Review: United 777-200 Economy Plus From Munich to Washington Dulles
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United 777-200 Economy Plus Review From Munich to Washington Dulles
The Flight At A Glance:
| Aircraft: | Boeing 777-200 |
| Origin: | Munich Airport |
| Destination: | Washington Dulles International Airport |
| Flight Time: | 9h |
| Date: | January 5, 2019 |
| Class of Service: | United Economy Plus |
| Airline: | United Airlines |
| Satisfaction: | 7/10 |
| Flight Number: | UA107 |
| Seat Number: | 20A |
| Time of Departure: | 3:15 PM CET |
| Time of Arrival: | 5:15 PM EST |
| Departure Terminal: | Terminal 2 |
Pre-Flight
First off, we were traveling out of Munich exactly when a very large snow storm was passing through; the roads were very slippery and it wasn’t easy getting to the airport. Before the flight, I got this email, which wasn’t exactly that optimistic or inspiring regarding the chances that our flight would actually depart…
Visibility was minimal and the amount of snow coming down with the amount of wind there was made it almost blizzarding conditions. After arriving at the airport, we first had to drop off a rental car and then walk to Terminal 2. I normally love the outdoor Munich Airport plaza which is really nice when it’s not snowing, but it was pretty miserable in that cold walking with our luggage from the rental car to the terminal.
After getting to Terminal 2, we first checked in for our flight. We didn’t request an upgrade for this flight as the prices were just too expensive for a daytime flight ($500 + 20,000 Miles per person), and we didn’t have many United miles left to spend. The United check-in area is on the lower level of the terminal below where the Lufthansa check-in area is. After we dropped our bags off, we headed upstairs to the Lufthansa check-in area which is where security is. We got through security quickly (there wasn’t much of a line) and then had to take an escalator up to where passport control is, which we got through just as easily.
After getting through security, we first bought food for the flight (as I can’t really trust that United would have good food in economy class). We didn’t visit the lounge as we were in economy class. We might have been able to visit it with our United Club Card, but there wasn’t really much need to as we also wanted to walk around the terminal, and Munich Airport T2 itself is pretty comfortable and modern. As we didn’t want to go to our gate yet (you have to clear another round of security for US-bound flights), we first decided to walk to the other side of the concourse first. Again, it was extremely snowy outside; it made for some pretty views of the airplanes on the tarmac.
For those of you who don’t know, Munich Airport Terminal two has both the main terminal and a satellite terminal. Both have two levels – one which is for Schengen flights (require no passport control) and one for international flights which do require passport control.
I had the “honor” of being chosen to have to go through extra security to get to the US departing gates through random selection while the majority of people didn’t have to. At the checkpoint, they did passport control and just had a scanner for your bags and for the person. It seems a bit (a lot) redundant to have to go through security twice, especially if the second one only is a random check. If you are wondering, the US wants more security at many foreign airports because they don’t trust the other countries, even countries with just as good security as the US such as Germany.
Anyway, when we got to the gate, our plane wasn’t there because it arrived a little bit late from Chicago. Our gate was at the very end of the terminal. I have to say, it was amazing at how efficient the airport was at cleaning the tarmac of that much snow at the same time as it was coming down so hard! If Dulles or any other airport in the US that isn’t in a city like Boston or Minneapolis that actually knows how to deal with snow got even one inch, just about 99% of the flights would be canceled for a week (yes, I’m exaggerating, but the sad truth is that I’m not exaggerating by much). On another note, don’t you find that Munich Airport in the snow is extremely pretty?
Not much more than an hour after the plane arrived, the boarding process commenced with Pre-boarding, then Group 1, and Group 2 (which we were in due to our United Club Card). Because I had to go through extra security, I couldn’t go through one of Lufthansa’s modern self-service ticket scanners, but it had to be scanned manually by an agent. We then walked down the long jetway and on to our non-retrofitted Boeing 777-200ER.
The Flight:
We were flying on one of United’s non-retrofitted 777-200s so it felt… dated. I do remember the days when they just started refitting their 777s right before the Continental merger when these planes felt new and modern. Now, they are extremely dated and don’t have a good onboard product. The planes have United’s old first class seat which they now sell as business class which features bad seats for first class but decent seats for business class in a 1-2-1 configuration. However, their business class cabin was very narrow and had not as private seats in a 2-4-2 configuration. I call the seats in business class one of the worst long-haul business class seats on the market.
We then arrived in the economy plus section. United fitted their old 777-200s with a nearly half/half economy plus to
The seats weren’t that uncomfortable (some newer slimline seats are much more brutal), although it would be an overstatement to say that they were in the least bit enjoyable. The bad news was that practically everything else was falling apart.
I was seated in bulkhead row which meant that I got some more legroom than most others get. Additionally, the first row in the window sections only has two seats, not three. However, the entertainment screen (which was tiny) couldn’t stay up and required a fair amount of force and a lot of luck to make it actually stay up for more than 5 minutes. I was eventually able to watch movies, although it was unfortunate that it couldn’t stay up.
Also, the actual bulkhead and the seats were very dirty, and both showed signs of wear. Regarding amenities, we got a scratchy pillow and a reasonably nice blanket.
At that point, after finally getting the screen to stay up, I watched a movie. Even then I was starting to worry about the amount of snow and if we would get out on time. There was still no word about when we would be getting out of there at our departure time. Then 10, 20, 30, 40 minutes passed, and there was still no word of our departure. Finally, about an hour after our scheduled departure time (2h after we got on the aircraft), the captain said it would be over an hour until we would even start pushing back!
At that point, the safety video had already been played, and everyone started making their runs to the restroom, and the crew even came around with waters, which was a nice touch. She also clarified that it was because there was so much snow that they couldn’t get aircraft out of the airport en masse on time.
Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait for another hour, and nearly 15 minutes after the announcement was made, she (the captain) came on again to say that we would be pushing back shortly and that everyone should return to their seats. That was both a relief for passengers, but also prompted a bit of chaos and at least five announcements for passengers to return to their seats as everyone was walking up and about. Finally, 2h 20 minutes after I got on the aircraft and 1.5 hours after the departure time, we pushed back.
Unfortunately, that was not the end of our delay. We then taxied up to the runway where there were three deicing machines lined up to deice aircraft (because one can’t fly when the wings have ice on them). We first had to wait in line to get deiced behind quite a few aircraft. I have never before been on a plane when it gets deiced, so it was an intriguing experience. The trucks come up to the plane and then spray green and red liquid onto the wings which quickly melts the ice on them.
After getting deiced, we headed up and out of Munich, as the green deicing fluid on the wing got washed off by the wind. We finally saw daylight
We all on the plane were hungry as it already was 2 PM and nothing was served up until then. Right after takeoff, the flight attendants came around with drink service, and then they came around with the main meal. There was a choice of either chicken or pasta (it seems that those are the only two things airlines ever serve on long-haul flights). I find the pasta on planes in economy class usually to be disgusting, so I chose the chicken option. The chicken was in an Indian curry sauce and came with rice, vegetables, a bread roll, and a side salad.
I actually have to say that the chicken was pretty good, was very edible, and the sauce was truly tasty. It was probably the best airline meal that I have ever had in United’s long-haul economy class! The rice was also fine, although the bread roll was stale. After the meal was collected, they also came around with Haagen Das chocolate ice cream which (surprisingly) wasn’t frozen solid and was also delicious. I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised by United for giving a satisfactory meal on this flight!
After the food was cleared, I decided to walk around the cabin and also check out the restroom. The lavatory was pretty old-style and didn’t really have any amenities in it. I also noticed a rarity that isn’t found on many planes anymore: a pay telephone (
At that point, I used the onboard entertainment system and must have watched 4 movies and 10 tv shows! In this era, I don’t know how I could get over such a long haul daytime flight without the IFE! I eventually tried to sleep for about 20 minutes, although all my attempts at sleeping were pretty futile in the middle of the day in an uncomfortable seat. I eventually opened up my window as we were over Canada. The views of the sundown were astounding. I also eventually spotted another plane flying alongside us at a lower altitude (something I’ve never seen before at such a high altitude) – an Aeroflot Airbus A330-300 most likely headed for New York JFK!
About 1 hour before landing, the crew came around with another drink service and a small snack. They served the standard United pretzel sandwich with ham and cheese. I personally find those sandwiches disgusting and rather ate the snacks that we bought at Munich Airport. However, I was served exactly the same sandwich a half a year ago when I flew from Amsterdam to Washington. I attached a photo of that sandwich below.
At that point, we started our descent and flew near the Chesapeake Bay as we neared Washington DC. We ended up landing at Washington Dulles on runway 1L in which we flew over runway 30 upon landing. We landed just around sundown; the views of the sun while landing was also spectacular.
After landing, we had a pretty long taxi all the way from the end of the runway past the cargo terminals and all the way around Terminals C and D to the international arrivals area of the terminal. From there, we walked down to one of Dulles’s mobile lounges which we took to the International Arrivals Area and Baggage Claim.
Immigration was completely empty because our flight arrived two hours late. We arrived in between the times where the early European flights arrive and when the late European flights arrived, so there were literally zero other flights in customs at that time. Global Entry went extremely quickly, and our bags came out also relatively quickly.
Conclusion:
The delay was pretty awful mostly because we had to endure being in the tiny seats for 12 hours instead of 10. Although at least we got out of Munich because I doubt that we would have gotten out of DC if we had that much snow there! The cabin was falling apart and the seat was uncomfortable (but not as narrow as on United’s new 777s which are in a 3-4-3 configuration) on the old 777-200 that we flew on, although all of them should be retrofitted with the new cabin product sometime this year or in 2020. I was pleasantly surprised by the food and service that we got in Economy Plus, as it was better than one usually gets on United. Overall, United’s Economy Plus is a fine and acceptable way to cross the Atlantic, although there is nothing spectacular about it in the least.
What do you think of United’s Long-Haul Economy Plus Experience?
