I enjoyed a short but productive fight on a United Airlines 737-700 in economy class, a fairly rare aircraft for me on the routes I tend to frequent.

United Airlines 737-700 Economy Class Review (PIT-IAD)

I don’t get on 737-700s very much these days, so I’m taking the chance to offer a review, despite the short flight duration. I booked an evening flight to Washington and my upgrade had cleared into first class, but when I finished my work early I decided to take an afternoon flight instead, even though that mean a downgrade to economy class…not a big deal on a 182-mile flight.

The new PIT airport terminal is stunning and United has a nice check-in area near the main entrance.

The usually-reliable app would not let me add myself to the standby list or do a same-day change onto this flight, but a gate agent quickly sorted the matter and I was auto-cleared onto the flight just before boarding. While I did not get a first class upgrade, I would up with a row to myself in extra-legroom EconomyPlus…a good tradeoff.

United Airlines 452
Pittsburgh (PIT) – Washington (IAD)
Friday, July 24
Depart: 3:06 PM
Arrive: 4:20 PM
Duration: 01 hr, 14 min
Distance: 182 miles
Aircraft: Boeing 737-700
Seat: 23D (Economy Class)

Settling onboard, I found my seat just behind the emergency exit row.

Seat

United’s 737-700 aircraft, which date back to the Continental side pre-merger, features 114 seats in economy class, including 36 Economy Plus seats with three extra inches of legroom (34 inches versus 31 inches). United uses the Collins Aerospace Pinnacle slimline seats on this aircraft and I cannot call them the most well-padded in the fleet. Seats recline two inches in economy and three inches in Economy Plus.

There are universal A/C power outlets in Economy Plus only…two outlets for three seats. There are individual air vents and reading lights overhead.

Food + Drinks

As this flight was only 182-miles, beverage service was “on request” only. Sometimes FAs will attempt a water run and sometimes a full beverage service, but flight attendants only got up once to collect trash at the end of this flight.

United’s flight status page has a menu section and does show that a full beverage service will be offered, but it was a fairly full flight and so I wasn’t going to get irate over a drink when we were only in the air for 35 minutes.

IFE + Wi-Fi

As these aircraft await Starlink, they are being upgraded with Viasat, which is greatly appreciated considering Panasonic or Thales Wi-Fi simply does not work any longer (in my experience). United has retrofitted about 1/3 of the 737-700 fleet from Thales to Viasat. Wi-Fi is $8 for MileagePlus members ($10 for non-members) whether the flight 30 minutes or 12 hours…hopefully United will transition to free internet soon even on these planes without Starlink.

Each seat featured a seatback screen with DirecTV and looping movies, plus a moving flight map. Headphones are distributed on a complimentary basis. Streaming IFE is also available via the United app.

Lavatories

The 737-700 has two lavatories in the rear of the plane for economy class passengers. With the flight so short, the seatbelt light never went off and I did not get up to use the loo.

CONCLUSION

The 737-700 is ideal for shorter runways and with only 126 seats total, is well-positioned for markets that may not be able to support larger aircraft but can also support more traffic than on a regional jet. I look forward to these aircraft being updated, but for now they are still serviceable, especially with Viasat Wi-Fi.