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)
Jul 19, 2016, 11:54 am
#91
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Originally Posted by realdeal211;26938850I
am wondering if this has something to do with the Polaris rollout? Can anyone shed light on this?
Watch also for UA GF. That's not a bad redemption given the length of the flight.
Jul 20, 2016, 9:31 am
#92
Join Date: Mar 2015
Programs: UA, AA
Posts: 19
I would like to ask two questions:
1. On the return flight from AKL to SFO, what check-in facilities will United premier passengers use? (It would be great if it is Air NZ Premier Check-In Lounge)
2. What Lounge access will we have when departing from AKL? (Again, Air NZ Koru Lounge for Bus Class passengers and/or Star Alliance Gold members would be great)
Thanks!
If UA is watching this, it would be great if you posted something online about this in addition to responding to these questions.
I will be flying down there in early September to return in mid-September.
Second Question: What is UA doing in the Bus Class pricing. They just had a two week sale and the prices jumped around by huge amounts daily. I was about to book one itinerary in Bus Class and they jumped it up by 80% only three days into the sale period. This is life with United!
By the way, my preferred carrier is Air NZ which has also bounced around the pricing. (I am flying United to finally get enough miles flown on United metal to qualify for Million Miler status. I go twice a year and should be able to attain that in the next four trips. If it were on the 777-200's in B Class I would not do it because the seating is cattle class in Bus. I read that the Dreamliner experience is much better and has more personal space, if not the level of the herringbone design seats on Air NZ in Bus Class. American's new 777 Bus Class configuration is getting great reviews. United needs to catch up or fail. The Dreamliner is an experiment for me.)
American entered and so did United and the fares when first offered (until two weeks ago) went way up from the past. That is competition?
I was able to book Business First from IAD-SFO-AKL-SFO-IAD for US5,900, but with lots of work and using Google/flights alerts to keep up with the craziness in pricing. Some days it was as much as 10,000!
My 5,900 fare went away in two days, by the way and is now 6,900.
By the way, the cabins in Business are still more than half empty and they are jacking around with prices anyway. My departure was only 8 weeks ahead when I booked it. That is not much lead time for these flights normally.
One heads up: use SeatGuru.com to check on seats. In the new Dreamliner 2-2-2 set up in Bus First, the middle seats are the best if you are traveling alone because both seats have aisle access. On the out pairs you either climb over someone or they climb over you. However, in the 787-800 (being used until October when they go to the -900) the first two rows in the middle pair in the front cabin have very limited (meaning zero) overhead storage due to crew storage (and possibly the pilots sleeping area extends over those rows). The first row in each of the two cabins have food service noise and lights and bathroom traffic. The last row in the first cabin has the same problem. That leaves very few middle seats that are good, even though aisle access is ideal. The early reservations seem to have been made oblivious to that fact. Some of the outer seats might be booked by couples, but I would not want a middle of the night climb anyway.
1. On the return flight from AKL to SFO, what check-in facilities will United premier passengers use? (It would be great if it is Air NZ Premier Check-In Lounge)
2. What Lounge access will we have when departing from AKL? (Again, Air NZ Koru Lounge for Bus Class passengers and/or Star Alliance Gold members would be great)
Thanks!
If UA is watching this, it would be great if you posted something online about this in addition to responding to these questions.
I will be flying down there in early September to return in mid-September.
Second Question: What is UA doing in the Bus Class pricing. They just had a two week sale and the prices jumped around by huge amounts daily. I was about to book one itinerary in Bus Class and they jumped it up by 80% only three days into the sale period. This is life with United!
By the way, my preferred carrier is Air NZ which has also bounced around the pricing. (I am flying United to finally get enough miles flown on United metal to qualify for Million Miler status. I go twice a year and should be able to attain that in the next four trips. If it were on the 777-200's in B Class I would not do it because the seating is cattle class in Bus. I read that the Dreamliner experience is much better and has more personal space, if not the level of the herringbone design seats on Air NZ in Bus Class. American's new 777 Bus Class configuration is getting great reviews. United needs to catch up or fail. The Dreamliner is an experiment for me.)
American entered and so did United and the fares when first offered (until two weeks ago) went way up from the past. That is competition?
I was able to book Business First from IAD-SFO-AKL-SFO-IAD for US5,900, but with lots of work and using Google/flights alerts to keep up with the craziness in pricing. Some days it was as much as 10,000!
My 5,900 fare went away in two days, by the way and is now 6,900.
By the way, the cabins in Business are still more than half empty and they are jacking around with prices anyway. My departure was only 8 weeks ahead when I booked it. That is not much lead time for these flights normally.
One heads up: use SeatGuru.com to check on seats. In the new Dreamliner 2-2-2 set up in Bus First, the middle seats are the best if you are traveling alone because both seats have aisle access. On the out pairs you either climb over someone or they climb over you. However, in the 787-800 (being used until October when they go to the -900) the first two rows in the middle pair in the front cabin have very limited (meaning zero) overhead storage due to crew storage (and possibly the pilots sleeping area extends over those rows). The first row in each of the two cabins have food service noise and lights and bathroom traffic. The last row in the first cabin has the same problem. That leaves very few middle seats that are good, even though aisle access is ideal. The early reservations seem to have been made oblivious to that fact. Some of the outer seats might be booked by couples, but I would not want a middle of the night climb anyway.
Last edited by goalie; Jul 20, 2016 at 10:56 am Reason: merge
Jul 20, 2016, 1:25 pm
#93
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
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Thanks!
You answered your own question
You might find also useful
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...d-787-8-a.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...d-787-9-a.html
Jul 21, 2016, 6:21 pm
#94
Join Date: Feb 2007
Programs: NZ Koru
Posts: 6,415
NZ's Premium Check-in Lobby is currently closed for re-furbishment. NZ's check-in zones wouldn't be compatible with UA systems, NZ's check-in in fully automated and uses there own in house software to run the equipment e.g. even the bag drops are self service, and they have removed all the normal counters and everyone has to self-check!
Looking at AKL's website UA916 is using Check-In Zone C, NZ uses Zone A (Which is exclusively assigned to NZ), Zone B is Virgin Australia. Zone C is an general by the hour counter zone.
http://www.ausbt.com.au/photo-tour-air-new-zealand-s-new-auckland-flagship-lounge
Jul 25, 2016, 6:16 pm
#95
Join Date: Jul 2016
Programs: United, Alaska, Southwest
Posts: 2
From http://www.airnewzealand.com/koru-lounge-directory
Members and their guest must be departing on an eligible Air New Zealand issued ticket and operated flight, on an eligible Virgin Australia flight (see below), a flight operated by Cathay Pacific with an Air New Zealand flight number between Auckland and Hong Kong, or a Singapore Airlines flight from Auckland or Christchurch with an Air New Zealand flight number (for travel from 6 January 2015).
Lounge access is available immediately prior to departure only.
Lounge access is not available to Koru members when travelling on a flight operated by another Star Alliance carrier as the Koru programme is not a Star Alliance product.
Lounge access is available immediately prior to departure only.
Lounge access is not available to Koru members when travelling on a flight operated by another Star Alliance carrier as the Koru programme is not a Star Alliance product.
Can anyone confirm they were admitted recently to the new International lounge in AKL based on having a United Biz1st ticket or United Club card?
Jul 25, 2016, 6:48 pm
#96
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
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Welcome to FT!, Jason Knapp
As the UA flight is new, the NZ site may not yet be updated. Star Alliance rules require the departure to be on a Star Alliance flight (hence comments on the NZ site).
That is not odd, the UA site does not show any Star Alliance partner lounges, only 3rd party lounges. Instead it refers you to the Star Alliance site.
Per the Star Alliance Lounge Finder Business UA passenger or *G on UA flights do have access to the NZ International Lounge of the 2nd floor. This is standard *A rules to determine locations and access.
Business class UA customers will have access to the NZ lounge. Same for *Gs and UC members (with *A departure BP).
Per the Star Alliance Lounge Finder Business UA passenger or *G on UA flights do have access to the NZ International Lounge of the 2nd floor. This is standard *A rules to determine locations and access.
Business class UA customers will have access to the NZ lounge. Same for *Gs and UC members (with *A departure BP).
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jul 25, 2016 at 7:24 pm Reason: Welcome
Jul 25, 2016, 6:51 pm
#97
Join Date: Sep 2015
Programs: 1 thousand
Posts: 2,112
I'm investigating this for an upcoming trip with my family (4 total) in United BusinessFirst from SFO-AKL. I'm also a United Club member. According to the Air NZ website it sounds like we would not be allowed access:
From http://www.airnewzealand.com/koru-lounge-directory
I certainly hope it's true that we can use that lounge after all. I also find it odd that the United Club site does not show any partner or *A lounges in AKL.
Can anyone confirm they were admitted recently to the new International lounge in AKL based on having a United Biz1st ticket or United Club card?
From http://www.airnewzealand.com/koru-lounge-directory
I certainly hope it's true that we can use that lounge after all. I also find it odd that the United Club site does not show any partner or *A lounges in AKL.
Can anyone confirm they were admitted recently to the new International lounge in AKL based on having a United Biz1st ticket or United Club card?
The *A lounge finder agrees with me, there's an Air NZ *A lounge in AKL.
Jul 26, 2016, 8:40 am
#99
Join Date: Mar 2015
Programs: UA, AA
Posts: 19
You probably can get in the Koru Lounge with your United Club membership
I'm investigating this for an upcoming trip with my family (4 total) in United BusinessFirst from SFO-AKL. I'm also a United Club member. According to the Air NZ website it sounds like we would not be allowed access:
From http://www.airnewzealand.com/koru-lounge-directory
I certainly hope it's true that we can use that lounge after all. I also find it odd that the United Club site does not show any partner or *A lounges in AKL.
Can anyone confirm they were admitted recently to the new International lounge in AKL based on having a United Biz1st ticket or United Club card?
From http://www.airnewzealand.com/koru-lounge-directory
I certainly hope it's true that we can use that lounge after all. I also find it odd that the United Club site does not show any partner or *A lounges in AKL.
Can anyone confirm they were admitted recently to the new International lounge in AKL based on having a United Biz1st ticket or United Club card?
United Club membership ought to work too.
My guess is that United has set it up for their Biz passengers to use the Koru Star Alliance Lounge as well.
Jul 31, 2016, 11:11 am
#101
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Yes.
Last edited by goalie; Jul 31, 2016 at 11:40 am Reason: please quote the member's name when quoting multiple parts of their post
Jul 31, 2016, 12:21 pm
#102
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Illinois
Programs: UAMP Premier Platinum, HHonors Diamond VIP, Marriott Gold
Posts: 21
I would like to ask two questions:
If it were on the 777-200's in B Class I would not do it because the seating is cattle class in Bus. I read that the Dreamliner experience is much better and has more personal space, if not the level of the herringbone design seats on Air NZ in Bus Class. American's new 777 Bus Class configuration is getting great reviews. United needs to catch up or fail. The Dreamliner is an experiment for me.)
If it were on the 777-200's in B Class I would not do it because the seating is cattle class in Bus. I read that the Dreamliner experience is much better and has more personal space, if not the level of the herringbone design seats on Air NZ in Bus Class. American's new 777 Bus Class configuration is getting great reviews. United needs to catch up or fail. The Dreamliner is an experiment for me.)
Last edited by goalie; Jul 31, 2016 at 4:11 pm Reason: repaired quote
Jul 31, 2016, 6:12 pm
#103
Join Date: Jan 2010
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Posts: 1,174
Switch from the 787 to 777-200??
Booked flights in January to go to AKL on the 787, had seats 1K and L, now, checking my booking, I see they've switched to the 777-200. Is there any chance they will switch back? We're moved to row 7 aisle and window.
Jul 31, 2016, 9:33 pm
#104
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: LBB, Texas
Programs: UA 1K, 1.6MM
Posts: 111
Not until Mar 30 2017
30MAR17 – 29JUN17 Boeing 787-9 operates daily (787-9 service commences on 28FEB17)
eff 30JUN17 3 of 7 weekly flights operates with 787-8, replacing -9 (Day 357 from SFO, Day 257 from AKL)
30MAR17 – 29JUN17 Boeing 787-9 operates daily (787-9 service commences on 28FEB17)
eff 30JUN17 3 of 7 weekly flights operates with 787-8, replacing -9 (Day 357 from SFO, Day 257 from AKL)