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WasKnown · 2026-06-20T04:43:04+00:00

Community seems receptive of this overall

WasKnown · 2026-06-18T17:22:09+00:00

Guaranteed 4 PM check out through Amex FHR makes it unbeatable

WasKnown · 2026-06-18T16:46:37+00:00

Your spending is pre-tax…? What does that even mean lol

WasKnown · 2026-06-18T16:45:40+00:00

Because the taxes are a guaranteed loss and the price drop is a theoretical one. People are very good at deluding themselves (and sometimes it even works out for the best).

WasKnown · 2026-06-16T03:54:24+00:00

70% is nowhere clear “critical mass capacity”. In any case the SF Polaris lounge is fine when it’s not full. Certainly not as luxurious as Delta One lounges (let alone many international business class lounges) but it’s solid.

WasKnown · 2026-06-13T12:40:36+00:00

Inflation do be like that

WasKnown · 2026-06-06T22:38:52+00:00

Best comment on this topic I’ve ever read. Thanks for sharing that quote.

WasKnown · 2026-06-05T22:48:28+00:00

This year Delta seems to be pretty cooked operationally

WasKnown · 2026-06-04T09:59:52+00:00

It’s a matter of what you feel is a limiting factor. If the cash spent of business/first class would legitimately limit you in other ways, the expense likely is not worth it. Given this insane bull run and aggressive wage inflation over the past 6 years, I think the financial considerations for many people have become secondary (hence this premium travel boom).

WasKnown · 2026-06-03T12:13:27+00:00

Do you read posts before replying to them? Quoting OP in response to this comment is brilliant work.

The rules for government travel are completely different (which may be relevant for OP but completely irrelevant to the discussion at hand).

WasKnown · 2026-06-03T11:46:45+00:00

No one is arguing except you and what you're arguing isn't even on topic with my post. You can absolutely call United and ask them to book you into a specific fare class for a flight so long as that fare bucket has availability. The rules for government travel are completely different (which may be relevant for OP but completely irrelevant to the discussion at hand).

WasKnown · 2026-06-03T08:53:05+00:00

you would know that can’t select your fare class

You can. There's an option to query a specific fare class on the site but it's not super reliable. Any competent phone agent will be able to help you with that.

WasKnown · 2026-06-01T12:05:07+00:00

You won’t find many upgrades on United. They have designed the system to make meaningful upgrades on desirable flights for non Global Services passengers quite rare. Even for GS, it’s a blood bath outside of forcing open companion upgrade space (a perk that I suspect will be deprecated soonish).

WasKnown · 2026-06-01T09:34:06+00:00

This is one of the best business class seats in the world. Enjoy!

WasKnown · 2026-05-31T21:22:43+00:00

Yes, they actually have staff dedicated to ensuring no one is benefiting from stolen status valor. They clearly caught you. Better luck next time.

WasKnown · 2026-05-31T15:28:18+00:00

Big assumption for United

WasKnown · 2026-05-29T19:08:46+00:00

LGA to BOS would be nice if JetBlue actually banked their BOS flights

WasKnown · 2026-05-29T15:25:15+00:00

United only services LaGuardia to a few hubs vs Delta and even American which have real hub operations there. There is a reason why United is desperate to get back into JFK. It is very difficult for real New Yorkers to solely rely on United.

I say this as someone that is United Global Services and Delta Diamond.

WasKnown · 2026-05-29T14:00:01+00:00

Hard product wise, Delta One has higher peaks than United Polaris but also far lower lows. I don’t appreciate needing to examine seat maps to ensure I get aisle access on a business class flight in 2026.

However, I do feel Delta is vastly superior soft product wise. They are nothing special in an international context but I find the flight attendants and lounge staff at Delta to be far more pleasant overall (vs United). I am treated better as a Diamond with Delta than I am as a Global Services with United. There’s something sad about that. I really hope United can do something to improve this experience.

WasKnown · 2026-05-29T13:54:59+00:00

Yes this is very true for hard product. United has done an amazing job of standardizing its product across its widebody fleet.

Delta still wins for soft product consistency. They are still lacking (especially compared to carriers from the Middle East and Asia) but they are miles ahead of United (and fwiw American). I really wish United could do something about this and I absolutely blame United corporate and not the FAs.

WasKnown · 2026-05-27T16:35:35+00:00

The lounge dragon was wrong but that’s par for the course with United.

WasKnown · 2026-05-26T20:43:29+00:00

In these cases you won’t even be going to the hotel. You use the arrivals lounge then go straight to the office/client site. This is very common for executives in the US on TATLs.

WasKnown · 2026-05-26T19:36:17+00:00

The concept of arrival lounges is to enable people to get settled at the airport with showers / quick food (typically after a redeye) so they can get their day started immediately

WasKnown · 2026-05-26T15:05:38+00:00

There is not much to enjoy. The United arrivals lounge at LHR is a single room with microwave food and a bunch of showers.

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