Review of United flight from Los Angeles to Washington in Economy

Report No: 2020-1208

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to the third and last part of this series where I would return to Washington, DC for a physical meeting the following week. As United was the cheapest for my travel day, I opted to fly United this time.

So subsequently, the eighth and the last Flight-Report of this series would be onboard a United flight from Los Angeles to Washington Dulles onboard the Boeing 737-900ER. On this occasion, I also had the chance to visit the United Club in LAX Terminal 7.

Here is the routing ( the remaining parts would be revealed soon )
Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Loads for this flight

Domestic First: 100%
Economy: 40-45%

Los Angeles INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - LAX

After arriving from my previous American Airlines flight from Dallas Fort Worth, I had a couple of hours and as I needed to work on my computer for 1-2 hours, I decided not to leave the airport. Although, just after arriving from my previous flight, I did decide to take a walk.

My walk was going to be from Terminal 4 to TBIT, followed by a longer walk from TBIT to Terminal 7.

Unfortunately at TBIT, the QF First Class Lounge is closed

Such as the oneworld Business Class lounge operated by Qantas.

As well as the Star Alliance Lounge

The seating of this lounge is covered with plastic due to the long term closure, however, the lights were open.

The Los Angeles International Lounge ( contract lounge ) was also closed

All other lounges except the AMEX Centurion Lounge in TBIT were closed. The AMEX Centurion Lounge only offered grab-and-go food during the day I traveled.

It's now time to head to Terminal 7. Here are the FIDS

While walking, I have seen an error in the signages as gate 122 does not exist anymore at LAX.

After a 10 minute walk I was at the T6-T7 connector,

UNITED CLUB - Los Angeles INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

I have arrived at the United Club which is the only available lounge for myself for the day.
After being welcomed by the friendly agent, I headed upstairs to the club.

Just a warning that indoor food & beverage consumption is not allowed inside the lounge and all food & beverages should be consumed at the outdoor patio. That Sunday morning, the lounge was pretty empty.

FIDS from the lounge. By the way, the time at the board does not represent the actual time. I wasn't there in the evening. It was probably a glitch.

The lounge also had private work cubicles, however, still you are not allowed to consume food & beverage inside them as United was following the LA County Health Guidance.

If we return to how food is served, the buffet and the self service fountain drink and coffee machines were all closed. All food & beverages should be requested from the bar.

The bar

After picking up your food & beverages from the bar an host would be assigning you a table and you are only allowed to sit 20 minutes outside at a single round. After that you should go back into the line and wait your turn. However, if there is nobody waiting, you are allowed to seat more than 20 minutes at the outdoor patio.

The food offerings are mainly snacks. For my first round, I opted for an iced latte, some nuts and brownie bites.

About 25-30 minutes later, the host came to me and told me that there were people waiting outside so I needed to go back inside. At that time I went inside and found a quiet corner.

While I did some work on my computer, I also watched the movement in the apron.

Such as the arrival of this 757

And this United Express Embraer E-175

An American 777-200ER passing by

United A320 parked at gate 70A.

A view of the other side of the apron. I was lucky to spot a Qatar Airways A350-1000 landing.

After the patio had available seats, I've headed back and this time I had some instant noodles which would be my lunch for the day.

As a dessert, I had a cheesecake

Before leaving the lounge, it was possible to see N62849 which would be the aircraft taking me to Washington DC.

GATE AREA & BOARDING

After having lunch and spending 3 hours in the club, it was time to leave and head to the gate. As today's flight was empty in the Economy cabin the gate area was not crowded.

Here is another shot of N62849

Boarding was made with the order of passengers requiring extra assistance, MileagePlus Global Services and Premier 1K members, active US military personnel, First Class passengers which was followed by row-by-row boarding for Economy passengers. As a *G member, I didn't have priority boarding due to the temporary changes although this flight was empty so the overhead bin space wasn't filled. The disadvantage of boarding last ( front rows of Economy in this case ) is that overhead lockers could be easily filled in US domestic flights and you might be forced to gate check your carry-on. 

I have boarded when my row number was announced and took this fuselage shot before entering the aircraft.

UA 783 Los Angeles INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO WASHINGTON DULLES AIRPORT

After being welcomed by the crew and being handed an hand sanitizing wipe, I headed to my seat 14F.

The legroom in Economy is 30 inches in United short-haul aircraft which is completely OK for me.

The seats today were the Pinnacle seats that you could find in many airlines including American Airlines and British Airways short-haul aircraft as well.

Here is a shot of the hand sanitizing wipe that was provided upon boarding.

Here is a shot of the safety card. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, United does not provide a physical copy of their Hemispheres magazine anymore.

The seat was equipped with a power outlet although there were no USB ports.

A view from my seat while boarding was continuing

Boarding was completed and I had a great surprise. Seats 14D and 14E were empty for the day.

Overhead panel

After boarding was completed the safety demo was performed by the crew, however, the demonstration of oxygen masks were not shown and passengers were asked to check the safety card if they don't know how to use an oxygen mask.

Wi-Fi was available gate to gate on this flight. Such as personal device entertainment

Our flight time was going to be 4h40mins.

We were estimated to arrive 10 minutes later than our scheduled arrival time which I don't know why

Wi-Fi options for this flight. I didn't purchase Wi-Fi on this flight.

And here is the Personal Device Entertainment system menu

Movies & TV shows are available to stream through the app.

While we were waiting for clearance to push-back, this United A320 was passing by

As soon as we got the approval from the Ground Operations Center, we have started our push back.

Cargo aircraft at the cargo terminal

More cargo aircraft

After a short taxi, we have arrived at the runway and without wait we were set to take-off.

Alaska aircraft at remote stands

United 787 at a remote stand

Terminal 7

Terminal 6

Terminal 5

As we were parallel with Terminal 5, we were in the air.

Terminal 4

TBIT

China Airlines 777-300ER passing by

The new Midfield Satellite Concourse that would open soon

Some wide-bodies were parked at remote stands. I don't know the reason but a China Southern A380 was there as well.

Some photos after takeoff

After a U turn in the air, we were heading eastbound.

After a while, service had started with snacks and beverages. Here is the snack bag that was provided.

Here is the content. A stroopwafel, a bag of pretzels, a bottle of water and a hand sanitizing wipe.

As a drink, I've opted for a hot chocolate

About 20 minutes later the cabin crew came to collect trash and I've asked if they had blankets as I would sleep, the cabin crew told me that they didn't have blankets loaded but could heat up the cabin if I was cold. I thanked her as my initial intention to increase my comfort rather than changing the cabin temperature which was decent.

Surprisingly, I woke up just after the seatbelt signs have turned on for landing and about a few minutes later we had already touched down at IAD.

United 777 at Terminal D

After a short taxi, we were going to park at gate D1

Next to another United 737-900ER

According to United protocol, deboarding was made row-by-row, however, as I experienced with United in the past, the announcements were really fast as passengers sitting in the front EconomyPlus rows were still in the aisle gathering their belongings from the overhead lockers while passengers seating in rows behind the exit rows were allowed to disembark the aircraft.

WASHINGTON DULLES AIRPORT - IAD

After arriving at the United C/D Terminal in IAD, I've headed to the AirTrain station to head to the main building.

By the way, here are the remaining departures of the day

The terminal was really quiet that Sunday late-evening

As well as the AirTrain station

A shot from the AirTrain

After arriving at the main building, I've decided to head towards the bus stop as I would head to central Washington DC.

However, as the next 5A bus to the city was about 1h10mins later, I decided to sit at one of the empty seating areas at the airport and spend time. I was not in a rush so I didn't want to pay for an Uber/Lyft or a taxi against riding the free-of-charge bus.

While it was closer to the buses departure time, I left the terminal

And boarded the bus pictured below.

After I left the airport, this Flight-Report series has come to an end.
I hope you enjoyed reading this US domestic series.
Thanks for reading and hope to see you in another Flight-Report. 

Next Report:

I would give you a hint that more US domestic flight reports would come soon, as well as domestic flights within Turkey and some international flights including transatlantic ones. For now, I would only give a hint of the next report.