Onboard United's 787 inaugural, in our readers' words

United Airlines flew its inaugural passenger flight on the Boeing 787 "Dreamliner" amid great fanfare yesterday (Nov.4).

It should come as no surprise that several Today in the Sky readers were onboard that flight — United Flight 1116 — which officially put the jet into service for a U.S. airline for the first time. Several of those readers agreed to share both their photos and their accounts of the historic flight.

Scroll down to see three first-hand recaps from readers who were lucky enough to make it onto the flight.

Kris Van Cleave (Washington, D.C.)
In his words:

The airplane is amazing. It is SO quiet, the bigger windows add substantially more light giving the plane an "open" feeling that no airliner I've ever been on has. The overhead bins are fantastic … roller bags fit easily, and they are BIG. I love that I can fully stand up underneath the bins and not hit my head.

The flight was so much fun, it had a party atmosphere. (United CEO Jeff) Smisek must have talked to every passenger on the flight. People were out of their seats the entire flight — how the cabin crew managed to serve drinks and food is beyond me, but they did it with a smile.

I don't know if we were on the plane long enough to truly see the benefits of the pressurization, but it felt "fresher" while we were flying. The pilots were not messing around they flew fast and high (41,000 feet). … It was smooth. I'm thoroughly impressed with what Boeing built. Seeing the wing come up in the window is a little strange.

I think my favorite moment on board came chatting with Smisek. He had just come out of the bathroom and he excitedly tells me: 'You HAVE to try the lav!!' The bathroom is pretty much fully automated, he got a kick out of the self-flushing toilet. ... and the bathroom, complete with mood lighting was pretty cool."

The one thing I didn't love was how long it took the window to get really dark. Otherwise, I can't wait to get to fly it again.

Scott Shatzer (Chicago)
In his words:

The eight of us in our group are all aviation professionals and enthusiasts. We flew to Houston on various flights Saturday, arriving just in time to have dinner, sleep, turn around and experience the inaugural flight of the 787 Sunday morning.

We were so excited, we all found it a bit difficult to sleep. So we were up and on the hotel shuttle van at 5 a.m. It felt like we were kids going to Disney World for the first time, I guess.

The Dreamliner was just being towed into place at Gate E5 as the van drove by the highway. Ooohhhs and ahhhhs erupted from everyone upon our initial glance at the aircraft, (which could barely) be seen in the dark.

Once inside IAH (Houston Bush Intercontinental), there was a special greeter waiting to welcome everyone on Flight 1116 into a special security line. So we were on our way through the checkpoint , followed by a quick stop at Starbucks for coffee. One of our guys, Jeff Lee, was too excited to see it that he skipped coffee and kept walking down to the gate …. where he found an entire continental breakfast buffet waiting for us, along with a banner-backed stage, balloons and a level of excitement that would make you forget it was only about 5:30 a.m. at that point!

The cameras came out and our group began lining up in front of anything we could find which said 787 or United or Dreamliner or just the gate ticket counter itself. After short welcome from United's CEO, Jeff Smisek, we were ready for boarding. That was completed — as I recall — within about 15 minutes prior to scheduled departure time: 07:20 CT.

This just provided more time on board to take pictures for the approximately 220 passengers, many of whom were media or United employees who had bought seats on the first flight. Of course, there also were others of us — such as myself — who just wanted to be a part of this historical and very memorable event.

In short, the 787 Dreamliner was as they say "well worth the wait" in every way — including significant advances in technology and the most progressive in for overall passenger comfort. And, as someone who loves aviation, it is simply the best-looking aircraft on the ground — so look for one soon at an airport near you!

Chris Sloan (Miami)
Chris has a much more detailed account at his Airchive.com site, but he agreed to share following snippet with us. For Chris' full account, be sure to visit his post at Airchive.com.

In Chris' own words:

At 7:54AM, United CEO Jeff Smisek came up from the back (yes, he was seated in Economy) and led a champagne toast, which was met with cheers. The seat-belt sign came off briefly, albeit as the crew began their service. The LED lighting changed from the light blue cruising hue to a warm orange-ish tone, which supposedly accentuates the appearance of food.

Apart from the commemorative Dreamliner souvenirs, first-flight certificates, and cute custom 787 cookies, the service was fairly normal. In Business Class, we were offered tasty Egg McMuffins or cereal with fruit, yogurt, and croissants. In Economy, Buy-on-board meals were offered. The eight flight attendants (there will be 11 flight attendants on international flights) who had specially bid this trip conducted a gracious, proud service while navigating around what had turned into an airborne party.