MARIOCASTRO777

I guess now I can travel via Frankfurt with LH and use my GPU

mh3265a

I think it is just downgauging NRT-BKK from a 747 to a 777. The announcement said it was cancelling NRT-BKK 747 service which is odd...why not just say downgauging the route?

exerda

I'm still unclear how UA could possibly have been losing money on NRT-BKK. There was enough seat demand for a 747 for a good portion of the year, and upgrades were fairly difficult, so there had to be some level of paid premium traffic. Yeah, full flights don't equal profitable flights, but if UA was losing money on that flight, they were doing something incredibly wrong.

I suspect it's more that UA wants to offload the flight to ANA, revenue share with them, and use the plane to make $$ elsewhere. They want their cake and they want to eat it, too.

Time will tell if they're successful in so doing.


That was a sad explicit admission from UA regarding the SEA-NRT axe. And it's also illustrative of the fact that Jeffy & Co. can't understand how to run an airline which isn't based around fortress hubs.

SPLITTERZ

It's been canceled. Last day of operation is March 30, 2014.

The yields were probably trash on both routes. I'm disappointed in the move as well, but ANA serves both routes well as a JV partner.

iquitos

he is retreating from Asia and the Tokyo hub. I have the impression the United gets a lot of Japanese front of the plane business traffic on SEA-NRT and NRT-ICN/NRT-BKK. 737 will not cut it. They want to force us on the the 747 flight to Seoul. I won't bite. I preferred to transit Tokyo and compete for upgrades on the 777. I like the idea of the same familiar carrier and crews and the Tokyo Lounge. I imagine NRT costs a lot of money but they have a market there they will lose. Handing over Asia to the partner is not a good long term move. Seems also there is substantial NRT-ICN US military/government traffic.

O Sora

Wirelessly posted (iPhone5: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 4.1.1; SC-02E Build/JRO03C) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/31.0.1650.59 Mobile Safari/537.36)

You need four GPU since it is segment based and don't you want 2MM? Trap everywhere.

Always Flyin

Yes, but LH business class is just awful. Narrow and lay-flat at an angle.

goodeats21

Except if UA can't carry me all the way to BKK, no reason to choose them for the TPAC leg as well.

Pesky problem with trashing the vaunted route-network. Between UAX at the beginning and *A member* at the end, UA is pretty weak as the choice for the middle.

*(not revenue sharing, as that is only TPAC, not intra Asia.... I think)

susiesan

So if you take a UA flight TPAC to Tokyo then an ANA codeshare to BKK on an award, is that considered a partner award? Does it go under UA award schedule or partner airline award schedule?

Always Flyin

And Saigon . . .

It's an ANA operated flight so it is a partner award.

And a GPU won't work on it either.

uastarflyer

Replacing wide bodies with 737 to Hawaii may add a frequency but is a loss. PMUA @ HKG, SYD, SGN all have lost capacity or class of service. BKK is removed completely.

" Yeh but SFO-LIT has an extra option"doesn't make up for the above reductions.

UA_Flyer

Agree!

People should fly when they have to fly.

Now the miles don't really worth much and reduced elite benefits, what is the point of wasting money flying for no reasons. Someone should really examine the logic of mileage running for miles and status really make any sense in this new environment.

As for someone like me who have to fly and am getting tired with my work travel commitments, I actually prefer non-stop and less transfers now versus going through the NRT hubs on transpac routes. However, for sentimental reasons, I don't like to see BKK and SEA eliminated, but I see the business reasons for it.

I am voting with my $$ by flying more NH, SQ, CA on tranpac routes. I have never thought that CA would improve so much in such a short time, and I am really impressed with its 773ER services to/from China. Transatantic (except for London routes), LH, OS and LX are wonderful airlines and I don't see why people pay to fly in UA premium cabins. All really that is leftovers are for people who are looking for upgrades.

I am hold my saddle after crossing 3 MM BIS in a couple of months, although I am a shoot-in for 4MM (lifetime GS) if I keep flying United for business trips, but why not just enjoy flying better airlines and have a good travel experience except when I need to fly cheap and looking for upgrades.

iquitos

How does UAL think they will feed those NRT and HKG flights by downgauging the feeder flights? BKK origin pax can just fly TG direct. Why would an ICN pax want to stop in NRT? IMO they are going to lose a lot of valuable local traffic. Is this about unloading the flight attendants replacing them with the GUM base?

unavaca

Let's not forget the reintroduction of SFO-ATL, SFO-CDG and SFO-TPE, as well as the new SFO-RDU, SFO-IND, SFO-FLL, and SFO-CTU, plus a handful of RJ destinations. SFO has been the overwhelming winner of all of the UA hubs and has more non-stop destinations now than it did four years ago.

So nice of you to intentionally leave out half a dozen routes

RS250Racer

BKK?

Are they serious?

I saw it was going to a CO 777 next year but cut it all together?

Probably the last thing keeping me at UA.

There is NO way they can not be making money on that flight, I am on it every 8 weeks, it is always packed....there is no VISA for Thais to go to Japan anymore, THAI is running an A380 on that route plus 2 other flights and killing it!!

What is wrong with these people?