Slouchman

Took the Qatar 8 AM from DOH to DXB on Dec 7th. Delayed 30 minutes off the blocks with no explanation, but not mechanical. Seated in 26A which is first row aft of exit door in Economy. By far, the most uncomfortable flight on any aircraft I have flow except an F-28 on Biman Bangladesh in 45 deg C weather. Combination of the no padding economy seats, the 9 across seating and the intrusion of the exit door into the leg space had me sitting at a 45 deg angle with my shoulder crammed into the window. Moved to center seat after door closed and shoulders intruded well into seats on both sides. I will be avoiding this A/C type in Economy going forward. Overall, unimpressive and would be intolerable long haul. Very disappointing.

ElliottMB

From: http://www.united.com/web/en-US/cont...e/default.aspx
I think if your upgrade doesn't clear before 24hours, it will be placed on the airport waitlist and then clear. So I guess for you, it is hard to say whether it was your instrument or status that put you at #7, although I would guess the instrument is what did it.

I'm now ~40 hours out from my flight, and my upgrade has not cleared, but it also hasn't made it to the waitlist yet. Fingers crossed something magic will happen at online check in tomorrow, like 'oh, we will give him his waitlisted upgrade now.' We shall see...

WineCountryUA

to continue the quote of the previous poster, which addresses the t-24 situation
However, there have been hints the gate waitlist and the CPU waitlist have some priority difference but the website claims none.

ElliottMB

So my upgrade got waitlisted for tomorrow, am currently #1 on waitlist which is good. However, I just noticed ~4 people that appeared below me on the list we just confirmed into seats. How does this happen? Shouldn't they go in order of the list, which is already sorted by things like status/instrument used?

UA-NYC

That list basically doesn't count until T-30 minutes or so unfortunately - it's a different UG list running right now. Makes sense? Of course not, but that's the new UA.

keisari

UA1001 today 12/14 SFO-IAH leaving at 11:50pm was supposed to be 787 flight. I checked earlier today and it said 787; checked again at noon and now it is a 777-200 with 50 BF seats instead of the 36 seats on the 787
Pros: I may still be upgraded even though the new UA is not good about following the list the way they should/used to.
Cons: I would have preferred 787 even if it is in coach. It is a short flight and I would easily give up the BF seat.

Anybody know what happened?

AirTravelLover

The 787 coach seats are the most uncomfortable among UA fleet in my opinion. They are so narrow! The good thing is the insulation -- sitting in window seats does not bring one the cold air or cold wall. I also notice these new birds have got their carpet look quite dirty already.

colortv

Agreed! However, it's not just UA. Any airline cramming 9 seats across in 787 economy class will have the same seat width problem. It seems most airlines are going with 3-3-3. I guess they have decided that all the other nice stuff about the 787 is an acceptable trade off for an uncomfortable seat. I feel exactly the opposite.

For the same price or less, I prefer Singapore Airlines A380 from LAX-NRT with 19" economy seat width and superior service compared to UA's narrow 17.3" seat and "tolerable" service. I have zero loyalty to United, but I know many of you do.

I do like United's 787 lavatory though....they got something right.

SFO 1K

BA has decided to go 2-3-2 in their premium cabin. 2-3-2 in Premium Economy. 3-3-3 in basic economy. Even tighter than UA in the most forward cabin? Whoa!

redtailshark

I just rode the NH 787 and it was by miles the best non-premium Y cabin experience ever.

First, it's NH - so, eight abreast, 34 inch pitch, and superior food and service.

But the 787 was by miles quieter than any other a/c - much quieter than the 380 even - and the cabin height, space, ambience, lighting and the denser, humid air made a big difference. I was not nearly as fatigued at NRT as I have come to expect.

I've done that trip many dozens of times - I used to live near HND, but always flew NW to NRT - and it was always more or less tiring.

Not only that, but I had one of the worst seats in the cabin - row 32 which is just where the NH center seat block narrows but retains four across - because this was a last minute award booking. RGN positioning flight. Rows 21 and 25, bulkheads, have tons of extra legroom and really compared with those seats, J wouldn't have been much of a step up. I'm going to seek out that premium turf next time for TPAC Y redemption.

I don't know about the UA 788, but the equivalent seat on the UA 772 would have been 47 F and it would have been almost intolerable.

ElliottMB

Noticed #3904 didn't fly IAH-DEN (and thus DEN-IAH), the two flights before mine (IAH-LAX). Boarding is in about 2 hours, so my question is when is the latest they would put in a 'planned switch' (if there even is such a thing)? It's still showing as a 787 at this time, but I'm not holding my breath!

colortv

I agree, 100%. I did the same in May, Haneda to Hiroshima and back. NH did a wonderful job on their interiors. Unlike UA's Y seats, NH Y seats are comfy and pleasant width.I'd love to take a long haul on one of their 787's but not likely out of LAX any time soon. They're filling their 2 daily 777-ER flights and 787 is too small for the LAX run. ANA is a great airline.

EmailKid

LAX-SEA (UA) SEA-NRT (NH), at least I think they fly into NRT and not HND.

Now for my report:

Finally got to try the Dreamliner, armed with all the, ehem, comments here and in other threads.

SDC, just to get on 787, plus coming back from DUB didn't realize I would pre-clear there and allowed extra time in EWR

At any rate, E+, comfy ride, nice AVOD with crappy Film / TV selection - the nice screen was completely wasted on these programs. Nice thing is you can pause whatever you are watching to check the flightmap, and then resme watching the show.

As a note, I'm tall and somewhat leaner than the average North American flyer, so the seat width didn't bother me, but for the record the regular E+ had about the same seat width as my next fight on CR7 with inseat traytable (making it less wide than regular seats on that plane), and slightly narrower than my exit row seat on 752 (also with inseat traytable), so obviously a bit narrower than standard 737/757/777 seat.

My positive experience was probably helped by having (I belive) the only empty seat on the whole plane next to me, but I was actually OK with legroom even when I stretched under the seat in front of me.

So, I'm still excited about my DEN-NRT inaugural on the Dreamliner next year

schriste

Flew 787 today IAH to EWR. Agree with most that 3-3-3 configuration not the best. Dislike 3-3-3 on 777 too, so narrower 3-3-3 on 787 is a killer for me (much prefer 2-5-2 if 9 abreast). My wife had window 16L and I had 16J. Middle seat person was upgraded on the plane just before departure. Ok flight with middle seat free and only 3 hours. 10 hour flight with all 3 seats full would not be much fun. Ex-CO 767 preferable in coach.

The plane was indeed very quiet especially on take off. Surprised that blanket, pillow and headphones provided in coach on this flight. FWIW, as plat I was number 19 on upgrade list with 40+ total on list. Only 2 or 3 upgraded at gate.

Considered 20,000 miles for upgrade, but glad I saved the miles.

EmailKid

Yes, thanks for mentioning that again, I too found the plane nice and quiet. For me it was an overwing seat, and recall it being much noisier on other a/c is same location.

I was surprised by blankets as well, but since they also offer entertainment for free I'm guessing it's all part of training for int'l flights, where they still offer same.

EmailKid