AviatorAce

Thanks Joseconlscrew28 and Captainmiles....for some reason I assumed the exit row would have a window! I moved myself to 16 to try out the window shade (of course it's also pitch black outside so won't do to much!)

ECOTONE

i've enjoyed reading the reports.

just booked my first 787 segment ORD-IAH 11/26. had to sit upfront, so ended up with an A ticket.

st530

Just did IAH-LAX in F, seat 6L. I really enjoyed it. Some pics here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/1001415...60425233044978

What impressed me the most was the quietness, the smoothness, and the ar quality. I could really tell. As for smoothness, it was a clear and perfect night for flying, which may have partly explained it, but I didn't feel a single bump in 3 hours. My travel buddy, who is a *terrible* flyer, said it was the smoothest ride ever. Maybe we just got lucky and I need to experience some real turbulence to make a valid comparison, but to me, it really stood out. I liked the lavs and lighting as well. Crew was excellent. I could hear the FA describing the dinner choices to passengers in rows ahead of us (spinach canneloni or tandoori chicken), and I really wanted the tandoori chicken. When she got to my row, though, it was only the canneloni. So for the first time ever I (gently) tried the GS card, and it worked! I got the chicken. And for the rest of the flight she kept apologizining for not initially offering the choice, even though I kept saying "No biggie, no worries, thanks." They also came through with a snack basket before dessert, which was a first for me, and I've flown many comparable dinner flights (e.g., IAH-EWR-IAH). They also had blankets and pillows in the seats. I don't know if this means pillows are back in F for the 787 on domestic flights or whether this was just rehearsal for the international flights, but still nice. I slept for an hour and enjoyed it much more so than, say, a blanketless pillowless EWR-IAH run on a 772 or 764.

I agree with others though that Y looks like nothing special, although I still think the AQ, quietness and smoothness could make a difference for some.

Oh, and the map feature on the IFE is new. I liked.

EDIT: Apparently my picasaweb link defaults to the whole album rather than the individual pics. 787 pics start at #505. Sorry.

GeoMedic

I can confirm that. I have the boarding pass to prove it.

It was a bit of a shock. I thought I didn't have a chance with so many of you on board. There were 10 other GSs on board, six of us being on the waitlist.

hughw

Here's another on the planet that likes the PMCO Y seats (well not as much as BF), but I have no problem with them as they're great for my back. That said, my fanny does get a bot sort on a long flight, but a mostly deflated camp seat pad takes care of that.

ORDnHKG

It is only you got lucky, as on the inaugural IAH-ORD Nov.4th, during climing out of IAH, there certainly was quite a few bumps, and I certainly felt it, even other reports from medias mentioned that as well.


Maybe you should try some of the PMUA widebody operated domestic flights, as for all those flights even for the domestic leg, it always have pillows and blankets no matter F or C. You can take a look at my trip report with the link at post #91.

ZRH2SFO

ORDnHKG, I hope you don't mind me adding to your report.

Date: 11/07/2012
Flight: UA 1468
Route: IAH-SFO
Aircraft: 787
Gate: C14
Class of Service: Business/First
Seat: 1L
Schedule departs: 6:40pm
Schedule arrives: 8:40pm


After all the hype and anticipation, I am sorry to say, I was underwhelmed! The plane looks great and has a number of innovative, new features (as featured by ORDnHKG), but the overall comfort for me was maybe a B-. Perhaps it was my less than great positioned seat, first row behind the galley. One word: NOISY!

Lots of hard surfaces and banging of locker, closet and bathroom doors. The acoustic is so bad that you can hear every word from the FA's in the galley. I don't understand why COdbaUA decided to put a galley in the front of the plane, always the quietest part. You could even hear the FAs working in the galley behind row 3!
The seat feels somewhat crammed and all the (great many outlets) are behind your head to the side).

No live TV or WIFI!

All in all, I'd take a PMUA C seat on a 747 UD any day over the new 787 B/F...

The range improvement and fuel efficiency, the air quality and pressure, the bigger windows and ambient lighting, are all great, but I wouldn't say the UA 787 will revolutionize air travel. Just my 2 cents.

Boghopper

Just another member of a growing club. And the E-- (perhaps that's what we should call the new "game changing" Y seats) club is growing even faster.

TheDroningDrone

Date: 11/07/2012
Flight: UA 1553
Route: IAH-ORD
Aircraft: 787-8
Gate: C??
Class of Service: Economy Plus (E+)
Seat: 17F
Schedule departs: 7:20am
Schedule arrives: 9:51am

I was fortunate enough to experience a flight on a new United 787-8 Dreamliner yesterday, 7 November 2012. The closest analogy that I can think of to describe the experience is when a mobile phone manufacturer makes a cutting-edge Android phone and then a powerful mobile phone carrier tweaks the software a bit resulting in an experience that fails to meet the grand vision of the manufacturer's designers.

I had been looking forward to my first Dreamliner flight since walking through the 787 mockup at Boeing in 2004. The first thing that really jumped out at me on the mockup was the 8 seats across in Economy seating (2+4+2). When I mentioned it to the Boeing designer, he explained that their research had determined people disliked crawling across two people when seated in the wide-body 2+5+2, 3+4+3, or 3+3+3 configurations. The second thing that I noticed was the feeling of openness. The big windows, bright lighting, and high ceiling created a sense of comfort.

Unfortunately, United went with the 3+3+3 configuration in Economy undermining the grand design vision.

Good
1. The much larger windows make the cabin feel more like a corner office and less like a cave.
2. The high ceilings mean that tall people can walk down the aisle without being hunched over.
3. There are power and USB outlets underneath all the seats, including Economy.
4. The bathroom felt roomy. The door slides rather than opening inward. Once inside, there was an awkward moment when I struggled to figure out how to re-open the door. As I fiddled around unlocking and re-locking the door, I began to envision my first Dreamliner landing seated atop the porcelain throne.
5. It is incredibly quiet on the plane. I turned the volume on my tablet down a few notches from normal flight mode to compensate for the improved ambient noise.

Bad
1. Cell phone signal strength was minimal once onboard the aircraft. Thinking about sending a last minute email before take off, forget it. The 787 appears to be a flying Faraday cage. I was able to send and receive SMS text messages, but anything web-related was a no-go on the T-Mobile network at IAH and ORD.
2. While I was able to charge my Android phone during the flight, courtesy of the USB outlet beneath my seat, the phone was recognized as a media device. I didn’t test this, but I suspect that my phone may have been able to interface with my seat’s entertainment system. Personally, I am not crazy about the potential security implications of data being exchanged between my phone and the United entertainment system. Next time, I am going to charge my phone through the power outlet instead.
3. The business class seats stick out a few inches past the airplane bulkhead. It significantly detracts from the flowing design of the cabin.
4. The galley was filled with food service bins embossed with the Continental name and logo. The lone United bin was hopelessly overwhelmed. I am all for using items through their service life, but it seemed strangely out-of-place from a branding perspective. As a customer merger survivor, the mixed branding galley brought back flashbacks of all of my unpleasant merger-related experiences and reinforced my lingering fears that this was still two companies stuck in an awkward marriage. (Yes, I was aware that the plane is one of the original 25 legacy Continental orders.)
5. The entertainment system failed early in the flight and needed to be rebooted. It was the standard package of United entertainment options on long distance flights. Want to catch up on Big Bang Theory episodes? You are in the right place.

Ugly
1. The narrow seat 17” seat width in Economy is ridiculously unpleasant for the long flights that the Dreamliner is designed to service. The armrests are so narrow that they should avoid the pretense of having them and take them out instead. Maybe we could squeeze in a 3+4+3 configuration by eliminating armrests?
2. No WiFi on your flagship product? In 2012, launching a new aircraft model with WiFi should be considered part of the plane's essential infrastructure. If the problem is in fact related to the FAA certification process, the aircraft manufacturers and carriers need to apply pressure on the FAA to optimize the process.

Summary
After boarding and spending a few minutes inspecting the various features of the plane, two passengers in front of me were talking about their thoughts on the plane. Passenger 1: "So what do you think?" Passenger 2: "Well, you know, United always cutting corners." I think that is a good summary. The details add up. United ended up somewhere well short of the "quantum leap" described by United CEO Jeff Smisek and the vision of the Boeing designers.

Alpha Golf

Did you check the registration certificate?

Registered Owner
Name CONTINENTAL AIRLINES INC
Street 1600 SMITH ST
City HOUSTON State TEXAS
County HARRIS Zip Code 77002-7362
Country UNITED STATES

kale73

I am undoubtedly in the minority, but as one who habitually turns off and stows my cell phone before entering the airplane, my inclination is to include the above observation in the "Good" column.

soccerref750

Ironically, 1553 IAH-ORD was delayed (only about 15 mins) this morning due to maintenance.

I say in 20L and would generally agree with the assessment of E+. It's certainly doable, but the narrow seats are noticeable (and the headphone jack took me forever to find!). One thing interesting about that particular seat was that it had 2 windows due to seating config, and the electronics were linked so they both dimmed together. This was frustrating, as I was trying to dim the forward window more so our row could see the entertainment, but this also meant obstructing my view from the window next to me. The electronic dimming also doesn't insulate from the sun completely, and the window can get quite hot in flight.

Good experience overall though, worth getting up early to take the flight and smell the new plane smell.

RedHeadFlyer

11/7 - 1433, iah-sfo in BF (3rd revenue flight for aircraft #3906) - scheduled 6:40pm - 8:50pm

Realizing that it's hard to be anything but quite happy about being in BF on a domestic flight, I greatly enjoyed this trip. Thoughts in no particular order:

• Agree with everyone has said, this is a much quieter plane (I was in row 2). It's weird that when the plane starts to taxi, I'm used to hearing the loud spin up before the plane starts moving. Now, it's like I hear something quiet that's goes higher in pitch, the plane starts moving, and then I start hearing a little more noise. Seems like very little mid to low frequency noise. When I had my noise cancelling headsets on, I could not hear the FAs at all. They would be trying to get my attention, and I did not hear a thing. Usually I can't understand, but do realize they are talking.
• In other planes, even in the calmest flying, there's still a small background level of bumpiness that you know you are moving, even on a 747. I haven't thought about it much before, but on this plane, it is either a lot lower or missing. At times it felt like I was on the ground.
• Windows don't look bigger from the gate, but sitting next to them, it's a big difference. Still, I wish they had them a little lower, as I think most of the height was added upwards.
• We did get some turbulence and even the bumps felt different, not quite as sharp, and smoothed out over longer instants.
• It was hard to tell because it was at evening/night, but I could see through the opaque window setting. Maybe in daylight it would block more.
• Watching the wings on take off and landing is wild. You see them flex as they start loading or spoiling, and it's a big flex, I'm guessing 6-8 feet.
• That engine looks huge up close. Felt even bigger than the 777 engine (I know it's not) due to the proportion of the plane.
• The pilot was gracious enough to let me tour the cockpit (pre-flight of course). It is work of art. The main displays look huge (15"?)! I haven't see the main displays ever set so far in, about a foot further than the autopilot "bar". The pilots both agreed it is a joy to fly.
• The gradual lighting shifts are cool, and I like it.
• The lav has me thinking the Jetsons due to the curves and the touchless (nice feature). I spent about 30 seconds figuring out how to exit.
• Forgot the check if the wattage is any better on the AC outlet. Too busy enjoying the plane to fire up the laptop.
• Overhead bins are nice and big. The ones on the sides are huge and have a lot of height. It looked like I could put a full size bag in. I expect many rollaboards can go in sideways. Somewhat worried that when they open, luggage can come flying out due to the way they pivot down, mine came out part way.
• Ear popping was less, for families traveling with kids, that can be a big deal.
• They reset the person in front of me's entertainment system, which also reset mine. But it didn't reset my seatmates.
• The map on the entertainment had some improvements I liked - not sure how much of this is standard BF nowadays, though. It kept the correct historical path for the flight. I could do a fast one button go to the map from my movie, and then go back. Nice resolution. The flight parameters and time show up along the top and bottom of the map, I am never waiting too long to see altitude or speed.

amolkold

So what's the consensus on best window seat? I have 6A and 2L on future flights

pedxing

Surprise! United swapped out the 767 between SFO and IAH for a brand new 787 on Tuesday, according to the trainer I ran into just now. I'm on tonight's flight to Houston, which appears to be the very first flight out of SFO on this plane!

It's LN77, registration N26906. Flightaware isn't clear on whether it flew this route yesterday or not, but it's definitely the second 787 in the United fleet. Very cool!

(I removed the too-large images. My apologies for the posting error! If you'd like, you can see more here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sfosket...7631972581304/)