Originally Posted by
ORDnHKG
There wasn't 3x SFO in the 90s.
LAX and DEL was part of the RTW UA 1/2 JFK-LAX-HKG-DEL-LHR, when RTW was dropped then DEL was gone and replace with LAX-HKG-BKK, but not sometimes DEL sometimes BKK.
IAD-SFO-HKG was once daily on UA 805/806
JFK-NRT-HKG was once daily on UA 800/801, coincidentally, new LAX-HKG will resurrect this old number but using UA 801/802 instead
ORD-HKG-SIN was once daily on UA 895/896, not til mid 2000 then it adds a 2x UA 828/829 3 times a week.
So all in all it was just 3 nonstops from the US, nothing more nothing less
Originally Posted by
EWR764
I believe for a period of time before the AFC there was a SFO-HKG #2 on a 744. This would have been around the time ORD-HKG started (early 96), so probably 1996/97. Obviously before the short-lived JFK-HKG. IIRC LAX-HKG was always 1x.
Originally Posted by
ironmanjt
2nd SFO-HKG ran until at least 2005 or so IIRC. Used to take it frequently in the days of the old CMB F fares.
In 1997, probably in the second half of the year if my memory is correct, UA launched a 3rd daily SFO flight which departed near midnight to compete with CX. I was ticketed on a few UA RTWs during this time and this was the first time you could leave HKG eastbound at night. When you checked in in HKG late at night the UA agents asked if you were going to DEL or SFO. Not sure how long it lasted but probably less than a year.
ORDnHKG you seem to be jumping all over the details in my post for some reason. Peace
. My point is HKG was a much bigger market for UA back in the 90s and it was sad to see it drop all the way down to 2 daily flights before covid. It's good to see them go back to 3, even if a fair portion of this will be people traveling on to China. I made a lot of good friends with UA HKG staff over the years and it has not been easy seeing so many of them take early retirement.
Originally Posted by
username
TPE airport is like 50 KM from downtown - it is not even in Taipei City or New Taipei City. The only hotel nearby is the Novotel owned by CI. Yes, if you take the MRT from the airport, you can get to a Four Points in Linkou and there are local hotels in Taoyuan.
There also is a brand new Sheraton in Taoyuan with an airport shuttle service. Have not checked it out myself. Taoyuan is developing quickly, it's nothing like the Taoyuan of 10 years ago.
Originally Posted by
bioyuki
Yeah, I'm surprised SFO-TPE can sustain 7x a day. I'm flying that route this winter and P fares are ~$5k R/T which is cheaper than BR/CI. I can't imagine O&D accounts for more than 50% of J even with all the tech traffic between the two hubs. Does anyone know how much traffic is connecting to the rest of Asia ex-TPE?
Recent close-in fares have been much higher, which is why you see some of us quite happy to see additional capacity.
Originally Posted by
Kmxu
This might be a mistake by UA. Transit through ICN from Chinese cities has far less detours, compared to TPE and HKG. Among the four trips (two each for my wife and me this year) transferred through ICN/TPE/HKG, ICN was the clear winner (4 ICN, 1 TPE, 2 HKG and 1 PVG originating because of XN ticket purchased last year). The timing for the 2nd SFO-ICN (B772) worked well and so did the first ICN-SFO (B789). Without the second frequency, one may have to overnight at ICN. 😂😂
Agreed and I was surprised too when months ago they removed the second daily SFO-ICN flight from the winter schedule. Maybe UA has better insight than we do how people are actually getting to China and with these planned changes they thought the 2nd ICN flight was not warranted. We will see.