CHECK IN AND SECURITY
I arrived at IAD at around 6:00 a.m., about 2 hours and 45 minutes prior to my departure time of 8:45 a.m. Ordinarily, I would not arrive this early, but I was having some trouble with United’s online check in. It wouldn’t let me check in, and kept saying that I would be required to check in at the airport. So, I wanted to make sure I arrived early enough in case there was any issue- I was also checking in a bag.
Turns out the issue was nothing major. One of my segments was showing as not being ticketed, but after 2 minutes, the issue was resolved. I remember once when I flew with American Airlines on a domestic flight, I had this issue, and it took the agents 2 hours to resolve it while making several phone calls. So, from now on, when I get an error checking in online- I arrive at the airport VERY EARLY.
United has several different lanes to check in at IAD. There’s a line for Economy, one for Premier Access, one for Global Services, and if you head to the back- there’s the 1K and Polaris check in area- which is usually very quiet. Because I’m both 1K and flying in Polaris today, I had access to this line.
I checked my bag in and was on my way within just a few minutes.
I then made my way to the TSA PreCheck checkpoint at IAD. Sometimes, in the mornings at IAD, the Precheck line can take upwards of 30 minutes, even if you have CLEAR. However, today, it took less than 5 minutes and I was on my way in no time.
THE IAD POLARIS LOUNGE
Once through security, I made my way to the C concourse, and arrived at the Polaris Lounge at around 6:15 a.m.
It’s important to note that Domestic First Class on United does not normally grant you any lounge access. However, if you are connecting onto a flight in Polaris Business Class, you do receive access to the Polaris Lounge. Be sure to review the full Polaris Lounge access policy here.
I previously reviewed the IAD Polaris Lounge at this time of the morning, extensively last year. And the layout of the lounge hasn’t changed at all since then. You can view that review here.
I will however, highlight my experience of having breakfast in the Dining Room this morning.
The Buffet wasn’t in operation today and there was a sign saying that if you wanted breakfast, that you should ask a staff member and they will bring it to you.
Either way, I was heading over to the dining room for breakfast.
As is usual in the IAD dining room at this time of the morning, there was nobody else there.
I sat down and my server gave me a menu, though I took a picture of the larger menu for purposes of this review.
I got a cup of coffee and ordered the quiche. He said that it’s a very small dish and that I should probably order something else also. So I ordered an omelette with Mushrooms, tomatoes, onions and Swiss cheese.
The quiche was cold on the inside, which turned me off from it, so I didn’t really eat it.
The omelette was nice and the eggs were fluffy and is pretty much what you’d expect.
My server never came back and was hiding in the kitchen after he brought my food. After I finished eating, I waited about 20 minutes just to see if he’d come back, but when I realized he wasn’t, I decided to leave and grab a seat near the windows for the rest of my visit.
Boarding, Cabin, and Seat
My gate today was gate C25, which is located in the same concourse building as the Polaris Lounge at IAD. It’s worth noting that any gate in the C/D concourse is a maximum 15 minute walk from the Polaris lounge, so there’s no need to rush your time in the lounge.
I arrived at the gate just prior to boarding beginning at 8:10 a.m. Boarding began right on time with preboarding. Starting with passengers with disabilities, followed by active duty military, families with children under the age of 2, Global Services, and then Premier 1Ks.
Domestic First Class boards with group 1 ordinarily, but I boarded with Premier 1Ks, with my Premier 1K status.
United’s 737-700 in First is arranged in a 2-2 configuration across 3 rows of seating. My seat was seat 1A, the window seat on the left side of the aircraft in the bulkhead. This seat does not offer underseat storage, so you will need to store all of your belongings in the overhead bin.
The seat features 38 inches of pitch, 5 inches of recline, and 20.4 inches of width. The seat has power outlets at every seat.
This was one of the 737-700s that still had the DirecTV IFE screen.
In the left armrest, there is a small cubby hole perfect for a tablet or notebook or something like that.
In the right armrest, there’s a cocktail tray, the tray table that folds out, and the DirecTV controls. This is also where you’ll find the power outlet.
The seat has two windows. One ahead of you and one slightly behind you. The one thing that I don’t like about the 737s is that the windows sit below eye level for most people so to look out of them, you have to kind of duck down.
Pre-Departure
At 8:35, boarding was completed.
Also at 8:35, the flight attendant came by with a tray offering a pre departure beverage of either water or orange juice. I declined as I had already had plenty of water in the Polaris lounge.
At 8:39, the captain came on to welcome us on board and announced our flight time of 47 minutes at an altitude of 21,000 feet.
The Flight
We pushed back right on time at 8:45 a.m., at which point, the safety video began to play.
At 8:54, we were holding short of runway 1C, which is somewhat of a rare departure out of IAD. I think I’ve only departed runway 1C twice before today.
At 8:59, we took the runway for departure.
At 9:02, we reached 10,000 feet, meaning that we were well on our way up to Newark. I’ve said this before on the 737-700, but this variant of this aircraft has one of the best climb performances of any Boeing aircraft.At 9:02, we reached 10,000 feet, meaning that we were well on our way up to Newark. I’ve said this before on the 737-700, but this variant of this aircraft has one of the best climb performances of any Boeing aircraft.
WiFi is available for $8 for mileageplus members for the full flight. There is seat back IFE offered through DirecTV, but I chose not to really watch it. I just listened to some music on my phone. There’s also a selection of movies and TV shows available to watched through United’s personal device entertainment.
The flight attendants made an announcement that due to the short duration of the flight, they would not be offering a beverage service today, but that if you needed anything, to ring the call bell, and they would be happy to assist you.
That only applied to Economy, however, as, at 9:06, they came by to offer us beverages. I just went with a water since I had enough coffee in the lounge already. A snack basket was also passed around, but I passed. I just wasn’t hungry after the breakfast I’d had in the Polaris Lounge.
Starting at 9:09, we cruised for a while, and I just sat back and relaxed.
Descent and Arrival
At 9:21, the captain came on to announce that we’d begun our descent.
At this point, the flight attendants came through the cabin to prepare the cabin for landing.
The approach gave me some decent views of Manhattan.
We touched down on runway 22L at 9:49a.m., and began our taxi into the gate.
We arrived at Gate C92 at 9:57 a.m., for an on time arrival.
