Prologue:
Hello and welcome to the return leg of this weekend mileage run operated by a new 787-10.The excitement of flying a new type of airplane is a cherished event for any avgeek and I was fortunate that UA operated this aircraft on this domestic route. I was looking forward to this trip with excitement but before doing that I had to visit some lounges.
As a *A Gold thru TK I was able to access the SK and LH lounges located in Terminal B @ EWR. There was a UA operated bus by gate C71 that takes you from the UA gates after security and deposit you inside Terminal B at the gates. However if you need to go back to Terminal C then you will need to exit the terminal, take the AirTrain and go through security at Terminal C.
Since i purchased a restrictive Basic Economy fare and I didn't pay to reserve a seat it was up to the computer system to assign me one. When I checked in for my outbound flight I was also assigned a seat for my return trip. To my surprise I was on 34L which was in Economy Plus.
I am certainly dumbfounded as to what criteria the computer uses to assign seats. To my understanding *A Golds from partners are not provided courtesy seat assignment in the Econ Plus section. That explains why I was assigned a regular middle seat on the outbound while there were a few Econ + seats available in the front. However on the return the flight was open in the back and I saw plenty of empty seats in the last couple of rows. Why was I then assigned 34L? It seems so random. Anyways I'm not complaining just wondering why.
I believe that SK only has 2 lounges in the US - EWR and ORD. The lounge receptionist was polite but not overly engaging. i had trouble scanning my boarding pass from my mobile and she helped me reposition my phone on the scanner. After that i was good to go.
Cozy atmosphere with that characteristic Scandinavian minimalist and clean aesthetics.
Catering consisted of a salad bar and soup along with breads. I saw a container for a hot dish but it was not brought out when I was there.
Salad bar.
Liquor bar
More private sitting area on the side of the lounge.
WC was small but clean.
The LH lounge was located in front of the SK one. As it is often the case with any LH lounge there are two areas within the lounge - Business and Senator.
The welcome was friendlier here and I was invited to step into the Senator side.
Not a big area but adequate for the amount of people that were there. The buffet area featured several dishes but the beer dispenser was broken judging by the sign apologizing for the inconvenience.
Buffet menu.
Crisps.
My snack.
========== Lufthansa Senator Lounge ==========
Summary:
A very pleasant flight on UA especially in Economy Plus. I'm still wondering how I ended up with an Econ Plus seat on this segment while there were plenty of open seats in the back.Crew was professional and the free meals and liquor for Econ Plus pax made the experience more enjoyable.
We arrived 20 min. earlier than expected which was a big bonus.
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