Preface
I wasn’t originally going to review this flight because it’s your standard E-175 flight from CLT-IAD and there wouldn’t be anything special about it. However, my plans changed when I received notice that this aircraft would be equipped with the new Starlink WiFi! So I was excited to check it out.
Also my complimentary upgrade with my Premier 1K status cleared exactly 120 hours prior to departure time.
Check In and Security
CLT is arranged where there is one terminal for landside operations and extending from that, 5 concourses in pier-like structures that make up the airside operations.
I arrived at the Terminal at 4:45, about an hour and fifteen minutes ahead of my scheduled departure time of 6:00.
United has a small check in area with some self service kiosks and a bag drop. I went to the kiosk and printed my boarding pass, as I didn’t have any bags to check today.
CLT has 3 TSA screening checkpoints for the entire airport. TSA pre check is only available at checkpoint 2, which is located near the C/D gates. I made my way there and there was no line. It took me less than a minute to clear security.
Once through security, I made the walk to the A gates, which is where United departs from. That meant walking across from B to C and then to the bottom of the A gates. The A gates at CLT are not like the other concourses here, there are three distinct piers with different gates. My gate today was A30, which was in the last pier of the A gates. There weren’t many people around at 4:50 am, but I can imagine that this would be a long walk if there were more people around. I’d recommend allocating at least 20 minutes to get from the TSA checkpoint to your gate.
Boarding, the Cabin, and Seat
I arrived at gate A30 at around 5:00. There weren’t any concessions open in this part of the A gates at this time of morning, so that would’ve meant trekking all the way back to the main part of the terminal to even grab a cup of coffee. I decided to wait until boarding started.
Boarding began right on time at 5:35 a.m. with preboarding, starting with passengers with disabilities, then Global Services, then families with children under the age of 2, and finally my group of Premier 1Ks.
The aircraft was pretty empty when I boarded.
The first class cabins arranged in a 1-2 configuration with solo window and aisle seats on the left side of the aircraft.
Today, my seat was 3A, a solo window and aisle seat on the left side of the aircraft.
The seat features 37 inches of pitch, 20 inches of width, and 5 inches of recline, which is a lot of space for such a small aircraft!
At 5:45, a Pre-Departure Beverage of water was offered.
At 5:51, the captain came on to announce our flight time of 47 minutes and said that we’d have some bumps on the way due to the weather.
At 5:53, the boarding door was closed.
At 5:54, the flight attendant came by to take our cups.
At 5:57, the safety demonstration began.
Starlink Wifi:
Since this flight offered Starlink WiFi, it was free for MileagePlus members on as many devices as you need. It also allows you to stream things and do whatever you need. United offers free personal device entertainment through this system, but why watch United’s entertainment when I can watch my own streaming services for free?
I did a Speedtest and the WiFi speeds were 264 mbps down and 43 mbps up. This is incredibly fast, especially for an airplane!
I was able to stream Netflix on my iPad for the entire flight with no issues!
Taxi and Takeoff
At 6:01, we began our pushback and taxi.
It was raining with sleet, so the window views pretty much looked like this the whole flight.
At 6:17, we were rolling down runway 36C for departure.
Cruise
At 6:26, we were at cruise. And the flight attendant began in flight service.
At 6:40, I was asked if I wanted something to drink. I figured it was a bit early for an alcoholic beverage and I still had a full work day ahead of me, so we just went with a coffee.
Descent and Arrival
At 6:49, the first officer came on to announce that we had begun our descent into Washington-Dulles and that we’d be landing in 20 minutes.
A minute later, the flight attendant came by to take my coffee cup, and started preparing the cabin for landing.
We hit some really rough air on our descent. I mean, really rough.
At 7:05, we touched down on runway 1L.
We parked at gate Z6 at 7:10, for an almost 20 minute early arrival.
