Review of United flight from Washington to Los Angeles in Business

Check In and Security

I arrived VERY early for my 5:45 departure. I had a slow day at work and since I have lounge access, I decided to head to IAD early to have lunch in the lounges at the airport, so I arrived at around 1:00 pm.

IAD has several options for check in with United. There’s a Premier Access area, economy area, and some self service kiosks. I quickly went and printed my boarding pass and made my way to security. I have both Precheck and clear and so I used that lane. Security took less than a minute due to there not being anyone at the checkpoint.

The Lounge: Lufthansa Senator Lounge

I then made my way to the Turkish Airlines lounge, which I’ve reviewed before. The Turkish Airlines lounge has one of the better food options of any Star alliance lounge at IAD (not including Polaris because that’s in a different league). However, because this lounge not only admits Star alliance gold members, as well as priority pass members, it can get crowded.

And it was packed. So, I decided to go a few gates down to the Lufthansa Senator lounge instead, which would be much less crowded, considering that it opened right when I arrived at 1:30.

The Lufthansa Senator Lounge is accessible to Lufthansa Senators and HON circle members, as well as first class passengers. It’s also open to Star Alliance Gold Members flying in any class of service on any Star alliance flight. Meaning that, as a 1K with United, I have access to this lounge no matter what airline or route I’m flying, as long as it’s Star alliance.

The lounge has a large seating area with some very comfortable and plush armchairs. This is where I sat during my visit.

There’s also an area near the bar and buffet with tables and also a section designated and roped off for first class passengers and HON circle members.

The lounge also has restrooms that are clean.

The buffet was ok. It featured some sandwiches and some hot options such as a Wiener schnitzel and fish today. There was also pretzels and mustard, as well as some cookies. There’s a soda fountain and a coffee/espresso machine.

There’s a bar with friendly bar staff that offers beer, wine, and liquor.

This lounge isn’t super impressive but it was quiet. Throughout my time in the lounge I was one of maybe 15 people in this lounge. And that was even during peak Lufthansa flight times. It’s a much better alternative to the United Clubs on that premise alone.

Boarding, the Cabin, and Seat

Boarding was at 4:55 out of the D gates. Since I was in the B gates in the Lufthansa lounge, I decided to leave 30 minutes ahead of my boarding time. This is because, I would have to go down to the A gates where United Express flights are located and take a shuttle to the D gates. If you’re going from the B gates to the C/D gates, please allow yourself plenty of time to get there!

I arrived at the gate right at 4:50, about 5 minutes before boarding was scheduled to begin.

We boarded through door L2, and I was greeted by a friendly male flight attendant, who handed me a sanitizing wipe. I quickly found my seat, 9L, a window seat on the right side of the aircraft.

The 787-9 has 48 Polaris seats, split into two cabins: One larger cabin with 8 rows of 4 seats across, for a total of 32 seats (Rows 1-8), and one smaller cabin with 4 rows of 4 seats across, for a total of 16 seats (Rows 9-12).

The Polaris seats are arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration on the 787-9, offering every passenger direct aisle access. The odd rows face straight, and the even rows are at an angle. I always prefer the odd, window seats as a solo traveler for the most privacy. Though, couples should opt for the odd numbered middle seats in the middle so that you can be close together and lower the partition.

My seat, 9L, is the bulkhead seat on the right side of the aircraft. The seat is a Polaris seat, but since this isn’t an international business class flight, there is no bedding provided. No worries! I brought my own neck pillow!

The overhead bins on the 787s are massive, and have more than enough space to store any luggage that you may need to store in the overhead bins, especially if you’re in business class.

The seat has two windows, that are controlled by dimmer switches on the wall or in the IFE system. And this seat in particular offers excellent views of the engine!

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. 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. I find this the perfect spot to store your toiletries and/or 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. On the 787-9, there are individual air vents above your seat, and an overhead reading light.

Unlike on my Polaris flights, the only amenities at the seat were a small, thin blanket, and some headphones.

Pre-Departure:

At 5:22, a flight attendant came by to offer a pre departure beverage of either water, orange juice, or Prosecco. I went with some water.

At 5:36, a flight attendant came by to take meal orders. On United, you can preorder your meals, beginning 5 days prior to departure, up until 24 hours prior to departure. I preordered the manicotti. He also asked what I’d like to drink, I went with red wine today. He also asked if I’d like some water with that, and I said yes.

At 5:39, the captain came on to welcome us aboard, to let us know that we had about 4 hours and 42 minutes of flight time, which would put us on the ground in LAX about 20 minutes ahead of schedule. He said that the first 2 hours of our flight would be smooth and the remainder of our flight would be quite choppy.

WiFi and Entertainment

United’s IFE is excellent and offers an excellent number of selections available to watch that’ll keep you well entertained. WiFi on this flight was available for purchase for $8 for mileageplus members. I purchased it on a flight of this length, and was pleasantly surprised at how reliable and fast it was.

Departure, Climb Out

At 5:43, the safety video began, and we started our pushback.

At 6:01, we took runway 19L for departure, and began an immediate right turn after takeoff to the west.

At 6:09, we reached 10,000 feet, meaning that we were well on our way to Los Angeles.

Cruise

At 6:26, the captain came on to say that we had reached our cruising altitude of 36,000 feet, and we had 4 hours of flight time remaining.

At 6:27, a hot towel was distributed.

At 6:50, my wine was brought out with a glass of water and a ramekin of warm nuts and… pretzels? It was weirdly not premium.

At 7:06, my manicotti was served.

This meal, was…. Not good. I have no other way of describing it. The sauce was flavorful as far as garlicky, black pepper Alfredo is concerned. But, the spinach was not flavored. Additionally, the ricotta stuffed inside could’ve also had some sort of flavoring inside as well. It was just bland overall.

The salad had no dressing. What?

The dessert was a packaged banana pudding from Magnolia Bakery. Magnolia Bakery is world famous for making excellent desserts. And I think this partnership with United is a good one. Though, I think that United could’ve selected something that’s more universal- I’m just not a fan of banana pudding. So I think that United could’ve done something a bit more universal- like chocolate?

This was good, I mean it tasted great! However, the packaged presentation in first class is tacky. Sorry. But for a premium cabin, you expect more premium presentations.

When I finished my meal, the flight attendant took my tray and then proactively poured me another glass of wine, which was filled almost to the brim. It’s a lot of wine, but I genuinely appreciate the very proactive service!

At this point I was feeling pretty tired after a long work day, and this wasn’t a lie flat seat for no reason! So I settled in for a nap.

Descent and Arrival

I slept the entire rest of the way to LAX, I must’ve been tired because I slept like a baby, and missed every announcement, turbulence… etc. in fact, I was still laying flat and woke up to us touching down at LAX!

We touched down on runway 25R at 7:52 pm local time.

We arrived at gate 77 at 7:58 local time, almost 30 minutes ahead of schedule!