A Quick Transcon Trip
This was a quick work trip to the Bay Area. I was lucky enough to be able to book widebodies both ways. Not sure why United only flies this route with widebodies on two frequencies. I guess EWR-SFO is the only route they really care about making it "premium." To note, United does not sell this route as a "premium" transcon flight.
Enchainement de vols
- 1UA1116 - Domestic First - Washington → San Francisco - Boeing 787-9
- 2UA717 - Domestic First - San Francisco → Washington - Boeing 777-300ER
Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)
I got to Dulles just over an hour before my flight and it was an absolute zoo–absolutely packed. Even with CLEAR and Pre-Check it took half an hour for me to clear security. I was even redirected to use the West check point, which I rarely ever use.
UA1116
My ride to San Francisco was on N27957, a 9-years-old Boeing 787-9. This is my first time flying a lie-flat on a transcon flight (since for the most part United flies narrowbodies from IAD to SFO).
Boarding began on time at 7:35am and because of the slow security, I only got to the gate at the start of Group 3 boarding.
United's 787-9s have 48 J seats split across two cabins. A main cabin of 8 rows and a smaller, mini cabin of 4 rows.
I was seated in 11A, the second-to-last row of J in the mini cabin.
These Polaris seats are definitely showing plenty of wear and tear, but they're holding up pretty decently. For a day-time transcon flight where I would be working all flight, it's a great seat.
I had a glass of water for my PDB. Glassware not offered on these non-premium transcon flights.
We pushed back at 8:28am, 3 minutes behind schedule, and took off at 8:54am.
I wasn't sure when service began, I dozed off for a little bit on takeoff. I promptly asked for a cup of coffee to start. I originally planned on getting coffee to-go at the C1 lounge before the flight, but the speed of security meant I wasn't going to make that.
The FA swung by shortly after takeoff to acknowledge that I had preordered a meal and thanked me for my loyalty as a 1K.
Here were the pre-order options.
I had the monterey jack and red pepper egg bites. It wasn't bad.
United offers a flat $8 whole-flight WiFi for domestic flights. It was pretty bad and hard to work with more than just emailing.
At some point, I checked the lavatory, which were standard for 789s. United has fully transitioned to Therabody amenities in the lavatories.
The nice thing about these kind of flights is that you can really focus on work the entire flight and be really productive. Before I knew it, we were almost to California. I realized the Dreamliner shades were locked somewhere around Denver.
The FAs were proactive about offering refills on drinks and regularly checked to
Shades seemed unlocked as we were flying over the last stretch of the Rockies.
We landed at 10:59am PT.
And reached our gate 7 minutes later.
Great report! I'm flying the 789 from IAD-LAX in a few weeks on the evening flight, and looking forward to it!
Thanks for reading Shivpilot! Hope your flight goes well!
Nice report YGeorgeW (all of your reports are nice, especially the Ek F ones 😮), thanks for sharing! It's always such a treat to have a wide body on a domestic hop. Was there no blanket on this flight? I didn't see one on the picture you took of the seat. Recently flew the 789 from IAD to LAX and they offered a blanket but maybe that is only for evening flight?
In regards to food, I definitely have to agree with you. The one aspect about flying domestic first is that the staff tend to grab you a free tapas box (most of the time) regardless of if you are 1`K. always been my trick when flying UA/B6/AS.
At least the cabin looked relatively clean! Have to agree with you on this, as they are showing signs of wear and tear, but happen to still be holding up nicely. I'll be interested to see their new business class product in a few years time.
Thanks again for sharing!
Thanks for reading jettoajet!
Surprisingly not pre-set blanket waiting at the seat, though I think I saw people ask for them. I was working the entire flight so I didn't bother.
After eating those tapas boxes for pretty much the entirety of 2020-2022, I'll be fine if I never see one of those boxes ever again.
Agreed; this particular plane was holding up much better than some of the other ones I've flown--but generally Polaris seats are holding up decently despite the wear and tear.
I hope the rollout is faster this time.
Hi YGeorgeW!
Interesting data point. I sure wish UA would provide a pillow on these flights as well.
Ahaha 😂. Didn't realise you were 1K (I think?). They should really refresh these boxes with new items every few months or so. Or maybe a special edition rotating a few times per year.
Thanks again for the review! 🤟
I definitely like how UA run so many widebodies on domestic routes. And this flight is on a fancy proper long-haul Polaris-equipped bird, as opposed to the domestic 777s that you often see on these types of routes. Almost makes me want to fly UA...almost 😅
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for reading, Kevin! Unfortunately, I have to report that United does sometimes sub in the domestic 777s with the dorm seats in J (just flew it, in fact).