Review of United flight from Chicago to Newark in Business

Intro

Following a lovely flight onboard the oldest active 777-200 in the world, it was time to embark on my second flight over to Newark with United Airlines. Interestingly, this flight was operated by a 757-200, featuring lie-flat seats. Even though the soft product isn't Polaris, it is always lovely to have a lie-flat seat on any route.

All in all, it was another fantastic flight with United Airlines. The seats were comfortable, I ended up sitting next to a new friend from the last flight, and the service was stellar. Let's get into it.

This will be more of a flight report rather than a full review of the seat due to the upcoming leg from Newark-Los Angeles. 

Routing

How I Booked

Following my even latest trip to Africa, I happened to reach the Premier Platinum threshold for United. Once reaching PP, one is able to book IN fares on United, which are much more widely available than traditional I fares. I happened to stumble across a route from Los Angeles-Chicago-New York with the first leg on a 777-200 and the second leg on a 757-200. Cross country for 30K Miles and 5$ in taxes, I am sold!

Boarding

Scurrying over from C gates, we made it onboard the 757 about 25 minutes prior to departure as the final passengers were getting onboard. 

The Seat/Cabin

Stepping onboard through door 2L, we were the last business class passengers onboard. As fate would have it, my recent friend I met happened to be seated in 3B, so we inquired with 3E if they wouldn't mind switching (aisle for aisle), and he was happy to move (really nice of him).

The 757-200 is an interesting plane to fly on as United operates these internationally and on certain hub-to-hub frequencies. Seats are laid out with four rows of business class in a 2-2 configuration, but on long-haul flights, seats 4A/4B seem to be blocked off for crew rest (certain Europe routes if 3 pilots are needed). These can come available at T-48 or T-24. I'd recommend a window seat if you don't want to use the bathroom very much and an aisle if you are a constant bathroom user. 4F is usually my go-to, but if you want to sleep the whole way, seats in row 1 have a large footwell.

While these are perfectly acceptable for short flights, I am not so sure about them on 8-hour runs. 

Departure

Moments after arriving at our seat, we were greeted by a lovely flight attendant offering us a glass of water.

As our 6 pm departure rolled around, the captain came on to announce that we were delayed due to a small mechanical issue (gotta love these old birds), but we would be on the way shortly. Seeing as we were delayed, I thought I might as well try my luck at asking for a couple of mimosas for me and my seatmate, but unfortunately, they can't serve alcohol on the ground.

5 minutes passed, and some "orange juice" arrived at our seats 😉. Reasons like this are why I have transferred my loyalty over to United Airlines. Fabulous service. 

20 minutes after 6 am, we pushed back from B14 and motored off to 27L for departure. Something about the 757-200 wingtip never gets old.

A very short taxi later, and we were wheels up, departing West. 

Gorgeous… 

The Flight

Seeing as I've reviewed the United experience countless times, such as IFE, 8$ wifi, amenities (even though only headphones were provided), and the seat, which will be in the next post, I'll just talk about the flight.

Roughly 15 minutes after departure, the FA came through the aisle, taking orders for drinks. Service was extremely efficient as 5 minutes later, I had a mimosa in hand, and my seatmate had a bloody mary.

Once the whole cabin had been served, the flight attendant passed through the aisles with a snack basket. Tate's cookies? Yum. Unfortunately, just like the norm on most* US carriers, meals are only served on flights over 900 miles.

The rest of the flight was fantastic. I chatted with my seatmate about life/United flying, watched a magnificent sunrise, and had a couple more drinks since the FAs were proactive about topping them off. Truly sublime!

Lavatories

A couple of mimosas later, it was time to check out the lavatories onboard the 757. There is a dedicated business class lavatory near the front of the aircraft, but when I decided to go, the pilot was using it. I checked out the one by door 2L, which featured a decent space and was clean.

Arrival

Returning to my seat, we had just about embarked on our initial descent into Newark. I sometimes forget how short the flight from Chicago to Newark (90 minutes) is.

We entered this morning's approach pattern and touched down only 3 minutes behind schedule onto runway 22L.

A fond memory of mine is landing on an Openskies 767 on Runway 29.

By 9:13 am, we had pulled into gate C96, and the cabin crew bid us farewell. 

Now, it was off to the United Club to find a place to use these pluspoints. Now, remember I said it was a day trip to New York for status. Well, this guy I met on the plane has all these plus points he is not going to use and offered them to me. Would I fly to Accra? Marrakesh? Lisbon? Or would it be back to Los Angeles? Find out in the next report. Dun Dun Dun….