Review: United First Class Boeing 737 MAX (IAD-MIA)

For the final segment of our royal visit to Versailles, I flew United Airlines’ Boeing 737 MAX 8 first class on the 2hr20min flight from Washington (IAD) to Miami (MIA).

I booked this flight because it was the most convenient way to get home, but I was excited about this because it would be my first flight with United’s new interiors. United has been doing an impressive job upgrading its cabins on narrow body aircraft, and it was nice to finally experience that.

I’ve gotta say, the sum of the changes makes for a nicely improved product. Most notable was that the seat back entertainment and tech were excellent, and the Wi-Fi was fast. Beyond that, though, United has a great drink selection, and I at least appreciate the variety of meals that can be pre-ordered, even if the quality leaves a bit to be desired.

There was a bit of drama with this flight on departure, but we’ll save that for a bit later. All-in-all, I think this is one of the most pleasant “standard” domestic first class products that you’ll find, and it definitely felt differentiated compared to flying with American (my usual airline).

How I booked my United first class ticket

United isn’t great about making saver level first class award space available on domestic flights, so I just paid cash for my ticket. Fortunately the fare was fairly reasonable. I booked the following segment for $399.86 all-in:

2/20 UA1706 Washington to Miami departing 5:30PM arriving 8:26PM

United first class lounge & boarding

United doesn’t offer United Club access with regular domestic first class tickets, and due to Star Alliance lounge access policies, my inbound Austrian 787 business class ticket didn’t get me access either. Fortunately Washington Dulles has no shortage of credit card and Priority Pass lounges, so I had plenty of places to hang out.

My flight to Miami was departing from gate D16, with boarding scheduled for 4:50PM, 40 minutes ahead of departure.

At the gate, I saw the beautiful one-year-old 737 MAX 8 that would be flying me south. I think United’s livery looks especially snazzy on the 737, for some reason.

Boarding started right on schedule…

United 737 MAX first class cabin & seats

At the forward door, I was greeted by the friendly crew. United’s Boeing 737 MAX 8s feature 16 first class seats, spread across four rows, in a 2-2 configuration. This plane had very modern cabins, though not quite as cutting edge as you’ll find on the carrier’s A321neos.

United’s first class seats feature 37″ of pitch, 20″ of width, and have 5″ of recline, which is basically the industry standard, so there’s not much differentiation between the “big three” US carriers on that front.

I assigned myself seat 2F, the window seat in the second row, on the right side (it was the last seat that was available when I booked, and I prefer window seats).

As far as seat features go, one of the things that most stands out is the beautiful 13″ high definition seat back monitor, which is touchscreen, and even has bluetooth audio. What a beauty!

The center console between seats has a tray where you can place drinks, a deep but small storage area, an entertainment controller, AC and USB-A outlets, and a headphone jack.

Tray tables fold out from the center console. They’re folded over in half when stored, so to extend them fully, you have to flip them over. On top of that, there’s a little personal device holder on the tray table, should you want to prop up a device with a screen.

The tray table storage mechanism is probably the only aspect of this product that hasn’t been thought through, or is lacking when it comes to functionality. It’s hard to describe, but when you go to store the tray, it always gets stuck, and seems to fluster just about any non-frequent United flyer.

In addition to the limited storage space underneath the center console, there’s also a long and narrow storage space underneath the far armrest, which is large enough to storage a laptop or book.

As you’d expect for a 737 MAX, the overhead console is modern, with reading lights and individual air nozzles.

On top of that, the plane has the new Boeing Sky Interiors, including overhead bins that allow you to store bags sideways, like books on a shelf.

United 737 MAX first class entertainment & Wi-Fi

Arguably the biggest improvements with United’s updated interiors involve technology. Each seat on the plane has a personal entertainment screen. It’s not just that the screen as such is high quality, but the interface is also really well done, and easy to use, with lots of functional features.

For example, I love the “itinerary” for the flight, which shows what’s planned, like a meal service.

United’s entertainment selection is massive, with endless movies, TV shows, live TV, music, games, and more.

Then there’s of course the map feature, which is my favorite part of any inflight entertainment system. It’s customizable, so that you can zoom in and out as much as you’d like.

I also find it pretty handy how the seat back screen lists all the snacks and drinks available onboard.

In theory, United also has Channel 9, where you can listen to air traffic control audio. However, that’s at the discretion of pilots, and it seems like more often than not, they choose to keep it turned off.

United also offers bluetooth audio, letting you pair your own headphones with the seat back entertainment. That’s pretty awesome, and an increasingly common trend at airlines.

For those who don’t have their own headphones to pair, United offers first class passengers free earbuds, which aren’t terribly high quality.

United’s 737 MAXs feature Viasat Wi-Fi, which is excellent quality. This is an area where United has hugely improved, since the airline used to be really uncompetitive with connectivity.

United offers free messaging, or a full flight Wi-Fi pass with streaming costs $10 (or $8 for MileagePlus members).

I’d consider that to be fair pricing. Best of all, United is in the process of introducing Starlink Wi-Fi, which will be a game changer, and will be free for passengers.

United 737 MAX departure from Washington Dulles

During boarding, the friendly flight attendant working first class offered pre-departure drinks, with the choice of water or sparkling wine (though she was happy to accommodate other requests as well). I just had some water.

At 5:25PM, the captain was on the PA to announce our flight time of 2hr20min, and our imminent departure. Everything was looking good, and at 5:30PM the main cabin door closed, and at 5:35PM we began our pushback. At that point the safety video was screened.

We started our taxi at 5:40PM…

…but then a few minutes later, came to a stop on a taxiway, and didn’t move for over 10 minutes.

At 5:55PM, the captain was on the PA to give us an update. He explained that there was an indicator in the cockpit that the cooling fans for the avionics were broken, and that they need three of those to be active in order to depart. He explained they were still troubleshooting it, but that we wouldn’t be able to leave without that being fixed.

At 6:15PM, we headed back to our gate. At this point, the captain stood in front of the cabin and made a PA for passengers, which I thought was very professional. He asked everyone to be patient with him for a few minutes to figure out what was going on, before anyone deplaned. At this point, some mechanics boarded the aircraft.

15 minutes later, the captain was back in the cabin with an additional update. The good news was that the fans were working correctly. The bad news was that the indicators weren’t working, and he claimed that the mechanics had never seen that before. Of course the plane actually has to show stuff working correctly in order to be able to fly.

The captain told us that they had another plane waiting to take us at gate D7, so we were told to take our stuff with us… only to literally five seconds later be told to sit down again. He explained that the mechanics managed to resolve the issue that very moment, and just some paperwork needed to be completed, and then we’d be on our way.

We ended up pushing back at 6:55PM, just under 90 minutes after departure, and taking off at 7:20PM.

Of course nobody likes a maintenance issue, but I have to give all parties involved credit for how this was handled. The captain was very communicative, and United found a replacement aircraft with lightning speed, despite the fact that this didn’t actually end up being needed.

United first class food & drinks

As soon as we leveled off, the crew began inflight service. You can find United’s drink menu below.

Then below you can find the meal choices on this flight, which were available via pre-order (as you can see, there were seven choices, with four of them being pre-order exclusives).

Usually I don’t drink alcohol on domestic flights, though I was impressed by United’s selection, and made an exception. United has canned Crafthouse Cocktails options, and I chose to have an espresso martini. It was delicious, and was served with some snack mix.

For the meal, I ordered the vegetarian chili polenta cake. This came with a side salad, a bread roll, and a Magnolia Bakery banana pudding. United has long lagged when it comes to its catering, both on domestic and long haul flights. I think there’s still room for improvement, but this was okay enough, I thought (though the presentation in these casserole dishes always leaves a bit to be desired, especially for saucy dishes).

After the meal, I had to finally try United’s coolest beverage option, which is illy cold brew. It’s so nice to see a US airline serving cold brew on all flights, and it’s one of the best non-alcoholic drinks in the sky, if you ask me.

I know we all have different preferences, but if you offered me either cold brew or a meal on a domestic flight, I’d probably choose the former. Well done, United!

Service on US airlines can be hit or miss, though on this flight I had a great flight attendant working first class. She constantly checked on passengers, and offered frequent drink refills.

United 737 MAX first class lavatory

United has a first class lavatory on the 737 MAX, located at the front of the cabin, behind the flight deck. These 737 MAX lavatories are mighty uncomfortable, and incredibly tight, with tiny sinks. Unfortunately this has just become the norm for so many airlines, which is disappointing.

United 737 MAX arrival in Miami

At around 9:05PM, the captain was on the PA to announce that we’d shortly be descending, and would be landing at around 9:40PM. He apologized for the delay, but frankly, I was just happy it didn’t stretch longer, and that I got home the same night.

We had a smooth descent, and touched down in Miami at 9:40PM, as predicted. From there it was a very short taxi to our arrival gate, where we pulled in just a couple of minutes later, around 75 minutes behind schedule.

Bottom line

I’m so happy I finally had the chance to fly United’s 737 MAX first class with updated interiors. United is doing an incredible job refreshing its narrow body cabins, and the updates make a meaningful difference to the passenger experience. It’s so nice to have seat back entertainment with bluetooth audio, and fast and reasonably priced Wi-Fi.

While United’s food isn’t anything too exciting, the airline has the most interesting drink selection of the “big three” US carriers, with things like canned cocktails and cold brew. I’m impressed by United’s narrow body glow up!

What do you make of United’s 737 MAX first class?