United Airlines – the merged carrier of United and Continental – has rolled out Economy Plus seating to all of its former Continental B757 aircraft serving international routes including London, Manchester, Dublin and Edinburgh.
The pre-merger United launched Economy Plus seating back in 1999, and already offers the product on around 400 mainline aircraft and 150 regional jets.
The decision was made to extend Economy Plus to Continental aircraft last year (see online news February 18, 2011), and seating has now been rolled out to all of the carrier’s international B757-200 aircraft.
The product offers six inches of extra legroom, and the newly-configured aircraft now feature 16 full-flat Business First seats, 45 Economy Plus seats and 108 economy seats.
A total of 41 aircraft have been refitted, and will operate principally on routes from New York Newark to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Belfast, Berlin, Birmingham, Copenhagen, Dublin, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Hamburg, Lima, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Manchester, Oslo, Paris, Shannon, Stockholm and Stuttgart, and between Washington/Dulles and Amsterdam and Paris.
Passengers can upgrade to Economy Plus seating either online or at the airport, and premium members of the United Mileage Plus loyalty scheme enjoy free upgrades to Economy Plus where available.
While the merged United Airlines now flies under a single operating certificate, both websites united.com and continental.com remain active for reservations for the time being.
Report by Mark Caswell
