Review of United flight Singapore → Hong Kong in Economy

SIN - HKG UA Y / B777-200: HERE
HKG - SIN UA Y / B777-200: Link

Organised an impromptu trip to Hong Kong with some friends. I've never been to Hong Kong, so I was pretty pumped for this trip. United had the best return price, even beating out many budget carriers like Tiger and Scoot. Naturally, in spite of all the negative press, I decided to fly United.

United Airlines
UA 896
Singapore Changi International Airport (SIN) - Hong Kong International Airport (HKG)
B777-200
N216UA
Economy Class
Gate E22

Seeing that I didn't want to take a taxi for a 3am check-in, I took a late train to the airport and arrived at 11pm to save on my transport fare. I met with several of my friends and we hung around Terminal 2 till check-in. As we approached the check-in timing, a queue started to form and we quickly joined the queue.


United uses a self check-in machines and you have to scan your own passports and print your own boarding passes. It's not very good though as my Malaysian friend's passport was not accepted and he had to be manually checked in.


Wasting no time after checking in, we head straight into the gate. Terminal 2 concourse is undergoing some renovations so there isn't much to see.


A shot of the boarding pass printed from the self check-in.


Being one of the first to reach the gate, we are one of the first into the boarding area (after the Priority Passengers of course).


Our bird for tonight, a 17 year old B772. She still looks like she's in great shape.


We wait, charging our devices at the power sockets for the journey ahead before finally, it's time to board. Being seated at the back of the plane, we were first to board this extremely full flight.


We enter through the 2nd door, into the Business class cabin. I was surprised by the configuration of the business class with it's forward and backwards seating.


The Economy Plus section takes up most of the rest of the plane. Only the last section of the plane was for regular Economy passengers. The cabin is configured in a 3-3-3 seating arrangement.


I quickly move to the back and take my seat. It's fairly comfortable although the IFE screen is extremely small for current times. Legroom is acceptable for me.


The rest of the passengers slowly board. The flight is completely full today.


A quick look at the flight map for this trip. A four-hour trip from Changi to Chek Lap Kok.


A view of the reading materials onboard this flight. Safety card, United Mileage Plus information card, Duty-free magazine and Hemispheres magazine.


United plays their amusing safety video right before take-off.


And we're off towards Hong Kong!


Fiddling about with the IFE. The screen may be small but the selection is decent. Decided on "Passengers" to see what the fuss was about.


Lunch was served approximately an hour into the flight.


Choices was noodles or omelette. I picked the noodles but upon seeing the noodles, I wished I had picked the omelette. The noodles were dry and not very tasty. The fruit and cookie were pretty good though. The stewardess was kind enough to give me the entire can of apple juice for breakfast.


Post-meal obligatory toilet visit. The toilet was clean and fairly large on this B772.


I fell asleep after the toilet break and woke up after another hour. The crew was handing out arrival cards for passengers alighting at Hong Kong.


Starting our final descent into Hong Kong.


Landed in Hong Kong!


The whole plane starts to disembark, including passengers heading to Chicago.


A view of the empty cabin.



Good bye N216UA, have a safe trip ahead.


Hong Kong International Airport is a huge airport.


Taking the bus into the city. It's the cheapest form of transport and frankly at less than half the price of the Airport Express, it's the best option for the budget conscious traveller.