Review of United flight from San Francisco to Phoenix in Domestic First

After making it to the States, it was time for the next flight: San Francisco to Phoenix.

The reason? Flight training.

I already started training in China, but I want an FAA Private Pilot License. So the plan was to train in Arizona for a month, then head back to China because of school, and hopefully come back to finish everything and take my checkride.

Originally, my dad booked this flight in Economy just a few days before departure. Bad idea. By then, almost every seat was gone. The only ones left were two middle seats in the last two rows of the plane… Yeah, no thanks.

Luckily, my dad had plenty of United MileagePlus miles, so we upgraded to "First Class". It cost 19,k miles for this flight, and 14.5k miles for the return to San Francisco. Definitely a much better way to spend the next two hours.

SFO

To get to SFO, we took BART instead of Uber. It took an hour, but it was definitely worth it. Uber was showing almost 100USD.

Like… why? That's basically daylight robbery. I'd much rather spend an hour on BART than pay that much for a ride.

We took the AirTrain to Terminal 2 to check in, which was kind of weird since United operates out of Terminal 3.

Check-in was really quick. There were dedicated kiosks for first class, and we were first in line 😃

After check-in, we walked over to Terminal 3 for security. Even though we checked in at a different terminal, all the terminals at SFO are connected, so the walk wasn't bad at all. You can even walk between the domestic and international terminals without leaving the secure area.

That's one of the reasons why SFO is one of my favorite airports.

Security wasn't exactly "First Class." There wasn't a dedicated priority lane, but it was still pretty quick, so I can't complain.

UNITED CLUB

Something I recently found out was that United domestic First Class doesn't come with lounge access. Why??? It's a full-service airline!

Good thing my dad has Star Alliance Gold, so we were still able to get into the lounge.

The lounge wasn't outdated, but it was really small. It was also packed with people, so it definitely didn't feel "First Class".

The food selection was also really limited. There weren't many options to choose from.

To make things even worse, the spoon I grabbed was dirty. I forgot to take a picture, but seriously… that's just unacceptable for an airline lounge. 

I made myself a mysterious taco, got some scrambled eggs, and grabbed a pink lemonade. You can't really find pink lemonade in China, so I had to try it. Honestly, the food actually tastes really good.

For the second round, I got a bowl of cereal and some more lemonade. It was pretty good, but the bowl was really small and shallow.

BOARDING

Boarding was delayed because our plane still hadn't arrived :(

Finally, after waiting for I don't even know how many minutes, here she is: N77518.

I was in Boarding Group 1, but the boarding process was extremely slow. There were so many people, and honestly, it felt like boarding Economy.

I don't understand why United doesn't just let First Class passengers board first, then follow with the high-status members. It would make the whole process much smoother.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

After a looooooong boarding process, I finally made it onto the plane.

The flight attendant handed out sanitizing wipes at the door while boarding.

Because we booked this flight last minute, we couldn't sit next to each other. My dad was in 4F, and he said his seat had limited recline. But even though we weren't sitting together, it was still way better than a middle seat in the second last row of Economy.

Here's my seat: 3F. I took this picture after landing, because there was already a stranger sitting next to me when I got to my seat.

I was on United's new retrofitted cabin.

The seat wasn't anything special. It's a big chair with extra space. They call it "First Class," but honestly, it's basically just domestic Business Class.

On the side under the armrest, there's a small storage space and the IFE remote.

And right beside that storage space, there's another small storage area, along with the headphone port and charging ports. USB-C!!!

There's also wireless charging on the armrest!

Besides the small counter between the two seats on the armrest, there's another small table in front of the seats, also shared between the two seats.

The IFE was a big highlight.

The screen is 13 inches, which is good for this type of seat. The system itself is also great. It's very responsive, has lots of content, and even has Bluetooth audio. I could actually use my AirPods!

I also loved the flight map. There's a mode called "Control Tower," where you can see all the planes at the airport, not just United aircraft.

It's basically like having FlightRadar24 built into the IFE, which is really cool for an avgeek.

The recline is also pretty good for this type of seat. But the legroom is kinda small for a Business Class seat. I can't fully stretch my legs out, which is honestly a surprise. There is also no legrest or footrest, which makes the seat more "economy".

But for a short-haul flight, it's tolerable.

In the seat pocket, there's a menu. same one as Economy Class.

There are no hot meals on this flight, and even if there are, you have to pay for them in Economy. However, there are a LOT of drink options, even in Economy.

Speaking of drinks, where's my welcome drink and hot towel????

They had those on my previous United First Class flight a year ago. I was expecting the same thing this time, but nope. Nothing. For a product that United calls "First Class," this was disappointing.

Taxiing took forever, but there was still a lot of good stuff to see outside.

Taking off, goodbye SFO.

Finally, cruising altitude.

SNACK TIME

Ding! Seatbelt sign off.

Time for the snack. Even though there are no hot meals like Asian carriers, I was still excited to see what we got.

For the drink, I got Minute Maid cranberry cocktail. It was really good.

Oh, and while we were at cruising altitude, I noticed how small the tray table was.

It's literally about the same size as the ones you get in Bulkhead Economy. There's also a device holder, which is a nice touch.

At first, I thought the snacks would be the same as Economy because the menu in the seat pocket was the same. But nope, I was wrong. The cabin crew came around with a basket full of snacks, and there were actually a lot of choices. She even let me take more than one.

The snacks were pretty good.

Then she came around for a second round, and of course, I grabbed even more. 😂

WOW, THAT WAS QUICK

After watching an episode of my favorite TV show, Family Guy, and taking a short nap, we were about to land.

Phoenix.

Taxiing to the gate.

To end this report, here are some good stuff I saw on the AirTrain ride to the Rental Car Center.