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Reader Report: Final ride on a Delta 747

June 7, 2017

A Delta 747-400 preparing to take off from Seoul (Photo: Jeff)

Last month I was glad to have the opportunity to fly on The Queen of the Skies before her wings are clipped by the U.S. carriers later this year. I flew upstairs in business class on Delta 158 from Seoul Incheon (ICN) to Detroit (DTW). Upstairs in Delta One on the 747 is only way to fly!! My initial seat assignment was 11A downstairs, but through close monitoring of seats on the Delta app, I snagged a ride upstairs instead in seat 74K.

To me, Seoul Incheon is one of the best airports in the world if not the best. On this trip, I stayed at the Grand Hyatt Incheon adjacent to the airport. I’ve also stayed at the nearby Best Western Premier, and both have easy access to the airport, which makes either a must when staying over the evening before your flight. Both offer regular shuttles for the 10-minute ride to the airport.

TravelSkills reader Jeff submitted this Reader Report- He bought a fully refundable $4,800 economy class roundtrip for his ATL-SEA-ICN-DTW-ATL trip and used global certificates to upgrade. Here he reports on the leg from Seoul to Detroit. Since Jeff took this trip, Delta has launched new nonstops between Seoul and Atlanta using a Boeing 777.

Seoul Incheon is one of the world’s best airports (Photo: Jeff)

Finding your carrier is a little tricky with the poor signage in ICN’s main terminal but just ask and you will be directed promptly. I checked in at the SkyPriority line and was immediately attended to, then headed to security. I’m in the Korean Smart Entry Service (SES) program (like Global Entry). It used to be good but now is overcrowded as they have not increased the machines available for processing. Saying that, if you travel to Korea often it may be worth it especially if you arrive in ICN when all of the flights from China arrive also and immigration lines can be swamped.

Security screening can be a bit of a mosh pit, but not always. Warning- wear cool clothing. The concept of air conditioning is different than in U.S. You will sweat everywhere at the airport, especially in the security line. Rarely do they weigh the bags now but if it looks overstuffed they have people just before you enter security kinda watching out.

I cleared security in about 15 minutes. I carry all kinds of things cables, small tools, meters but the thing that freaks them out are my keys every time. Go figure.

I had a pass to the Korean Air Prestige lounge, and there are two to choose from at ICN. I think the lounge in the main terminal is the best one (less crowded, more comfortable, but still a little warm by my standards), but I went to the one in the international terminal because I was a little short on time. There is a train from the main concourse to the international carriers concourse (gates 100+).

I loved the walk to the departure gate, looking out at the elegance of aviation through huge windows.

Looking out the window at the elegance of aviation (Photo: Jeff)

Boarding at ICN’s international terminal (Photo: Jeff)

Stairway to heaven aboard Delta 747-400 (Photo: Jeff)

Inside the business class bubble in the upper deck of a Delta 747 (Photo: Jeff)

Row 74 on the upper deck (Photo: Jeff)

Seat map of Delta’s 747-400 (Image: SeatGuru)

I boarded the plane and climbed the stairway to the upper deck. I found the overhead bins a little small so if you have an overstuffed bag they won’t fit but there is ample closet space at the back.

On this flight is seemed like it took the flight attendants forever to start the preflight refreshments. Had to actually go back to the galley for a second glass of champagne.

Champagne and warm nuts after take off (Photo: Jeff)

Pushback was right on time.

As we departed, I peeked out my right side window and watched the engines as the captain scrolled the turbo fans up. Four engines given full thrust, release brakes, and rumble down the 10,000-foot runway. 60 seconds later we are in the sky looking forward to 12 more hours.

The captain immediately makes a hard right turn (due east) which isn’t typical but I’m sure it’s to navigate well south out the DMZ.

The view was wonderful. Incheon (the city) then Seoul, past the mountainous country side and then to the beach lined coast.

Flying over South Korea, then a hard left north (Photo: Jeff)

Looking down at Seoul ICN shortly after take off (Photo: Jeff)

Flying over Korea’s mountains and beaches enroute to Detroit (Photo: Jeff)

I love the upper deck with the view and solitude. It harkens me back to travel when I was a kid (not that we ever flew in first but we did fly). It never feels crowded up here. Even in business class on other planes I always feel cramped and jostled. Not so when riding in the bubble! Travel seems elegant again. Pardon, but the 4th glass of champagne has made me nostalgic. They actually just gave me the bottle to save time and to stop me from ringing the call button I think.

The meal came about 20 minutes later. I selected the beef as I have been in Korea for 14 days and was desirous of the bovine. The asparagus soup was very good and hot. The salad which was quite tasty with a good mix of leafy greens, pistachio nuts and citrus. I added the vinaigrette dressing which I really enjoy on Delta. The smoked duck was pleasant but the vegetable wrap had a sweet taste to it which threw me off. Not bad but not how I wanted to end the appetizers course.

Mixed salad, smoked duck to start (Photo: Jeff)

Main course beef (Photo: Jeff)

Delicious!

Meal arrived. I’m not sure if it was me or what but I could not eat it at all. Took one bite and stopped. It may have been my pallet with the Korean food all week but everything on the plate tasted odd.

Had another glass of champagne just in case. Odd thing was the FA’s didn’t even ask me why I ate so little. Well no sense in worrying as the desert cart was rolling out. The selections were vanilla ice cream, chocolate cake and fruit/cheese. I had the chocolate cake and fruit/cheese. I always find the ice cream rock hard. These tasted absolutely fine! No offer of wine or port…so I rang the call button and got a nice 10-year-old Port.

Dessert, cheese platter, Champagne! (Photo: Jeff)

Sleep eludes me even on long flights. Half way through the flight flight attendants served a grilled chicken sandwich with Gouda cheese, grilled onions and mushrooms on rye. Quite good. We departed The Land of Morning Calm and flew over The Land of the Rising Sun. The Queen continued to reach her full stride in full trim. Sadly, my hopes of seeing Mount Fuji were not realized on the route. I settled back to the thrum of the Pratt & Whitney power plants moving us through the stratosphere. Soon after crossing Japan we were in a 100 mph tailwind jetting the USA on the greatest aircraft ever produced.

On our way to Detroit, I looked down at Alaska, The Yukon Territory, Alberta, Manitoba with our entry in the the lower 48 at Minnesota. Breakfast is Served! Quiche with chicken sausage. As a note, if God had intended chickens to be used for sausage He would not have created the pig. But the sausage was good.

About 12 hours between ICN and DTW (Photo: Jeff)

Jeff enjoying one more glass of Champagne upstairs in the business class bubble! Will it be the last? (Photo: Jeff)

We arrived on a cloudy day in Motor City. Landing was perfect. Touch down almost undetectable on this graceful bird. We made our long slow taxi to gate 36. The two dings, and I rose from my seat, bags in hand, then walked out and looked back at one of the most beautiful sights in aviation: the elegant curves of a Boeing 747. I’ll miss that!

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Reader Report: SAS new business class to Copenhagen

May 23, 2017

The 1-2-1 configuration provides ample room for each passenger. There are two cabins assigned to business class, with the first having eight rows and the second having two rows (Photo: RW)

This is a TravelSkills Reader Report submitted by RW.

Back in 2014, you wrote a trip report on the then-new SAS nonstop from SFO to Copenhagen (CPH).

My husband and I recently (April-May 2017) flew SFO-CPH and CPH-SFO nonstop on SAS in the new upgraded business classes seats on its Airbus 340-300 planes, so I thought you might want to know about the new service. Feel free to use any of this (or none of this) information on your blog. [Thanks, RW! We are using all of it 🙂 Great report!]

SAS business class passengers have access to the United Club lounge in the SFO international terminal, which is a nice respite from the terminal, but certainly is not in the same league as the SAS Star Alliance Gold lounges in Scandinavia (more about those lounges later).

The seat is adjustable to a completely 180-degree lie-flat bed. The side storage unit contains a reading light, a water bottle (stored behind the reading light panel), a hook for the provided headphones, and a small shelf for personal items. (Photo: RW)

The reconfigured A340-300s that SAS uses on SFO-CPH flights have 40 business-class seats with 180-degree recline, 28 “SAS Plus” seats with a 7-inch recline, and 179 standard economy seats with a 6-inch recline. [See SAS A340 on Seatguru]

SAS has a “business saver” fare for half of its full fare, but the tickets are nonrefundable. That said, for the leisure traveler or the business traveler with fixed plans, a roundtrip SFO-CPH business-class fare of $3,200 is quite reasonable, particularly when compared to nonstop flights to “major demand” cities such as London, Paris, or Frankfurt.

An SAS Airbus A340 with new business class seats (Image: SeatPlans.com

SAS has installed new business-class seats in at 1-2-1 configuration in two cabins. The forward cabin has eight rows and feels spacious and accommodating. The second business-class cabin has only two rows, so it has a sense Danish sense of hygge that you mentioned in your SAS review. [Hygge, pronounced hoo-gah, is roughly translated into English as “cozy.”] However, the second cabin was directly behind the galley, snack bar, and toilets, making is a very busy and noisy area.

The entertainment screen is large and can be controlled via touch or a wired remote tucked into the space in the side storage unit (Photo: RW)

The front of the plane appears to be the rest area and toilet for the crew, compounding the “busy-ness” at the galley/toilet area mid-plane and reducing the number of toilets for business-class passengers to only two.

The new business-class seats have ample room, large video screens, and a “side table” for storage of small items. There is still no in-seat storage space for hand luggage, but with the large cabin and new large overhead bins, there is plenty of room for luggage and the provided duvet, blanket, and pillows. The seat is quite comfortable with a large foot well. It favorably compares to many other airlines’ first or upgraded business class configurations.

In-flight entertainment provided some of the latest Hollywood films, as well as several “old favorites.” The television show offerings were nearly all American shows from the 2000s and early 2010s, e.g., Friends, Mike and Molly, and Two Broke Girls. I would have liked to have seen some Scandinavian entertainment offerings.

The amenity kit was quite basic, but contained the essentials of eye mask, socks, toothpaste and brush, ear plugs, lip balm, and moisturizer. The bag was small, but reusable for small items such as ear buds, a few electronics cords, etc.

Cocktails featured Danish vodka (Mikkeller), Norwegian gin (Harahorn), and Swedish whiskey (Mackmyra).

There is a special cocktail offered each season. The cocktail on the CPH-SFO segment was “A Taste of Norwegian Summer,” a combination of gin, rhubarb, tonic, and strawberry garnish (Photo: RW)

Wine offerings including Charles Heidsieck champagne from France, a verdicchio wine wine from Italy, a French sauvignon blanc, and, in the red category, there were a pinot noir and a corbières from France. A nice addition to the drinks menu was the nonalcoholic Gravenstein apple must from Norway, a rich, full-bodied, unfiltered apple juice.

The starter course for the dinner offering on the SFO-CPH leg included a mixed salad, plus a choice of either beet-cured salmon with cucumber and horseradish-chive crème or prosciutto with feta cheese, beets, and melon.

For my starter, I chose prosciutto with feta cheese, beets, and melon, along with ample choices from the frequently passed bread basket (Photo: RW)

Main course offerings included seared red snapper, grilled chicken breast, braised beef ribs, or vegetable ravioli.

The braised beef short ribs with Lyonnaise potatoes and roasted carrots was not particularly inspiring or tasty (Photo: RW)

Following a cheese course, passengers were offered dessert choices including a Bakewell tart with raspberry mascarpone, ice cream, or fruit.

On the return CPH-SFO flight, the starter course included a mixed salad, plus a choice of either salmon with picked root vegetables and mustard sauce or slices of dried pork, moose-and-juniper sausage, with a garnish of pickled onions and lingonberries (although the latter actually included only one pickled onion and one lingonberry).

My starter was slices of “dried pork” (prosciutto), moose-and-juniper sausage, and a picked onion and lingonberry. The dish was delicious (Photo; RW)

Arrival in Copenhagen was, as you described in your 2014 article, easy and efficient, with an efficient immigration/customs process, and a quick train trip to central Copenhagen. The only quirk in the arrivals area is finding where to pick up a Copenhagen Card, which provides transportation, admission to multiple museums and attractions, and discounts at restaurants and entertainment. Just look for the Tourist Information desk, and they have the Copenhagen Cards (either for pickup for those who purchased online ahead of their flight) or for purchase.

Fly through SAS’ new business class in this video

We took several internal Scandinavian flights during our trip, with all planes being configured in an “all economy seating” pattern. Even so, service was efficient and friendly.

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The SAS business-class lounge, available to Star Alliance gold members, has a wide array of food and beverage offerings, plenty of workspaces and chairs, all with easy access to an electrical outlet (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

We visited the SAS Star Alliance Gold lounge when we left Copenhagen to fly to Helsinki, as well as during our layover from Oslo before our CPH-SFO trip. The lounge is modern, the staff is friendly and professional, and the food offerings far exceed those of first-class lounges for U.S.-based airlines. Upstairs from the regular SAS lounge, the business-class lounge had multiple rooms for eating, resting, working, and a special play room for those traveling with children.

We also had the chance to visit the SAS lounge in Oslo, which was smaller than the one in Copenhagen, but still offering a wide array of food and beverage choices, along with work stations and comfortable seating options.

The SAS lounge in Oslo had a nice array of food and beverage options (Photo: RW)

Note that there is a new security procedure for passengers flying from Copenhagen to the United States. As noted on the SAS website, “United States authorities have tightened the security rules for entering US territory. As a result, an additional security check will be conducted at the gate when passengers board flights from Copenhagen Airport bound for US destinations. In particular, passengers must ensure that their smart phones, tablets, computers, digital cameras and other electronic devices are charged.” We found this process to be efficient, but be sure to allow time at the departure gate for this additional security procedure.

In conclusion, the business class experience on SAS was excellent. The staff on all our SAS flights were cheerful, courteous, friendly, and professional. In fact, given the savings we achieved by buying the “Business Saver” fare, we’re tempted to use CPH as our hub for future European travel.

Rich and Brad enjoy an outdoor lunch in Copenhagen at one of the restaurants along the Nyhavn waterfront, which was a 17th-century wharf that has been redeveloped into a trendy entertainment district, focusing mainly on restaurants and cafés. We had herring prepared in multiple ways in Heering, one of the outdoor cafés. While there were heaters, as well as blankets to cover our legs, we still kept our coats on all during their al fresco lunch – it was April and still chilly in Copenhagen (Photo: RW)

Have you flown on SAS in business class with the new seat yet? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

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Reader Report: United Polaris (new seat) to Hong Kong

May 10, 2017

A window seat in United’s new Polaris business class- but where do you store all that stuff? (Image: United)

Earlier this year I received a query from a colleague who travels to Europe and Asia in business class around twice a year. She had a trip to Hong Kong coming up and was wondering if she should try out the new United Polaris flight (with the new seats). Since the service was brand new, she was concerned that it might not be up to par and had some concerns about flying in a brand new plane over all that water. She was weighing her options for SFO-HKG nonstops that include United, Cathay Pacific and Singapore Air. “Which one do you suggest?” she asked

My reply: “I would have to say go United this time. Based on what I saw at SFO plane is really nice. Avoid the aisles and get a good window seat (per instructions in this post) and I think you’ll be happy. Plus you’ll be one of the first folks to try it, so will have lots of cocktail party material when you get back. As for safety concerns, the plane is brand new, but it’s a B777– a real workhorse and has been around long enough for any kinks to be worked out.”

She took the flight last month, for which her company paid the $5,500 roundtrip fare. Here’s her report with some notes from me…

Well Chris, I don’t think people are going to be too happy with this new plane. Several passengers, on both legs of my journey, were complaining at the end that the seats “weren’t comfortable”– that they are too hard and they really miss the storage space provided in the previous iteration. That was my main complaint too, there’s nowhere to put anything. That small compartment isn’t cutting it, especially with the two blankets and two pillows piled on your seat at boarding. Where are you supposed to put those things if you aren’t using them? I also noticed that window seats no longer have those nice spacious bins under the windows like they did on the 747s. [Note: United recently reduced the number of items left on the seat at boarding. Passengers should now request extra pillows or blankets.]

On the positive side, the blankets were both very nice and felt expensive. They were warm and comforting as was the pillow. The chocolate before and after the flight is a nice touch.

A window seat in United’s new Polaris cabin on B777-300ER- note the long bar (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

These are the window seat storage bins on United 747s – enjoy them while you can! 747s fly away in October (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

When it came to the seat, I found the long armrest bar along the window to be strange and I banged my arm against it while sleeping more than one time. It’s the bar they have going across where you can control your seat. It’s strange as it sort of floats at the end of the window.

Click here for images of “old” United BusinessFirst seats

Also the configuration of the seat didn’t allow me to put both arms on the rest at the same time. I felt like I had to lean to the left to the armrest closest to where my drink was, but because it’s sort of angled my arm wasn’t on the other arm rest.

I don’t know, I wasn’t in love with it and the seats felt hard and I couldn’t find the right configuration while just watching a movie to be comfortable. I miss the ottoman that joined with the area where your feet go (on the old planes).

Seating controls include a simple dial for adjusting recline as well as buttons for more specific movements, lumbar support, lighting, and do not disturb light (Scott Hintz)

Am not sure how to describe it all but I felt like the seat wasn’t great and many other people said the same thing. They couldn’t figure out how to control it, as to me the only controls that made sense were the rolling button and the leg lift. When pressing the other buttons I had no idea what they did and if they were doing something but I didn’t feel anything happening.

As for service, on our way out this NEW plane didn’t have wi-fi. People were PISSED in business class. (But they did compensate us with miles in the end– and they offered it to everyone on the whole plane, not just business class. I received 8,750 miles.)

The United Lounge at SFO is under construction and the part that is still open is very crowded and seems like a mess.

Inflight service on the first SFO to HKG leg was terrible. Flight attendants made no personal greeting once we got on the plane (like before) and none of them offered us the PJs or extra cool pillow option (which I read about on TravelSkills). Guess you have to read a blog or your brochure in order to know about it– and ask specifically for it.

Wine flights offered on departures after noon (Scott Hintz)

I tried a wine flight on the way out just because I saw it on your post, but again, the FA didn’t offer or suggest it— they were just pouring wine in individual glasses like before. I saw the three glass wine flights on the bottom of the drink cart and asked for one as did the person behind me. But if I had not asked, neither of us would have been given the option. Plus, the flight attendant knew nothing about the wines we were trying, and could not pronounce what they were. When I asked for a suggestion to replace the Chardonnay (which they were out of), she had no clue what to offer, saying “I know it’s white, but…” So I’m not exactly sure what I was drinking.

MORE: Images of a brand new United 777-300ER with new Polaris seats

I’m not sure the new plane itself is great, either. Every time flight attendants made an announcement a loud ringing happened or you could hear other flight attendants chattering in the background. It just seemed weird and some of the older, seasoned travelers were NOT happy about the new plane. People did like being in their own seat with aisle access, but I heard grumblings of “I wish they didn’t change the seats” and “where is all the storage!” Oh, and the FAs kept telling us the aisles were narrower and that it was difficult for them to reach into our pods to get to the tray tables…so they seemed to be a bit uncomfortable too.

This is what she was expecting, but … (Image: Matthew Klint)

As for food, it was fine– I had the beef shortrib and it was good as always. But get this- on this flight we did not get the standard ice cream sundae bar. Instead they plopped down a Haagen-Dazs cardboard container and said go for it! I asked about the sundae bar and the flight attendant said, “We don’t have that anymore, they took it away last month.” And I was like, “Huh? It’s right there on your menu.” [Note: United is having some teething issues with the new bowls which are cracking and breaking so the lack of ice cream sundaes is likely temporary.)

So I think I will go Cathay next time to check it out!

Have you flown United Polaris with the new seat yet? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Would you like to submit a Reader Report to TravelSkills? We’d love to hear from you, and so would readers! They are some of our most popular posts! Here are guidelines to submitting a report.

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