They are already shifting some of the 787s/777s away from premium transcons starting in November.

There will absloutley nothing premium about the market at all.......I think back to the meal service pre pandemic.....it was actually premium.

So sad.

Forget the food…. If they replace widebodies with 752s on these routes, premium seating capacity is going to crater. Today, for example, 5 of 7 EWR-LAX flights are on 787s/777s. If all of those become 752s, that would be a >50% reduction in premium capacity to say nothing of the loss of P+.

I get that widebodies may be more profitable when deployed elsewhere, but this is crazy. So after losing JFK, UA responds by slashing premium trans on capacity ex-EWR?!? Am I missing something here?

My May 2023 LAX-EWR ~9AM still shows 781.

That particular flight departure time (of the day) should keep the wide body but in general, what's showing now for a future date is not etched in stone, especially 6, 7 months from now.

Yes, hence my use of the word "some".

Looking at this winter i see 757s consistently on BOS-LAX/SFO again. There's lie flats offered everyday, but not every flight. Huge upgrade. I am guessing they have more slack with JFK going away. Will BOS-LAX/SFO go back to a "premium" transcontinental route again? Lounge access, real pillows/ blankets and noise cancelling headphones would be such a nice amenity upgrade.

My $0.02 says UA will definitely resume "premium service" on the BOS route again. I am surprised it hasn't been started by now. My guess is early 2023 fwiw. I personally didn't mind it not being PS service as I fly this often and did occasionally score a CPU on the route, that goes away with PS.

Probably not while UA is still thinking about returning to JFK -- perhaps if all hopes of that is dashed, then BOS is a likely successor.
UA will / should avoid turning BOS on again only to turn it off.
Maybe a better chance if the A321a become a reality and UA has more available right-sized aircraft.

Only BOS-SFO was a ps route pre-covid, not BOS-LAX.

I doubt this indicative of ps returning to BOS. UA often has excess 757s in the winter that it has allocated to transcons for years. Other examples are EWR to PHX and SAN, which are also again partially 757s on the winter schedule.

BOS-LAX has never been PS. There was a time where both flights were 752s, now it looks like a mix of 752/739 and some days with 1 flight a day. Near impossible UA will make this a PS route.

BOS-SFO is inching closer ... got 1 752 back a few months ago, now it looks 3/4 in January. Seems tantalizingly close to just make it a 752 route and I can't figure out why they have 1 752 on LAX-BOS where they could use that frame to complete BOS-SFO. At least now the red-eye is back as a 752 most days ... so back to UA for me on that route :)

Not only that, BOS-SFO was quietly dropped as a premium transcon service route at least a year before covid.

does UA provision LAX-EWR J w/ same pillows+blanket as long-haul Polaris?

I don’t think that’s a relevant data point. Those are planned, set seasonal 757 routes. Just using a plane that would be sitting around. The flat beds end with a short season.

BOS is scheduled out with flat beds. Next summer every single bos-sfo flight is scheduled as a flat bed. When they will have the lowest 757 capacity peak summer

Yes, gel pillow, regular pillow, and the duvet.