The flights with ANA were great. The flights with United, not so much.
I enjoyed the flight, but a little too much turbulence on the flight. Thank you for the meal and entertainment. This kept my kids entertain during the flight. I have to admit comparing the crew from ANA vs United, there was a sense of more accomodation, friendliness and service compared to United crew. I felt for the United crew, it was just a job and it can be seen in there demeanor and delivery.
Attendants were very kind and frequently offered water and snacks. Food was excellent. For some reason, my IFE system would not play dialogue for any media despite my efforts to change to different language voiceovers, restart the system, etc. so I could not watch any videos.
Choice of movies dated as with the screens. Major room for improvement on the software to sort and select choices.
Although the crew was eventually very good, they complained loudly about EVERYTHING before the takeoff. Did not set the stage for a good trip in business class. The western meal choices were pretty mediocre as were the wine choices. We took an ANA flight to Tokyo and they were outstanding!
As usual the flight from AUS in Austin to SFO was late because they didn’t have adequate staffing to board the plane on time creating a 1 hour delay, which resulted in me missing my flight to Osaka due to a missed connection. When I got to the gate 10 minutes late after landing exactly the time the connecting flight was taking off, I saw my flight to Osaka sitting at the gate and that gates had closed. I attempted to contact United Via chat on the United App and was given the runaround and passed between 2 separate “agents” who after saying they could rebook me, told me I needed to go to ANA even though they’re partners and all of my ticketing was through United. After going to ANA’s gate at SFO to try and get help I was told I would need to leave and go to United’s ticket counter in order to get help. The ANA agents said that it was United’s issue. An hour after running to try to make my flight I got to the United counter. I showed the agent my itinerary and she helped as much as she could. I was booked on a flight that would occur 13 hours after my original flight to Osaka and given $45 in vouchers which doesn’t cover much at SFO. I had also spent 30000 miles with United to get an upgrade with more legroom. And that was not refunded to this point. Ultimately I lost 1 whole day of vacation in with my wife and kids and, the 30000 airline miles and I’m out the money and time I spent. In these situations United and their partners should go out of their way to communicate and accommodate but I was left to my own devices to find the right resources. The only option was to fly to Seoul 12 hours and take a connecting flight to Osaka: I am a United Skyniles member and would not recommend booking a flight with them unless you thoroughly understand the routes as it is likely you will be left to your own devices to resolve the situation.
Staff at gate and crew on plane efficient and friendly.
I liked the flight over all. Towards the middle of the flight. There was a flight attendant who felt like they were rushing to had out vegetarian wraps and said they were “sandwiches”. She also handed out hand we wanted the water but she was walked so fast we didn’t get any. We sat in the seat 45 E & D. And towards the last 30 minutes of the flight there was an announcement saying the crew would collect trash. No one ever came around. So held on to the trash until we landed and left in the seats.!
As always, there is that one or two flight attendants that could be better.
Japan and China airlines were incredible. On board service was impeccable. All the flight attendants were helpful, friendly, and always smiling. Airplanes were very clean. The boarding crew was extremely accommodating and very nice as well. Overall I was extremely impressed.
