Review of United flight Newark → Washington in Domestic First

Airtrain and security at ewr terminal c

I arrived into EWR at Terminal B on my inbound flight from Berlin. After clearing customs in Terminal B, I had to take the AirTrain to Terminal C.  The Airtrain is dated and features really small cabins, in my opinion, so it can feel tight and crowded.

Once at Terminal C, I proceeded to the security checkpoint. There are separate lines for Precheck and regular screening. I went through the Precheck line, which took no more than a few minutes.

LOuNGE: POLARIS LOUNGE

After clearing security, I made my way to the Polaris lounge, which I had access to because I arrived in on a Polaris flight from Berlin. 

The Polaris Lounge is exclusively for passengers flying long-haul in United Polaris business class or departing in long-haul business class or first class on a Star Alliance member airline. You can find the full access policy here: https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/travel/airport/lounge-access.html

I reviewed this lounge in detail on my outbound flight to Berlin a few days ago, and you can find that full review here: https://flight-report.com/en/report/65699/united-ua962-newark-ewr-berlin-ber/

Therefore, I won't go into a full review here, and just highlight a little bit of my experience. 

Originally, my layover was supposed to be only about 4 hours 30 minutes, but since we arrived into EWR almost 2 hours early, I found myself with about 6 hours to spend in the Polaris lounge.

Because I was arriving in off of a long haul flight, I was in desparate need of a shower to freshen up, so I made my way over to the shower suites, and was immediately shown to a suite.

After I showered, I decided to go to the dining room so that I could eat something. The menu was the same as what I experienced just a few days before.

I was quickly shown to a table right next to the window, which offers excellent views of the tarmac.

The server was the same server I had on Friday, and she remembered me and welcomed me back! Which was a nice touch. She asked if I wanted some water and something to drink. I went with a glass of Reisling. 

For my entree, I ordered the Cacio e Pepe, which ws excellent.

Once I finished, I was offered dessert, and I went with the chocolate chip skillet cookie. Which was also excellent.

After that, I went to sit in the normal area of the lounge with the private cubicle like pods to await the remainder of my long layover.

boarding

After spending hours in the Polaris lounge, I made my way over to my departure gate, C107, which was about a 5 minute walk from the lounge.

Boarding began right on time at 5:35 p.m. for our scheduled 6:00 p.m. departure. 

Once on board, the flight attendant was not there to greet us, as she was assisting another passenger in the back of the aircraft, which was fine. 

I quickly found my seat, 4A and placed my luggage in the storage locker across the aisle from my seat. The CRJ-550 is so unique that it offers space for a carry-on sized item for every single passenger on board with the luggage storage lockers located in front of row 1 and in between rows 4 and 7. Additionally, in the economy cabin, there are larger overhead bins where you can place carry-on bags sideways to fit them in.

the seat

The seats in the First class cabin are arranged in a 1-2 configuration on the CRJ-550. Solo travelers would ideally wish to choose the single seats on the left side of the aircraft, whereas people traveling together would want to opt for the sets of 2 seats on the right side of the aircraft. 

Seat 4A is a standard first class seat. The seat features 42 inches of pitch and 5 inches of recline. The seat is also 19.75 inches wide. The tray table is located in the armrest, and the other armrest features a power outlet down below as well as a small table top for a cup.

The seat features only one window, though at the front of the seat, so you have to crane your neck in order to look out the window. Despite this, this is my favorite seat on this aircraft in First class because it is incredibly private being the last seat in the cabin, and nobody across the aisle from you.

pre departure

At 5:44, the flight attendant came by with a PDB of a small Dasani Water bottle.

At 5:54, the captain came on to welcome us on board and give us our flight time of 44 minutes.

flight

At 5:55, the boarding door closed, and the flight attendant gave the safety demonstration.

At 6:03, we pushed back and began our taxi. Typical long taxi at Newark. Our taxi was so long that I fell asleep and woke up surprised to realize we were still in Newark. Our taxi lasted 34 minutes.

At 6:37, we finally took runway 4L for departure, and left New York behind us.

At 6:42, we reached 10,000 feet and the in flight service started with a round of drinks. I just went with a water, and was given another bottle of water.

At 6:44, we reached our cruising altitude of 15,000 feet.

At 6:48, the flight attendant came around to give us a cheese tray, which was actually quite tasty.

At 7:03, we began our descent, and the flight attendant brought around another round of snacks. I declined. I was so stuffed from the Polaris lounge.

arrival in dca

We flew the famous river visual approach into Runway 19 at DCA tonight. This approach is hand-flown along the Potomac River, and if you're sitting on the left side of the aircraft, you get excellent views of the national mall on approach. This is the reason that I always try to pick the left side of the aircraft when flying into DCA.

At exactly 7:30 p.m., we touched down on Runway 19.

At 7:32, we stopped on the taxiway for a bit. The captain then came on and said that we had just gotten our taxi instructions to get into our gate and we would be moving right away.

And we were moving right away and found ourselves parked at Gate B10 at 7:36 pm.