Part 9: PVG-SFO United FIRST CLASS

Introduction/Preface

Part 1: The DFW Club/Lufthansa Contract Lounge

Part 2: DFW-FRA Lufthansa FIRST CLASS

Part 3: Frankfurt Airport American Admiral's Club / Lufthansa First Class Terminal

Part 4: FRA-ICN Lufthansa FIRST CLASS

Part 5: Seoul-Incheon Airport Asiana Business Class Lounge

Part 6: ICN-CSX Asiana BUSINESS CLASS

Part 7: CSX VIP Lounge & CSX-PVG China Eastern Airlines FIRST CLASS

Part 8: Shanghai Pudong Airport – Shanghai Airlines Business/First Class Lounge

Part 9: PVG-SFO United FIRST CLASS

Part 10: San Francisco Airport United First Class Lounge

Part 11: SFO-DFW United FIRST CLASS

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Part 9: PVG-SFO United FIRST CLASS

I was the last passenger boarded in First Class and had trouble getting my roll-on board luggage into the overhead compartment (being as it was a 747 plane).  I took out my camera, laptop, and rearranged some of my luggage so that it could fit over head.  I was presented a menu and amenity kit (no pajamas or slippers).  Overall, the First Class seat/suite is very nice, similar to the way to other carriers have their international First Class Product (American, British, US, Cathay Pacific, etc).  The TV screen is about 14 inches and puts the one of Lufthansa Old First Class product to shame.  I was offered a pre-departure beverage (still water/no ice) and we departed from PVG on a dreary afternoon with some rain.  My seat of 2A was perfect as I was between the window and the divider/drink area in the front nose section of the plane.  Seats 1A and 1K are the closest seat of the plane and rows 3 & 4 are 4 seats across.  When I checked last night, all the window seats were taken with 8 passengers in the cabin, but when I boarded, there were two additional passengers in the middle two seats of row 3 which I think are either non-revenue, on award tickets, or perhaps were upgraded as I later discovered that business class was very full.

 For some reason, the last few times I left PVG, the rain has been present.  Before the plane took off and the fasten seat belt sign was turned on, I used one of the two bathrooms in the cabin (which each had a lovely "First Class Passengers only please, Thank you" sign taped on the door).  I then asked Rita, one of the flight attendants, if I could have a Band-Aid as my right thumb skin was cracked and the blood was dried.  We left a few minutes ahead of schedule to hopefully compensate for the bad weather we will encounter on our way into SFO (with an expected delay of twenty minutes).  The climb was smooth but we did hit a small patch of turbulence limiting movement in the cabin.  My television screen froze during the first thirty minutes of the plane ride and I had to get the purser to reset it so I could follow along the flight on the airshow.  I had to use the bathroom again (due to me gulping down a lot of liquid at the FM lounge) and another flight attendant (Patty) asked where I was seated.  I replied "2A" and made my way into the bathroom on the right side (since the left side was occupied.)  I guess she thought I might have been confused and came in from the Business section (which other passengers in-fact did) and apologized to me after finished using the facility to which I told her that it was not a problem.  She wanted me to know that she was protecting my territory for me (for which I thanked her).  Dinner selections were taken and I told the purser that I wanted to eat after everyone else since I was not hungry (since I filled up on subpar food in the lounge) but I am not sure she noted down the time I had requested for dinner service to commence for me.

Mixed nuts and drink were offered later and I went with only still water/no ice.  The mixed nuts were refilled by Rita as she came by with a bowl and a ladle to each passenger.  I had to ask her how to pull out the tray table (which marked me immediately as a newbie.)  The US customs and travel forms were distributed by the purser and I happily declined since I have Global Entry and SFO is one of the twenty or so airports approved in the program.  She also came around to see if I wanted to buy any duty free items on board and I declined.  My TV was restarted/fixed so I left it on the airshow while I caught up on my travel report.  I was able to catch up on a good deal of the travel report so that I would not forget any details during the dinner service (which started while we were passing over Japan).  Towards the end of it, there was some turbulence again so the fasten seat belt sign went off right when I needed to visit the bathroom again.  Plus my water spilled out of my glass during the turbulence (good thing my computer was on the tray table).  My dinner service request was to eat about thirty minutes after everyone else and I went with the stir-fried chicken entrée over the Beef tenderloin (heavier meal) since I wanted to sleep a bit during the flight.  The other available options were crab cakes or salmon.  The main cabin lights were dimmed after the dinner service so that passengers wanting to sleep/rest could do so if they wanted so I had my reading light turned on.

I spoke with Patty after the dinner service was over to let her know that I was ready to eat.  She told me that my main course would take about thirty minutes to cook and she would serve my appetizer, salad, and soup first while she got that ready.  The appetizer was served with a piece of bread/butter and it consisted of shrimp with a roasted red pepper jalapeño sauce served with a walnut and bleu cheese soufflé.  The shrimp was very good but the soufflé was a little dry but tasty.  I chose the balsamic vinaigrette over the creamy wasabi dressing for my salad and it was good.  I ate it all (except the croutons and the olive).  The tomato soup was ok, not too hot or cold but served temperate.  My main was amazing.  It puts the one I had on Delta last fall to shame as the sauce was good.  The cashews were crunchy, the mushrooms were chewy and the sauce was sufficient to help "glue" all the ingredients together. 

I very much enjoyed the main course and made sure to tell all the flight attendants about it.  I chose the Häagen-Dazs sundae over the cheese/cracker and fruit tray.  I wanted everything on it but somehow only got butter scotch (minus the hot fudge and whipped cream) when it was served.  I still ate a good portion of the sundae and it was good.  I finished all of the vanilla ice cream and butter scotch but left some of the chocolate ice cream behind.  The meal was serviced with a glass of red wine for the appetizer/main and then decaffeinated coffee for a night cap.   I finished another episode of the Amazing Race 16 during dinner so I am almost a season and two-thirds behind now in the actual time span of the Amazing Race with the current season being number 18: Unfinished Business. 

After dinner was over and taking an Ambien in anticipation of sleeping on the plane, I asked if I it was possible for me to walk around the plane to explore all the cabins. I wanted to walk after dinner and it has also been a very long time for me to be on a Boeing 747 since American does not use them in their fleet currently.  I was disappointed by the upper deck as there was just a bunch of business class seats. I was surprised that the business class was filled to maximum capacity while economy was half full as some passengers had a whole roll of seats to them to stretch out on.  

I was able to chat with some of the other flight attendants along the way mainly in business class as they stopped me from entering into the upper desk.  I appeased them by showing them by 2A seat on my boarding pass.  I spent about an hour getting to know them and vice versa while they were on break and they were very nice.  I was surprised to learn that they have had lawyers and nurses that became flight attendants on United.  After was over, we had about 5 hours left of the flight and I decided to turn my seat into the bed position.  It slid down and connected with the futon to make a 6 feet lie-flat bed that was very comfortable.  I had two pillows and a light blanket.  

With ear plugs, I got about three hours of sleeping in and felt quite refreshed and happy that I got some sleep on the plane.  I took off my sweater and on the air-nozzles for the evening to stay cool/refreshed.  There was some slight turbulence during the evening so I got awaken slightly due to the movement and subsequent fasten your seat belt announcement.  I woke up to use the bathroom and ate a banana to help ward off hunger.

Breakfast was a choice of yogurt or a cheese/spinach frittata, bacon, potatoes, sausage, croissant, both served with a mixed fruit bowl of melons/grape/kiwi slice. I was not that hungry yet so I caught up on my trip report.  I chose the cran-apple juice as my morning beverage and everything smelled very good.  I started off with the croissant with strawberry jam and then on to the main course.  The bacon was very good, frittata/sausage/tomatoes were ok, and the potatoes were pretty decent.  The fruit plate was very good and the meal was capped at the end with a good old cup of coffee served with cream and Equal.  I watched an episode of The Big Bang Theory during the breakfast service and was very entertained as usual.  Rita did the breakfast service and I complimented her after learning that she has been flying since 1964 and that she took care of herself/have great genes to which she was delighted to hear.  She came back to refill my cup of coffee which I gladly accepted while I watched another episode of The Big Bang Theory with about an hour before landing.  The purser made an announcement that we would be landing at about 8:15AM in an hour or so and there would be some turbulence so the fasten seat belt sign would be illuminated earlier than usual so we needed to take the time to stretch our legs or use the facilities sooner than later.  It was a bumpy descending into San Francisco but overall not too bad.  The flight was very nice and the crew were all very professional/friendly whenever I approached them.  I would recommend flying United in First Class long haul on their newer International First Class cabin (not the old one on the Boeing 777.)