UNITED AIRLINES - flying domestic first class on the Dreamliner!

Hello and welcome to another video and today I'm making an introduction to a

trip report that I never thought I'd be able to make. In the last few days I went

over 100,000 subscribers here on YouTube that's just a mind-boggling number and

thank you to every single one of you guys who's liked one of my videos enough

to head down to the bottom and click the subscribe button. Thank you so so much

the encouragement I get from seeing people subscribe to my channel every day cannot be underestimated thank you so so much and it's a real honor to be sitting

here in 2019 with a hundred thousand subscribers and to be able to tell you

guys that now with that out of the road I'd also really like to thank all of my

patrons my patrons who make regular donations through patreon are one of the

reasons why I've been able to upgrade my gear and do a lot of things in the last

year and a half that I wouldn't normally been able to do so thank you so so much much and this video is dedicated specifically to you guys. I recently went over another fundraising

goal on my Patreon site of $1,000 US dollars per month. Again, incredible success I never thought

I would have and thank you so so much if you are one of those guys. So on to today's video, it's

going to be on United Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner heading from Denver to San Francisco. Now, for

those of you that were around last year for my world tour content, I actually took this trip in

the middle of all of that stuff that I was doing in America but I'd already had two pretty successful

videos about United Airlines one in particular went kind of semi-viral where I was kind of

reviewing the product and saying that it wasn't too great so I kind of held back on pushing this

video out then because I didn't really want to be putting out too much of the same content but now

the time has come and it's hopefully going to provide a bit of variety to some of the stuff

that I've been doing in the last few weeks so I hope you enjoy the video thank you again for

100,000 subscribers. Let's roll the tape. Enjoy the trip. Denver is one of United's seven U.S

hubs. Connecting passengers through the central Midwest and towards the western United States

United flew about 26 million passengers from Denver last year. United's check-in desks were

pretty busy, even at the early hour of 5.30 a.m. I was therefore fortunate that with my domestic

first-class ticket, I got premier access. Among other things, this means that you can access a

dedicated check-in area and therefore I didn't have to wait in line. Premier access also includes priority security lanes and

priority boarding. Denver is now regularly winning awards for customer satisfaction and this and its geographical location in the Midwest

make it an excellent choice of hub for United Airlines I was also intrigued to see tornado shelters listed on the passenger signage As a British person I wasn actually sure that tornadoes came this far west

There is one big downside to Denver Airport though. It's truly vast. It's the largest by

land area in the United States and the second largest international airport in the world

Bring your walking boots. United Airlines are also the dominant carrier here and you'll see

pretty much every single type of aircraft that United owns on a typical day at Denver airport

Fortunately for me, I've booked on one of the routes that United regularly operates with a

wide-body aircraft. Denver to San Francisco, on the day I travelled, was being operated with this

Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. The 787 is fast becoming the mainstay of United's long-haul operation

One of the quirks about flying in the US is that even if you buy a domestic first-class ticket

this, in and of itself, doesn't grant you access to the lounge. United has several United clubs at

Denver, but I couldn't enter any of them. The way the airlines work in the US is just very

very different to how they work in Europe. Priority boarding has always raised a smile

with me whenever I've been traveling. United have one of the simpler boarding processes of all the

US legacy carriers, with just five boarding groups. One of United's more elderly, 777-200s

pulls up alongside us. Now, I'll be traveling on one of these later this year, and I'll be putting

out a trip report on that too. Now I get lots of questions about my travel plans for the months ahead

I do have a website and in there is my schedule. They include all of my flights that I have booked for the year ahead

I hope you'll enjoy checking it out and looking at my plans

United's 787-8s have a 222 configuration. This is great if you're travelling as a couple, but if, like me, you're on your own

it does mean that you'll have to step over somebody you don't know to access the aisle if you choose a window seat

The seat and the upholstery now look really dated on this 787-8

United has a 787-10 with brand new Polaris seating, and I'll be trying that in just a couple of months' time

A quick seat selection tip for you on this aircraft, the bulkhead seats in row one have a full-size footrest

Non-bulkhead seats don't have that because the footrest has to fit in with the seat in front

In common with the competition, there is a pre-departure drink served on this flight, but it is in a plastic cup

This has never struck me as a particularly first-class thing to do. United has some pretty soothing mood lighting on its 787 aircraft

I really love this colour It a very relaxing tone to have before take The airline also provides complimentary headphones for the in entertainment for first passengers

Thank you

On departure we're treated to some spectacular views of the local area and Denver downtown

itself. Let's take a quick look at today's route. Denver to San Francisco is 968 miles

and the flight takes us around 2 hours and 5 minutes at 35,000 feet

This flight goes straight over the Rocky Mountains, a beautiful, beautiful mountain range in the west of America

The mountains do make the ride a bit choppy though. The tray table deploys from the side of the seat like this

However, because it's a fold-out table, it means that some of the table is on a hinge and it's not very sturdy

However, the main bugbear I have about the seat on United Airlines is the location of the power sockets

Now, I don't know if it's just me, but I find it very difficult to access these power sockets

which are located behind the shoulder, without actually unbelting myself and standing up

If you've travelled in these seats yourself, let me know if it's just me, or whether you've had the same problem

Now, I was sitting in seat 1A and had my order taken first out of anybody else on the aircraft

However, when I ordered the eggs for breakfast, the flight attendant said she had to make sure she still had some left at the end Now this is complete nonsense I know exactly what going on here It something that happens on a lot of airlines and isn something that United have made up themselves Basically once they taken all the passengers orders

the crew then go back into the galley and prioritize meal orders by your frequent flyer status

Now, I am really not a fan of this, even though I end up a winner most of the time

It's just not the kind of service you'd expect anywhere that would serve you food. You wouldn't even expect it in a McDonald's

McDonald's also has better eggs than United Airlines. I can definitely vouch for that

This was my third of three flights with United Airlines in the US last year

and I have to say, on all three flights, I was disappointed with the food. However, there's always a consolation

The approach into San Francisco from pretty much any direction is absolutely beautiful

and I'll leave you with the scenery as we approach. Thank you

So, to sum up, this flight cost me £232 one way. That's about US$300

My main motivations for taking this flight in first class were firstly to build up some miles and status with my Air New Zealand Airpoints frequent flyer card

and secondly, because I just wanted to check out a new product and have the novelty of flying in a premium cabin on a 787

One of the cold hard facts about flying domestically in the United States is that most people in the first class cabin are frequent flyers there on upgrade certificates

If, like me, you're going to use cash to buy a domestic first class ticket in the United States, I definitely recommend having realistic expectations and considering carefully what value buying that fare is going to bring you

I'll close the video here and thank you again for 100,000 subscribers on YouTube

I'll be back again in a few days with another video but until then, see you around