[Anonymous]

[business traveller]

SFO-EWR, UA292, A320, Economy Plus, 8A

This was the second domestic flight I took on my recent holiday in US

Booking:
I booked on the United website for my family holiday in the US a few months in advance and got a very competitive fare.I booked in economy and then upgraded to economy plus for an additional fee. I was quoted and charged in INR for the original booking and in USD for the economy plus seat, which I had to book through manage my booking. I was able to choose my seat at the time of booking.

Arrival at the airport:
I used the United phone app to check-in the previous day.

I arrived at the airport around 12:30pm for my 2:35pm flight. I used the curb side check-in counter to drop off my bags. Normally it would have been US$25 for the first checked-in bag. However, this was waived for us being *G. They were also priority tagged.

Security again was a breeze as we were stamped TSA Preferred. This meant a fast track line with no taking off shoes / belts or laptops.
The lounge:

We made our way to the United lounge which we got access to on basis of *G. The lounge served free snacks and drinks. Unlike the lounge in LAS, the SFO lounge didn’t have an apron view and it felt slightly enclosed. After spending a little while there, we headed to a restaurant near our gate for lunch.

Boarding:
The gate was visible from the restaurant and we made our way to the gate as we saw the queues starting to form. Boarding again was divided into zones from 1 to 5 and we were in zone 1, which was priority boarding. They commenced boarding by zone and we were amongst the early ones to board. Again it was a full flight and as the plane filled up, overhead bins got full. There were announcements from the cabin crew for smaller bags to be placed below the seat in front so the bigger roller on bags could be accommodated. We departed slightly ahead of time.

The seat:
The A320 was in a three class config: biz, premium eco and economy. The seats were the slim line variety and had a 35” pitch in economy plus. While business is in 2-2 config, eco plus and economy are in a 3-3 config. This worked well for our family of three.

The IFE:
There was no seat back tv on this flight, but United provides entertainment through your mobile devise. So using their app / wifi, they stream entertainment onto personal hand held devices. My son and I watched a film on my phone but we didn’t have earphones so it was like watching a silent movie. Since we watched a cartoon film, it didn’t matter much, but do remember to take your earphones if travelling United domestic.

The food:
Food was for purchase on this flight, while they gave a complimentary drink. I settled for a soda and bought chips to munch on.

The service:
The crew made a couple of rounds with the free drinks and food to buy. There wasn’t any other service required. On board purchase cannot be done using currency and a card has to be necessarily used.

Destination:
We arrived 45 mins early (scheduled arrival was 23:17) and our bags were amongst the first ones out so we were happy to make an early getaway and reach Princeton before midnight.

Verdict:
I was happy with the overall experience which was greatly enhanced due to the gold status.

Review courtesy of Seatplans.com. Original review by user PrakashMehta can be found here

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