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Home » United Airlines » When Economy Class is more Comfortable than International Business Class
United Airlines

When Economy Class is more Comfortable than International Business Class

Matthew Klint Posted onApril 1, 2011November 14, 2023 8 Comments

A full recount of my 20,000+ miles of travel over the last week on United and Continental is coming, but tonight I want to briefly share about hitting the jackpot on my Washington Dulles-Frankfurt flight on United Tuesday night.

The flight was lightly filled and I had a full day of work ahead of me upon arrival. Thinking about trying to sleep in an economy class seat brought back bad memories of my flight from Buenos Aires to Washington Dulles last summer when I barely slept a wink on the 10 hour flight. I wanted an upgrade to business class.

I did my best, but the agents were pretty good about following the rules. I was on a L-fare which meant a systemwide upgrade could not be applied and I had to fork over 30K miles plus a ~$400 co-pay for the 7.5 hour flight. Not worth it. Even the $649 cash price for the upgrade was not worth it on a plane that still featured UA’s old recliner business class seats that do not fully recline.

While I did not get the upgrade, I am making more and more friends at Dulles (shmoozing always seems to help) and despite the immigration woes if you’re landing in the afternoon, Dulles is now one of my favorite UA hubs to connect in. I know that cultivating these friendships will come in handy sometime.

Anyway, I pulled up the seat map prior to boarding and saw that a couple of the five-across center sections in the Economy Plus cabin were open. I assigned myself to 24E, right in the middle of the five seats of an empty row, and asked the gate agent to hold off putting standbys in that row. She agreed and I soon found myself onboard the aircraft with a row to myself.

20 minutes later the door closed and the other seats in the row remained unoccupied. Whew! I had grabbed five sick bags on my earlier Continental flight because they feature the words “This Seat is Occupied” on one side and placed one down on each seat. The FAs seemed to get a kick out of it, which led to royal treatment during the flight.

Best of all, I was able to stretch out across five seats, with five blankets and five pillows. I got over five hours of uninterrupted sleep on the flight! Upon arrival the following morning, I proceeded right upstairs to my office and put in an eight hour day with only minimal fatigue. Not bad, huh?

a seat in an airplane

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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8 Comments

  1. Mike Reply
    April 1, 2011 at 12:09 am

    You need to show us a pic of the sick bags on the seats. lol

  2. Matthew Reply
    April 1, 2011 at 5:41 am

    @Mike: It’s coming.

  3. Marcus Reply
    April 1, 2011 at 1:02 pm

    The sick bags are key.. otherwise you get people trying to switch into the aisles. Very smart.

  4. Darren Reply
    April 1, 2011 at 4:12 pm

    With the exception of the RCCs and the A-concourse, I have had wonderful experiences with IAD agents, having given a couple of “Going The Extra Mile” certs to my favorites. There are some true gems at Dulles!

  5. jjgollum Reply
    April 5, 2011 at 2:26 pm

    To be honest, I don’t care for folks who take the whole row. Not very classy. Then again, I do occasionally put my feet (while wearing socks) on the bulkhead.

  6. Matthew Reply
    April 5, 2011 at 4:14 pm

    @jjgollum: Then I guess you wouldn’t care for me! I see nothing unclassy in occupying a row on a lightly filled flight. Much classier, I might add, then putting your feet up on the bulkhead! 😉

  7. Kevin Reply
    April 5, 2011 at 4:52 pm

    @jjgollum & Matthew,
    I always put my feet up on the bulkhead – i know this is considered rude by some, but I find it a comfortable way to relax!

  8. Andrew Reply
    April 5, 2011 at 6:05 pm

    Those sick bags are actually a great idea. I think I’m gonna grab a few of these from my flight this week. 🙂

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