Boeing 737-800 (738) Layout 2

AVOID ROW 7!! The bulkhead after Business and in front of the first row of econ plus goes all the way to the floor, making this worse than a regular Economy seat for legroom.

The last (fourth) row of First Class has limited-recline seats, despite the "standard First Class seat"" designation on the seat map.

All aisle seats have restricted leg room under the seat in front due to positioning of the seat attachment bracket. Available space (about 12-14 inches) is narrower than the seat itself and skewed toward the aisle. This prevents the passenger from sitting straight in the seat. Very uncomfortable. Applies to Economy Plus seats as well.

This Economy Plus seat is not worth it. The bulkhead directly in front of you means there's no place to stretch your feet or store your bags. While as a technical matter, there might be a few more inches of "pitch" here, there's more legroom in any regular economy seat. And the seat width here is slightly reduced by the in-armrest tray tables.

Avoid!! United is now flying these retrofitted Continental?? B737-800 torture machines "overseas"- back and forth between the west coast and the Hawaiian Islands. ??The Boeing 737 is the slowest commercial aircraft in the skies, creating a painful 5 1/2 to 6 hour flight, 30 minutes longer than flying on a widebody like Hawaiian's Boeing 767. United isn't alone- Alaska, American, Southwest and Delta all conspire to wedge passengers into these slow slugs on too lengthy of segments. Thanks to Southwest, the single aisle has unfortunately become common with long flights on domestic airlines, but United is one of the few still pulling out 300 pound, solid steel drink carts during the flight, highly restricting access from front to back, sometimes clipping elbows of those somehow sleeping in aisle seats. That is a feat unto itself, as the cheap metal under the floor buckles everytime somebody walks by. United's "Recaro" seats are the most uncomfortable thing that you'll ever sit on, a chiropractor's dream. Width is an issue- two men shoulder to shoulder don't fit. But the very worst thing was United's (or Continental's) decision to remove the mid-aircraft bathroom, to add even more seats. So there are just two lavs in the far rear for 150 people on a 6 hour flight- one lav for each 75 passengers- who are served beverages three times. Its not nearly enough. They wont allow coach passengers to use the first class bathroom, saved just for the crew and 16 lucky elite passengers. There are lines constantly in back, and the flight crews turn on the seat belt sign at almost any sign of light bumps. The traffic up and down the aisle is constant- and passengers have difficulty fitting past one another without rubbing up against each other or invading the tiny space of the aisle seats. This is particularly ridiculous throughout the last 3 or 4 rows of seats. Advice- fly on a different aircraft for all but the shortest flights (i.e., 2 hours or less). If you get stuck on one of these across the country or to Hawaii, grab a window seat toward the front and don't drink anything.

Be VERY careful in the 4 row first class versions of the 737 800 series UA uses, if it started life as a continental jet you will find that row 4 in first has ZERO recline

Worst legroom I have ever experienced on an airplane! I have a hard time believing the pitch was even 30". To use my laptop and have the screen angled so I could see it, the keyboard was jammed up to my chest. Only a sadist could have designed this. (FWIW, I'm just 5'10" so no long legs -- can't imagine how someone taller deals with this.) By contrast, the legroom on the other flights I took on this trip -- a CRJ200, CJR700 and B739 -- was fine.

Legroom (30" pitch) is the worst I've encountered outside of AirAsia (a budget airline with short flights). United should not be operating 4+ hour flights with equipment like this.

This seat seemed pretty nice. It was wide enough and comfortable. There wasn't that much legroom but it was enough and the seat seemed wide enough.