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Taken December 2005 from Hong Kong, Chek Lap Kok - HKG2 to Toronto, ON (Lester B. Pearson International Airport) - YYZ

This was a UA Business flight from Hong Kong to Chicago, then Chicago to Toronto.

The service on United is not as great as I expected it to be. Considering that I recently travelled on Singapore Raffles Class, the United flight attendants are not as warm, caring, and less willing to volunteer service compared to other carriers.

For example, on the second segment of the journey, the flight attendant neglected to serve me and the rest of the last row First class passengers drinks and snacks; she proceeded to serve the coach passengers! Hopeless!

On the Hong Kong-Chicago leg, I requested tea with sugar, but no cream. But the flight attendant kept on messing up my order, and at the end she gave me plain tea WITHOUT any sugar or cream. When I requested sugar, she gave me 10 packets without an apology! Hopeless!

The meals were of a satisfactory level, but nothing to boast about. I was deeply dissatisfied by the variety of speciality coffee and tea available - None! I requested a cappuccino (normally served in ANY decent business class) but was scolded that "I was on an airplane". Hopeless!

Cabin comfort was borderline acceptable. The seat pitch (roughly 58 inches) and width (roughly 21 inches) were adequate; however, being accustomed to travelling on the latest flat beds in Business class I was slightly appalled at the older non-flat bed seats offered on United. The personal TV on my seat was fuzzy and no On-Demand features (Video/Audio on-demand) were offered. Moreover, the seat was not automatically controlled. Hopeless!

The lounge in Hong Kong was acceptable, offering the passengers a great variety of food and drinks.

The flight to Chicago left and arrived as scheduled. The flight to Chicago, however, was delayed 30 minutes due to congested traffic at O'Hare airport.

United business class has a long way to go in competing for international passengers wanting to travel to North America. In the future, I will most likely favour an Asian carrier such as Singapore Airlines or Cathay Pacific. I'd recommend you do the same as well.