Review of United flight New York → Los Angeles in Business

Airline United
Flight UA443
Class Business
Seat --
Aircraft Boeing 757-200
Flight time 05:05
Take-off 13 Dec 14, 08:30
Arrival at 13 Dec 14, 10:35
UA   #72 out of 92 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 411 reviews
Bo
By 3198
Published on 30th October 2015
This is a special trip report to commemorate United's end of service at JFK airport. I take the JFK-LAX on United p.s. once a year in December to visit family in Southern California and have very occasionally done it ex-SFO for a connection to Europe on an award ticket. Although this is far from my most frequently traveled route, JFK always holds a special place in my heart as this is where I landed in the US the first time onboard a United flight from NRT when I was a little kid many years ago. I did not know last December that it would have been my last time taking UA out of JFK and therefore didn't take many pictures. Nevertheless a little bit of memory is better than nothing so here is a very short trip report on my morning flight from JFK to LAX. This report also includes some pictures I took when I made a visit to the TWA terminal at JFK during NY open house weekend. That was also the exactly one week before UA ceased operations of JFK so I hopped over to T7 to take some final pictures. Please enjoy

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This sign has been outside T7 for many years though the logo has changed after the merger. T7 is probably the terminal I use the most frequently at JFK since my out of my usual carriers, BA/IB/CX/NH/UA all fly out this terminal (my only other usual carrier LX flies out of T4 and I rarely make it on a LH metal even after years with United). Now UA will be gone it will be truly missed.

(Below) One of the last UAL 757 parked by BA. This is now history

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It was a cold December morning (Christmas tree insight). I got to the airport about 1hr30mins before the flight.

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Departures of the morning. T7 is never really busy except evenings when 4-5 BA/IB flights would leave within an 1.5 hr window. The fast curb to gate (lounge for that matter) time will be truly missed at EWR.

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Relatively empty check in hall

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I made it airside in no time. Here is the entrance to the United Club, formerly the United Red Carpet Club.

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At the entrance to the club there are some wonderful pre-merger UAL posters. Hope they will still be there even after UA leaves. Wonder who would take over that space to build their own lounge? Maybe CX based on the number of flights they have? The BA F lounge is truly not suited for a paying CX F passenger.

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The club is very relaxing and not crowded. This will be missed at EWR as well. Truly.

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One more shot

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Boarding gate 9. Wonder who will now move in?

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Once onboard it's always the UAL usual. CC was not particularly interested and I would say she might have been half asleep still. No PDB.

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Menu and drinks were offered after take off. The meal probably has not changed since the merger as I think I've been getting the same thing year after year - eggs, french toast, or cereal and banana

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The french toast was served to me. I think the flight was elite light with lots of non-revs so I was not even asked a second choice by the FA.

The toast was alright - thought I'd probably say it's more of a fried toast than French toast. Look at that sad looking piece of sausage! It has been disgusting looking for the past several years. If it have to look this way maybe we should not have it all together.

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Tea after breakfast

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A couple views right after we departed JFK

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The rest of the flight was very uneventful. The FAs were very disengaged and nothing was offered prior to landing (I thought cookies and sparking water is standard? Maybe I confused it with AA since I flew JFK-LAX a couple of times with AA last year). Either way we got to LAX on time and it was all fine.


Now this is the fun part on TWA terminal. I don't think I have to say too much about it as we all know it pretty well. I have never used it as a passenger before it was closed down but have always been amazed by the exterior of the building. This year's NY open house weekend was probably the last time to see it as it was since the hotel redevelopment project is already underway. It'd be nice to finally have an on premise hotel at JFK (though I'd think rates are probably 300+ given how expensive hotels are around JFK already and this iconic building) but it's sad to see another landmark go after the Pan Am Worldport.

Enjoy the pictures below:



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Verdict

United

8.0/10
Cabin9.0
Cabin crew7.0
Entertainment/wifi9.0
Meal/catering7.0

United Airlines Red Carpet Club

5.4/10
Comfort4.0
Meal/catering4.0
Entertainment/wifi6.0
Services7.5

New York - JFK

8.1/10
Efficiency10.0
Access7.5
Services7.5
Cleanliness7.5

Los Angeles - LAX

6.6/10
Efficiency10.0
Access5.5
Services5.5
Cleanliness5.5

Conclusion

This was my last UA flight out of JFK.

Almost booked this year's trip on AA out of JFK due to UA's move to EWR but then got a very nice MP promotion from UA so kept this year's trip with them. From my midtown office it's really not that much different in getting to EWR vs. JFK but I admit it certainly does have a physiological impact on me. To many in the city, EWR is so not NY and our airports are JFK and LGA. Not sure if I will keep my LA business with UA beyond this year - will find out in a month and report back!

Lastly, if you want to read a well balanced commentary on UA's exit from JFK, Mattew at upgrd has a very good article worth your 5 minutes of the day.

http://upgrd.com/matthew/united-jfk-employees-say-goodbye-to-home-hello-to-uncertainty.html

Information on the route New York (JFK) → Los Angeles (LAX)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 22 avis concernant 3 compagnies sur la ligne New York (JFK) → Los Angeles (LAX).

Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Delta Air Lines avec 7.4/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 6 heures et 26 minutes.

  More information

3 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 149828 by
    KL651 TEAM 4536 Comments
    Thanks for this FR.

    Wow no more UA at JFK, and long before that no more Pan Am and TWA. Things are becoming a bit boring as far as airline diversity.

    The flying part of the FR is meh... Not PS at all!
    • Comment 328385 by
      Bo AUTHOR 15 Comments
      Right... only expecting it to go down hill further. Plenty of service issues regarding ex-EWR service have been reported. The ex-CO crews just treat it as another domestic flight and it seems to have been getting domestic catering ex-LAX sometimes
  • Comment 399136 by
    MrMax 143 Comments
    All I can do is rhyme:

    The "PS" is BS

    Sorry to see your negative experience with UA. Thanks for the FR
    -Max

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