Asia, the Long Way: Luftansa Senator Lounge Berlin and United BusinessFirst Berlin to Newark

I had about an hour before boarding started, so I visited the Senator lounge next to my gate to check up on my email as my hotel imposed somewhat outrageous prices for internet access.

Traditionally, Continental operated the Newark-Berlin route with a mix of 757-200’s and 767-200’s.  Today, United was using a 767-224ER.

United 97
Berlin Tegel (TXL) to Newark (EWR)
Sunday, April 1st
Depart: 9:35AM
Arrive: 12:40PM
Duration: 9 hours, 5 minutes
Aircraft: 767-224ER (N67158)
Seat: 4B (Business Class)

The 767-200’s of Continental are still using the old BusinessFirst recliner style seats (rather than the full lie-flats of the 757-200’s and 777-200’s):

The menu read as follows:

Lately, United has been acting as if “bread” were a course unto itself for its premium cabins, so I must do the same.

I had ordered a vegetarian meal, but the flight attendant taking meal orders offered the on-menu cheese lasagna as well.

Shortly before landing, we were offered another snack service.

While this was a comfortable 9 hour daytime flight, I would have personally put up with the inconvenience of a connection in order to pick up a lie-flat seat for the overnight transatlantic flight.