Review: United Airlines Business Class Hong Kong to San Francisco

Last week, I wrote about my experience flying to Hong Kong in business class on China Airlines. For our trip back to the USA, I booked award flights on Asiana Airlines from Hong Kong to Seoul to San Francisco using Lufthansa miles (see this post).

However, when we arrived at the airport for our flight, we discovered that a snowstorm in Seoul had caused delays and we would no longer make our connecting flight to San Francisco.  So, the Asiana agent at the airport moved our reservation to United Airlines on a nonstop flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco. Although we had to wait several more hours for the new flight, at least we no longer had a layover.

On the Ground in Hong Kong

After waiting 4+ hours for the United check-in counter to open, the check-in process was very quick. The agent gave us the option of 3 different lounges we could use before our flight. We simply chose the first lounge we came across, Kyra Lounge.

The lounge wasn’t crowded during our stay, and we had our choice of several types of seats. Eventually, we made it to the back of the lounge with these long benches and comfy chairs.

The food selection wasn’t huge, but the lounge had a food menu we could order from. We both got enough to eat and charged our phones while we waited for the flight.

Once we got to our gate, we watched people play on this life-size chess board.

Business Class Seats

I had actually never flown in United Polaris business class seats before! The aircraft for this 12-hour flight was a Boeing 777-300ER with 60 Polaris business class seats. We were assigned seats 17D and 17G, center seats in the second cabin.

The seats were perfect for two people traveling together.

One thing my daughter and I both loved was that we received two pillows and two blankets. One of the pillows was a memory foam pillow, and it was perfect.

After take-off, we could raise the center divider between our seats.

Our seats had decent storage:

View of the seat behind me:

View of seat in front of me:

The amenity kit contained all the usual offerings: socks, lotions, earplugs dental kit, etc. The bag was a fanny pack/belt bag.

The English movie selection was much bigger than on our China Airlines flight. I watched The Fall Guy.

Since the flight took off at 10:30 p.m., we had no trouble sleeping  for 6+ hours. Our seats were wide and comfortable (for airline seats).

Food and Service

I’m not gonna sugar coat it: Like most flights, the food was ok, but not great. Here are some photos of dinner:

However, the absolute best part of dinner was the ice cream sundae bar for dessert. We could choose our toppings.

Breakfast was blueberry pancakes, fruit and a croissant. I would have preferred a protein option.

Service was friendly and prompt. No complaints!

Overall Thoughts

Flying home from Asia in business class made us feel pampered. It was so nice to get some sleep and stretch our legs for the long flight. I’m so glad I was able to use miles and points to make our trip home from Asia more comfortable.

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