Originally Posted by
mherdeg
I thought the story was that the first 787s the airline would take delivery of were from a CO order, where the 36J configuration was a given. (That story always seemed a little holey to me -- couldn't they change the order if they really wanted to invest in an international F product?)
Originally Posted by
sbm12
Yes, they could change the configuration if they wanted to and specify an international F product. They don't want to and they've explained why.
And, yes, it is E+ and E-, not Premium Economy and Economy.
I recently read in the M&M forum about a pax who booked an F award YYC/FRA and then has the award downgraded to F because LH is not going to have the F cabin in service on his flight dates. This happens on a lot of routes on LH. If LH cannot sustain F service between FRA, and smaller cities, even if they are among the wealthiest city on a per-capita basis, why would you expect COUA to do so.
CO ordered the 787 to service routes that would support a C/J product that were not profitable with an extended range 777 due to its fuel efficiency.
I would rather have two cabin service on UA metal between IAH and AKL, and between EWR/IAD and BLR than to change planes in SYD or FRA to get to either, and use non-UA metal.
F in a 3rd cabin will persist on UA between ORD/LHR, SFO/NRT, etc. Don't expect it to small cities, especially the ones CO elites mention when boasting that CO has more international destination.