My review covers both EWR and Fiumicino, Rome airports, therefore I posted this review to both United EWR and Fiumicino, Rome airports. I used to fly every 2 weeks from EWR, JFK or LGA on business before I moved from New Jersey to Delaware in 2021. These days I mostly fly from IAD or DCA. This time I decided to fly out of EWR to Athens, Greece (ATH) because of the nonstop flight to ATH and at a competitive price compared to one stop flights. My past experiences with one stop's has caused me to choose this UA124 787 nonstop from EWR to ATH and my return UA509 777 nonstop Rome, Italy (FCO) to EWR. This was my first time flying a newer 787, which is a very nice widebody aircraft. UA124 was full. The older 777 is larger and more comfortable compared to the slightly smaller, more energy efficient 787. UA124 was on schedule. UA124 flight attendants provided exceptional service.
I had my usual premier platinum aisle seat with extra leg room because I am 6' 2" tall. UA124 departed and arrived on time. I took a taxi from ATH to my ATH Grand Hyatt hotel. I checked into my UA509 return flight from FCO to EWR on my mobile phone. Check in at FCO International Terminal 3 also went smoothly including my United Airline check in and bag drop. FCO TSA also went smoothly. FCO Terminal 3 is quite large with many high end duty free shops and the E gates. We had to take a tram to our E38 gate. About one hour prior to our departure UA509 changed our E gate, which was in the same E gate area. My UA509 departure was delayed by about 45 minutes due to the incoming aircraft delay. I was in Group 1 for boarding, but there were many other passengers who were also in Group 1 for boarding. Again I had my premier platinum aisle seat with no customer sitting next to me, which made me feel more comfortable. Again the UA509 flight attendants provided exceptional service during the flight. We picked up some time flying from FCO to EWR.
Customs clearance was smooth at EWR. Baggage delivery took some time especially since it took some time for our luggage to arrive at the baggage carousel even though I am lifetime premier platinum. My roundtrip airfare was $1,814, which I thought was quite expensive. Overall I was happy with both my UA124, UA509 flights and my experiences at EWR, ATH and FCO. I rated United Airlines only three stars, since FCO did not have a United Club for us to enjoy while waiting for our delayed return flight at FCO to EWR. The newest United Club at EWR was very enjoyable. Also our return flight from FCO to EWR was delayed and our luggage arrived later than many others at EWR. More to come regarding our EWR Parking Spot self parking and our return home. Vacation is over. read more