United Airlines Reconfigures First Jet With New Domestic Interiors

Ben, ROW is the location UA send a lot of jets for paint. Just an fyi. The first 738 is in work right now.

@ Mike -- Good point, thanks! Updated post to reflect that this is probably why the plane went to Roswell.

Worth a note that it’s actually 75 narrowbodies in service with the new interior… all MAX8, about half of the MAX9s, and the single 319 N801UA. With the pace of new MAX deliveries and accelerating retrofits now that the mod is certified on the 319s, United should hit the century mark of in service NEXT aircraft some time this summer. Slower pace than originally anticipated, but 100 frames in the domestic network is material.

Wow, that looks great!
Not only is the addition of IFE screens welcome, the mood lighting looks nice, the pivot bins are a lot better-looking than the standard A320 bins (UA joins the short list of airlines to install this kind of overhead bins on the A32X), and the seats are the same model as American's nearly-extinct LAA interior, which are a lot more comfortable than the thin Recaro seats formerly installed on this bird.

I think it's commendable that United is reconfiguring 25-year old aircraft at all. I get that modernizing old planes is something Delta has been doing successfully for a long time but how much service life does a plane that old realistically have left?

Perhaps there's a similar challenge of managing expectations regarding both lounge and in-flight food.

United's older Airbus CEO fleet is type common with their NEOs coming on board. Just like their massive 737NG fleet, their A32SCEO fleet will be around for quite some time. Indeed, United actually has bought a ton of pre owned Airbus aircraft in recent years to bolster their domestic fleet.

Much of this fleet is fully owned and fully depreciated, so the only cost is ongoing operational cost. Pretty cheap proposition.

What they'll do with the 738 will be very interesting. That particular 738 is an older plane that did not have e sky interior. I suppose that the A319 retrofit can preview what the A320 retrofits and likewise, the 738 retrofit can preview what UA will do with the 739s and 73Gs that don't have Boeing Sky Interior.

When mentioned AA’s product is its “schedule”, I just could not stop laughing, about last year, I just make a complaint to AA that their schedule s**ks that I cannot connect to anywhere with them. Up until now, I can still not fly them just because their schedule s**ks.

Would love to see them update domestic 777s!

@weekendsurfer

Beat it kook ! :)))

@Henry

Yes United and American are 2 different airline cultures. I tried United when I moved to Houston but after being with American my entire life it’s just what I’m used to. I don’t get PHX, CLT, and PHL ex us airways they are over congested and miserable places to connect thru.

Any changes to the seating mix F/E+/E? with the update. I am flying the 737 MAX 8 next month and nice to see a bigger % of E+

We can only dream about revamped triple 7's. The absolute worst thing they ever did was 10 across seating in E. True sardine can back there and avoid the 777 like the plague unless I'm flying PP or Polaris...

Hope they are keeping the econ plus spacing. The new Max’s seem econ minus. Did not bring a tape measure but several seat mates commented that it seemed tighter.

Have spent a lot of time in them. 1.7 mill miler.

Ben, who is the manufacturer for the seats? Just curious - my daughter is an engineer for Adient but can't discuss clients very much.

So what? They are just catching up with the others and many do not have the individual entertainment anymore too.

Just flew on a 29 year old A320. Twenty-nine years old. Insanity. Old and dated, THAT is what comes to mind with United. Frontier and Spirt, brand new aircraft.

What are the odds but I was on this plane today May 14 DSM-ORD.

I can’t fathom why UA installed these inferior “push-up” overheads that don’t actually fit most bags upright, when Airbus offers the airspace bins that DO fit most bags upright.

Airlines so often “half-a**” these retrofits. AA didn’t install mood lighting on the Airbus CEO fleet, nor did they update the galleys to be common with the NEO fleet. UA installs the inferior bins but touts that they are superior. Why bother spending millions ripping apart your cabin interiors if you aren’t going to do the job right?

Any cabin with those particular slimline seats is a downgrade. Even the first class seats are uncomfortable.

How can yoy be sure of that? Those are the exact seats AA used before Oasis, both First Class and Econ

United fan note here.

Flew one of the new MAX 8’s recently in Econ+. Did not notice any particular reduction in usual space. Gotta say, I thought it was super nice. It’s really dumb, because I usually don’t even use the IFE, but something about having it there feels like it’s a higher-end experience. (And sometimes I like an actually putting on the scenic “relax” screens.) The Bluetooth pairing to my own AirPods Pro was also very welcome, as was the fast and tolerably priced Wi-Fi.

Sadly, MileagePlus miles ain’t worth what they used to be, trying to find a good deal for yourself works against acquiring Premier status (this is painful and, surprise, reducing my loyalty), and calling the Premier Desk as a non-1K is often a terrible experience with undertrained agents in a loud call center who waste your time while they message with someone who actually knows how to do what you want. (Twice I have purchased an empty middle to deal with my semi-claustrophobia, and each time it took the “Premier” agent an hour. An hour!)

But between Polaris seats up front, Premium Plus in the middle, and these new Next cabins on the single aisle planes, plus the very nice Clubs at LAX and EWR, I have no complaints about the hard product. And the route network and partner agreements are excellent, and some redemptions are still fine deals. And the website and app give a power flyer a lot more options and control than their peers. (For example, being able to see fare bucket inventory in “Advanced Mode” is great.)

I also have no complaints about the crew, contrary to what I constantly hear. Not surprisingly, when you’re nice to them, and say a friendly and polite hello when you board, and express your gratitude for their helping you get where you’re going, and generally treat them with respect, they’re nice to you back. Sometimes they even kick you a free drink just because they’re happy that someone treated them like a human being.

Also, protip: if you like the United app versus the website, and want to use it on a computer, you can actually run it on an Apple silicon (M1/M2) Mac — just go to the Mac App Store and click the “iPhone and iPad Apps” tab. I’m not convinced there’s really a good reason to do this, unless you are craving Sudoku, but I still think it’s neat, and I wish more developers wouldn’t disable their option to have their mobile apps run on the desktop OS.

They installed a new style of First class seat on these as well. Did you find any additional details / photos of the new seats? I assume the new seat isn't on the Max 8/9's with the NEXT interior as I hadn't seen indications until today but not sure.

All good and well til the next recession hits and they put it all on hold for another 5-7 years. They’ve done it before and will do it again.

Great that they're updating their fleet, but as long as the staff remain miserable and rude, I'll take my business elsewhere. None of the US carriers are fabulous, but Delta staff are genuinely friendly, AA staff are rude behind your back and United staff are rude to your face.