Review: United Global First Class Chicago to Munich

An Around the World Trip — Oktoberfest and Asia

• Introduction
• United Global First Class Chicago to Munich
• Oktoberfest… and Six Other Highlights of Munich
• Le Meridien Munich
• THAI Royal First Class Munich to Bangkok
• THAI Royal First Lounge and Royal Orchid Spa
• A Layover in Bangkok
• THAI Royal Silk Business Class Bangkok to Shanghai
• Two Days in Shanghai
• Park Hyatt Shanghai
• China Eastern Economy Class Shanghai to Hong Kong (to Shanghai)
• A Weekend in Hong Kong – Ten Highlights
• Hyatt Regency Hong Kong, Tsim Sha Tsui
• Grand Hyatt Shanghai
• Air China First Class Lounge – Shanghai-Pudong
• Air China Forbidden Pavilion First Class Shanghai to Tokyo-Narita
• A Twenty-Two Hour Layover in Tokyo and the Hyatt Regency Tokyo
• ANA Suite Lounge – Tokyo-Narita
• ANA First Class Square Tokyo-Narita to Washington-Dulles

United Airlines (UA) 952
Chicago – O’Hare (ORD) – Munich (MUC)
Aircraft:  Boeing 777-200
Seat:  1A (Global First Class)
Wednesday, October 1
6:05PM – 9:50AM (+1 day)
Duration:  8:45

I don’t want to turn this review into another scathing review on the quality of the catering (or lack thereof) in United Global First, so I’ll instead focus on the highlights… at least to begin.

The seat.

Yes, United Global First has its shortcomings, but if quality of sleep matters to you, this seat delivers. I’m 6’4” and frequently am somewhat constrained in legroom while sleeping in many business class and some first class seats. But this is not a problem in United Global First. There is ample legroom and shoulder space to sleep extremely comfortably. The physical difference between the Global First seat and the Business First seat on this aircraft is so large that I’d always recommend scoring the Global First seat if it’s a choice – despite the lack of difference in service and catering offerings. Though I stayed up longer than I wanted to watching “Million Dollar Arm,” I fell directly to sleep when it was time to do so. I was in such a deep sleep that when the flight attendant woke me for breakfast, I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t know who this strange woman was waking me up. My initial thought was, “Oh, we’re in Dallas already?” only to realize shortly thereafter that trip was three days ago – I’m headed to Europe this time.

Lots of room and storage space

Tons of space in seat 1A

Seat Controls

Remote control

The legacy United B777-200, with a three-class configuration features eight Global First seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. This flight was completely full. I settled into seat 1A and was immediately offered a beverage. Keeping with tradition, I requested a glass of champagne. Several rounds of bubbly were delivered before boarding was finally completed about thirty minutes later.

We then pushed back a bit late and sat on the tarmac for the better part of an hour. The residual delays from the Chicago Control Center sabotage the previous Friday continued to be felt four days later, as the rush hour traffic jam out of O’Hare was fierce. We finally started taxiing to the runway about an hour and fifteen minutes behind schedule.

Once airborne, the meal service commenced after about 45 minutes with warm nuts and a few rounds of drinks.

The warm appetizer of a coconut chicken skewer with eggplant-mango chutney and tabbouleh salad was delivered. It was passable, but nothing memorable.

Appetizer Course

coconut chicken skewer with eggplant-mango chutney and tabbouleh salad

The next course was a surprisingly tasty cup of French onion soup that I enjoyed along with a piece of garlic bread and a pretzel roll.

French Onion Soup

French Onion Soup

The salad course was brought out next, and it was quite nice – very fresh with a creamy dressing that I enjoyed.

I chose the tenderloin of beef for my entrée over a chicken breast, a fillet of Amazon Cod, and a tri-color ravioli. This steak was described as coming with an asiago broth with brown butter gnocchi and green asparagus. This menu offering was not dissimilar from what I’ve received before in Business First, but this time it was not executed nearly as well.

Beef Tenderloin entree

Beef tenderloin with an asiago broth with brown butter gnocchi and green asparagus

I skipped the cheese course and took my fully loaded ice cream sundae for dessert.

Cheese and Desert Cart

Ice Cream Sundae!

Ice Cream Sundae and a movie… not at bad way to fly

While not inedible like my last two flights in United Global First (LAX-SYD; SYD-SFO), the dinner catering on this flight was still not even in the ballpark of being competitive as an International First Class product. The meals in United’s Global First are identical to those in Business First, except a warm appetizer replaces a chilled appetizer, and a soup course is added. Many times, I prefer the chilled appetizer such as a shrimp cocktail over the typical warm appetizer of coconut encrusted something or another.  I’m not trying to be stuck up – -this is clearly much better than anything you’d find in economy.  But compared to other airlines’ first class catering offerings, United’s just doesn’t measure up too favorably.

Service during dinner was adequate. The flight attendants were kind and attentive enough, though not at all spectacular.   I did find my flight attendant, Sandy to be very sweet and she really did take care of anything and everything I asked for, so I can’t ask for more than that.

After dinner, I settled in with a scotch to watch a movie. I went to change into a t-shirt and shorts, and I came back to my seat turned down, and the bed made with a duvet and covers – so this was a nice touch.

The horrific catering on United is again apparent in the liquor selections. When you’re serving Dewar’s White Label as the scotch in international first class, there’s a problem. This may sound a bit stuck up, but seriously – United needs to step up its game here.

I watched “300: Rise of an Empire” and immediately proceeded to start “Million Dollar Arm” with the plan of drifting asleep.

Mistake.

I ended up pretty much loving this movie and stayed up for the entire thing – about two hours later than I’d intended. Once it concluded, I drifted off into the deepest of airborne sleeps.

Once awoken for breakfast, it took me a few minutes to figure life out, and by that time, the breakfast tray was on my table. It consisted of some granola, fresh fruit, a croissant, and some blueberry yogurt. It was definitely a continental-style breakfast, as there was not a hot egg dish. This didn’t bother me, as the egg dishes on United are typically pretty rough.

Early morning Breakfast

Enjoying Breakfast over London

After breakfast, I got some work done (wrote this write-up) before we descended into Munich!

Overall, it was a nice flight. The seat is the absolute highlight, and that alone should be reason for cashing in that GPU from business class – especially if you’re interested in a great night’s sleep. I really enjoy flying from Chicago to Europe, because the two extra hours allow for a much more relaxed flight with more time to get some rest after a leisurely dinner service. Flights from the east coast to Europe are typically way too short for my liking.

How I booked it…

This was part of a 120,000-mile US Airways First Class Award from North America to North Asia with a stopover in Europe.