United Airlines 747-400 in Economy: SIN-HKG-ORD (777) / SFO-HKG-SIN (744/777)

[yflyer]

Continuing with the TR...

After clearing immigration and catching the ORD Skytrain from my arrival Terminal 5 to Terminal 1, I cleared TSA security through the Premier Access express lane and found myself back in the airside area at ORD.



While ORD is a very large airport, I find it quite pleasant to connect through. There are many shops and eateries, and it is fairly easy to navigate.



At the gate, a 738 being readied for my connecting flight to Tampa, Florida.



UA has a great system for boarding. You have group number clearly printed on your boarding pass. The premium pax are typically Group 1 or 2 with regular pax in Groups 3, 4 and 5. There are different lanes at each gate, clearly signposted with the group number. Pax queue at their respective lanes, and board when the group is called. Clear and simple.

This UA 738 had dark leather seats...



...and widescreen IFE for a fee (I didn't feel like watching or paying)...



The restrooms onboard were a very new design. A little cramped, with a tiny sink, but quite stylish.



This was a 2+ hour sector, and inflight service consisted of just a beverage and a snack.

I spent most of the flight drifting in and out of sleep, and before long, we were descending into TPA...



A nice view of the distinctive split scimitar winglets that UA has installed on many of their 738s. These apparently offer up to 2% additional efficiency/savings over the regular blended winglets, which themselves provide a benefit of up to 4% efficiency improvements.



I spent a couple of days in Tampa before heading to San Diego via Houston, also on UA narrowbodies.

[yflyer]

Thanks for being awake enough to diligently do another one of your great TRs, yflyer! Hope it was too freezing in ORD.

Thanks, CarbonMan! I was only in transit in ORD, enroute to sunny Tampa in Florida, but it was quite cold in Chicago that day -- I had to put my coat on just to catch the Skytrain in between terminals in ORD.

Lovely trip report - but those aren't the Polaris products they're the current ones.

Polaris looks like this:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/douggoll.../#65a83542e782

Hi, SQflyergirl! You are right, of course.

The new Polaris seating has yet to be widely rolled out, and all my flights were with the current generation F and J seating. I've amended my initial post to clarify this point.

The way United has rolled out Polaris, they now market Polaris as an "experience" across service, lounge, catering etc, not just the seat. And the Polaris "service" is being launched widely across their fleet and destinations, whether or not the seats are the newest Polaris seats.

Although the equipment onboard the flights I flew were all the existing UA F and J hard product, they were all marketed as Polaris First and Polaris Business.

The UA website FAQ says Polaris is "...is a reinvention of our international premium cabin travel experience"..."We anxiously await the arrival of our new United Polaris seat, which will begin flying in early 2017, but in the meantime travelers can enjoy all other aspects of the United Polaris inflight service, from enhanced dining to restful sleep."

So let the flyer beware! Not all Polaris marketed flights at the moment will have the new Polaris seat. You will get the other aspects of the Polaris experience, i.e. Saks Fifth Avenue pillows, blankets, catering, and other Polaris features, but maybe not the seat!

[SQflyergirl]

Lovely trip report - but those aren't the Polaris products they're the current ones.

Polaris looks like this:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/douggoll.../#65a83542e782

[CarbonMan]

Thanks for being awake enough to diligently do another one of your great TRs, yflyer! Hope it was too freezing in ORD.

[yflyer]

Overall impressions?

Apart from the 3.30am wake up call, I had a very pleasant experience on this UA flight to Chicago.

The hard product is a comfortable one – to me the UA 772 cabin is preferable to UA’s newer 789 on account of the wider 777 fuselage for the same 3-3-3 seating config.

I appreciated the additional legroom in Economy Plus, and the fact that I had 3-seats to myself on the lightly loaded SIN-HKG sector definitely enhanced the experience.

Cabin service was friendly and efficient, and the Asian-style catering options were superb.

Downsides? The IFE was dated, and the other catering option was inevitably a vegetarian pasta. Also, liquor was only available on a chargeable basis.

But on balance, this was a perfectly acceptable way to get to the US. Perhaps you weren’t pampered the way you were on SQ, and you didn’t have the same mindblowing IFE or elaborate Y catering, but the essentials were there, and let’s not underestimate the benefits of old-school 9-abreast 777 seating – which remains a very comfortable Y product, especially compared to 10-abreast 777's and 9-abreast 787's.

And UA is still the only airline where you can occasionally eavesdrop on the pilot’s communications with ATC.

To be continued!

[yflyer]

Descent into Chicago…



…on a cold winter’s day.



Our flight landed more or less on time, just before noon.

That day, we must have arrived into ORD during a lull in arrivals, and customs and immigration queues were very light. I was through to the landside area in no time.

I would now need to connect via the skytrain to another terminal for my onward connection on United to TPA, and thanks to the on-time arrival and short immigration queues, I would have ample time to make my connection. So far so good!

[yflyer]

Towards the middle of the flight, I retrieved a pack of cup noodles which I had brought along with me, and headed to the galley, where the cabin crew were very happy to top it up with hot water, and provide me with a pair of chopsticks too.




There is a snack served mid-flight, but this is a cold sandwich and chocolate biscuit, which wasn’t really satisfying.



Unlike the SIN-HKG leg of the flight, which was quite lightly loaded, the HKG-ORD sector was quite full.

That said, the spacious 9-abreast cabin on the 777 meant that cabin ambience was fine. The picture below is of the Economy Plus cabin...the added seat pitch in Y+ really contributed to the sense of spaciousness.



The sense of spaciousness in this cabin was superior to UA’s 787 cabin, which is configured 9-abreast.

A hot breakfast was served prior to landing…



Two choices of breakfast. I believe one was a western style egg dish (Or was it pancakes?), the other was Asian style noodles…



The noodles were great…



Hot and savoury…



Another view of the cabin towards the end of meal service. This part of the cabin is regular Y. Still fairly spacious, but less so than Y+.

[yflyer]

Bottles of water handed out…



And then, the cabin was dimmed for the long overwater segment…



if you needed anything, a drink or a snack, you just headed to the galley to get it.

Wifi was available on this flight, for a flat fee of $16.99 (Unlimited data)



This is time-based wifi, which is far preferable to the ludicrous and exhorbitant data-based charges that SQ and some other airlines charge on some of their flights (SQ has both time and data based charges depending on which flight/aircraft you take).

The only issue with UA wifi, apart from the fact that it seems to breakdown once in a while, was that unlike on SQ or other airlines, where you could switch from one device to another (One device at a time), on UA, you could only use the same subscription for multiple devices if you are a UA mileage plus member. Otherwise, this internet was restricted to one device only. This was a drawback for me, because I usually like to switch between my computer, and my iPhone (For WhatsApp et).

Nevertheless, the price for the wifi represents very good value.

[yflyer]

Cabin service began with a round of drinks…



…and snacks…



After departing HKG, we overflew Taiwan before the long over-ocean stretch across the Pacific.





One quirk of United’s 777 airshow: It doesn’t show actual flight path, just a straight (or great circle) line from start point to present position, and from position to destination. I much prefer Airshow systems which show actual flight path flown, so that you can see the holding patterns and exactly where you have flown, which aren’t shown on the UA system.

Lunch was served. Cabin crew on this flight looked to be both US and Asia-based. Cabin service was quite cheerful and friendly. At least today, we really were flying the friendly skies.



No printed menus were handed out, but the two choices available in Y were announced over the PA: either Hainanese Chicken Rice or a vegetarian pasta.

I went for the chicken rice.



This was spectacular. One of the nicest inflight Y meals I have had on any airline.



UA have hit bulls-eye with this dish. Fragrant rice with tender chicken and ginger sauce. There was no chilli sauce provided (Unlike the full complement of sauces SQ provides on the book-the-cook chicken rice you can get in SQ Premium Y), but the rice and chicken were so flavourful that I did not miss the chilli. Thumbs up!

The meal was served along with another round of beverages, including complimentary beer and wine, served out of bottles.



I asked for half a glass each of red and white in order to sample what they had on offer.



Beer and wine were complimentary, but hard liquor was only available on a chargeable basis. I saw hardly anyone order liquor.

A scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert…

[yflyer]

A very long 14+ hour flight from Hong Kong to Chicago…



On this flight, the Captain turned on Channel 9, or what is called “From the Flight Deck” on the IFE, which is a unique United Airlines feature where you can listen in on ATC communications with your aircraft. This is turned on or off at the Captain’s discretion, and it is often turned off. I suspect only pre-merger UA (pmUA) tech crew enable this feature…one of the things which I really like about United. Many times, this is off.

On this flight I struck lottery with the pilot announcing that Channel 9 would be on for this flight. A rare treat! I tuned in for long stretches on this flight.

[yflyer]

It was soon time to reboard. Here are a few more shots of the Business Class seating on this flight…

Very large pillows (both a day pillow and a night/sleeping pillow) and blankets on each seat…



The front of the bulkhead J seats…



J seat controls.



The seats looked fairly comfortable, and even in 8-abreast layout, the cabin did not feel cramped. That said, the seats did not look particularly wide, and I can’t imagine the pax in the middle seats being very happy about needing to step over their seatmates to get to the aisle.

A view of the window seats.



Note the forwards/backwards seating of each row, reminiscent of train carriages.



I returned to the same seat in the Economy Plus section of the plane, but not before snapping a few pictures of regular Y.

The regular Y cabin has normal seat pitch, rather than the extended seat pitch of Y+, but it still feels quite spacious on account of the 9-abreast layout.





Note, though, that UA’s latest 777-300ER’s have gone 10-abreast which is disappointing. Enjoy these 9-abreast UA 772’s while you can…

Emex row in the Y cabin. These seats are sold as Y+.



Bathrooms on this 777 have the traditional brushed metal “dental clinic” fittings…

[yflyer]

The SIN-HKG leg of UA896 went by quickly.

The fact that I was able to sleep for a couple of hours did help mitigate the worst effects of the early wake-up call.

It was soon time to descend into HKG.



Reversers and airbrakes deployed on a very cloudy day in Chek Lap Kok.



Repainting of the CX fleet in their new livery seems to be proceeding well.



After arrival, there was a long walk through the arrival area to the security screening checkpoint, and then back up to the departure level to reboard the plane for the long HKG-ORD sector of this flight.

[yflyer]

Dawn broke shortly after take-off…



A choice of hot meal was served…either spicy chicken and rice or a vegetarian pasta…

I chose the chicken with rice…along with a can of Minute Maid Cranberry-Apple juice…



The chicken was quite delicious…



I spent most of the flight asleep on my 3-seat Y-flat “bed”, but not before briefly checking out the IFE…



With a smallish screen, this is no-longer state of the art IFE, but it was still nice to have a selection of movies, TV and audio available to watch…



Picture and audio quality were ok, but no match for the latest IFE systems, or your own computer or tablet, for that matter.



Wifi internet was also available for a fee.

[yflyer]

UA’s current safety video is music-themed, and is quite watchable. It is interesting that UA has also subscribed to the philosophy that passengers are more likely to watch a safety video if it is entertaining, rather than purely factual (An approach which another Star Alliance member, Air New Zealand has taken to extreme, even over-the-top lengths...).

The latest iteration of UA’s videos is music themed. Pop aficionados will recognize Abbey Road Studios featured in the video, and even the man in the street will probably recognize the inspiration behind this scene…



One scene I found particularly hilarious, yet bringing home the point, was the one illustrating the emergency path lighting…



…which a bridegroom-to-be uses to escape from his wedding…



Will we ever see SQ coming up with a similarly creative safety video?

[yflyer]

This was a 3-class aircraft – maybe 3 and a half classes if you consider UA Economy Plus to be a distinct product.

Up front, the First Cabin, which looked to me more like a good J product than F, from a hard product perspective.

Then a large Business cabin, laid out in an unusual 2-4-2 backwards/forwards layout, with seats that reclined fully flat.

[Edit: I originally described these cabins as Polaris First and Polaris Business, but as SQflyergirl pointed out in her comment, these are the current generation F and J UA seats, not the new generation Polaris hard product. While the flights were marketed as Polaris First / Polaris Business, UA considers Polaris to be the premium cabin "Experience" and not just the hard product i.e. seat. The Polaris experience includes catering, amenities i.e. pillows, blankets, lounges etc, which are all available, while the seat is in the process of being rolled out.]



More pictures of J on the next HKG-ORD sector.

The Economy Plus cabin, 9-abreast Y seats with very generous seat pitch, was next. Economy Plus on UA is not a PEY product. Economy Plus simply means seats with more seat pitch/legroom. There is no other difference with regular Y.



While UA’s premium frequent flyers are able to select these at no additional charge, others, even Star Gold on other airlines, have to pay a hefty charge for choosing these seats, typically more than USD100 a seat on a long sector like SIN-ORD. When I tried to reserve seats online for my flight earlier on, no regular aisle seats were available, so I bit the bullet and paid with my credit card for a Y+ seat.

On a positive note, the Economy Plus cabin feels very spacious and open.



Generous seat pitch in Y+.



Purely in terms of hard product, Economy Plus is more spacious than SQ Y (Not an apples to apples comparison, of course), and also more spacious than UA’s equivalent Y+ cabin in the 787, by virtue of the 777’s wider fuselage.



Seat recline is good, but not exceptional.



A/C power under the seat. Note that this version of power socket doesn’t support UK 3-pin plugs.



Adjustable air vents.



Smallish seatback IFE with full AVOD.



Complimentary earbud headphones distributed prior to take-off. The flight attendant giving them out saw me wearing my own headphones did not give me a pair, saying “yours are better.”



Overall a very comfortable economy cabin to fly in.



And as a bonus, on the SIN-HKG sector, the Y+ cabin was quite lightly loaded, and I was able to fold up the armrest and have 3 seats to myself, which certainly enhanced the inflight experience on this flight!