Continited/Uninental/”The Combined United” (I’ll come up with a name that might make sense one year) have updated the progress on their fleet refits:
CO: 757-200 Fleet – all 41 now have BusinessFirst Seats installed.
CO: 777-200 Fleet – 22 aircraft have BusinessFirst Seats installed.
UA: 767-300ER Fleet – Complete Flat bed in Business installed (in 2009!)
UA: 747-400 Fleet – Complete Flat bed in Business installed (a shame they couldn’t be bothered to do anything to economy.. also in 2009)
UA: 777-200 Fleet – Up to a grand total of 10 aircraft by April 2010. Although in a 2 x 4 x 2 in BUSINESS Class, this is more akin to the flying Dormitory rather than business class (and don’t get me started on Economy class…)
As stated by the combined entity, Economy Plus will be rolling out onto the CO fleet in 2012, but expect this to take serious amounts of time before you get unity. Suffice to say, seating could be a crapshoot for some time if you’re flying CO when they begin the refurbishment…
What's wrong with the UA 777s in economy? Sure, economy is economy and I prefer 2-5-2 to 3-3-3, but at least (unlike AF/EK) there is not 3-4-3. Plus, economy has AVOD and power. And Economy Plus…Now I agree that 2-4-2 is really pushing it in business class, but as an upgrader, I am thankful for the added seats and will still take them any day over Lufty's angled lie-flat seats.
Hi Matthew – Good to see you here (and I hope you like the link on the left ;)) For an upgrader, or for someone who has a choice of Flat vs Angled Seats, then it's a no brainer – United's flat seat across the pond is a brilliant product. In a way, I'm surprised United didn't choose to go 3-4-3, as they seem to want every penny these days… still 3-3-3 matches in with it's CO breathren. My beefs with the new configuration are as listed:1 – Those slimline seats – not enough padding and certainly very little back support (DEN-LHR even in an exit row was… uncomfortable. God knows how bad it would had been further back!) 2 – I'm a 2-5-2 fan (as long as I'm a the window). Being in a 3 is harder if you want to hop out to the small room…3 – Paid for IFE (if you want more than the basic package).I wrote about it in Mixed classes – infite fun in http://www.ghettoife.com/2010/11/trip-report-mixed-classes-infinite-fun.html… and wasn't impressed to be honest. Still… could be worse…
Fair points. I've seen the new 777 in the back, but never had to fly in it. Shame on UA for charging for movies.Thanks for the link to my blog!