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

[yflyer]

Beeping in the dark. Louder…more insistent.

“F***."

Blurry eyes try to focus on the clock…

3.30am.

In a recent TR on UA’s nonstop Dreamliner service from Singapore to San Francisco, I wrote:

“UA2 has a fairly civilized departure timing of 8.45am… by contrast, UA896 SIN-HKG-ORD remains a 6:00am departure...waking up early to check in for that flight is likely to mess up your body clock even before you reach the airport...”

Not a flight I would want to take…and yet my alarm had just gone off at half past three.

I had to make a last minute trip to America. As my booking was made just days before the departure date in early January, the only reasonably priced round trip fare I could find was on United, and that involved UA896 to Chicago via Hong Kong, a Boeing 777 service departing at six sharp.

Jetlagged from the get-go.

On the bright side, my flight home was on United 869, a 747-400 service from SFO to HKG, before connecting to UA895 HKG-SIN. Flights on a 747 are so rare these days. I was really looking forward to that. (You can click straight to the 744 section of the TR here.)

United Airlines recently announced that they were retiring their 747 fleet from service in the last quarter of 2017. When I read this, I felt a tinge of sadness. Many of us on this forum would have had fond memories of flights on the 747, whether on United or any other airline.

Many airlines still operate the 747. BA’s 744 fleet is going strong, while Qantas still has several examples operating. But UA869 would by my first flight on a United 747-400 in a while, and quite possibly my last on United before this type was decommissioned.

I’ve had some very interesting experiences on UA over the years. The last UA 744 flight I took was years ago, a battleship grey 744 adorned with a Tulip logo on the tail: No seatback IFE and very mediocre catering.

But recent experiences on UA1/2 SIN-SFO-SIN were very positive, and I’ve only had good experiences flying UA on domestic sectors in recent times.

I would be travelling in Y, but I did have a look in the J cabins along the way to check out United’s hard product.

UA has also launched revamped F and J products, branded “Polaris”, which I thought was quite appropriately, named since opinions on United on this forum are, how shall I say it, quite polarised…

[yflyer]

My pre-booked taxi was at the front door at 4am, and I was at the airport by 4.15. Thankfully my cabbie was just starting his shift, and was more awake than I was as he sped (Within the speed limit…) along a deserted ECP to Changi Airport.

Semi-conscious, I stepped out of the taxi, retrieved my luggage, and slowly sleepwalked to the UA check-in counters.

Terminal 2 is not busy at that hour in the morning…



The UA counters were not busy at that hour. In any case, I had checked in online earlier and since I was Krisflyer/Star Gold, I would be eligible to use the premier access check-in lanes, and check-in would probably have been quick even if there had been a queue in the regular lines.

Check-in was smooth, with additional passport checks prior to check-in, and my self-printed boarding passes replaced with proper ones at the counter.

At the gate holding rooms, UA has also implemented a premier access priority lane for security screening, which is something even SQ doesn’t do for their premium pax.



At the gate, Boeing 777-200ER registration N799UA, an 18+ year old aircraft first flown in 1998. I haven’t figured out the correspondence between the number on the nosegear doors, 2799, and the rego N799UA. Can anyone enlighten me?

[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!

[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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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!

[CarbonMan]

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

[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