The Details

• Flight: UA3553
• Aircraft: E170
• Class: Domestic First
• Seat: 1A
• Route: Indianapolis (IND)-Chicago O’Hare (ORD)
• Distance: 236miles
• Flight Time: 41min
• Departure: 6:30AM (EST)
• Arrival: 6:11AM (CST)

The Preflight

I was heading back to San Diego for a few days to visit family and booked two separate trips to get home. I had some leftover Alaska vouchers and United vouchers that were going to expire so I booked United from Indy to Chicago and then Alaska from Chicago to San Francisco to San Diego. The flight up to Chicago was scheduled to depart at 6:15AM and I arrived at the airport around 5:15AM an hour before departure. Check-in was a breeze and I had my printed boarding pass in just a few minutes.

By this time, in April of 2021, the federal mask mandate for COVID had ended and travelers were back with a vengeance. The TSA Precheck line before the sun had even risen was dozens of passengers deep It took me 10 minutes to get through (during early COVID I was often the only passenger).

Our aircraft, an E170, was operated by Republic Airways on behalf of United Express. She was 17.5 years old and originally delivered to Chautauqua Airlines back in December 2004. After a year, she was transferred to Shuttle America and then finally to Republic in 2016.

Boarding was scheduled to begin at 5:50 but was pushed back 12 minutes due to a late flight attendant.

At 6:02AM, we began the boarding process through door 1L

The Flight

There were a total of six first-class seats onboard the United Express E170 arranged in a 1-2 configuration across two rows. There were also 16 Economy Plus seats in a 2-2 configuration and 48 economy seats in a 2-2 configuration.

I was seated in 1A today.

Each first-class seat offered 37 inches of pitch and a comfortable 24 inches of width.

There was a small cup holder built into the armrest along the fuselage while the bi-fold tray table was stored in the armrest adjacent to the aisle.

The boarding doors were closed at 6:17AM with pushback four minutes later.

At exactly 6:30AM we took off from runway 5L bound for Chicago.

There was a single beverage service on this flight served 12 minutes after take-off. I went with my customary Bloody Mary. Snack options were the standard Stroopwafel or pretzels.

We approached O’Hare from the East, flying over the Northern Indiana coastline and then turning westward over Lake Michigan.

Although gray and cloudy, the skies still yielded great views of downtown Chicago.

After just 41 minutes in the sky, we landed on runway 10C at 6:11AM, having gained an extra 19 minutes due to the timezone change from Eastern to Central.

Within 10 minutes we had arrived at gate C3 and I was soon off to check-in with Alaska Airlines for my flight to San Francisco.

This was another run-of-the-mill regional Domestic First class flight with United Express. I was happy for the upgrade but definitely would not pay the extra $100-200 difference between Economy and First for this flight.