To Hawaii and back from London with United. I’d read the reviews about United before flying, old planes, surly staff well past the the remaining flashes of youth, cramped, poor service etc and found all of these things, unfortunately, to be TRUE. This airline is the worst - outgoing LHR to LAX was ok, service not great, couple of the stewards be best to retire if they find their job so evidently tiresome but the food was actually very good on the flight.Then the flight from hell, LAX to Maui.
Firstly, they stick us on a tiny 737 then an hour into the flight we get a single message from the Captain to belt up as things will be ’ a bit bumpy!" Well, 2 hours of terrible turbulence with even the stewards strapped in and (as I subsequently discovered - concerned as it was some of the worst they’d known) people exasperating out loud as we were tossed around like kippers over the Pacific in pitch darkness. Captain Silent said nothing to us, not a single word of reassurance. By last hour of flight things had calmed. Plane was old and for a flight longer than London to NYC far too small.
Way back Honolulu to San Francisco was the best - 767 with reasonable room (I’d paid for Premium Economy on all the flights cos they’re configurations are just so cramped) and both Captain and service actually bordering on good. Then San Fran back to Heathrow - a really old crate of a 747 with just the big cinema screen up, so we all got treated to to Hitchcock for the umpteenth time wether we wanted it or not. Premium Economy had suddenly shrunk from my outbound trip and the service was lamentable - English stewardess (Lisa I think) addressing us as if we were errant teenagers, her seeming contempt for having to deal with us lowlifes in economy clearly an irritation to her. Still, got there and got back to London - to find that our cases had been broken into somewhere from leaving Honolulu to LHeathrow via San Francisco, certainly no ’official search’ sticker.
Given a choice, I will never fly United Airlines again.