A Short Hop On A United 737 SFO-LAX (Domestic First)
- Konrad Tillman
- 7 days ago
- 4 min read
Intro
For the final leg of this great Asian, all-business-class adventure, I would be flying on a United 737 down from San Francisco to Los Angeles. While I won’t be reviewing this flight due to reviewing the 737 product in much further detail soon, I’ll just share a quick look at a routine commuter route.
Why I Took This Flight
Wanting 1K for the first time in my life, I decided that the easiest way for me to do so was by adding in a few extra segments here and there. So instead of flying directly from Tokyo, I flew Polaris to SFO and then a follow-up flight down to LAX. For those wondering, I booked the following ticket for 2250$:
United 737 Max 8 Domestic First San Francisco-Los Angeles
United 787-9 Polaris Los Angeles-Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific A330-300 Business Class Hong Kong-Kuala Lumpur
Not bad…
The Flight
Finishing up at the Polaris Lounge, I made the long trek over to the domestic part of SFO. It’s quite a trek from the Polaris Lounge, so allow yourself at least 15 minutes, depending on which concourse your flight is departing from.
Due to polishing off some champers in the lounge, the plane was about half full by the time I got onboard and settled into my seat 5A. The flight attendant came over to offer us a pre-departure beverage consisting of water, and the cabin doors were shut in no time.
I have to say, United has done an aggressive job at retrofitting their older aircraft with these NEXT GEN interiors, but these old seats are perfectly comfortable for a short ride.
It’s like that cushion at your grandpa’s house that has been around since Napoleon 😉.
With SFO being a nightmare most of the time in terms of taxi times, I figured that we might be a little delayed. So when pushback occurred 10 minutes early and we were wheels up out of SFO at our scheduled pushback time, I was pleasantly surprised. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, flying during the summer is beautiful, minus the summer travelers (frequent flyers know what I mean).
For a short flight of less than an hour, United served a choice of drinks (of which I chose water), as well as a snack from a snack basket. I stuck with the water as I felt like having lunch in the Polaris Lounge at LAX when I landed, but it’s the perfect way to hold you over on this short hop.
For the next 40-odd minutes, I just gazed out of the window at the beautiful state of California. I remember flying this route the other direction during sunset, and it turned
out to be one of the most beautiful sunsets I had ever seen in my life. Eh, the point is, I didn’t use the 8$ wifi or the free IFE that UA offers since I wanted to connect with nature.
We ended up touching down 20 minutes ahead of schedule into LAX, and had a longer than usual taxi (due to arriving from the North) to Terminal 8.
From there, it was off to the United Polaris Lounge, which was empty and perfect for pictures for my review, which I posted. Also, I got to say hi to Elmer (the kindest man that works there), which is always a treat.
Final Thoughts
Look, a sub-500-mile flight in the USA is nothing to get excited about, but I think United does these flights extremely well. With an early arrival, friendly cabin crew, a pre-departure beverage, a drinks service, a snack service, and being first off the plane, that 60$ upgrade might just be worth it. All in all, a very pleasant way to end the series around the world.
I hope you enjoyed this whole series as much as I did. Every trip I take changes my life, but this one more than others. From riding a rickshaw in Dhaka to running for my life in Istanbul, it set me on the path of adventure travel for years to come.
Next up: Yemen!
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