dawg1k

Mods, apologies if already posted.

Slow start to the year. Starting to book trips. First INTL flight will be in April, LHR to LAX. Been flying the route since late 90s (I remember when we'd have four flights a day in the summer [933, 934, 935, and 936]). Anyway ...

I go to look for flights on United's web site and boom...no direct flights. Start trying other dates. Nope, no flights. Call the 1K desk and sure enough, no flights on certain days (April 8 for example).

Another change I'm going to like. So is it too late to switch to AA?

Spent over $15K last year (not a huge amount but reasonable spend), still made 1K on miles, and now they're cutting flights out of my hub. Ugh. I'm at 1.75 million BIS. Not sure it's worth it to make 2.

fgirard

LAX-LHR is there on 4/7, 4/9, 4/10, 4/11 and 4/15. It could probably be an IT glitch, or perhaps it just isn't running on 4/8.

channa

Delta started LAX-LHR last year.

When DL starts something, it's not uncommon for UA to reduce frequency.

EWR764

Lots of day-of-week transatlantic cuts in April this year, not just on the West Coast. European yields have been soft lately, so the solution is to cull operations on days of weaker demand.

Kacee

Don't they risk losing HV business travelers for good, especially at a competitive hub like LAX? Seems like a downward spiral solution.

tom911

Looks like AA starts twice-a-day 777-300 last week of March, running six days a week. Maybe UA is reacting to that.

Kacee

Hmmm . . . if you're a paid business class flyer, which would you pick: 2-4-2 or 1-2-1?

CALMSP

well, clearly many do pick the 2-4-2.

channa

If enough did, they wouldn't be cutting back service.

spin88

Yes, and the UA retreat from LAX continues. Particularly when a direct competitor (here two) directly serves the market, they will quickly loose the high value traffic. Exec has to go to LHR, UA wants to send him with a connection, DL/AA (and BA VS) go direct, his secretary books another airline. Exec gets on the plane and says "oh boy, this is so much better than United" United has lost another HVFer...

Cause, effect... As a very wise English Sage once said "run away, run away fast"

+1

channa

A couple points to add:

1. NZ also flies LAX-LHR nonstop.

2. The A-ha moment happens before the Exec gets on the plane. When he steps into the lounge, that's when he'll say, "oh boy, this is so much better than United."

MatthewLAX

Poor LAX.

That's all I'll say.

SeaProf

And, in my opinion, NZ has a far superior product at a competitive price. I abandoned UA in favor of NZ several years ago and have enjoyed every minute of it.

lhrsfo

Hope it's not true. I suspect there's more to this than meets the eye as you cannot half use a LHR slot. You use it or lose it. So either they've sold the slot, re-allocated it or the reduction is only on one day.

channa

Can't they run it as LAX some days and EWR on others?

757s are great for holding onto slots.