Background
I needed a flight to get to Indianapolis and was pretty flexible with flying from any of the NYC area airports. I only have status on American at the moment, and since the American flights were significantly more than United, I decided to fly United as it was the most economical option outside of Spirit. First Class on this flight was also only $30 more a ticket, so I decided to take the splurge. The United Embraer 170 First Class is a cool product as it’s in a 1-2 configuration. If I was traveling alone, I’d take the solo seat, but since I was traveling with a colleague, we took the side with 2 seats.
Flight Details
United Express 3484
Operated by Republic Airways
Newark (EWR) to Indianapolis (IND)
Scheduled Duration: 2 hours and 20 minutes
Status: Early (29 minutes)
Cabin: First Class
Seat: 1D
Boarding and At the Airport
I don’t fly out of Newark too often, and the one thing that I dislike is the lack of lounge options outside of United. I didn’t have any lounges to access, which ended up being totally fine since I got past security just 25 minutes before my boarding time. We left from United’s Terminal C, and lucky for us, our gate was right after the security checkpoint, so there wasn’t much of a walk. My colleague and I had TSA PreCheck, which had about a 10-minute wait time.
Thankfully, the gate area was quite nice and the high-top seating even had menus that you can order food from and they will deliver to your table. I didn’t partake in any culinary offerings, but it was a nice feature to have nonetheless.
Boarding was scheduled 25 minutes before our scheduled departure time and commenced on time. We boarded in Group 1, along with the other First Class passengers.
The United Embraer 170 First Class Product
The United Express Embraer 170 operated by Republic Airways only has two rows of first class in a 1-2 configuration for a total of 6 seats. This is quite a small First Class cabin, and I’m used to the E175s that have 4 rows of First. The seats were plush, but definitely on the older side. Our plane was delivered in 2005 and actually served some time with Delta Connection before coming to United Express. E170s are rare to find on United Express, and there are currently only around 17 in service, versus over 200 E175s.
The First Class seats offer 37 inches of pitch and a seat width of 24 inches.
The first-class cabin was full, and my colleague and I were the last to board in First. We were able to find overhead space for our luggage, but could not find overhead space for our backpacks. I only chose row 1 since row 2 was already reserved when we booked our flights. Personally, I’d prefer sitting in row 2 so I could store my backpack beneath the seat in front. I dislike bulkheads for this reason. Thankfully, we were able to use the closet in front of our seats to put our backpacks.
The Flight
Our flight attendant quickly offered us welcome drinks when we got settled in, and I got a ginger ale. They were served in plastic cups but it was nice that we could get whatever we wanted.
Then, the captain let us know that our flight would be about 1 hour and 30-40 minutes in the air. The flight attendant closed the boarding door about 5 minutes before our scheduled departure and we left the gate shortly.
It was quite a quick taxi, and we took off less than 10 minutes past our scheduled arrival.
The Seat
It was quite a plush seat, and the tray table came out from the armrest. There were two settings, half a tray and also a full tray. There was a mini drinks holder that came out from in between the seats. I was traveling with a colleague, so the two-seater was perfect.
Wi-Fi was offered onboard for $8 for the whole flight for Mileage Plus Members and $10 for those who aren’t members. The Wi-Fi was on the slower side, but I was still able to get work done which was nice. It was also free for T-Mobile customers. The negative aspect of this particular aircraft is that there are no power outlets or USB charging available.
Once we reached cruising altitude, our flight attendant came by with drinks and snacks. My colleague got red wine which came in a can, and the flight attendant topped her off a couple of times which was nice. For snacks, popcorn, Tates Cookies, Kind Bars, chips, and almonds were all available in the snack basket.
The flight went by quite quickly, and we touched down 30 minutes before our scheduled arrival and got to the gate shortly after.
The Verdict
Overall, I had a good flight onboard the United Embraer 170 First Class product. While the specific aircraft could probably use a refresh on its interior, it was perfectly fine for the short 2-hour hop, and the drinks & snack service was pretty good.
Have you flown on the United Embraer 170 First Class product before? How was your experience? Comment below!
Cheers,
Ty
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