Check In and Security
I arrived at DCA at around 6:30 a.m., approximately an hour before my scheduled departure time of 7:30 a.m. I wasn’t checking a bag, and I took the metro to DCA today, so it wasn’t a far walk for me to get to security from the metro.
I then proceeded through security at the South Security checkpoint. DCA has several lines for security and very clear signage indicating where to go. There is a line for general screening, priority, PreCheck, and Clear.
I have both Precheck and Clear, and security took less than 2 minutes. There was no line at security this morning.
The Lounge: The United Club
I then proceeded to the United Club at DCA which is located across from gate B10. Note, that United does not allow access for flying domestically in first class. Because I am not only a United Club Member, but also flying in Polaris business class on my flight from Chicago, and also United 1K on an international itinerary, I had access multiple ways. You can view the full United Club access policy here: https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/travel/airport/lounge-access.html
I’ve done an extensive review of this lounge before, so I won’t do a detailed review again today because it’s pretty much the same. You can view that review here: https://flight-report.com/en/report/65667/united-express-ua4589-washington-dca-newark-ewr/
The United Club doesn't have a great food selection. There were stale bagels, yogurt, and some fruit. There was a coffee machine but the only selection available was decaf Americano, and I didn't want that.
Boarding, the Cabin and Seat
United begins boarding their A319s 35 minutes prior to departure, so I stayed in the lounge for only a few minutes before arriving at the gate at 6:55, just in time for boarding to begin.
Boarding today was out of gate B11, which is literally right across the hallway from the United Club. All of the United gates at DCA are located within a 1 minute walk of the United Club.
Boarding began right on time at 6:55. The flight was really empty today with only 34 seats booked out of 126 total seats! I was probably the second person on board.
The First class cabin on the A319 is arranged in a 2-2 configuration, and features 12 first class recliner seats across 3 rows.
I quickly found my seat, 2A, a window seat on the left side of the cabin. The seat features 37 inches of pitch, is 21.1 inches wide, and has 4 inches of recline.
The seat has a center console on the right with a universal power outlet, and the tray table
In the left armrest, there’s a button for your seat recline as well as a small cubby that’s perfect for a tablet or a notebook.
The seat also has 2 windows.
Pre-Departure, Taxi, and Takeoff
At 7:05, boarding was already completed, and a pre departure beverage of either water or orange juice was offered. I went with water. It’s important to stay hydrated when traveling, especially on long haul flights.
At 7:07, the flight attendant offered to hang up my coat, but I declined. It was so cold on the aircraft that I wanted to keep my jacket with me just in case.
At 7:18, the captain came on to announce our flight time of 1 hour and 46 minutes in the air. He also said that we would have some bumps on the second half of the flight but that the first half of the flight should be smooth.
At 7:19, the safety demonstration began.
We pushed back at 7:23, and began our taxi to the runway.
As we taxied out, we passed this American Airlines 737-800 with the special Air Cal Livery. It's always cool to spot special liveries!
At 7:31, we were rolling down runway 19 for departure.
On the climbout, you can really tell how loud the engines are on this aircraft. United opted to have the IAE engines on their A319s, which are louder than the CFM engines. But, they actually give the aircraft a really good climb performance!
Cruise
Speaking of climb performance, we reached 10,000 feet at 7:35, which meant we were well on our way to Chicago.
At 7:47, a snack basket was brought out. I selected the Tate’s Chocolate Chip Cookies. We were also offered something to drink. I ordered a Coke Zero.
At 7:48, the captain came on to announce that he was turning the fasten seatbelt sign off and that we might hit some rough air later. He said that we should also expect an early arrival into Chicago.
Since we were at cruise, I decided to sit back to enjoy United’s In Flight Entertainment (IFE). United is currently working to retrofit their cabins on their narrowbody fleet to the new United NEXT interior, which has seatback screens at every seat. This flight was originally scheduled on an aircraft that was retrofitted, but was changed to this one, which does not.
On aircraft where United doesn’t have seatback screens, personal device entertainment is available to be streamed to your device. United has a lot of options that can be streamed and has a very diverse selection. I decided to watch one of my absolute favorite movies, “Hitch”. It’s a classic, in my opinion.
At this point, I decided to switch my clock to Chicago time, so the rest of this review will be in Chicago time. It was 6:56 in Chicago.
At 7:03, the flight attendant brought me another Coke Zero.
Descent and Arrival
At 7:46, the captain came on to announce that we were beginning our initial descent into Chicago, and that we were expected to be in the ground around 8:20 am local time.
The cloud layer was quite low in Chicago today (1,500 feet AGL according to the Captain) so even approaching from the East, there were no views of the Chicago skyline on our approach today.
We touched down on runway 28C at 8:18 am
We parked at gate B20 at 8:32, for a 20 minute early arrival.
