UA changes for Australia - seasonal reductions IAH/LAX, adding SFO-MEL
Feb 9, 2019, 6:29 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 5
UA changes for Australia - seasonal reductions IAH/LAX, adding SFO-MEL
Just booked a RT non-stop from IAH to SYD earlier this week for travel in April/May. Since this is a "once in a lifetime" trip and a long-haul flight we opted to pay for Premium Economy and selected desired seats. We have already been ticketed/paid for these flights. Looking at UA's website today it appears the non-stop from IAH is no longer there! Only options now seem to be from IAH to SFO or LAX, then on to SYD. Does this mean UA has already canx the IAH-SYD non-stop and we should be prepared for the extra stopover in SFO or LAX? When would they normally advise booked passengers of such a change? Thanks for any insights - this kind of long haul flight is new to us and we thought this flight option was a good one. It will be disappointing if we have to add another leg onto the trip we weren't expecting.
Feb 9, 2019, 6:32 am
#2
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: DTW and ORD
Posts: 667
You probably will be contacted soon with options. I think UA is flying IAH-SYD on alternate days for a few months then going back to daily. May make sense since it's low season for Australia when it's spring/summer in the northern Hemisphere.
Feb 9, 2019, 6:50 am
#3
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Well, I got a SYD-LAX cancellation notice this morning and was re-routed via IAH! It looks like they are operating LAX/IAH now on alternating days instead of daily. An interesting strategy.
Feb 9, 2019, 6:51 am
#4
Join Date: May 2012
Location: ORF, RIC
Programs: UA LT 1K, 3 MM; Marriott Titanium; IHG Platinum
Posts: 6,952
MWF and Sunday
Just booked a RT non-stop from IAH to SYD earlier this week for travel in April/May. Since this is a "once in a lifetime" trip and a long-haul flight we opted to pay for Premium Economy and selected desired seats. We have already been ticketed/paid for these flights. Looking at UA's website today it appears the non-stop from IAH is no longer there! Only options now seem to be from IAH to SFO or LAX, then on to SYD. Does this mean UA has already canx the IAH-SYD non-stop and we should be prepared for the extra stopover in SFO or LAX? When would they normally advise booked passengers of such a change? Thanks for any insights - this kind of long haul flight is new to us and we thought this flight option was a good one. It will be disappointing if we have to add another leg onto the trip we weren't expecting.
I checked the middle week of April. UA still has IAH-SYD on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. So, it is no longer a daily flight.Cheers.
Feb 9, 2019, 6:58 am
#5
Join Date: Jul 2016
Programs: UA Gold
Posts: 107
Seems UA sent out a press release about this a few hours ago:
https://thepointsguy.com/news/united...x-syd-changes/
https://thepointsguy.com/news/united...x-syd-changes/
Feb 9, 2019, 12:05 pm
#7
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Join Date: Nov 2014
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Seems UA sent out a press release about this a few hours ago:
https://thepointsguy.com/news/united...x-syd-changes/
https://thepointsguy.com/news/united...x-syd-changes/
Feb 9, 2019, 12:19 pm
#8
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Schedule change: LAX-SYD NS flights no longer daily (1st change 03/13/19)
Soooo...was checking on mine and my wife's trip LAX-SYD (May 22)/SYD-LAX (May 31) for Oz Fest 16. Lo and behold, our non-stop flights each way were now LAX-SFO-SYD and SYD-SFO-LAX.
No notification e-mails in my inboxes. No notification change on the app. No notification change posted to the reservation page itself - just that now we were on a connection each way. FWIW, the receipt page still shows the return SYD-LAX NS flight - which is now gone from the schedule as well.
So, some quick digging - it appears that the first gaps in the LAX-SYD NS daily are Wednesday, March 13, 2019 and Thursday, March 14, 2019. Next drops that I can find are all Wednesdays in April and May. Didn't do any digging for SYD-LAX drops.
FWIW.
David
No notification e-mails in my inboxes. No notification change on the app. No notification change posted to the reservation page itself - just that now we were on a connection each way. FWIW, the receipt page still shows the return SYD-LAX NS flight - which is now gone from the schedule as well.
So, some quick digging - it appears that the first gaps in the LAX-SYD NS daily are Wednesday, March 13, 2019 and Thursday, March 14, 2019. Next drops that I can find are all Wednesdays in April and May. Didn't do any digging for SYD-LAX drops.
FWIW.
David
Feb 9, 2019, 1:51 pm
#10
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: San Francisco/Sydney
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Posts: 8,151
They still have more flights from LAX to Australia than any other US airline (10 a week v's 7 for AA/DL).
The Australian airlines are flooding the US-AU market at the moment (Qantas has 26 flights a week to LAX, plus another 16 to SFO/DFW, and Virgin has 18 to LAX), and the prices are showing there's too much capacity. $4xx and $5xx airfares to Australia are readily available at the moment, not just from the gateways but even including connections (there were sub-$450 to ORD a few days ago) - and that includes ~$150 in taxes.
The Australian airlines are flooding the US-AU market at the moment (Qantas has 26 flights a week to LAX, plus another 16 to SFO/DFW, and Virgin has 18 to LAX), and the prices are showing there's too much capacity. $4xx and $5xx airfares to Australia are readily available at the moment, not just from the gateways but even including connections (there were sub-$450 to ORD a few days ago) - and that includes ~$150 in taxes.
Feb 9, 2019, 2:05 pm
#12
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Feb 9, 2019, 2:11 pm
#13
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 834
Just booked a RT non-stop from IAH to SYD earlier this week for travel in April/May. Since this is a "once in a lifetime" trip and a long-haul flight we opted to pay for Premium Economy and selected desired seats. We have already been ticketed/paid for these flights. Looking at UA's website today it appears the non-stop from IAH is no longer there! Only options now seem to be from IAH to SFO or LAX, then on to SYD. Does this mean UA has already canx the IAH-SYD non-stop and we should be prepared for the extra stopover in SFO or LAX? When would they normally advise booked passengers of such a change? Thanks for any insights - this kind of long haul flight is new to us and we thought this flight option was a good one. It will be disappointing if we have to add another leg onto the trip we weren't expecting.
Go to your reservation on UA’s site. If something like this shows on the detailed itineary, there has been a changed.
Feb 9, 2019, 2:21 pm
#15
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