Review of United flight Mobile → Houston in Domestic First

check in, security, and mob airport terminal

MOB is a small airport with only a handful of flights and airlines operating each day. I wouldn’t recommend arriving more than 90 minutes prior to your flight’s scheduled departure time. You will get bored here pretty easily.

Departures and Arrivals are all located on the same level of the terminal. All of the Airline check in desks are located right next to each other and it’s easy to find your check in counter.
 
The United Check In counter has a few lines for checking bags or additional assistance, including a line for Premier Access. There are also self-service check-in kiosks. I used the sel-service kiosk because I was not checking a bag. It took less than a minute.

Mobile Airport has a nice lobby, that accentuates that Airbus is here in Mobile!

You then proceed upstairs to security. There is only one line for both precheck and regular screening. When you get to the agent, they will check to see if you have precheck and then hand you a card if you have precheck that you present to the screening agent. Clear is not available at this airport. Since it is such a small airport, I’ve never experienced a security time of more than a few minutes.

Once through security, you proceed to the left, where all gates are located.

There is a Hudson news located just past the security checkpoint where you can buy books, magazines, snacks, and other items.

Just down the hall is a bar and grill where you can buy a meal or have a drink.

And, that’s it. There are no other amenities at this airport. It provides just enough for what you need for the short, regional hops out of this airport.

boarding

Today, we were flying out of Gate 7, which is where most United flights depart from in Mobile. United only flies to Houston from here, and is always on a regional jet.

I was able to get a great view of our ERJ-175 taking us to IAH today. It was in the new Evo Blue livery!

Boarding began today right at at 2:35 p.m. for our 3:00 p.m. departure. I boarded with Group 1.

I was greeted by a friendly female flight attendant in the forward galley.

When I boarded, there were quite a few passengers in the cabin already, so I couldn’t get a picture of the cabin or seat, sorry!

The first class cabin on the ERJ-175 is arrange in a 1-2 configuration. The ideal seats for solo travelers are on the “A” side of the aircraft with the single seats, so that you have both an aisle and a window.

I quickly found my seat, 4A, which was the last seat on the left side of the cabin.

The overhead bins over the seats on the "A" side are quite small and can only hold very small personal items. So, you will have to store your larger bags in the bins on the other side of the aisle. There is room underneath the seat in front of you for your personal items.

I had to put my larger carry on bag in economy because all of the larger overhead bins in First were filled up already. But, it was not a problem. My fellow passengers in economy were nice enough to let me into the back to get my bag when we arrived in Houston!

the seat

The seat features 20” of width, 37” of pitch, and 5” of recline, which is more than sufficient for this flight.

The tray table is located in the right armrest, and there is a power outlet located at every seat in First Class.

Seat 4A features two windows. One in the front area of the seat, that you have to kind of lean forward to see out of, and one behind the seat that's kind of shared with the soft bulkhead behind you.

pre-departure

At 2:40, a PDB of water was offered.

At 2:44, boarding was completed.

At 2:47, the safety demonstration began.

We pushed back at 2:51, almost 10 minutes ahead of schedule.

flight

At 2:59, we took runway 15 for departure.

At 3:04 pm, we reached 10,000 feet, and were well on our way to Houston.

At 3:11, the flight attendant came by to take drink orders, addressing us by name! Something I’ve never experienced on a regional flight!

At 3:23, my gin and tonic arrived with a napkin and a sanitizing wipe!

At 3:25, the flight attendant came by with a snack basket and even offered me a refill! I declined as I had barely gotten started.

At 3:33, the flight attendant came back again to ask if I wanted anything! Really excellent service!

arrival

At 3:43, out female captain announced that we were beginning our descent into Houston and would be landing in approximately 20 minutes.

We touched down on runway 27 at 4:18 p.m.

We taxied in and parked at gate B16 at 4:24 pm for an early arrival into IAH.