Review of United flight Houston → London in Business

lounge: Iah polaris lounge

After I arrived in on my connecting flight from LAX, I proceeded to the Polaris Lounge located near gate E12.

The lounge has a nice sign outside of the lounge, and there is a reception area behind some automated glass doors.

Once inside, I was greeted by a lounge agent who had me scan my boarding pass, and I was let into the lounge.
 
The lounge is located a few levels up from the main terminal/gate level, so you have to take an elevator upstairs.

Once upstairs, there is a wall with signs indicating where certain things in the lounge are located. Beyond that, is the lounge’s main seating area with the Polaris workstyle pods and some armchairs.

Its worth noting that the IAH Polaris lounge is somewhat small, but did not feel crowded during my visit.
 
I decided to go to the Dining Room to grab some lunch since I had only had breakfast on my flight from LAX.

The Dining Room is located in the center of the lounge, and has a menu posted outside.

I was seated right away. Because the dining room is located in the center of the lounge, there is not a lot to look at, but there is some natural light that comes in from the windows on the opposite side of the dining room.

Once seated, I was asked if I wanted something to drink and offered my choice of still or sparkling water. I went with a glass of white wine and some still water.

After that was brought out, I was asked for my meal order. I like how the IAH lounge has some Latin-American inspired dishes, that are regional, and its fitting as its United’s gateway to Latin America.

I decided to start with the Poblano Arancini. It was decent, but the marinara sauce didn’t really align well with the Poblano flavors.

For my main course, I went with the Jackfruit Carnitas Tacos, which were tasty. I was pretty full by this point and didn’t even finish my tacos. Because I was so full, I didn’t end up ordering dessert.

After eating, I decided to head over to the shower suites in order to grab a quick shower and check it out.

I was shown immediately to a shower suite, which had all of the amenities that you might want in the shower suite. Including toothbrushes, toothpaste, a shower cap, towels, deodorant, slippers… etc. 

After I finished my shower, I decided to check out the rest of the lounge. On the other side of the dining room and the bar, is the buffet and the restrooms.

I then headed to the bar in order to grab a drink. I went with the Polaris Star today, which was excellent. The bartenders at the IAH Polaris lounge were excellent, friendly, and extremely attentive.

The bar offers excellent views of the tarmac, and I was able to get a picture of the 777-200ER that would be flying me to London tonight.

boarding

I left the Polaris lounge at 4:20 pm and made my way to our gate for tonight, E7. It took about 5 minutes for me to get to gate E7 from the Polaris lounge. Though, as a native Houstonian before I moved to Washington, DC, I knew exactly where gate E7 was, so it may take others more time to get there. 

Boarding began at 4:35 p.m. right on schedule. Boarding usually begins with preboarding and then starts with group 1, but they decided to call preboarding and group 1 at the same time as there were multiple automated gates to let you on the plane. I was the second person on the plane.

cabin and seat

We boarded through door L2, where I was greeted by a friendly female flight attendant.

The Polaris cabin on the 777-200ER has 50 total seats arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration. The forward cabin contains 8 rows, totaling 32 seats. The second cabin is smaller, with 4 full rows (rows 9-12) of 16 seats, with row 15 consisting of 2 seats, for a total of 18 seats in the second cabin.

I found my seat 9A, which was the window seat in the first row of the second cabin on the left side of the aircraft.

At the seat, I found my bedding, with the gel pillow and the day blanket, as well as the duvet, and the amenity kit.

The seat controls are located next to the left armrest, with a wheel that allows you to adjust between fully-flat bed mode, and the fully-upright taxi, takeoff, and landing mode. You can also adjust your footrest, your lumbar support, and your recline with a lot of different combinations.

There is a faux marble countertop on the right side where you can set things on top of, this is where the headsets and the printed menu were located.

Just above the countertop is the IFE remote control, the universal power outlet, a USB-A charging port, the headphone jack, and a small vanity closet where you can store a few things during the flight. In there was a water bottle for use during the flight. I find this spot perfect for storing my toiletries and chargers.

The seat is well padded, comfortable, and extremely private. You can’t see another passenger in the cabin unless you really start looking for them, and nobody else can see you. Which is what I love about the Polaris seats.

The seat does not feature individual air vents, which made the cabin feel dry and honestly it disrupted my sleep a bit.

pre-departure

I hadn’t even finished putting way my luggage when a male flight attendant came by to say “Good evening, Mr. Shivpilot14, I see you preordered the tortellini! For your appetizer would you like the shrimp or the buratta cheese?” I went with the buratta cheese. He then immediately asked if I wanted a pre departure beverage of water or sparkling wine. I went with water, as usual.
 
There were no printed menus at the seats, but I believe that they were distributed to passengers who hadn’t preordered their meals.

At 5:03, the captain came on to announce our flight time of 8 hours and 32 minutes. 

the flight

At 5:21, boarding was completed. I turned on “From the Flight Deck,” a feature that is unique to United where you can listen to air traffic control communications.

At 5:25, the safety video began playing, and we also began our pushback.

At 5:39, we began our takeoff roll on runway 15L.
 
We made a left turn off of the runway, and got an excellent view of IAH airport on our climbout.

At 5:43, we reached 10,000 feet and were well on our way to London.
 
At 5:54, the meal service began with the distribution of a hot towel.

At 5:58, a tablecloth was brought out.

At 6:12, the drink cart came around and I ordered a gin and tonic, which was served with a ramekin of warm nuts.

At 6:27, my meal was served all on one tray. The tortellini tasted great. I was not disappointed. The only thing was that it is a bit heavy on the stomach, so I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re looking for something lighter.

At 7:08, the dessert cart came around. On offer tonight was a caramel cheesecake or the ice cream sundae. I don’t like caramel so I went with the Ice cream sundae and was offered coffee or tea. I went with a decaf coffee with Bailey’s.

After I finished my meal at 7:30 local time in Houston, I decided it was time to get some sleep. I took a picture of the sunset outside.

I did not sleep well for a number of reasons. Firstly, there was a LOT of noise from the galley. Ice and drinks being poured all night… cabinets being open and shut… flight attendants talking… I understand that sometimes things need to be done but I expect things to be kept to a minimum on an overnight flight.
 
Secondly, the lack of individual air vents meant that the cabin was very warm, and worse than that, the air was dry. My nose and sinuses were extremely dry, making it hard to breathe.

There was also a screaming child back in Premium Plus that was very loud, which I do not and cannot blame United for. Kids scream and cry sometimes and you just have to deal with it.

At around 4:15 am local time in London, after tossing and turning and trying to fall back to sleep, I decided to just stop trying and stay awake for the remainder of the flight. 

descent, arrival, and heathrow arrivals lounge

At 5:49 am local time in London, exactly 90 minutes prior to arrival, the lights came on in the cabin.
 
A flight attendant came by to ask me if I wanted to eat anything before we land. I said no as I would eat breakfast in the arrivals lounge. I did order a Diet Coke just to get a bit of caffeine in me.

At 6:28 am, it was announced that we would be landing in London in about 40 minutes. It was also the time for the usual United MileagePlus Explorer Card pitch, which is extremely annoying and even more so after little sleep on an overnight flight.

On our approach, we got some decent views of the city of London below us.

We touched down on Runway 27R at 7:19 am.

At 7:29 a.m., we arrived at gate B47, approximately 4 minutes after our scheduled arrival time, and I proceeded through the UK border, and then onward to the arrivals lounge. I’ve reviewed the Arrivals lounge at LHR previously, and you can find that review here: https://flight-report.com/en/report/66525/united-ua929-chicago-ord-london-lhr/