Flying on United's First 787-9 [N38950]

There's flying for the destination and then there's flying for the sake of flying. It wasn't like this was a mileage run either. I have enough flights booked to regain my status for next year. This trip really was just for flying on United's new 787-9. Crazy? Only if you don't like airplanes.

Rhapsody in Blue please!

We booked the last LAX-IAH day for this bird - N38950. It was an awfully early 7:30am departure from LAX. However I was happy to see that I got a free upgrade to the front and my new seat was 7E. No window but honestly why should I be complaining. Boarding commenced and I was greeted by the usual United BusinessFirst seat.

Seat 7E

Actually this seat is slightly different from the other BusinessFirst seats because it has the newest Panasonic AVOD system. Instead of the row of buttons along the center console they are now all situated in the back of the console.

Seat Control buttons

The screen is the same size but now the controller also comes with a small touch screen. Fancy!

Don't mind if I do

New AVOD controller with its own touch screen

Pretty soon we were all boarded up and ready for takeoff. Interestingly we took off on 25L due to a runway closure on 25R. The female captain ( woot! ) alerted us of our flight time and what not once we reached cruising.

Mood lighting just prior to takeoff

The crew took breakfast orders from front to back so there were some things that were out by the time they got to me.

"For breakfast today we have cereal, banana, and yogurt and some fruit. Would that be ok?"

"No actually. Do you have anything without startch?"

I think I startled the poor lady. Luckily I was able to get the scramble egg breakfast because one freed up courtesy of BT! Thank you! I found it odd that the one who took my order wasn't the one that served me later on. Instead I got some other guy that did all the serving.

Breakfast

 After breakfast was over the crew dimmed the cabin lights. I tried to sleep but I couldn't since it was morning and I'm usually already awake. I occupied my time watching Saving Mr. Banks which I found pretty good.

Flight show on the controller

So on final approach in to IAH we were encountering some weather that I assume led to an interesting and sharp bank for the short final. Boy did our Ms. Captain handle the plane like a champ!

Short break at IAH

I noticed a lot of people love to look at the Dreamliner and take photos of it. Shoot I'm still taking photos of it! She is a pretty good looking bird after all. I have to say that on the 787-9 the nose does look a lot more proportional.

I also noticed that at this particular gate at Terminal C had a nosewheel marking just for the 787-9. 

Please put plane wheel here

I had about an hour and a half before I had to head back to LAX. So what do you do in Texas with that time? Eat some BBQ of course.

Texas BBQ

Why am I eating so much? Because I have flown this route a few times before and the lunch is absolutely horrible on board. This is purely for preventative starvation - helps that it is good too. 

Back at the same gate people had started lining up to board the plane. United has these new charging stations at their gates which I think are a good move. Electronics are so vital these days and airports haven't always caught up on providing enough outlets for everyone. The only thing I find annoying about the charging station is that it is constantly playing advertisements and Rhapsody in Blue. Don't get me wrong, Mr. Gershwin, it's a great song but do they really have to have it on loop during the climax?

United charging station

Boarding soon commenced and this time I was in 8A. To ensure that I would get a seat up front I actually used 20,000 miles to upgrade this time. I have a decent amount in the bank so this wasn't going to hurt me too much.

I managed to snap a photo of the Economy Plus and Economy section this time since it was right behind my seat.

Economy section

 We were airborne after some holding on the ground. The captain came on to apologize that we had to recalculate some weight. The flight crew was different but the cabin crew were the same for this flight.

After take off, the drink service started with some warm nuts.

It's time for a Bloody Mary! 

Again they took food orders front to back. Again they didn't have what I wanted but I was less upset about it because I proactively ate at the terminal. Why do American fliers put up with this anyways? 

The only option left was a beef salad with French onion soup. It was cold and disgusting. All I managed to eat was the French onion soup and the greens on the salad. Thank goodness I ate at the terminal. 

Cold beef salad. Consume with caution.

I drank some wine with my salad (hah!) and ended up taking a nap because that's what alcohol does to me.

Going back to LA

I woke up when we were on final approach and had a pretty smooth landing.

As a passenger you wouldn't notice the difference between a 787-8 and a 787-9 aside from the newer IFE.

As for us plane geeks, many argue that it is a much more proportional plane to look at. Personally I like the 787-8 . 

This particular plane was going to perform LAX-MEL for the first time the next day. That route will be the world's longest Dreamliner route. A route that's probably only possible economically with the Dreamliner. 

Back at LAX