Avis du vol entre Amsterdam et Houston en classe Affaires avec United

Vacation through the benelux

With all the craziness at European airports last summer, I shouldn't have been surprised that I was hit with another cancellation.  Originally, my return trip was booked on a simple AMS-IAD direct flight.  That was cancelled before my traveling to Europe and I called to have it changed to AMS-ORD-DCA (as opposed to IAD).  The AMS-ORD route was cancelled the day before I was due to leave Amsterdam and I was rebooked on AMS-IAH-DCA instead.  There was no availability left that weekend for either ORD (on Sunday) or EWR (either weekend days).

For those of you looking for the IAH Polaris Lounge review, that'll be in the next report. 

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

With all of the horror stories coming from Schiphol last summer, I made sure to get to the airport 3 hours in advance of departure.  That turned out to be unnecessary for the specific day I was flying (Saturday), but I wasn't going to risk it after seeing the kilometer-long lines stretching out of the airport.  You can see the temporary coverings they put in place so people would be shielded from the elements while queuing.

Once inside, I would describe the airport as more of a normal busy day, not the chaos I had seen in the news.

Luckily, both the check-in and security for premium cabin passengers were short and efficient.

Along the way, got to see some beautiful KLM birds, a 777-300ER in front and a 787 behind it.  It's quite a beautiful blue livery.

Here's a SQ A350.  Every time I see an SQ plane I wish I was flying to Singapore.

aspire lounge

The Aspire Lounge (No. 41) served as the contract lounge for many of the Star Alliance carriers here.  It can be found a level above the gates, close to Gate 41.  There was a line to get in.  Normally, the lounge accepts Priority Pass, but given how crowded and hectic operations have been at Schipol, I wasn't really surprised they were turning away Priority Pass members.

There was a nice spacious check-in area once you turn the corner.

As you might have guessed, most of the seats were occupied.  The lounge is one long room with a variety of seating.

Walking further down the lounge . . . I didn't take m any pictures given how many people were around.

At the end of the lounge was a separate area that was set aside just for the SQ passengers.  A SQ agent stood in front of the area to enforce that only SQ passengers were using this area.  From a distance, it looks like the amenities were the same, but just a better passenger-to-seat ratio.

The food options were very limited, as were the beverages.  The wine and liquor selection were quite sparse as well.  The coffee machine was okay; I got a latte from it.

The tarmac views from the lounge were quite good.

In addition to the all the KLM planes, the US big three, I also spotted an Etihad 787.

An United 777 was being tugged into place and what looks like an China Airlines plane in the background.  This was too far away/blurry for me to try to identify the plane.

I also got a close-up of an Air Europa 787-9.

After a while of just hanging out in the lounge–there's not much to do in this one–I headed over to the gate.

UA21

I was returning on one of United's many 777-200s.  I still remember back when the Polaris retrofit was incomplete and it was always a risk with these planes whether you'll get a Polaris layout or the old 2-4-2 horror.

SSSS was called at 10:20am CET, 5 minutes before the scheduled boarding.  The gate agent announced, "Please leave your companions behind."  They also asked Global Services and 1Ks to line up, but we just stood for a while in line before we actually were called to go forward at 10:30.

United's 777-200s have 50 J seats between two cabins.  The larger, forward cabin has 32 seats in 8 rows of 1-2-1 with a staggered configuration.  Because of my cancellations and rebooking, there were no window seats left and I was in 1D.

As before, the Polaris seats are fairly private and already had its excellent bedding and an Away amenity kit waiting for you in your seat.

I won't go into too much detail for the seats as I have reviewed them before, but I believe the bulkhead seats have slightly larger footwells. The middle seats have a privacy partition that does the job when you're sitting down.

In contrast to my flight to Zurich, this time, there was a proper printed menu waiting at your seat.  Soon after boarding, the purser, Debbie, stopped by my seat to introduce herself and welcome me onboard.  As boarding was nearing completion, Doug, one of the FAs working my aisle, stopped by to take my order.

Here is the Away kit along with a glass of sparkling wine.

In my experience, the IFE screens are usually fairly crisp and responsive.  I usually find it more convenient to lean forward and use the touch screen rather than rely on the remote.  I didn't take screenshots, but the Wifi pricing for this flight was:

$5 for 1 hour
$9 for 2 hours
$22 for the full flight 

I received my slippers before boarding was complete, which was around 11:15am.  United's slippers are sturdy and reasonably comfortable.  Eventually we pushed at 11:35am, 20 minutes behind schedule.  We took off at 11:58am.

Service began roughly 30 minutes after takeoff.  The tray table can be found underneath the IFE screen and is easy to pull out and unfold.

I began a glass of champagne and a small cup of nuts.  The champagne this flight was Ayala, which I consider to be a small downgrade from the Gosset on the previous flight.

On this flight I opted for the halibut–so that I'm not always reviewing the short rib, but it was a fairly meh course.  In general I've had poor luck with fish on flights, not just United.  The pretzel bread and cauliflower were fairly good though.

I opted for ice cream again, but it wasn't the sundae as before.  I think I prefer the standard sundae.

After meal service I checked out the forward lavatory.  We have the standard Sunday Riley amenities: hand lotion and facial spray.

Because of the timing of the flight, I opted only to have a short nap (to avoid jet lag issues).  If you're looking to sleep, however, be warned that the galley light is quite bothersome for this seat.

After my nap, I got up to stretch my legs a little.  A small snack basket of snacks, mostly chips, was available in the galley if you're feeling peckish.

I asked for a cup of tea, which was promptly served.

Lights came on around 80 minutes before landing. Breakfast service began at that time. I opted for the Wellington burger. Debbie asked me why so many of the frequent fliers always go for this item: it's because it usually reheats pretty well. Definitely not the healthy choice though.

As we began our descent, FAs Denise and Doug came through to thank each passenger by name.  In my experience, United is somewhat inconsistent about this and it's always a nice touch to wrap up your flight.

We landed at 2:28pm CT and was at the gate 4 minutes later–my shortest taxi ever at IAH.  From there it was off to IAH's terrible international transit process and more importantly, to find a quick stop at the Polaris Lounge.