United Airlines 737 MAX 9 Economy Plus Review [EWR to PDX]

Airline: United Airlines (UA)
Aircraft: Boeing 737 MAX 9
Flight #: UA2049
Route: Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Portland International Airport (PDX)
Duration: 6 hours, 10 minutes
Cabin and layout: Economy Plus, 3-3
Seats: 12A, 12B, and 12C
Cost: $1,060.17 per round-trip ticket with return to LaGuardia Airport (LGA) ($952.90 plus $107.27 in taxes and fees)

So here’s a little secret of mine: I actually kind of hate flying.

That’s probably not something you’d expect to hear from someone who’s been doing travel stories for decades and works for a website dedicated primarily to points-and-miles air travel. Still, it’s true: Where my colleagues seem to see planes as golden chariots waiting to whisk them away to exciting paradises just over the horizon, I see shabby flying buses where I have to pay for the privilege of squeezing into a polyester-covered cubbyhole and smelling strangers’ farts.

But it’s not entirely the airlines’ fault. I don’t like shelling out for higher-priced seats because I rarely fly alone, and paying for premium seats for the whole family adds up quickly. That means I usually fly in economy. Thanks to a skiing accident in graduate school, I was left with a lifelong aversion to falling down mountains and a crayon-length surgical scar on my knee that is at the exact right spot to be jammed against the seat in front of me in your typical economy airline seat. It can be painful throughout a flight, making my knee stiff and numb even after disembarking.

So when I knew I had an all-night flight across the country to Portland, Oregon, I realized it was finally time to open up the purse strings. I’d give premium economy a shot to see if it would be worth abandoning my cheapskate ways for the extra couple of inches of space it would give my bad knee.

Here’s what I discovered on my February 2025 Boeing 737 MAX 9 flight from Newark to Portland on United.

Booking United Airlines Premium Economy

I used AmexTravel.com to earn valuable Membership Rewards points and looked for flights that wouldn’t be too rough on us as a family traveling for several hours with a first grader. That led me to a nonstop afternoon flight from Newark that allowed him not to have to upend scheduled activities the day we left and still arrive in Portland within a reasonable window of his regular bedtime. On the way back, flying directly into New York City made sense. We arranged it as a connecting flight with a couple of hours at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), putting us back in Gotham at LaGuardia.

Once the routes were decided, I booked United Economy Plus seats for my wife, son, and myself via AmexTravel.com using The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express to earn 5x points.

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The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express

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The rating for this card has been determined by our own industry experts who know the ins and outs of credit card products. Bonuses, rewards as well as rates and fees are all taken into account. Compensation from the issuer does not affect our rating. We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse.

This card is ideal for business travelers who enjoy luxury travel and are looking for a card loaded with benefits!

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The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express

This card is ideal for business travelers who enjoy luxury travel and are looking for a card loaded with benefits!

Welcome Offer

Earn 150,000 Membership Rewards^® points after you spend $20,000 in eligible purchases on the Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership.

150,000 points

UP's Offer Valuation*:

Up to $3,300

Annual Fee

$695

APR

18.49% - 27.49% Variable

Credit Recommended

Upgraded Points credit ranges are a variation of FICO^®Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit cardapplication.

Good to Excellent

Why We Like This Card

The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express is a premium travel rewards card tailored toward business owners who are frequent travelers with a high number of annual expenses.

When you factor in the large number of perks that the card offers like the best airport lounge access at over 1,400 lounges, along with tons of annual credits, it’s easy to see why this card can is a top option for frequent traveling business owners.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• 5x Membership Rewards points per $1 on Flights and Prepaid Hotels booked through Amex Travel
• Access to over 1,400 worldwide airport lounges as part of the American Express Global Lounge Collection (as of 10/2024). Access is limited to eligible Card Members.
• Get 50% more Membership Rewards points (1.5 points per $1) on eligible purchases in key business categories, as well as on purchases of $5,000 or more (on up to $2 million per calendar year)

Cons

• High annual fee of $695 (rates & fees)
• Airline fee credit does not cover airfare, only incidentals like checked bags

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Card Highlights

• Welcome Offer: Earn 150,000 Membership Rewards^® points after you spend $20,000 in eligible purchases on the Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership.
• The American Express Global Lounge Collection^® can provide an escape at the airport. With complimentary access to more than 1,400 airport lounges across 140 countries and counting, you have more airport lounge options than any other credit card issuer on the market as of 10/2024. Access is limited to eligible Card Members.
• Unlock over $1,000 in statement credits on select purchases, including tech, recruiting and wireless in the first year of membership with the Business Platinum Card^®. Enrollment required. See how you can unlock over $1,000 annually in credits on select purchases with the Business Platinum Card^®.
• Fly like a pro with a $200 Airline Fee Credit. Select one qualifying airline to receive up to $200 back per year on baggage fees and other incidentals.
• NEW! Make the Business Platinum Card^® work even harder for you. Hilton For Business members get up to $200 back per calendar year when you make an eligible purchase at Hilton properties across the globe. Benefit enrollment required.
• Earn 5X Membership Rewards Points^® on Flights, and Prepaid Hotels Booked through AmexTravel.com
• 1X points on other eligible purchases
• Earn 1.5X points (that’s an extra half point per dollar) on each eligible purchase at US construction material, hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers, and software & cloud system providers, and shipping providers, as well as on purchases of $5,000 or more, on up to $2 million per Card Account per calendar year. Purchases eligible for multiple additional point bonuses will only receive the highest eligible bonus.
• $199 CLEAR^® Plus Credit: Use your card and get up to $199 in statement credits per calendar year on your CLEAR^® Plus Membership (subject to auto-renewal) when you use the Business Platinum Card^®.
• $695 Annual Fee.
• Terms Apply.

Financial Snapshot

• APR: 18.49% - 27.49% Variable
• Foreign Transaction Fees: None

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American Express Membership Rewards

Each fare came to $952.90 plus $107.27 in taxes and fees, for a total of $3,180.51.

At 5 Membership Rewards points per $1 spent via AmexTravel.com, I earned 15,902 points for this trip.

Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)

Check-In

After taking an Uber to EWR, we went straight to the check-in kiosks and printed out the tag for our checked trunk.

I’d already prepaid $35 for the checked bag online a few days before, so picking the tag up at the kiosk and dropping it a few yards away was quick and easy.

Security

My wife and I both have Clear membership thanks to a credit from my Amex Business Platinum card, but oddly, I was the only one of us whose ticket didn’t have a TSA PreCheck symbol. I had to go through the regular Clear security on the far side of the terminal instead of Clear Plus, but it only added 10 minutes to our journey through the airport.

The same thing with TSA PreCheck happened at PDX on the return flight, but a United staff member got the check to appear and printed out new tickets by reentering the same Known Traveler Number I’d originally entered.

Boarding

We made it to our gate, C132, with plenty of time to spare. There were no decent lounges we had access to nearby, so we hung out and did things like perusing the “Jersey Girls” tchotchkes in the Hudson News.

About 30 or 40 minutes before our scheduled boarding, a flight attendant got on the intercom and announced that boarding would be delayed because of snow. The plane, which had been on an international route, had to be checked, and the crew had to go through passport control. The crew was clear and transparent about the delay and what was going on.

Though it took a while to board this packed flight, everyone was relaxed and friendly with each other — no grumbling about the postponement.

On Board United Airlines’ 737 MAX 9

The Economy Plus cabin was in a 3-3 layout.

The overhead bin space was tight, as this flight was fully booked.

Once we hit cruising altitude, the crew hit the night lighting, which turned the cabin a vibrant blue, making it feel like we were floating in an aquarium. This was United, so the theme music to our safety video on departure was George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” too. I’m assuming the blue-blue thing was intentional.

Premium Economy Seats

Our seats, 12A, 12B, and 12C (I took the middle seat, as usual), were upholstered in faux leather with adjustable headrests and no amenities like pillows or blankets. However, a flight attendant came by later, offering people earbud headphones.

The seats had the same 18-inch width as standard economy seats but a whopping additional 4 inches of pitch — 35 inches to standard economy’s 31 inches. Unless I intentionally slouched down pretty far, my wonky knee didn’t come anywhere near getting banged against the seat in front of me. As soon as I sat down, I realized that paying a little extra for the extra legroom makes a ton of sense for me.

We had seatback inflight entertainment screens in front of us, but I was too busy enjoying the first few minutes of the flight just seeing how much I could wiggle my knees around without hitting my scar.

The tray table was a standard seatback tray, flipping down and extending out.

Food and Beverages

Paper menus were in the seatback pockets, and menus you could order from were on the seatback IFE screens.

There were the usual cheese-and-cracker offerings and the prices you’d expect as a captive on a flight, like $12 for a reheated cheeseburger.

Nips of liquor also ran around $9 to $12.

The drinks menu on the screen matched the hard copy of the menu, so there were no price-switch shenanigans here.

The flight attendants came by a couple of times with juices, water, and snacks, including pretzels, chocolate cookies, and stroopwafels.

Amenities

There wasn’t even a hint of a pillow or a blanket at our seats, but we enjoyed the inflight entertainment.

Inflight Entertainment

The IFE screen had a good, deep selection of TV and movies. I wasn’t dying to see “Venom: The Last Dance” or anything, but it was good to see movies that are less than a year old and classics like “The Godfather” on hand.

We had the option of pairing the screen to Bluetooth headphones.

As a parent, I appreciated that I could reach over my protesting child’s head and enable parental controls on their screen to limit the available content by age range.

Lavatories

Turbulence from the snowstorm hitting the East Coast just as we left EWR meant we were all belted in for a while. The premium economy toilet for our section suddenly became very popular as soon as the pilot dinged the seatbelt sign off once the weather smoothed out somewhere over the Midwest.

By the time I got to it, it had seem some things. Bits of tissue paper were stuck to the floor, which was spotted with unidentifiable drops of liquid. It clearly hadn’t been cleaned a couple of hours into our flight.

The panel under the sink had popped out and didn’t seem to show any willingness to pop back in, either.

Service

Though they could’ve done a more rigorous job maintaining the bathroom, the flight attendants were friendly and helpful. When I returned to the galley looking for snacks for my kid, they almost stuffed my pockets with treats.

One weird thing: Though the crewmember who’d told us about the delay had a clarion voice that was clear and easily heard, the crew who used the public announcement system on board were either the most soft-spoken airline staff I’d ever had or were dealing with a system that muffled their voices and made them sound like a 12-year-old practicing his Torah reading for the first time ahead of his bar mitzvah.

Arrival at Portland International Airport

We had a nice and easy landing in Portland and were greeted by the infamous PDX carpet — the new, unloved one, not the one that Portlanders buy framed for hundreds of dollars and put up on their walls like paintings or get tattoos of.

Our checked baggage showed up within minutes of us finding the carousel. We were on to the rental cars and let loose in Portland in less than an hour.

Hot Tip:

Lost in Portland? Check out our guide to getting around PDX airport, no matter what you feel about its carpet.

Final Thoughts

Did I leave the plane with a slightly sore back, like I always do? Sure. Were the bathrooms dirtier than they needed to be and the food underwhelming? Well, yeah.

But, let’s face it: I decided that paying for Economy Plus was worth it as soon as my derriere hit my premium economy seat without my knee scar scraping the literature pouch of the seat in front of me. So the bottom line is, would I fly premium economy on United again for a nonstop flight to the West Coast?

My knee says, “Hell, yeah.”