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[Confirmed] UA pulling out of KWI/BAH mid-Jan

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[Confirmed] UA pulling out of KWI/BAH mid-Jan

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Old Oct 20, 2015, 7:14 pm
  #1  
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[Confirmed] UA pulling out of KWI/BAH mid-Jan

Was told by KU staff in kwi that UA is pulling out Jan 13th, I have not seen anything on here or from .bomb but it would not surprise me. I used to route via kwi to and from the states back in the day for upgrades.
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Old Oct 20, 2015, 7:24 pm
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Originally Posted by cosflyer
Was told by KU staff in kwi that UA is pulling out Jan 13th, I have not seen anything on here or from .bomb but it would not surprise me. I used to route via kwi to and from the states back in the day for upgrades.
Interesting. The IAD leg to and from KWI is always filled, for the short add on to and from BAH the plane was mostly empty. Life is full of surprises.
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Old Oct 20, 2015, 8:23 pm
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Originally Posted by EXLEFTSEAT
Interesting. The IAD leg to and from KWI is always filled, for the short add on to and from BAH the plane was mostly empty. Life is full of surprises.
This route was the heaven of mileage runners before March 1, 2015, especially for the Saturday IAD departure. It is not surprising that UA pulls out of this route.
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Old Oct 20, 2015, 8:31 pm
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Terrible news. Will be there in a few weeks and will ask around if something more official isn't noted.

The timing for the inbound and outbound Lufthansa flight is inferior... Yuck.
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Old Oct 20, 2015, 9:23 pm
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Let's hope this is rumor is not confirmed.

IME (I've taken it twice), the flight was wide open in all cabins.

I thought it was a valuable cargo route, though.
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Old Oct 20, 2015, 9:28 pm
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I've taken this route a few times all the way to Bahrain and it will be missed. The Lufthansa route gets in like 4 hours later with a stopover in Riyadh, and I think the Turkish route leaves at 5 am, making timing difficult.

Usually the flight is pretty empty, but last time the J cabin was fully booked weeks out with USO entertainers.

I heard a rumor about a year ago from the purser that they wanted to do 787 for Bahrain and one for KWI.
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Old Oct 20, 2015, 9:35 pm
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What about all that "cargo in the belly"?!
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Old Oct 20, 2015, 10:37 pm
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Would be sad to see this route go but with the draw down of U.S. military in Iraq and Kuwait not surprised to see this go. There had been some rumors last year (???...I think) that speculated this route would be eliminated since they reduced the frequency of flights.

I thought they might down gauge but if this is true I can't say I'm surprised. I've always found the route open in all cabins in the last few years. The draw down hit this route hard.
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Old Oct 20, 2015, 10:47 pm
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Without the US Government business, why would anybody fly UA instead of the (generally superior) gulf carriers*?

* Loyalists like us excluded
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Old Oct 21, 2015, 5:33 am
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Originally Posted by noah
Without the US Government business, why would anybody fly UA instead of the (generally superior) gulf carriers*?

* Loyalists like us excluded
Especially from Dulles directly. Although not sure Kuwait Airlines really can be put in the "superior" category for gulf carriers.
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Old Oct 21, 2015, 6:42 am
  #11  
 
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IAD-KWI zeroed out after 11 Jan 2016

Looks like it's true....UA982 IAD-KWI has been zeroed out (i.e., not available for booking) after Jan 11, 2016. Checked a few more days (flight operates from IAD Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat) in January, Feb, March, April, and they all show the flight zeroed out....
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Old Oct 21, 2015, 7:18 am
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This was a good UA route. Sad to see it go. A 787 would've probably been a better aircraft for this route.
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Old Oct 21, 2015, 8:16 am
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So this leaves DXB as UAL's only remaining Gulf service, with DOH dropped last year, and KWI/BAH apparently to follow.

As US military and other government operations in and around the Persian Gulf are reduced, this seems to be an unfortunate consequence. Additionally, with United pulling 10 77A into the domestic fleet, there will likely be certain markets from EWR/ORD/IAD/IAH that still call for 3-cabin service and/or 777 capacity, which can be accommodated with the capacity freed by ending this service.
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Old Oct 21, 2015, 8:26 am
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Originally Posted by EWR764
As US military and other government operations in and around the Persian Gulf are reduced, this seems to be an unfortunate consequence.
As part of the "Pivot to Asia" when will UA begin GUM - DRW to support the build up of US military operations there?
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Old Oct 21, 2015, 8:53 am
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Always wondered how long that one would last.

Was a nice alternative for getting back from India with a GPU.
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