Originally Posted by
star_world
This is hilarious. UA *finally* starts to get domestic fleet utilization figured out (i.e. they found a proper use for those longhaul aircraft that will make them more money than ORD-SFO runs) and people "hate" them for it.
With respects, are you sure you've figured out UA's fleet scheduling as your implied claim (UA somehow did *not* have fleet scheduling figured out) seems to suggest you are in better position to direct UA equipment than UA itself is (or was.)
For starters the new UA - and the old one for that matter - was never the niche fortress operation pmCO was, nor were they as starved for widebodies. As a result, one would often see widebody international aircraft rotated through the network to provide connecting international service to the various hubs.
(For example, UA running a 777 on an afternoon flight from ORD to LAX to provide onwards 3-class connection from the incoming European flight bank as well as supporting the SYD flight later that evening ex LAX before returning the next day to IAD after undergoing regular MX that allowed both three-class connection options to the international destinations as well as being positioned to become the aircraft for Europe or the Middle East.)
In fact, pmCO did the same with regular rotations of 76's and 77's between IAH and EWR (it's just that we never saw them to the extent of UA, or even AA, as pmCO just did not have the multiple hub footprint of pmUA.)
The only dedicated widebodies to domestic service were the 763 "ghetto birds", and those were primarily assigned to Hawaii, although you would also see them rotate though the system. But again, from anything west of DEN, you'd need a widebody to be able to make the trip (e.g. ORD/IAD/IAH/EWR) *and* even from the west coast, the 76's could supplement passenger revenue with cargo.
That said, I personally would guess the conversion of the ghetto birds to the international 2-class standard made sense as it quickly allowed "newish" AC to come online to support expanded international service, especially when pmCO aircraft (753s and 739ERs) can help pick up the Hawaii slack from the West Coast, but I am not sure I agree with your claim that UA only now has "*finally* start[ed] to get domestic fleet utilization figured out"
Originally Posted by
Often1
Don't think it has to do with CO "mentality." Even p.s. can't make a go of 3-class service. I doubt that an intl. 3-class becomes much more than a CPU-magnet for people paying deep discounted Y fares.
I'm not sure what you're reaching at here -- neither p.s. nor international flights (excluding the "near international markets" such as Mexico, northern South America, Canada, etc.) are eligible for CPUs, and as such, I'm not sure how they could become CPU magnets.