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UA Announces new Auckland and Tel Aviv service from San Francisco

Old Oct 8, 2015, 9:39 am
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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 Xian, 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.
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UA Announces new Auckland and Tel Aviv service from San Francisco

Old Oct 8, 2015, 3:00 pm
  #91  
 
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Originally Posted by unavaca
Are they opening immigration early for this flight? IIRC, CBP at SFO doesn't open until 7:30.
Good call, I think you're right, it opens at 7AM-ish for EY 183/UA 870/872.
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 3:07 pm
  #92  
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I'm still depressed UA has abandoned GF to Oz and NZ
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 3:08 pm
  #93  
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Originally Posted by uastarflyer
...
I assume the NZ and UA flight departures from SFO are fairly close to one another? I recall seeing the NZ "all blacks" jet certain evenings at SFO
This is interesting to me --

What is the benefit of flying two very similarly timed flights, aside from the capacity increase? If it's already a JV, why not put one single larger aircraft on?

If it were possible to space the departures during the day, it could take advantage of different passenger routings. But I think due to the flight duration, necessity of feeder flights, and reasonable origin/arrival times (and curfew?) it can only depart at night.
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 3:20 pm
  #94  
 
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Originally Posted by kevinsac
I'm still depressed UA has abandoned GF to Oz and NZ
Cayenne / Rochambeau, French Guiana (GF)?
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 3:40 pm
  #95  
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Originally Posted by bioyuki
Good call, I think you're right, it opens at 7AM-ish for EY 183/UA 870/872.
Yeah, it doesn't open until 7:30am. They have get to work early. I am pretty sure that CBP officer is still sleeping at home. They doesn't usually to wake up at 5 or 6am.
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 3:44 pm
  #96  
 
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Thumbs down

Originally Posted by dgdevil
Cayenne / Rochambeau, French Guiana (GF)?
GF = Global First which UA is actively removing from all routes & cabins.

SFO-AKL reminds me of IAH-AKL which they said they'd start with a shiny press released but then quietly didn't without a shiny press release.
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 3:55 pm
  #97  
 
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minor correction

EY 183 does NOT make use of CBP at SFO - it goes through full immigration / customs clearance at AUH prior to the flight over. So when you get off the plane it's handled just like a domestic arrival.


Originally Posted by bioyuki
Good call, I think you're right, it opens at 7AM-ish for EY 183/UA 870/872.
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 3:58 pm
  #98  
 
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maybe SJC is closer to Silicon Valleyl...

....but a BIG portion of the travelers who actually will be on those flights, paying the business or first class fares, etc, actually live closer to SFO, or at least equally as close to SFO. I know that when I come home from a biz trip I want to be able to get home as quickly as possible. It's that simple.

Originally Posted by iflyuaaa
Intel has a sizeable presence in Silicon valley and TLV as well. But if the route is focused on all these tech companies, I wish they would do flights out of SJC. I know it's not UA's hub, but I'm still surprised a legacy hasn't been able to make SJC work as a hub. there is so much silicon valley cash, and for companies like aapl, csco or intc, SJC is 10 mins away versus an hour for SFO.
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 4:07 pm
  #99  
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Originally Posted by endrond
A 2pm SFO departure would mean the return flight would land SFO at midnight. (assuming the same ~3 hour turn in TLV)

That would be much worse, both for connections out of SFO and for usage of the plane (which I assume will head out to Asia sometime around noon after landing at 6am at SFO).
It would return to SFO at 10p with a 3h turn. The scheduled turn is an extended 5h so you return to SFO at 6a instead of 4a.

Originally Posted by Richard Chen
SFO-AKL reminds me of IAH-AKL which they said they'd start with a shiny press released but then quietly didn't without a shiny press release.
SFO-AKL makes a lot more sense than IAH-AKL ever did for the merged carrier.
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 5:03 pm
  #100  
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Originally Posted by mduell
It would return to SFO at 10p with a 3h turn. The scheduled turn is an extended 5h so you return to SFO at 6a instead of 4am.
Right, it will be very difficult time. They will arrive 4 or 5am. Way too early!! That's not right choice. I think they can arrive a little bit later.
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 5:09 pm
  #101  
 
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Originally Posted by Richard Chen
GF = Global First which UA is actively removing from all routes & cabins.

SFO-AKL reminds me of IAH-AKL which they said they'd start with a shiny press released but then quietly didn't without a shiny press release.
IAH-AKL was actually killed pretty loudly, to stick it to Houston for allowing WN to operate internationally out of HOU.
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 5:23 pm
  #102  
 
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Originally Posted by mduell
SFO-AKL makes a lot more sense than IAH-AKL ever did for the merged carrier.
Air New Zealand to open Houston as airlines fifth North American gateway

announced, 4/15/15
begins, 12/15(?)
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 5:26 pm
  #103  
 
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I flew SFO - AKL on NZ a few years ago and thought the service and food was great. Can UA provide a better product than that?
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 5:30 pm
  #104  
 
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Originally Posted by SJC ORD LDR
I flew SFO - AKL on NZ a few years ago and thought the service and food was great. Can UA provide a better product than that?
Not really.
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 5:31 pm
  #105  
 
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Originally Posted by JVPhoto
Curious to see the breakup of the NZ monopoly.
Air New Zealand has nothing to worry about, the two products are miles apart.

At least it's another option to get to one of the most beautiful places on earth.
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