Did UA miss the window for MEL SFO?
Dec 17, 2017, 1:44 am
#17
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Melbourne MEL Calgary YYC
Programs: UA1K, QF Plat, *A & Marriot Gold, OW Emerald, Hyatt Hertz PC CanPass Nexus APEC Global Entry
Posts: 468
true. But QF suffers at the other end at SFO, which is why I think this route makes less sense for QF than for UA. In any case, good to see North America to Australia competition increasing after years of very limited, expensive options.
Although I’m certainly hoping UA also launches this route to give me a 1 stop option from YYC to see my brother who just moved to MEL
there red is a one stop option via LAX the timing is just bad, you have to leave yyc at 7am where if you connect sfo lax Mel you leave yyc at 2 pm , so the second stop is actually faster
i do Yyc Mel 6-7 times per year and there is no “good”route
if you find one make sure you let me know
Dec 17, 2017, 12:20 pm
#18
Join Date: Mar 2005
Programs: fwp blood diamond, dykwia uranium
Posts: 7,251
there red is a one stop option via LAX the timing is just bad, you have to leave yyc at 7am where if you connect sfo lax Mel you leave yyc at 2 pm , so the second stop is actually faster
i do Yyc Mel 6-7 times per year and there is no “good”route
if you find one make sure you let me know
anyways i found one:
http://www.yvr.ca/en/blog/2017/yvr-a...ne-from-canada
Dec 17, 2017, 1:33 pm
#19
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: IAH, YYC
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 753
but tbit lounge (14 minute brisk walk from lounge entrance to united club) is far superior to sfo lounges. lax did a good job working with what they got and tbit is far nicer than sfo int.
i love that long layover in lax (as i fly to sin a bit, and i'm self employed). meet up with friends at melodies, go that taqueria just down the road, get my work and drank on in the tbit lounge, fly out tired. but i hear yah if you don't have a half day to waste.
anyways i found one:
YVR to Launch First Non-Stop Flight between Melbourne and Canada | YVR
i love that long layover in lax (as i fly to sin a bit, and i'm self employed). meet up with friends at melodies, go that taqueria just down the road, get my work and drank on in the tbit lounge, fly out tired. but i hear yah if you don't have a half day to waste.
anyways i found one:
YVR to Launch First Non-Stop Flight between Melbourne and Canada | YVR
Dec 17, 2017, 8:24 pm
#20
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Melbourne MEL Calgary YYC
Programs: UA1K, QF Plat, *A & Marriot Gold, OW Emerald, Hyatt Hertz PC CanPass Nexus APEC Global Entry
Posts: 468
true the new AC route is better. But as a 1K, and also as someone who has seen AC’s Y product go steadily downhill over the last few years I’ll always prefer the UA option if possible. Although the 12 hour layover at LAX is too much for me. I’d rather take the layover in SYD (on the outbound) where I can at least catch up with friends and family
but tbit lounge (14 minute brisk walk from lounge entrance to united club) is far superior to sfo lounges. lax did a good job working with what they got and tbit is far nicer than sfo int.
i love that long layover in lax (as i fly to sin a bit, and i'm self employed). meet up with friends at melodies, go that taqueria just down the road, get my work and drank on in the tbit lounge, fly out tired. but i hear yah if you don't have a half day to waste.
anyways i found one:
YVR to Launch First Non-Stop Flight between Melbourne and Canada YVR
i love that long layover in lax (as i fly to sin a bit, and i'm self employed). meet up with friends at melodies, go that taqueria just down the road, get my work and drank on in the tbit lounge, fly out tired. but i hear yah if you don't have a half day to waste.
anyways i found one:
YVR to Launch First Non-Stop Flight between Melbourne and Canada YVR
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Dec 17, 2017 at 8:46 pm Reason: merging consecutive posts by same member
Dec 18, 2017, 3:07 pm
#21
Join Date: Mar 2005
Programs: fwp blood diamond, dykwia uranium
Posts: 7,251
i have no clue what you are talking about. usa>int and int>usa connections in yvr yyc yyz is as smoove as it gets for a country like canada. a few years ago yvr had its choke points and i'm guessing that is what you are referring to, but now everyone gets kicked into the central hall so now we all suffer equally.
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Dec 18, 2017 at 3:08 pm Reason: OMNI content removed
Dec 20, 2017, 12:15 am
#23
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Melbourne MEL Calgary YYC
Programs: UA1K, QF Plat, *A & Marriot Gold, OW Emerald, Hyatt Hertz PC CanPass Nexus APEC Global Entry
Posts: 468
i have no clue what you are talking about. usa>int and int>usa connections in yvr yyc yyz is as smoove as it gets for a country like canada. a few years ago yvr had its choke points and i'm guessing that is what you are referring to, but now everyone gets kicked into the central hall so now we all suffer equally.
Dec 20, 2017, 7:42 am
#24
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Posts: 1,516
true the new AC route is better. But as a 1K, and also as someone who has seen AC’s Y product go steadily downhill over the last few years I’ll always prefer the UA option if possible. Although the 12 hour layover at LAX is too much for me. I’d rather take the layover in SYD (on the outbound) where I can at least catch up with friends and family
AC 789 has 298 seats vs United 252 seats.
No matter how you look at it AC, is in reality selling a Rouge product.
Feb 3, 2018, 4:22 pm
#25
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: SFO, JFK/LGA, SEA
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Why Does United Fly To Melbourne from LAX but not SFO?
This always struck me as odd, since the vast majority of their Transpacific flights are out of SFO and it's a bigger hub for them than LAX. I figured the SFO <=> Melbourne route must not be as profitable as the market from LAX, hence the nonstop from there. But since Qantas announced SFO <=> Melbourne flights with minimal opportunities for connecting onwards at SFO, that doesn't seem likely. Anyone know why United has been hesitant to start this route? Does anyone see them following suit and starting it in order to compete with Qantas?
Feb 3, 2018, 4:56 pm
#27
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Feb 4, 2018, 12:20 am
#28
Join Date: May 2010
Location: SFO
Posts: 97
This always struck me as odd, since the vast majority of their Transpacific flights are out of SFO and it's a bigger hub for them than LAX. I figured the SFO <=> Melbourne route must not be as profitable as the market from LAX, hence the nonstop from there. But since Qantas announced SFO <=> Melbourne flights with minimal opportunities for connecting onwards at SFO, that doesn't seem likely. Anyone know why United has been hesitant to start this route? Does anyone see them following suit and starting it in order to compete with Qantas?
Feb 4, 2018, 1:16 am
#29
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Feb 4, 2018, 6:28 am
#30
Join Date: May 2003
Location: RDU, NC, USA
Programs: UA 1K/MM, Hilton something
Posts: 841
QF have a very large connection partner in AA, and AA has infinitely more connection potential ("some") in SFO than UA does at MEL ("zero").
You could convince me that MEL-SFO is a profitable route, but you could never convince me that once QF announced it that there was enough left over for UA to make any money.
My limited experience with the LAX-MEL flights on UA is that they aren't selling out the back consistently, and these have been *relatively* easy to GPU up front, so while I think these flights yield "well" I don't think they yield so well that adding capacity to MEL makes much sense. With SFO slots and 787 frames both a limited resource, I think a new 789 frame is going to make a lot more money for UA flying direct to some random business/manufacturing center in the middle of China than it ever would to MEL.
Most Aussie tourists connecting are going to fly QF, and most USA tourists are not likely to care much whether they go via LAX or SFO *unless* they live in one of those cities....
You could convince me that MEL-SFO is a profitable route, but you could never convince me that once QF announced it that there was enough left over for UA to make any money.
My limited experience with the LAX-MEL flights on UA is that they aren't selling out the back consistently, and these have been *relatively* easy to GPU up front, so while I think these flights yield "well" I don't think they yield so well that adding capacity to MEL makes much sense. With SFO slots and 787 frames both a limited resource, I think a new 789 frame is going to make a lot more money for UA flying direct to some random business/manufacturing center in the middle of China than it ever would to MEL.
Most Aussie tourists connecting are going to fly QF, and most USA tourists are not likely to care much whether they go via LAX or SFO *unless* they live in one of those cities....