Originally Posted by
riphamilton
i don't see the A321 being exceedingly premium-heavy, as UA will need to use it on the thinner TATL routes that include summer seasonal leisure destinations. i'd expect UA to continue adding new 'trendy' seasonal routes like BUD and DBV. those won't be able to fill a large J cabin, and a 764 is too much plane for these destinations.
the younger 763 birds are the ones UA is converting to the premium-heavy config. these will continue to serve LHR/GVA/ZRH, etc. through the next decade. the remainder of the 763 fleet was built in the early 90s and will presumably be retired through the 2020s - although UA installed polaris on these (but no PE), so i could be wrong. that leaves UA a choice between using the A321 or the 764 for thin TATL, which is a fairly large disparity. they'll need to configure the A321 such that it can support summer seasonal routes.
Some those seasonal routes where a 752 is used may only be seasonal because the aircraft range is functionally less in the winter. For all I know, UA might operate a route like ORD-EDI year-round if they had the right sized aircraft that could fly it year-round.