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United Airlines First Class A320 Fort Lauderdale to Houston

aerial view of a beach and city

United Airlines 238
Fort Lauderdale (FLL) – Houston (IAH)
Airbus A320
14 March 2015

After spending about three hours in the Fort Lauderdale United Club, boarding was announced for the United flight to Houston. Conveniently it was leaving from gate C1 (right next to the lounge), the agent was looking for one volunteer and offering a $300 USD voucher, however sadly I couldn’t accept the offer as I had to be back in Seattle the next day.

This flight was operated by a United A320 with twelve seats in First Class. I’ve mentioned before that the A320 is my favourite domestic aircraft on United, mainly due to the fact it’s so spacious, and perhaps a more ‘hidden’ feature: The First Class seats in row 3 recline about 50% more than seats in row 1 and 2. This is something I discovered recently, at least out of the five United A320s I’ve been on, all of the seats in row 3 have reclined way more than row 1 and 2, this is due to the fact that the seat has a ton of room behind since the bulkhead is farther back and because some emergency equipment is kept at that bulkhead.

Anyway, always choose row 3 on a United A320, if you’re in First Class.

United A320 First Class
United A320 First Class

I find the seats on the A320 and A319 to be much more comfortable than seats on the B737’s, etc., also they have a ton of more space around the seats.

United A320 First Class Legroom
United A320 First Class Legroom

We pushed back right on schedule and it was about 27 degrees C in Fort Lauderdale, a beautiful day.

FLL Airport
FLL Airport
United A320 First Class Legroom
United A320 First Class Legroom
United A320 First Class
United A320 First Class

My pre-departure beverage consisted of a sprite, meanwhile the guy sitting next to me first requested champagne, followed by a margarita, followed by the name of something I’ve never heard of, and finally after he was told United doesn’t serve any of those on domestic flights, he got his fourth choice: coke.

Pre-departure drink
Pre-departure drink

Ok, now I’m bolding this because: it was a f$%^ing beautiful day in Fort Lauderdale, the pictures below will show just how stunning the day was and as we were climbing out, I was hating myself so much for not staying for at least a couple of days. I took the pictures using my iPhone and they still are able to show just how fascinating the day was.

Florida
Florida
Florida
Florida
Florida
Florida
Florida
Florida

This has got to be my favourite picture ever:

Florida
Florida
Florida
Florida

Here’s a video I recorded upon departure:

Wing & Water
Wing & Water
Florida
Florida
Florida
Florida

I’ve been to Florida countless times and never really left the airport before – next time I’m totally leaving for at least two days to explore beautiful Florida.

Florida
Florida
Florida
Florida

And here is another video showing how beautiful Florida is from the sky:

United A320 First Class
United A320 First Class

Once the beautiful view was gone and we levelled off at 11k metres, I reclined my seat way back and it was just inches away from being a flatbed, the upper part obviously felt like a flatbed but there was no footrest which kind of sucks. I was actually able to sleep for the majority of the flight due to the fact the seat reclined much more.

United A320 First Class Legroom
United A320 First Class Legroom

Warm nuts were first served, followed by drinks of our choice, mine was tea with lemon and sugar.

Warm Nuts & Tea
Warm Nuts & Tea

There were two choices for lunch:

  • Asian salad with chicken breast and soup (what I had)
  • Beef meat with quinoa salad

The soup was some sort of chowder which from what I could tell had octopus? It was actually pretty edible and wasn’t too bad. The chicken breast Asian salad was tasty as well and along with the dressing, it was totally edible and overall the meal was a fantastic lunch.

The beef meat didn’t seem that appetising as most people asked the FA if she had any more chicken options available…

Lunch
Lunch
Lunch
Lunch
Lunch
Lunch

After lunch I decided to take advantage of my ‘upper flatbed’ and sleep until we began descending into Houston. The entire time I just wanted to kill myself for not staying at least the day in Florida as it was super warm and such a beautiful day… ugh.. I promised myself the next time I mileage run there, I would at least stay for a day. Anyway, I think this was my most comfortable non-flatbed United flight, due to the seat and also the view.