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UA changes for Australia - seasonal reductions IAH/LAX, adding SFO-MEL

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UA changes for Australia - seasonal reductions IAH/LAX, adding SFO-MEL

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Old Dec 16, 2019, 10:49 pm
  #91  
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Originally Posted by DELee
Isn't it this year (2019) that the frequencies changed?
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.
WineCountryUA is offline  
Old Jan 1, 2020, 5:32 pm
  #92  
 
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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.
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Old Jan 1, 2020, 5:37 pm
  #93  
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Originally Posted by PsiFighter37
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.
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.
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Old Jan 1, 2020, 5:38 pm
  #94  
 
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Yes
(honestly caters to soooo many more people from central & eastern US. Saves so much time.)
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Old Jan 1, 2020, 5:55 pm
  #95  
 
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Originally Posted by jsloan
Youre looking at it from the perspective of a NYC-based customer.
I was surprised to look on GCMap and find that EWR-IAH-SYD is actually 24 miles longer than EWR-LAX-SYD!
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Old Jan 1, 2020, 6:36 pm
  #96  
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Originally Posted by PsiFighter37
I was surprised to look on GCMap and find that EWR-IAH-SYD is actually 24 miles longer than EWR-LAX-SYD!


I didnt mean it so much as IAH is a more convenient stopping point as from NYC, youre connecting to get to Australia, no matter what.
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Old Jan 1, 2020, 7:13 pm
  #97  
 
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Originally Posted by jsloan
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.
Except the price differential for this SAN based pax between LAX and IAH in Y is just under $5,000 to go via IAH instead of LAX a day later.

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.
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