Check In and Security
I arrived at IAD at around 4:35 a.m., about 90 minutes before my scheduled departure time of 6:00 a.m. United has several options for check in at IAD, including sections for Economy, Premier Access, Global Services, Bag Drop, and a separate section towards the back for 1K and Polaris.
There are also several self service kiosks that you can use.
I proceeded to the back to the 1K and Polaris check in, given that I am 1K with United.
I was the only one there at this time of the morning, so I printed my boarding pass and was on my way within seconds. A friendly agent was there who made great conversation with me, while I printed my boarding pass. When I was finished, she wished me well and thanked me for my 1K status.
Security can take some time at IAD, even if you have precheck. But, today, there was not a lot of people at IAD, so security didn’t take long at all. I was through in just a few minutes. I then made my way on the IAD “moon buggies” to the D gates. As the “moon buggy” was driving across the tarmac, I got a notification that my gate had changed to C28- no problem, C 28 is the last gate in the C concourse and right next to gate D1, so it wouldn’t be a far walk for me.
Boarding, The Cabin and Seat
Ordinarily, I’d have access to th United Club through my United Club membership or my premier 1K status, because I’m flying internationally after my connection in IAH, but none of the United clubs at IAD open until 5:30 am, and with a 5:20 boarding time, it just wasn’t going to work today.
When I arrived at the gate, the seating area was packed. Probably also because C28 doesn’t have a lot of space. At all.
Boarding began right on schedule at 5:20. I boarded with my group of 1Ks. I loop greeted by a pair of friendly female flight attendants, Dion and Elaine, who introduced themselves to me as a husband and wife team!
I quickly found my seat, 3A, a window seat on the left side of the aircraft. When I got to my seat, I found that my bag wouldn’t fit in the overhead bin, a flight attendant from economy said “move it a bit closer towards me,” and moving it towards the back of the airplane, it fit! I guess the bins are narrower at the front of the aircraft given the curvature of the fuselage.
This seat was the old seat- which has it’s pros and cons. The big pro- it is a very well padded seat. It’s so comfortable, and easy to fall asleep in, and is much better than the slimline seats that are in the updated interiors.
The cons- It’s an old seat with the very outdated DirecTV IFE System. I didn’t use this throughout the flight- I instead just used United’s Personal Device Entertainment option which allows you to stream free movies and entertainment to your personal device- it offers a wide selection of movies and TV shows for you to watch.
The seat has two windows.
It also has a good amount of legroom and space to store your personal items. The seat has 37 inches of pitch.
The left armrest features your seat recline button. The seat has 5 inches of recline, and 20.5 inches of width. Note, that any seat in row 4 on this aircraft only has 3 inches of recline due to the hard bulkhead located directly behind the seat.
Pre-Departure
At 5:35, Dion, our purser, came on to welcome us onboard.
At 5:43, Elaine came by to offer a pre departure beverage of water or orange juice. I went with water as usual.
At 5:49, the captain came on to announce our flight time of 3 hours 6 minutes, and announced that we would experience quite a bit of turbulence throughout the flight.
At 6:00, the boarding door was closed.
At 6:07, we pushed back, and the safety video began to play.
While we were taxiing out, a flight attendant came by to offer earphones to everyone on board. I didn’t need them as I have my own.
The Flight
At 6:23, we began our takeoff roll down runway 30.
At 6:29, we reached 10,000 feet, meaning we were well on our way to Houston.
At 6:39, Dion came by to take drink and breakfast orders. Because my upgrade cleared 3 days before departure, I was able to preorder my meal on the United website. I preordered the almond smoothie bowl, and for my drink this morning I went with a coffee with Bailey’s.
At 6:52, the captain came on to announce that we reached our cruising altitude of 36,000 feet and that the turbulence wasn’t looking too bad up ahead.
At 6:54, my meal was served with my coffee with baileys.
The bowl tasted okay. The only issue was the coconut chunks and almonds meant that it was chewy, and I honestly got tired of chewing it after a few bites.
Weirdly, the side dishes were yogurt and fruit. So, it was quite literally eating yogurt and fruit, with a side of… you guessed it: yogurt and fruit. What?
At 7:13, the captain came on to say that we would be experiencing rough air and that he was turning on the fasten seatbelt sign. He also asked the flight attendants to take their jump seats within the next 5 minutes.
At 7:14, I finished my coffee and Dion came by to clear my tray. They didn’t offer me anything else, but honestly, I don’t blame them. The captain had just told them to take their jump seats, so they didn’t have the time. And safety is always the number one priority.
We took a longer route due to the weather. Flying west over West Virginia and Kentucky and then down southwest, which added to our flight time.
About 50 minutes later, at 7:09 local time in Houston, the captain came on to tell us that we would be looking at some more rough air coming up and he was turning on the fasten seatbelt sign. Weirdly, he seemed to make a pre-arrival announcement by saying, “we are showing on the ground in Houston at 8:41 am local time. Weather is 41 degrees. It’s been a pleasure having you on board, and we hope to see you again real soon.” What? We had an hour and a half remaining in flight?
Not long after that, around 7:15 local time in Houston, the flight attendants began preparing the cabin for arrival. Asking everyone to put their carry on items away, fasten seatbelts, seatbacks and tray tables up… etc. I understand that turbulence happens, but it seems strange to ask for seatbacks and tray tables to be put up 90 minutes before landing on a 2 hour and 45 minute flight. It made the rest of the flight uncomfortable.
Descent and Arrival
About an hour later, at 8:10, I felt the aircraft begin to descend.
We touched down on runway 26R at 8:39 am.
We parked at our gate, E20 at 8:50 am, about 15 minutes behind schedule.
