United To Bangkok From U.s.a.

[ericthai]

I stay away from UA. So many options, I usually take Delta/ Korean which is not bad. Hate LAX, Im coming from Tampa so it's not bad with Delta ATL to Korea and then into BKK. If you want cheap check out EVA, economy deluxe is not bad, each seat has their on video screen. However I really think the extra money is worth the business class is worth it, plus you get the extra millage so it pays off in the long run.

[loganberry]

I doubt my answer differs much from everyone else here, but hopefully it will give you some consensus. I have flown on United Airlines numerous times from (1) LAX to BKK via Narita, and (2) LAX to BKK via San Francisco and Narita and they offer the individual TVs only in Business Class and up. I have had the same question as you before and I walked down through the economy section and only saw the shared TV screens per couple rows of seating.

As for Northwest Airlines, I have done the LAX to BKK route via Narita also and I also checked on the TVs but did not find them on any of the legs in economy. So sorry to say that I don't believe you will get those kinds of amenities with upgrading.

However, if I were to chose between the two.. I would actually chose Northwest Airlines for their economy seating and United Airlines for their business - first seating (they have one of the best lounges at Narita with showers, etc. to unwind whereas Northwest has just the regular internet and open bar area, I believe). I recently did an economy round trip from BKK to LAX via Narita and found that it was not all that bad. Given I was pretty doped up on sleeping meds and muscle relaxers, but it was not as unbearable as many would expect.

Edited June 7, 2009 by consultingasia

[SKORPiO]

Today I have booked a flight from Chicago to Bangkok and UA does use 747s and i wonder how bored I will be I hope that they will have a separate screens

Edited June 8, 2009 by SKORPiO

[Spee]

Today I have booked a flight from Chicago to Bangkok and UA does use 747s and i wonder how bored I will be I hope that they will have a separate screens

IMHO, you should plan to get as much sleep as possible on the ORD-NRT leg. You will be much happier, avoiding many effects of jet lag and be ready to sleep when you get to BKK. IIRC, the NRT-BKK leg gets into Suv late in the evening. If you sleep ORD-NRT and then stay awake NRT-BKK, by the time you settled in your BKK hotel, you should be ready for some shut-eye on schedule with local time. If you don't sleep going to NRT, you may fall asleep from sheer fatigue going to BKK. If that happens, you might find yourself staring at the ceiling at 3am, unable to fall asleep, and then whacked out from jet lag for the next couple of days.

[bonobo]

Today I have booked a flight from Chicago to Bangkok and UA does use 747s and i wonder how bored I will be I hope that they will have a separate screens

IMHO, you should plan to get as much sleep as possible on the ORD-NRT leg. You will be much happier, avoiding many effects of jet lag and be ready to sleep when you get to BKK. IIRC, the NRT-BKK leg gets into Suv late in the evening. If you sleep ORD-NRT and then stay awake NRT-BKK, by the time you settled in your BKK hotel, you should be ready for some shut-eye on schedule with local time. If you don't sleep going to NRT, you may fall asleep from sheer fatigue going to BKK. If that happens, you might find yourself staring at the ceiling at 3am, unable to fall asleep, and then whacked out from jet lag for the next couple of days.

Good advice.

I usually stay awake the night before in the US so I can sleep on the SFO or LAX-NRT route for exactly the reasons you list in your post.

[blue eyes]

The best price quotes I'm getting for travel to Bangkok from the U.S. are on airlines like United and Northwest. I didn't enjoy Northwest to Bangkok as the entertainment options were more like you'd see in the 1980s, i.e. no AVOD or even video display at each seat, just a movie screen at the front of the compartment. Horrible, in this day and age, I think. But how about United, do they have AVOD (personal video in the seatback in front of you where you can watch your own channels, movies and shows on demand and a pause/play button) on their Boeing 777 to Tokyo and from there 747 to Bangkok? Anyone know? Talking about economy class.

How's the service on United in general?

I just checked and it looks like Northwest has brought back the A330 on the NRT-BKK route. The last time I flew on their A330, there was a AVOD system so I presume that it is the same as now.

Is not the Air bus A330 the one with the problems with the speed sensers?Wich could be the cause of the crash off of Brazil just the other day.I myself enjoy flying with Korean Air from the US to BKK.I have never had a bad flight and that includes with the kids.The price is always competitive with other airlines.The food is good,as long as you get the Korean meal.The other meal sucks.They have a good selection of movies in the seat back and they do seem to care about you when you ask for something.The one thing that I have noticed is the people that like to drink alot of alcohol will have a problem.They do not like to let you get drunk.That is a good thing though.

[Taggart]

Memo: Don't ever get a professional singer upset with your airline.

It was only posted just three days ago and already it's received over one million hits on youtube.

[samui04]

One thing tho, since I fly every year, is United has a very good ff program (frequent flyer) miles do not expire, you just have to make sure you add miles once a year. I have a United mileage plus visa card and use that whenever I am in the US and that combined with the very long flights has really given me quite a few free flights (well plus tax). They also reward people who rack up the miles with them pretty well too (I am a premier member now and get economy plus seats at no extra cost and get bumped up to business quite regularly)and booking award travel with the United Bangkok office has always been painfree.

SBK, actually United miles never expires if you know the right trick.

Donate 1000 miles to Red Cross....it counts as a new flight...

[denissr]

The best price quotes I'm getting for travel to Bangkok from the U.S. are on airlines like United and Northwest. I didn't enjoy Northwest to Bangkok as the entertainment options were more like you'd see in the 1980s, i.e. no AVOD or even video display at each seat, just a movie screen at the front of the compartment. Horrible, in this day and age, I think. But how about United, do they have AVOD (personal video in the seatback in front of you where you can watch your own channels, movies and shows on demand and a pause/play button) on their Boeing 777 to Tokyo and from there 747 to Bangkok? Anyone know? Talking about economy class.

How's the service on United in general?

Don't know about to Bangkok, but in the States I have had trouble with United. Saw they were last in customer satisfaction. I was checking prices and saw Korean Air had low prices from states to bkk.

[britmaveric]

UAL is great - least when they have the Asian flight attendents.

[jetjock]

UAL is great - least when they have the Asian flight attendents.

Are you inferring that you prefer those young beautiful wispy UAL Asian F/A's over UAL's many older than the hills american bred F/A's that are usually overweight and built like a tractor. Just remember that UAL has probably the oldest F/A's in the business with many being in their sixties and seventies and with that comes many years of experience in dealing with the inconvenience of having to serve passengers. I find it hard to believe that it does not give you great confidence in their abilities when you see these old F/A's waddling through the aisles.

As a sidenote to all who posted about having an airplane preference, just remember that the 747 is probably considered the safest commercial aircraft ever built so slight differences in entertainment systems between airplanes may not be as important as you think in the bigger picture. Just visualize being overwater and losing an engine in a 747 (which can still fly OK on two engines if light enough) compared to the case of a 777 which if you lose an engine and then lose a second engine will then quickly transform you into a glider. Just remember that the airlines are primarily looking out for themselves and not you which is the reason they now choose to operate 2 engine aircraft which have significant cost savings.