UA2 SIN-SFO 787-9 Polaris Business to San Francisco, Baseball and Yo-Yo Ma in Chicago

[yflyer]

Bathrooms in the front of the J cabin, done in black and white...



No flowers in the bathroom that I could recall seeing, but you did have shea/cocoa butter hand cream, refreshing mist, and Murchison Garment Groom fabric freshener and stain remover...

[yflyer]

Cabin F&B service began very quickly after the seatbelt signs went off...



Tables were laid with blue table cloths...



I asked for a glass of Champagne (Today's selection was Lanson...)



...which came with a dish of warm mixed nuts and a glass of water...



...I sipped the Champagne as I enjoyed the view out the window...

[yflyer]

Lunch service began soon after, with starter and salad served together on a cloth lined tray...



Salt and pepper shakers: Salt was a golf ball, and pepper was Death Star...



Selection of bread rolls and/or garlic bread...I opted for garlic bread, which was every bit the equal of SQ's version...



I ate half my (delicious!) salad before realizing that the small golden bottle on my tray was not olive oil, but salad dressing...

The starter, a chicken roulade with spicy garlic sauce and Asian pickles, was very tasty...



I received my first choice of main, which was the roast duck with noodles...



This both looked and tasted very good, with tender and moist roast duck and decent noodle texture...



I accompanied my lunch with a glass of 2016 Le Cigare Volant (The Flying Cigar!), a delicious red wine, in the style of a Rhone blend, from Bonny Doon Vineyard in Santa Cruz, California...



This was a wine I had not encountered before. It went beautifully with the duck...



After that, it was time for the dessert trolley...



"This is the best part!", G, the warm and cheerful Asian flight attendant in charge of this section of the J cabin said, and offered me an ice cream sundae, with a choice of toppings...



What a wonderful dessert, a UA signature...simple pleasures indeed!

I also opted for a cheese platter, and a glass of Port...



Coffee was served in a large mug...



And that was the end of meal service.

Impressions? This was a fairly streamlined service concept compared to other airlines. For example salad and starter were served together on a tray, and similarly, dessert and the cheese course were offered together. By contrast, SQ and other airlines typically served these course by course. SQ's business class meal service, for example, was more elaborate, and also included pralines at the end.

The quality of the cuisine itself was pretty good, and one advantage of this approach was that the meal service took place fairly quickly -- by contrast on some flights SQ's J meal service can seem quite drawn out, time-wise. I was quite happy with my meal service, which was completed within 1 hr 45 min of take-off...

[yflyer]

After meal service, bottles of water were handed out...



The remaining cakes and sweets from the dessert trolley were arrayed on the centre console in the front of the J cabin, for any pax who still fancied a bite...

[yflyer]

It was now time to rest...

I reclined my seat into fully-flat bed mode...



The window-side armrest could be lowered to form a wider sleeping surface, flush with the seat...





I spread the duvet over the seat, and used it as a mattress topper...



This was very comfortable...



While not as wide as SQ's J seat, it was wide enough for me to lie comfortably, and also long enough for me to stretch out fully.

I lay down to rest...

By then all cabin windows had been centrally dimmed, and cabins lights turned off. For much of this long flight over the Pacific, the cabin was dark, quiet and peaceful...



A basket of fruit had been placed on the central console for pax to help themselves...



Bags of crisps were also available...



Just over 7 hours into the flight, I woke up feeling a little hungry...





I headed to the galley, and asked the crew if there were cup noodles onboard...there were!



I washed my noodles down with a G&T...

[yflyer]

I checked out the inflight wifi, which was working fine, but decided not to purchase any of the time-based plans.



While wifi was fine on the flight that day, on some of my other UA flights, wifi seemed to be non-functional or intermittent, so it would be prudent not to assume that inflight wifi access was guaranteed -- send any urgent messages or emails you need to send on the ground, before switching to airplane mode!

A glass of Buffalo Trace bourbon sent me back to sleep...





Later on, somewhere over the middle of the Pacific ocean, I got hungry again...



I headed to the galley...

"May I know what other snacks you have available?" I asked the flight attendant on duty there.

"We have a grilled cheese sandwich. Would you like one?"

"Yes please! And can I have a Bloody Mary as well?"

I headed back to my seat...

A few minutes later, my grilled cheese sandwich arrived, along with a cup of tomato soup...



This tasted very good, and seemed to go well together with the soup.

My Bloody Mary was satisfying as well...

[yflyer]

Hours later, the sky brightened as we approached the West Coast of the USA...







It was time to begin breakfast service...

Lights came on, and the cabin crew came around with hot towels...



A glass of cran-apple juice really hit the spot...



Breakfast was served all on a single tray.

I opted for the chicken congee for breakfast...



This came with all the usual garnishes, including you tiao, and actually tasted quite good...

[yflyer]

With 45 minutes to go, I took a quick stroll around the cabin...





Cabin ambience was pretty good, with the large 787 windows contributing to the sense of spaciousness...



We made landfall not far from San Jose...





The aircraft passed close to Moffett Field, with its historic airship hangars, before making a left turn towards the north for our final approach to SFO...



Final approach over water...



Landing on Runway 28L...



...for an early arrival into SFO at 8.32am.

We were at the gate at the International Terminal by 8.44am.

[yflyer]

Final reflections on this sector...

Overall, I thought this was an excellent flight.

I arrived in San Francisco well-rested. We departed SIN on time and landed at SFO on schedule -- a little early, in fact.

The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft was state-of-the-art, and very new, with everything in good condition.

The seat was comfortable both for lounging and for sleeping, with all that Saks' Fifth Avenue bedding also contributing to comfort. As a bonus, you also had a set of stylish pyjamas, something that even SQ doesn't hand out in J.

IFE picture and sound quality were good, with a large widescreen and a decent selection of movies and TV. Time-based Wifi was available -- I did not use wifi on this flight, but on other flights, I found it very handy to be in WhatsApp contact and even Facebook contact, with folks on the ground.

While UA's Polaris dining concept was geared more toward streamlined, efficient service than fine dining, the food itself was tasty. The meal service was done at a fairly rapid pace, which allowed pax ample time to rest afterwards.

Cabin service was good -- efficient and mostly cheerful.

Downsides? The 2-2-2 layout offered a little less space and privacy than SQ's long haul business class hard product, which has a 1-2-1 layout in J on A350, A380 and 77W. I missed the sense of space and total privacy that I experienced on SQ 77W J and A380 J. Also, If you had a window seat, you had to step over your seatmate in order to get to the aisle. As a bit of a foodie, I did miss the some of the finer touches of SQ's inflight cuisine and service concept -- at its best, SQ J catering could be quite inspired: a form of inflight entertainment in its own right. Lastly, while the UA cabin crew were responsive and professional, you weren't taken care of and pampered the way you were on SQ.

If you are looking for over-the-top luxury in a business class product, then UA's J service concept is probably not for you. But in areas that mattered, such as the ability to get a good rest onboard, and eating tasty rather than ultra-fancy food, then UA delivered on both counts.

While not the ultimate business class experience, I think United have got the essentials right. Not just that, they have also managed to delight pax with some very nice additional touches, such as top notch bedding, pyjamas and delicious catering.

While I have flown SQ long haul J on several occasions, this was my first ever experience in UA J. While I have heard from others that in the past, there was a huge gulf between the quality of UA J and SQ J, at least based on my experience on this flight, I think in areas that matter, the gap between the two airlines' business class offerings is not large.

I think UA has a strong product on the SIN-SFO sector, and I can see why they have gone from a single daily flight to double daily to SFO. This product will become even better when the new Polaris seat is rolled out.

To be continued!

[yflyer]

Continuing with the TR...

At SFO, immigration queues that day were horrendous. I spent 90 minutes awaiting my turn to clear immigration, and this was even with the automated system with the touchscreen kiosks.

This hasn't always happened, and once in a while I breeze right through without much of a queue, but I wouldn't plan for any appointments right after landing in SFO (Or any other US airport for that matter), and instead leave a significant time buffer after arrival, just because the length of time it takes to clear the airport is so unpredictable.

All that said, the frustration melted away once I emerged from the airport into sunny California weather. I took the BART from the airport into San Francisco. This was a 30 minute train ride for less than USD10 one way. I got off at Powell Street BART station, a stone's throw from Union Square.

[yflyer]

My hotel for this trip was The Clift, a mid-priced (By Bay Area standards) designer hotel very conveniently located just 3 blocks from Union Square.





What made it a designer hotel? One look in the quirky lobby would give you the answer...



The high-ceilinged lobby was a semi-dark space with some of the strangest lobby seating scattered about...



The building itself was an older structure, but the interiors had been completely refreshed, and it was always nice to stay in buildings with proper staircases. (In addition to regular lifts...)



The room itself was not large, and no longer brand new, but it was very nicely styled...



...in a quirky, eclectic style, combining modern and traditional themes...



Bathrooms were modern...



...and came with high quality amenities...



There was a stylish bar...



...as well as complimentary morning coffee and tea in the lobby.



The Clift was not part of any of the big international hotel chains, which meant that I would not earn loyalty points on my stay.

However, the rooms, staff and hotel F&B were very good, and the location was near-ideal. I also got the room for a very reasonable price for a San Francisco Hotel. I liked The Clift enough that I would definitely consider this hotel for future stays.

[yflyer]

My usual jetlag-fighting routine after a morning arrival in San Francisco was a quick brunch/lunch, followed by a two hour nap in the hotel.

I would then down a strong coffee (My first coffee of the day) and then catch an Uber to the Golden Gate Welcome Center for a run across the Golden Gate Bridge. That was exactly what I did that day...



After crossing the Bridge over to Marin County, and then back again, I continued jogging along the coastline, past Crissy Field.



I continued my run past Fort Mason and Fisherman's Wharf, and then the Embarcadero.

All those burnt calories were enough to reset my body clock and I spent the rest of the week sleeping fairly regular hours, which was good because it was a very hectic work week, with barely enough time to do anything not business-related the entire time.

[yflyer]

At the end of the week, some spare time finally opened up in my schedule.

By coincidence, an ex-colleague of mine was also in San Francisco, and his bucket list item was a run across the Golden Gate Bridge, which he had never done. I offered to join him for the run...

It was much cloudier that day than my run a week earlier, and also colder, but once again, we did the run across and then back. 2 x 2.4km runs back to back (At a slow pace, not Singapore SAF IPPT pace!)...



The world's best IPPT route, I told him...



The next day, before flying to Chicago, I headed back to the Golden Gate Bridge for a final run...

This time I managed to catch a picture of a helicopter on its way under the Golden Gate Bridge. The first time I saw this, I could not believe my eyes, and neither was I quick enough to take a picture. Later I learnt that this was perfectly legal and within flying regulations, and something that helicopter tours did on a routine basis...



On this occasion, I ended my run at Ghirardeli Square, close to Fisherman's Wharf and the Cable Car Station.



...a very satisfying 10km distance, starting at the Golden Gate Welcome Center on the SF side, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge and back, then continuing along the coastline to Ghirardeli Square.

[yflyer]

This time, rather than catch an Uber back to The Clift, I decided to do the touristy thing: I bought myself a cable car ticket and joined the queue for the Cable Car ride from Hyde Street back to Union Square.



This was pretty much the end-to-end Cable Car route which ran from Hyde Street to Powell Street. At each end, the Cable Car would be manually turned around on a turntable built into the ground...



The best place to be on these cable cars is to be hanging off the sides, on the step running halfway across the front of the carriage...those were where the best views (And selfies...) could be taken, although you had to take care to keep head and arms in when other cable cars or vehicles went by...



This was a great Cable Car route, with a lot to see along the way right back to Union Square.

I got off the Cable Car opposite the Westin St Francis, one stop prior to the end of the Cable Car line at Powell Street, where the cable cars would be turned around again for the return trip.



This was not the first time I rode a Cable Car on this route, and not something I do on a regular basis when in SF, but I've always found this to a fun activity to indulge in once in a blue moon, and something definitely worth doing on anyone's first trip to SF.

[yflyer]

After my cable car ride, I showered and then checked out of The Clift, then headed to SFO on the BART for my flight to Chicago.



The BART station at SFO was right by the International Terminal. From there, it was a short walk to the adjoining Airtrain station for the Airtrain ride to T3, where my United flight departed.



I checked in at the Premier lane and was through fast track security without any queues. I headed to the United Club in SFO T3 Airside...



This was not a huge lounge, but the white marble-themed decor was modern and quite attractive, and most importantly, it was not crowded at the time I was there...



Spacious seating...



Tarmac views from some of the seats...



Business/work area...



F&B area with a selection of snacks, comprising mainly hot soup, and cold salads and starters...





Sriracha seems to be a standard condiment in UA Clubs these days...



The salad selection, with a very tasty potato salad...



The piping hot tomato basil bisque was delicious as well...