Oct 8, 2015, 9:39 am
Last edit by: UA Insider
Hi everyone,
Today we are announcing two additional routes out of San Francisco International Airport (SFO), in addition to our previously announced Xi’an, China service. Pending government approval, we plan to operate service between San Francisco-Tel Aviv (TLV) and San Francisco-Auckland (AKL) on our Dreamliner aircraft beginning in 2016.
Check out additional details, including launch dates, in our press release.
-UA Insider
http://newsroom.united.com/2015-10-0...Make-it-Better
Today we are announcing two additional routes out of San Francisco International Airport (SFO), in addition to our previously announced Xi’an, China service. Pending government approval, we plan to operate service between San Francisco-Tel Aviv (TLV) and San Francisco-Auckland (AKL) on our Dreamliner aircraft beginning in 2016.
Check out additional details, including launch dates, in our press release.
-UA Insider
http://newsroom.united.com/2015-10-0...Make-it-Better
United Airlines Made SFO the Best Pacific Hub. And Then Found 3 Ways to Make it Better.
Airline to launch one new Atlantic and two new Pacific services
October 08, 2015
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- United Airlines, the U.S. airline with the most comprehensive route network and the most trans-Pacific service, will further expand its global reach with new nonstop service from San Francisco to:
Tel Aviv, Israel, with service three times each week beginning March 30, 2016;
Auckland, New Zealand, with service three times each week beginning July 1, 2016, expanding to daily service in October; and
Xi'an, China, previously announced, three-times-weekly service beginning May 8, 2016, for the summer season.
Each new service is subject to government approval.
The airline intends to operate the new flights with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the world's most advanced passenger airplane.
The Tel Aviv and Xi'an flights will be available for booking on united.com on October 10, 2015, with the Auckland flights available for booking on October 17, 2015.
San Francisco-Tel Aviv: Linking High-Tech Markets
As part of United's evaluation for serving San Francisco (SFO) to Tel Aviv (TLV) nonstop, the airline considered the opinions of thousands of customers who petitioned for the service through the SFOTLV.ORG petition effort.
"Providing corporate customers from throughout the Bay Area and Silicon Valley nonstop service to the high-tech market in Israel has been high on our priority list at United," said Dave Hilfman, United's senior vice president of worldwide sales. "Now with the 787-9 Dreamliner, we're delighted to make it a reality."
Flight | From To | Departure | Arrival
UA954 | SFO TLV | 8 p.m. We/Fr/Su | 8:10 p.m. the next day
UA955 | TLV SFO | 12:55 a.m. Tu/Fr/Su | 6 a.m. the same day
Flight times will be 14 hours, 10 minutes eastbound and 15 hours, 5 minutes westbound.
United has served Israel since 1999. The airline currently offers twice-daily Boeing 777 nonstop flights between Tel Aviv and New York/Newark.
San Francisco-Auckland
United's three-times weekly service to Auckland (AKL), New Zealand's largest city and main transportation hub to other points throughout the country, will launch July 1, 2016, with 787-8 aircraft. The schedule will expand to daily flights operating with 787-9 aircraft on Oct. 28, 2016, in time for the peak-winter travel season.
The Auckland flights will operate in partnership with United's Star Alliance partner Air New Zealand.
Flight | From To | Departure | Arrival
UA917 | SFO AKL | 10:45 p.m. | 6:55 a.m. two days later
UA916 | AKL SFO | 1:20 p.m. | 6:40 a.m. the same day
Flight times will be 13 hours, 10 minutes westbound and 12 hours, 20 minutes eastbound.
United in San Francisco
From its San Francisco hub, United operates nearly 280 daily flights to more than 90 destinations in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia/Pacific.
Airline to launch one new Atlantic and two new Pacific services
October 08, 2015
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- United Airlines, the U.S. airline with the most comprehensive route network and the most trans-Pacific service, will further expand its global reach with new nonstop service from San Francisco to:
Tel Aviv, Israel, with service three times each week beginning March 30, 2016;
Auckland, New Zealand, with service three times each week beginning July 1, 2016, expanding to daily service in October; and
Xi'an, China, previously announced, three-times-weekly service beginning May 8, 2016, for the summer season.
Each new service is subject to government approval.
The airline intends to operate the new flights with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the world's most advanced passenger airplane.
The Tel Aviv and Xi'an flights will be available for booking on united.com on October 10, 2015, with the Auckland flights available for booking on October 17, 2015.
San Francisco-Tel Aviv: Linking High-Tech Markets
As part of United's evaluation for serving San Francisco (SFO) to Tel Aviv (TLV) nonstop, the airline considered the opinions of thousands of customers who petitioned for the service through the SFOTLV.ORG petition effort.
"Providing corporate customers from throughout the Bay Area and Silicon Valley nonstop service to the high-tech market in Israel has been high on our priority list at United," said Dave Hilfman, United's senior vice president of worldwide sales. "Now with the 787-9 Dreamliner, we're delighted to make it a reality."
Flight | From To | Departure | Arrival
UA954 | SFO TLV | 8 p.m. We/Fr/Su | 8:10 p.m. the next day
UA955 | TLV SFO | 12:55 a.m. Tu/Fr/Su | 6 a.m. the same day
Flight times will be 14 hours, 10 minutes eastbound and 15 hours, 5 minutes westbound.
United has served Israel since 1999. The airline currently offers twice-daily Boeing 777 nonstop flights between Tel Aviv and New York/Newark.
San Francisco-Auckland
United's three-times weekly service to Auckland (AKL), New Zealand's largest city and main transportation hub to other points throughout the country, will launch July 1, 2016, with 787-8 aircraft. The schedule will expand to daily flights operating with 787-9 aircraft on Oct. 28, 2016, in time for the peak-winter travel season.
The Auckland flights will operate in partnership with United's Star Alliance partner Air New Zealand.
Flight | From To | Departure | Arrival
UA917 | SFO AKL | 10:45 p.m. | 6:55 a.m. two days later
UA916 | AKL SFO | 1:20 p.m. | 6:40 a.m. the same day
Flight times will be 13 hours, 10 minutes westbound and 12 hours, 20 minutes eastbound.
United in San Francisco
From its San Francisco hub, United operates nearly 280 daily flights to more than 90 destinations in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia/Pacific.
UA Announces new Auckland and Tel Aviv service from San Francisco
Oct 14, 2015, 11:12 pm
#196
Join Date: Feb 2008
Programs: 6 year GS, now 2MM Jeff-ugee, *wood LTPlt, SkyPeso PLT
Posts: 6,526
This is a curious comment to me. Are you doubting that there are large companies that send their employees overseas in business (and first) class? I consult with a 250,000+ employee Bay Area co-based company with world-wide reach. Standard travel policy provides for J class for all employees when travelling internationally. Most SVP/GVP+ have first class provisions custom written into their employment contracts.
I'm not saying that no one does it, but a lot of the high tech companies don't as a matter of course allow J travel at this point.
Oct 14, 2015, 11:18 pm
#197
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: BOS
Programs: 1MM, UA 1k
Posts: 529
This is a curious comment to me. Are you doubting that there are large companies that send their employees overseas in business (and first) class? I consult with a 250,000+ employee Bay Area co-based company with world-wide reach. Standard travel policy provides for J class for all employees when travelling internationally. Most SVP/GVP+ have first class provisions custom written into their employment contracts.
Oct 14, 2015, 11:30 pm
#198
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Boulder
Programs: AA Plat, CX Silver
Posts: 2,361
This is a curious comment to me. Are you doubting that there are large companies that send their employees overseas in business (and first) class? I consult with a 250,000+ employee Bay Area co-based company with world-wide reach. Standard travel policy provides for J class for all employees when travelling internationally. Most SVP/GVP+ have first class provisions custom written into their employment contracts.
Oct 14, 2015, 11:45 pm
#199
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Northern California
Programs: I want to be free! Free!
Posts: 3,455
This is a curious comment to me. Are you doubting that there are large companies that send their employees overseas in business (and first) class? I consult with a 250,000+ employee Bay Area co-based company with world-wide reach. Standard travel policy provides for J class for all employees when travelling internationally. Most SVP/GVP+ have first class provisions custom written into their employment contracts.
Honestly that does seem odd to me, but there aren't that many firms of the size of which you speak. I would keep in mind that financial firms (VC/PE) and consulting firms (on client money) are likely to frequent this route too. I just don't think a 787 is a crazy amount of J to fill relative to the sources of traffic coming out of SF; certainly not so if you throw in tech/financial traffic from SEA/LAX which (I think) are likely to make the connection in SF versus transiting NYC or Europe. Could be wrong though - I don't how how the long/think thesis is really playing out with customer demand.
Oct 15, 2015, 1:30 pm
#200
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: TX
Programs: UA 1K, Million Miler, BA
Posts: 194
Sorry if am late to this thread, but after the repositioning of 787s to the west coast next year, which Dreamliner routes will still exist at IAH?
Oct 15, 2015, 5:00 pm
#201
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 3,361
This is a curious comment to me. Are you doubting that there are large companies that send their employees overseas in business (and first) class? I consult with a 250,000+ employee Bay Area co-based company with world-wide reach. Standard travel policy provides for J class for all employees when travelling internationally. Most SVP/GVP+ have first class provisions custom written into their employment contracts.
Think of it this way: the J cabins would be much, much smaller if people weren't buying the seats.
Oct 18, 2015, 6:12 am
#202
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 11
Great move UA.
As someone that is just the market segment for this flight (I have an upcoming flight on UA TLV->EWR->SFO already, sadly prior to start of service of this new route) I welcome this very much.
I know a few people that avoid taking UA due to connection inside the US and prefer Lufthansa or Turkish due to making the connection in EU.
Hopefully there is enough of traffic to both make UA a good extra buck AND lower the pax load on TLV->EWR just little bit :-)
Great move UA.
I know a few people that avoid taking UA due to connection inside the US and prefer Lufthansa or Turkish due to making the connection in EU.
Hopefully there is enough of traffic to both make UA a good extra buck AND lower the pax load on TLV->EWR just little bit :-)
Great move UA.
Oct 18, 2015, 7:30 am
#203
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Virginia, USA
Posts: 4,511
This is a curious comment to me. Are you doubting that there are large companies that send their employees overseas in business (and first) class? I consult with a 250,000+ employee Bay Area co-based company with world-wide reach. Standard travel policy provides for J class for all employees when travelling internationally. Most SVP/GVP+ have first class provisions custom written into their employment contracts.
Oct 18, 2015, 10:46 am
#204
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: IAD
Programs: UA Gold + 1MM; HHonors Gold; Marriott Plat
Posts: 747
I am an executive in a Fortune 20 company. No one, including SVP/GMs are permitted to travel in J. Economy for us all. Only the very top execs travel by corporate jet. I usually get upgraded using GPUs, but have slugged it on 12+ flights in economy more than once when the GPU did not clear. It is my pet peeve with the company. Given the current economic conditions, I do not see that policy changing anytime soon.
Oct 18, 2015, 9:09 pm
#205
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: IAH / HOU
Programs: UA GS, DL-Plat, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Hyatt Somethingist, Marriott Titanium Lifetime
Posts: 2,853
The economic value of having a highly productive employee at maximum productivity immediately upon arrival is worth FAR more than the differential between the cost of coach and business on a 12 hour flight. As a shareholder of many large companies, I want to get maximum productivity from their employees to maximize my return. I am not interested in reducing costs if it reduces my return by more than the supposed savings. (Of course, I am also not going to fly an admin 6,000 miles to hand out name badges at a meeting, so I am assuming that employees traveling internationally are delivering significant value to the enterprise.)
Oct 18, 2015, 9:26 pm
#206
Join Date: May 2003
Programs: UA Silver
Posts: 1,931
The economic value of having a highly productive employee at maximum productivity immediately upon arrival is worth FAR more than the differential between the cost of coach and business on a 12 hour flight. As a shareholder of many large companies, I want to get maximum productivity from their employees to maximize my return. I am not interested in reducing costs if it reduces my return by more than the supposed savings. (Of course, I am also not going to fly an admin 6,000 miles to hand out name badges at a meeting, so I am assuming that employees traveling internationally are delivering significant value to the enterprise.)
Add on topic: why Auckland, already served by NZ, and why not - say - BNE?
Oct 18, 2015, 10:42 pm
#207
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: BOS
Programs: 1MM, UA 1k
Posts: 529
I am an executive in a Fortune 20 company. No one, including SVP/GMs are permitted to travel in J. Economy for us all. Only the very top execs travel by corporate jet. I usually get upgraded using GPUs, but have slugged it on 12+ flights in economy more than once when the GPU did not clear. It is my pet peeve with the company. Given the current economic conditions, I do not see that policy changing anytime soon.
Oct 18, 2015, 11:18 pm
#208
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,484
Considering the corporate discounts that companies like this can pull, not sure why anyone would be so shocked at a J travel policy for international long-haul.
And back to personal experience, I've seen plenty of corporate travel policies that allow outside counsel to fly J on international long-haul.
Oct 19, 2015, 7:55 am
#209
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: PSM
Posts: 69,232
Nov 14, 2015, 12:19 pm
#210
Join Date: Nov 2009
Programs: United mileage Plus 1k and Million Miler, Krisflyer, Air New Zealand, Qantas, Virgin
Posts: 211