Repooc17

I think the guy who scored the upgrade is sitting in 2D. Another person came on the flight really late, and I think she is in 1F. Supposedly only 1 seat was open but three people got upgraded. Maybe there were 2 no shows or they we're blocked.

I am sitting at the same seat (7A) as your inbound flight. No volume coming out of the headset

Repooc17

We were #1 ready for takeoff but suddenly exited 4R/22L - anyone know what's going on? Almost 1 hour of taxiing and waiting.

uastarflyer

zrs70

BThumme

App just says technical issue needed to be addressed.

uastarflyer

EWR764

Haven't flown it yet, but UA 78J is a newer-generation IFE system than what's installed on the 789. Definitely smaller screens than SQ, and KrisWorld has always been among the best out there, though...

Kacee

KrisWorld is fantastic. 18" HD screen is better than UA, too.

Repooc17

78J has a different system than the 789, and is world's better. I like it better than SQ's IFE. The picture-in-picture feature is neat, as is the split screen; the flight stats refresh so much quicker than the older systems.

Thanks! The captain made an announcement right after my post - something about making FAA happy.

The inaugural (official) flight from EWR was good. Hard product shined; although I expected nothing less following UA's 77W and other retrofitted Polaris configured birds. The IFE scored high in my books, super responsive and a lot of new features - e.g. relaxation mode, news, weather, picture-in-picture; split screen, despite no volume from the headset (second time now; previously SFO-TPE last summer). Seating not as comfortable as compared to 77W, maybe because 78J has narrower cabin?

On the other hand, the service left much to be desired, especially in J. Wasn't served until somewhere in the vicinity of Chicago; puzzling because it looked like the service was divided between rows 1 through 6 and rows 7 through 11 (was seated in row 7). I usually like the food UA serves, but tonight's meal looked and tasted subpar. Also, repeatedly asked the FA to check the headset volume issue but to no avail.

UA threw a small party at EWR to commemorate the new plane service. Media was on hand, there was a food spread, and everyone got certificate for being on the first flight. I think UA did the same thing for both UA2418 from LAX and UA275 from EWR.

Flying back to EWR this week on the same plane in PP.

phkc070408

Does anyone know how long the 78Js will be on the EWR-LAX route for?

I ask because we are looking to book a OW LAX-EWR in late August. We would really like to try the 78J on the 9:15pm departure, UA1882. The problem is we will be making a few other sacrafices on our trip to be able to get on this particular flight and I would really hate to book this flight and have an equipment change before August. The following thoughts come to mind:

1. This flight is 7 months out and a lot can change between now and then.
2. While new aircraft fly domestic for the first couple of months, I would imaging the bugs would be out of them by August and they will all be in international service by then.
3. Even if there is a schedule change if they swap the equipment, I feel I would have a hard time convincing an agent to move us to the flight that works the best for us time wise, the 12:15am departure, since we would not be switching to another 78J.
4. Fear that it would be swapped to the domestic 777, the new ghetto-bird, which I really do not want to fly in for our first flight in 3 years. (Note: I don't mind the 752s and while not perfectly ideal, I could live with the 9:15pm departure as a 752 if I had to).

WineCountryUA

Anyone here would be just guessing. You see plenty of changes in the near-term
Yes and given the short-term changes https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...ight-free.html
personally I would not make changes in my plans on the chance this might work out.
UA will be taking more deliveries throughout the year, so there is some decent chance the 787-10 will still be in the domestic rotation but where

phkc070408

Wine: I think we're on similar wave-lengths here. Bulkhead seats on the 752 it will be.

A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush in this situation.

EWR764

UA is planning 2 78J flight every day on EWR-LAX this summer, except for the Saturday night early redeye eastbound (9:15pm) and Sunday morning early AM westbound return (7:00am). The 8:15am eastbound and 4:00pm westbound run daily. Even though schedules are subject to change, I would feel pretty confident with this plan, and further, that any swap would be to another 787 or a 757, rather than 77G. The 77G is pretty heavily scheduled this summer, with daily OGG-DEN/ORD, 3x SFO-HNL, 3x EWR-SFO and a bunch of domestic flying that wasn't in the schedule last year. There's already an existing 77G on EWR-LAX-EWR, so the airplane would have to come off another route (already for sale) in order to replace the 78J.

If you're very concerned about it, I'd wait a few months until schedules finalize, and then book. But at this point, I wouldn't book away from the 78J solely for fear of a 77G swap.

FWIW, the screens on the 78J are HD, too. I believe the Polaris seat can only accommodate a 16" screen, though.

Not passing judgment on which is better... just relaying some broad specs.

Without having flown it yet, give me a few weeks, especially now that it's on EWR-LAX every day, I think it's fair to expect this to be the best IFE suite (latest-generation Panasonic eX3) UA has installed.

Repooc17

By far. It is up there with the best of the best in the industry.

phkc070408

My goal was to try and snag 1L and 3L for us. I'm a tall-be and would like the larger footwell. Someone else already snagged 3A.

I did think of something though - we're booking a standard award for this trip (Credit card holder). Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't they changeable / refundable? (sorry to go OT on this one). I've only done one award trip before and I can't remember the flexibility details, but from what I've read on FT, something tells me that they are flexible / refundable.