bloodyeyeballs

Let's also remember that taxes and surcharges in London are higher than elsewhere in Europe. I am happy to find another city to connect in rather than London. I will fly to London only if I plan to stay in England.

Perhaps United is actually doing something smart for a change by focusing only on O/D at LHR.

TomMM

Sounds like you haven't made Z to B connection at FRA.

catocony

FRA can be a pain to connect due to size, but you don't generally have to go through security theater for a US to non-Schengen connection there. Zurich is really easy, but with a lot less onward flight options. Munich is better than Frankfurt, plus other *A options like Brussels and Copenhagen

TomMM

Sounds like you haven't made many US to non-Schengen connections at FRA.

Ldnn1

Your point doesn't make much sense from the tax perspective. The main tax difference between LON and other European gateways is UK APD, which is about $200 for premium class departures ex-LON. However that tax isn't payable if connecting in LON.

djohannw

While I also have not personally made many of these connections in FRA I know my way around there pretty well, and from that I am pretty certain that there is NO security necessary from Z to B - unless you do not follow the right path.

Coming from non-Schengen B to Z is a different animal, though - this requires an additional security check.

Greetings - Dirk

SunLover

With connecting flights at LHR the taxes are only nominally higher when compared to connecting at continental airports like FRA and CDG. When LHR is your departure origin is when the tax burden increases dramatically.

Have you been to LHR T2 lately?


SL

FWAAA

Good memory; UA abandoned NYC-LON. After emerging from Ch 11, UA lost over $100 million in the first half of 2006. UA was not winning in the JFK-LON market, and thus sold its NYC-LON route to Delta for $21 million in July, 2006.

Of course, Delta could not fly to Heathrow (Bermuda ll) and thus UA moved its JFK-LHR slots to other hubs while DL flew to LGW until open skies in early 2008 when it and all other airlines could buy LHR slots.

BA and AA owned the NYC-LON market, and it made sense for UA to reallocate its LHR slots elsewhere. It re-entered the NYC-LHR market with the CO merger, and its current service is probably right-sized for Newark-LHR. BA/AA and DL/VS own the NYC-LON market, so why upsize the capacity when it would probably generate losses?

mduell

UA isn't the most accurate for calculating the correct APD.

symphonicman

Really? I do this all the time and I always have to clear security in B. Can I ask you for more details on the appropriate thread?

diburning

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the fact that UA is simply not filling their planes.

I flew EWR-LHR in July on the day flight and Y was half full at best. I didn't bother looking into Y+ or any sort of premium cabin option because I knew that I'd have a whole row to myself.

Ldnn1

BA and AA also regularly don't fill their planes in Y on the NYC-LON route. The rationale is that it is better overall to have as much frequency as reasonably manageable on the route to satisfy the business market, than to fill every plane all the time right to the back.

The same rationale applies to UA, for whom even the 5 frequencies is probably more than strictly necessary, but this keeps them competitive.

EWRMAN

The UA flights leave at good times IMO

EWR-LHR
1-08:20-20:40
2-18:00-06:20
3-18:35-06:55
4-21:00-09:20
5-21:50-10:10

Although I would prefer to have 3 leaving at around 19:20.

jmr50

I'm the OP. Personally, I always found the 3 flights out of IAD (roughly 8am, 6pm, and 10pm) to be sufficient when operated with a sufficiently large aircraft. For much of the post-'06 period this was 747s and 777s, with perhaps a 767 for the AM flight. These days, it's 777 and 787s with a 757 for the AM flight. It does seem to me that United is gradually being driven out of the LHR market by competition.

fly747first

On this market, UA is going head to head with BA and VS--both offer better products and UA has never done well competing against quality airlines.