Vintage Review: United Airlines 757-200 First Class New York JFK To Los Angeles

This week we are taking a walk down memory lane with a vintage first class trip report. I’m sharing photos and brief commentary from a trip I took in the final days of 2010 and first days of 2011 that included many first class flights from five Star Alliance carriers. As we enter a new decade, the goal of this trip report is to examine how airlines have changed over the last one. Although this trip report has never been published, I will not be publishing a detailed, word-heavy review as I do for current trip reports. Instead, commentary will be limited and the focus will be on photos. For the final post, I will summarize, as generally as I can, how premium products have changed over the last decade.

• Read The Entire Series:
  • United Airlines 757-200 First Class Los Angeles to Chicago
  • Lufthansa A340-300 First Class Chicago To Munich
  • Turkish Airlines 737-700 Business Class Munich To Istanbul
  • Turkish Airlines 777-300 First Class Istanbul to Bangkok
  • Fifth Freedom Flashback: Bangkok To Ho Chi Minh City On Qatar Airways + Lufthansa
  • Thai Airways 747-400 First Class Bangkok To Beijing
  • Park Hyatt Saigon + Exploring Ho Chi Minh City
  • SWISS A340-300 First Class Shanghai To Zurich
  • Lufthansa A340-300 First Class Frankfurt To New York
  • United Airlines 757-200 First Class New York JFK To Los Angeles

We’ve reached the end of our series. This last report looks back on a route I used to fly often and fondly remember. This particular flight, however, wasn’t all that great.

Flight #9: United 757-200 First Class New York (JFK) To Los Angeles

• Ah, the good old days. JFK, “p.s.” service, and three cabins of service.
• United has sadly abandoned JFK, a move it now considers a mistake.
• We waited for our flight (three hour layover) in the first class lounge, which is now the home of Alaska’s JFK lounge
• The lounge was very quiet and featured a selection of cold food and self-serve alcohol.
• Over the years I enjoyed so many wonderful flights to/from JFK
• This one, however, was not a pleasant flight.
• The menu advertised meal service “on-demand” but the flight attendant was visibly perturbed when I asked to delay meal service.
• I just sort of stared at him and he walked away.
• He later came back and apologized, but I just ate with everyone else.
• The 2–2 seats in first class were so-called “angle lie-flat” and the same seats Singapore Airlines used to offer in its “Raffles” business class.
  • The three seat photos below are stock photos of the United First Class seat
• Meal service included mixed nuts, an appetizer, and salad as a first course
• For my main course, I ordered cheese ravioli: simple, but delicious
• Ice cream sundae to finish the meal
• Meal service over the last decade has really not changed much.
• Then I slept…it had been a long day

As promised, now that the series is done I will do one more post reflecting upon how first class has changed over the last decade.