Flight Review: United 737-900 Portland to Washington Dulles – First Class

The Flight At A Glance: 

We had originally booked economy plus, however, we saw that upgrading to first class was especially cheap, so we decided to upgrade from economy plus to first. On this trip, I had already flown from IAD to ORD, gone to Oshkosh, visited the South Dakota Air and Space Museum, flew on a float plane over Vancouver, got a Boeing Factory tour, and gone to the Museum of Flight. After a long road trip, it was time to head back home to Washington DC.

Pre Flight:

Because our flight was supposed to leave at 8:30am and we didn’t want to wake up at 3 am from a hotel in town, we decided to stay at the Sheraton airport hotel the night before our flight. We requested a room facing the runway, and we got one, although at the time, the runway outside our window (28R/10L) was closed, so I only got a picture of a sad, empty runway.

Runway Closed

Anyway, we woke up that morning and immediately checked on the United app about our flight, and found that it was delayed until 9:30am. Well, that meant we weren’t in such a rush so in a way that was almost good. We took the airport shuttle from our hotel to the airport which had just arrived at our hotel and got to the terminal within 5 minutes. Check in was pretty quick, especially since we were in the priority line and not many flights were leaving soon. We do have TSA PreCheck, so we got through security in a breeze. We then headed to the lounge in Terminal E. Portland Airport has two main areas: one area on the left (facing the terminal from the road) which has Terminals A, B, and C and on on the right which has Terminals D and E. United Airlines is currently the sole operator of Terminal E. 

Imagery Courtesy of Google Earth

We went to the United Club (due to my mother’s United Club Card which got us in – first class domestically does not get you into United Clubs) which was right by gate E1. The Club was pretty standard for United lounges, having a buffet, small bar, tables, and the standard United Club seats. At the breakfast buffet there was bread, bagels, fruit, yogurt, jams, juice, muffins, a toaster, and a couple more options. I decided to have a couple mini bagels, as the onboard meal wouldn’t be for a couple hours.

United Club Portland

United Club Portland

United Club Buffet

Mini Bagels

United Club Portland Bar

From the lounge, we had a view of the tarmac, although the lower floor of the terminal extended a bit further away than the lounge, so I wasn’t able to get fantastic photos.

United 737s Portland

Delta Connection Embraer E175

Unfortunately, now, after looking at the United app again, we saw that the flight was delayed until 10am due to a lack of crew. Therefore, we decided to walk around the terminals for 25-30 minutes so I could get some good photos and to get a bit of exercise in (as we would be in an airplane for the rest of the day). I have posted a few photos below of airplanes that I saw throughout the terminals. Portland Airport really isn’t that big, so we were able to cover most of the airport.

Alaska Airlines Embraer E175

Alaska Airlines 737s

Alaska Airlines Bombardier Q400

Alaska Airlines 737-900 – Russell Wilson Livery

Air Canada Embraer E190

Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A321neo

After the walk around the terminal, we headed to the gate to check out the situation, as it was getting towards boarding time. At the gate (E2), there were multiple people spreading a (correct) rumor that the flight was delayed until 11am. Five minutes later, an announcement was made that the flight was indeed delayed another hour (until 11am). Back to the lounge. We were thinking that the flight would probably be cancelled (although it never was) due to the long delays and prior experience with United. We checked in with the receptionist and customer service agent at the lounge who said that we should probably wait for our flight to go, as we have first class and lounge access and there were no other direct or convenient ways to get back. At 10:00, we went down again to the gate to (hopefully) start boarding. At around 10:15, the door to the jet bridge was opened, the crew was on the plane, and the boarding process begun.

Gate Area

When we were supposed to be halfway across the United States, we finally were able to take our seats on the aircraft. Around 15 minutes after boarding, the flight attendants came around asking us what we wanted as a pre departure drink. At 10:45, the boarding process was complete, and the captain informed us that we would only be pushing back at 11am as we couldn’t get an earlier departure slot time. He also notified us that there would be storms in DC when we would arrive, so it might get bumpy then (although it never did).

United 737-900

Seat Backs

Seat 2A (Sorry for the Bad Image Quality)

Plenty of Legroom

The seats were much more comfortable than in economy, although definitely not as comfortable as the new United First seats like the ones we had from DC to ORD. We had 38-40 inches of pitch, which is pretty standard for domestic first class. However, I really did wish that airlines from America would install leg rests on first class seats domestically, as those really can make a seat all the more comfortable.

At 10:55 (5 minutes early 2.5 hours late), we began pushback and the long taxi around the terminals to runway 28L (runway 28R was closed, so we couldn’t take off there). 

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-800

Two Southwest 737s

Delta Airlines 767-300

Delta Airlines Aircraft

Terminal C

The Flight:

After letting Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines 737s take off and a Delta Airlines 737 land, it was finally our turn to get going back to Washington. 

Delta 737 Landing

I think that the fighters that intercepted the stolen Horizon Air Q400 came from Portland.

Taking Off

Portland Skyline

Taking Off

Immediately after taking off, I took a look at the standard United personal device entertainment selection, which can be accessed via the United app on personal electronic devices. I personally find it amazing that United has personal device entertainment on all narrow body aircraft and on all larger regional jets. Entertainment is one area where United beats Delta and American: American has no form of entertainment on any of their 767s in economy while Delta has nothing on their MD80s.

United Personal Device Entertainment

About 30 minutes after take off, the flight attendants came around with drinks and lunch options. The flight was originally supposed to have breakfast on board, although they switched that to lunch due to the delay. The two options were a turkey club sandwich or a spinach salad. I am pretty sure that everyone (including me) in the first two rows ordered the club sandwich. Since they ran out of the sandwich pretty quickly and the spinach salad was the only option for rows 3, 4, and 5, I think some people ordered off of the economy menu. I certainly would have ordered the economy buy-on-board pizza or burger over the spinach salad! As for the sandwich, it was actually really good! It had (a lot of) turkey, lettuce, bacon, and some tomato paste. It came with a side of fruit and Pringles. I wish that they would have had a better side such as fries instead of the packaged chips, though what can you do about it.

Turkey Club Sandwich

After that, the flight was really uneventful. I just watched a few tv shows and movies using the personal device entertainment. I was really glad that we didn’t have a connection because I am sure a lot of other passengers around us were worrying about how they would make their connection. Around 45 minutes before landing Washington Dulles, I could smell cookies being heated in the first class oven. The flight attendants came around with chocolate chip cookies which ended up being delicious! The cookie alone almost makes it worth it for first class.

First Class Cookie

We then started our descent into the Washington DC area where we passed over the Appalachian mountains and the Potomac River. It seemed that the thunderstorm had already passed, so we came into Dulles without any turbulence. We landed at Dulles on Runway 19C from North to South.

Appalachian Mountains

Potomac River

Landing

United Hanger

A C130

Terminals A/B

A United Embraer E145XR

When we got there, it was obvious that Dulles was a mess because of a thunderstorm that had passed. There were many European bound aircraft that usually depart at 5-6pm (such as KLM) which were still there at 7pm. Dozens of planes were waiting to line up for takeoff at the runway. This is because during a thunderstorm, you can’t let planes take off and land at the fast rate as you can in clear conditions. Therefore, virtually every incoming and outgoing plane at Dulles was delayed (although ours was mostly for a different reason). 

Terminals A/B

Terminals C/D

A United Embraer E175

When we got to our original arrival gate D4, the captain said that a plane was still parked there because the plane there now had not departed yet. 15 minutes later, he said that we would go to another gate (D7) which would be on the other side of the terminal. He also explained to us that while there were plenty of gates nearer to us available, we could not park there since they were either configured for larger aircraft such as the 777 or for smaller aircraft such as CRJs. So, we had to taxi around the entire terminal to get to our new gate.

Two United 787-8s

Planes Waiting to Take Off.

By now, I think I must have a million pictures of a United 777 parked at gate C3 at Washington Dulles.

United Aircraft

A Porter Airlines Q400, an Air France A380, and an Etihad 787

Parked at our gate next to a United 737-700

Since we arrived at Terminal D, we had to take the dreaded mobile lounge back to the main terminal. I guess since there was a big storm, there was no mobile lounge at Terminal D yet, so there were about a hundred or more people waiting by the mobile lounge area. I think this must have been the 200th delay that we had that day. After waiting there for 5 minutes, a mobile lounge finally arrived which eventually took us to the main terminal where we picked up our bags at the baggage claim.

Conclusion:

I really do have mixed feelings about this flight. On the one hand, we had lounge access, first class with great food and a very comfortable seat. On the other hand, we left more than two hours late and arrived at our gate three hours later than we were supposed to. Now, we actually got a pretty good fare for first class, so it’s not like we paid for a super luxurious experience. I would honestly say that besides the operational performance, it was a pretty good flight.

9/10 flight satisfaction, 6/10 operational performance satisfaction, 7.5/10 overall satisfaction rating.