What is it really like flying upfront in the smallest United First Class Airbus cabin in a United Airlines A319 First Class / Business Class seat on a four hour journey across the U.S.?
Does United Airlines live up to first class travel excellence or fail to impress like some of my recent flights with the airline’s domestic business class product?
Perks included With United Airlines A319 First Class
The perks included with my United First flight on the A319 included priority check-in and bag drop, allowing you to skip the long lines at check in. One free checked bag, priority boarding in Zone 1, a full meal, drinks and snacks were included throughout the flight.
Boarding United Airlines Airbus A319 First Class Cabin
The boarding experience was smooth, and we boarded right on time. When reaching the plane our purser, Abigail, was very welcoming offering everyone earbuds and towelettes to all passengers. She came through the United First cabin shortly after with cloth blankets for the First Class cabin that were sanitized and sealed in plastic.
United First Cabin Eperience
The cabin had only 12 United First seats in a two by two configuration making it a small and cozy cabin on the little Airbus A319. A seatmap can be found here.
The cabin was nice and clean as the plane had sat overnight in Calgary and we were the first flight of the day for our aircraft.
This particular Airbus A319 (tail number 4893) had one of United’s newer cabins, I think these A319s underwent a cabin refresh about 5 or 6 years ago as I recall flying them when they were newly installed.
The United Airlines A319 First Class cabin was well appointed and comfortable with large 15″ (approx) touch displays.
Soothing blue LED mood lighting was activated upon taxi when they dimmed the main lights.
Read our recent review of United Polaris Business Class overseas on the Boeing 777.
Shortly after boarding we were offered a choice of water or orange juice and our attendant quickly returned to take our breakfast orders. Breakfast was a choice of French toast or spinach quiche.
Once we were on our way a refreshing got towel was delivered while we waited for breakfast.
Entertainment and Connectivity Options on United First
Maps by flightpath3D allowed you to track your flight in the interactive map. This is pretty standard, however one interactive feature I liked was the maps would display highlights and attractions of the towns and cities we flew over.
The entertainment system was divided into ‘experiences’ that changed focus based on if you wanted to have an entertainment focused experience, rest and relax focus, or stay focused and work.
The main menu labelled ‘explore entertainment’ offered choices of new release movies, milage plus info page, Spotify, and new release TV. Podcasts such as Trevor Noah and featured movies, Concerts and events, games and a kids section were there as well.
Bluetooth connectivity was offered, this is a nice feature allowing you to connect directly to the entertainment system. This is really useful!
Music revolved around Spotify.with options for podcasts, playlists – mixtape type collections of music, audiobooks and an old favourite of mine from United, ‘From the flight deck’, which plays the cockpit conversations with ATC, when enabled by the captain.
WIFI options on United’s Airbus A319
Wifi was available for purchase, however, free messaging was included for all passengers. Supported free messagjng works with IP-based messaging apps like: iMessage, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Messages by Google
Wifi inflight was offered for a reasonable price of $8 USD or 800 MilagePlus miles for members or $10 for non members.
Its free to sign-up for MileagePlus so it might be worth it before flying, just for a few extra perks. I didn’t have an opportunity to try it this flight as I couldn’t remember my United mileage plus password when I was in the air!
Food and Beverage Service on United First
Breakfast was served about 50 mins into the flight. The omelette was surprisingly tasty, not quite as hot as I had hoped but was tender and flavourful.
The dish came with two small sausages that were pretty dry, some nice fresh mixed fruit, Oikos strawberry yogurt and a croissant. The food for me was an 8/10.
Beer wine and spirits were offered free of charge in this cabin.
Service throughout the flight was top notch with cabin attendants checking in about every 15 mins.
United First Cabin and Seats
The United First cabin on this Airbus A319 held 12 passengers upfront in a 2×2 configuration. The seats had good recline, and as I was sitting in 3A the economy bulkhead was right behind me so I didn’t have to worry about feeling guilty reclining my seat.
Seat pitch was great with at least 16″ of legroom. Plenty for a comfortable flight. The oversized seats have ample armrest space between with about a foot of space between your neighbor’s shoulder. Covered in a faux leather, the seats did tend to get a little hot after a while.
Power and usb were located in the front of the seat, as was a remote for the touchscreen.
In United first you have a dedicated washroom for the cabin so you only have to share between 12 passengers and the pilots. The washroom was pretty standard for this class of aircraft with no additional amenities for the United first passengers.
Conclusion and Final Thoughts
This was one of my best flights on United in the last 5 years and I loved the United First experience. The crew were incredibly professional, pleasant and attentive. Food was palatable and the seats on the A319 are really good, much better than the United 737s I have flown recently that didn’t even have entertainment screens.
The bottom line, flying in the United Airlines A319 First Class product was a good travel experience and was an enjoyable start to a two week trip in the incredible city of New Orleans!