United Air Sucks!!!

[driftwood]

You should know by now that the number one rule of trans-Pacific travel is: Never Fly a US Carrier for Any Reason!!!!

 

Cheers,

SD

 

Very true! In the past I have had good luck booking through Delta's website and getting Delta seats booked on flights operated by Korean Air on the ATL-ICN and ICN-BKK legs. With the Delta-Northwest merger it is already looking like that will be harder to do now.

[shygye]

 

2. No reason we could not have been taken off the plane...but due to "customs and security" we have to stay on the plane...bullshit!!!

 

UA was likely telling the truth. The Japanese are very squirrely about this. From their perspective' date=' once you get on the plane, you have "left the country" and you would need to be readmitted thru immigration and customs.

 

Once I was flying CX from LAX to HKG, and it turned out that the crew had timed out and we had to land in Osaka and wait for a relief crew to ferry us on to HKG. The staff at KIX let us off the plane, but they literally locked us into the gate area ... could not even leave to use the lav (had to go back on the plane to use the lav). We sat there for 5 hours while they serviced the plane and waited for the relief crew. They did, thankfully, pass out sandwiches and bottles of water.[/quote']

 

I think it more likely the airline is concerned people will wander off and miss the flight. Then their baggage has to be removed causing additional delays.

[Flashermac]

You should know by now that the number one rule of trans-Pacific travel is: Never Fly a US Carrier for Any Reason!!!!

 

Cheers' date='

SD[/quote']

 

Very true! In the past I have had good luck booking through Delta's website and getting Delta seats booked on flights operated by Korean Air on the ATL-ICN and ICN-BKK legs. With the Delta-Northwest merger it is already looking like that will be harder to do now.

 

 

I've flown the JAL-America joint venture to the US. JAL Bangkok to Tokyo, then American Tokyo to Dallas. It was decent enough, though the JAL portion was better (except for the leg room). The Thai and Japanese hostesses had it way over the American flying grannies.

 

As an aside, I've heard some good comments about Jet Fly, an Indian airline. The planes are new, the service good, the hostesses young and pretty, and the food is delicious Indian veg curries. 13,000 baht Bangkok-London, don't think there are any US flights yet.

 

 

 

 

 

[Old Hippie]

There is that as well. Additionally, once the plane is ready to go, they want to go, if they sit around waiting for passengers, they risk further delays, having the crew go illegal, then hey, more delays...but the security crap is probably very true as well...

[..]

I'll go with the squirrelly security rules being the #1 cause for Cava's problem in Japan. IME, only two places make you go through x-ray when transiting: NRT & SYD*. Seems silly to me: you get off the plane, get herded to an x-ray, then herded to a gate lounge (tho' you can explore the terminal). What, they don't trust the previous airport to screen properly? Hmmm, that would make perfect sense in Japan, actually...

 

Cheers,

SD

 

* -- SIN too, but that's because they do security for all pax at each gate, not at a common point.

[samak]

 

2. No reason we could not have been taken off the plane...but due to "customs and security" we have to stay on the plane...bullshit!!!

 

UA was likely telling the truth. The Japanese are very squirrely about this. From their perspective' date=' once you get on the plane, you have "left the country" and you would need to be readmitted thru immigration and customs.[/quote']

 

NOT CORRECT!

for transit you do not need to go through immigration anyway (only in USA and China when you arrive from a other country).

i was once on transit in Narita and the plane was delayed; i was escorted to the connecting plane without security and within 2 minutes i was sitting in the connecting one.

 

[samak]

IME, only two places make you go through x-ray when transiting: NRT & SYD*.

certainly NOT CORRECT!

actually no security check is mainly a US thing for domestic to domestic and domestic to international (and only if arriving and departing flight are at the same terminal).

i have transit recently (within last 2 years) at following airports and had ALWAYS to do a security/x-ray check:

Bangkok

Hongkong

Incheon

Narita

Sydney

Singapore

Frankfurt

Munich

Vienna

Zurich

at SFO i also had to go through security/x-ray as i arrived with UA and departed with SQ from international terminal

 

[Hugh_Hoy]

I've transited HK, Narita, and Taipei from U.S.-BKK. At all transit points, I have been required to be re-screened by x-ray. At none of them, have I been required to interface with the local immigraton folks.

 

HH

[Old Hippie]

Here is part of the deal...they are NOT going to board everyone, then let them off, then reboard them again, as all of that takes time. They fix the airplane, then go ASAp once the repair is done.

 

I agree the service on UAL generally sucks in coach/economy (I usually fly first or business class myself, nose in the air!), but this really doesn't sound like anything too far out of the ordinary. I mean the plane broke and needed to be repaired, which resulted in a delay, it happens. SOmetimes they think the repair will only take 30 minutes and it takes an hour or more...it happens.

[samak]

service in UA also sucks in First domestic!

last december on a red eyes flight from LAX to IAD they changed plane to all coach. i did not get any refund and had to pay for a beer! the crew behaved as they were the victims and not the passengers!

seats also usually are very mediocre!