I flew on United Airlines from Hong Kong to Bangkok in premium economy (what United brands as Premium Plus) on a Boeing 787, a short but pleasant daytime flight.
United Airlines 787-9 “Premium Plus” Premium Economy Class Review (HKG-BKK)
United flies a tag flight between Hong Kong and Bangkok each day to better utilize its 787-9 aircraft before it returns to Los Angeles. As a Fifth Freedom flight, United does sell tickets exclusively between HKG and BKK, though the tend to be more expensive than competitors (even than Cathay Pacific on my dates). Fares originating in the USA, however, are very reasonable.
This was the third leg of my journey from Burbank – San Francisco – Hong Kong – Bangkok. When I checked in at Burbank, the system only gave me boarding passes to Hong Kong, presumably because my connection to Bangkok was after an overnight in Hong Kong. I also could not get a mobile boarding pass, but picked up my boarding pass at the check-in desk…my last Premier 1K check-in desk (for now).
After spending some time in the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Lounge, I headed to the gate early for boarding since my upgrade had not cleared. I was hoping to get up to Polaris Business Class, but informed that I would miss that (by about seven passengers), however I would be upgraded to Premium Plus. I was assigned seat 20D, an aisle seat (no windows were available).
When booking this trip I had toyed with doing Ho Chi Minh City instead of Bangkok (both were the same price and the Ho Chi Minh flight went out with a lot of open seats in business class), but Bangkok worked better because that’s where the award space popped up for my immediate return on EVA Airways.
Boarding began at 8:35 am, 45 minutes prior to departure.
United Airlines 820
Hong Kong (HKG) – Bangkok (BKK)
Saturday, January 31
Depart: 9:20 AM
Arrive: 11:25 AM
Duration: 03hr, 05min
Aircraft: Boeing 787-9
Distance: 1,049 miles
Seat: 20D (“Premium Plus” Premium Economy Class)
Stepping aboard, I was greeted by José, the purser, who had a big smile on his face. That set the tone for the flight in terms of the onboard service.
Seat
United’s 787-9 Premium Plus cabin is arranged in a 2-3-2 configuration, which is a not a lie-flat seat, but nevertheless an upgrade over the 3-3-3 layout in economy class behind it and similar to domestic “first class” seats. There are 21 seats in the cabin.
Seat pitch is 38 inches and the seat is 19 inches wide. That does not sound like a huge difference on paper compared to Economy Plus, but the wider seat, deeper recline, legrest, footrest, larger armrest, and additional personal space were appreciated. These seats are purple (not my favorite color for an airplane seat) and the leg rests in the first row flip up from the seat rather than come down from the seat in front of you in the second and third row of the cabin. There are overhead air vents.
I could also stretch out my legs under the curtain into the Polaris cabin:
An overhead monitor in the front of the cabin featured the moving flight map for the entire flight:
Obviously, avoid the middle seat if possible, though I’d take a middle seat in Premium Plus over an aisle/window seat in EconomyPlus (extra-legroom economy).
Each seat included a neck pillow and blanket, which were waiting at the seat upon boarding. The bedding is identical to what you will receive in economy class (which is a downgrade from the upgraded bedding that was offered when Premium Plus first launched).
Storage is not ideal, though I did slide my laptop into a little cubby underneath one of the armrests, which is also where the universal A/C and USB-A power ports are located.
The recline was decent, though not enough to turn this into a true sleeping seat, which thus far is the reality of every premium economy seat (except for Thai Airway’s new product).
Premium Plus is not a substitute for Polaris, but it is a far more pleasant than economy class.
IFE + Wi-Fi
Each Premium Plus seat includes a large seatback screen with United’s latest inflight entertainment system. The screen was crisp, responsive, and easy to use.
United continues to offer one of the better entertainment libraries among U.S. carriers, with a large selection of movies, television shows, games, audio programming, and a moving flight map. I spent most of the (quick) flight working, but I did appreciate having a large screen and a good map display in front of me.
Headphones were provided, but the same as economy and worked poorly (my hearing is excellent, but you really have to turn the volume way up to hear). As always, bring your own noise-canceling headphones if you care about sound quality.
Wi-Fi was available onboard at a cost of $8 for MileagePlus members or free massaging.
I purchased a flight pass and found the connection intermittent, which is fairly typical for United longhaul Wi-Fi: sometimes it works well, sometimes it limps along, and sometimes it is not worth paying for. Starlink cannot come soon enough…on longhaul aircraft like this 787-9 the experience still depends heavily on the route and satellite coverage, which seems to vary day-by-day.
Lavatories
Lavatories were standard 787 lavatories: clean at the start of the flight, compact, and not especially memorable. There were no special Premium Plus lavatories: premium economy passengers use economy class lavatories located behind row 34 (there are four of them there).
Food + Drink
No pre-departure beverages were offered. Breakfast was served after takeoff, with a choice between congee or scrambled eggs. I had eggs, served with some sort of creamy sauce on top along with pork sausage, hash browns, a side of fruit, and a digusting shelf-stable croissant that was not warmed up. The eggs and fruit were excellent, though.
Each tray comes with one glass, but disposable cups are used for the beverage service.
Looking at the menus, this was the same breakfast offered in Polaris, though business class passengers had one additional option (pancakes). It was more than enough food for a short flight.
Service
José, the LAX-based purser, walked into the cabin and introduced himself to passengers, welcoming us onboard and providing some flight details…a nice touch. From my vantage point in the first row of premium economy, I also noticed that he went around the Polaris business class cabin and welcomed every passenger onboard individually. Such a nice touch!
CONCLUSION
We landed in Bangkok a bit behind schedule, pulling up to the gate about 15 minutes late. Having already checked in online for my EVA Air connection to Taiepi, I proceeded to the Thai Airways Royal Orchid Lounge.
For a short flight, this seat is fine…heck, even for a much longer daytime flight this seat is fine. But I do think it is much closer to economy class than business class and sleeping on this seat would be hard. I appreciated the nice breakfast and excellent service on this flight and love flying Fifth Freedom flights within Asia on United.
Better to have Premium Economy on that shorter route than the much longer SFO-HKG.
Yeah for a short daytime flight this is pretty good.
I had this seat from GUM-HNL last year and was thankful for the increased room and space. Food – not so much but passable. Agree with everything else in your review!
Counterpoint: I find the Premium Economy seats perfectly fine for sleeping, and that for me the difference between regular economy and Premium is greater than between Premium and business. But I say this as someone who often manages to sleep 7 of 12 hours on an SFO-AKL flight in Economy Plus.
Lucky you! 😉
Interesting that Premium Plus gets economy bedding on this route. Typically (as recently as yesterday), PP offers considerably more comfortable Saks bedding. Also not sure if this is a recent change. I flew the HKG–BKK inaugural last year and I’m fairly sure (though not 100% certain) that PP had the Saks bedding then.
Maybe it was just a one-off? I mentioned in my report that last time I flew PP I got better (Saks) bedding…larger pillow and day throw blanket.
@Matthew, I think it might be the route, unless they changed things recently. A few months ago, they had a nicer pillow/blanket, NC headphones, and an amenity kit on TATL flights.
I was going to say that, my most recent PP flight was two months ago and they provided the Saks bedding. Downgrading PP bedding would be contrary to United’s new premium forward branding.
UPP gets Y amenities on HKG-SGN/BKK, for whatever reason. The usual pillow, blanket and amenity kit is provisioned for the long hauls.
Nice that there’s still the upgraded meal service.
Could the limited in flight amenities be due to the short flight length?
Other reviews have shown the upgraded bedding and the real headphones
I would think so, though I noticed Polaris had full bedding.
I continue to see these seats being billed as similar to domestic first class but disagree. Domestic first class seats are typically 20-21″ wide. While 19″ is slightly better than Delta’s 18.5″ width, the difference is felt much more on a longer flight. I understand that people are different sizes and for a smaller person, it doesn’t make much of a difference but to someone of size, it does and especially so on a long flight. I recently flew from DC to Rome on Iceland Air and their Saga Class is like domestic first class. It was okay because I got a great price and it breaks up into two flights with a short layover but even 8 hours direct would have been uncomfortable in their 20.5″ seat. For the high price they charge for the premium economy, I think it’s better to suck it up and pay for business.
I find Premium Plus brilliant for daytime flights. However the extra 2″ recline and slightly higher footrest on ANA, Cathay Pacific and Qantas makes sleeping that bit easier. It’s amazing the difference the two inches can have on the body as well as the slightly higher legrest of the other carriers.
My favorite premium economy seat is still Qantas–I had such a good rest from LAX-SYD:
https://liveandletsfly.com/qantas-a380-premium-economy-class-review/
An unfortunate number of business class seats on long haul flights are 19″ wide so I don’t think that’s bad for PE.
I agree with you; Fifth Freedom flights are nice.