United Airlines Airbus A320 First Class

[Hollis Abdelkarim]

Itwas really looking like it was going to be an on-time departure from San Diego this morning. We pushed back a couple minutes early, and I was feeling really good about having a nice (comfortably lengthy) layover at SFO.

United Airlines (just like all the other US airlines) serves hot meals in first class on flights 2 1/2 hours in length and longer. Since this flight from San Diego to San Francisco today clocked in at just 1 hour and 19 minutes, all we got were snacks. Actually, all we got was drinks. We were supposed to get snacks, but the flight attendant never came by with a snack basket. The hell?

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To kick off this trip I flew from Tampa to Boston. I was starting in Tampa because I was visiting my mom before the trip, and I was going to Boston because of the airline I was connecting to from there (you guys will just have to wait to find out what that is). ?

Ironically on this flight the most impressive hospitality came from the captain. Once boarding finished up he stood at the front of the first class cabin and gave passengers a nice welcome aboard, informed us of the flight time of 2hr20min, said it should be a smooth flight, etc. What a nice touch!

I travel on United frequently from MCO to DEN and back. For about three years, there was one captain who would come out during the flight and chat with the first class passengers. One time I fell asleep before he came out, and he left his card with a note on it. It was a class act and one of the reasons I've been suffering with United. I'm glad to know other airline captains do that. I wish all of them would make that effort.

I don't understand why one would skip a lounge review because it was crowded....isn't that arguably the most important time to review it, considering that's more than likely when people would be patronizing it? Unless the lounge is cheaper to get into when it's crowded, I would like to know what the experience is like during peak times to help determine if it is worth the expense to purchase a pass/membership vs. gut out priority...

I don't understand why one would skip a lounge review because it was crowded....isn't that arguably the most important time to review it, considering that's more than likely when people would be patronizing it? Unless the lounge is cheaper to get into when it's crowded, I would like to know what the experience is like during peak times to help determine if it is worth the expense to purchase a pass/membership vs. gut out priority pass lounge or kill time in the terminal

Delta does in fact serve warm bread and plated desserts in domestic first class, but the offering depends on time of departure and flight length. Flights ranging from 900-1,399 miles, especially those serving lunch, are less likely to include these offerings. Flights 1,400 miles and longer include more substantial meals (i.e., salad, multiple hot entre options, and plated dessert) as well as the snack basket.

Delta's First Class meals are disgraceful. No warm nuts, no warm bread, and most of the time a packaged cookie or brownie for dessert on top of the entrees not being that appetizing to begin with. I find Delta in general to be great but I struggle to understand why they have such an untalented supply chain team that can't negotiate better catering contracts.

Are you kidding? The service sounds great compared with my flight last week of comparable distance (Fort Lauderdale to Newark) on United in First. It was an evening flight, but still . . . pre-departure beverage offer of water (that's it, just water). Food was an offer to take a packaged snack from the tray the FA held at my seat (I chose potato chips). Then an offer of a drink--once through the cabin. That was it.

I really hate this trend of removing bulkheads between Economy and First. Big reduction in privacy in the F cabin, and can be pretty awkward during the meal service. Hope this trend reverses itself as for me it's a major downgrade in the experience.

One thing: After paying for first with actual money it's an insult to be asked for another forty bucks to get into the lounge if I'm not one of Delta's "valued" customers. That's enough to make sure Delta will not be a "valued" carrier for me. (I know... First world problem).

Hey Snob, can you order special meals in Delta first class? I believe you did a story once where on American you can. What do you expect from a domestic airline first class. Its not Emirates or Singapore airlines. Can you do a story why some airlines have gasper vents and some do

@TravelinWilly Delta's entertainment system tells you the tail number of the plane, under the flight tracking tab. Otherwise you really need to see the plane's registration (it begins with N for US carriers) on the outside of the plane and google it.

@Lucky, the other thing that Delta does in domestic first on these flights, that I haven't experienced on AA (I refuse to fly UA) is a snack basked with 7-10 options including almonds, bananas, chips, brownie bites, etc. I'm GF and if I get upgraded close-in (Platinum and it happens about 25% of the time) I don't get to pre-select a GF meal, so I appreciate the GF options in the basket and that the salads usually have the croutons, breadsticks, etc. packaged.

That's quite possibly one of the worst meals I have ever seen. It's like they tossed everything laying around the kitchen into a salad. Turkey? Ranch dressing? Cheddar cheese? WTF. I flew Delta first-class between Atlanta and Denver Saturday and the meal choices were a sandwich or a plate of cold cuts and cheese. I pre-ordered a special meal (low fat) and received two slices of bread with a pickle. I kid you not.

Minor quibble: Delta does *not* offer free texting, only free messaging via select platforms (iMessage, FB Messenger, etc., but not Slack). No actual SMS. It's still a great perk, but you should be more precise in its description.

He could be flying El Al BOS-TLV and then Cathay or Korean from there. The last time around, El Al new @ben was coming and made sure their head flight attendant was on the flight. Maybe this is a way of catching them off guard.

Looks totally underwhelming to be totally honest. That food is pathetic for a sub 3hr flight. It seems like one of the meals that would be served on a longer flight on a regional airline. While the cabin is modern, the seat pitch is tight(ish).

So this person re-positioned to BOS on the way to Taipei. It could have been either across the Pacific or Atlantic out of Boston. I don't think he made more than two stops from BOS, given time constraints.

The flight landed around early afternoon at BOS, so it is more likely transatlantic out of BOS than transpacific. My money is on BOS-AMS-TPE, first leg KLM (333) and second leg China Airlines (359). He hasn't reviewed...

The flight landed around early afternoon at BOS, so it is more likely transatlantic out of BOS than transpacific. My money is on BOS-AMS-TPE, first leg KLM (333) and second leg China Airlines (359). He hasn't reviewed China Airlines for quite some time so this is my bet.

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American Airlines is the largest A320 operator with 479 aircraft in its fleet, while IndiGo is the largest customer with 930 aircraft on order. In October 2019, the A320 family surpassed the Boeing 737 to become the highest-selling airliner. As of June 2024[update], a total of 18,652 A320 family aircraft had been ordered and 11,524 delivered, of which 10,756 aircraft were in service with more than 350 operators. The global A320 fleet had completed more than 176 million flights over 328 million block hours since its entry into service.The A320ceo initially competed with the 737 Classic and the MD-80, then their successors, the 737 Next Generation and the MD-90 respectively, while the 737 MAX is Boeing's response to the A320neo.

When Airbus designed the A300 during the late 1960s and early 1970s, it envisaged a broad family of airliners with which to compete against Boeing and Douglas (later McDonnell Douglas), two established US aerospace manufacturers. From the moment of formation, Airbus had begun studies into derivatives of the Airbus A300B in support of this long-term goal.[6] Prior to the service introduction of the first Airbus airliners, engineers within Airbus had identified nine possible variations of the A300 known as A300B1 to B9.[7] A 10th variation, conceived in 1973, later the first to be constructed, was designated the A300B10.[8] It was a smaller aircraft which would be developed into the long-range Airbus A310. Airbus then focused its efforts on the single-aisle market, which was dominated by the 737 and McDonnell Douglas DC-9.

Plans from a number of European aircraft manufacturers called for a successor to the relatively successful BAC One-Eleven, and to replace the 737-200 and DC-9.[9] Germany's MBB (Messerschmitt-Blkow-Blohm), British Aircraft Corporation, Sweden's Saab and Spain's CASA worked on the EUROPLANE, a 180- to 200-seat aircraft.[9][10] It was abandoned after intruding on A310 specifications.[10] VFW-Fokker, Dornier and Hawker Siddeley worked on a number of 150-seat designs.[9]

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