Premium Plus (Premium Economy) seats and Experience
#421
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Wayne, NJ USA
Programs: UA Million Miler, Lifetime United Club member
Posts: 2,174
#422
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: New York, NY
Programs: UA, AA, DL, Hertz, Avis, National, Hyatt, Hilton, SPG, Marriott
Posts: 9,424
#423
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 11,351
#424
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 1,347
I flew a 15 hour flight in Premier Plus on a 777-300ER yesterday, and some observations:
I enjoyed the flight and would seek out PP again. I wouldn't take a middle seat in PP over an aisle in E+, and an aisle in E+ with an empty seat next to it (in a row with raisable armrests) might be slightly better than a PP seat with or without an empty -- but since there's no guarantee it will remain empty I'd choose the PP seat.
- The answer to my question earlier is that the underseat spaces are indeed off:
- The 2 seats on the side seemed okay, the tracks aren't at the edges but there seemed to be room for a backpack in half of the bigger space (such that it doesn't intrude on the neighbor's space or their bag)
- The 4 seats in the center have the same problem all 4-in-the-center 777s have; the tracks were spaced well for 3 or 5 seats, but not 4. You end up with a space too narrow for anything on the outer edges, and 3 offset larger spaces for the 4 seats. I sat on an aisle, and the seat next to me was empty. My bag would have been a few inches into their space (which is limited because of the next track, and 2 bags wouldn't have fit. I initially put my backpack overhead (along with my carryon), but took it down when I realized the seat would be empty.
- The height of the underseat space wasn't great; something I couldn't see limited how far back I could push the bag until I smushed things a bit.
- The PP seats are pretty nice; recline is great for an economy seat and the legrest and footrest are nice...but somewhat fiddly to try to get positioned and comfortable. I'm only 5'4", it might be harder for a taller person to get them positioned nicely.
- The seat bottoms seemt to be particularly high off the floor -- hard to plant my feet on the floor, making the footrest more important than it would be in a regular seat
- Meals were pretty good
- No nuts served at the beginning of the flight, perhaps because it was a 12:55am departure and they wanted to get the first meal served quickly?
- I heard the FA offer the first row a choice for dinner (chicken or pasta I think?), but no choice in my row and beyond -- a small cabin further divided into 2 aisle carts probably limits how much real selection there will be.
- I did get a choice for breakfast -- I don't like weird omeletty types of breakfast things, and the "cereal" breakfast was perfect for me (cereal, yogurt, fruit, and a muffin).
I enjoyed the flight and would seek out PP again. I wouldn't take a middle seat in PP over an aisle in E+, and an aisle in E+ with an empty seat next to it (in a row with raisable armrests) might be slightly better than a PP seat with or without an empty -- but since there's no guarantee it will remain empty I'd choose the PP seat.
#425
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: New York, NY
Programs: UA, AA, DL, Hertz, Avis, National, Hyatt, Hilton, SPG, Marriott
Posts: 9,424
#426
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: PHL (and sometimes BKK)
Programs: aa/ua gold; mar titanium. SPG till I die.
Posts: 15,648
Going to take it given its 15 hrs. Gotta be leaps better than 10-across Y and deep vein thrombosis. FWIW seat maps looks nearly full with only about a dozen middle seats empty.
Also as a sort of datapoint, My friend did EWR-HKG in January on CX and upgraded via their auction for $500.
Last edited by civicmon; Apr 5, 2019 at 6:12 pm
#428
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Programs: United Gold
Posts: 2,047
I know we take anything we hear from crew with a grain of salt, but I was on The inaugural March 30 EWR-HKG PP flight (which as if they day switched to a 77W). Had bought PP and then got lucky and GPU cleared to Polaris. Sorry for delay in posting this but just returned from a busy trip. By the way only 2 upgrades cleared in the last few days - mine at T-24 and someone else lucky at the last minute.
i was chatting with a male crew member who was providing excellent service and during the flight told him what I said above. I asked what meal service was like in PP and his response was something like they havent fully finalized the menus, meals, or service. I was surprised since of course the product had just launched and he he said a few more weeks.
again, who knows, but it would explain the lack of menus, inconsistent service, etc, has anyone else checked on this?
Two more thoughts
1) the crew in Polaris was outstanding but matches what I have generally seen on EWR Asia flights. And the captain had turned on channel 9 the whole flight. I asked for it and then plugged in my headset and found it already on for the first time in a year.
2)there was NO promotion that I could see for the launch of PP, which sort of surprised me given recent United activities. Since it was the inaugural 77W flight on this route, all the Polaris seats had a stuffed bear - which my kid had named and adopted remotely by the time we took off :-)
i was chatting with a male crew member who was providing excellent service and during the flight told him what I said above. I asked what meal service was like in PP and his response was something like they havent fully finalized the menus, meals, or service. I was surprised since of course the product had just launched and he he said a few more weeks.
again, who knows, but it would explain the lack of menus, inconsistent service, etc, has anyone else checked on this?
Two more thoughts
1) the crew in Polaris was outstanding but matches what I have generally seen on EWR Asia flights. And the captain had turned on channel 9 the whole flight. I asked for it and then plugged in my headset and found it already on for the first time in a year.
2)there was NO promotion that I could see for the launch of PP, which sort of surprised me given recent United activities. Since it was the inaugural 77W flight on this route, all the Polaris seats had a stuffed bear - which my kid had named and adopted remotely by the time we took off :-)
#431
Join Date: Feb 2015
Programs: united
Posts: 1,636
#432
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Wayne, NJ USA
Programs: UA Million Miler, Lifetime United Club member
Posts: 2,174
No and no. A wet nap comes with dinner. They should offer this with the nuts.
Sorry everyone. Someone posted a list of FA guidelines for PP. Maybe it was a hyperlink to another site? I cannot find it anymore. The first line item was specific to the optional water service pre-departure. I think the link was the Live and Let Fly post; perhaps they were asked to remove the internal information about crew guidelines for PP? Pretty sure that's where I saw it. It was not on TPG's later post.
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Apr 7, 2019 at 11:25 am Reason: merging consecutive posts by same member
#433
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 14,324
Fly VS, of course. But my point is that these comparisons are usually made with the implication that "UA thinks Joe Public will pay $3,xxx for this ticket, wow they're so arrogant and dumb" where their actual statement (which as Kacee notes, could be dead wrong) is "we've already sold enough on this flight so we're fine if he picks VS - we're saving our seats for last-minute premium revenue".
#434
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: SFO
Posts: 4,902
The PP fares are all over the place. Planning summer and fall trips the upsell can be as little as $200 over an S fare and as much as $1,000. Even if it appears the cabin is empty based on seat map (I know its not an indication), some flights just dont have R space. And its definitely route specific. Looking to go to Frankfurt but the nonstops dont have R fares, only As and Os. But connecting on the same flight to somewhere else in Europe on LH in Y, R pops ups.
#435
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.99MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,568