United 787 Polaris Business to Paris

I arrived at the gate just before boarding started. 

I selected on inside bulkhead seat 6D in the 2nd mini-cabin, which is regarded by UA Flyertalks as the best seat on the plane.  The bulkhead seats had larger cut out cubby holes for your feet when sleeping.  OK, it may be the best on this plane but it's a far cry from anyone's First Class.

This is a nice touch and indeed the Saks Fifth Avenue pillow and duvet were very nice.

Friendly and pleasant FAs made the rounds hanging up jackets and serving PDBs and chocolates.  But no one is going to confuse this with First Class.  With 48 Business Class, it was pretty hectic as the entire Economy cabin of 200+ boarded at 2L and walked thru the Business mini-cabin.

United's wine list, mostly 86, 87 and 88 rated wines, although the Tempranillo had a sticker on the bottle claiming Robert Parker gave it a 94.  We'll see about that.

The Polaris amenity kit.  Nice packaging with the Saks logo.

But a grab bag of mostly meh.

The IFE system had a hand controller which was mostly useless as it could only scroll up, down, left or right and not enter anything.  So I just used the touch screen controls.

The forward Business Class cabin.

After take-off our crew was quick to start service.

My usual G&T.

Then inexplicably, just as I started sipping on my G&T, another FA brought out the dinner tray.  Seriously??  Ever heard of pacing?  It's a 3pm departure and a 10 hour for effsake.   I asked him to go away, LOL and serve me at the end, which he obliged.

Fifteen minutes later, my meal tray.  

The smoked duck was OK to be kind.

While the salad was just gross and inedible.

Apparently catering is rationing the garlic butter on the garlic bread.

After those two starters, I was dreading the worst with my pork chop.  But lo and behold, I was served a large and beautiful pork chop. 

Perfectly prepared, moist and delicious!   After a 2nd G&T, I tried a glass of the Tempranillo which was actually pretty good.

And the dessert cart.

My made to order sundae was excellent, with chocolate sauce and extra M&Ms.   Love the cardboard bowl which United is using since their old glass apparently were chipping.

I slept pretty well for nearly 4 hours and then did a little work.  Wifi worked reasonably well but sporadically.  It was a little pricey at $28 for the flight.

Breakfast options were the omelet or fruit plate.

It was pretty good.

And so was the cinnamon bun.

We touched down at CDG 15 minutes early and were at the gate a few minutes later.  All in all, a reasonably pleasant flight for the price.  But it's a far cry from Air France or even Lufthansa First Class and I don't want to make a habit of it.