Flying Transcon: United Premium Plus 767-300ER EWR-LAX-EWR

Background: Airlines offer their top products on the long transcon routes across the United States, but United is the only airline regularly flying an international premium economy from NYC to LAX, or NYC to SFO, on multiple flights each day. I've only ever flown international premium economy class twice before, Delta's Premium Select on their A350-900, round-trip DTW-ICN-DTW over three years ago. I had really enjoyed the experience, and have been interested in trying other airlines' premium economy ever since. The opportunity finally came on my recent trip to LAX. I chose United's B767-300ER for my round-trip itinerary, EWR-LAX-EWR, which is equipped with United's Premium Plus seats in a nice 2-2-2 configuration (as opposed to 2-3-2 on United's 787 or 2-4-2 on United's 777). I appreciated the idea of not having any middle seats, plus I like the B767 aircraft. I was very happy to get an excellent price to try United's Premium Plus for the first time, on a nice premium transcon flight.

Two months later I was in need of one more transcon flight, and I chose United's B767-300ER once again, but this time in Polaris business class. I've flown United Polaris cross-country before, in 2015 and 2018, so I wanted to see how the Polaris transcon product has changed over the years. Plus I could compare the Premium Plus and Polaris offerings. Check out this report for my B767 Polaris flight.

Please enjoy the reports, and I look forward to your comments.

EWR-LAX
United Airlines UA2069
Departure: 12:00 (actual 12:00)
Arrival: 15:16 (actual 14:47)
Actual Block Time: 5h47
Actual Flight Time: 5h25
Seat: 22D Premium Plus
Boeing 767-300ER



I was flying early in January, but the numerous flight cancellations during that time didn't affect my flight, which was expected to depart on-time. It had been a while since I'd had a nice flight like I expected this to be. It was almost three years since I'd flown out of Newark, formerly one of my top departure airports, second only to Philadelphia. Today's flight was to be my first flight on a widebody in almost two years, and my longest flight in two years. But most of all, I was excited to try United's new Premium Plus seats for the first time, their international premium economy class. I had gotten a really great price of $244, and a nice aircraft in the B767, for what was only to be my second premium economy experience with United Premium Plus. At booking, United had kindly offered me an upgrade to their lovely international Polaris business class for $1,584, a nonsensical price considering the asking price to simply buy a ticket in Polaris was $599. At check-in, the price to upgrade was still a terrible $899. Of course value is in the eye of the beholder, but for a premium transcon flight, the original asking price for Polaris of $599 was pretty reasonable, in fact you can't usually find better. But the Premium Plus ticket was only $244, and anyway, trying Premium Plus really was the point of choosing this routing. I just couldn't see the logic in United's upgrade pricing.

At EWR I availed myself of the self-service check-in, and checked in my luggage, which was complimentary in Premium Plus. I found an efficient, but very slow Precheck security line. I was airside by 10:25. Boarding was set for 11:10, and departure for 12:00. My Gate C98 was all the way at the end of the concourse. I arrived to the gate at the same time as my plane, which was being towed to the gate, having arrived to EWR from LAX last night. My aircraft was N677UA, a B767-300ER in service with United Airlines since 2001, over 21 years at the time of my flight.

At the gate in EWR:





Pre-boarding was announced through the lane marked 1, for customers with disabilities, active military personnel, United Global Services, families with children age two and under, and Premier 1K. Then Group 1. I had Group 2, either because of a credit card benefit and/or the Premium Plus ticket, I'm not exactly sure which entitled me to Group 2 today. I joined the lane marked 2 early, to be among the first onboard. Pre-boarding had started a little early, which enabled Group 1 boarding to start right on time. Lots of people boarded, and then finally Group 2 was called.

Boarding was through Door 1, so I first got to walk through the 18-row Polaris cabin, back to the Premium Plus cabin. It was a really nice cabin, with 2-2-2 seats AB-DF-KL finished in dark purple leather, which I thought was a nice design. There were four rows of seats along the windows (the first of these being the overwing exit row), but only three rows of seats in the middle section between the two aisles. I was in 22D, non-bulkhead aisle seat in the middle section.

Seats 22DF:







The Premium Plus seat was comfortable, and wider than I expected, because sometimes 2-2-2 on a B767 can seem a little tight, but that wasn't really the case here. The seat had very good legroom, similar to a domestic first class seat, plus a footrest below the seat in front, and a legrest which is part of my own seat. The seat also had a nice touch screen display, remote control and electrical outlet. I had my own overhead compartment, which was really nice, and I could fit both my carry-on luggage and personal item/backpack. With the nice 2-2-2 seating configuration, on the aisle in the middle section of seats I was happy to have direct aisle access. And the B767 happily had individual overhead air vents. It's so nice to fly a large internationally-equipped plane, especially domestically on a long flight. No pillows, blankets, headphones or menu were offered.

Legroom shot:



Safety card:



Looking forward, there were actual bulkheads separating the cabins, but I could see into the Polaris cabin. Each bulkhead had a screen which was currently showing the flight map. Between Polaris and Premium Plus in the middle of the plane, between the two aisles, there was a cut-through connecting the aisles which contained a single lavatory. This was also home to a single flight attendant seat, rear-facing, with a little cut-out window in the bulkhead for the flight attendant to see into the Premium Plus cabin. There were also bulkheads behind, between Premium Plus and Economy. Boarding continued slowly, without much backup in the aisle, and several people in the Premium Plus cabin switched seats to be seated together. This lead to some confusion when the gate agent came aboard to give out last minute Polaris upgrades and couldn't find the right people. The seat-rearranging that had occurred was also problematic because people had switched between Economy and Premium Plus. The gate agents moved those passengers back to their assigned seats. After that was all resolved, the load in Premium Plus ended up 22/22.

The view from 22D:



I turned on my entertainment screen to check out the movie selection. I found a very large selection of content, including a lot of movies which had only recently been in theaters. The screen was showing a flight time of 5h24, quicker than I'd expect for a westbound transcon. That's another benefit of flying a longhaul jet cross-country. Westbound narrowbody transcon flights often find themselves stopping midway for more fuel due to the strong easterly winds in the winter. The safety video was played on all the individual screens, as well as the bulkhead screens.

With fifty minutes allotted for boarding, I had enjoyed plenty of time to settle in to my nice seat for this premium transcon flight. Pushback was right on-time at 12:00. Takeoff was from 22R at 12:17. I enjoyed pretty good sound sitting here above the wings between the engines, and good pushback into the seat for a widebody twin. After takeoff when the flight attendants were released, the one sitting ahead of the Premium Plus bulkhead shut the little cut-out window in the bulkhead. But then the bulkhead screens shut off, too, so that the map was no longer displayed. Curtains between cabins remained open. It was time to charge my phone using my electrical outlet, relax and get comfortable. I reclined, and deployed my legrest and footrest. I always really like having a footrest, too bad it's not offered on more aircraft. My first movie was Insomnia with Al Pacino and Robin Williams, directed by Christopher Nolan. The captain soon announced that we'd reached our cruising altitude of 36,000 feet, and that he expects an early arrival.

While enjoying my movie, lunch service began about 45 minutes into the flight with the arrival of two service trolleys from the rear, one on each aisle. "Chicken or pasta?" - I selected the chicken. The tray, with blue United linen, included a small salad with balsamic vinaigrette, a warm pretzel roll, and the entree of grilled chicken with teriyaki sauce, polenta cake and green beans. Once the cabin had been served lunch, the meal trolleys were put away, the drink trolleys taken out, and returned for drink service. Beers on offer included Michelob Ultra, Stella Artois, or the new Goose Island Neon Beer Hug IPA "with 10,000 volts of flavor". These are the same offerings as on any recent United flight, nothing special for this premium transcon. I chose the Goose Island, the closest thing to a craft beer selection, which I'd had once before on my last United flight last month. United is a long time customer of Goose Island. I believe the Neon Beer Hug IPA is my sixth Goose Island variety I've had flying United over the years (Goose IPA, Midway IPA, the now-discontinued Four Star Pils, 312 Urban Wheat Ale, and even the now-discontinued, limited-edition 312 dry-hopped). Entire cans were served to everyone, along with plastic cups. Lunch was actually quite nice. It's been almost two years since I've had a full meal on a plane. The teriyaki sauce rounded out the meal nicely, and I even enjoyed the polenta, something I don't usually go for. The roll being warm was a nice touch, and the salad hit the spot. Snacks and desserts on the tray included a packet of almonds and a packaged chocolate chip cookie pie with chocolate filling. All in all, a pretty good inflight lunch, I'd say perfectly appropriate for premium economy. I had really enjoyed my first airplane meal in two years, and so far I was quite enjoying the flight overall.

Lunch, as served:



Lunch, properly plated:





Flight attendants were making several passes for trash, so I took the opportunity to ask for a new beverage. I had noticed some new offerings in the inflight magazine, such as AHA Sparkling Water - either orange grapefruit flavor or blueberry pomegranate flavor. I thought I'd try something new, so I asked for the blueberry pomegranate. Right after that flight attendant disappeared to get it, another appeared with a tray of water cups. My movie finished with 2h45 to go, we were just passing from Iowa to Nebraska at 38,000 ft. Hardly anyone was using their entertainment screens today. Another flight attendant arrived to distribute full water bottles to everyone.



My next movie was Dunkirk, another by Christopher Nolan. We hit some turbulence passing from Nebraska to Colorado, and the seatbelt sign was turned back on. The turbulence passed quickly. With 1h15 to go we passed over the four points where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado meet

Crossing over the four points:



Around this time the pre-arrival snack service began. On offer was a meat and cheese plate or hummus, and I chose the hummus. I had been wondering if a second service was planned. It was nice to have a second service on a long transcon flight. The drink cart came out next, and this time I went with AHA orange grapefruit flavor, but no full can was provided this time. I thought the snack service was just right and hit the spot nicely. And I enjoyed trying the two sparkling water varieties, not something I typically go for.

Pre-arrival snack:



Right after the service, my movie finished, with just under an hour left in flight. We were north of Flagstaff, Arizona at 40,000 ft. The captain announced that we would be beginning descent soon, expecting to land at 14:40 and then to park at Gate 76A. The weather was partly sunny and 64 degrees, with 10mph winds, some clouds at 600 ft and some at 16,000 ft. I listened to music for the rest of the flight.

Almost there:



We landed at 17:42, at parked at Gate 76A at 17:47 Eastern Time (14:47 Pacific Time). My priority-tagged bag was delivery very quickly to Carousel 3.

Premium Plus was pretty nice. It included a very nice seat, similar to, but nicer than, a domestic first class seat, complete with large screen, footrest and legrest. I had enjoyed the full meal service, all on one tray with United dishware. The full complimentary drink menu was served in plastic cups. Flight attendants were consistently passing through the cabin, not proactively offering anything, but available for requests. Plenty of water was provided, and then the second service with the pre-arrival cold snack, no tray for that, but again in nice United dishware. All in all, Premium Plus seems to be a solid premium economy offering, which reminded me of my Delta Premium Select experience, even though flying to Seoul was like triple the length of my flight today. After my first United Premium Plus experience today, I was definitely looking forward to my return flight, also in United Premium Plus and again on the B767-300ER, and the idea of trying more airlines' premium economy offerings was now back in my mind.

LAX-EWR
United Airlines UA2673
Departure: 15:00 (actual 14:52)
Arrival: 23:12 (actual 23:07)
Actual Block Time: 5h15
Actual Flight Time: 4h54
Seat: 21D Premium Plus
Boeing 767-300ER



Upon arriving to LAX, I found no lines anywhere at United's Terminal 7, in fact from arriving at the terminal, to kiosk check-in (no checked bag today), and through Precheck security, took only five minutes. I was airside by 12:35. Boarding was set for 14:10, and departure for 15:00. My flight was again $244, and at booking the upgrade cost had again been $1,584; at check-in the upgrade was offered for $349...finally a reasonable price. Then again, the upgrade itself was over $100 more than my Premium Plus fare. Plus when added to my fare, it totaled out to be just a couple bucks less than the original asking price for Polaris ($599). The United app was showing an extremely light load of only 14/46 Polaris, 7/22 Premium Plus, and way less than 50% economy, with roughly 50 empty seats. This flight was again in January during the period of numerous flight cancellations, and my flight UA2673 had been being cancelled literally every other day. Fortunately my typical good travel luck came through, and the date of my flight wasn't one of the cancellations. Gate 74 afforded zero tarmac views, so I couldn't get even a glimpse of my plane, but I looked it up online and my plane today was N685UA. This B767-300ER began service in 2002 with Hawaiian Airlines as N590HA. The aircraft joined United Airlines in 2019. I was looking forward to United Premium Plus again today for my flight back home. Today I was trying the Premium Plus bulkhead seat. I had been quite happy with my Premium Plus flight at the beginning of my trip, which I had found to be a high-quality experience and an excellent value proposition.

The boarding process started five minutes late with the same pre-boarding order as last time, then Group 1 and then me with Group 2. I noticed there were far fewer people boarding, owing to the very light load on today's flight. I headed back to 21D, my bulkhead Premium Plus seat, again in the center area of the aircraft.

United B767-300ER Premium Plus cabin:



Seats 21DF:





Settling in, hardly anyone was boarding. Headphones were provided this time. The bulkhead seat, as opposed to the non-bulkhead seat I had last time, had the legrest like before, but this time the footrest, was attached to the legrest. Also the bulkhead seat's screen deploys from in front of the center armrest, as opposed to being found on the back of the seat ahead. I found very good bulkhead legroom, similar to the best to be found in a bulkhead seat in domestic first class, or perhaps even a little better. One other difference I noticed from last time was that this aircraft didn't have individual air vents in the ceiling. Last time, my aircraft did have them. Maybe this can be explained by the fact that this particular aircraft was ordered by Hawaiian Airlines, as opposed to my prior aircraft being ordered by United. I deployed my screen to check out the movie selection, and found it was running different software than last time, so it had a different appearance and layout.

Legroom shot:



Seat controls and remote control:



Boarding completed very quickly. Like the app had shown, it really was a load of only 7/22 in Premium Plus. I'm not sure why the load was so light for this flight...or how United will be making any money from this flight. In any case, I had no seat mate.

The view from 21D - looking over to Seats 20KL & 21KL:



The view from 21D - looking forward into Polaris:



The view from 21D - looking at the bulkhead in front of me:



Once again I thought it was a very nice, comfortable seat. It offered plenty of width and legroom. I really like the premium seats - my generic term I've been using for premium economy class - rather than relying on Premium Select, Premium Plus, World Traveller Plus, Premium Economy - all the airlines call it something different so I just call it the premium seat. And once again I was enjoying an entire overhead compartment to myself. I will appreciate that even more upon arrival. I did not feel like waiting at Newark's slow baggage claim at 11PM. I would rather get on the road for my 2h drive as soon as possible. Being able to rely on the ample overhead space due to a widebody jet and premium seat is really nice.

Flight attendants offered blankets, but none were taken, owing to the warm cabin combined with the lack of individual air vents. Still, it was a nice touch. The captain's announcement introduced himself, welcomed us aboard and advised a flight time of 4h47. The safety video played on the screens, in my case the bulkhead screen, as the bulkhead seats' individual screens were stowed. Pushback came at 14:52. We took off at 15:06 after an Alaska Airlines (operated by Skywest) E175, with a rolling start, but not too much pushback into the seat. When the flight attendants were released, the window in the bulkhead was shut.

After departure, screen deployed and bulkhead window shut:



Bulkhead screens were shut off again. I think it would make more sense to keep them on, showing the map. But today with no seat mate, I just deployed the screen of 21F and set that to the map. My first movie was Dear Evan Hansen. The captain advised when we reached our cruising altitude of 37,000 ft, and that he expected an early arrival of 22:55.

About 35 minutes into the flight, meal service began. Carts once again came up from behind, and then service went from front-to-back. Choices were once again chicken or pasta. I asked for more detail this time, and was offered butternut squash ravioli with pink sauce, or Thai chicken. I ordered the chicken, and was served Thai curry chicken with vegetables and rice noodles. Also on the tray: a warm wheat roll, salad with edamame and sesame-ginger dressing, and a slice of cheesecake. The Thai chicken was really good with great flavor, and the salad also tasted really good. It was another solid Premium Plus meal. Drinks were served at the same time as the meals this time. I decided on the Goose Island beer again; I wasn't really in the mood for a Stella or Michelob. I also got a cup of water.

Lunch, as served:



Lunch, properly plated:



Our routing took us right over Las Vegas, NV and Denver, CO, and had us increasing up to 39,000 ft. My movie finished near Lincoln, NE. After the conclusion of meal service, I hadn't seen any flight attendants, and no bottles of water were provided this time. My next movie was The Father with Anthony Hopkins.

Enjoying using two screens:



With 1.5h to go, the pre-arrival snack service began from the rear. I was offered the same choices as last time - meat and cheese plate or hummus. I went with the hummus again, as I had enjoyed it last time. It was actually a different hummus dish this time, with a different type of grain. The drink cart immediately followed. I went with the AHA orange grapefruit sparkling water. It was another very enjoyable pre-arrival snack service. And I had enjoyed trying the different flavored sparkling water on these two flights. I liked having something different. We were just flying over Chicago, IL.

Pre-arrival snack:





My movie finished as we were crossing from Ohio into Pennsylvania with 45 minutes to go. I listened to music the rest of the way, and the captain was soon announcing the beginning of our descent.

Our routing:



Almost there:



The weather in Newark was 1 degree Celsius or 34 Fahrenheit, and we expected to land before 23:00 and to park at gate C98. Bulkhead row screens now had to be stowed, along with tray tables and legrests, and the seatback had to be returned to the upright position. (Other rows' screens remain on gate-to-gate.) Landing was to the south on 22R at 20:00. We parked at gate C98 at 20:07 Pacific Time (23:07 Eastern Time).

At the gate in EWR:



This had been another really nice flight in Premium Plus. The light load always makes for a nice flight, but even without that, the food service had again been good, I really like the seats, and the selection of entertainment was very good as well. This time blankets and headphones had been offered, but unlike last time, the flight attendants didn't continually pass through the cabin, nor provide a bottle of water. So I would say that both flights had been very good, but perhaps United could stand to improve consistency.

All in all, Premium Plus was pretty great. You can't beat the price for the service. Interestingly, considering the type of seat, Premium Plus really compares more to a domestic First Class service, such as UA PHL-SFO or IAD-SFO, or AA PHL-LAX or PHL-SFO, or Alaska Airlines. The Premium Plus seats are actually better than domestic First Class seats, with more amenities such as legrests, footrests, and guaranteed screens. Full meal service is included, yet it is all at a much better price than a domestic First Class ticket. Having Premium Plus available cross-country on United really is an interesting option. I think it makes a lot of sense to choose it over a domestic First Class ticket, considering it's pretty much the same thing, except at a much lower price. And as my experience flying transcon in Polaris only two months later showed me, it's actually a much better value than choosing transcon Business Class, too. The Premium Plus seat is obviously not as good as a top-of-the-line international Business Class seat, but the service is pretty much exactly the same, and anyway, the seat is still better than domestic First Class. I definitely recommend a transcon flight in United Premium Plus, and I hope other airlines also begin offering premium economy products in the transcon market.

Previous Flying Transcon trip reports:
Flying Transcon: United P.S. 757-200 JFK-SFO J
Flying Transcon: Virgin America A320 PHL-SFO F
Flying Transcon: Alaska Airlines B737-900ER SEA-PHL F
Flying Transcon: United P.S. Polaris 777-300ER EWR-SFO-EWR J
Flying Transcon: JetBlue Mint A321 BOS-SEA-BOS
Flying Transcon: Alaska Airlines A320 PHL-SFO F

Thanks for writing a nice, old-fashioned trip report instead of just a link to YouTube! Nice to see.

Looks like the premium econ meal is basically the same as the Polaris meal, no?

Thank you. Yes the Premium Plus meal is the same as the Polaris meal, at least on a domestic transcon.