MarkP24

Did you find they offered a better soft product as well?

cricketer

It wasn't sold as Premium Plus on SFO-IAD, so absolutely no discernible difference other than getting fed and hydrated first (by a truly excellent crew, I should add).

GYEWorldTraveler

Flown it twice now - once transcon EWR-LAX and once on SFO-PVG. The seat is nice and offers much more space than E+ and has more recline - I think I’d say on par with domestic first class just slightly narrower seats. The legrest doesn’t really do much (was in row 22 and 21 on 787-10) and I would much prefer the DL seat which seems to have a slightly more useful legrest and 3 adjustable buttons vs 2 on UA.

Where I’m really confused is on the service aspect of the product - the transcon service was the same as E+ which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for the fares they are charging. On the TPAC flight, the service was fantastic - a predeparture water service, snack basket service (same as domestic F), amenity kit, printed menus, upgraded pillow and blanket, meals with real silverware, same plates as business class, foil removed from entrees and salad, different meals than rest of coach/E+ and ample walk throughs for drink refills. It’s just night and day the difference between transcon premium plus and international premium plus but I fail to understand the reason - there should be at least some service standard!

To sum up - I’d save the money on the domestic transcon and fly E+ (or pay slightly more for business class) and for international on a leisure family trip, I’d happily buy up for a reasonable amount out of pocket.

eng3

I think it really depends on the person.

One may prefer to sleep the whole flight. Some people need to be able to lay all the way flat. For someone who is short, the extra leg room may not make that much of a difference and width may be more important.
One may plan to be awake the whole flight and care more about the dining and entertainment experience.
Some people really care about the soft product and some people care more about the hard product.

thebakaronis

Flew Premium Plus trans-Pacific. The seat is more comfortable. But the soft product was substandard and no better than E. FAs were inattentive and AWOL except to serve meals. When I had trouble locating the socket for the headphone jack (BTW, its location must rank as the most brain-dead design decision out there) one FA vaguely pointed to the wrong location and growled that I'm going to have to find it myself. The first meal was slightly better than the standard E fare, but for the second meal (a breakfast) some of us were given the E meal and not what was printed on the menu card. When I asked why that was the case, a flight attendant said that's because they only load 1/2 the Premium Plus capacity with each meal choice. So only 12 people got the PP egg option. The rest of us who opted for egg were given the E version of it. I asked how the FAs decided who got what because it didn't seem like they gave out the PP meal till it ran out. She said it was based on status. Okay, I'm platinum. She claimed all the 12 who got the PP version were above Platinum. Which I totally don't believe, but that's what it is. The printed menu card also said that during the flight there are a plethora of snacks and sandwiches available. Turns out no sandwiches. And the snacks were chips and chocolate covered acai.

Sorry, but every time I fly UA internationally, I'm reminded of how far behind the others it is in terms of service quality. What a sorry state of affairs! With the new changes to the MP program I can fly partner airlines and often get more miles than on UA, so there's little reason to continue flying them internationally.

dilanesp

You should send in a complaint after this one.

atword

I recently flew P+ again from HKG to EWR and the service was actually quite nice. One FA in particular was making sure everyone knew where the headphone jack was located during boarding. She was also proactive in refilling my wine and even brought me some from the J cabin (twice) along with some cheese that was probably leftover from the J service. I was very pleasantly surprised but she is an outlier. If her service was the norm many more would enjoy the P+ experience. It didn't take much more effort but made a lot of difference to those of us in the small P+ cabin.

EWR764

The PP service is inconsistent. For the most part, my experience is that FAs treat it the same as Y, just with a different meal tray. Same service flow, no extra attention.

When FAs can be bothered to actually deliver the service as contemplated, it's pleasant. But that is the exception, rather than the rule, IME. For me, it's about the extra space and front-of-the-line for J upgrades. In 2019, R fares were nice for the 150% PQM. Aside from that, I'm not flying United - period - for the service.

As for the seat, it's the same model as AA/DL, with the exception that DL has the bulkhead-style seat (with footrest integrated in the legrest, hence the third button) in all rows. UA/AA have the same setup, with the foot bar mounted on the seat in front in non-bulkhead rows. I am 6'2", so the footrest isn't useful for me, but I still prefer the bulkhead for easier access. The 77W bulkhead is by far the best, with true 'walkaround' legroom. The 78J and 772 bulkheads are tighter, but still doesn't require disturbing your neighbor, which is nice.

greg99

I'm 6'3", so similar issues. Do you think you get more leg room in the bulkhead than you do by being able to put your feet under the seat in front of you?

EWR764

On the 77W, for sure. There's probably about 6-8" more space on the bulkhead. It's less on the 772/78J, but not enough where I feel like I can't stretch my legs. I also like to be able to get in and out of the window seat without having to disturb my neighbor, or vice versa if I'm on the aisle.

greg99

Thanks - I'll be on the 772 next week. My options are aisles in the center section. Would you go bulkhead or further back? I'm hopeful that my upgrades clear, but just in case...

EWR764

Personally, I'd go with center section bulkhead aisle.

restlessinRNO

Yes, I would completely agree with you. Certainly no one has ever offered me wine from the J cabin. I might drop dead from shock if that happened!

catocony

I've been in my PE seat for about 5 hours now, and my initial thoughts are as has been written before. It's pretty close to domestic first class, in both hard and soft product. The food was ok - having feta cheese, curry sauce and broccoli on the same tray at the same time is not my idea of how to kick off a 14 hour flight, but you get by I guess.

Video is good, the seat itself is comfortable. The recline is really good, the headrest is great, the pillow and blanket are Polaris style.

We've been using the Polaris lavs and the FAs havent'g given us any evil looks or anything yet. I

find the footrests in the bulkhead to be okay. I'm 5'10" and it's comfortable. The reports on the somewhat sharp joints on the footrest are confirmed. Keep your shoes on or throw down a blanket or something. The bulkead is cramped on the sides of your legs with the cradle for the monitor jutting out a few inches, plus the monitor itself. This was expected as the photo's posted clearly show it. With the footrest down, those problems go away. It's not quite as good as the footrests on the old barcolounger Business seats, but to be honest, these seats are maybe better than the 8-wide J seats on the legacy 777 layout. I could never lie flat in the coffin seats and I somehow seem to have more elbow room in the PE seats.

For $100 more for a 14 hour flight, I think this is a bargain compared to E+. Not that there's much E+ on the converted 777-200s, there's just a few rows.

joachimm

What 14 hour flight is only +$100 for PE? EWR-NRT is generally at least +$500 and up to +$1,500 RT

Edit: didn't realize E+ is so expensive to NRT! About +$400 RT so yeah, worth an extra $100 for PE if you can find it.