Flight Review: United 767-300 Washington Dulles to Amsterdam Schiphol – Polaris Business

The Flight at a Glance:

Aircraft:	Boeing 767-300ER
Origin	Washington-Dulles
Destination	Amsterdam-Schiphol
Flight Time	7h 30m
Date	June 13, 2018
Class of Service	United Polaris Business
Airline	United Airlines
Satisfaction	9.5/10
Flight Number	UA 946
Seat Number	6A
Time of Departure	5:45 PM EDT
Time of Arrival	7:15 AM CEST (+1)

Pre-Flight

Booking: We originally booked roundtrip tickets in United Economy Plus to see family living in the Netherlands. During booking, we decided on the flight to Amsterdam to put in a request for an upgrade, which would not immediately clear us for an upgrade, but would put us on the upgrade waitlist for extra money and miles. 

At the Airport: We got through check in easily, and quickly headed to Terminal D at Dulles Airport. Since Terminal D at Dulles does not have an underground train going out to it, we had to take a Mobile Lounge to get out to Terminal D. These were originally part of Dulles Airport’s original plan to reinvent air travel. Instead of having long terminals with gates, one would board buses which had a lounge in it (Mobile Lounges/Plane Mates/People Movers) which would drive out to the plane and attach to it. This meant that passengers would avoid long walks with crowded terminals at the airport. Unfortunately, this strategy turned out to be impractical, and Dulles was left with dozens of useless Mobile Lounges. 

To adapt to modern air travel which was centered around long terminals, Dulles built a temporary midfield terminal which could be accessed via the mobile lounges built in 1983. 35 years later, the temporary terminals still exist, without a solid plan to replace them within at least the next 10 years. Terminals C and D are horrendously awful and overcrowded, to put it mildly. Recently, Dulles built underground trains going out to terminals A, B, and C, while you still have to take a mobile lounge to get to Terminal D. 

Back to the review. Before boarding the mobile lounge, I took a few photos of some airplanes across the tarmac in Terminal B.

We took a Mobile Lounge over to Terminal D, and headed to the lounge, and accessed it due to my mother’s United Club Card. She had been upgraded to Business a day earlier, but there was still no news on my upgrade there. The United Club got overcrowded quickly, due to the large stream of United flights leaving Dulles at around 5pm. Many people couldn’t even find a place to sit. I am sorry that I didn’t take any pictures of it; I am still getting used to having to take pictures of more or less everything at an airport or on an airplane for review purposes. After about an hour in the lounge and enjoying two brownies, we headed over to the gate.

At the gate, we still had no news of my upgrade until roughly 5 minutes before boarding when the gate agent called me and another passenger on the waitlist up to the desk to get new boarding passes for business class. 

The Flight: 

Upon entering the aircraft, I settled into my newly assigned seat, 6A. I was treated by United’s wonderful Polaris amenities and blankets. The flight attendant came around quickly after I arrived in my seat with pre departure drinks, where I opted for a water. I then browsed the entertainment selection, and decided to watch A Wrinkle In Time, which was pretty good.

After around 45 minutes of sitting in my seat, the safety video was screened, and we pushed back, with an approximate flight time of 7 h 30m.

Around 30 minutes after takeoff, the flight attendant came around and asked us for our drinks, and then soon came around with a selection of nuts. After the nuts were cleared, she brought out the appetizer, which consisted of bread (I opted for pretzel bread), an okay salad and shrimp dish.

Then, the main course arrived. I selected the beef short ribs with rice and snap peas. It was incredibly delicious. I am sorry that I did not take a picture of it, again, because it was well, so delicious and because I am only getting used to this whole trip report thing of taking photos of literally everything. After the main course, I decided that I would skip dessert and go straight to sleep, although the ice cream was too tempting to pass, so I got United’s signature ice cream sundae. 

I then asked the Flight Attendant whether mattress pads and cool gel pillows were available, as lightly advertised on their website. She did not appear for 20 minutes and seemed to be chatting with a passenger during that time, a light service complaint. She then came back and said that the flight did not feature the mattress pads and cool gel pillows, but that she though that the Boeing 777s featured it. Not the best service, although the light blanket and duvet presented at the seat were more than enough. Only then did I try to fall asleep, and eventually managed to do so.

I did not ask to be woken up for breakfast, but expected to wake up with breakfast service. Fortunately, as I did not really need breakfast on the plane, I slept through breakfast service and woke up around 25 minutes before reaching Amsterdam. Unfortunately for review purposes, I did not get to review breakfast on the flight. We soon found ourselves over the North Sea and heading into Amsterdam.

Bottom Line: 

I had a great flight. Because I had gotten upgrade. Had we paid full fare, this flight would have been a bit unsatisfactory. Why? Because the seats were sub par to the international standard of long haul business class (seats with all aisle access). Because we didn’t get the mattress pad and cool gel pillow that was advertised. Had we paid full fare for the flight, I would have given it a satisfaction rating of a 7/10, because it is definitely not worth the full $8,000 which is the full fare price of business class. But it was worth the price a fraction of the full fare ticket, which is why I gave it a 9.5/10 satisfaction rating. Recommended: economy with business class upgrade option. Not Recommended: paying the full $8,000 of full fare business class.

Please see my review of Amsterdam to Washington in Economy Plus here.

Any thoughts on my review? Post in the comments section below.