On June 29th, United Airlines officially revealed its stunning Boeing 737 MAX 8 to the public.
Put on display at a special event at the airline’s Newark Liberty hub, United begins flying the
jet this month. Simple Flying had the opportunity to check out the aircraft’s brand new interior
at the unveiling. Let’s take a look at what it has to offer...
The first thing to note is that the aircraft is outfitted with room for 166 passengers
in a two-class configuration. There are 16 recliner-style seats in first class laid out
in a 2-2 configuration. The biggest change for passengers is the fact
that there is now seatback entertainment onboard. Those seated in the premium cabin will have
a 13-inch touchscreen, something that might be useful for those longer flights.
Further back, United has installed 54 extra-legroom seats sold as “Economy Plus.” These seats
offer a couple extra inches of legroom compared to standard economy. Passengers here will
also benefit from seatback screens and have easy access to power outlets and USB charging.
Legroom in economy plus seems to be in line with what most airlines offer in an extra-legroom
product onboard a narrowbody aircraft. Moving back to regular economy, there are
96 standard seats. Like Economy Plus, these seats are also in a 3-3 configuration and
feature access to power, seatback entertainment, and WiFi.
As might be expected, the legroom is a little tighter back here. However, it is still in
line with what most airlines offer onboard narrowbodies for short- and medium-haul flying.
One huge initiative taken by United is updating the interiors and offering larger overhead
bins. United claims that it will now be able to offer every passenger onboard space for
their bag. These larger bins can each take up to six full-size carry-on bags.
Perhaps most exciting on the new MAX 8 is the return of seatback entertainment. After
ditching seatback screens for streaming on personal devices, United Airlines is bringing
back the popular passenger-friendly amenity. Toby Enqvist, Chief Customer Officer and Executive
Vice President at United stated the following on the so-called “halo effect” seatback
screens provide: “What we’ve seen in our research is that
it provides this “halo effect.” Everything gets better. The food gets better, the seat
comfort gets better, just because we’ve got those screens.”
Another huge bonus for passengers is that United Airlines is the first, and so far only,
US airline that is updating its inflight entertainment system to handle Bluetooth pairing. This will
allow passengers to connect their own headphones or wireless earbuds to the aircraft’s inflight
entertainment system. United begins flying the Boeing 737 MAX 8
from July 15th- flying to cities such as Houston, Newark, and Las Vegas in its initial runs.
The airline expects to expand the MAX 8’s reach in the carrier’s network, meaning
that additional schedule changes are possible. The jet will certainly be a passenger favorite-
especially when compared to the airline’s current aircraft and their older interiors.
Therefore, if you have a choice of aircraft when flying United, we would recommend picking
the MAX 8. Although future MAX 9 jets will have these new interiors, we should note that
the MAX 9 does not currently have these features. What do you think about United’s Boeing
737 MAX 8 and its new interior? Let us know in the comments!