The Details

• Flight: UA248
• Aircraft: B777-200
• Class: Domestic First/Business
• Seat: 4A
• Route: Denver International (DEN)-Chicago O’Hare International (ORD)
• Distance: 918 miles
• Duration: 2hrs 3min
• Departure: 5:50PM
• Arrival: 8:53PM

The Preflight

After arriving on my flight from Chicago I had roughly five hours before my return flight to Chicago. I made my way to the only open United Club at Denver near the B44 gate. COVID-19 has forced United to temporarily close the Club near Gate B32.

Lounge agents behind plexiglass scanned my boarding pass and Club pass and I went up the escalators into the second floor lounge.

The lounge was fairly empty with just a handful of passengers.

Food options included individually packaged stuffed grape leaves.

Mezze sampler with pita, hummus, and tabbouleh.

There were an assortment of chips, cookies, and string cheese.

Most passengers had their masks on. However, a few that were eating had their masks off and then kept them off to socialize…

On the other side of the lounge were sweet snacks including carrot cake.

In addition, there were fudge brownies.

The Club also had bags of parm crisps and pretzels.

There was also a self-serve espresso machine.

The lounge itself was kept extremely clean. Every time a guest would leave a table the staff would immediately spray down the area and wipe it clean.

I had a delicious mezze plate, grape leaves, carrot cake, and parm crisps. The food was delicious and very tasty. There was also an open bar staffed with a bartender.

The Club also had great views of the apron including an A319.

As well as an aggressive looking B737.

With an hour until boarding I decided to explore the airport. Most of the sit-down restaurants and retail stores were in fact open. Almost all travelers and staff were wearing masks.

Our beautiful B777-200, registration N215UA, was delivered to United Airlines back in 2000. United was the launch customer of the B777-200 and currently has 19 of these aircraft in their fleet.

Boarding began on time at 5:05PM at gate B32. Global Services, Premier Elites, and First Class passengers were invited to board first via Door 2L.

The Flight

United’s B777-200s feature 28 first class seats in a 2-4-2 configuration. There are also 104 Economy Plus seats and 234 Economy seats in a 3-4-3 configuration. This high density B777 is specifically used to fly busy domestic routes between hubs as well as to Hawaii.

I was seated in 4A, the window seat in the last row of the first class cabin.

Each seat is 19″ wide. It also is fully lie-flat and has a bed length of 6’4″.

There was a large IFE screen and a small ledge below the screen. Below the ledge was the foot rest and small storage space.

The IFE screen was fairly responsive and high definition.

In between the two seats were the seat controls. Privacy was definitely lacking without a seat divider or screen between the window and aisle seat.

Below the seat controls was the IFE remote.

There was also a small cocktail tray that popped out from the center table.

Upon boarding, flight attendants in masks handed each passenger a sanitizing wipe.

Below the cocktail tray was a large and sturdy bi-fold tray table. When fully opened up, the tray table was uneven and not horizontal.

Individually wrapped headphones were also waiting at each seat.

As we pushed back at 5:55PM local time the sun was setting across the row of United narrow bodies at DEN.

The taxi to the runway brought up across a row of parked and stored United narrow bodies. For October 2020, United was only flying 46% of its October 2019 capacity.

Enjoy the takeoff!

Service began with a round of drinks. I went with a Gin & Tonic.

In the era of COVID-19, United has reduced in-flight service on all of its flights. For domestic first class flights longer than two hours and 20 minutes departing from hubs (Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, and San Francisco), United offers a choice between a sandwich or snack box.

This flight was blocked at two hours and 26 minutes just six minutes above the cutoff. Dinner was served from a large tray and options included a carved chicken on focaccia sandwich, tomato basil mozzarella sandwich, or the Classic Snack Box.

I went with the carved chicken sandwich which was served cold. It was very dry and borderline un-edible.

I asked the flight attendants if I could have the Classic Snackbox as well. Graciously, the flight attendant brought me a box to have. Inside the Classic Snackbox was a beef snack stick, cheese spread, potato chips, cream crackers, smoked almonds, and M&Ms.

There were some thick clouds along our trip to Chicago.

As we neared Chicago, I checked out the lavatory for first class passengers.

The lavatory was stocked with Sunday Riley products including hand cream and face mist.

It was a clear night in Chicago with some clear city light views on our approach.

The taxi to the gate very extremely quick by O’Hare standards. Thanks for the ride N215UA!

Our flight got in at 9:40PM and the terminal was deserted. As one of the first passengers to deplane, I did not encounter a single other passenger in front of me.

The check-in area was equally empty and slightly eerie. I quickly made my way to the shuttle bus for the economy parking lots and soon was on my way home.

This flight was the first time aboard a B777-200 classic for me. It was such a wonderful experience to be able to sit up front in a lie-flat seat for a two hour domestic hop. With an open bar, food offerings, and friendly flight attendants I would gladly fly the United B777-200 again.