Review of United flight from Newark to Washington in Domestic First

thanksgiving in madrid

My family rarely ever celebrates Thanksgiving, so often I take the opportunity to travel abroad. This time, I managed to snag a very nice Star Alliance business-class sale to Madrid. This is my final segment home to Washington, DC. As I mentioned in the previous flight, I had several reasons for the indirect routing via EWR rather than directly to IAD. If nothing else, I get to review the shuttle flight here and take a look at United's CRJ-550s. 

newark international airport (EWR)

Last you saw me, I had just exited the Polaris Lounge. The United Miles Shop can be found nearby. I stopped by to see if they had a United mask available for sale–they did not.

So it was off to transfer shuttle. United runs a shuttle between the terminals and this service can be found by gate C70. The shuttle started moving shortly after I boarded (it was about 1/4 full). I imagine there are more frequencies in non-pandemic times.

In any case, the shuttle drops you off downstairs in Terminal A and you emerge right next to gate A28. Luckily for me, my gate was A25 and nearby. That means I had time to pop into the nearby United Club in A to check it out.

united club (Terminal A)

The United Club in Terminal A can be found right outside of this group of gates in the mid A20s.

Upon entry, I was thanked for being a 1K and quickly alerted to the fact that I could use the Polaris Lounge in C instead. I told them I just came from there and wanted to be closer to my gate.

This United Club was one long room with several sections, with lounge seating in front, table seating in the middle, and more lounge seating and a few countertops at the end.

The buffet was all to-go items. Illy coffee and soft drinks were also available.

The bar was fully stocked though–an upgrade over the Polaris lounge (except only basic options were complimentary). I had a glass of prosecco (actually two, the bartender suggested I might as well polish off the bottle).

The bartender was a friendly guy and he and I chatted for a while. According to him, United was only flying about half of its pre-pandemic schedule out of Terminal A and that's why this club was more than half empty (there were probably less than 10-15 people in the lounge total). He also said that the supply situation over at the Polaris Lounge was quite poor and that it may be because of a difference in contractors that staff and provision the lounges.

I checked out the bathroom on my way out. Not much to say other than it was clean.

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I headed to my gate right as I received the boarding notification at 5:35pm, but clearly the boarding started much earlier as the agent had already called Group 3 when I walked up.

My last flight was on N532GJ, a 16-years old CRJ-550 (of course, it wasn't built as a CRJ-550).

I received the usual antiseptic wipe as I boarded. 

United's CRJ-550s are simply a re-configured CRJ-700 to accommodate scope clauses in pilot contracts. It is a very premium-heavy configuration. 10 first-class seats in a 1-2 configuration, 20 Economy Plus seats in 2-2 and 20 regular economy seats in 2-2. 

I selected 3A, the second-to-last solo seat. 4A would be even more separated–there is no row next to that seat.

There is an additional luggage storage space in the middle of the cabin. This is where I put my carryon. I later asked the flight attendant to hang my coat (I wasn't sure if this was self-service or not). In any case, she was happy to do so.

The seats themselves are fairly normal for the regional jets, with a few noticeable differences. First, they have 42 inches of pitch, much more generous than the usual 37-38 we see nowadays. Second, there is  a little counter on the left-side armrest to setting a drink or a snack. Third, the tray table and overhead board has been refreshed and has a newer, sleeker look.

Here's a look the row of two next to me.

As usual, first class was full on a domestic flight but economy seemed about half empty. We pushed back on time at 6:00pm. 

We took off at 6:13pm. The captain announced a cruising altitude of 8,000 feet, though according to Flightradar we were at 6,000 feet for most of the flight. There was no service on the flight–rather you served yourself from the forward snack cabinet. Apologies, but I completely forgot to take a picture of the cabinet. It had the usual United snacks: Biscoff cookies, stroopwafels, pretzels, etc . . . .

After a short flight, we touched down at 7:11pm. Unfortunately, the early arrival was wiped out by the fact that ramp personnel were not read and we didn't actually get set up "at" the gate until 7:26pm. From there, we deplaned and walked up to the actual terminal.