Dubai: March 2023: Day 4: DXB-EWR inaugural

Dubai

March 2023: Day 4: DXB-EWR inaugural

Plaza Premium Lounge inside Terminal 3.

United's inaugural DXB-EWR flight set for a 1:55am departure.

More seating, buffet/food to the right.

Salad and desserts.

Desserts. Did not actually try.

Falafel was excellent.

About 80 minutes before, they started admitting people to the lower waiting area.

Pin from yesterday's EWR-EXB inaugural flight.

The words "inaugural flight" on the displays and a pair of photographers were about the only sign it was anything special.

Way less swag on the return inaugural.

Everyone gets a special postcard, that's about it. No stuffed animal or anything else.

Economy bulkhead row.

Slumming it in premium economy.

Close-up of the swag.

"Home" for the next 13 hours and 59 minutes of flight time.

Temporary storage of Polaris bedding in row 20 (Premium Economy).

Same flight attendants as yesterday's inaugural flight.

Chicken today was not as good as yesterday.

Salad was about the same as yesterday.

Portions were reportedly 30% larger than normal?

Mid-flight snack is slightly more appetizing than yesterday's.

Wine in Polaris.

Breakfast, aka pre-arrival meal.

Seven blueberries!

Pancakes were okay.

Almost done wiht the 6861 mile (great circle route) flight-- 7,213 miles actual.

Almost there...

The inaugural flight attendants (along with one of the co-pilots) for both EWR-DXB and DXB-EWR.

Properly posed.

Newark Airport has a bunch of pianos, I suspect the violinist brought his own.

Basketball hoop setup to celebrate March Madness.

Oatmeal for breakfast at the United Club.

Breakfast sandwiches before they go into the oven.

View of the bar.

And the view of the tarmac from the same place.

Still catering the plane when they called boarding. They also forgot to plug the plane in. Oops.

Old tired B/E Diamond seats.

Substantial ravioli on EWR-LAX in domestic first class.

Ice cream sundaes are back.

I-5 running top left to bottom center, I-605 running left center to top right.

I-110 from top to bottom right, I-105 running horizontally.

Close-up of I-105/I-110 interchange.

I-405 running top to bottom, I-105 from left to right.

With a 1:55am departure, there was time to hit the Plaza Premium Lounge, one floor directly below the Marhaba Lounge, before tonight's departure. Food was much better here, with some tasty falafel, although sadly not a lot of time to enjoy it before (unnecessarily) running off to the gate

As tonight's departure was also an inaugural flight, everyone arrived early to the gate in anticipation of more ceremony. In reality there was nothing aside from the regular flight display with the words "inaugural flight" added, and a pair of photographers. No media, no speeches, no balloons, no VPs, although Senior Vice President Patrick Quayle was supposedly at the airport from the employees we talked to. Herded from the the gate to the lower holding area/waiting room/secondary security screening, then back on to the same airplane with the same flight crew for the return inaugural home. Less swag on board as well, just a commemorative card and nothing else.

As expected, the return flight took a bit longer due to winds (14:28 total travel time, 13:59 fight time). Meal portions also seemed ample, we heard that they were 30% larger than normal for the inaugurals? The chicken breast tonight was not as good as yesterday's chicken, although thankfully it was still properly cooked instead of being overcooked, dry, and inedible. Mid-flight sandwich was smaller than yesterday's but also more edible looking, while the pre-arrival meal of pancakes was unsuprisingly so-so in premium economy.

At least the flight crew-- hand-picked as they were-- was great on both flights, and Thomas, who talks even more than Carl, managed to convince the crew to stick around after arrival in Newark for one last photo.

Arrival in EWR, aside from the group photo, was completely uneventful. Saw a pair of musicians taking advantage of one of the many pianos in Terminal C, a bunch of players on the basketball hoop setup in celebration of NCAA March Madness, and managed some more edible food at the new-ish United Club by gate C123. The wrapped up the relatively long layover with one last flight back home. Bit of a crazy weekend, but inaugural flights are always fun!