Background and Booking
For flying back to New York from Boston, there were many airline options to choose from at similar prices and times, so I decided to choose United, given that I had an expiring travel credit. In January, I flew on the United 737-900ER from Newark to New Orleans, but in standard economy. On this flight, I was able to try the United Economy Plus 737-900ER product, so it was nice to compare a different cabin on the same aircraft type.
Flight Details
United Flight 1693
Boston (BOS) to Newark (EWR)
Seat/Cabin: 12F/Economy Plus
Scheduled Duration: 1 hour and 27 minutes
Status: On Time
Aircraft: Boeing 737-900ER
Check-In and At the Airport
Since I have United MileagePlus Premier Silver status, I was able to grab complimentary Economy Plus seats during online check-in 24 hours before the flight. I was traveling solo and grabbed a window with an empty middle seat, hoping I would get lucky with an empty seat next to me, which I did!
As a Premier Silver, I ended up 17th on the upgrade list to first class, and it looked like the first 6 passengers cleared an upgrade.
Our flight left from Terminal B at Boston Logan International Airport. I tried using my one-year Priority Pass allocation at the Chase Sapphire Lounge by the Club, but to no avail on a Monday at 5 pm. They were only accepting passengers with Reserve cards, and those trying to access with Priority Pass were told to come back at 7 pm (which would be too late for me).
Boarding
Boarding was scheduled 40 minutes before our departure and completed 10 minutes before it.
The United App is quite cool, and shows which zones are boarding & even how many passengers have boarded. Our flight showed that we had 100 passengers to board. So, with an aircraft occupancy of 179, our flight had approximately a 56% load.
I really appreciated that upon boarding, they had sanitizing wipes & headphones to grab on the way to your seat.
I was pleasantly surprised at the updated cabin, with the new seatback screens. Our inbound flight did a short hop from Newark, so I wondered if we would get a less updated plane, and the United 737-900ER that I was on in January to New Orleans had the old screens. The specific aircraft we were on was over 14 years old, so they definitely did a recent retrofit.
The Flight and Seat
The captain let us know it would only be 56 minutes in the air (which is ironically what they also said on my flight from Newark to Portland, Maine, just a few days ago!). We ended up leaving the gate early and took off 15 minutes after our scheduled departure time.
On the United Boeing 737-900ER that I was on (Version 3), rows 7-12, and the exit rows in rows 20 & 21 are designated Economy Plus seats and offer 33 inches of pitch. This is 3 inches of extra pitch than the standard Economy cabin at 30 inches, according to AeroLOPA.
The seatback IFE screen was nice and updated. It featured plenty of movies, TV shows, and audio.
The only bummer was that Wi-Fi is $8 for MileagePlus members, but it is free for T-Mobile members, and they do offer free messaging.
Since the flight was so short, there was an abbreviated service provided, where the flight attendants came by with water.
The flight went by pretty quickly, and we ended up arriving at the gate 15 minutes early, which was nice!
The Verdict
Overall, my United Economy Plus 737-900ER experience was solid. Updated seatback screens and an early arrival made the short hop easy!
Have you flown on a United Boeing 737-900ER in Economy Plus before? How was your experience? Comment below!
Happy travels,
Ty
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