sau54

Why does TPE make it hard to access even the APEC line?

bocastephen

I haven't been there since the virus started, so should they drop the quarantine nonsense and we can go back, I will check it out. I only remember the secret door way off to the left of general security that airport employees were taught to deny the existence of if asked. Then once you went through the door, past all the airport offices, you were dumped back to a separate area of security and passport control. Hopefully the new location also streams to its own passport control desk and you don't need to line up with everyone else.

sau54

I would love to check it out when and if Taiwan allows quarantine-free travel.

What do you mean by new location?

drewguy

I've found a lot of airports put special access lines in non-obvious places. When they're in obvious places a lot of pax who aren't eligible tend to try the line and see if they maybe can use it, delaying use for those who have whatever the access is.

IMissThe747

That ABTC line was so hidden at TPE that the only reason I was ever able to find it was because bocastephen told me exactly where to look in another thread. Once I knew where it was, sometimes I still had 'helpers' trying to turn me away while I made me way there. These were the same type of 'helpers' who would see me walking briskly towards the e-gate arrivals upon return and try to escort me to the foreigner line. After the first time explaining "I have an ARC with e-gate" and still being politely ushered away, I learned it was easier to just pretend I didn't understand English or Mandarin and keep breezing forward to e-gate full speed ahead. Same policy for the ABTC line. Never understood why the 'helpers' were so unhelpful!

I no longer live there and have no idea when tourists would be allowed back. So, who knows what it's like now.

PanAmWT

(This may be on the wrong thread - MOD please move it to correct one, thanks)
I was looking for SFO-TPE flight in first week of July. The nonstop UA871 shows no availability for all economy class fares for all days. PP and J are available. But seat map shows realistic situations with about half of the seats empty. Does anyone know why this is the case and whether we can expect Y seats to become available again?

WineCountryUA

Perhaps because Taiwan imposes quota of 25,000 inbound passengers per week
UA does not want it's quota used by just economy passenger

sau54

So UA is mostly flying an empty plane to TPE then?

WineCountryUA

Whose said an mostly empty plan, as was done for Australia and China when they had similar quota, UA will maximize revenues by focusing to fill the premium cabins and use economy for the remainder. OP mentioned "half of the seats empty" not clear if that referred to economy or included other cabins. Still 2 weeks to sell remaining premium cabin space -- experience suggests that may happen at very premium prices.

Additionally, cargo revenue can be significant.

IMissThe747

I flew 871 and 872 in June, 2021 and again later that year. At the time there was one flight daily each way bookable by passengers. On my June flights, though, the FA in J told me that there were actually two flights daily, but one was cargo only. And for the flight with passengers bookings, the cargo contracts alone made the flight profitable even if it went out with a full crew and only a handful of passengers.

No idea if the FA was 100% accurate, but it sure seems plausible. I believe UA has the Costco, TSMC, and a few other lucrative contracts. And with sea shipping so cost ineffective right now, and Taiwan so dependent on international imports and exports, it makes sense that UA is running jets jam packed full of cargo and making $$$.

All those Costco chickens in Taiwan are getting there in the belly of the UA871 77W!

PanAmWT

Just looked again. 7/4 Y remains unavailable. 7/5 Y becomes available now, but at price that is almost the same as 7/4 C. Do these confirm previous comments?


UA871 7/4/2022

UA871 7/5/2022

WineCountryUA

Yes,similiar pricing pattern occurred for China
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...ay-2022-a.html
and
Australia
United flights to Australia (2021) extremely expensive / limited space available

when quotas were in place

The Taiwan quota is not as tight as the others were

uanj

Taiwan remains committed to re-opening but in steps to make sure medical facilities are not overwhelmed. So arrivals were capped at 25,000 per week and each airline was given a quota and instructions how to deal with this. The recent announcement of quarantine being reduced to 3+4 has seen demand skyrocket, CX sold out of their inventory through sometime in August in a matter of days after the change was announced. I am sure the revenue management team at UA has noticed this demand and adjusted their inventory accordingly, unfortunately.

I just flew into TPE last night, the airport was the busiest I have seen since pre-pandemic. Lots of procedures but everyone fairly relaxed and plenty of staff to take you through the various steps. UA 871 was about half full according to the purser but I did not check. I do know there was zero availability in any class the day before so it looks like UA is selling their full quota. Our air freight costs are still high, I expect air frieght is still doing well for them. SFO-TPE has been running daily for over a year and a half, they would not do that if they were not making money on the route.

Clemson

I bought PP tickets for early next year after the change was announced. Within days the price had over doubled from what I paid.

PanAmWT

On days of every Y fare code is zero, PN is also 0. I wonder by the departure time if UA still keeps PN0 and PZ0? So the flight may take off with empty seats in Polaris while many people have Plus points or miles+copy on wait list. This is a way to force cash upgrade to maximize revenue.