Hello from Tashkent! On Thursday we flew from New York to Tashkent on Uzbekistan Airways’ new nonstop flight. For years the airline has operated a flight from New York to Tashkent via Riga, though as of last month one of the two weekly frequencies operates nonstop. On top of that, earlier this year Uzbekistan Airways took delivery of their first 787, which replaces the 767 that previously flew the route.
So, how was Uzbekistan Airways’ 787 business class? While I’ll have a full trip report soon, I’ll share my initial thoughts in this post.
Uzbekistan Airways’ 787 business class cabin consists of a total of 24 seats, spread across four rows in a 2-2-2 configuration. There are three rows in the forward cabin, and then a single row in the rear cabin. These are standard forward facing fully flat seats, and are one of the more disappointing business class hard products out there for a new plane. I also found their cabin finishes to be quite boring.
However, this is the same product that AZAL Azerbaijan, LOT Polish, Xiamen, etc., have on their 787s, so they’re hardly alone.
Let’s start with the positives. The crew was generally well intentioned. Well, at least two of the three business class flight attendants were. Service wasn’t polished by any means, but they seemed to mean well.
Furthermore, the food wasn’t terrible. At least not the first meal. While the food wasn’t amazing, I was impressed overall, including that they placed the meals directly on the table rather than on a tray.
There were no menus so I’m making assumptions here, but the meal began with a salad with cherry tomatoes and mozzarella, an appetizer of salmon, shrimp, roast beef, and chicken, and a cheese plate.
For the main course I had the beef. The other two choices were chicken or fish. Very descriptive, I know!
Then for dessert there was a fruit plate as well as a chocolate cake.
The breakfast wasn’t quite as good, however. There were no choices, and it consisted of a bland omelet, a small fruit plate, strawberry banana yogurt, and a stale croissant.
Unfortunately that’s where the positives end. Everything else was terrible. Terrible.
There was no amenity kit, but rather the below.
The pillow and blanket were limited to the below, which you’d expect in economy.
There were two movies in English on the entertainment system, and then they also handed out iPads, where there were just a few more options. Below are the only headphones that were offered… ouch.
The champagne they served was the worst thing I’ve ever drank. Yes, worse than Due de Paris, if that’s possible.
The airline just put so little effort into the product overall, it really disappointed me. As a point of comparison, my AZAL Azerbaijan flight from New York to Baku last year was significantly better.
Uzbekistan Airways may have nice new 787s, but that otherwise doesn’t seem to represent a new chapter for them. And I guess that’s not a surprise, since I’m pretty sure we were about the only paid business class passengers. The cabin ended up being about two thirds full, and almost everyone else was operationally upgraded, since economy was oversold.
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