Welcome to my final post within my first class review series from our recent trip to St. Lucia. If you missed my review on JetBlue’s Mint seats, be sure to catch up here. Paul and I flew United on the way to St. Lucia and JetBlue on the way home. There aren’t many good options for routes from Denver to the Caribbean that get you to your destination around the time of check in and that don’t have an overnight layover on the way home. Hence why we flew two different airlines. We were able to book United First class using points, which is the only perk of Paul using our personal United card for his work expenses that we are reimbursed for later. We’ve been lucky enough to upgrade to first on United a few times and once flew to Honolulu on a United aircraft with flat lie seats. The first class experience on our St. Lucia route was mediocre but we got in on-time which is always positive. We flew from Denver to Newark on a red-eye and then boarded our flight to St. Lucia after a 3 hour layover.
PSA: I am a terrible first class reviewer, because I only took one picture and it was of my waffle. I’m going to blame its on being sleep deprived. With that, please enjoy my review, my waffle, and the picture I found on Google 🙂
Boarding:
Both legs of the trip were 10/10 in my book on boarding execution. Denver and Newark gate agents were organized, timely and ensured passengers knew where to stand in line. When we were boarding the flight to Newark, there was a couple who thought just because they were in first class, they could cut every other first class passenger in line ahead of them. That was 0/10, but people lose their minds when they travel.
The Seats:
On the flight to Newark, we flew a 737 Max 8 and the first class cabin had a 2-2 seating layout. The seats had a 21-inch width and 38 inches of pitch, so there was a good amount of space. The aircraft was newer, which I definitely appreciated more so when I boarded the old dinker of a plane we flew on from Newark to St. Lucia. We were provided a blanket and headphones, but no pillow. We left Denver at 11:45pm so it would have been a nice touch to have a pillow for the very minimal sleep I got, but not a deal breaker.
The seats on our Newark to St. Lucia flight were a different story. While still spacious, the aircraft was very old and quite small for a 5 hour flight (I am pretty sure it was a Boeing 737-700W). There were 12 first class seats with same dimensions as the first flight and in a 2-2 seating layout. Similarly to our JetBlue flight, we had two pilots deadheading to St. Lucia next to us and I assumed they were flying the aircraft back to Newark later that afternoon. One of the pilots spilled his cup of coffee over the seat in front of him before anyone boarded so maintenance had two come replace the sopping wet seatbelt. During the flight, the same pilot opened the window shade and it broke. He was unable to pull the shade down so he stuck a safety flyer in the window as a makeshift covering. When you fly in a first class cabin you definitely look forward to upgrades and extra comfort. That wasn’t the case on this flight, but we did get off the plane quickly and ahead of other passengers, which was an added benefit for a long COVID-check line and customs line at the St. Lucia airport.
Note: since I failed to take pictures I tried Google. I think the plane is so old that pictures don’t exist lol.. just kidding but I could not find one that even looked similar to the first class cabin.
The Service:
I tried to fall asleep as soon as we took off from Denver to Newark so I don’t have much to say about the service on that flight. They did serve a meal, but I wasn’t interested in a midnight dinner after the Chick-fil-a I ate in the airport. The flight attendants seemed nice, but they were quite loud slamming cabinets in the forward galley throughout the flight, which did not help my attempt at sleeping.
The service from Newark to St. Lucia was 10/10. Our flight attendant in the first class cabin was named Kyle and he was so kind. He addressed us by name and was very attentive throughout the flight. I attempted to get some sleep on the flight (which was unsuccessful) but Kyle brought by some blankets when he saw I put on my ugly eye mask. He also served us a yummy breakfast consisting of a waffle, a parfait, lemon wafer bites, and a fruit selection. The food was delicious and I’m sure you guessed it, the waffle was my favorite.
Other Thoughts:
Overall, our experience with United was positive. It was nice having extra leg room for the long flights, but I’m not convinced it is completely worth it with the aircrafts assigned to this route. I was thinking during the flights that the first class experience should be what you get in economy and from there the experience is elevated as you pay for an upgraded cabin. Wishful thinking…
One final perk is if you purchase a first class fare for an international flight, United Lounge access is included. Even though we purchased these tickets while we still had the United credit card, we didn’t renew it and by the time the trip rolled around, we no longer had the lounge access perk that came with the card. It was a pleasant surprise when we inquired at the lounge about day passes at 5:15am in the morning when we arrived in Newark.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this series. Be sure to check out some of my other first class reviews on Delta, United, and JetBlue.
Our travel agent Lisa (also my mom) organized our St Lucia vacation and ensured our trip was 10/10. She also helped us navigate St. Lucia’s COVID requirements. If you’re thinking about booking a vacation in 2022, reach out to Lisa with Lisa’s Dream Destinations. Working with a Professional Travel Agent can save you both time and money and in turn, reduce stress that comes along with travel planning. Contact Lisa today: Destinationsbylisa@gmail.com
Want more Miss Olivia Says? Check out my latest posts HERE and HERE and HERE
xoxo Olivia
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