" now and our last flights were no fun for him as he is all leg, but threw caution to the wind an upgraded the lot!

Our last flight we had a 'large' woman in front of the dude who rocked back and forth the whole bloody flight. Son was miserable, hubby was mad and was desperate to say something but I figured she had something wrong with her and she couldn't help it so did the stiff upper lip bit, luckily it was the shorter LA - Houston leg.

Re: United Airlines
 

What cabin do you normally travel in? Premium economy is really the minimum in order to obtain status in a reasonable number of flights: 5 round trips would push you past silver, which gets you business lounge access and a few other perks.

If you can swing flying domestically in AA F then this is a great way to rack up a disproportionately large number of BA tier points (which are the things that determine status).

Re: United Airlines
 

^^ This. I did about ten TATL roundtrips mostly in PE, some economy and one biz class, which got me through BA Silver and a recent AA first-class segment from JFK to Las Vegas got me to BA Gold.

But now I have no need or reason to do all the TATLs anymore and my wife is flying phobic, so as it stands right now, the only time I'll get to use the status is an upcoming jaunt to Bermuda (outbound only - there's no AA lounge at BDA) at Memorial Day. :(