Andrew Turley flies from San Francisco to Phoenix on United Airlines.
The plane: Embraer 175 — stock-standard regional flyer in the US, and proudly made in Brazil. Inside it feels like an over-inflated version of our own ATR regional planes, with a 2-2 configuration in Economy and an odd 1-2 split in First Class.
The seat: Well I guess it's nice that they took the time to stretch some vinyl over the flat wooden surfaces of the seat. Calling it padding would be generous. The alignment of seats to windows seemed to be out of whack for most of the plane too, but it's not far to fly, and it'll all be over soon…
Class: Apart from a touch of leg room, there's very little in it. So whatever they call it, economy or first class, it's much of a muchness. One thing the plane definitely has is a disproportionate number of seats to the amount of overhead storage. But then, the staff constantly had to remind people not to take all their luggage into the cabin, so it's hardly the airline's fault.
Flight time: Two hours in the air, another one mucking about on the ground.
Food and drink: Money talks, but water and miniscule pretzels are free.
Entertainment: There's not much to speak of.
Service: Friendly, relaxed. When I said I had my own water, they offered a cup with ice instead.
Toilets: I'm sure there was one, but I wasn't exploring.
Airport experience: Flying out of San Francisco, the plane was late arriving, but the ground staff did an excellent job of catching up, meaning we were rolling out of the gate just 5 minutes behind schedule. Unfortunately, we then joined a long line of waiting planes on the tarmac and waited out nearly another hour before we got off the ground.
The best bit was landing at Phoenix. The pilot took to the guidance lines like an office party at the go-karts, flinging the Embraer left and right as we careened towards the gate. Fun times!
Would I take this flight again? For the express purpose of getting to Phoenix, absolutely. For fun? No.