Took UA1459 on the IAH-LAX segment tonight (11/13/12).
Seats 16JK: Sat with the Mrs. in seats 16JK (E+) - had selected these bulkhead seats prior to any info here on FT or SeatGuru. Decent enough leg room and the seats in recline also shift the seat pad forward for a little more comfort - however, you can really feel the seat pad forward lean/tilt when your seat is the full upright position. Also, since these are the CO seats, you'd have to readjust sitting now and then to get the blood flow back into your legs.
Here's the leg room for 16JKL (all of us pulled our legs back for the shot):
And because our screens are attached to aluminum arms that stow for takeoff and landing, here's the screen we get to watch SMI/J on:
Large Tinted Windows: While the tinted windows were larger than older ones and "cool", I received a face full of sun from windows up in BF on the port side - even with their windows at full tint. Didn't appreciate it since I ended having to duck and realign my face for a few minutes trying to get out of the way.
Quieter: In "idle mode" the 787's engines were considerably quieter than any mainline aircraft that I can remember - but still put out a fair amount of noise when taking off and in flight. After the seat belt sign was turned off after takeoff, I immediately went for my earplugs in the overhead bin.
Larger Overhead Bins: And yes, the overhead bins are larger - but still require some management to put the rollaboards - primarily on their sides, in order to stow up to 3 in a bin. Interesting latches plus not sure about the rationale for the mirrors on the backs of the insides of the overhead bins.
Here's the latch on the bin:
No Mood Lighting, Poor Lead FA: Didn't see much effort on the mood lighting. Also had one lead FA who really, really didn't get a clue that she was talking way way way too softly - which made it worse during announcements since we couldn't hear nor ignore her via the IFE.
Not mood lighting but here's another person over in BF taking photos as well:
No Clue sCO Crew: The sCO crew completely ignored my blazer that sat upon my arm and lap for many many minutes prior to door closing as well as during takeoff prep. I know that on all of my pmUA flights, the FAs would always catch note of my blazer and offer to hang it up - especially when I was in E+ and, more often than not, in the front of the E+ section.
Haz Cheezburger: Did appreciate the opportunity to purchase a reheated burger vs. the standard fresh fare. Found it tasty.
Standard Issue sCO Cabin: Didn't do much exploring around to really test out the running commentary on this thread about how packed Y really is and to notice how tight the aisles were. Don't feel that there was much benefit as of now (a few hours later) with the higher pressure in the cabin. And, yes, this is a brand new almost devoid of intersting color hue cabin layout.
No Faraday Cage: Our cell phones worked fine as well as my Blackberry so YMMV.
Empty Seats Already? One other note was the number of empty middle E+ seats and middle Y seats - 16 of the E+ seats (including 27DE) and 19 in Y were empty. Right now, ua.com's flight status shows 25 persons cleared standby and 6 upgrades and the mobile site was showing 40+ on the upgrade standby list.
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Opportunity Note: A quick check of the LAX-IAH return tonight shows an almost empty E+ section and about 1/3 empty in Y - and that's after 35 standbys were accommodated and 23 upgrades - so returns to IAH may be your best bet for a BF upgrade on a 787 in the near term.)
Summary:
The Mrs. enjoyed it. I wasn't terribly blown away. Doubtful I'll make a strong effort one way or another to get onto a 787 - unless it is to avoid a 737 or a RJ.
David