SFO-XIY (Xi'an, China) summer seasonal service discontinued {will not return in 2018}
 

first HGH, now XIY. brian sumers (all credit to him) tweeted a what is probably a screenshot of a UA internal memo that states XIY service will not return next summer:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...6c660350cd.jpg

That sucks - it was a route I did want to try. Do folks think CTU will get chopped at some point as well, or does that have enough corporate traffic to be sustainable? I also wonder if primary cause is the rise of Chinese airlines flying internationally...I know folks will want to point the finger at the Dao incident.

I also wonder where the Dreamliner is going to go...feel like UA has a lot of them but doesn’t necessarily do as well on long/thin routes that it should service. Maybe make SFO-AKL a a year-round route with downgauged/less frequent service during off peak season?

Hate to say I told you so, but I called this over two years ago: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/25478610-post78.html I am sure I deserved some of the crud I took :o But United's damaged brand was simply not going to attract the kind of traffic ex-XIY to make this flight viable.

CTU is full of Apple employees in the front cabin. Won’t be an issue to get axed.

On GPUs? Probably the easiest long-haul upgrade in the UA system.

While you're right about clearing into R, I think they don't bother with the 'G' and 'U' parts.

O.O...any other tips on for easiest long-haul R availability? How do you know this? Just experience?

I've found SFO-TPE to have pretty good R open on Tues/Wed..but I really only have an idea of ease-of-upgrade for flight routes I've traveled. I haven't spent much time investigating others for potential mileage run ops. But since I've got 8 GPUs to burn next year, no corporate travel, and a foreign address...if there are some decent longhauls with R that aren't too expensive maybe I could put together 2-3 MRs/travel trips. I looked briefly at an east asia to south america connection United trip for fun. For about $2k you can get ~30k miles. But you spend 33 hours traveling, and I didn't investigate if the EWR-<south america> leg could clear.

It is weird that UA didn't mention XIY can also be served by connecting partner Juneyao Airlines with a connection at PVG. UA sells those tickets though.

LOL

PEK is anything but convenient for connections....

Now that all these China flights are failing, can we get BKK back now please...

completely agreed on PEK and BKK part. Does it mean United will decide to stop pursing China's 2nd-tier cities?

Haven't they already? HGH and XIY are gone. CTU really may not be that far behind. One corporate contract (Apple) does not save a flight from the chopping block.

-RM

I seriously seriously doubt it's the 'brand' that caused any of this whatsoever. I would put money that it's simply the market. Have you seen other UA flights to Asia? Have UA flights domestically been empty since 'the incident'? Quite opposite, flights have been fuller and fuller than before, despite basic economy, etc.
At the airport on a Sat and my flight is 100% full. (Yes it's one data point lol) The brand is fine.