Wayside

Being such a late departure I wonder if they'd offer a smaller snack after takeoff and the more substantial breakfast type meal before arrival? Regardless it's a good opportunity to take advantage of dining in the Polaris lounge before the flight.

symphonicman

Possibly just increased utilization in the summer with better weather?

Bear96

This westbound timing doesn't seem right. The press release says OPO-EWR is an eight hour flight, but with a five hour time change, these departure and arrival times would indicate only a six hour flight.

Am I missing something?

EmailKid

Padding for EWR arrival?

Kacee

Very common for the eastbound to be shorter than the westbound. Jetstream.

TAP flights are blocked at 6:45 eastbound, 8:05 westbound.

Bear96

I don't think you understood my post.

jsloan

It's a typo in the press release. The schedule loaded into the reservation system shows a 3:35 PM arrival into EWR, not 1:35 PM. 8 hours is the correct duration.

iahphx

Yeah, the trip to take in Iceland is the circle trip around the ring for about a week. After a couple nights in Reykjavik (staying on points at the Radisson Blu) we rented private cottages along the way and cooked. Annoying that hosts often require you to bring linens and towels, or pay a lot extra. I would describe lodging prices as 25% more than typical in mainland Europe, now perhaps 30% with the worse exchange rate and the continued crazy growth in tourist arrivals "bidding" for the same accommodations. Supermarket food isn't particularly expensive, but the selection isn't exciting. This is no gourmet paradise, at least at any price point that makes sense. I would describe Icelandic scenery as excellent, but there's a lot of excellent scenery in the world -- many with better food and lower prices -- and a return trip wouldn't be high on my list absent what I assume will be crazy low airfares (and relative ease of visiting with all the new flights). This is a place for folks who like wilderness and simplicity; I'm skeptical it's a mass market destination, which is what all these flights are implying.

It seems like most of the folks who have headed to Fairbanks to see the northern lights have had the same bad luck. I'm not a huge fan of bitter cold, so I've always hesitated from making the trip. But if the fare is below $200 and a 5-hour flight, I could be tempted to try. Again, though, I think this is a trip that's worthwhile for only a small subset of travelers.

Bear96

Thanks.

sbm12

Airlines typically use the slower winter season to perform more maintenance or otherwise lower fleet utilization. The 763s are going to get the new Polaris seats on an aggressive schedule now that the peak summer season is ending, for example. United also has wifi hardware upgrades planned that should be quick but need to be scheduled and tested and such. The slower winter season makes that much easier.

FlyerTalkUserName

Just remembered when I was in St. Andrews a few weeks back at the Dunvegan Pub that their staff had a united logo on the sleeve. Found it surprising that a local pub would be sponsored by a global airline. It's incredibly popular with American golf tourists, but still a surprise. Guess it makes more sense now considering how many frequencies UA is operating to Scotland.

EWRFlyerAL

I'll be on both the inaugural EWR-OPO as well as EWR-KEF in Polaris. I've never been on an inaugural flight and am hoping UA makes it special.

PsiFighter37

It'll be the same old 752 hard product, so don't get your hopes up too high. I think I got the best of the inauguration of these routes at a rooftop event in NYC several months back.

mrt88

I am curious to see how popular the OPO route will be, sounds pretty much leisure oriented and they even ran an economy miles promo so I wonder if they've had trouble filling that route so far.
I have GPUs waitlisted for 2 pax on one PNR on the EWR-OPO in late August on a Friday, two spots are already booked by other pax (i'm not talking of the usual two blocked out for the pilot on the int'l 757 etc.), but it is so far out, so hard to know how it'll do.

EWR764

The standard inaugural spread is a party at the departure gate with a few speeches, snacks/drinks/cake in the gate area, balloons and maybe a little swag bag on board. Nothing over the top, but the inaugurals are usually commemorated in some way.