Jul 1, 2016, 10:36 am
Last edit by: IBJoel
27 March 2018
United Airlines suspends NZ service (Suspension Period: April 18, 2017 - October 30, 2017)
Per New Zealand Herald quoting UA:
Air New Zealand service between Auckland and Chicago
From Nov. 30, 2018, Air New Zealand will operate three times weekly, year-round service with its new configuration Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. Flight time will be approximately 15 hours northbound and just over 16 hours southbound. Air New Zealand code share service will be offered on around 100 flights across the U.S. for convenient connections to Auckland via Chicago. United Airlines operates more flights from its hub at O'Hare International Airport than any other airline, with more than 500 flights to 147 airports across the United States.
United expands service between San Francisco and Auckland
Beginning in April 2019, United will extend service between its West Coast hub in San Francisco and Auckland to year-round with three-times-weekly service. In partnership with Air New Zealand, United's flight arriving in Auckland will offer passengers more than 20 connections across the region. The return trip utilizes United's extensive route network in San Francisco, which provides connections to the United States, Canada, and Latin America. United operates more than 290 daily flights from its hub at San Francisco International Airport to 79 airports across the U.S. and 26 international destinations. Tickets for the expanded San Francisco schedule will be available on united.com and airnewzealand.com later this year.
United service between San Francisco and Auckland will operate with a Boeing 777-300ER between November and March and will operate with Boeing 777-200ER aircraft between April and October.
From Nov. 30, 2018, Air New Zealand will operate three times weekly, year-round service with its new configuration Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. Flight time will be approximately 15 hours northbound and just over 16 hours southbound. Air New Zealand code share service will be offered on around 100 flights across the U.S. for convenient connections to Auckland via Chicago. United Airlines operates more flights from its hub at O'Hare International Airport than any other airline, with more than 500 flights to 147 airports across the United States.
United expands service between San Francisco and Auckland
Beginning in April 2019, United will extend service between its West Coast hub in San Francisco and Auckland to year-round with three-times-weekly service. In partnership with Air New Zealand, United's flight arriving in Auckland will offer passengers more than 20 connections across the region. The return trip utilizes United's extensive route network in San Francisco, which provides connections to the United States, Canada, and Latin America. United operates more than 290 daily flights from its hub at San Francisco International Airport to 79 airports across the U.S. and 26 international destinations. Tickets for the expanded San Francisco schedule will be available on united.com and airnewzealand.com later this year.
United service between San Francisco and Auckland will operate with a Boeing 777-300ER between November and March and will operate with Boeing 777-200ER aircraft between April and October.
UA will now fly the 77W on SFO AKL when it resumes operation 29OCT17 - 22MAR18 (from SFO). Overall frequency will be 6 weekly, and increasing to 7 weekly from mid-Dec. UA73/74 is canceled.
http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/...as-of-01sep17/
http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/...as-of-01sep17/
Per New Zealand Herald quoting UA:
This change is in response to seasonal variations, which will also see United Airlines adding an additional three flights per week starting December 18, 2017 after resuming its daily Auckland to San Francisco services on October 31, 2017. This will increase services to a total of 10 United's flights per week during the high seasonal demand period. Passengers who have already purchased tickets during the suspended period are being contacted by the airline and offered flights on the Air New Zealand service instead. We apologise to customers for any inconvenience and advise that customers will not be out of pocket as a result of this shift in scheduling and will retain all frequent flyer benefits."
SFO-AKL JV w/NZ, all year UA metal, 77W Nov18-Mar19, 772 Apr19-Oct19 (+newORD-AKL NZ)
Oct 26, 2016, 11:53 am
#136
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Bay Area
Programs: DL SM, UA MP.
Posts: 12,729
Oct 26, 2016, 2:48 pm
#137
Join Date: Oct 2009
Programs: All of them, UA-Plat, 1MM*G
Posts: 881
Dec 5, 2016, 3:19 pm
#139
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: None - previously UA
Posts: 4,867
UA GF: More space, seat is better for sitting, SFO GF lounge has decent food and wine selection, quieter cabin, onboard food was fine but not much improvement over UA C.
NZ C: Better menu, better service, seat is more comfortable for sleeping. NZ intl lounge in AKL was very crowded.
Overall I would probably choose NZ C over UA F, just for the comfortable sleeping seat, but UA F was not terrible either.
Dec 9, 2016, 9:55 pm
#141
Join Date: May 2008
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1K, DL, AA, AS
Posts: 305
Meal Service ?
With the flight departing SFO at 10:45pm, is the dinner served soon (90 min) after departure or is it served much later. I thought I read somewhere that on another routing with a similar departure time, the first meal service was service much later into the flight to allow people to sleep.
Just completed 917 SFO-AKL in C. Love the route and the plane, but I have to say this was the worst intl cabin crew I've had in a long time. Attitude was fine, but they were just struggling to get things done when it was time to get things done and then disappeared into the galley aka pmCO FA lounge to make noise for the rest of the flight.
<rant>
-First drink service 1.5 hrs into flight
-FAs didn't know what wine they had and served the whites warm
-Wine refilled once during dinner (after having to ask and then the guy forgetting about it for another 10 min) and then empty wine glass was left at my seat until I pointed it out at breakfast time
-Meal requests taken front to back
-First towel service cold, second sopping wet and thus useless
-Purser was a very quirky dude, nice enough but he had a real hard time getting through the announcements...
+The coffee was pretty good and served hot! Gotta say something positive...
</rant>
<rant>
-First drink service 1.5 hrs into flight
-FAs didn't know what wine they had and served the whites warm
-Wine refilled once during dinner (after having to ask and then the guy forgetting about it for another 10 min) and then empty wine glass was left at my seat until I pointed it out at breakfast time
-Meal requests taken front to back
-First towel service cold, second sopping wet and thus useless
-Purser was a very quirky dude, nice enough but he had a real hard time getting through the announcements...
+The coffee was pretty good and served hot! Gotta say something positive...
</rant>
Dec 10, 2016, 6:04 am
#142
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Houston
Programs: UA GS 2.6MM & Lifetime UC, Qantas Platinum, Hilton Lifetime Diamond, Bonvoy Platinum, HawaiianMiles
Posts: 8,700
With the flight departing SFO at 10:45pm, is the dinner served soon (90 min) after departure or is it served much later. I thought I read somewhere that on another routing with a similar departure time, the first meal service was service much later into the flight to allow people to sleep.
Dec 17, 2016, 6:03 pm
#144
Join Date: Feb 2007
Programs: NZ Koru
Posts: 6,415
Depending on the ETDO rating on the aircraft that UA is using, can effect the routing across the pacific e.g. not flying an straight line.
NZ's 777 fleets main purpose is cross the Pacific, hence they have invested allot into systems and flight path development for the 777 fleet to enable the most economical routing. They also made an deal to get priority arrival off the pacific into the US, to save fuel.
Jan 1, 2017, 10:51 am
#145
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 6
Happy New Year!
I am holding United SFO-AKL First class seats one way late November on 772 (3 class).
Only 80K miles.
I don't understand why these mileage seats seem to be available every day, with no
availability on other flights that have multiple stops.
What am I missing?? Will United change equipment, move us to 2-4-2 business?
Can anyone enlighten me?
Many thanks.
I am holding United SFO-AKL First class seats one way late November on 772 (3 class).
Only 80K miles.
I don't understand why these mileage seats seem to be available every day, with no
availability on other flights that have multiple stops.
What am I missing?? Will United change equipment, move us to 2-4-2 business?
Can anyone enlighten me?
Many thanks.
Jan 1, 2017, 11:09 am
#146
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,477
Looks like they've opened GF availability pretty nicely from end of October onwards.
The worst you would get moved to is 2-2-2 on the 789, with a refund of 10K miles. It's been rumored they might use the new 77W on this route as well.
The worst you would get moved to is 2-2-2 on the 789, with a refund of 10K miles. It's been rumored they might use the new 77W on this route as well.
Jan 1, 2017, 11:28 am
#147
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: GVA (Greater Vancouver Area)
Programs: DREAD Gold; UA 1.035MM; Bonvoy Au-197; PCC Elite+; CCC Elite+; MSC C-12; CWC Au-197; WoH Dis
Posts: 52,140
Jan 1, 2017, 3:03 pm
#148
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 14,424
Happy New Year!
I am holding United SFO-AKL First class seats one way late November on 772 (3 class).
Only 80K miles.
I don't understand why these mileage seats seem to be available every day, with no
availability on other flights that have multiple stops.
What am I missing?? Will United change equipment, move us to 2-4-2 business?
Can anyone enlighten me?
Many thanks.
I am holding United SFO-AKL First class seats one way late November on 772 (3 class).
Only 80K miles.
I don't understand why these mileage seats seem to be available every day, with no
availability on other flights that have multiple stops.
What am I missing?? Will United change equipment, move us to 2-4-2 business?
Can anyone enlighten me?
Many thanks.
w most dates I am looking at are down to 0-3 seats left in F. I'm a little confused what's going on. Seatmaps would imply it's organic bookings. Either the entire world had O space alerts and woke up this morning or... maybe I'm wrong about it being a new load? I swear it was 789 to end of schedule two days ago.You will not end up in 2-4-2 J. In case of equipment swaps you'll be on a 2-2-2 787 or (maybe) the new Polaris 77W. You don't see connecting options because United doesn't offer Global First to Australia right now, and partner space Asia-NZ is limited.
Schedule:
Code:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cxr Flight Orig Dest Dep Arr Equip Days Starts Ends ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- UA 917 SFO AKL 22:45 07:55+2 789 MT R S 05-Oct-17 26-Oct-17 UA 917 SFO AKL 22:45 07:55+2 788 W F U 06-Oct-17 27-Oct-17 UA 917 SFO AKL 22:45 07:55+2 788 S 28-Oct-17 28-Oct-17 UA 917 SFO AKL 22:45 07:55+2 777 MTWRFSU 29-Oct-17 04-Nov-17 UA 917 SFO AKL 22:45 08:55+2 777 MTWRFSU 05-Nov-17 03-Jan-18
Last edited by findark; Jan 1, 2017 at 3:12 pm Reason: schedule
Jan 4, 2017, 6:25 pm
#149
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Bay Area
Programs: DL SM, UA MP.
Posts: 12,729
The bloggers are broadcasting availability of award space on this route.
A lot of Chase UR points will be transferring.
Anyone able to add intra-New Zealand segments to this TPAC as part of their award?
Or even AKL to MEL or SYD?
A lot of Chase UR points will be transferring.
Anyone able to add intra-New Zealand segments to this TPAC as part of their award?
Or even AKL to MEL or SYD?
Jan 4, 2017, 6:36 pm
#150
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: NYC (Primarily EWR)
Programs: UA 1K / *G, Marriott Bonvoy Gold; Avis PC
Posts: 9,008
My general understanding, as well as when I was looking up NZ availability, is that they are pretty stingy with releasing it (at least on UA's website). They have a JV now, which maybe makes things better...