UA changes for Australia - seasonal reductions IAH/LAX, adding SFO-MEL
#91
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
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The lastest posts are about June 2020, so using that time references, the similar 2019 changes are "last year" (but yes it is still presently 2019), so perhaps "same as this year" is clearer. But I suspect most understand the reference.
#92
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: NYC (Primarily EWR)
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Just curious - do folks think that UA's strategy for their Australia flights make sense? I don't really get the point of alternating days between LAX/SFO-MEL and LAX/IAH-SYD in low season; it seems to unnecessarily create complications around where to route from. Personally - I would think that UA should run SFO-MEL daily and drop LAX-MEL, and make IAH-SYD daily while dropping LAX-SYD. Yes, it gives LAX short shrift, but until UA gets more gates (or can get traffic away from AA/QF - seems unlikely until Polaris hard product is in place consistently), it gives them MEL coverage from their TPAC gateway, and IAH geographically makes more sense (when combined with daily SFO-SYD) than alternating with LAX, which is more inefficient for most folks given UA flies to more places to IAH than to LAX.
#93
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Youre looking at it from the perspective of a NYC-based customer. Industrywide, something like 65% of all traffic is O&D. While this might be lower on Australia-US routes, due to the paucity of nonstop options, I suspect this is still a pretty strong rationale. UA is likely betting that some of their LAX-based customers will shift their travel by a day to avoid connecting.
#95
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#96
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#97
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: SAN
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Youre looking at it from the perspective of a NYC-based customer. Industrywide, something like 65% of all traffic is O&D. While this might be lower on Australia-US routes, due to the paucity of nonstop options, I suspect this is still a pretty strong rationale. UA is likely betting that some of their LAX-based customers will shift their travel by a day to avoid connecting.
I actually try and avoid SFO as the afternoon flights from SAN are often delayed and if I leave earlier I have too many hours at the airport in SFO. As the flights to SYD leave so late there are few options to ensure the good connection in SFO.