Review of United flight from Honolulu to San Francisco in Domestic First

honolulu to san francisco on United airlines UA1258 in United first

Watch the video for fabulous scenery on the climbout from Honolulu!

For this particular trip from Honolulu to San Francisco, I actually did not originate in Honolulu but rather originated in Sydney. I needed to come back arrive in San Francisco in the evening and the only way to do so was to depart in the evening from Sydney and connect in Honolulu before heading onward to San Francisco arriving late in the evening.

Here is not the plane I was on but rather the plane adjacent to my gate. I could not obtain a good shot of my plane due to its location. But the livery is still the same as this plane going to Los Angeles. The plane that I was on, N779UA was one of the oldest plane I have ever flown on. It was originally delivered to United in July 1996, line number 35!

After going through customs and obtaining my luggage, I walked all the way from the Hawaiian side to the G Gates which was quite a long walk. Even though the layover was 3 hours, because of the long delay to get my luggage and go through security, I did not even have time to catch a meal or bathroom break!  My advice for anyone connecting from an overseas flight is to have at least a 3 hour window!

I was pretty much the last person to board First Class as my name was called up by the Gate Agent to tell me that my tray table was not working and so I was compensated $100!

United's domestic 777-200 fleet consist of the old style Business class setup with a 2-4-2 configuration. Plenty of legroom but not a whole lot of privacy due to it's configuration. Some of the seats are faced backwards and you can clearly see others who are facing frontwards which can be awkward.

Settling in to myself. I was unable to take a good shot of the seat due to my seatmate who was already settled there and did not want to disturb her privacy.

Each seat came with a blanket.

And a rather large pillow!

Headset was also included.

Just taking a quick look at the literature from the "seat pocket". Comes with UA's Hemisphere magazine, Safety Card with brochure for United's Explorer Credit Card.

Here's a look at the supposed broken tray table which actually worked. It just could not properly be stowed away and there was a gap. But it worked fine. Seat controls were also on the side along with controller for the monitor.

The IFE was very lagging and unresponsive. I didn't even bother using it. A bit disappointed.

Pushback

Engine start up.

Taxi to the Reef Runway

And takeoff!

Just a spectacular and fabulous view of Waikiki on takeoff. For better views, watch the Youtube video!

Diamond Head clearly seen.

Shortly after takeoff warm nuts and beverage were served. I chose orange juice.

And then lunch was served. The main entree was rice with chicken katsu with broccolini along with shrimp appetizer, bread roll and cake. The chicken katsu was awfully disappointing as it was too dry and too little sauce.

A tour of the lavatory. It was clean but since the plane was so old, it was obvious that it was tired.

Watch the sunset.

Then nearly 5 hours later it was time to descend into San Francisco International Airport by making a left downwind.

Landing on Runway 28L