Review of United flight Vancouver → San Francisco in Domestic First

We decided to go on holiday to California. There are no direct flights between Iceland and California since the end of Wow Air so we decided to fly to Vancouver, one of the furthest direct destinations from Keflavík, and connect from there.

Our itinerary:
Keflavík to Vancouver, Icelandair, business class
Vancouver to San Francisco, United, first class
San Francisco to San Diego, United, first class
Los Angeles to Vancouver, Air Canada, economy class
Vancouver to Keflavík, Icelandair, business class

This flight is sold on United's website as Business/First; the booking class is D which is usually business class but it's called United First here.
The flight is technically international first class but it's better classified as domestic first class for the service (or the lack of it). I booked this class simply because the price between economy and first covered exactly the difference in value of what was included: check-in luggage, priority check-in, priority security, priority boarding and a more comfortable seat.

We stayed at the Westin Wall Centre Vancouver Airport. The hotel does not have a shuttle service but they pay for the taxi. It's an unusual but comfortable solution.

We hear so much nowadays about long lines at airports but I was optimistic and planned to be at the airport at 05.15, about 1 hour and 45 minutes before departure.

There was zero waiting time at check-in: there were absolutely no other passengers neither in economy nor in first class.

Check-in still took time: the agent checked our ESTAs, vaccination certificates, negative covid tests, return flight tickets and she checked in our luggage.

There was zero waiting time at security. We could go into the priority lane but there were almost no other passengers anyway.

Vancouver Airport offers US Customs and Immigration Preclearance. Yes, you guessed it: zero waiting time.

Lounge access was theoretically included in our reservation at Air Canada's Maple Leaf lounge but the lounge opens only at 7am and we were there at about 6am.

Vancouver airport is nice and well organized. The airport - more precisely the US Terminal - was almost empty. Airports all over the world are often the busiest with most departures at about 7am, especially on a Saturday at the beginning of summer, but not here. Shops and cafes were however open.

Here we see why: only two departures between 06.02 and 08.00

The boarding area was not crowded.

Priority boarding was available.

United's A320 has the usual US Domestic First Class configuration.

Seats 1ACDF have very good legroom.

The cabin was refurbished and was in very good condition despite the plane being 28 years old.

The captain made a very personal PA facing the cabin - a nice touch.

A welcome drink was offered: water or orange juice. Sanitizing wipes were also handed out.

An expected flight time of 1 hour and 58 minutes was announced.

Push-back was on time.

Some views during taxi:

Two Icelandair planes on the apron:

We took off at 07.10.

The views after take-off:

United Airlines' First Class catering: a drink and biscuits that would cost about 50 cents in a supermarket.

There are no built-in screens but there's wi-fi and "private screening" which I didn't try.

There's an on-board magazine that less and less airlines have nowadays.

The most interesting part of the magazine is the description of the fleet.

The rest of the flight was uneventful. The sky was cloudy so we had no views until we reached San Francisco - but then we had a fantastic view of the city.

Oakland International Airport.

Hayward Executive Airport.

Dumbarton Bridge.

The views before landing:

We landed at 09.06 for a scheduled arrival time of 09.28.