Well it took a while, but I finally boarded my first Embraer 170, flying ALB-IAD and operated by Shuttle America, yesterday.

In a nutshell, I could get used to this.

For those who have yet to experience this plane, think a small Airbus A319. You can stand up in it. You can put bags that meet the current carry-on maximums in the overhead bins (those who like to bring the "plus-size" ones might be stymied). The windows truly are at eye-level (even better then many mainline planes).

Embraer Page - http://www.embraercommercialjets.com...ts/emb_170.asp

UA Seat Map - http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,51212,00.html
SeatGuru Seat Map - http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Uni...er_EMB-170.php

The best seat on this plane is 3C. That's right — Economy is better then First. All of Row 3 has insane amounts of legroom (45"+ easy), but 3C has the aisle, so I was able to totally stretch out.

First Class has 20" wide seats, with a similar design to those found in the CRJ-700 with a moveable headrest. The seats don't really look 20" wide, but I sat in 1D for a few moments waiting for the door to open (there was only one person in F on my flight) and I fit fine.

There was no cabin divider on my plane, just the little "quarter curtains" hanging down from the ceiling. As such, you could use the seatback pockets of the F seats (if you could reach them)

Economy Plus is just that. Rows 4-6 have 34" of pitch and with the slightly short seat bottom (see below), that means good knee room. There are no overwing exits on this plane, so Row 3 is the best. Seats are 18.2" wide and I fit as fine as I do on an Airbus/767/777. The seat cushion is a little short, and I noticed after about 10 minutes my thighs started to feel a bit uncomfortable due to circulation being slightly cut-off. The flight time was 55 minutes, and I constantly had to scoot back up into the seat. Don't know if this is an issue with F, since I was in that seat only about 45 seconds.

This plane had neither ovens or refrigeration, so UAX might not be ordering them with this option (which I hear is available). So that means no hot meals and on this run, no milk, either. I know Shuttle used to not carry milk due to no on-board refers, so not sure if this was a catering decision based on distance (the flight was less then an hour) or a limitation of the design. The plane had ice and I get milk on CRJ-700s and CRJ-200s and EMB-120s, so I imagine it's just a catering decision.