Review of United flight Chicago Washington in Economy

Airline United
Flight UA1500
Class Economy
Seat 11A
Aircraft Boeing 737-800
Flight time 01:56
Take-off 10 Dec 23, 17:52
Arrival at 10 Dec 23, 20:48
UA   #68 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 384 reviews
YGeorgeW
By GOLD 185
Published on 2nd January 2024

Friends reunion in chicago


This is the return trip of my quick weekend in Chicago.  As with my previous flight, my upgrade did not clear.  I was No. 6 on the upgrade list this time around (the top two cleared).


Routing


chicago o'hare international airport


Because I was accompanying a friend who was flying on American, I first went to T3 with her.  T3, like other AA terminals did not have CLEAR, but Precheck by itself was reasonably fast.  The terminal was decked out in the Christmas spirit already.


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The WiFi in the terminal itself was reasonably fast.


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ua1500


It was a bit of walking (somewhere around 10-15 minutes) from the end of T3 to my gate in T2.

My flight home was on N78524, a 13-years old Boeing 737-800.  Boarding began promptly at 5:14pm CT.


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UA has the same 3-3 arrangement across its 737s.


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I was in 11A, the same seat as the previous flight, with the missing window.  Luckily, we had one of these older 737s again with IFE screens.



The controls for the IFE screens can be found in the armrest.  I imagine that once the retrofits are complete, all the IFE screens will be touchscreen, but I feel bad for the middle seat currently as either window or aisle seat passenger (depending on where you sit) will have to encroach in your space to control their IFE.


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Economy Plus offers plenty of leg room for an average guy like me.


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We pushed back at 5:52pm (3 minutes early) and took off at 6:11pm.

Service began 14 minutes after takeoff with just water.  I'm not sure if I dozed off at some point or something, but there was no other service?  I was under the impression there should have been at least snacks on this flight.


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Throughout the flight, for whatever reason, there was no power coming through the outlet.  Luckily I charged my devices at the gate.

Around 8:08pm ET the captain announced the seat belt sign would be turned on for the rest of the flight due to turbulence.

We landed at 8:45pm ET and was at our gate 3 minutes later, slightly before the scheduled arrival.


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I landed at DCA to a complete mess on the ground as storms in the area had caused significant delays and a bottleneck.  Ubers/Lyfts were outrageously expensive (and also a 10+ minute wait).  I simply got in the taxi line, which took about 15 minutes before I got a taxi.  It was still drizzling so I did not want to bother with the Metro.  Pro tip for DCA: if you're going to DC, more often than not it's faster to grab a taxi and also cheaper.  It's consistently around $15-16 + tip to get home where I live near downtown.  Rideshares often charge $20+, especially when arriving in the evening.


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Verdict

United

6.0/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew5.5
Entertainment/wifi8.5
Meal/catering2.0

Chicago - ORD

6.9/10
Efficiency7.5
Access6.0
Services6.0
Cleanliness8.0

Washington - DCA

8.4/10
Efficiency8.5
Access9.0
Services7.0
Cleanliness9.0

Conclusion

Cabin & Seat: As with the previous report, this is one of United's older 737s and the preferable economy sections to the newer planes (until the retrofit is done). The seats are fine and have seatback IFE screens.

Service: Always hard to comment on the service for these domestic flights in economy, but it felt more perfunctory than usual.

Meal & Catering: Even for a US domestic flight, having just water (not even a beverage choice) seemed really lackluster. I wasn't sure if I had somehow dozed off and missed service, but I didn't notice anyone around me drinking more than just water.

Bottom Line: At least the flight was on-time, but this was a fairly lackluster flight even by the low standards of short US domestic flights in economy.

Information on the route Chicago (ORD) Washington (DCA)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 7 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne Chicago (ORD) → Washington (DCA).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est American Airlines avec 7.2/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 1 heures et 46 minutes.

  More information

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