Uzbekistan Airways began flying non-stop (once per week) on its new 787-8 Dreamliner between New York JFK and Tashkent earlier this summer. What is the seat, food and service like onboard in business class? Here’s my spoiler: I flew Uzbekistan Airways so you don’t have to.
I flew on United from San Francisco to Newark, arriving in the morning and having to transfer from Newark to JFK. As usual, I took NJ Transit to Penn Station, then Long Island Railroad to Jamaica station, where I caught an AirTrain to Terminal 4 at JFK.
Even though I arrived more than three hours prior to departure, the check-in area was a zoo. Ben, who arrived an hour earlier, reported that people were lined up before check-in even began.
A gruff agent angrily barked orders to passengers, trying to keep order. Once I identified myself as a business class passenger, he directed me to a special line where I just had to wait a moment to check in. The check-in agent presented me a with a lounge invitation to the Wingtips lounge along with my boarding pass, but that lounge was under construction and I only stayed for a moment.
Ben and I worked at the gate area, lining up at about 2pm to board. Boarding did not actually commence until closer to 2:30p. An army of passengers in wheelchairs lined up to board and were allowed onto the aircraft first.
Uzbekistan Airways 102
New York (JFK) – Tashkent (TAS)
Thursday, August 10, 2017
Depart: 3:00 PM
Arrive: 11:35 AM+1
Duration: 10hr, 35min
Aircraft: 787-8
Seat: 2C (Business Class)
Once onboard we carefully took pictures, trying to be as discreet as possible. We later found out that Uzbekistan Airways has a strict no-photo policy (emphasized on both the safety card and safety video) but we did not encounter any pushback when we told a FA we would be taking photos.
Uzbekistan Airways 787 Business Class Seat
The forward business class cabin is arranged in a 2-2-2 configuration with three rows of seats. Behind Door 2 is one more row of business class, which remained empty and was used for crew rest during the flight. The forward cabin went out with 14/18 seats occupied.
It appeared, based upon the pleasantries exchanged between the station manager and most passengers when he later came onboard, that the cabin was comprised of Ben and me as paid passengers plus many op-ups who knew the station manager or a member of the crew. That’s just a conjecture, but when you see many passengers profusely thanking the station manager, I think that’s a safe assumption.
The seat is similar to that used by LOT Polish, Turkish Airlines, and AZAL (Azerbaijan). It is definitely not my favorite business class seat, but comfortable enough and fully horizontal in lie-flat mode. Although the cabin was brand new, the seat padding felt worn and lumpy.
The seat could be adjusted by push-button controls and featured a memory feature where you could lock in your favorite seat position and return to it at anytime. The seats did not massage.
A universal power outlet and USB port were conveniently located on the side of the seat.
Handheld IFE controls and a bottle holder were located in the center console at seat cushion level.
When it came time to eat, my tray table would not unfold. I could pull it out of its storage case, but it would not pivot downward. I flagged a FA who summoned…the first officer. He came out to fix it, asking me to vacate my seat while he spent a few minutes coaxing it into submission. He did succeed, only to disappear immediately without any further utterances.
The cabin featured mood lighting that remained on for most of the flight.
Sadly, the blanket and pillow in business class were of low quality. I was thankful the cabin did not get too warm overnight, but the blanket could not even cover half my body. Thankfully, I did manage to nap for a few hours after the first meal service.
A privacy divider provided some separation from the adjacent seat:
Uzbekistan Airways 787 Business Class Amenities
We were curious what the contents would be in our amenity kit. This was easily answered: we never received one. Instead, we found a disposable plastic bag in the seat ottoman that contained Uzbekistan Airways-branded slippers, a low-quality eyeshade, a shoe horn, and “do not disturb / wake me for meals” stickers.
I figured there would probably be tootbrush/toothpaste and perhaps combs and mouthwash available in the lavatory. There was not.
Uzbekistan Airways 787 Business Class Lavatory
The lavatory was clean enough and the standard 787 lavatory, but featured absolutely no additional amenities. Only liquid soap.
Uzbekistan Airways 787 Business Class IFE
Extremely cheap headphones were waiting at our seat. I did not take my Bose noise cancelling headphones on the trip, but thankfully at least had my Apple headphones, which were much better. The provided headphones are the sort that often only work in one ear and become extremely uncomfortable after a few minutes of wear.
The IFE selection was atrocious, despite both an in-seat entertainment system and tablet system.
In-seat featured just a couple English movies as well as games and a very limited audios selection. If you speak Uzbek or Russian, you will have a greater selection. I ended up just keeping the moving map feature on for most of the flight.
Rather humorously, a short film was screened in Uzbek, Russian, and then English warning against excessive drinking and fighting onboard.
When FAs handed out tablets shortly after takeoff, I was initially hopeful. Sadly, many movies originally filmed in English did not have English soundtracks or subtitles. It made no sense.
The iPad also had a handful of apps, mostly games. One app I appreciated was a tourist app that provided highlights of Uzbekistan’s major cities. Sadly, the tablets were provided without power. Mine had only a 36% charge when first turning it on.
Uzbekistan Airways 787 Business Class Food
I give the food a mixed review on the flight. A- for presentation, but C- for quality.
After boarding, we were offered moist towels and champagne.
Oh. My. Gosh.
I’m not a champagne snob, really I’m not, but this was by the far the worst glass of swill I have ever tasted. It was like drinking fermented body odor…one sip was one sip too much. We tried to find out what kind of champagne it was, but it was one of those flights in which that proved difficult. Trust me, do not try the champagne. Do not.
Meal orders were taken prior to takeoff, actually just moments after we boarded. No menus were offered and the choice was, “Fish, chicken or beef.” Ben ordered beef and I ordered fish, after first asking what kind of fish it was (salmon).
Lunch service began shortly after takeoff. I appreciated how FAs laid out the white tablecloth and then carefully placed each item directly on the table. Meal service via tray may be normal for business class, but I appreciate when trays are avoided.
The appetizers looked great and were the highlight of the meal service on the flight. One dish contained salmon and shrimp. Another had cold cuts. A third had cheese with dried apricots and walnuts. A fourth contained a green salad.
Sure, we can deduct some points for not serving the butter and salad dressing in proper dishes or bowls, but I appreciated how nicely the meal was laid out and that it tasted pretty good.
Ooh, but the red wine. Should have learned from the champagne…it was Uzbek red wine so we had to try it, but it was horrible.
I would have preferred some white wine with my fish, but a FA informed us that white wine was not available.
The main course salmon was a bit dry, but certainly edible. I appreciated the lemon juice and that the rice was not overcooked and crunchy. The portion was small.
Ben’s steak looked tasty enough, but was served very well done. I tried a bite: unfortunately, the quality was bad.
One of the op-ups received his own bottle of wine…
Dessert included coffee (powdered) or tea along with fresh fruit and a chocolate cherry cake. The cake was dry and not worth the calories.
Mid-flight Snack?
About 3/4 through the flight I became hungry again. Sadly, there were no snacks set up in the galleys. A FA came by and before I could even request a snack, asked if I wanted my breakfast. Since there was still more than three hours of flight time left, I asked if there were any nuts. The FA disappeared and returned with the following–
The first bowl contained a sweet cookie-like snack that crumbled when you picked it up. The second bowl contained unsalted cashews and dried apricots. Both were appreciated and tided me over till breakfast before landing.
Breakfast
Breakfast was served on-demand and I took mine about two hours prior to landing.
No choice was offered, though I would have ordered an omelet anyway. The omelet was tasteless and served with oily potatoes and slimy zucchini. The croissant was cold and hard and the fruit primarily citrus. The yogurt was full of sugar.
A breakfast of champions…
Breakfast was a big disappointment as was the lack of any substantial mid-flight snacks. I am assuming that when the flight stops in Riga there is dinner and breakfast from New York to Riga than another full meal from Riga to Tashkent.
Uzbekistan Airways 787 Business Class Service
Service exceeded expectations on this flight. A FA named Umida warmly welcomed us onboard and made sure we were comfortable. I don’t fault her for having to deal with the poor product her company provided her.
Three female FAs worked the cabin. Two were quite kind, the third…not so much (though it may have been a language barrier issue). But I give all three credit for working the entire flight. During the “overnight” they constantly patrolled the cabin and offered refills on beverages.
Though we were never addressed by name, the two FAs smiled and truly made an effort at being friendly. I’d still rate the service as average for business class, but it was a far cry from the subpar meal service, IFE, and hard product.
Uzbekistan Airways 787 Business Class VIP Arrivals
Two landing identical landing forms were distributed prior to arrival. Both had to be filled out. We landed on time in Tashkent and pulled up to a jetbridge.
As we walked from the aircraft to the immigration hall, a man stood outside a door shouting “Business Class! Business Class!” We entered and found ourselves in a small room with two immigration counters.
As it turned out, we had been ushered into the VIP Terminal which has an arrivals lounge and special immigration facilities for premium class passengers or those who purchase access. Past immigration was a small lounge featuring leather couches and soft drinks.
We proceeded outside and hailed a taxi to the Hyatt.
CONCLUSION
I felt a pit in my stomach as we left the airport. I’ve never spent so much on a one-way flight for such a poor product. Unless you need to travel to Tashkent and want to fly non-stop, I cannot in good conscience recommend this product.
” An army of passengers in wheelchairs lined up to board and were allowed onto the aircraft first.”
Let me guess – only a fraction of that number of wheelchairs were there on arrival ?
You guessed it!
Sounds pretty awful for business class. I’d be unhappy too whether I paid cash or miles. Sorry for the poor unfun trip.
I hate to be nosy but what does it cost to fly in C vs Y. Curious what this cost and whether you could credit miles to a program.
Good question — Y was sold out. For about a month before the trip. Seems the normal Y cost is about $850 one-way, so we paid about $100/hr premium for business class.
Ugh. $1950 for that?
Well, you’ve done the traveling public a service.
Thank you.
My pleasure. And to think that Air France F r/t for $3200 was just available…
I guess you wished this flight had been dry! 😉
Yes, I honestly do.
Thanks for the detailed review Matthew! I like the way you organize the review into categories like seat, meals, service etc. so the reader can easily skim to the section they are most interested in.
Thank you for reading!
Very useful information for planning our future travel. Thanks
Sorry all for the many grammar and spelling errors. A draft version of this trip report was published by mistake and has since been updated.
The bottle of wine given to the other passenger was Ridge, my favorite winery (Sonoma California)
Retails $27 to $200+ depending on vineyard
Interesting that you got gross wine and he got Ridge
How can you tell that is Ridge? I cannot imagine they had California wine. Seems like it was from Uzbekistan.
Ridge have a very distinctive label design and clincher is the cork imprint. @JRMW is correct.
Rather than fly to Tashkent on aging 727s and 767s from Bangkok I go via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines even though the total traveling time is 20 hours versus 6 hours direct from Bangkok or via Inchon where total travel time is also about 20 hours. Need I say any more’
Even the new 787 with lie-flat beds doesn’t make the trip worthwhile, IMO. Next time I’d go through IST too.
Why not next time you should try Air Astana :). Service will be a lot better.
Hello ! My name is Rasul and i am from Uzbekistan. I know, our national airline is not so good, you showed this with your picture. That’s why, i want to open my own airline. Service and facilities will be best in the world In sha Allah ! Mr Matthew, thanks for this review !
I have just seen your report after I completed a FRU to TAS, C Class flight a few days ago. After 180 plus countries and flying on 200 plus airlines since 1974 , I will say that I was amazed at the kind, prompt and professional service that I enjoyed. Certainly , your haul was longer and for the money you could have done better with Turkish via IST. For the most part Turkish is as good as it gets in “The Stans” . One needs to remember that most people here never fly in their entire lifetime. Those making important decisions for government owned and operated airlines are some who fly very little yet in sit a seat to help save the company money. The Uzbek C class ticket for short international and domestic flights is about double the price for most routes. The may be a small price to pay to keep the from banging us around too much as we look around Uzbekistan.
May fly JFK TO TAS (Business Class) in October. Your review was 2017. Any update? Has service improved in the 4 intervening years?
Unfortunately, I have not been back and do not have any further updates, but if you take this flight, please let us know how it goes.
The on-board product may not be the best, but Uzbekistan Airways Dreamliners have something really major going for them that should make them recommended in good conscience – it’s their engines. Their GEnx-1B turbofans have the TRUEngine designation from the manufacturer, which according to GE Aerospace, means that “To qualify for TRUEngine status, the engine configuration, overhaul practices, spare parts and repairs used to service an engine must comply with GE-issued engine manuals and other maintenance recommendations. The qualification is obtained through the customer’s declaration of compliance and GE’s verification of customer submitted maintenance records since birth.” It’s one of only about three airlines in the world with this exceptional level of maintenance excellence.