Review of United flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong in Business

Intro

Welcome back to a brand new series, but this time it is going to be a little different: I am taking you all along in real time on this next tantalizing adventure! Over the past few years, I have become quicker and more concise with my writing style, and thus I think I can finally do a live series this time, in what is going to be perhaps my most eye-opening journey ever.

Featuring the likes of the Great Wall Of China (my last world wonder), the brand new Ethiopian Airlines A350-1000 Business Class, Emirates First Class, a visit to Afghanistan, and hopefully a ride on one of the least reviewed A340s in the world to Kabul, this is a series that I have never been more excited to share.

Last night I had the opportunity to fly United Polaris from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. While I have flown plenty of flights in Polaris, this was once again another flawless experience, with friendly cabin crew, a nice seat, and surprisingly good food.

For reference: the current series is going to be put on hold for the next 18 days. 

How I Booked

My primary focus for this first leg over to Beijing was to use some of my pluspoints. Having used 40 the week prior on a flight down to Brasil, I still had a whopping 300 left. Seeing as LAX-Shanghai doesn’t like to clear until the gate (unless GS), and the same applies with SFO-PVG, I looked at Los Angeles to Hong Kong. If you are looking to use pluspoints, almost every flight on this route has space, so for 900$ (W Fare class) and 40 plus points, I managed to fly 16 hours in Business Class. Not bad.

Check-In

Finishing up what needed to be done , a sense of nervousness filled my bones which I hadn’t experienced in a while. Sometimes when I embark on these adventures to Somalia, South Sudan (review coming soon), and Libya (as examples) there is a small part of my brain which thinks “is this the last time I’ll be in California”.

That nervousness quickly turned to excitement, as my friend picked me up straight outside and we motored off to Los Angeles International Airport. Naturally, the traffic to enter the airport was an absolute, colossal, heinous, screw up ( I wonder when LAX will fix this), but the one good thing about flying United is that the airline operates out of Terminal 7 instead of Bradley (the shortcut). 

I bid farewell to my best friend who dropped me off at door 1, headed over to the Polaris/1K check-in which was empty, and within 10 minutes I was through the TSA Precheck line. Rule number 1: never check bags in life 😅.

Polaris Lounge LAX

Clearing TSA Precheck, I still had around about an hour and 20 minutes until boarding commenced. You know what that means? Polaris Lounge Time!

While I have reviewed this lounge extensively in the past, the Polaris Lounge still remains my favorite Polaris lounge across the USA. Throughout the day this place remains like a ghost town (minus 9-11:30 am), but come 4 pm, almost every seat is now packed with departures heading out to London, Hong Kong, Sydney, and Melbourne.

Stepping in, I immediately headed over to the Dining Room Area, located in the back, where I ran into my friend Elmer. Elmer is a man from the Philippines who just has a heart of gold and is one of the kindest men I have ever met. Settling in I barely have to order anymore as he pretty much knows… 

I’m unsure if that is a good thing… or a bad thing…

Drinks were brought out first and take a look at that red wine pour, followed by a perfectly cooked Polaris burger, and I finished it all of with the delightful skillet cookie. Perfect!

Delightful food!

Next up came a quick Aperol Spritz at the bar, before it was time for boarding. 

Boarding

At exactly 9:58 pm, United sent out a text message to me notifying that they were pre-boarding (as I am 1K). However, I was very much enjoying my time in the Polaris Lounge while booking a hotel in Beijing, so I headed off to board around 10:10. 

By this point, there were no passengers left in Group 1 so I was onboard within a matter of minutes.

The Seat/Cabin

Stepping onboard, I knew exactly what to expect from my seat today. As a matter of fact, I had flown this exact same plane, in the exact same seat, departing from the exact same gate, 4 months ago on my way to Ukraine (through London).

Seats on the United 787-9 are laid out in a 1-2-1 across two cabins. There is a larger cabin between doors 1 and 2 featuring 32 seats, and a smaller cabin just after door 2 that features 16 seats. 

If you are flying Solo, I recommend any odd number window, as the privacy is just infinitely better, while for couples, I recommend 1D/1F or 9D/9F.

Each seat in the bulkhead comes with plenty of legroom, a nice faux marble countertop, a large IFE screen, and a small cubby for storage. The thing about Polaris is that it might not be the world's greatest seat, but it is consistent.

All in all, a very good hard product! 

Departure

Settling into my seat, I placed my jacket upon the bulhead and within seconds a flight attendant offered to hang it up. Talk about service! A few moments later pajamas were distributed, and meal order confirmed. However, I wasn’t thanked for being 1K, how will I ever survive (it’s sarcasm, I actually like it when they don’t, less awkward).

Heading off to the lavatory, I quickly changed into my pajamas and went to the toilet. However, as I was flushing the toilet, I realized that there was liquid coming out from the flush. I notified the cabin crew but didn’t think much of it. 

After a glass of sparkling wine and water, boarding had been wrapped up by 10:42 pm. However, we waited, and waited, until at 11:10 pm, the captain came on to announce that there was a maintenance issue and we would be pushing back shortly. As I would find out later, apparently one of the pumps or something wasn’t properly working, hence why the flight was delayed. Guess I have a 6th sense.

By 11:23 we pushed back from gate 72A, with views over this gorgeous United 787-9 heading off to Sydney.

From there we had a 20-minute taxi out to 25R and were wheels up to Hong Kong by 11:45. 

Amenities

Once airborne, I figured I would prepare to get myself ready for bed. It had been a long week and all I really wanted to do on this flight was sleep as much as possible.

United offers some of the best business-class bedding in the world, if not the best. Each Polaris passenger receives two pillows, two blankets, and a mattress pad upon request. 

In addition, a lovely amenity kit was waiting at my seat for me upon boarding, right in line with some Noise (ish)- canceling headphones. 

IFE+WIFI

Another aspect where United Airlines shines is its IFE offering. Pretty much every new movie I have ever watched has been on United, and today was no different. I wouldn’t be surprised if UA offers more than 300 movies on this system… Sensational!

Can we all agree that the earth is flat?😂

If work is something you need to do on the plane, head over to the Wifi page on your phone/laptop and purchase a full flight pass for 17.99. If you only need to send a couple of emails, a 1 hour pass will cost 2.99, and a 2 hour pass will cost you 5.99! 

Meal Service

Starting to feel tired, but relaxed, it was about 20 minutes after takeoff when cabin crew began dinner service with a hot towel. For those interested, here is a look at the menu as well:

Another 15 minutes later, I got even more tired to the point where I was falling asleep, so when the cabin crew came around to distribute drinks, I asked for an express meal service.

Cooked well, and delicious

10 minutes later, I had a glass of red wine, a starter, garlic bread, a salad, and a steak cooked medium rare. When I say the steak was cooked medium rare, this was the best steak I have had outside of Asian carriers (in the sky of course). 

Bed Time

Eating too quickly, a food coma was induced on to me. There was one thing on my mind: the bed. With all of the plentiful bedding at my disposal, as well as a mattress pad, I made up my bed and fell asleep for the next 8 hours. 

At some point, I must arisen from the dead just south of Russia (oh how bad I want to fly Aeroflot) and ordered one of the snacks provided on the menu: the Beef Melt. This is my go-to snack on UA as it is tasty, greasy, and fills me up.

Well, a glass of Laurent Perrier later, I fell right back asleep as I ended up waking up once again somewhere over Japan. At this point, I once again, decided to order another snack: for review purposes, I chose the grilled cheese with a glass of Pinot Noir: Excellent! 

Service

Seeing as most of this flight has been covered while I write this, I figured I would touch on the service aspect and what I noticed:

As a whole, I found the service to be decent, but not exceptional.

The one FA who was working during the two times I woke up was very kind, but she was the only standout FA on today's flight.

Interestingly, most of the HK-based FAs seemed to be not quite as friendly as the US-based FAs which is a first for me

Arrival

As I write this review, there is about an hour and 41 minutes left in the flight (crazy, I know). The cabin lights have just been turned on in preparation of the pre-arrival meal which I think I might skip, as I have breakfast once I land in Hong Kong…

Oof update: they just came around with good morning hot towels!

Being wide awake and writing this report, I figured I might as well have yet another grilled cheese before landing. Sure enough, the lovely cabin crew working my aisle was happy to hook it up, as well as open up a fresh bottle of LP just for me. WOW!

By 5:05 am we began our descent into Hong Kong, and by 5:40 am we touched down on runway 7R ahead of schedule.

6 minutes later we arrived into gate 46, in which the cabin crew bid farewell to the passengers from door 2L and it was off on the long trek to immigration. 

Eventually we made it through, and it was off to Hong Kong to have a lovely lunch with a friend, and eat pizza express which is where I am right now writing this.

Next stop: Beijing to visit my last world wonder!

Thanks for reading!