trk1

United will have mainline Sea-Lax starting June 6

spin88

The early boarding, premium security access are basically the same. (and p.s. get precheck, it blows away "premium" access at SEA). My experience is that I get C+ nearly every flight, and I get some upgrades (and nearly every time on SEA-SFO) on DL. I give the nod to DL in the upgrade department (IMHO they have fewer elites and don't sell upgrades like UA does), but others will disagree. That said, you will never, not, nada, so not going to happen, get an upgrade on SFO-SEA route, unless you are flying at a very odd time.

The difference is that DL gives a snack/ ETOH drink, UA gives you nothing but the seat. Legroom is the same, and the difference that I see is that DL flies far more Airbus 319-321s than UA does 319-320, which has wider seats, and UA ruined theirs with some really cheapo seats with a very short seat pan. I am often NOT flying UA because of the equipment, something that I don't bother with on DL. And finally, DL has In Seat IFE on most domestic planes, UA has it on almost none at this point.

Upgrades don't really happen on UA as a gold, unless you are flying at non-prime times, on spoke routes (e.g. if you are flying SEA-ORD-DAY, you might get an upgrade ORD-DAY assuming its on a weekend or non-prime business time, but SEA-ORD is not going to happen.

Several thoughts. First, UA's network is much better for TPAC than DL's is. Second, that network is really a pain for you since (a) you have to back connect in SFO (adding 2+ hours to your travel) to use it, and (b) you have better add in a LONG connection in SFO given SFO's major weather problems. I would NEVER plan on a SEA-SFO-long haul flight ex-SFO unless I left at least 4 hours for the connection. And if you really need to be on that fight, probably more. I would think you would be much better to fly partners to Asia ex-SEA (ANA, OZ, EVA on UA) or stick with the DL direct flights + partners, than do it on UAL.

Third, and finally, it looks like you will be flying in Y, and there UA is a really kill-joy. They are going fleet wide on the 777 with 10x seating, which results in seats that are physically painful to sit in unless you are the size of a gymnast. The effective width of UA's Y seats on the 777 is now 19.4" of width/seat (this is including the available arm rest); and the UA 787 is not a lot better at 19.8"/seat. The DL 330s you get TPAC give you 20.8"/seat, and the DL 777s give you 21.3"/seat. That is a full 2" more width. The DL A350 gives 20.3" of width.

Given my shoulder width, I just can't fit in UA's Y seats at this point. Recent trips to ZUR/MUC, and upcoming trips to CDG and BNC, I am not even considering UA, as they don't have a premium economy product on these routes AND I can't/will not sit in their Y seats, and don't want to pay for J (at least not on UA given their price/product issues). On these trips I bought premium economy products from OALs. So while I live in SF, UA's network from here interntionally is basically dead to me, they don't offer a product I want to fly on most routes at this point.

Polytonic

I mainly fly redeye SEA-IAD RT. The last two times I flew, 12-15 people preboarded (either GS/1K) and then something like half the plane boards in BG1, so your mileage may vary if you're after CPUs. Maybe better luck during daytime flights? I spoke with a FA on IAD-SEA who mentioned flights to Seattle are almost always full. Take that however you will anyway.

I've never used the premium security lane, but UA uses A-gates at SEA (typically the higher numbers, 9 and up IIRC), and Checkpoint 1 that opens directly onto A6 or so is exclusively PreCheck, so if you don't have PreCheck ... get it! The only caveat being they're open until 4pm, so if you're flying a late evening flight or redeye, go through the checkpoint in front of D. I take Link to the airport, so it's a bit of a hike from the station to the gate, but other than that, fairly smooth security. The United Club is pretty good. Quiet, fast WiFi, separate seating area if you want a drink or light snacks.

*A lounges are on point in Asia, HKG is particularly good for lounge hopping (SQ, TG, UA, am I forgetting anyone else?). 77W to Asia is a tight squeeze if you're taller than 5'10" or so, though I find E+ seat pitch is fairly generous.

I might be a little weird, but I intentionally book routings through SFO to maximize PQM, and then pray for IRROPS (e.g. SFO fog) which often throws me on shorter routings (e.g. via ORD) both getting me there faster and earning more miles.

Daitheflu84

Thanks for the positive feedback this far. As many have mentioned, the 10 abreast config in the 777 (at least on the flights where flying in Y) is a big advantage in DLs favor, whereas the E+ at booking on UA is much better than the DL equivalent of C+ at 72 hours (when most seats are full, particularly now that anyone can UG to C+ with miles in the app).

My next International flight is to HKT in April. Unfortunately most UA and *A options are 2 stop flights, whereas I can get there in 1 on DL and KE for the same cost or less. Most likely going to be in J on the return, the longest segment of which appears to be on the 787 on UA vs. a 763 on DL with outdated D1 product. I assume the 787 is offering the full Polaris product now? This is the SFO-PVG route, by the way.

I do this as well. Rarely do I go out of my way to book nonstop flights. It's all about those PQMs/PQDs, baby!

On that note, as I mentioned earlier, I will likely make Plat this year, though not yet sure if it will be on DL or UA. Is Platinum on UA demonstrably better than Premier Gold? I'm not as familiar with the UA benefits as DL, but I assume there are some upgrade certificates that are virtually impossible to use?

jsloan

Only the 787-10 is offering the Polaris seating. The 787-8 and 787-9, which will likely be your equipment, are not.

If you're traveling with a companion, the 2-2-2 seating in the older config is actually quite nice. If you're by yourself, I'd still take a center column seat in the 2-2-2 config -- especially a bulkhead -- over the Polaris seat. It's less private, but it's also roomier.

You would get two regional upgrade certificates at platinum, and, you're right; they're very difficult to use. The only status levels I would target in UA's program are Global Services, 1K, and Gold. There's little value to Platinum, and most of the Silver perks are available for purchase / credit card holders.

prometa

I mostly agree with the above statement, except that the premier line and IRROPs handling can't be had through a credit card and are, IMHO, the most valuable Silver benefits -- if you fly more than a dozen or so UA segments a year.

tstauck

You also get free alcoholic beverages on these routes. If you can snag the new 787-10 flying these routes, it has the new Premium Economy section (2-3-2) configuration that's free to select at booking. I managed to snag the first row of this recently and it was very spacious.

The free upgrades to first are definitely very route / day dependent. But I managed to catch 3 in a row as a Gold last summer, all cross country. MCO-LAX, LAX-BOS, BOX-LAX. The last one my son was with me and he got upgraded too (companion on same ticket).

- Tom

bballdad175

Well, I dont have a ton of factual things to add other than I status matched from UA 1K to Delta Platinum Medallion and was really disappointed. Yes for domestic service Delta does a bit better job than United, but the lack of C+ seating (they were always full whereas on United I almost always have an open seat next to me) and really poor international partners did me in. I fly mostly to Europe and hate connecting through CDG. AMS is OK but it didnt work real well ex-SFO.

So I went right on back to United. I love the E+ seating since my company doesn't pay for Business and I have to cobble my upgrades together!