On March 30, 2019 United Airlines will officially roll out Premium Plus service on 17 longhaul routes, with more to follow as aircraft are retrofitted or new 787-10s are delivered. United’s new premium economy product will greatly resemble domestic first class.
United Premium Plus Routes
United will initially offer Premium Plus on the following routes:
777-300
777-200
787-10
United Premium Plus Menus
Meals will resemble what you might expect when flying in domestic first class. Meal service will begin with a bag of almonds and choice of drink. Meals will come on a single tray with a side salad, main course, and bread. Ice cream, from economy class, will be available for dessert. Pre-arrival meals will also resemble domestic first.
Here is a sample menu from Newark to Tel Aviv:
This is a picture from a recent United flight of the cider-glazed chicken. Expect something like this:
Here’s another from Newark/San Francisco to Tokyo Narita:
And here’s a beverage menu:
United Premium Plus Upgrades
I’ll discuss upgrades in a separate post, but you’ll need one Global Premier Upgrade to move from economy to Premium Plus (or Polaris business class). For now, a single upgrade will get you either Premium Plus or business class.
CONCLUSION
Since one upgrade certificate will get you into Premium Plus or Polaris business class, I hope to never be in premium economy! Nevertheless, it looks like a nice upgrade over Economy Plus and I will have to try it sooner or later for review purposes.
Just gets to what I was saying when they rolled out Premium Plus – they intend for that and domestic first to eventually be considered one and the same from a fare and service perspective. Allows streamlining of classes and will allow for Polaris ‘upsells’ when they have widebodies on domestic routes.
I am not sure if that looks any better than Economy (foodwise) to be honest. It really seems like you get a similar meal but you actually get a menu and a slightly bigger salad. My recent meal on Delta Economy looked nicer and had a better drink selection.
Basically you are paying for the nicer seat and they are adding a slightly nicer meal. It is a meh from me, not worth the hundreds more you will pay for it. I am okay in the back of the bus.
Thanks for the info. The meal is about what I expected, although as Kevin B points out, not as nice as Delta’s premium economy. Still looking forward to seeing photos of the actual meals served.
I really hope the wine served is not their coach mini-bottles, and instead, they’ll be from bottles also used in the Polaris cabin. But I expect to be disappointed.
I’ve seen internal pictures that I cannot post here (at least not yet, I’ve asked for authority). They look remarkably similar to my picture. Coffee is served in the paper cups and ice cream in the paper containers.
UA 901 from SFO to LHR leaves at 3pm. Not 1225pm. Are you suggesting they will have a schedule change starting in late April?
This is simply the press release UA provided.
@Kevin B “…not worth the hundreds more you will pay for it. I am okay in the back of the bus.”
Hundreds?? I’m seeing fares 2-3x that of E/E+, that’s running $1k+. Based on what I”m seeing, I’d call this area the “Front of the bus.”
+1 I’d never pay for a premium seat (I don’t even like paying for coach) but this seems stupid. Who would pay $1000 extra for a seat that doesn’t lie flat and the same food and drink you’d get in coach for free?
I’m no premium economy fan, but it’s not the same food as coach. It’s a marked improvement.
So that your knees aren’t touching your chin and you aren’t snuggling with your neighbor for 12-15 hours. Smaller people may not appreciate the additional room as much as taller, bulkier/fatter people.
There is one route I have been fly on united for many years. It was a sweet deal. It always ticketed in ‘k’ class and for about $670. Now it tickets on ‘s’ class and sells for $350 more. About 50% increase. United is trying to jack up prices.
The picture of the cider-glazed chicken is exactly the same meal I was just served in domestic first class on the DCA->SFO non-stop on Tuesday. From the smell that wafted through the cabin, the flight attendant started heating the dinners before we even left the ground, and the whole thing was completely dried out and devoid of moisture by the time it was served. I had time to consume exactly two nuts from the little dish before the flight attendant was there wanting to set down my dinner. No wine was offered until all 24 passengers had received their meals, by which time those of us in Row 1 were already completely finished with our meal. I never saw such a rush to finish first class dinner, especially on a 6:00 p.m. departure.
I’m sorry yours was dried out. I quite enjoyed mine on a recent flight from HNL-LAX.
UA is supposed to have an “evolution” to it’s livery, and there seems to be lots of purple in the Premium Plus Cabin. I wonder if that’s just a coincidence…
Those seats thin, hard and look super uncomfortable. How are they?
Matthew
I’m gold level on United..and about half the time I don’t get upgraded on international flights (paying $500 and some miles). Do you think its better to pay the extra few hundred for premium economy (maybe $200 more each way NY to Paris) with a guaranteed seat..or request upgrade to business using miles and paying $500 each way but not always getting upgraded?
Really depends on how well you can sleep. I can’t sleep in a premium economy seat, so my answer would be no.