UA 804
HND-IAD
22A
777-200
12hr18min (wheels up to wheels down, blocked at 12hr55)
After much procrastination time for me to finish up my TR. As mentioned in the intro, we scored a great deal of 30k miles for Economy HND-IAD and then paid $300 each to upgrade to Premium Plus, United’s Premium Economy. Thanks to my Gold status, the alternative was a bulkhead Y+ seat so we were curious if we would feel we got our moneys worth.

The HND boarding process was predictably flawless and we were on board in no time. Pretty sure they boarded the whole plane in 20 min.

A nice array of goodies were at the seat waiting for us. Hope this captures the width of the seat, in line with some reverse herringbone business class seats.

We had an ANA R2D2 parked next to us.

I would recommend the bulkhead if you are traveling with someone. It is easy to get up while the aisle is seated, but I always feel more comfortable doing it when the aisle is a companion. This compensates for the lack of seat storage — featuring our inflight snack bag.

In the bulkhead the TV is stored between the seats, which makes the watching experience better since you fully control the angle.

The plane was very clean, as expected, although my tray table did have some gunk on it that I used the alcohol wipe they pass out during boarding to clean.

25 minutes after takeoff the FAs were at the front of the cabin with the trolley and offered us a choice of chicken and rice or tofu and rice. We both went with the chicken which was actually served with potatos. The chicken was a little plain, but the portion size was good.

I enjoyed an Asahi with my meal.

The first four ish hours of the flight were smooth as we had a drawn out sunset. However, at one point later on the turbulence got so bad the FAs had to be seated.

To help stay awake I explored the amenity kit.

Full therabody set.

6hrs into the flight the lights came on and the FAs came through with a snack service and a choice of snacks from a snack basket.

Nothing spectacular but better than the typical inflight snack.

1hour45minutes before arrival they came through with the pre arrival meal. I went with the salmon which was phenomenal.

My girlfriend thought the waffle was okay.

And with that we began our descent into Dulles where we had a smooth touchdown.


During boarding in Tokyo we noticed there seemed to be a VIP on our flight as there was a ton of security. We didn’t notice who it was until we were waiting at Dulles for the people mover to the main terminal/immigration and they were holding an empty people mover for the VIP. Since it was poorly managed, there ended up being a crowd of people, myself included, who were waiting for the next people mover by the entrance to the reserved on. Suddenly the sea of people parted and with an escort of at least 10 people (all in Polaris)…. Kevin McCarthy walked by. Fitting the day I get around to writing this is the day he was been deposed.

All in Premium Plus is a comfortable way to fly during a day flight. The seats were optimal for staying awake and being comfortable watching movies or reading. The portions were bigger but quality of the food was still so-so. The service was essentially standard economy, so nothing special. It was definitely worth the $300 for a day flight where we forced ourselves to stay up in order to beat jet lag. However, I do not think it would be fundamentally easier to sleep in Premium Plus relative to Y+ or Y — but maybe that is my lie-flat bias.

Thanks for reading! Up next in a few weeks a segment run to keep Gold and checking out the IAD Cap1 Lounge.