Economy Plus- Does anyone know when/if the 757-300 planes will be refitted?
 

My understanding is that all the 757-200 planes are now equipped with economy plus. Does anyone know when/if the 757-300 planes will be refitted? Does United publish a timetable for the Economy Plus installations on the various aircraft?

I believe the 753 reconfigs should start soon and be complete by July.

Check out this site.

And this thread.

According to those, it indicates the 757-300 E+ conversion should be completed by the end of April. I have found it pretty accurate, but YMMV.

where do you see that? It's the end of April. Have any been converted? Are any even in the shop for conversion?

-David

None are in the shop for conversion, but I believe they have been pushed back a bit, as I believe the decision is still being made as to weather or not to equip the 753s with AVOD or DTV, since with a majority of 763s coming off hawaii flights alot of 753s will be used to replace those 763s. Also the STC for E+ on 753 still needs to be done I believe. A couple of 753s have been out of service, but one needed an engine change, and one needed a gear change, and i believe are already back in service.

Thanks, Jose. What is STC?

They show up on SFO-OGG on Aug 28. I'm hoping the E+ conversion is done before then.

-David

STC = Supplemental Type Certificate. I believe they start next month or in june not 100% sure, i would have to check, but my best guess is they want to get the 737-800/900s done first, then move onto the 753

Do they really need a STC for taking out a row of seats? I can't remember any mention of that with any prior changes to seat arrangements that have happened.

They have had to get STCs in the past for DirecTV installations, as well as more substantial changes that have included moving around galleys and such.

Regardless, E+ will happen on the 753s, and likely this year. No reason at all to doubt that.

I think some have already been done. I was just checking out some info today on LAS-CLE flights and saw he 753 operating UA1160 on 5/4 and shows E+
That got me curious as I'm flying UA1475 DEN-SFO on 7/12 and it now shows E+ as well when it didn't 3 weeks ago when I booked.

So check the seat maps.

Where are you getting that information from?


It's marketing. They renamed the old ELR seats to Economy Plus, but it doesn't mean that the planes have been refitted with an E+ section. (that would be an entire section in the front of the Y cabin with more legroom, not selectable except by elites within the proper window or with an upcharge.)

I looked at 1160 on 5/4, the only available "E+" seats were exit rows 20 and 21. There were lots of available E- seats available in between the ELR rows.

Let us know what you actually see after you fly on May 4.

-David

Ahh you're correct; it shows the individual exit/bulkhead rows only as E+

The change was the section from row 7 - 19 is in a shade of blue compared to the rest of economy. So they successfully conned me into thinking it was the premium economy section.

The fact that they have consistently stated that the sCO mainline fleet would be getting E+ this year, including the fact that it was stated again in the quarterly earnings call just a couple of days ago. And the fact that the company aggressively completed the retrofit of the 752 fleet to E+ before the end of January, is now approaching completion of the 738 fleet, has made significant progress with the 739 and 764 fleets… need I go on? All evidence points toward this project getting done, as they've stated it would. The only aircraft that aren't on the timeline are the 735 and 762 fleets, and those aircraft are being retired.

That's because none of the 753s have had the changes made yet. They're coming. They aren't done yet. Until that happens, the only E+ seating on the 753s will be in the exit and bulkhead rows. That doesn't mean that's the long-term plan for those aircraft; it just means they haven't started changing the seat layout on those planes (which has already been stated multiple times).

Yes, not only is a STC required but the LOPA (Layout of Passenger Accommodations) must also be submitted and certified before installing the interior.

Here is UA (CO's) STC for the 737-900/900ER E+ reconfiguration: STC

Cool, thanks! Just hadn't seen any prior mention of it and didn't know if it was a requirement or not when they pull out the row of seats and shift things around.

It's a slight difference, but it affects the aircraft's CG and weights, so the mod requires a STC.