Good Enough: United Transatlantic Economy Review (EWR-CDG) on Their 777-300

Rating: 4/5 (Fine for the price)

Route: EWR-CDG (and then CDG-SPU, not reviewed here)

Price (Per Person): 30,000 Avianca Lifemiles + ~$70 in taxes and fees (transferred from Capital One)

For my end-of-summer trip to Croatia with some friends, I flew on United for our transatlantic leg out to Europe. While not the most aspirational redemption in the world, it was a decent option when roundtrip economy fares in late August were going for ~$1,200 from NYC (let’s call it $600 one way). Cents per point on this redemption (net of fees) was around 1.7 cents, which is around how much I value Capital One points (or pretty much any transferrable bank currency).

For tonight’s flight, we were onboard a United 777-300. For the summer travel season United boosted capacity on this route via the larger aircraft, but other times this route is flown by United’s 767-3/400 fleet. I prefer the 767’s seat layout (2-4-2) when traveling with someone (or by myself), but there actually is a way to get 2-seat only economy seating on United’s 777-300…more on that next.

This flight was 100% full, and the gate area was complete mayhem. We boarded with group 4 for this flight. Our seats for today were the second to last row, in row 56. The nice thing about the 777-300 is because of the curve of the fuselage at the end of the plane, airlines can’t physically cram in 9 seats in the back. So the last two rows are just two seats by the window, as outlined below. If flying economy with another person, these are definitely your best bet.

The proximity to the bathroom wasn’t that bad, because the door to the bathroom opens backwards in the direction of the galley, and is blocked off by the rear bulkhead (i.e, no smell).

We walked the length of the entire 777-300 to board. The nice thing about sitting in the back is you’ll *probably* find overhead bin space somewhere along the way.

Here’s an example of United’s usual 3-seater row in economy. Seats are decent enough with OK padding and IFE at every seatback.

And here’s our 2 seater row in the very back of the plane:

In terms of in-flight experience, the flight was totally fine for United: we made it to Paris alive. Just kidding – the seats are actually pretty comfortable for economy with really solid in flight entertainment screens at every seat. I’m 6’2 and it was super nice to have the aisle seat in the second to last row for some extra legroom. Also, nice to have the guarantee my knee would not get blown out by the food cart while sleeping.

And last but not least, service was totally fine on this flight, at least to United’s standards. The food looks terrible in the photo but actually tasted fine. Hard to go wrong with rice and chicken. The corn salad was kind of funky, though.

Anyways, I was actually able to get a decent amount of sleep (so 3 hours) for a transatlantic redeye, which surprised me, especially in economy. Pretty soon, we were beginning our decent over Paris. Next stop: Croatia! (after a slightly painful 5 hour layover in Charles De Gaulle, a complete Priority Pass dead zone).