Why you shouldn’t fly United Airlines across America.

Hello and welcome to another trip report. I am at Newark, New Jersey Airport, EWR

just across the way from New York City. This is United's huge hub in the northeast of the

United States and today I'm going to be flying with United in their premium service business

class all the way across to Los Angeles on the west coast. These transcontinental routes are some

of the most competitive air routes in the world and all the big three legacy carriers here in the

United States throw everything they can at getting as much business and as many bums on seats

on these flights as they can especially in the forward cabins like business class. So today I'm

going to check out United flying in a 757-200. Before I start this video I think it's important

to understand that United are an airline in transition. One of the reasons I decided to

take United on this route is because it had some terrible customer service and PR problems in the

previous 12 months which they'd committed to resolving and learning from. With so many people

telling me that United was a bad airline I thought it was prudent to check it out for myself

United are the dominant carrier at Newark and I have to say my first impressions of it as a

connecting passenger weren't great. I'm struggling to think of a more disappointing lounge than the

United Club that I visited here. It was dark, dingy and really outdated. One of the problems

is that United is refurbishing its United Clubs here at Newark and so this one had been left to

get a little bit long in the tooth. However the food selection for the late morning was perfectly

acceptable and I was able to get myself some breakfast without too much difficulty

imminent refurbishment or not there's no excuse for broken and missing light bulbs

furniture which seems to come from the early 1990s and a generally dark dingy feel to the lounge it

just isn't a welcoming place and any refurbishment that's due on this lounge can't come soon enough

fortunately newark isn't quite as disappointing throughout there are some pretty nice places to

if you wait out by the newer wings of the terminal united airlines had actually introduced

a pop-up club here which is a repurposed gate area. It was definitely nowhere near as big

as the club that I'd been in but it did come with some pretty good runway views. Not a

bad effort considering. Disappointingly, despite being United's front-ranked product here in the United States, you don't get access to their best lounge, the Polaris Lounge which

has had some pretty good reviews. After a quick explore of the terminal, it's back to

the gate and we can see our Boeing 757-200 arriving here on its inbound journey from

San Francisco. It's been a long time since I took a 757 flight and I'm really excited for it

It time to line up and get ready for group one boarding which is where you board if you in business class

Not feeling terribly loved up with United so far, not had a good experience with them so far today

Let's just see if they can recover it on board. Now, New Yorkers are not known for their politeness. In fact, quite the opposite

But I did witness something at the gate which was really not on. Our flight was delayed for about 25 minutes because the cleaners hadn't yet aborted the plane

and there was an announcement from the gate staff to that effect. However, somebody did approach the podium and ask when the plane was going to get underway

It's likely this customer didn't hear the announcement or had simply arrived after the announcement was made

But the gate staff decided to do something completely unacceptable, which was to make a passive-aggressive announcement repeating the announcement

and I quote, for the benefit of those who weren't listening. That is no way to treat a paying customer, regardless of whether or not they'd made a mistake

Anyway, that said, you could have followed these shenanigans in real time

if you're following me on Twitter or Instagram, where I live blog all of my trips

The next issue for me to navigate was to sort out somebody who had actually started unpacking their things into my seat

and that's because United had upgraded this person and given them a duplicate boarding pass with the same seat number as me

Here is the seat which is of course a lie flat business class seat here on the 757

Seating is arranged in a 2 plus 2 formation and I have to say I do prefer the narrow bodies

on these transcontinental routes. I just think that with a smaller cosier cabin you get more

attentive service. There's definitely no issue at all with legram on these flights but do

note that the ottoman footrests on these seats are pretty small and you will find it very

tight when sleeping. Another thing I really didn't like about the seat is the socket placement

It's right over your shoulder and it's very difficult to plug things in when you're sat down

Finally, the entertainment screen is a pretty good size and of course there is a moving map airshow

Waiting at my seat are headphones for the in-flight entertainment and of course the

transcontinental amenity kit which is provided by Saks Fifth Avenue. Saks also provide the bedding

on board this flight which consists of a pillow and blanket which were very very well presented

however the pillow was dirty I assume from a previous passenger it's quite difficult to see

on this photo so here it is with a bit of enhanced color I sent it back and got a new one with no

problem sadly the cabin of this classic 757 aircraft has seen better days

Well once again ladies and gentlemen thank you for listening we will be taking off soon

The climb out from Newark is spectacular and now's a good time to look at the brute map

for today's flight. It's 2,452 miles and will be flying at 36,000 feet. The flight will

take us five hours and 30 minutes today. Straight after takeoff, I visited one of the two bathrooms

in the front cabin of the 757 and found the toilet in a completely unacceptable and broken

state. I have a feeling the crew should have locked this toilet out of service if it was

unrepairable at Newark. Fortunately, there is a second toilet for everyone to use, which

was in a much better state overall. Here's the menu for today's flight and you don't need me to tell you what you can read

on the screen

A quick look at the Saks amenity kit shows that it is a pretty middle of the road affair

It does contain everything that you're going to need on a transcontinental flight, but nothing more

By this time I was feeling pretty disappointed with United Airlines and when the hot towel

was served just before lunch I used it not to clean my hands and face, but the surface

I'd be eating off. However that said flying is a tremendous privilege and it was a fantastic day to see things from

the air. Niagara Falls which was over 80 miles away when I took this video. Our lunch is

preceded by a ramekin of nuts, a staple on any American carrier, and our starter

is soon served. I have a feeling the salad here is supposed to be a side salad

for the main and this here is the duck which is the actual starter itself. Cute

salt and pepper shakers though. Sadly my main course was not going to improve my

mood. This was the steak and chimichurri sauce and it was absolutely terrible. It was like shoe

leather. It was one of the worst meals I've ever had in business class on any flight. The dish was

bland and borderline inedible. The good news is United serve personalised ice cream sundaes as a

dessert on these transcontinental flights and that is pretty impossible to get wrong. You'll definitely

never hear me complain about ice cream on board any flight. This was delicious

An interesting feature I found on the in entertainment was the option to listen in

to the air traffic control transmissions coming to and from the aircraft

Let me know if this is something that you'd be interested in in the comments below

With a long day already behind me and a few hours still to run to Los Angeles, I decided

to get a sleep. As I said, this seat converts into a lie-flat bed and while it's not the most

revolutionary seat in the sky, it was perfectly acceptable. I was able to get a decent nap and

also use the seat for lounging and watching stuff on the in-flight entertainment

This is a pretty lengthy domestic flight and with just over a thousand kilometers to go

we're served a pre-landing snack which consists of crisps or chips as the Americans call them

And this pathetic two inch long ham wrap which has no place in any business class cabin anywhere

To be honest, the main highlight of this flight has been the scenery. Perfect day for flying and the approach into Los Angeles is reassuringly spectacular

So, my conclusions. I don't think I need to sum up the fact that this flight was very, very poor value in my opinion

In fact, out of all the legacy airlines I've taken, I think this ranks somewhere towards the bottom of the value scale

The full stretch of my ticket was Atlanta to Newark to Los Angeles and cost me £620

That's US$800 one way. that's really expensive and United really failed to deliver this time

I know that a lot of people who watch this channel will be regular users and frequent flyers of United Airlines

so if you've had different experiences in the past or you can shed any more light on why my experience might have been a bad one

please do leave your comments below. I love reading all of them and I'll try to get back to as many questions as I can

I'll close by saying I was particularly disappointed because United are an airline in transition

and having had so many setbacks in 2017 and 2018, I really thought they'd have pulled it out of the bag here on this transcontinental flight

That said, next year I have booked to go from San Francisco back to Newark

on United's brand new 78710, which enters service at the beginning of next year

This will also feature brand new Polaris-style seating and I really hope the United redeem themselves when I take them next year

Make sure you subscribe to catch The Trip Report when it comes out. We'll see you next time