United Airlines

Video | United First Class 737-900 – Seat 1E

Jake Redman September 1, 2014 2


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Rating:
3
On September 1, 2014
Last modified:September 1, 2014

Summary:

Airline: United
Aircraft: 737-900
Seat maps: SeatGuru
Seat Info: Row 1, Seat E
Class: First Class

Seat(s): It’s the stingiest United First Class cabin of the airline’s 3 737-900 configurations according to SeatGuru. Seat width isn’t effected but legroom in most first class seats lose roughly an inch of legroom, perhaps a little more here in the bulkhead row. In 1E, you’ve got a pretty reasonable amount of space for a shorter domestic flight, but not full leg extension.

With the large center console you’ve got space for your elbows and with the pull out drink tray, don’t have to crowd your gin & tonic with your neighbor’s bud light. You’ll just have to thumb wrestle over who’ll have to reach farther.

United First Class 737-900
Padded, wide and with good legroom. These United First Class seats aren’t bad for short hauls.

Seats are leather and well cushioned with an adjustable headrest. We’re not big on rumors but there have been plenty to say that the recline on this version might be slightly less than others. Extra seats in economy make this entire plane feel a little tighter.

{{orbitz2}}

Tech/Connectivity/Entertainment: Luckily, there are power outlets to keep your own entertianment/productivity devices charged. While the more common versions of this plane have live DirecTV at each seat, this one’s got nothing. Wi-fi wasn’t installed yet on this flight but it’s not unlikely that you’ll find it on yours.

Food:  I’m not sure why I expected more than a snack basket on this flight, but it’s what we got. Filled with chips and Kit-Kats there’s nothing in it that constitutes a nutritious lunch other than a banana. Luckily, we had a bite at the Plaza Premium Lounge in Vancouver. Since this flight, United has introduced new meal options in first on flights like this one.

See more pictures of this seat and cabin in our gallery.

Banana for lunch.
United has improved meal service in first since this flight. The bar was pretty low.

Service: There wasn’t anything to help change my decision that United still needs more friendly in their friendly skies. Flight attendants weren’t completely unpleasant to us in first class but between talking to the Vancouver gate agents in a condsending Pokemon voice and then approaching in-flight service a forced half-smile, nothing changed our less than happy perception of United staff.

Rating: 3 hops (of 5).

Route Flown for this review: Vancouver (YVR) – San Francisco (SFO)

How we got em’:  We used a one-way saver award (25K) miles for this 2 segment flight to Newark via San Fransico. It’s not a way we suggest you use your miles but it made sense for us at the time. United offers space available upgrades for purchase when you check in, which might be a better overall upgrade value.

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Jake Redman
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Jake Redman

Modhop Host & Founder Jake Redman brings years of global exploration and travel tips to the podcast and our videos at Modhop. Jake is also a Producer and Host for SiriusXM.

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  1. MilesFromBlighty on September 1, 2014

    United some of these planes without the power sockets – hence nothing to do once your battery runs down. I found them on LAX-IAD and SFO-EWR recently. 6 hours of hell.

    • modhop on September 1, 2014

      Agreed. I hate having to ration the number of games of Yahtzee I can play in order to save enough battery for summoning an Uber. 😉

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