United upgrading international flights; even cheap seats get on-demand video

CHICAGO — United Airlines is giving a long overdue makeover to the Boeing 777 aircraft used on some of its longest overseas flights, adding perks like video-on-demand for passengers flying in the cheap seats.

It's part of a broader customer-service push at United, which for much of the last decade neglected investing in its infrastructure as it restructured under Chapter 11 and dealt with other financial crises.

The Chicago-based carrier, which derives much of its profit from international flights, is aiming to improve passengers' on-board experience and bring its service closer to that of overseas carriers like Emirates and Singapore Airlines, which are pushing the standard for luxury skyward.

United mechanics, overhauling the first of 46 Boeing 777s in San Francisco, are shrinking the plane's premium cabins, which are being outfitted with lie-flat beds in business and suites in first class. The six United Boeing 777s that are used only for domestic flying are not being upgraded, said United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson.

At the same time, United is adding as many as 21 seats to its Economy Plus cabin and two extra seats in coach. The shift reflects travel policies adopted by many companies that require employees to fly in coach rather than in business-class seats.

"It's no secret that, even as we see improvement in premium international travel year-of-year, many companies still require their employees to book seats in economy," said Johnson.

However, United is not reducing the "pitch," a measure of the space between rows, in order to squeeze in more economy seats, Johnson said. Economy Plus seats will still have a 34-inch pitch, while Economy seats will have a 31-inch pitch.

United is also phasing out the old configuration of seats in its economy cabins of two seats per row on both sides of the plane and five in the middle. Instead, each row will be divided into three sections that each seat three passengers.

United is dropping the 2-5-2 configuration in order to outfit the cabin with larger seat-back screens and a new audiovisual on-demand system that lets passengers stop and start movies and television shows, said spokesman Johnson. The new monitors will be seven inches wide, rather than the current five inches, with touch screens.

United also plans to install two power ports for every three seats, which will make it easier for passengers with laptops to entertain themselves during 14-hour flights to Asia or Australia.

Brett Snyder, who blogs as the Cranky Flier and who first reported the United 777 upgrades, said that some United regulars will miss the old configuration's window seats, "but there's nothing worse than being in the 'double excuse me' seat in the middle of five (seats)," he told the Chicago Tribune via e-mail.

"For the (United Airlines) faithful, it may be a minor annoyance, but considering everyone will have full audio/video on demand and 110 volt power, it's still a better product that what was there before," Snyder added.

United is studying outfitting its planes with a host of electronic tools for passengers and will eventually give economy-class passengers access to the same library of movies as those who fly in first and business classes, Johnson said.

Emirates and Singapore currently provide all passengers with hundreds of entertainment channels.