Once one of the world’s largest operators of the 757-200, United Airlines is slowly saying goodbye to the type. Gone are the airline’s original PW2000-powered examples, with only the RB.211-powered ex-Continental Airlines airframes still in service. Gone are many of the transcontinental and transatlantic routes, replaced by the 737 MAX and A321neo, and soon the A321XLR, too. However, the 757-200 has not yet had its curtain call with UA, with the type operating on a number of unique routes that require the Boeing twinjet’s unique combination of capacity, range, and power, such as a the roughly seven and a half-hour journey from Denver (a hot and high airport in the summer if ever there was one) to Lihue, a popular tourist destination on the island of Kauai. This particular route is also United’s longest domestic flight with the 757-200 and I reckon it’s a good way to get back into flying the 757 with the airline.
Server: Solo
Airline: United Airlines
Aircraft: Boeing 757-200 (Evo Blue)
Origin: Denver International Airport, Denver, Colorado (DEN)
Destination: Lihue Airport, Lihue, Hawaii (LIH)
Flight Number: UA2307
Route: KDEN-PHLI
Seat: 4F (Polaris)
Time En Route: 7 Hours 34 Minutes
Getting ready to board at Gate B37 on a warm day in Denver. Although the 757-200 is no longer as frequent a sight at DEN as it was even a few years ago, the type still maintains a respectable schedule of transcontinental and hub-to-hub flights out of the Mile High City. As an aside, Denver, not Chicago, is United’s busiest hub, due to the airport’s central location a bit over halfway between the East and West Coasts and the large amount of mainline and regional flights from them and everywhere in between.
Due to Denver International Airport being the largest airport in the U.S. and the second-largest in the world by size, taxi times can often be long. Fortunately for us, we didn’t really have to try and merge with one of the conga lines of aircraft so common on DEN’s taxiways, although we can’t say for sure if we’re not now heading a procession ourselves. Even if we were stuck in line, we’ve got a good seat to be stuck in, one of 16 Polaris lie-flat seats that United has equipped its 757-200s with. It’s currently the only narrowbody with Polaris seats installed.
A combination of high field elevation and a heavy payload means we’re treated to a full-power RB.211 takeoff from Runway 16R. The distinctive buzzsaw sound is intense enough that we can feel it in our seat. Kauai, here we come!
Climbing over the Front Range as we head for our cruising altitude of 32,000 feet. The Rolls-Royces have been throttled back to climb thrust, so the cabin no longer sounds like a sawmill. Time to settle back in our seat for the ride to Lihue!
Cruising over Concord, California, with Suisun Bay below us. Business class on United’s 757-200s is a rare experience in terms of the hard product these days, with the lie-flat 2-2-configured seats harkening back to an older era in air travel. The seats themselves are extremely comfortable, like an the inside of an old, well-worn glove that has gone from being soft and smooth, to becoming rough with use, and finally turning the corner to being soft again. It’s a common theme in United and Delta’s 757 premium cabins, possibly due in part to the knowledge that these aircraft are getting up in years and they’re always going to feel somewhat venerable, no matter how many cabin upgrades they go through. As for the service, we had a light snack shortly after leveling off that was served promptly and warmly by the cabin crew. We haven’t had the opportunity to evaluate the dining options, but we’ll be getting around to that soon enough.
We’re about halfway across the Pacific between California and Hawaii with hardly a cloud in the sky. We had lunch about an hour ago. The food was decent enough, but the presentation could’ve been just a bit better. However, if that’s the worst thing to happen on this flight, then it’ll have been a very good one.
Descending over Oahu as we approach Kauai. It’s really only from the air that one realizes just how much of Hawaii’s most populous island is concentrated in the capital, with fields and forests dominating its northern half. Transiting the airspace over the island can be something of controlled chaos due to both traffic out of HNL and Air Force, Air National Guard, and Marine Corps aircraft flying out of Hickam (shared facilities with HNL) and Kaneohe Bay.
Afternoon arrival on Runway 35. Our flight crew performed perhaps the smoothest landing we’ve had with United, gently touching down before deploying the thrust reversers for a gradual deceleration. After just over seven and a half hours airborne, we’re in Lihue!
Taxiing to the passenger terminal by the FedEX ramp, with the Atlantic Aviation FBO in the background. Lihue sees a surprisingly large number of business jets, mostly Globals, Gulfstreams, and the occasional Falcon heavy jet, but super-midsize Challengers and Citations will occasionally visit, although they’ve generally made a fuel stop in Honolulu. One of the large-cabin business jets on the ramp today is a Jet Edge G550 we’ve seen before at Van Nuys, the striking N550NM.
Deplaned at Gate 9 in Lihue while the ground crews begin readying our aircraft for the return journey to Denver. With the news that United is about to take delivery of its first A321XLR, the writing is on the wall for United’s 757 fleet, and flying on them is becoming an increasingly-large priority for us. Flying on one today to Lihue from Denver instead of taking a 737 MAX from San Francisco or Los Angeles was very enjoyable, and we plan on being back aboard a UA 757 in the near future.
