United Airlines, PHL to LAX

I recently flew United Airlines’ economy class from Philadelphia International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport and was rather pleased with my experience.

I have both picked up and dropped off passengers at PHL several times, but had yet to fly out of that particular airport myself. I arrived an hour before my flight was scheduled to leave and, as I had already checked in online, headed straight for security. The line wasn’t terribly long and moved pretty briskly. I was able to head to my gate within 30 minutes.

Unfortunately, my flight to LAX was not a non-stop, and I had a connecting flight at Washington-Dulles. The flight between Philadelphia and Washington D.C., was barely long enough to matter and, while the plane was quite easily the smallest I’ve ever been on (with a 1-2 seat layout), I can see how it would be fine for a regional flight.

There was just enough time between flights to make it to the correct gate, and I was much happier with my seating arrangement on what would be the nearly six-hour flight to Los Angeles. I had the fortunate luck to pick an aisle seat beside an empty middle seat, leaving the passenger by the window and I with more than enough room. Once in the air, my main complaint was the onboard WiFi stopped working and was on and off throughout the entirety of the flight. Regardless, it was not the best WiFi I’ve ever used even when it was working. The flight attendants were extremely attentive and were up offering beverages, snacks and lunch frequently.

Upon arriving at LAX, I gathered my baggage from the somewhat outdated baggage claim area and headed on my way, overall pleased with my experience flying United Airlines for the first time in several years.