halls120

What sCO routes currently flown by 777s will lose those birds? In favor of what - 787s?

uastarflyer

The vision is no more sUA. Starting with its widebody fleet. Airbii will hang in a bit longer.

These 744s will be trashed in the desert.

The DOJ was 3 years too late.

uastarflyer

My guess is China. Replaced with SEA-NRT uaua 777, which gets replaced by 787

In other words, some double moves.

Daniel-SYD

The 744 E seats are the worst I've ever sat in. Even so I'll put up with it (probably 20 times this year although most in C) just for the miles, so if there are better E seats, huge plus :-P.

Is this a good thing? If we get more reliable jets and more flights per day (which could mean more chance for upgrades) then I think yes. The number of cancellations and delays is what is leading me, a GS, too other airlines. I also saw delta has a morning flight out of Sydney. So, is this a possible move to actually increase capacity and flights per day? How many seats are these birds likely to have compared to the current 744s?

CO_Nonrev_elite

Are we offering the same condolences to the CO crews of

IAH-LHR X 3
IAH-GIG
IAH-HNL X 2
IAH-EZE
IAH-LIM
IAH - etc etc

It's life, and I assure you, the CO crew have lost a lot more longhauls than they have gained.

Anyways, despite the talk of downgauge, this is a *M*A*S*S*I*V*E* Improvement for everyone in Y, it's an improvement for the folks in J due to 2-2-2 rather than 2-4-2 and Australia doesn't have too much paid C anyways, almost all upgrades

Pi7473000

Awful news if it is true!! I can't belive they would be a 1990s style 777 with an outdated business class section on this route operated by a PMCO crew. This merger has been horrible for consumers and UNited travelers! CO is/was not a premium airline.Glad I went to SYD when it was a 747.

halls120

Agree that this is an improvement for those in Y, disagree that it is an improvement for those in business. Some of us prefer the UA C seat - even in 2-4-2 - because of the lack of footwell space in the sCO seats. Oh, and the IFE interface on the sUA IPTE C seats is better than on the sCO BF seats.

Pi7473000

Huge downgrade for everyone else! 1990s BF is not acceptable on this route. We lose 2-2 on the upper deck and global First. Too bad this merger was not blocked!

cranky1K

I agree this would be an improvement for Y but a setback for J and a total loss for GF.

JC1120

1990s BF? Didn't Air China choose the same seats? Didn't Delta just choose the same seats? I'm not saying its the best product out there, but there are companies choosing this seat even SEVERAL YEARS after CO chose them.

Anyway I'm guessing they were looking at what portion were paid vs upgrades and decided that there was just too much of the latter in C and F. Global First and 744s will be gone out of the fleet in a relatively short time is my bet. I wish they'd pick up some 748s to replace them.

I don't disagree with you, but I think the last poll that was done on the sUA vs the sCO seats shows that significantly more people on FT prefer the sCO seat.

mduell

Not sure what route you're thinking of, LAX-SYD W fares about 12 cpm.

They're only losing 2 BF seats (and the GF cabin) going to the sCO 772 config.

B787938

This ridiculous subsidiary United and subsidiary Continental stuff has to stop.

I flew on the 787 shortly after they were pressed back into service once the battery problems were resolved in May. The international flight service manager on the flight from LAX to Houston had done the old CO LAX to SYD many times as a Continental flight attendant back in the day. Some of my best flight memories as a kid flying back to Australia to visit my family there were on the continental DC-10's. That crew, was one of the first international continental cabin crews I have experienced for a very long time. They were awesome!

Now back on topic: There's way too much capacity on the US to Australia routes right now. A lot of that has to do with the antitrust immunity that the DOJ has provided to Delta and Virgin.

That said, I highly doubt that United will give up it's freight revenue that the 747 – 400 can provide. Granted, a Continental 777 – 200 ER with the GE 90 engines can easily make it from the West Coast to Sydney they cannot do it fully loaded with passengers and freight.

If it is United's plan to start using the 777 on this route, I hope to expect to see multiple frequencies from San Francisco to Sydney and Melbourne (nonstop).

To be completely transparent, however, the last two times I headed to Oz, I've enjoyed Qantas's premium economy product, which blows anything United has out of the water for its cost.

LordTentacle

The service on airNZ and the availability of a real PE product is a reason I have been considering moving. If I fly paid C then I would be jumping on airnz over UA on a co777 any day of the week the C product on airnz is worlds better then it is on the CO planes

channa

DL has free booze in Economy Comfort which is free for Plat and up.

They can also get you to those secondary markets with a similar number of stops without having to interline.

LordTentacle

My experience has been 8-9CPM for a W fare as long as not flying during School holiday peeks