Note: Welcome to Chasing New Adventures’ first flight review! It’s not about an international flight in Qsuites like I had dreamed of posting, but I hope you will have fun reading it.
On a Friday evening, my dad and I flew to Denver for a couple of days. As usual, the airline of choice was United. I was very excited for this flight, as it would be my first time on a MAX 9 and my first time flying domestic first on an eligible route since the newest catering was introduced.
Here are the flight details:
- Route: SFO-DEN
- Airline: United
- Flight Number: UA2031
- Cabin: Domestic First
- Seat: 4F
- Aircraft: 737 MAX 9
- Registration Code: N27503
- Date: October 22, 2021
- Scheduled Time: 4:25pm-8:01pm
With that said, it’s time for the report.
Booking our United Airlines Flights
We paid cash for this flight, and Premier 1K status allowed us to pre-assign Economy Plus seats. Thanks to a surplus of PlusPoints, we used 20 per person to upgrade this leg. Might it have been a waste? Yes, but there was no better use for them and it gave me an opportunity to review the new catering.
SFO Pre-Flight Experience
We drove to SFO after I finished school on Friday afternoon, and parked in the long term parking lot. I highly recommend doing so – it’s easy, and you save money over parking in the terminal carparks. It does add a 15-20 minute AirTrain ride, but I personally see that as a positive: you get 20 free minutes of planespotting.
I was happy to see the International Terminal looking significantly more lively than it did this summer – and I was thrilled by the beautiful views of a Lufthansa 747.
Even with a slight line, we made it through security in less than 10 minutes thanks to Clear and TSA PreCheck. We then headed towards the Amex Centurion Lounge, only to discover that it was temporarily closed. Disappointing, but considering I visit it every time I travel, it’s becoming repetitive anyways.
SFO Airport Giant’s Clubhouse
I hadn’t eaten any lunch since I was planning on eating in the lounge, so we walked over to Giant’s Clubhouse because it’s included as a Priority Pass restaurant. We only had 20 minutes until boarding, so we ordered some fries and a caesar salad, which I expected to be quick.
Nope. Despite the friendly waitress trying to speed up our order, it only arrived 4 minutes before scheduled board time. I gobbled a few fries and bites of salad (which tasted decent – I’m not a huge fan of Giants Clubhouse, but it’s perfectly fine if you don’t have to pay for it), as did my dad, but we had to leave the rest behind. Thankfully it was free.
United Airlines 737 MAX 9 Boarding and Cabin
We rushed to the gate and made it just in time for pre-boarding. Sadly there were a few Global Services and 1K members ahead of us in the line, so I couldn’t get great photos of the cabin. Especially disappointing seeing as it was my first time on the MAX 9, and United has installed different first class seats on this plane.
Our upgrades had left us with seats 4F and B, but my dad switched with a friendly person so that we could have 4E and F.
I tried taking some more cabin photos once I’d sat down, but the lady in the row behind kept glaring and shaking her head at me (??), so I wasn’t successful.
One thing I find interesting about this plane is the lack of a divider between the first and economy cabins. I’ve never been sure what the reasoning behind it is, but I don’t like it.
There are also no seatback TVs – which is unimpressive, although United is planning to install them on its entire narrowbody fleet by 2025.
These seats have already been reviewed several times, so just a few quick comments…
I appreciate the increased storage over the old first class seats, the seats themselves are less flimsy, and the windows are large. Plus, there are individual air nozzles.
However, my tray table was wonky, making me afraid to place drinks on it during even the slightest turbulence, and I definitely did not appreciate the Explorer card advertisement stuck in the seatback pocket.
Departing SFO
Following the door closing, we had the safety briefing, which interestingly included no mention that we were flying on a MAX. While this occurred, one passenger deplaned, for a seemingly random reason.
We then pushed back and began taxiing. The taxi was relatively long as we were coming from the F gates, which I like because it means more time for planespotting!
We ended up taking off at 4:39, 14 minutes after we were scheduled for. Takeoff wasn’t particularly exciting, but here’s a couple photos.
United Airlines Domestic First Food & Beverage
United has finally started to bring its full beverage service back, so before departure, a friendly FA came around and asked for our drink choices. Of course, I selected orange juice. We were also given the dinner options: Italian Ragu with Polenta (vegetarian), or Grilled Chicken with Wild Rice. It’s good to see they’ve moved on from those enchiladas.
Shortly after reaching 30,000 feet, the drinks were brought out. My dad had a ginger ale and I had some orange juice and water. I’m happy that beverage service has resumed, but I did prefer the bottled water they used to give throughout the pandemic.
Exactly 30 minutes after takeoff, the meal service commenced. As a vegetarian, I ordered the ragu with polenta. My dad tried the grilled chicken so we could compare the two. The meal was served with a Pie in the sky (yay!), and a side salad with farro, dried cranberries, and raisins. Interestingly, there was no bread.
The ragu with polenta was actually really good – undoubtedly the better of the two options.
According to my dad, the chicken was dry, the vegetables were bland (not that there were many of them), and the rice was plain. This would be a good dish for picky eaters, given the lack of flavour.
I liked the side salad, and my dad loved it. It’s a sure improvement over wilted lettuce and sad-looking cucumbers.
They served the Pie in the Sky heated as it should be – perfect for my first time trying it. It was good, but overly sweet. Because I have a hard time eating large quantities of sugary desserts, it took me a long time to finish. And I don’t suggest looking at the calorie count.
United Airlines Service
I don’t have much to say about the service on this flight. It was all around decent, although nothing exceptional. The FAs were great and were happy to accommodate any request – and they were cautious about my nut allergies, which I always appreciate.
Much to my dismay, they came on the PA system during descent to advertise the United Explorer Card. At least it only happened once, and it’s (mainly) out of their control.
They also turned on the mood lighting about 15 minutes after we had finished eating. Personally, I partially hate mood lighting. It makes me want to fall asleep. I guess that’s the intention, though…
Views Onboard UA2031
As I mentioned earlier, takeoff was rather boring. The views were typical for an eastbound SFO departure.
We got a partial view of Mono Lake, which was nice because I’d been hoping to see it from the sky for a long time, but never lucked out.
During dinner, we hit sunset. The first light was beautiful.
It then proceeded to get even better. I love airplane sunsets.
We flew over Capitol Reef National Park, with it’s stunning rock formations.
I watched the last rays of light fade, and then it got dark inside the cabin. At this point we hit a minuscule amount of turbulence, which subsided after a minute or two.
In the minutes leading up to landing, there were great views over the outskirts of Denver. A phone camera obviously doesn’t do justice to what it looked like in real life, but I tried.
Arriving in Denver
We landed from the north exactly 2 hours after departure, on runway 16R. And this is where the issues began.
At 7:45pm, 5 minutes after landing, the FA announced that they did not have an available gate, so we’d be stuck waiting for 5-6 minutes. 7 minutes later, another United 737 went straight past us to a gate…
At 7:55, we saw an emergency services truck with its light flashing drive right in front of our plane. I still can’t figure out whether that had anything to do with what was going on.
16 minutes after the claimed it would be 5, a third United plane drove by to a gate. I get that we had a pre-assigned gate, but I’m not sure I understand how there wasn’t a single open gate we could park at.
Finally, at 8:05, we started taxiing to the gate. We ended up deplaning at 8:10, an entire half hour after we landed. There are cases in which this would be understandable, but at an off-peak time for arrivals/departures, AND with several open gates, I’m extremely frustrated that we spent that long sitting on the tarmac.
This created a mini-disaster, as we were trying to catch a train to downtown Denver. We would’ve had perfect timing if we had been able to deplane promptly, but we were now in a rush. We sprinted through the airport and jumped on the (very crowded) airtrain to the main terminal. Seriously, I haven’t seen such a crowded airport in a long time.
We ultimately ended up missing the train by one minute, and I’ll cover that experience in the next post of this report.
Final Thoughts
The flight itself went very smoothly, and the food was better than expected. I got to enjoy a first class seat on a new-to-me plane and a nice sunset, but the 30 minute wait on arrival left me in a frustrated mood. Personally, I find United’s domestic first experience very satisfactory, despite the ridicule it gets online.