Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth are some of the
biggest metro areas in the United States and are located in close proximity to each other
at just 240 miles apart. While there is talk of Texas Central building a high-speed rail line
between the two cities, that’s still a long time away from completion. So, your only two options
of travel between these two cities are to drive or to fly. No one in their right mind would fly
solely between Dallas and Houston or vice versa but while leaving Dallas
, I had to first catch a
flight to Houston where I’d connect onto an onward flight to Orlando. This video will cover the short
45-minute flight between Texas’ two largest metro areas onboard the United Express Embraer 175.
It’s just after 4:20 in the morning and I’m here at DFW Airport’s Terminal E. My friend
was headed directly back to Chicago on Spirit but the TSA lines on this end of Terminal E
were just horrendous. I didn’t get any clips but take my word for it, those were some
of the w
orst TSA lines I’ve ever seen. So, I had an idea to head over to the other side of
Terminal E’s landside, where United Airlines’ check-in area is, in hopes that the TSA
lines wouldn’t be as bad. Sure enough, this side of the terminal was near deserted and
we cleared TSA PreCheck in a record two minutes. Now my friend’s flight to Chicago was at 6 a.m.
while my flight to Houston wasn’t until 8:30 so we both just sort of chilled out at Gate E11 for an
hour or so. Once my friend went off to his
gate, I decided to head up to the SkyLink station
for a bit to see what was up. Sure enough, looking directly in front, I could see the
aircraft that I’d be flying in a couple of hours alongside some other United aircraft
that had also arrived the night before. After some time, I decided to head toward my gate
and spend the next two or so hours there. United operates out of gates E4-E9 at DFW and there’s
really no shortage of food and retail options throughout the terminal. I got some on-a
nd-off
sleep while waiting for boarding to be called. This morning I’m on the 8:30 departure to Houston
but there are two earlier Houston departures before us. There’s a 5:25 CRJ-900 flight and this
one here, the 7:00 am flight 2670 operated by the 737-700. Now yes, I could have taken either of
these flights but I opted for the 8:30 departure since it’s on the Embraer 175 which is an aircraft
type that I haven’t flown on in the United fleet. Not long after the 737 departs, our aircraft gets
towed into the gate from the remote stands. United Express operates over 200 Embraer 175s spread
across three regional subsidiaries: SkyWest, Republic Airways, and the airline operating our
flight today, Mesa Airlines. Mesa operates 80 175s for United Express and this will not only
be my first flight on a United 175 but also my first Mesa Airlines-operated flight. Boarding
was called on time and I boarded without issue in Group 3. A small detail that I noticed is
that United boards their
regional jet flights only 25 minutes before departure whereas
American boards 30 minutes beforehand. Now there are various configurations across the
United Express Embraer 175s. 68 planes (and a further 29 on order) have 70 seats while the
remaining 139 planes have 76 seats such as the one we’re flying today. There are even more slight
variations in seating but the plane we’re on today has 12 First Class seats, 32 Economy Plus seats,
and just 26 standard Economy seats. This morning, I’ll be
seated in 20D and right off the bat,
you’ll notice that these seats are pretty bare-bones but nonetheless have relatively good
padding. The seatback features a literature pocket on top wiat a safety card, Hemispheres magazine,
and an air sickness bag. There’s a tray table, netted seat pocket, and pretty average legroom.
Above the seat are the air vents, call buttons, and reading lights. The 175s do not feature power
outlets but they do have onboard WiFi through which you can access the str
eaming entertainment
among other features but the flight was too short to really enjoy this amenity. Now even though this
aircraft had spent the night in Dallas, some parts of the cabin were filthy but then again, this
was a kind of hard-to-reach area by the sidewall. While taxiing out, we get a nice view of the
other regional jet type operated by Mesa Airlines: the Bombardier CRJ-900. What’s crazy is that not
too long ago, these planes were operating flights from right here in DFW for Amer
ican Eagle.
Long story short, American cut ties with Mesa and so they began operating flights for United
Express out of hubs like Houston and Denver. Because of the short flight, there was no proper
snack service however the crew were constantly coming through the cabin offering water cups or
coffee. I also noticed that unlike the American Eagle E170s and 175s, these United Express
ones have extendable tables. But one drawback of the United 175s is the seat itself.
Unlike what I’m used to
on American Eagle, there are no adjustable headrests and the
seat on United Express is much thinner so it’s definitely less comfortable overall.
Also, I couldn’t help but get this shot of some smudges or whatever on the overhead panels.
Nothing too serious but I can imagine it could probably make some feel uneasy. Because
of some weather buildup near Houston, the seatbelt sign came on early due to
turbulence, signaling it was time to descend. So here’s a fun fact, Houston isn’t among the to
p
ten busiest domestic routes from DFW. However, DFW was the sixth-busiest domestic destination
served from Houston Intercontinental in 2023. Our approach today brought us in from the
northwest as we flew past the airport on downwind before eventually turning base and
then coming in to land on RWY 26L. The cloud ceiling was surprisingly low this morning,
making for quite a thrilling approach. My ticket cost a total of $300, however, this
was part of a multi-city itinerary from Chicago to D
allas to Orlando. I had $293 worth of credit
from two canceled trips which I was able to use towards this trip and just pay the remaining
$7. So, overall, this was a good flight, what else can I say, 45 minutes within Texas,
there’s not much you can ask for. Would I choose United’s E175 over American’s, though, absolutely
not, unless I had no other choice. This verdict simply comes down to the hard product. The
seats on the United Express version are thin and lack amenities like headrests a
nd power
outlets, both of which are found on American Eagle in addition to a much comfier seat.
Because we arrived quite early, our arrival gate was understandably still occupied so we
sat on the taxiway for about 20 minutes until the gate opened up. United Express flights
in Houston operate from this ground level portion of Terminal B which feels a lot like a
bus station but I thought it was pretty cool, especially with the ramp boarding. Well,
this seems like a good part to end the video,
I’ll be in Houston for about two hours before
catching a very special flight to Orlando that I can’t wait to share with you very soon. If you’re
still there, thanks a lot for watching today and I hope you enjoyed today’s video. Until I see you
next time, stay safe, take care, and goodbye.
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