Wings review: United Economy gets upgrade

Once upon a time, United Airlines economy class defined the cliché about sardines, cattle or any other offensive term you could think of for packing people into narrow seats with no leg room and a bad attitude from cabin crew.  I prefer to call it “challenged class”.

Times have changed, largely thanks to a few public relations disasters that went viral in the 2010s  after United learned that violating passenger rights was not great for business. 

This week I had the privilege of travelling Economy from Berlin to Newark, a 9-hour trek across the ocean, in a United Boeing 767-400. 

On taking my seat, I momentarily thought they’d upgrade me to Economy Plus or Comfort, but no: this 767-400 configuration has the legroom in Economy of many airlines’ premium economy seats. Under-seat space is also not constrained by entertainment control boxes or the weird separators that often appear halfway across that space. Width is not quite as generous, and a large person would have difficulty keeping arms inside their own space.

Minimise carry-on luggage to keep it in the overhead bins, and one can almost have a comfortable ride.

But ultimately, it’s the tech and infotainment that sets the experience apart. A helpful summary on the seat backs advises that the trifecta of plane tech is available, namely power points, Wi-Fi and connecting personal devices to the entertainment system. 

The angle of the seats brings the screen close to the passenger’s eyes, and the tablet-sized touch screen – around 10-inches – is adequate. The controls are as intuitive as one might wish. A glitch in the system meant that scrolling across movie options happened automatically and too fast to read, requiring one to tap the screen to pause the process as it scrolled across the selection. 

Various small glitches surface during use, in particular requiring repeat taps for many selections. which suggests United should spend a little more time fine-tuning the system.

Helpfully, we know exactly who is responsible for sorting that out, as movies are introduced with a promo for IFS.ai, the airline’s “asset and service management software” supplier.

Returning to a previous screen is challenging, and I kept looking round my seat for a separate controller that would do the trick. But this is, of course, challenged class.

The menu selection is clear and concise, yet provides access to a wide range of content – when it works. 

I can forgive United for its glitches when they offer me the current array of recently-screened movies. From Mad Max Furiosa to Back in Black to the Quiet Place sequel. The TV selection, too, is extensive, with the comedy section alone meeting many tastes.

The complimentary earphones were a pleasant surprise.  Instead of the usual blunt one-size-fits-nobody earphones that come standard with challenged class, United has upgraded to gel-style tips that adapt to any ear. 

It’s not quite noise-cancelling, but seals in the sound better than any equivalents I’ve experienced. Ultimately, though, the quality of the throughput was just not good enough to catch the nuances of dialogue in Mad Max. I had to resort to my emergency travel supply, aka Echobox Traveller earphones with Snugs custom-fitted tips that seal in sound completely. 

The Snugs (https://snugs.com) tips were moulded specifically for my ears seven years ago,  I’ve been using them ever since, and they’ve never let me down. They also confirmed that the sound from the United system, when delivered through quality earphones, is excellent. 

The power supply is hidden between the seats in economy, at ankle height, requiring negotiation with neighbouring passengers. However, it is highly effective, and supported my trusty Anker fast-charging brick. A USB power and data port lies alongside the earphone jack below the infotainment screen, but one must have a cable with USB-A on one end, or an A-to-C adapter, to plug in a current non-Apple phone.

The Wi-Fi connection is the highlight of this daytime flight, allowing one’s seat to become a portable office at reasonable cost. Depending on length of flight, routing and membership of United’s Mileage Plus rewards programme, full access costs from $8 for one flight to $27 for a day pass, covering several connecting flights. The pass can be used interchangeably on multiple devices, from phone to tablet to laptop, but not at the same time.

Speeds vary depending on where in the world one is flying. I measured 4.63Mbps down and 2.11 up, which sounds almost like the old ADSL days. However, the ping is more than 1000ms, meaning you don’t want to try live gaming or day-trading here.

Only want messaging? As has become customary on most US airlines, text messaging via WhatsApp, Messenger, Message and the like is free for the entire flight. The connection seems to remain stable throughout. 

The bottom line: I wish rival airline CEOs would try out United Economy and then try their own versions. Not much hope of that, though.

The bottom line: I wish rival airline CEOs would try out United Economy and then try their own versions. Not much hope of that, though.

Score out of 5:

Wi-Fi: 4

Infotainment system: 4

Entertainment selection: 5

Power supply: 5

Audio quality and options: 4

Comfort (by the standards of the cabin class): 5

* Arthur Goldstuck is CEO of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on social media on @art2gee.