TRIP REPORT: From the US to Belgrade

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Written by Nemjee

Good morning everyone!

It was time to leave wonderful, warm, sunny and surprisingly not so humid Florida! My itinerary today is Jacksonville - Chicago - Munich - Belgrade both on United and Lufthansa.

The last time I've been on United was in 2015 when I flew LAX-SLC and then SLC-ORD. Back then their onboard product was disappointing and the overall experience was quite bad. So for the past five years I avoided flying on them. This year I decided to change that since they offered the best schedule in and out of Jacksonville.

Funnily enough, the first option I had was on JU, AZ and DL flying via Milan and New York while the return flight would have been via Rome on Alitalia instead of MXP with JU. Luckily I did not book this option but rather I went for the LH-UA combo despite being 23.000 Dinars more expensive. Had I gone for the initial one, not only would have Alitalia cancelled my FCO-BEG leg but the Serbian government would have quarantined me for two weeks. At least I got out of dealing with Serbian healthcare officials.

Anyway, it was Monday March 9 and it was time to complete the check in process at the airport. As I was flying internationally, United could not issue me a boarding pass during online check-in as a United agent needed to check my passport first.

Check-in area at JAX

Security was a breeze and I was at the departures area. Surprisingly, it was a nice airport with lots of natural light, restaurants and bars. Mind you, JAX handles about the same number of passengers as BEG does.

B6 to BOS

Double DL, both flights heading to New York, CRJ to LGA and the C-series to JFK.

And here she is, our A319 that will take us to Chicago! The fuselages looked a bit worn out given that paint was missing from many parts.

Full flight today. Interestingly the cabin didn't feature the standard United seats, these ones were ugly but comfortable enough.

Flying close to the Florida-Georgia state border.

Service started, they offered a choice between Oreo cookies, pretzels and the caramel waffle.

Later on the crew offered a variety of soft drinks, water, coffee or tea. About an hour later they passed through the cabin offering cups of water which I found to be a nice gesture.

Welcome to Chicago, the weather gives you an indication why flights to Florida are sold out in winter time.

Better view of the ugly seats during deplaning. The plane featured a dedicated business class product with two rows and an economy plus section where you have a few more inches of legroom.

Welcome to Chicago Terminal 1, home of United Airlines... and Lufthansa.

ORD

Our plane for today was this 27.7 year old B767-300 with a botched nosejob. A few hours ago it arrived from Brussels.

Light load on this flight, there were 10/30 people in business class and maybe around 90 in economy, so about 45% LF. The seats you see here were all empty throughout the flight. In the corner you will see curtains, that's where the crew rest is.

IFE was the best part about flying on United. It was extremely responsive, high quality and they had a great selection of films, tv shows and so on. Interestingly enough, unlike most airlines out there, United Airlines offers whole seasons of tv shows and not a few episodes like others do. It was a touchscreen so you could zoom in and zoom out as much as you wanted to.

Take off was bumpy which was expected given the weather out there. What was interesting is that only after 15 km from the airport, pilot stopped climbing, maintained 1.550 altitude and only after some 10 minutes we continued climbing. I guess there was some traffic around us.

There was a choice of three main meals: chicken (pictured), vegetarian or pasta. Even if it might look disgusting it really wasn't, it was quite tasty. That said, the salad was pretty bad.

Once the meal was over, the crew passed through the cabin and offered us dessert.

Some 45 minutes before landing breakfast was served. I have to admit on most airlines they are quite bad but here it was pretty ok since the croissant was soft and warm and the yogurt was quite refreshing.

Almost there! What was really interesting is that UA lets you keep the earphones until the very end, as in until we've reached the gate and have to leave the plane. On our Lufthansa flight to ORD the crew collected the earphones about 50 minutes before landing.

Here comes United #4. Actually, we had to wait for about 20 minutes on the taxiway until another UA B763 left gate so that we could move in.

There she is, spotted from the new MUC terminal building.

This is our A319 to Belgrade. I was really curious to see what the load would be since corona had already started attacking the air travel industry. To my surprise there were 6 passengers in business and about 85% full in economy class. The plane next to us was going to SJJ and from what I could see there were 70 to 80 people sitting there, waiting.

My general impression is that United has really improved and stepped up their game after a few extremely unfortunate PR moments. In recent times they beat up an Asian doctor, killed a dog after the f/a insisted the owner put it in the overhead compartment, shipped another dog to Japan by mistake...

Flight from JAX to ORD was smooth, crew was professional and polite, onboard product was good, their app runs the whole time and has all the information you need, from the moving map to letting you check if your flight has arrived on time from its previous destination.

On the other hand, their long-haul product has become vastly superior to Lufthansa which I took in the other direction. I flew FRA-ORD on the retro B748. Our flight was 60% full but the crew no longer offers warm towels after take off, the quality of their meals has deteriorated while the legroom is just 31' which is extremely tight once the person in front of you reclines their seat. IFE on LH is extremely limited and outdated and I feel that besides a convenient schedule, Lufthansa no longer has much working for it.

Their short-haul product is ok as flight times are not that long. Our BEG-FRA flight was operated by an A321 (10 in business and about 90% in economy), a cookie was served with a round of drinks. Quite ok for a 1 hour and 37 minute flight. On MUC-BEG we got to choose between a cheese or salami sandwich plus there was a round of drinks.

Overall, I think we are getting to a point where US carriers offer a better onboard product than their European partners and competitors.

Of course, it also helps that major US carriers have almost completely removed any domestic competition by buying them out or merging with them. Think about it, the last time a newly founded US airline made it was in 2000 when jetBlue was launched! A massive market is basically divided between 5 or 6 airlines - I am talking about relevant ones, not small, regional carriers like Silver. It comes down to American, Delta, United, jetBlue, Alaska and Southwest. Yet only the first three cover the whole country while others are strong only in certain areas of the United States. For example if you are flying around the east coast then Alaska is not really an option just like jetBlue isn't if you are flying around in the west. If you don't mind flying between two random airports in the middle of nowhere on a Thursday afternoon, then Allegiant might suit you. However, only the big three cover pretty much all areas of the country.

Given all that's happening right now, I think the Euro-Mediterranean region will go through a consolidation process whether it wants it or not. Many airlines that have once served certain regions might not make it. It's one thing to survive corona but it will be as difficult to make it through the 2020/21 winter season.

Anyway... United is a perfectly fine carrier offering a smooth flying experience. I will definitely consider flying with them in the future.

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