To top a year in which it has emerged from Chapter 11, the US carrier has also beaten its home-grown rivals in the bed stakes. Sheron Crossman reports If you’re flying business class, there are two things it’s not unreasonable to expect. First, that the champagne is fizzy and second, that the bed is flat. After all, if you’re obliged to travel flat out on business, you need to be flat. Ever since British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and South African Airways allowed premium passengers to slumber horizontally, any airline worthy of its name has been fretting over exactly how best to squeeze a lie-flat bed out of a Business Class seat. As a result, just about everyone - from Aeroflot to Air Jamaica - now offers high-spending passengers lie-flat or flat-bed seats in their premium cabins. And yet, fly transatlantic, just about the world’s busiest stretch of sky, and not a single US carrier offered this facility in Business Class. Until now. On October 29, United Airlines’ passengers flying from Washington to Frankfurt will get to stretch out a full 180 degrees on the new 6ft. 4in seat, making it the first US carrier to feature fully lie-flat beds in Business Class on international flights. And by late 2009, business and first class customers can expect consistent lie-flat seating across United’s entire international fleet of 97 Boeing 767s, 747s and 777s.
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The airline is making no secret about where it’s investing its money. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being ploughed into lavishly upgrading both cabins. In December last year, it announced a $165 million refurbishment of its first class, relaunched as United First Suite, giving passengers a fully flat 6ft. 6in. bed (almost three inches wider than the original), and an enhanced entertainment system. The new First Suites are being introduced this autumn and will then be rolled out across the international fleet. United’s new lie-flat Business seat is 23.5 inches wide with a forward- and rear-facing lay-out, giving customers more space and privacy, created by the height of the in-flight entertainment console and divider screen. The new design also allows better aisle access.
“We’re responding to our customer’s needs,” says John Tague, United’s executive vice president. “Travellers in international United Business will be able to relax more comfortably, work more productively and enjoy their experience more fully due to the flexibility and comfort the new seat provides.” Business Class passengers flying between Washington and Frankfurt and Washington and Zurich will be the first to benefit from the new seats on a Boeing 767. A modified Boeing 747 is scheduled to start flying in mid-December, followed by a Boeing 777 in early February 2008. After this, the roll-out programme will accelerate, with approximately one reconfigured aircraft joining the fleet each week The airline is also featuring a new menu and wine list, and over the coming months, premium cabin restrooms will be given a facelift, there will be fresh cabin interiors, and new amenities. Each new business lie-flat seat will also offer audio and video on demand (AVOD), 150 hours of movies and TV programmes, and a 15.4 in video screen, three times larger than
United’s previous business class monitor. An Apple iPod adaptor allows passengers to play their own music. The entertainment system will be offered in up to 14 languages, including Chinese, no doubt useful for passengers flying on United’s new route to China, announced last month, a non-stop daily service from San Francisco to Guangzhou, beginning in spring next year; United will be the only US carrier to offer this route. In total, the airline will have six daily non-stop flights to China. It flies daily to Beijing from San Francisco, Chicago and Washington, and to Shanghai from Chicago and San Francisco, from where in launched a direct daily service to Taipei in June. This followed a new link between Washington and Narita. Later this year, United plans a non-stop service between Los Angeles and Hong Kong, along with a direct connection to Ho Chi Minh City. Last month, United unveiled a one-a-day route between Los Angeles and Frankfurt, starting on December 15, the carrier’s eighth daily flight to Frankfurt; it now serves the city from all of its international gateways. Elsewhere, the airline boosted its links with the Middle East earlier this year by adding more flights between Washington and Kuwait and signing a codeshare agreement with Qatar Airways, under which it is increasing its service from the current three a week to daily. For the first time, United’s customers have services over Doha to destinations such as Colombo, Sri Lanka; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Peshawar, Pakistan. The past year has heralded an upturn in the airline’s fortunes, February 1 marking the first anniversary of United’s emergence from restructuring in Chapter 11. What you get in the new international business class seat - Forward- and rear-facing seats, allowing a complete 180 degree recline to a 6ft, 4in bed
- Four-way lumbar support and six-way adjustable headrest
- An ottoman for laptop storage
- Ergonomically designed tray table, large enough to use a laptop
- USB port for electronic devices
- Adjustable reading light with dimmer
- Noise-cancelling headphones
- iPod adaptor
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