Review of United flight Lima Houston in Business

Airline United
Flight UA855
Class Business
Seat 2D
Flight time 06:35
Take-off 04 Aug 15, 00:35
Arrival at 04 Aug 15, 07:10
UA   #76 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 444 reviews
giancarlo330
Published on 8th August 2015
Hello everyone!

Glad to be back here after a couple of months to report on my latest trip adventure after a month visiting friends and family in Lima. After such good time of fine dining and plenty of pisco sours it was time to leave the Andean nation back to Europe and having booked a very long trip back home I was eager to try again United Business First and Alitalia Magnifica after its merge with Etihad on the so called new protocol of service in Business Class.

On the afternoon before travel I did checked the flight was on time, always good to know I won't loose any of my sectors as I normally book separate tickets in order to have better fares.

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I arrived at Jorge Chavez airport 3 hours before departure, it was almost empty as the Newark flight had already departed and seemed weird as Houston flight was almost overbooked…but fine for me! It took not even 5 minutes and I had the boarding pass for Lima Houston and then Houston Toronto with AirCanada on a CRJ…First time I flew I AC and I was not impressed at all…service was mediocre and very informal. Catering was OK for Business Class but nothing to write about.

Anyway , after checking in I proceeded to the security control which was amazingly efficient and immigration control..all quick and friendly. The famous duty free hall with the world map on the ceiling makes remember how much this airport has changed with time and it is expected to grow in size next year with the construction of Terminal 2 and the second runway for an airport that handles about 17m passengers per year…very efficient and with a good radar control all over the country provides Lima a good transit infrastructure for a single runway aerodrome handling so many passengers and being a big hub of LATAM and Avianca.

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Busy evening…
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SUMAQ lounge was assigned on my BP and for my surprise again it had empty seats…maybe the peak time had been moved earlier? Seemed very strange as normally the lounge at that time of the night was completely packed and they will send you to the VIP Club lounge next door.

My choice as always Pisco Sour (peruvian national cocktail) and some sandwiches to kill time…

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Time passed by quickly with 2 more pisco sours :D and after we were called to board UA855 by Gate 18. Flight to Houston is served daily on the evening on a 763 with two classes. There is now a seasonal daytime flight on a 757 departing at 730am. Flights to Newark are served daily on a 757 too.

United Business First seat

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I was welcomed by two very friendly and professional flight attendants…actually I will specially comment on them on my conclusion part -this report is dedicated to you guys Amy and Cathleen :) -

Menu was handed out, as you can see Lima is a Business First product but for some strange reason it is not a full BF cateringwise product route. Lacks big salads and ice cream sundaes or cheese cart.

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I ordered a White wine which was decent and with the right temperature… together with some warm nuts…

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Main meal was served on a single tray, the new catering company that serves United out of Lima is GateGourmet. It was very fresh and delicious. One of the best chicken entrees I have ever had on any airline. It was a very peruvian dish, a bit informal but peruvian food is about rich flavors and a lot of love on all its ingredients. Portions were adequate. The catering on this sector was much better than the Houston-Lima flight without any doubt.

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Dessert was offered and the wine glasses were never empty (Thanks Cathleen!)
Rich caramel cheesecake, once again it was outstanding…I almost ate two of them but I was already counting the calories on the other sectors to come during the day!

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After the meal, and with the very complete amenity kit I went to the bathroom to clean up myself and put on the pj's kindly provided by BA's First Class last month and got into a very interesting chat with Amy and Cathleen on the galley. I got about 2 hours of sleep and we landed in Houston as scheduled.

A shot before arrival…

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Houston was a breeze on arrival and in no time I was already at the United Club on Concourse E ready for a hot and reviving shower!


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Verdict

United

8.0/10
Cabin7.0
Cabin crew10.0
Entertainment/wifi7.5
Meal/catering7.5

Independent Sumaq VIP Lounge

6.5/10
Comfort7.0
Meal/catering7.0
Entertainment/wifi5.0
Services7.0

Lima - LIM

8.4/10
Efficiency9.0
Access6.5
Services9.0
Cleanliness9.0

Houston - IAH

6.0/10
Efficiency9.0
Access5.0
Services5.0
Cleanliness5.0

Conclusion

I have to confess that I have never been keen to fly United. I am aware that after the merge with Continental many frequent flyer were not happy with United for their unmeasured cost cutting policies. However, this flight was outstanding. The crew composed of this two very experienced ladies having worked for almost two decades at United made me feel that behind numbers,cost cuttings and other issues that the airline is having lately there are professionals like Amy and Cathleen that keep alive the famous slogan ''Come and Fly the Friendly Skies'' and I felt literally home and in excellent hands. This report is dedicated to them and all the people that work hard to provide a good service with the resources they have in a company like United and for giving the best of them when we all know that there is no ''set standard'' of service or supervision within the American companies unlike European/Asian or Middle eastern carriers.

Bravo for United and this two ladies that gave full permission to post their names and the picture showed on my report.

As always feedback is welcome and hope you all liked this little part of an amazing trip that took me back to Europe in about 30 hours in total :)

Safe travels!

Giancarlo.

Related

7 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 143511 by
    SebastianRDCD 23 Comments
    Lovely Flight Report. Very complete indeed. Lima seems to be very busy at those hours. Will the seasonal UA flight form HOuston to Lima would operate again next year? Best Regards
    • Comment 322660 by
      giancarlo330 AUTHOR 60 Comments
      Hey Sebastian! Well seems LIM is busy all day long! The season flight will operate the Northern Summer season and I haven't received any information yet that the flight will be operating next year. Seems likely as LIM is increasing capacity with time... Let's see... Thanks for the feedback as always. GC
  • Comment 143530 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6668 Comments
    Thanks for sharing! It's nice to see a positive report on UA. A great crew can make all the difference!
  • Comment 143547 by
    Caribel 113 Comments
    Very thoughtful to dedicate the report to the committed crew. You may want to re-word the summary section. You dedicated the report to personnel that work hardly, meaning lazy.

    The snack nature of the meal service is customary in nighttime flights. The airline saves in catering costs and carrying less weight. Seems the service atmosphere matched your protein choice, pollada festive.

    Gracias por compartir esta experiencia de vuelo.
    • Comment 322663 by
      giancarlo330 AUTHOR 60 Comments
      Thanks for the feedback, I did correct the summary section but now that you mention there are many UA crew that are indeed lazy! Hahahaha but it was not this case for sure, these two ladies were amazing! Thanks for your feedback... GC
  • Comment 143608 by
    KL651 TEAM 4534 Comments
    Thanks for this FR.

    Glad to see a positive experience on UA, I've laways had pleasant crews on this airline and I agree they made the difference givent their soft product (meals) is inferior to European airlines.

    The catering seems appetizing but not really premium. Then again this was a night flight.

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