PlaneBlue

Sorry I disagree. Having flown in both rows 20 and 33, for me it is row 20 every time.

Sitting in row 33 brings the following disadvantages: disturbance from the queue for the toilets - there are fewer toilets on this configuration so the queues are longer and more persistent: the row behind is standard economy so there is more disturbance from passengers seated in that row (like when they want to get out of their seat and they pull on the back of yours): the crew use the space in front of seats 33 ABC to park the trolleys so you lose your legroom.

To offer another perspective, I am a big gutsy guy and I find the new seat to be extremely comfortable. Yes it feels narrower than the old recliner (well, it IS narrower!) but not uncomfortably so in my experience and nowhere near as tight as the BA Club World seat. My dimensions are somewhat larger than thomasj but I sat comfortably and slept well on my LHR - SFO - LHR trip recently. May I add that I had a rear facing seat on the SFO - LHR leg and it was superb, I will always choose that one on my future travels; and the space improves when you can figure out how to lower the arm rest!

Robert N

Mr Blue:

(a) good to know you do not like row 33. I do wonder why I can always get it. There must be a lot of you;

(b) width of new business seats, totally ad idem with you. It is a bit of an issue for my (quite big) partner, male I hasten to add. He is 6'3" and 220 lbs - big ........ He does not like the middle seats on either 777 or 747's downstairs, preferring the aisles and windows seats. But it is a long way short of the end of the world. If he is the middle he handles it. He prefers First Class for the width, but in United Business the narrowing of the seat in exchange for a flat bed suit was in his opinion a change that was completely worth it. For, me - 6'1" 165, the new seats are outstanding.

As for the size of the business seat, they are the same size in all United planes, but there is a bit less leg room (they say 3 inches) upstairs on the 747 than there is anywhere else. Mr N (my partner - the big .......) notices the difference upstairs, but it is not a big deal for him. For me, not an issue. MUCH prefer upstairs. Quieter, only 20 passengers, the lockers by the window seats, your two crew. For me it competes it competes with being in the nose in First Class.

I am going to miss 747's, not for when I am economy, but the nose and upstairs are cool places to be traveling to/from Australia and ergo covering huge distances.

kokonutz

Well, UAL politely declined my request to refund $625 per ticket, but did provide a pair of $350 Goodwill Electronic Certificates. So they met me better than half-way. ^

Still, the lesson remains: only fools and government contractors buy Z fares on UA or other US carriers when given a choice...

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Hi, all...

CO regular (IAH-based) just starting to fly occasionally UA. Flew a UA 763 to Brussels a month or so ago and the Business lie-flats seem a little narrower than CO's. At end of his month, I'm flying a UA 777 and find out 6 seats are crammed into a row. Are those seats narrower than the 763 seats? I'm certainly not portly and I'll be comfortable, but I'm amazed that that many seats fit in there.

Other than that, the United flights hve been pleasant. My only UA lounge visit lounge in IAD sure was a zoo, though. Almost had to leave to get some elbow room.

worldtrav

There are actually 8 seats across in the reconfigured 777.

flyinbob

Yes, they are narrower. I guess UA thought that the glee of "lie-flat" would make people ignore the fact that the overall new product is not much of an improvement. Lots of shortcomings with the new C seats, and the narrower width is a big one.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

That seems a bit too many. I picked 9k as I plan to sleep the whole way IAD-LHR in order to stay away from the aisle in what must be frequent bumping by passers-by.

Is there a particular lounge at IAD tha tends to be less busy than others mid-afternoon when the TATL passengers are accumulating?

halls120

In my experience, they are all busy in the afternoon, but the lounge at D8 tends to have the best seat availability.

Bitterroot

N788UA has hatched -- flew SFO-IAD-SFO yesterday (the 14th)............

FriendlySkies

I did 8A on the 767, and even though I have big shoulders, I fit just fine, and slept for the majority of the flight. I felt so good after all of the sleep that I got..

lol.. Did it come from Mr. Chicken?

susiesan

Any insights on the ORD-PEK, UA851 route? I have 2 award seats reserved for Oct. 7, 2011. I'd like the flat seats as the current business seats don't appear to have much if an incline on the UA website. If this route isn't going to have the new configuration in 11 months I have time to switch my flight to China to another *A carrier for a better business class seat and experience before I actually ticket my award.

mahasamatman

SeatExpert shows them to be exactly the same width as the 747 and 767 seats. And as long as you're not built like an NLF lineman, that's plenty. (I'm by no means a small person, but have plenty of room.)

I wouldn't worry about passers-by bumping into you, but the person climbing over you to get out would be a bigger concer.

Superguy

Agreed. The new C felt wider than old C on the 763. I'm broad shouldered as well. I had a hard time sleeping on the old C due to the width (was fine on the 777 and 747 in old C), but slept well in new C.

I believe the old seats are described as having a 150 degree recline. It's definitely not flat, but it has a pretty good recline. It's definitely better than Y, and at least for me, I prefer it to the angled C seats like on NH. Then again, NH's C seat had a really short foot and leg rests. I have a 30" inseam and my feet were hanging off ... made it really hard to sleep. So YMMV.

If you're going to look at *A and are willing to connect, you might wan to take a look at OZ and AC. I really liked AC's C seat (was the pod similar to UA's new F), and I thought that the service was better than UA's even with the new C.

Thunderroad

I partly beg to differ. The new C product is much better for sleeping and has a much better IFE system than the old one.

OTOH, it certainly leaves a lot to be desired in terms of storage space, and the four-across middle sections in the 747 downstairs and the 777 are like cattle cars compared to many other airlines' C products. And even among those that have four-across, BA seems to have down a much better job of squeezing that many seats into the space.

Having said all this, I'd certainly take (new) UA C over that of some airlines (e.g., LH, AA) any day.

atanac

[QUOTE=Bitterroot;15144127]N788UA has hatched -- flew SFO-IAD-SFO yesterday (the 14th)/QUOTE]

I noticed UA's conversion guide has changed from yellow to green for that plane. They have two more to
go to meet their conversion schedule for 2010. As of this posting no other plane has been specified for
conversion. Anyone know the number for the next one or two?