US Dividend Miles - Award Booking Questions and General Discussion

[Nizar]

I have flown United on the upper deck of their 747 in business

Is it hard to get upper deck seats ? How many months out must you book/select seats, etc ?
The bottom deck J class is 8 across lol that must be world record in J class the pitch must be something like 14 inches lol i'd rather go tiger

 

[bcworld]

Is it hard to get upper deck seats ? How many months out must you book/select seats, etc ?
The bottom deck J class is 8 across lol that must be world record in J class the pitch must be something like 14 inches lol i'd rather go tiger

8 across on a 747 main deck is not outlandish if there is a forward & backward facing arrangement. BA has it for example and I love the Club World seat.

I doubt the seat width (I assume you meant width not pitch?) is appreciably different on the upper and lower decks.

 

[anat0l]

I guess it's individual preference, but doesn't full flat trump angled bed? by logic it must do... otherwise everyone at home would saw the end legs off their beds!

It is not logic per se.

Of course a full flat bed is better than an angled one. That said, I'm sure some homeless people, if given the choice, would prefer to sleep on a bed with two broken front legs rather than flat concrete / street corner! I'm sure someone's choice between a broken bed or the couch is not an automatic one.

It's about the complete package. You trade off what you prefer and what you can put up with to make a choice. Obviously, your choice is very, very much biased by a full flat bed.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Is it hard to get upper deck seats ? How many months out must you book/select seats, etc ?
The bottom deck J class is 8 across lol that must be world record in J class the pitch must be something like 14 inches lol i'd rather go tiger

united business class seat width 20 inches.
qantas premium economy seat width 19.5 inches.
tiger seat width 18 inches.

so you'd take tiger over qantas premium economy as well?

 

[Nizar]

united business class seat width 20 inches.
qantas premium economy seat width 19.5 inches.
tiger seat width 18 inches.

so you'd take tiger over qantas premium economy as well?

Lol my post was dripping in sarcasm, surprised you didn't notice .
That said, I am actually genuinely surprised that the difference between Tiger (the cheapest of the cheap) and United J Class (premium cabin of a full service airline on a long haul flight) is a mere two inches.
Note that SQ in their long haul J class have either 27 or 30 inches.

Now - Is anybody else genuinely surprised that United's J long-haul seat width is MUCH closer to Tiger than they are to their Star Alliance buddy, Singapore Airlines ?
Surely even the United fanboys can't rebut this point ?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It is not logic per se.

Of course a full flat bed is better than an angled one. That said, I'm sure some homeless people, if given the choice, would prefer to sleep on a bed with two broken front legs rather than flat concrete / street corner! I'm sure someone's choice between a broken bed or the couch is not an automatic one.

It's about the complete package. You trade off what you prefer and what you can put up with to make a choice. Obviously, your choice is very, very much biased by a full flat bed.

ok... I'd be interested to hear to the trade off flying Thai as opposed to united, and how Thai, as a complete package, outweighs united (talking business class).

united wins on food, IFE, bed, flight time (to usa). TG has the advantage of...?

 

[bcworld]

Lol my post was dripping in sarcasm, surprised you didn't notice .
That said, I am actually genuinely surprised that the difference between Tiger (the cheapest of the cheap) and United J Class (premium cabin of a full service airline on a long haul flight) is a mere two inches.
Note that SQ in their long haul J class have either 27 or 30 inches.

Now - Is anybody else genuinely surprised that United's J long-haul seat width is MUCH closer to Tiger than they are to their Star Alliance buddy, Singapore Airlines ?
Surely even the United fanboys can't rebut this point ?

A lot of people are not especially fond of the super wide SQ seats in terms of their comfort in the seated position. What's the seat pitch in SQ J then and how does it compare to others...so we get the full picture?

As for Tiger and their 18 inches...do you think they're dramatically different than anyone else who's operating 3-3 in an A320 in economy...i.e. every other airline in the world? I can't for the life of me think why they would be. To Tiger order extra narrow A320s!??

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Lol my post was dripping in sarcasm, surprised you didn't notice .
That said, I am actually genuinely surprised that the difference between Tiger (the cheapest of the cheap) and United J Class (premium cabin of a full service airline on a long haul flight) is a mere two inches.
Note that SQ in their long haul J class have either 27 or 30 inches.

Now - Is anybody else genuinely surprised that United's J long-haul seat width is MUCH closer to Tiger than they are to their Star Alliance buddy, Singapore Airlines ?
Surely even the United fanboys can't rebut this point ?

thats easy. the sq seat is very wide, but the pitch is very small (51' on sq compared to 76' on united). flying sq business requires you to sleep on the diagonal (for me even in first class, suites excluded).

 

[Nizar]

As for Tiger and their 18 inches...do you think they're dramatically different than anyone else who's operating 3-3 in an A320 in economy...i.e. every other airline in the world? I can't for the life of me think why they would be. To Tiger order extra narrow A320s!??

Lol great point, I didn't think of it like that.
When I've been unfortunate enough to fly tiger (not for a couple of years now) the seat always feels so narrow. Maybe it's just all in my head because I paid less for it haha.

 

[ferni]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

This is great news!!!!!! From airline route.net

Based on latest schedule changes on Thursday 04JUL13, the following is latest Winter 2013/14 International operation changes for THAI, effective 27OCT13. New Adjustment:
Bangkok – Brisbane eff 16FEB14 Boeing 777-300ER replaces -300, daily service

Still can't see these BNE-BKK bookable in First class yet... any ideas when it will open up?

 

[travelislife]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Still can't see these BNE-BKK bookable in First class yet... any ideas when it will open up?

There is no first class on these planes, so that's why you won't find it! There are fully flat beds in business class though which is an improvement.

 

[ferni]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

There is no first class on these planes, so that's why you won't find it! There are fully flat beds in business class though which is an improvement.

I thought the Thai 777-300ER had first class? The ones I've been on have.... Which plane are you talking about that has fully flat beds but no First class?

 

[bcworld]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

I thought the Thai 777-300ER had first class? The ones I've been on have.... Which plane are you talking about that has fully flat beds but no First class?

Thai's new 773ERs...they have only business (same as A380) and economy. These are not the same as the leased ex Jet Airways planes which are 3 class.

http://www.seatplans.com/airlines/Thai-Airways/seatplans/B777-300ER-(Config.1)

 

[ferni]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Thai's new 773ERs...they have only business (same as A380) and economy. These are not the same as the leased ex Jet Airways planes which are 3 class.

Ahh ok, thanks bcworld and travelislife. I was all excited that we had another first class route out of AU on *A....

 

[smit0847]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Ahh ok, thanks bcworld and travelislife. I was all excited that we had another first class route out of AU on *A....

I think its also good to have another fully-flat J option out of Australia - they are few and far between! (Are CA and UA the only ones?)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

I think its also good to have another fully-flat J option out of Australia - they are few and far between! (Are CA and UA the only ones?)

air canada, air New Zealand, and I believe the odd sq flight? but availability on all of those can be hard.

 

[jgm]

thats easy. the sq seat is very wide, but the pitch is very small (51' on sq compared to 76' on united). flying sq business requires you to sleep on the diagonal (for me even in first class, suites excluded).

What's the problem with sleeping a few degrees off the direction of travel? Some seats have you sleeping backwards.

 

[Nizar]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

air canada, air New Zealand, and I believe the odd sq flight? but availability on all of those can be hard.

I seem to be able to find plenty of availability on SQs 388s and 77Ws for MEL-SIN ?

 

[travelislife]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

I seem to be able to find plenty of availability on SQs 388s and 77Ws for MEL-SIN ?

Where? They can be booked through lifemiles but not using USDM.

 

[smit0847]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

I seem to be able to find plenty of availability on SQs 388s and 77Ws for MEL-SIN ?

In J through USDM? I don't think this is correct. There's occasional availability through LMs but I don't think I've ever heard of someone doing it through USDM.