Review of United flight from Los Angeles to London in Business

Check In and Security

United operates out of Terminal 7 at LAX, so be sure to be dropped off there prior to your flight. United has a few options for check in. There’s an economy lane, A Premier Access lane, and a Polaris and 1K lane. I went to the Polaris lane, where the agent asked where I was flying and took my passport. She asked if I had any bags to check, and when I said no, she printed my boarding pass. She also told me I had access to the Polaris Lounge and where it was located. I thanked her and went on my way.

Security took a few minutes because there was a long line for precheck. Even though I had clear, when the two lines merged, there was quite a backup. But honestly, it wasn’t more than 10 minutes.

The Lounge: The United Polaris Lounge LAX

Because I was flying in Polaris today, I had access to the Polaris lounge, which is very exclusive in terms of lounge access policies. You must be flying on a United Polaris business class flight, or on a long haul Star Alliance carrier flight in business or first class. No level of status or credit cards will gain you entry.

The LAX Polaris Lounge is small. And because all of the other Star Alliance carriers depart out of the Tom Bradley International Terminal, which is a good 25-30 minute walk away (if you’re walking at my fast pace), this lounge is pretty empty in the afternoons when there aren’t a lot of long haul international departures from LAX.

When I checked in, the agent said, “Wow, you’re here early! The lounge is very quiet right now, so enjoy it- it’s your Kingdom!” She also asked if I’d been here before and when I said yes, she said “Oh well, since you’ve been here before, I don’t need to give you a tour!” Such great service!

The lounge has a main seating area with large windows that provide views of the tarmac.

The bar is nice with a lot of different options!

Then there’s a central part of the lounge with some tables. This is where you’ll find the coffee station, water station, buffet, and dining room. These tables and all of these features overlook the central rotunda of Terminal 7, so if you’re a people-watcher, this might be a good place for you to sit.

If you go deeper into the lounge, you’ll find the restrooms. The Polaris Lounges have single occupancy- all gender restrooms. They are very spacious so if you needed to change clothes or something, there’s plenty of space.

I decided to check out the dining room for lunch. The menu is posted outside for you to view.

I was the only one here, so I was immediately shown to a table and told that I can sit anywhere. The dining room at LAX, like the IAH, ORD, and IAD lounges is nestled inside the lounge and has no windows so there’s really no natural light coming in.

I started with a Cabernet Sauvignon which was native to California. It tasted good, but I’m not a wine connoisseur by any means so I’m not the best person to judge or review wines.

For my starter, I selected the citrus sweet potato salad. Which based off the description, I was expecting it to be like a potato salad… I was surprised to find out it was an actual salad (like with greens). The flavors were nice but what was weird was that the sweet potato wasn’t cooked. Which is weird, because most people cook their potatoes before eating them. It just didn’t quite taste right.

For my main, I ordered the Polaris Signature Burger. I’ve had the Polaris Signature Burger before at Newark and Dulles, and noticed that more times than not, the Dulles Polaris Lounge overcooks it and it’s hard and dry. So, I wanted to see if LAX does it better!

I ordered it with sautéed mushrooms and caramelized onions. The Burger was juicy and cooked perfectly to order, so even though there’s no sauce- it really wasn’t needed. It tasted great!

My server was also great! She came by several times to check on me and see if I needed anything! Which was excellent. And if you’ve read my reviews of Polaris Lounge dining room experiences in the past, you’ll know that some servers are not as attentive, and some even don’t ever come back to check on you.

I was pretty well full so I didn’t order dessert, and headed to the area of the longer by the windows so I could take a look the traffic outside.

As I was sitting, I got a view of the 787-9 that would be taking me to London, which arrived in from Newark.

The lounge was quiet up until about 1:30, which is when the 11:30 a.m. flight to Tokyo Haneda returned to the gate and was delayed until 7:00 p.m., so more people entered the lounge.

At around 6:00, the lounge became PACKED. This was because the flight inbound from Shanghai arrived and then at 5:30, the flight from Hong Kong arrived. So, maybe it was a good thing I arrived early and grabbed a seat when I could!

Boarding, Cabin, and Seat

I left the Polaris Lounge at 6:00. Any gate in Terminal 7 is located probably about a maximum 10 minute walk from the Polaris Lounge. So, there’s no need to leave the lounge too early.

Boarding was set to begin at 6:10 p.m. today out of gate 72A.

We began boarding right at 6:10 pm, beginning with pre boarding. I preboarded with my fellow 1Ks.

I quickly found my seat 11 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.

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 three 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 and wing!

The seat controls are located next to the right 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.

Pre-Departure

At 6:18, a male English flight attendant brought around a pre departure beverage offering of either Water or Prosecco. I had already had a few drinks in the Polaris lounge, so I just went with water.

At 6:33, that same flight attendant came by to confirm and take meal orders. He was so funny and good! He said, “You’ve been doing a lot of flying lately! So, you can tell me how good the cod is!” When I told him I hadn’t had it before, he said, “Oh, well tell me how it was later!”

The menu is as follows:

At 6:23, the captain came on to welcome us onboard. He said that we had to wait for departure about 20 minutes at the gate because of London’s traffic flow procedures, they don’t like us arriving in too early, and we were expecting to arrive in about 40 minutes early. He said we’d have some bumps on the climb out but once we reached our cruising altitude it’d be pretty smooth. He also announced our flight time of 9 hours and 41 minutes from take off to touchdown.

At 6:51, the safety video began.

After that, we sat for a while, just waiting for our pushback.

Departure and Climb Out:

At 7:16, the first officer came on to let us know that we were next for pushback but we were just waiting for an arriving aircraft to clear the alleyway first.

At 7:18, we pushed back. It was an interesting pushback because we first pushed back facing north ( in other words, facing the inside of the alleyway), then they cleared us of the entire alleyway and pushed us further the other way, to where we were facing east on taxiway C. I suspect this is because the 787-9 is just too big to be pushed back into the normal alleyway out of gate 72.

After our almost 10 minute pushback, the engines started to spool up at 7:28.

We lined up for departure on runway 25L at 7:37.

We held for a few minutes and began our takeoff roll at 7:39.

At 7:44, we reached 10,000 feet, meaning we were well on our way to London.

At 7:47, the purser welcomed us aboard again, and I noticed that the lights came on in the economy and Premium Plus cabin, and that the flight attendants dimmed all of the windows to their darkest setting, which is often done in 787s with their dimmable windows.

We hit some chop on the climb out, as the captain told us we would.

At 7:55, the lights came on in the Polaris Cabin.

Cruise

At 8:06, we reached our cruising altitude of 37,000 feet and the fasten seatbelt sign came off. Also hot towels were distributed.

At 8:22, a tablecloth was brought out.

Ordinarily on transatlantic evening flights to Europe, the meal service begins pretty quickly. But tonight, it took some time for things to really get rolling. I mean 20 minutes for tablecloths?

At 8:30, we hit another pocket of rough air and the seat belt sign came back on.

At 8:42, the drink cart came around and I selected a glass of Chardonnay, which I read pairs well with fish, and some still water. It was served with a ramekin of warm nuts.

The Chardonnay was quite nice actually. Even though I’m not a wine connoisseur, I finished it rather quickly.

At 9:04, I was offered my choice of appetizer. I went with the watermelon radish appetizer, which was honestly very good! I’d recommend it! It was served with the salad and my choice of bread. I was also offered another glass of wine.

The Salad was not that great because the red wine vinegar dressing was very strong, in my opinion and didn’t have a lot of flavor. It was kind of like dumping- well, vinegar- on a bunch of vegetables.

At 9:27, the cod was brought out as my main course. To be honest, it smelled fishy. Like very fishy.

But, it tasted great! Honestly, one of the best meals I’ve had in Polaris. And that’s saying a lot considering that United’s catering in Polaris, well… sucks. This dish was flavorful, and although cod is a fishy tasting fish. The flavors made it taste great!

We hit some pretty bad turbulence yet the crew was still offering us dessert! I mean the turbulence was bad! I went with the cheesecake because having them make up an ice cream sundae would’ve taken time and would’ve been difficult in this turbulence!

The cheesecake was brought out at 9:52 and was quite good!

I finished it probably within 2 minutes :) and then I settled in for some sleep.

The lay flat bed is comfortable. The footwell provides a good amount of space, even though this isn’t the bulkhead.

I slept well for about 6 hours, and woke up at 11:05 am local time in London, about 2 hours before our expected touchdown time.

At 12:19, the flight attendants came through with the breakfast service. They took their time as most people in the cabin were still sleeping. I went with the egg and kale pastry, and a cup of coffee. The pastry was very good!

Descent and Arrival

At 12:50, the captain came on to tell the flight attendants to prepare the cabin for landing.

At 12:53, the purser, CJ, came by to say thanks for flying and thanks for being a 1K member. She then said, “Welcome to London!”

We touched down on runway 9L at 1:14 pm, and began our taxi to the gate.