United Airlines First Class Breakfast Snack

United Airlines serves a fairly good breakfast in first class, but the flight needs to be about 2 hours or longer.  On shorter flights they serve a light snack, like this scone I received. They also have the full bar open, so they aren't cutting back everywhere.

First Class Breakfast Snack

United Airlines 757 First Class Steak Dinner

I grabbed an upgrade heading home from Mother's Day in South Carolina.  The IAD-DEN flight on a 757 had an option of steak or pasta. I went with the steak and it was very tasty and tender.  It also came with a salad, shrimp seviche, and chocolate chip cookie.  United has been serving higher quality meals in first class recently and the trend is continuing.  I hope this is the quality I can rely on soon.

Steak Dinner IAD-DEN

United Orders New 737's

United ordered (full press release here) 100 of Boeing's new fuel efficient 737 MAX airplanes to start updating the current fleet.  Deliveries will begin in a few years.  United also ordered 50 737-900ER jets to replace some 757's in the fleet with deliveries starting next year.  This is a good move for United to lower operating costs and I bet they got a great price on the planes because Boeing is hurting for narrow body orders.  I prefer the Airbus interior so I'm not jumping for joy on this move.  Also the 757 has 4 more first class seats than the 737-900ER and boarding is done through the middle door, so first class has a very private feel.  

United 737 MAX, photo from United Airlines

Strange that this was not announced at the Farnborough Air Show going on right now.  Airbus loves to announce orders at airshows to show off in front of the press.  Boeing prefers to announce orders as they come, but the timing and order size would make this an air show highlight.  Maybe a missed opportunity by United and Boeing.

Iceland Air Lands in Denver

The first international low cost carrier (LCC) is starting service to Denver.  They are promoting the new service with billboards around town and by giving away free tickets on Twitter.  The prices to Iceland aren’t that great.  I ran a couple test dates and nothing came back remotely low cost.  I can fly to Barcelona for less if I wanted.  Unless there are some significant discounts sometime, I don’t plan on booking.  The advertising does suggest you fly onto Europe and use the free Iceland stopover.  It definitely caught my imagination, but the high fares brought me quickly back to reality.

Iceland Air 757 at FRA

United Airlines First Class - 757 Review

Update: Flat bed 757 seat review and 757 Business First to Europe review.

Domestic First class isn’t what it used to be, even just a few years ago, but it still is far better than sitting in economy.  I decided it would be fun to compare first class on United 757 against first class on United’s website.  A few years ago, Northwest Airlines said that only 14% of people in the domestic first class pays first class fares.  United may have a slightly higher percentage (fewer seats than NW), but I would be shocked if the number is over 20%.  Since about 80% of first class passengers didn’t pay to sit there, airlines are degrading the first class experience to save money.  It’s noticeable and I won’t pay to fly first domestically, but upgrades still create some excitement.

United Airlines First Class Seat 757 

Onboard Amenities

Extra-wide leather seats with expanded legroom.  The seat is the star of the show.  More width, more padding, more recline, and more leg room.  The seat is very comfortable and something you can count on every flight.  There is a wide area between the seats for drinks and to create a bit of privacy. 

Complimentary blankets available onboard for use during your flight.  Not always.  Blankets are only found on overnight flights.  The blanket quality took a drop with the Continental merger too; they are now see through and scratchy.  Don’t look for a pillow day or night, those are gone. 

United Airlines First Class Seat 757 Reclined

Meals and Beverages - (Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner Post)

Pre-departure beverage service.  It’s available only if the flight attendants want to serve drinks.  Continental crews will 95% of the time, but United ones are closer to 75% of the time.  Some crews offer water or OJ, other take drink orders.  You can always ask for what you want, wine aside (flight crews don’t like opening bottles on the ground), you should be able to get it.

Complimentary beer, wine, spirits, soft drinks and freshly brewed coffee.  All true.  Same drinks as in coach, but the wine comes in full size bottles.  The new United coffee isn’t very good though and Bailey’s isn’t always onboard to fix the flavor issues.  Drinking contests with seatmates make the flight go much faster.

Hot towel service.  Towels are provided after takeoff.  I like to wipe down my seating area before the meal service.  Towels used to become very dirty after this process, but now they don’t find as much dirt.  This is my unscientific way to see that United is keeping their planes much cleaner than in years past.

United Airlines First Class Seat 757 Legroom

Meal service on flights longer than two hours.  I’ve always liked airline food, even the slop served in coach when I was a kid, so digest this review with that in mind.  United flights offer two items, omelet or fruit plate for breakfast and usually pasta/salad or a sandwich/wrap for lunch and dinner.  Some meals also come with soup, usually excellent (bad lunch review, good lunch review).  A roll or salad is also sometimes offered.  The menu changes about every month.  Desert is a baked on board cookie.  They usually serve a great chocolate chip cookie, but every once and a while mix it up with oatmeal raisin or white chocolate cranberry.  On flights less than 2 hours, a snack basket is passed around with nuts, chips, Clif Bars, and bananas.  Not very inspiring, Lufthansa does a meal service on short flights, United can just as easily. 

Entertainment 

Audio entertainment with complimentary headsets provided on aircraft equipped with in-flight entertainment.  Better headsets than in coach, but your own might still be better.

Complimentary DIRECTV® on equipped aircraft (most 90%+ of the 737 fleet).  Free live tv is standard on JetBlue, while United charges $4 or $6 in coach.  First Class gets it for free and has the same ear buds as in coach.

United Airlines 757 at EWR Sunrise

Complimentary movies on all flights three hours or longer.  This is a standard offering in all cabins.  They did show The Artist on a recent flight, so not every inflight movie is garbage.

A complimentary copy of Hemispheres magazine.  Every seat has a copy, not very special.  Hemispheres is a better read than most inflight magazines though.

Airport arrival and departure

Premier AccessSM check-in, baggage handling, boarding and security lines (where available).  2 free checked bags, short line for check in, security, and boarding.  All nice perks for flying first.