A couple of years back, United Airlines announced plans to modernize the cabins of its domestic, narrow body aircraft. This is exciting for passengers, as United is introducing new seats with personal televisions, and a lot of other cool features.
United has been taking delivery of jets with these interiors, and has also slowly started reconfiguring existing jets. Now the airline has announced the introduction of yet another new first class seat, which will debut on select planes as of this summer. This is more of an evolution of the new first class seat than anything else.
In this post:
Details of new United Airlines domestic first class seat
United Airlines has today unveiled the newest version of its domestic first class seat, which includes a privacy partition and a wireless charging station in every arm rest. This builds on the new first class seat that was announced previously, and among other things, you can expect the following features:
- Additional charging options, including wireless charging, as well as AC and USB-C outlets (there will no longer be USB-A outlets)
- Larger 13-inch high-definition seatback screens with bluetooth audio and a remote
- Larger tray tables that are 18 x 18.5 inches, featuring a built-in tablet holder, and enough space for most standard laptops
- An Italian quartzite cocktail table and bottle holders between seats, so that customers don’t have to balance gadgets, drinks, and snacks, on one tray table
- Privacy dividers between seats, measuring 11 x 19 inches, in addition to a winged headrest, for as much privacy as possible
- Ergonomist-designed seat cushions that sit one inch lower, to accommodate a wider variety of heights, plus vegan leather upholstery
When will aircraft get these new domestic first class seats?
So, when should you expect to see these new seats? The first aircraft featuring the latest version of the domestic first class seat will be flying as of this summer. The plan is for 200+ planes to have these seats by late 2026.
These seats will be installed on newly delivered Airbus A321neos, newly delivered Boeing 737 MAXs, and will be retrofitted on select previous generation Boeing 737s.
Meanwhile Airbus A319s, Airbus A320s, and select previous generation Boeing 737s, are expected to have retrofitted first class seats with new seat cushions, vegan leather upholstery, and winged headrests, but not with the privacy dividers or wireless charging.
My take on United’s new first class seats
A couple of thoughts about United’s new first class seat…
First of all, there’s never going to be that much innovation with domestic first class seats, since airlines aren’t willing to dedicate more real estate to these seats. So any changes are going to be evolutionary rather than revolutionary. That being said, these changes are thoughtful and should add legitimate value for travelers. It really sounds like United considered the little details when designing these seats, which is often lacking.
In 2022, we saw Delta debut its new domestic first class seat on Airbus A321neos, and I’ve heard good feedback. United’s new seat seems to be competitive to that.
Next, I think this project is the perfect example of just how much airlines struggle with product consistency. Creating a common product when an airline has hundreds of planes is really hard, and on top of that, technology evolves pretty quickly.
But it’s pretty noteworthy how just two years ago, United announced its new domestic narrow body aircraft cabins. Just a few weeks ago we saw the first aircraft retrofitted with new interiors, and now we’re already learning about yet another new first class seat.
Bottom line
United Airlines is introducing a new domestic first class seat this summer, which will be installed on 200+ Airbus A321neos and Boeing 737s by 2026. This is an evolution of the carrier’s recently announced new seat, and most significantly, this product has wireless charging and privacy dividers.
I’m impressed by this new product, though the issue will actually be getting onto a plane with these cabins.
What do you make of United Airlines’ new domestic first class seat?
Seems you addressed what I was going to say that they look similar to Delta's new seats.
I don’t understand the logic of such small privacy wings. Can someone explain, other than so couples can talk?
I honestly couldn’t care less about a bigger seat. I’d much rather have lounge access and good meals and drinks like on Europe.
It will take United a decade to install these across the fleet, but at least the airline's premium customer can sit in a comfy seat and charge their phones while they sit out epic delays that are the norm for United. Hard pass.
Squeezing every last bit of use out of the oldest fleet in America. Nothing like a new seat in a 28 year old Airbus.
The new delta domestic first class seats are super uncomfortable after two hours… why they wouldn’t try and compete against mint with a competitive domestic delta one product is beyond me…
Delta has DeltaOne on a number of transcons - with flatbeds. These are for shorter flights or secondary (non-high yield) markets.
Another 'John' here. Vegan leather(!) Really??
What next? Vegan inflight TV screens? Vegan cabin lighting? Vegan recycled air? Vegan boarding passes? Don't scoff...if there's a way to dupe the vegan crowd out of their money, you can bet an airline can and will do it eventually. Isolate. Target. Exploit. It works extremely well for business and politics.
I really don’t get the “first class” tag especially on an American carrier - business class at best
Same here. Why are US airlines call their Premium Economy first class?
Note that USB C will replace USB A. I'll confess I had never heard of USB C until a month ago when I got a 2023 Avis rental at SYR and my USB A cord would not fit their charging ports. I am now equipped for both!
They lost me at vegan leather. Let’s just go back to “naugahyde”.
Main thing I need for my larger frame is more space between the tray and me. They need to be able to out farther.
Has UA provided any update to their dreadful catering in Domestic F - oh sorry, that's systemwide?
Are they going to update their miserable flight crews?
Both of these could be huge initiatives.
I miss the Virgin America domestic first class seats.
Agreed 100%
I live in DC, so have the AA mini hub at DCA and United at IAD. Currently, I am a loyal AA and Oneworld flyer, but the Oasified aircraft stink, even in first. I have been thinking about changing to United, but the recent meltdown made me reconsider. These cabins look much nicer and more comfortable than AA, so I may switch after all. Ben, I look forward to a flight review of the new UAL interior.
The meltdown is more of an EWR issue, there was not much United coul about it. While United had a meltdown at EWR, IAD was not affected. The reason why DEN, SFO, and LAX were moderately affected is because of the flights that they were supposed havt to and from EWR, and in DEN's case, DEN had its own bad weather
Fair points, but they could have handled it better. My hope is they move some operations from EWR to IAD.
UA's CEO itself said they had overscheduled EWR which is why they are now pre-cancelling more flights at the beginning of the day there than any other airline at any other hub.
Further, the FAA is regularly issuing ground stops just for UA at UA's request because their ramps are too congested resulting in the inability to move international aircraft from arrival to departure gates.
AA has new First Class cabin/seat beginning 2024. That is far superior to this United Seat
That's only for the A321XLRs and widebodies, which will only do international and Transcon. This first class seat is for domestic, which competes with AA's non-XLR A321s and 737s, and AA never announced an upgrade to domestic first for those. United's equivalent to what you're talking about is their 757-200s, and after those retire, their own A321XLRs.
Why is it that select 737NGs will have the seats with dividers and charge pads while others will lack the dividers charge pads, especially since the first retrofitted NG will have the divider and pad?
This is actually the third domestic first class product evolution United has announced recently. The first was their new 737 MAX 8 First Class (which had their original First seat with an IFE). The second was the one they retrofitted onto their A319 a couple of months ago. It is similar to this product, and now they updated that product again. I'm all for these updates though!
To me, the #1 thing in premium cabins is privacy, and United missed a prime opportunity to put larger wings on their headrests like Delta did. The privacy divider at elbow level doesn't really do much (other than protect you from the occasional entitled seatmate who wants to take over the entire middle armrest space).
Privacy is not everyone's #1, especially for couples. Other people have other #1s, such as comfort, where United actually does better than Delta and AA.
Well isn't that the whole point of the divider? Keep it lowered if you're a couple or raise it if you want privacy as a solo traveler. A half assed divider seems a little pointless
I hope they actually addressed issues with the current generation seat in terms of the tray table.
While Polaris has a fantastic tray table that has held up over time, the last generation of "new" domestic first class seats appeared to have sturdy tray tables but within a year they started having issues. While they weigh a ton, they still manage to collapse / heavily tilt and the number of times FA's (or fellow passengers)...
I hope they actually addressed issues with the current generation seat in terms of the tray table.
While Polaris has a fantastic tray table that has held up over time, the last generation of "new" domestic first class seats appeared to have sturdy tray tables but within a year they started having issues. While they weigh a ton, they still manage to collapse / heavily tilt and the number of times FA's (or fellow passengers) have to help someone put the tray table away is ridiculous.
I know it’s a new thing but “vegan” & “leather” do not belong together. They call that “Pleather”. The seats are made from synthetic materials. For example, plastic. Otherwise, thanks for the United first class update. They are beginning to impress me.
Agreed. These synthetic materials are clearly far inferior to leather. They either fray quite quickly under heavy use (as we see in Tesla seats), or they are coated with a fortifying layer of plastic in a way that makes them completely unbreathable and horribly uncomfortable for a long journey.
Shrewd move by AA to never update their first class seat, so they can simply copy whatever good ideas others come up with.
I can't imagine AA investing anything in their F class product. Which has been really bad for years. They simply don't care. DL & UA will get my money, and I will enjoy their generally outstanding hard & soft products.
I wonder how many people who say first class seats are hard to get in/out of are overweight or obese? Not trying to be mean, just being real.
Could this possibly (hopefully) be a wake-up call to the awful, unimaginative domestic F on AA?? I can dream, right??
Ha! That was a good joke. Imagine AA updating something.
I'll provide you some negative feedback on the Delta A321 Neo first class seats. The seats are a bit hard to get in and out of thanks to the staggered nature of the seats. 20% of the seats (the four in Row 1) offer poor legroom. And the seat isn't that comfortable compared to some other Delta seats. Maybe they will "break in" with use, but I don't seek out A321neo given all of this.
I’ve been fortunate enough to fly those Delta A321neos a couple times (SFO-BOS a great route for them). I’d consider them the best domestic first class seat (non lie-flat). These new United seats will seem to be even better. Wireless charging, larger TV, larger tray table, all great additions.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. United has many more steps to go.