Last week I booked a Sunday night redeye from Los Angeles to Chicago on United and was pleasantly surprised to see that the flight would be operated by a 747-400. Like Kevin's experience last week, the aircraft featured the old configuration with recliner-style business class seats and the small economy cabin in front of UA's Economy Plus. Though I ended up canceling the trip, it is great to see 747's flying domestically and gives me hope that recovery is around the corner for the ...

It's too early to tell if StarNet blocking is gone on UA or just on another hiatus, but I was able to book transatlantic Lufthansa flights today--a marked change from last week.

As I mentioned in an earlier post on my winter award trip to China, I have been stuck with two UA transatlantic flights in first class, despite plenty of Lufthansa availability, thanks to StarNet blocking.

I had been calling UA reservations almost every day up until the end of last week, but ...

United's IT staff may not win m/any accolades, but one thing I do is appreciate is not having to enter my Mileage Plus number each time I call reservations on my mobile phone. Because that number is the primary number on my profile, I am greeted by, "Hello. Am I speaking to Matthew or someone calling on behalf of Matthew?" each time I phone in. It's not too big of a deal, but it saves me a few seconds each phone call (and I make a lot of them to UA...). 

Lately, I've been use Skype when calling United Reservations. I have a basic Skype account with no personal telephone number assigned. For a while, I would be prompted to enter my Mileage Plus information but lately, I've been greeted by, "Hello. Am I speaking to Andre or someone calling on behalf of Andre?"

Andre? Anyone have an idea how that happened?

I still am rooting for this design, but at least the merger team at Continental/United is making some progress on the livery of the combined carrier.

When UA and CO announced they were getting hitched in May, they revealed this livery for the post-merger airline. I was horrified by it because it completely eliminated the UA-brand identity and the proposed "United Airlines" font appeared woefully outdated and unbecoming.

Yesterday, a new livery was ...

Yesterday afternoon I received an e-mail that Delta was starting service to Reykjavik, Iceland next June. The once daily flights will depart late from JFK, arriving the following morning in KEF and return late morning from KEF, arriving just before 1pm into JFK.

Delta 52 JFK-KEF departing 11:35PM arriving 9:20AM +1 day Delta 51 KEF-JFK departing 10:50AM arriving 12:55PM

I have wanted to visit Iceland for quite some time, especially after the currency crash in late 2008 ...

I haven't had the pleasure of flying on UA to Sydney this year, but apparently first class passengers flying from Los Angeles to Sydney are receiving a more personalized touch.

The following request is from United's representative on FlyerTalk:

Hi folks,

We are looking for feedback from LAX-SYD F customers who have flown on Flight 839, LAX-SYD, in United First since August 3.

If you've flown this route, you may have had an opportunity during ...