brunei extravaganza: part 2: ord-hkg, ua business class, medical emergencies

this is a continuation of my semi-trip report. the first part was located here.

ua895: chicago to singapore (15 hrs 55 mins)
i've flown business class on united only once before. this was on their old 747s back in 2008 which didn't have a full recline. i took the opportunity to quickly take a pic of the seats as we were boarding.

business class seats

video screen with foot rest

they also passed out their tin amenity kits. they had different ones for all their hubs. my neighbor got the cleveland kit, which i kind of wanted simply because united will be de-hubbing cleveland in the near future.

their seats are in a 2x4x2 configuration. half the seats face forward, the other half face backward. i was facing forward and sitting in an aisle seat. there was an 81 year old Chinese woman who was sitting facing me across the aisle. it was awkward because i was likely the only other person in the entire business class cabin who was also asian. she only spoke mandarin, and my mandarin was awful. i can only imagine how much she wanted to just be able to talk to someone else on the flight, especially when the majority of the announcements, flight crew, and passengers were english speaking. i will admit that i was kind of annoyed that every time my eyes were open, she would try to initiate conversation. i kind of just wanted to enjoy the business class product.

the business hard and soft product
i will have to admit that the hard product (i.e., the physical seat itself and its features) were excellent. it was a fully lay flat, non-angled seat that was wide enough to let me lay down and not feel constricted. the entertainment console was easy to use, the hand control unit was intuitive enough to use. possibly the only thing that would have been nice would have been to have a bit more of a barrier between myself and my neighbor, but even that was ok for me. i felt bad for my seat mate who was sitting at the window -- she had to climb over me in order to use the washrooms.

the soft product (i.e., the service aspect) was friendly and efficient. it was full in first class and business class, and half full in economy class. i wonder if things would have been different if it were a completely full flight. there was a bit less emphasis on presentation of the staff and the meals (compared with the very uniform appearance of the asian airlines, which i really appreciate). and of course, compared to economy, the soft product was much better.

meal times
once airborne, we were served a lunch option. there were four choices, and i chose the cod and vegetable ratatouille. it was very nice.

jumbo prawn and salad

 

cod ratatouille

at the midway point in the flight, they offered a light snack consisting of a chicken and wonton dumpling noodle soup. the pieces all kind of stuck together, but i don't know what else they could have done with it.

mid flight snack

a few hours before landing, we were offered a small breakfast. i chose the egg option. breakfast was served at around 4pm hong kong time -- i always wonder why they don't serve the meal that would best match the local time where they are at.

brekkie

medical emergencies in the air
midway through the flight, somewhere over the pacific ocean, there was an announcement that there was a medical emergency. i know that in the past, i said that i wouldn't help out because i felt that i wouldn't be a very good doctor. but there was an initial call out for someone with a medical background. i waited for a few minutes and overheard the flight attendants talking.

"there's a radiologist in first class," one of them said, "but he says that it's been a while for him." which is true because the last time he probably did any general medicine was likely in his first year of residency. "and no one's identified themselves in the back." and then i felt guilty, and then i volunteered myself.

luckily, it was a case of an elderly lady who likely had heart burn (her medication was in her checked bag, and she herself was delayed and separated from her baggage for over 24 hours) and anxiety. but there were a few things i noted:

• the stethoscope was not very useful at all. it worked in that you could hear your finger tapping on the diaphragm, but you couldn't hear breath sounds or heart sounds
• their blood pressure cuff required two hands to operate ... so you would need a third hand to either feel the pulse or hold the stethoscope
• the only medications they carry are heavy duty medications for people who have gone into cardiac arrest, as well as aspirin. but they don't carry anything else
• there is a helpful ground-link communication with a doctor to also help guide the staff if necessary. but i never got to talk to them
• they want to see your identification and proof that you are a doctor. it makes sense from a liability standpoint as united absorbs all the potential liability (or so they said -- i wish i had taken the actual copy of the agreement with me). i guess they want to make sure i'm actually a doctor. luckily, i had my badge with me.

she turned out fine. no body bag was necessary when we deplaned from hong kong 8 hours later. except for waking me up while i was asleep to let me know that the passenger may have had some wine with her dinner, i never heard from the crew or united airlines about that again.

my reward was not having to make an emergency landing, and thus delaying my arrival into hong kong (and thus singapore) by a few hours.

touching down in hong kong, after 16 hours in the air, was the sweetest feeling ever.