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Last Notes

2026-10-29 03:21:14 UTC

United A321XLR economy review: It’s gonna be a no from me, dawg
Those of you in search of a United A321XLR economy review that concludes with the author waxing poetic about how “game changing” it is should probably skip this one. Not only does it end on a sour note, I started veering towards doom and despair not even halfway into it.
It was basically one of the most uncomfortable economy experiences I’ve ever had on a long haul aircraft.
The seats are incredibly hard
Legroom is atrocious
I couldn’t even get the headrest in a position that didn’t make me feel like it was pushing my head forward
The video screens are real nice though. And the stripes on the seats are pretty cool. But I ain’t doing that again.
UA444
San Diego, CA (SAN) – Washington, DC (IAD)
Saturday, October 10, 2026
Aircraft: A321XLR
Registration: N64322
Duration: 4 hours 33 minutes
Seat: 40A (Economy)
United Airlines Airbus A321XLR side view illustration by NorebboStock.com
Our route from San Diego to Washington Dulles this afternoon as UA444 (with a pretty sweet looking bounce off Ciudad Juárez).
My full review of United Airlines A321XLR economy class from San Diego to Washington DC (IAD)
I had actually booked a seat in premium economy for this flight. Upon checking in, I was disappointed to see that I had been booted all the way back (past Economy Plus) to basic economy. Frick.
They said it was due to an “equipment change”, which was total BS since it was an XLR at the time of booking. At least they had the decency to refund me the difference in price within 10 minutes of landing at IAD.
Checking in at SAN
With a 12:45 PM scheduled departure time, I had plenty of time to get to the airport. I arrived at 10:26 AM with the plan of grabbing a hearty early lunch, knowing full well that it was going to be slim pickin’s in regard to food and drink once on the plane.
Welcome to “DELTA UNITED” territory at the San Diego International Airport!
One needs to be cautious in these parts. DELTA UNITED is fiercely protective of its territory, and getting caught up in crossfire between them and AMERICAN ALASKA could put an end to this A321XLR economy review before it even begins.
A quick drive-by of the United Airlines baggage drop and check-in area here at SAN while on my way to the security checkpoint. These gang-related references are kind of fun BTW. I wonder if I can keep it going for the entire review?
Gangs of people killing time before their flight. This is too easy!
And there she is. An aircraft so fresh and new that even the refueler had to Google ‘how to refuel a321xlr’. He looks to be on step 3 at about this point.
When the AI overview sends you astray.
“The fuel filler door is over there under the wing, bud.”
It was hard to see exactly, but I think this guy was straight up asking Chat GPT ‘wtf is an xlr?’
Meanwhile, back in the gate area, nobody seemed to care about the XLR thing. People who book flights based on price and schedule alone (and not how hot / fresh / exciting the aircraft type is) are weird.
The boarding process
The pessimist in me was expecting a delayed boarding process (you know, because of that whole “new aircraft type” thing). These A321XLRs had only been in service for two weeks at the time of this flight, and we were still watching the ground crew learn all of its quirks and features in real time.
Pressure is on. I’ve got but minutes to figure out the DELTA UNITED gang sign that’ll earn me two things. First: the premium economy seat that I had originally booked. Second (and most importantly): respect.
I’m happy to report that there were no delays with the boarding process. It started exactly on time, exactly when they said it would. No delays or hiccups. Bravo!
The gang sign didn’t work BTW. My dorky ass is still headed straight back to basic economy, just as my boarding pass indicated the moment I checked in this morning.
The worst part? I get to spend the next 4 1/2 hours worrying that they’ve put a hit out on me for accidentally flashing a rival gang sign.
Whoa. These business class seats look pretty nice! At least nice enough to distract me from the fact that I may be getting popped upon deplaning at IAD this evening.
Premium economy. That window seat (in the second row on the right) was the seat I had reserved when booking this flight. It hurts more than you know being deemed unsuitable for PE gang life.
Economy Plus. The fact that this is picture number 3 of the interior so far and I haven’t even got to my seat yet tells you everything to know about how poopy it has the potential of being when I get there.
United A321XLR economy class cabin and seat overview
There are 118 seats in United A321XLR economy, arranged in a typical 3-3 layout. Legroom is abysmal. Have you ever flown United 737-900ER economy? It ain’t any more spacious than that.
I have arrived at row 40. Hurray! No poop!
It’s important to know that there is very little padding in these seats. While I consider that to be somewhat acceptable for an aircraft which is limited to shorter domestic US routes, it’s downright insulting for an aircraft assigned to long haul international flying.
“Oh. I see. Maybe this is kinda poopy.” For those of you who don’t speak pre-teen, “poopy” in this case means very narrow (and very hard) seats with an abysmal amount of legroom.
The haphazardly placed backpack under the seat in front of me? Highly indicative of how quickly I gave up trying to fit it under there. Shit’s tight.
The lady in 40F didn’t even bother trying to cram her stuff under the seat. I admire her keen sense of situational awareness.
These seats feature huge video screens, USB-C charging ports, and full size 110 V electrical outlets.
She did miss the fact that there are 110 V electrical outlets down here however. See? All that cramming and stuffing was not in vain!
Large video screens? Or small video screens that appear large due to how close they are to your face? Yes.
At least the seat back pockets are easy to reach. “What else has this thing got?”
Come to find out, it got one of the smallest safety cards I’ve ever seen on a commercial aircraft. Airbus has just as much confidence in the A321XLR as the designers of the Titanic had in their ship it seems.
The departure from San Diego
The odds were against us in the moments leading up to departure. Not only was this a brand-new aircraft type (which the ground crew was still unfamiliar with), it was raining. Which, if you know anything about San Diego, always causes a ruckus.
“Slide the metal end into the buckle, and place the belt low and tight against your lap. Tighten it further to experience the thrill of being sliced in half (rather than crushed by the seat in front of you) if and when we accidentally plow into the side of the Rocky Mountains at 500 mph.”
Of all the ways to go out, being crushed by an A321XLR economy seat did sound more appealing than getting popped in the jet bridge at IAD. I loosened my seatbelt and hoped for the best as we pushed off the gate.
“What does XLR mean? And why is the guy sitting next to me so excited about it?
Despite the potential for delays, they were able to get us off the gate two minutes early. The joke was on us, however, as we were number 16 for departure (ultimately delaying our takeoff time by 37 minutes).
Glancing down on AMERICAN ALASKA territory while ripping off runway 27. Looks peaceful from way up here, but the war with DELTA UNITED rages on.
In-flight entertainment
By far the best thing of this entire A321XLR economy experience was the in-flight entertainment situation.
The welcome screen. “Well, welcome right back at ya!” I said, feeling honored to be noticed and appreciated.
And I don’t even care that it identified me as “40A” instead of “Scott”. I’ll take whatever I can get these days.
The video screens are humongous. Maybe 16 inches? Sure looked like it. And not only that, the resolution was bonkers (in a good way). These are very high-definition screens. These screens made the ones that I recently experienced in United 787-9 Premium Plus look dated by comparison.
The size and resolution of the screen were impressive enough, but it was the soft glowing light bar underneath it that got me to raise an eyebrow and nod my head. It’s a neat little design detail.
I very much appreciated the free Starlink Wi-Fi. It was super fast and rock solid for the entire duration of the flight.
Heck yeah! Free Starlink Wi-Fi!
I should’ve used that high-speed Internet access to order a counter-hit on my IAD assassin, but I was unable to resist all of the content in the United app right here on my phone. And look! They identified me by name this time. *feels seen*
Food and drinks
This was a domestic flight, so no meals were served. It was snacks and drinks only (with snack boxes available for purchase).
These XLRs will spend most of their time flying medium to long haul international routes however, and hot meals will be served in economy class. It won’t be much, but it’ll be enough to keep you alive until you reach your destination.
A slight break in the action while our trusty airline reviewer mulls over the snack options on today’s flight.
And for those of you complaining how long this little break in the action is taking, just take a look at how many options I had to mull over. One bad decision could ruin the entire flight.
Lots of potentially bad decisions here on the drink menu. Be careful y’all.
All that hemming and hawing only to end up with a can of lemonade and a little bag of snack mix? I didn’t pay extra for any of this however, so I guess that counts for something.
Enjoying the hell out of the thought of my IAD assassin being disgusted by the mix of lemonade and pretzel slime gushing out of the belly wound.
“God this guy is so weird.”
Seat recline and comfort
These seats were the most uncomfortable long haul economy seats that I have ever experienced. Padding is extremely minimal. There is no lumbar support. And even I (a scrawny dork who stands no taller than 5’-10”) found the legroom to be borderline unacceptable.
Looks pretty cozy and nice back here doesn’t it? What you can’t see is my lower back giving the seat (and this entire economy class cabin actually) the middle finger.
The seat recline isn’t even worth mentioning. Yeah, it’ll go back a couple inches. But that’s it.
Nope. There was nothing I could do to make this seat comfortable. I can’t remember if I was adjusting the headrest here, or attempting to rip it out of the seat entirely.
It wasn’t total doom and gloom however. That light bar under the video screen that I showed you earlier? The way in which it softly illuminates the tray table gave me a sliver of pleasure. “Gee, that’s pretty neat” I said, as I squirmed around in my seat trying to find a position that didn’t hurt.
The descent and arrival into Washington Dulles
The cabin crew came through the cabin about an hour and 10 minutes prior to landing with another round of drinks. No snacks though. I think it was their way of subtly persuading us to upgrade to premium economy next time.
I resisted the urge to raise a finger and remind her of my original intentions for this flight.
I’d imagine it was right about this moment that air traffic control started panicking. “WTF is an XLR? And why is it coming straight at us?!”
Welcome to Washington Dulles!
We touched down on runway 01L 26 minutes until late at 9:05 PM. It was a nine minute taxi over to gate D5, and we were attached to the jet bridge at 9:14 PM. It couldn’t have come a minute sooner IMHO. I was hurtin’.
The lemonade and pretzels began to churn in my belly as we inched our way into gate D5. This could be it, folks.
Long story short: the hand position required to unbuckle a United A321XLR seatbelt is actually the same as the gang sign for clearing innocent suburban white guys like me of any wrongdoing. I get to live!
Those of you hoping to see a bloody end to an airline review needn’t wait long. My big mouth (and awkward hands) will get me into trouble eventually.
Pros and cons of the United Airlines A321XLR economy experience
If there’s one thing to learn from this entire review, it’s that you absolutely want to avoid the A321XLR on any long haul international route if you’re flying economy. It just hurts.
Pros
The video screens are straight up amazing. Their huge size combined with the pin sharp resolution makes them the best video screens I have ever experienced in economy class on any airline.
The soft glowing nightlight under the video screen is a handy (and good looking) feature.
The seats may not feel good, but they sure do look nice. I’m digging the racing stripes.
Cons
It should be illegal to make a long haul economy class seats this hard.
Legroom is borderline criminal as well. Anyone over 6 feet tall is going to be absolutely miserable within 10 minutes of sitting down.
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