My 2014 Experience Flying United First Class (Domestic) & Breakfast Review

Hi Shine and Sparkle Report Readers,

This is early because of work.  It is also not about beauty.  Sorry (not really).  Regularly scheduled beauty tips next week!

I recently had the pleasure of being upgraded to First Class on a United flight from California to Washington DC.  Let’s forget the ungodly hour of 4:00am that I arrived at the airport for my  6:00am flight ok?  When I got upgraded, I looked into (and asked colleagues) what kinds of perks I could look forward to.  I know this isn’t very beauty related, but I thought I should document my experience since I thought that this information was pretty lacking in Google searches.   I figure, if I’m interested in what the experience of flying first class domestically on United is like (especially the food), then someone else out there probably does too!  If nothing else, maybe you’ll be inspired to check out my food reviewing on my yelp account *wink wink*.

Accommodations:

More leg room is a big deal for those people who are pretty tall.  The extra personal space is great for anyone!  A nice big pocket in the back of the leather seats means that I could easily store my laptop, iPad, and phone in the seat in front of me.  The tray table came out of the arm rest and spanned the whole extra-wide seat.  The large table was great for working, drafting this post, and fitting the large tray my meal was served on.

Pre-Flight:

The stewardess offered to take my coat and hang it up. OooohAhhh.   I also got a pre-flight drink (I chose hot tea) in a normal plastic cup. I enjoyed this while waiting for all the muggles in boarding groups 2-547 to board. 

 

In the Air:

I was offered my first round of beverages in REAL glass/ceramic cups.  Also, alcohol is complementary.  Did this mean I had another tea in a ceramic mug and a free bloody mary before 8am? Oh yeah.  I also got offered a hot towel.  I used this to clean my hands and then my personal space (an act inspired by the only other blog post I found about this on the internet).

Breakfast:

I am old enough to remember sticking my nose in the air and snubbing “airplane food”.  It used to be slightly better than the stuff we got in the public school cafeteria line (which somehow always smelled the same no matter if it was pizza or chicken).  But now, free meals at all on planes is something that just doesn’t happen for 99% of us anymore.  The idea that someone brought me food that wasn’t shrink wrapped or preserved indefinitely was quite exciting.  Not paying for it could be classified as thrilling.  I was impressed that the food came nicely plated on REAL dishware.  I had a choice of cereal or eggs.  Hot breakfast seemed way more appealing (and posh) so I went with the eggs.  As you can see in the blog picture, I got the following items:

-Fruit Cup: Standard and fresh.  I liked the grapes and the pineapple was not too tart. The one strawberry was ok but not amazing. I dislike plain cantaloupe, so I can’t vouch for its goodness.

-Yoplait Greek Yogurt (Strawberry): I have never tried this yogurt before.  Since the ads on TV suggest that it is better the Chobani, I was game to test the theory.  Advertisements like people.  It was ok, but definitely not better than Chobani.  I like that the fruit was on the bottom…so I could avoid it.

-Egg Omelet:  I really enjoyed this simple egg omelets with some generic white maybe swiss cheese in the middle.  That being said, I kind of LOVE the texture of microwaved eggs.  Some people might hate this texture.  It made me very happy.  I really enjoyed this little egg and cheese thing.

-Broccoli and Potato Triangle:  I have no idea what else to call this.  Think slightly over cooked frozen broccoli that has been baked into rehydrated boxed-mashed potatoes.  It had an ok taste but the texture was quite gummy/paste-like.  It was not my favorite. However, eat a small triangle of this dense goo and it will keep you full for hours.  I will point out that it was surprisingly well seasoned, though I still question if it was potato or wall paper paste.

-Sausage Patty:  It was a bit chewy and lacked the normal punch of spices I normally associate with a sausage patty. It was also nearly as well seasoned as the rest of the hot items.  However, it seemed to pair ok with the egg omelet, but did nothing to improve my Broccoli and Potato Triangle.  What type of meat was in the sausage patty?  This mystery remains unsolved.

-Choice of Warm Croissant or Cinnamon Bun:  I opted for Croissant and was very pleasantly surprised.  It was light, crispy, and warm.  It had a good buttery taste without being greasy.  Good job on this one United!  It was especially good eaten in conjunction with the egg omelet, possibly a bite of sausage patty.

-Drinks: Free flowing, all the time anytime.  Boozy or not boozy.  I’ve never had to pee so much on a flight before. TMI? Sorry…

Overall:

I found it quite fun to fly first class.  I think that while the idea of a free meal on the plane is exciting and novel, it is not necessarily 5 star food.  I’d give it about 2 stars actually.  That being said, it’s FREE!  If you want good food, I’d go with airport food in the terminal (which is getting surprisingly good even though it is expensive).  If you get upgraded for free to first class, I’d say go for saving $15-20 and eating your meal on the plane is a viable, yet less gourmet option.

I hope you enjoyed me chatting about my adventures in first class.  Next week we will be back to our regularly scheduled beauty posts.  Have you ever flown first class?  Did you like it?  Let me know in the comments!

As always, 

Shine and Sparkle

*I am not paid or sponsored by any of the products or entities mentioned in this post.  All were payed for with my own money.  These are my personal thoughts/opinions and recounting of events.