shifting away from E175s on ORD-MSP?
Aug 25, 2016, 8:18 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: MSP/ORD
Programs: UA 1MM/GS, Marriott Lifetime Platinum
Posts: 318
shifting away from E175s on ORD-MSP?
I fly between ORD and MSP quite a bit.
For the first 8 months of the year, the planes I took on this route were as follows:
E175 - 13
C700 - 4
A319 - 3
A320 - 3
B739 - 3
B738 - 1
B737 - 1
Looking at flights I've already booked for the remaining 4 months of the year, the mix of equipment has changed considerably:
A319 - 7
B739 - 3
B738 - 3
A320 - 2
No more E175s. In fact it appears that ORD-MSP is now 100% a mainline United route, rather than a route served by both United and United Express?
Does anybody who is more astute than me about United's business practices have any insights or theories as to why this has changed?
My hope is that it signals that the E175s are being re-deployed to replace the dreaded E145s, but I still see some of those on my future itineraries on legs like ORD-ORF, ORD-CHA, and ORD-PWM...
For the first 8 months of the year, the planes I took on this route were as follows:
E175 - 13
C700 - 4
A319 - 3
A320 - 3
B739 - 3
B738 - 1
B737 - 1
Looking at flights I've already booked for the remaining 4 months of the year, the mix of equipment has changed considerably:
A319 - 7
B739 - 3
B738 - 3
A320 - 2
No more E175s. In fact it appears that ORD-MSP is now 100% a mainline United route, rather than a route served by both United and United Express?
Does anybody who is more astute than me about United's business practices have any insights or theories as to why this has changed?
My hope is that it signals that the E175s are being re-deployed to replace the dreaded E145s, but I still see some of those on my future itineraries on legs like ORD-ORF, ORD-CHA, and ORD-PWM...
Aug 25, 2016, 9:47 am
#3
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Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: PSM
Posts: 69,232
Aug 25, 2016, 9:55 am
#4
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Virginia, USA
Posts: 4,508
Things are heading the other way too. Nonstops from IAD to SAT/AUS/DFW go from E175s to CRJ700s after the first of the year. Not sure what that is all about but not a welcome change for regulars on those flights.
Aug 25, 2016, 10:17 am
#5
Join Date: Apr 2011
Programs: WN, AA, UA, DL
Posts: 1,313
Not exactly sure why, but MSP-ORD has seen large capacity increases. It's almost all mainline now, with just one MSP-ORD flight on an E175 (ORD-MSP is 100% mainline). And it's mostly 738/739 too for the next few months. Not many Airbuses. I figure some of it is due to natural upgrading, but it's obviously more than that.
Aug 25, 2016, 10:33 am
#6
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Join Date: May 2007
Location: Houston
Programs: UA Plat, Marriott Gold
Posts: 12,693
Here's the scheduled flights on UA ORD-MSP (there's also one B753 I omitted):
rj50 is 50-seat CRJ and ERJ, crj7 is CRJ7, e17x is E170/175, b73x is all 737 models, and a32x is 319 and 320.
Keep in mind the schedules >3 months out are notional at best and will likely see tons of schedule and equipment changes before they operate.
Code:
month | rj50 | crj7 | e17x | b73x | a32x ------------+------+------+------+------+------ 2016-01-01 | 8 | 80 | 90 | 8 | 48 2016-02-01 | 9 | 56 | 81 | 41 | 45 2016-03-01 | 11 | 54 | 119 | 34 | 41 2016-04-01 | 11 | 34 | 54 | 69 | 82 2016-05-01 | 4 | 33 | 46 | 93 | 76 2016-06-01 | 4 | 29 | 83 | 93 | 47 2016-07-01 | 5 | 24 | 108 | 33 | 86 2016-08-01 | 0 | 16 | 57 | 106 | 90 2016-09-01 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 128 | 128 2016-10-01 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 179 | 90 2016-11-01 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 111 | 134 2016-12-01 | 20 | 11 | 40 | 61 | 96 2017-01-01 | 2 | 10 | 9 | 52 | 204 2017-02-01 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 52 | 196 2017-03-01 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 58 | 223 2017-04-01 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 55 | 218 2017-05-01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 58 | 236 2017-06-01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 56 | 228 2017-07-01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 57 | 233
Keep in mind the schedules >3 months out are notional at best and will likely see tons of schedule and equipment changes before they operate.
Aug 25, 2016, 10:37 am
#7
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: ORD-LAS
Programs: UA MM 1K, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium Elite
Posts: 4,419
This is a little too late for me. I now do WN on MDW-MSP. Since UA took the majority of mainline off that route, I started taking WN instead. Maybe they get me back, as I too noticed mostly mainline on that route now.
Aug 25, 2016, 10:49 am
#8
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Tucson, AZ
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott LT Titanium, AA LT Gold, Radisson Gold, Hertz PC, HP Masters emeritus (sigh)
Posts: 445
Yes, we have proof of that here at TUS. Now seeing fewer CRJ200s and 145s. So keep sending those 175s over, please. We'll take 'em. Room for bags, easier upgrades and not claustrophobic...
Aug 25, 2016, 11:04 am
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 14,410
I'm of the opinion that E75 to 319 is a downgrade.. fewer F, more Y, and 6 across. Especially on a route too short for a meal, the E75 is pretty much the ideal plane.
Aug 25, 2016, 11:14 am
#10
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Location: SFO/SJC
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Some routes may see seasonal up/down gauging as well. An E75 may work better on some routes in some seasons while mainline will work better in others. S. Florida, FLL/PBI and to some extent, though probably lesser so on MIA. is a good example - in winter, more capacity is needed, while they can reduce capacity in the summer season. As a counter example, YVR and Alaska routes are busier in the summer (cruise season) then in the winter.
Aug 25, 2016, 11:18 am
#11
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E75 means 12 FC passengers trying to be served by just 1 FA, who is also having to staff the boarding door. So PDBs suffer. And even in-flight service seems incredibly rushed for the single FA as they try to do drinks and snacks for 12 during 40 minutes. (DAY<->ORD is a regular route for me).
The only significant downside to the CR7 compared to the E75 that I can think of is the lack of a lav up front. But on flights 2 hours or less, typically a non-issue.
Aug 25, 2016, 12:37 pm
#12
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Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: MSP/ORD
Programs: UA 1MM/GS, Marriott Lifetime Platinum
Posts: 318
Aug 25, 2016, 8:59 pm
#13
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Chicago
Programs: UA1MM*GL/1K, AA, BnVy PlatL, HH Silver,
Posts: 681
Maybe it finally dawned on someone in the Sears Tower that most of their former Chicago business flyers discovered that MDW/WN wasn't that bad and actually your best option for Midwest business travel and an "upscale" improvement after the Smiseking of UA.
It's good news if it holds and mainline spreads to other Midwest cities. Unfortunately, so many former pmUA flyers I know don't even think to consider UA anymore. Might be something they want advertise like in the Business One days.
It's good news if it holds and mainline spreads to other Midwest cities. Unfortunately, so many former pmUA flyers I know don't even think to consider UA anymore. Might be something they want advertise like in the Business One days.
Aug 25, 2016, 11:20 pm
#14
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: OMA
Programs: UA 1K MM
Posts: 75
They could also break out those massive billboards staged along the Kennedy Expressway years ago....there were about a half dozen of them.
"LaGuardia is HOURS" "Newark is HOURS" "Boston is HOURS" "Minneapolis is HOURS" "Philly", "DCA" etc.
I still have that double page ad from the Trib that published UA's entire ORD schedule on it. Absolute brilliant marketing back then.
Time to bolt a United logo on top of the Sears Tower while they're at it too.
"LaGuardia is HOURS" "Newark is HOURS" "Boston is HOURS" "Minneapolis is HOURS" "Philly", "DCA" etc.
I still have that double page ad from the Trib that published UA's entire ORD schedule on it. Absolute brilliant marketing back then.
Time to bolt a United logo on top of the Sears Tower while they're at it too.