United Polaris (Business Class to Europe)
March 14, 2017
You know how we feel about United airlines here on this blog. They squeezed every single iota of loyalty out of us during the ill-fated Smisek years. Our 1.6 MILLION miles meant nothing to United. So we stopped flying United three years ago.
Is it time to forget and forgive? Well, not exactly. But sometimes we just fly whatever airline will get us where we need to be when we need to be there.
The world colluded to put us in United Polaris across the pond to Frankfurt.
The United pods on a 777-200 are nice. They are easier to manage than the Virgin Atlantic pods and don’t require shenanigans to get into bed mode. In practice, that means with expedited meal service you can get right to pretending to sleep.
Saks Fifth Avenue? Ha ha ha. United and dime stores.
Pod view with a large screen entertainment system running linux
Mimosa and propaganda
On this trip the crew was great, the wine was passable, the flight was bumpy and we arrived early. Well, what you gonna do.
Then there was the indignity of the bus at Frankfurt. No no no no.
Anyway, you get what you overpay for on United Polaris!
No Fly Noël 2016: Kinda
December 3, 2016
Regular NPS readers and lurkers know all about “no fly July” and “no fly Noël.” The idea is simple. Stop. Rest. Think. Read. Get out of the hubbub of everyday modern life, sit by the fire, and exist.
This year’s No Fly Noël is much needed as 2016 was about the most stressful year on record for NPS in 17 years. It was a great year in the end, but boy are we glad it is over.
So, how did the year look? Kinda like this (according to the tripometer).
The 2016 NPS tripometer
Travel according to the new regimen is trending nicely low. The goal for 2016 was 20 trips and we came in 15% high at 23. Well, almost. Looks like we have to throw off the chains of No Fly Noël and hit the road one more time in December to strategize with the corporate overlords. Or maybe that is overlord with the corporate strategists? Something like that anyway. Stay tuned for those data. (And make that 24 trips and a 20% overrun.)
In other news this year, the Elevate Gold status on Virgin America is a good thing. We switched the firehose from United to Virgin America in 2014 and there is no looking back. NPS likes main cabin select. NPS also likes using points to upgrade to Europe. How that will work going forward is a good question!
Fly too much? Try Virgin America.
Of course since NPS is based at Dulles, there is no avoiding United. Honestly, they did better this year. Flying United was not great, but it did not completely suck. So maybe the Smisek effect is finally washing out.
And then there is Kimpton which remains the NPS go to hotel chain of choice even after the disaster that is the San Francisco Kimpton property crater. Years ago we helped to start the Kimpton Intouch program (which is now the Kimpton Karma program). We do what we can to stay qualified without calling in air support from Mike Defrino. You go Kimpton!
Inner Circle? Why yes, we’ll have some
Jeff Smisek Resigns from United
September 8, 2015
Under the black cloud of a corruption allegation (federal case), Jeff Smisek resigns from United.
Good. United has nowhere to go but up.
United Airlines Still Sucks: June 2015
June 15, 2015
Here at NPS we have done what we can to avoid flying United airlines since they have such terrible operations. After loyally flying 1.6 million miles and over a decade as a 100K, we’re done.
Today, both flights we were forced to take to get some business done had bugs.
On the flight out, the highly advertised wifi did not work. Ever.
The venerable, um, I mean nonexistent wifi.
It’s 2015. Wifi works everywhere else.
On the flight back, we started with the classic drip delay, supposedly caused by weather. A drip delay is what happens when United (and only United as far as we can tell) delays the flight by just a few minutes…multiple times. The first three drips were: 14, 11, and 9 minutes each. We would really just rather learn this all at once.
But the best was yet to come. The inbound aircraft landed, so they called us to the gate to line up. But there was no pilot. The last drip was a hefty one hour! (That is, assuming this was actually the last delay…we’re not on the plane yet.)
United airlines sucks at operations
United airlines sucks. Fly any other airline.
It is unbelievable that Jeff Smisek is still the CEO.
Ruminations and Regrets: Jet Blue to NY not so much
February 22, 2015
OK, first of all we will still do anything to avoid United. They can have my loyalty back when they ditch the worst CEO in the United States. (Jeff Smisek. Smisek sucks. Ruined a whole airline.) Meanwhile, we’re trying to figure out how to navigate the East coast when we’re not on JW’s plane. We’re desperate, we’ll fly anybody!
Jet Blue works just fine from IAD to Boston. But NY? Not so much. Here’s the problem. JFK is just not going to work. Jamaica?? Yeah, that’s pretty far from the city.
For example, getting there on a Friday in the frozen tundra from Brooklyn (which is basically halfway there from Manhattan) takes an hour. Argh. Imagine if my flight were actually on time.
But what’s worse is that the Jet Blue terminal at JFK is off the beaten path. Car service parking? Ten minute walk. And once you are trapped there? It’s just like a very bad mall. You know, malls are dying out. Some of us know why.
I did find a good Negroni. But then I got some serious food poisoning. Really. Not good. I finally feel human again 48 hours later.
Plus Jet Blue pulled the drip delay thing that United does, flew a plane with no wifi, and well, frankly, reminded me too much of United.
Anyway, no more Jet Blue for me to New York.
hah hah hah. yeah. BZZZT.
Jet Blue fail.
It’s Not Just Us: United Sucks
January 14, 2015
United Airlines is terrible. We are attempting not to fly them in 2015. But don’t just take our word for it. Read the Wall Street Journal airline report.
Jeff Smisek should be fired.
2015: Capitalism in Action on the Travel Front
January 11, 2015
Regular readers will know that in the studied opinion of NPS, United airlines has gone to the dogs. Too many years of too many operational problems finally have come to a head this year. We’re going to attempt to avoid United whenever possible even though our home airport is a United hub. This after over a decade of 100K privilege flying. That’s how bad United is.
Long ago the Board of United should have figured out that Jeff Smisek is a terrible operational leader. An M&A specialist and a marketing person is not the right kind of person to run operations at a huge airline. And United is just too big not to suck.
So bye bye United. Until you get a new CEO and start performing better, we will do our utmost to avoid you. We are voting with our actual cash money.
We’ll see how it goes this year and keep you updated here. First up, trans-continental flights on Virgin America.
Happy new year! Make sure to apply capitalistic tendencies with YOUR cash too.
No Fly Noël 2014: Six Days Late and a Dollar Short
December 6, 2014
Travel was thankfully almost reasonable this year, down to thirty trips off last year’s forty-two. (FWIW, we’ll shoot for 25 in 2015.) But we did do an out of character trip in December, delaying the start of no fly noël by a few days. We’ll make up for it somehow.
tripometer for 2014
In 2014 we finally gave up completely on United airlines which topped its awful 2013 behavior with an even worse 2014. Bye bye United. You are too broken to pay money.
So lets sit by the fire and regain our sanity. Maybe with a Liberal or two. Then we’ll do it all again.
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