Originally Posted by
halls120
I have no idea. Perhaps one of the UA insiders that post here could explain. My guess is that management is trying to minimize using international birds on domestic runs, which we see from time to time. Having 9 instead of 6 "domestic" 777s would give them more a/c for HNL and other transcon flights.
That's almost certainly the idea: run ORD/IAH/EWR/SFO/LAX-HNL (plus the occasional hub-hub route) on 777 "high-density" configs, and then run SFO/LAX-KOA/OGG/LIH on 737s, as the 757s drift away from the fleet and the 763s all turn into international configs (and hopefully replace the TATL 757 routes like IAD-CDG that are pushed to the far edge of their ranges in winter).
(Dunno what happens to DEN, though.
)
Originally Posted by
halls120
It will be an upgrade for anyone who scores one of the "new" seats, but given that there will apparently be fewer of them, it's an upgrade for fewer people.
True, but the current F product on the ghetto birds is so unimpressive
people have been known to downgrade themselves...