Quick Facts
Flight Number: United 16
Flight Route: Newark (EWR) – London (LHR)
Flight Date: Friday, May 6
Depart: 9:10 PM
Arrive: 9:20 AM
Aircraft: Boeing 767-400ER
Seat Number: 23 K (Econ Plus), Upgraded from 32K
Paid: 30,000 miles ($5.60 tax)
When I originally booked this flight with my fiance, we booked it in the regular economy class. She used to fly a lot for her old job and was able to collect a ton of miles, but before meeting me, she didn’t know how to use them. Since I have become the regular flier in the relationship, we decided to try to use up some of hers and save mine. She currently has no status, but I have silver with United. Why is this important? Well, we learned that if your travel partner with no status books the flight for both of you on an award ticket with their miles, you can still use the benefits of your status (this case silver) for both people on the ticket. Just make sure both frequent flier numbers are on the reservation.
When the time came to check-in to the flight, we did everything through my account and I was able to change seats 24-hours out and upgrade both of us to economy plus. Just in case anyone wondered, you can do that.
As far as the flight, before even getting on we were delayed over an hour and a half due to the plane coming in late from Washington. Before the boarding process started, I saw a few people line up in their Boarding Group lines and figured we might as well too. One, because we had been sitting for a while and two, because we were about to be sitting for even longer on a plane. When we got to our Boarding Group 2 line we realized they already started the boarding process. No announcements were made. The agent never said a word or used United’s automated process for calling out boarding groups. When Group 1 was half way through boarding, people around the area finally realized what was going on and started to try to board the plane right away. People from Group 5 thought they could just start boarding now and needless to say, it was a bit of a mess. The agent never did make announcements but just turned people away at the gate if it wasn’t their boarding time.
Finally on the plane
After finally getting on the plane and getting into our seats in 23 K and 23 L we started to look through the entertainment system on the aircraft. Prior to this flight we had looked up what movie and television offerings United would have for the month of May and came up with a general idea of how we were going to pass the time. Turns out, United never updated its system and still featured movies from last month’s selection. There were still decent options, but it was just an annoyance that they hadn’t updated their system.
Our seats 23K and 23L
What we would be staring at for the next 7 hours on this flight
The seat itself was pretty comfortable for the flight. For me, the new thin fake leather seats you see nowadays bother me to sit on. So I was happy with the more padded cloth seats. The screen was a decent size and its touch capabilities worked for the most part. On the front was also a USB port to plug in your device and between our seats was a power outlet. One other thing I liked about this aircraft is that there is no bar to section off the storage space by your feet. When you’re traveling with someone you know, this is a nice benefit, since now you don’t have something taking up space where your foot can go. Though, if you’re traveling with someone you don’t know, I could see how it would become extremely annoying if the person next to you hogged up all the space.
The touchscreen entertainment system with USB port
Food/Beverage
The food came out pretty quickly and the entrees served were either chicken or vegetarian. The meal is about what you would expect from United in economy. The chicken wasn’t awful, and I think that’s saying a lot. The rest of it was alright, but nothing special.
The chicken entree
We were offered mango sherbet for dessert. It was OK, but it isn’t ice cream, which is what the flight attendants called it.
Mango Sherbet
Then in the morning, your breakfast is a croissant in a bag. I am not a fan of it, especially since bread isn’t my ideal breakfast.
Bread that I wasn’t a big fan of
As far as beverages go, beer is complimentary and so is wine. The wine list is a Chardonnay and a Merlot, both of them are OK at best.
The beer options are pretty standard, Budweiser, Miller Lite, Goose IPA and Heineken.
Service
Generally, United isn’t know for its service on a flight. I find that I get pretty lucky for the most part and have, what I consider, good service. I thought the service on this flight was exceptional. Very friendly flight attendants who constantly checked the aisles to see if anyone needed anything. They were a great bunch of people, and not enough can be said about them.
Bottom Line
This flight was a decent one. As far as hard product goes, it’s a United Economy flight and it’s pretty much what you would expect. As far as everything else, the staff was super friendly this flight but the food was lackluster.
