Flight Details
Flight: UA 1449
Aircraft: Boeing 757-200
Seat: 4A
Depart: SFO - San Francisco 11:10 AM (scheduled) 11:55am (actual)
Arrive: BOS - Boston 7:46 PM (scheduled) 7:54 (actual)
Fare class: United First
Meal: Lunch
I've never flown with United on the San Francisco to Boston route before, even though I fly that route at least 2x/year in each direction. Why not? Well, many reasons. First, well, there is the fact that it is United, and their service standards, and food in particular, are among the worst in the industry, particular for domestic travel. Second, they aren't price competitive, generally 1.5-2x the price of others like Delta or JetBlue, which is extremely puzzling to me, given the lower quality nature of their offerings. Third, there really is no selling point for them ... JetBlue Mint just blows them away on hard product (even with the aging Mint product), actually has delightful food, and friendly flight attendants who generally seem like they want you to enjoy your experience. Delta I sometimes pick when JetBlue is just priced too high, and they tend to have the best domestic wifi on their new A321Neo that serves this route, and the food is generally decent. Plus, I like their beverage lineup. There is no dimension that United wins on.
And yet, this year, for the Christmas holiday, I found myself on a very expensive United flight, and felt fortunate to be on it. Why? Well, epic storms on both sides (Boston and San Francisco) the day before, when I had a scheduled JetBlue flight led to massive drama (aircraft downgrade to no Mint, got a new flight, it got cancelled, got a new flight, it got delayed by many hours, and so on), and never made it on a plane that day, and of course, every JetBlue option the next day was fully booked due to the chaos. And thus, I snagged a seat on United, coughed up the cash, and dealt with it, just so I could enjoy some quality time with my family.
Our departure was delayed, once we were all boarded and the boarding door was shut, due to issues loading the baggage. Otherwise, no major drama with the flight itself. Baggage at Logan however took an excruciating long time. I've always quasi-blamed JetBlue for this, as the carrier I normally fly to Boston with, but, clearly there is something about the baggage setup here that just doesn't work efficiently. It was nearly an hour before my bags came! An hour!
Amenities & Service
This flight was marketed as First Class, standard domestic, not premium like SFO-EWR, even though similar length flights. This meant no lounge access, no sundaes, etc. It certainly didn't come with anything particularly premium, besides the seat.
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| Seat. |
At our seat was a very thin blanket and fairly cheap headset. No other amenity kit provided. Wifi (extra $8) worked reasonably well once airborne, not offered on the ground or under 10,000 feet.
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| Entertainment / Shelf / Ottoman / Storage. |
On the Boeing 757-200 the layout is a 2-2, 4 rows, so only 16 passengers, with actual Polaris seats that do lay flat, although I never utilized that for the daytime flight. I didn't find the seat particularly configurable nor comfortable, but it was well designed in terms of usable space. There is space under the ottoman in front for a small bag, above that the ottoman that you could place things (or your feet) during the flight, and above that a thin cubby/shelf that was great for sticking my laptop when I went to use the bathroom or was dining. A reasonably large entertainment screen was above that. I had the aisle seat, and had a sizable cubby for my shoes at ground level, which I don't think the window seats had. I had a shared little drink table with my seatmate, big enough for us each to put one drink and our ramekins of nuts, but not more. Along the side of the seat was a slight ledge that worked well for holding my phone, and the magazine compartment.
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| Odd space behind me. |
A downside was the tray table that came out of the center and was fairly poorly positioned (you couldn't slide it out of your way nor closer, so it was awkward to eat at), and it was rather flimsy and slanted. There was also a space kinda behind me where I could put a water bottle or some other small items (not for stowage though), that was just awkward to access. I don't think the window seats had this either.
While the configuration is a 2-2, the seats are slightly offset, both with your direct seat mate, and the person across the aisle, which makes it feel slightly more private.
Overall, I'd put this far behind JetBlue Mint (at least, compared to the single suites that I normally fly), and a touch less comfortable but more private and usable than Delta A321neo that they use on this route, and far above Alaska's offering.
Service was really much better than any other United flight I've been on, domestic, premium transcon, or international. The two flight attendants were both quite attentive, passing through the cabin probably every 20 minutes or so, always offering refills, remembering our orders, etc. No "hiding" in the galley. Our drinks and meals were served very quickly. They didn't scold passengers, even when we had laptops in hand during takeoff/landing, even when people used bathroom with the seatbelt sign on.
Food & Drink
As we settled in, we were offered PDB of water, OJ, or mimosas. I asked for sparkling water, which was granted with a smile, as was the rum & coke that the person across the aisle asked for. This was one point for our FA, as this isn't commonly granted on many United flights.
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| Pre-order Menu. |
Pre-order had 5 options available, two vegetarian options (the token ravioli or cheese enchiladas), one meat (signature burger and fries), and one chicken (actually meatballs, not just breast), plus the cheese plate. I was tempted by the burger for novelty, but I know it gets fairly lackluster reviews, particularly the fries, and I was tempted sorta by the mushroom ravioli due to the alfredo sauce, but, I've had far too many very poor versions of ravioli from United, so I selected the cheese enchiladas, not something I generally would order, but, people seem very happy with it on Flyertalk, so ... I took the gamble. It didn't pay off. But more on that soon.
On board options were the tired old sweet chili noodle salad, chicken meatballs, or cauliflower rice bowl. I was glad I pre-ordered, and surprised that no one else seemed to. Also a bit interesting that most of the onboard options were not available for pre-order. I think many were last minute bookings due to the weather cancellations the day before (I had booked mine late the evening before that, when I saw the weather forecast, and got worried, rightly, about what was in store for me). Drink orders were taken before takeoff, along with meal orders for everyone who hadn't pre-ordered.
There were no other snacks offered, no snack basket passed, and when I asked if they had anything else, I was told no. All other airlines with a business class offering on this route do offer additional snacks later in the flight. That said, our beverages were quite free flowing.
Red Wine
I opted for red wine, served very soon after takeoff (within 15-20 mins). I give United kudos for the speedy service. There is only one red and one white wine available domestically, not specified, so I'm not sure what varietal it was, let alone the winery.
The pour was, um, rather large, but sadly it was not very good, fairly harsh and acidic. Meh. **.
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| Nuts. |
Warm nuts (almonds and cashews only) were served with our drinks. Same as all United flights, not particularly good nor bad, and I wish they'd mix these up a bit, or at least make them have more seasoning. **+.
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| Lunch Tray. |
Our meals were also served fairly quickly after takeoff, within 30 minutes. Delivered front to back, rapid succession. Everyone got the same basic salad with dressing, roll with butter, salt & pepper, and dessert.
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| Roll. |
I strangely do like some of United's rolls, but this was not one of them. It seemed to be a wheat sourdough, and as I don't like sourdough, I didn't care for it. It was served lightly warm, and tasted reasonably fresh. But, sourdough flavor I didn't like. **.
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| Salad. |
The salad was a very basic mixed greens salad, mesclun with two tomatoes and three cucumbers. It was fresh enough, the tomato not too mealy, the cucumber not slimy. Fairly attractively presented. Same packaged balsamic vinaigrette as all United flights that I didn't use. ***.
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| Cheese enchiladas with Spanish rice and street corn. |
So ... yeah. I don't generally go for Mexican food. I don't generally eat much rice (unless it is in rice pudding, or crispy, or interesting in some way). But ... everyone on Flyertalk says this dish is good. Plus, I figured, gooey cheese is never a bad thing.
I was highly underwhelmed. The rice was somehow both dried out and mushy at the same time. Microwave meal style rice, and although it had some color to it, it wasn't really flavored, and was lacking any seasoning. The corn was fine, but there wasn't much of it, and I'm not sure it really classified as "street corn". * rice, ** corn.
And then of course there were the enchiladas. I always though a key component of enchiladas was sauce ... otherwise, isn't it just a tortilla with cheese? This ... had no sauce. Just tortilla with cheese. No other filling, just cheese. Like a 10 year old makes in the microwave for after school snack. The cheese was nicely gooey, and there was plenty of it, both inside and oozing out, but, really, these were just plain tortillas with melty cheese. No sauce, and nothing like salsa or sour cream either as if it were a quesadilla. There was a single spicy slice of jalapeno, which added a tiny pop of flavor, but otherwise ... yeah. Big let down. And frankly, not enchiladas ... *** cheese I guess, but, overall, flavorless and boring, *+.
I truly don't understand why people recommend this. Maybe compared to the rest it at least wasn't actively nasty?
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| Decaf Coffee. |
To go along with my dessert, I asked if they had decaf coffee, and was told yes. He didn't mention it was instant, but, it clearly was, frothy on top. That said, it was piping hot, and not bad, and just what I wanted alongside my dessert, so I wasn't all that upset. ***.
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| Dessert: Cake. |
The dessert is the same crumble cake I've had my last few flights. I do actually kinda like it, even though it is highly processed, and seems almost like a coffee cake until you realize how sweet it is. The crumble top is tasty, and the overall flavor actually is just sweet and decent enough, but it really is best lightly warmed up with ice cream, which of course is not how they serve it. ***.
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