Review: United Airlines (777-200) Economy Plus Houston to Los Angeles

Introduction:  33 hour Roundtrip to Dallas
Review: Cadillac Mexican Kitchen and Tequila Bar – Houston Intercontinental Airport
Review:  United Airlines (777-200) Economy Plus Houston to Los Angeles
Review:  Updated Food at LAX United Club
Review:  Alaska Lounge – Los Angeles International Airport
OMG:  Stroopwafels!!!
Review: Yankee Pier – San Francisco International Airport 

UA 1956
IAH – LAX
TAKEOFF: 1005
Landing: 1147
Flight time: 3hr 42min
Seat: 17K
January 19, 2019

I quickly left Cadillac because there was a SMALL situation brewing with my seat on the flight to Los Angeles. As I scrolled through the United mobile app to check the flight status, I noticed that my aisle, exit row seat, 39J, was occupied by another passenger. I was involuntarily bumped to 17K, which was a middle, exit row seat. To make matters worse (maybe), I missed out an upgrade to business class. I called the United Premier line but was told that I needed to see someone at the airport. When I arrived at the gate and told the agent my plight, she sympathized but stated that she could not do anything. To add insult to injury, she did state that the person in my seat was a lower status. LOL. Thanks.

Boarding began at 0915. It was a mad rush at the gate, as everyone was piled around waiting on their boarding group to be called. With this flight being operated by a 777, there were a couple of hundred people waiting. Everyone passenger boarded through door 1L. We were pointed to our seat by a friendly flight attendant. My new seat, 17K, was the first row of Economy Plus behind the business class cabin. The two seats on either side of me were occupied when I arrived. Space appeared to be very limited.

What I lacked in horizontal space was balanced by the amount of legroom that was available. There was no issue, even with the flight attendant seated in her jump seat just across from me.

The seat had individual air nozzles, which provided some needed air in the tight quarters.

The tray table was in the left armrest, it could be used halved or whole. I had issues using halved because the entire thing seemed like it wanted to tip over.

As boarding was nearing completion, I decided to have a quick glance at the business class cabin. The passengers seated there did not look as if they had it much better than me. The ones seated in the four across middle seats had it the worst.

The captain, Patrick, made his first announcement 35 minutes after boarding began. He never said his name (I got it from a flight attendant) nor the altitude that we would be flying. Patrick did inform us of a 3hr and 1 min flight to Los Angeles. Boarding was complete a few minutes after his announcement.

The safety demo was performed and we began our pushback 10 minutes later. We had a long taxi for takeoff. How long? 22 minutes. We did have a rolling takeoff. The climb out was long and gradual, due to the weight.

Once we reached cruising altitude, the purser, Glen Richards came around to introduce himself. I cannot recall that happening in economy before. He was very friendly and worldly. We talked about travels and the life of a flight attendant (now, as one of the head flight attendants). Glen checked back every so often throughout the flight.

The snack service began 20 minutes after takeoff. Pretzels and non-alcoholic drinks were complimentary, while alcohol and Bistro items could be had for a small fortune. I settled on Jack and Diet Coke with pretzels.

The service was over quickly. I decided to check out the lavatory. It was about as basic as a lavatory could be. There were some Cowshed branded lotions for use.

I also checked out the rest of the economy cabin. Whoa. People were really packed in there.

30 minutes after the snack service, the flight attendants came around to see if passengers needed anything else. I ordered another drink. I spent the rest of the time talking to two people on the left of me. One had just flown in from Brazil, while the other was headed to China. I frowned when he said China because I remembered my issues in China last year. Before too long we were 15 minutes from Los Angeles.

Final Word

My first domestic flight on a United Airlines 777 was an adventure, to say the least. I was kind of upset that I was involuntarily swapped to a middle seat prior to boarding. The cool guys seated next to me and Glen, the purser, really made the flight enjoyable. With that being said, I think that I will stick to regional jets when flying domestically.