hinese

I'm flying business class on UA from Tokyo to Nashville. I have my choice of a 747-400 (744) from NRT to ORD, or a 777 from NRT to IAD. Upstairs seems to be the better choice on the 747, but is a seat on the 777 better than any place I can sit on the 747?

philfna

747 on the upper deck in C is pretty decent.

FedUp2

Yeah, as 'decent' as UA can be!

Thunderroad

The moderators might want to move this to the UA forum for more answers. But in any event my answer is that the 747 upper deck is better than the
777. It has a more private feel to it, is just four across rather than the seven across downstairs and on the 777, arguably better service, plus if you select a window seat there are convenient storage bins next to you. I'd particularly recommend window seats 15H followed by 15A, in that as exit row seats in the 747 UD they respectively have by far the most and second most legroom. If you can't get the exit row, then I think all rows up there are equally good except perhaps for the last ones closest to the galley.

The one exception to this rule is that some 777s are configured so that their row 9 seats on both side sections have no row 8 in front of them, which also gives them lots of extra legroom. (There's still a row 8 in the middle section.) This might apply to the 777s flying from NRT, but I'm not certain. UA phone reservation agents should be able to tell you if this is the case.

Generally, though, I'd recommend the 747 upper deck.

For more info on the seats, you can check seatguru.com.

Happy trails!

frekwentflier

I'd recommend the upper deck on the 747 as well. Additionally, I would avoid flying into IAD at all costs. International arrivals are a nightmare there.

bseller

I agree.
Quite true, but remember that the UD overheads are quite small and will NOT fit a standard rollaboard.
That could be important to the OP, I don't know.
To the extent that the OP is not 1P or higher, the exit rows will be unavailable until day of check-in, and most likely previously assigned.
I disagree with your assertion as to which rows would be preferable in that case, however, as Row17 and also Row16 on the A/B side consistenly get good reviews here on FT.
They are, of course, closer to the galley than 15.

Dave

Fraser

Depends on the time of day. I've flown into IAD international several times per year for the last five years and have sampled a number of different arrival times. Most I've had to wait is about an hour for immigration (early afternoon, lots of European arrivals plus the Ethiopian Airlines flight! ) but most of the time early evening we are the only aircraft coming through.

The problem flying UA into IAD is you have to walk down the concourse and get on a mobile lounge and wait, I've waited over 30mins! Flying other airlines the bus comes right to your aircraft and goes when the passengers have disembarked. In J/F this can be remarkably fast.

Keflyer

I agree with Frekwentflier. Both my spouse n I had terrible experience at IAD. And we don't fly that much. It is a nightmare at IAD. I wld avoid it. Perhaps the well-heeled travellers here hv better experiences.

ctstan

Wow --- you must be terribly unlucky. Most of my flights start/end or go through IAD and I have never had to wait 30minutes for a mobile lounge regardless of the time of day. Most I have ever waited is 10minutes or less and there was always a clock on the wall saying when next arrival departure was.

gleff

Moving this to the United forum..

Gary
aka gleff
MilesBuzz moderator

Dudemius

Here's another vote for the UD.

BTW - there is a large closet at the top of the stairs that can accomodate rollers, which don't usually fit in the overhead bins.

Richard4009

Hi,

I know you are flying to NRT. And I think those loads are pretty full. But when I have been on a 747 I book the upper deck, but before I board the plane, I check the load downstairs.

I often find, especially from LAX to HKG, that there are more people in the upper deck and sometimes downstairs there are only like 4 or 5 people. I will then move myself downstairs and grab 3 middle seats and just spread out.

Everyone thinks upper deck because it is private, etc etc so everyone wants it and downstairs can be pretty empty.

Just a thought.

R

flyinbob

This is exactly what happened to me on both a LAX-HKG flight in April and a LAX-SYD flight in June. Upstairs was completely full. Downstairs had about 8 people in the forward C cabin and about 8 in the back C. Since I don't sleep well on long flights I prefer the lower level because it is frequently empty. On both my flights I had empty seats next to me, as well as in front and behind me. THAT was private.

Tor Viking

Very wise. I do the exact same thing as you do.
I always end up downstairs with lots of space and silence....ZZZzzzzz

lucky9876coins

9HJ on the 777XP are the best business class seats in the fleet, much better than the upper deck IMO. If you can get those I would go with IAD.