IIRC hot meals and one alcoholic beverage were standard in E+ transcons pre-covid, period, not just for a brief time. I was thinking about that today as I flew EWR-SFO in E+ and was given a minuscule fruit bar plus non-alcoholic drinks. And yes, E- pax got the exact same selection. Bleah.

it definitely wasn’t for a long time. Maybe a couple of years before COVID, and then it never came back. Delta has been doing it on their tcons for a while before UA offered it, although their meals may have been more ‘sandwich’ than hot meal, but I’m not sure.

I haven't seen any such reports for no compensation for no lie flats on EWR-SFO/LAX premium transcon flights. Do you have links to particular forum posts?

This happened to us for an upcoming flight. We called and switched to another flight to stay in PE, so I don't know what the compensation would be. My guess it would be the difference in fare using the what you paid for PE minus the current Economy fare (not sure which fare class). Here is part of the email we got before switching. Plus 5000 miles. WooHoo!

If you travel in United Economy on this itinerary, you will be issued any applicable refund for the difference in fare. Refunds will be returned on the original form of payment, award miles, upgrade used, or the fare difference. Please allow two weeks from your travel date for award miles and upgrades to be re-credited, and up to two billing cycles for fare refunds to appear on the credit card statement. Additionally, as a goodwill gesture and for your understanding, we will add 5,000 award miles to the MileagePlus account that is accruing miles for this flight. This deposit will be made within 30 days after travel is completed.

Do we think they will ever bring back the P.S. planes that they used to fly or bring in more of the 87's? It is getting ridiculous the crappy transcon planes they are flying.

87 as in 787?

United will guarantee lie-flat seats only...even that might be impacted once in a while. Beyond that, United will continue to deploy aircraft in its best interest and convenience, and passengers can take it or leave.

With upgrades difficult on these routes, I often target 752 if I am flying United, as the economy seats are better than similar widebody economy seats.
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The good thing is there are so many choices on these route. Personally, am flying AA three-class first later this week.

The p.s. 757 (with 7 rows of J seats) have been retired. The 737 MAX-10 and/or A321XLR are proposed replacements.

which crappy transcon planes are you reffing to? PS used to be all 757 and today is a mixture of 757/777/787

Probably 777HD and 752.

That would be my list.

At least from SFO, hard product is one area where UA actually has a competitive advantage over AA and DL, since most of flights are 772 and 77W with Polaris seat. From LAX, the options are considerably worse. UA fares tend to be considerably higher than AA in/out of SFO, however, I assume due to the captive market. Plus UA probably sees less need to discount, since it will just sell most/all of the unsold seats as upgrades at check-in (recall the recent post by a 1K who was booked in PE and #1 on the list with 10 seats open, and did not get upgraded).

I know they're old but i still love the 757. The lie-flats are pretty comfortable and if traveling as a couple the step-over from the window not an issue

The footwells are too tight for me on the UA configuration, and I'm not tall. AA's are spaced much more generously. They are good seats for a couple (subject to the footwell issue).

totally get you on the footwells and even though they don't bother me, i still try for row 1 (especially 1EF). I actually prefer the comfort of the UA 752 seat to the AA Flagship biz seat, though the Flagship first seat is definitely better than the UA 752 biz seat.... and i have been able to sometimes get the AA first seat SFO-JFK more cheaply than the UA biz seat SFO-EWR

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Redeemed 42.5K on Flagship First about 2 weeks or so prior to departure (traveling this week). United usually asks for 80K; although if you can find IN space, 30K.

That's a score in my book, the Flagship F is a better product than PS UA, JMHO.