Jan 24, 2020, 7:24 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
By 2023, UA has returned to the more traditional pre-COVID schedule update process. There are still some closer in changes but far less than during the COVID era.
UA publishes a schedule for 330 days in advance (called Beginning of Schedule) andin the past would make tweaks quarterly and things would be fairly settles 3-4 months out. Updates would occur Friday evening / Saturday morning (Chicago time). Routine additions could occur anytime.
Present updates are every Friday and sometimes mid-week usually focused on the next month and farther out.
Check Your UA Itineraries for Schedule Changes and what to do after one
20 Oct 2021
However, during the COVID era, UA has gone to a more dynamic and shorter-term setting of schedule (as has the other carriers). Presently UA, while UA is still publishing a schedule for 330 days in advance it reflects pre-COVID operational levels and is considered just a placeholder schedule. Then 3-5 weeks prior to a month, UA makes a major update of that month's schedule.
Examples (Major updates)
The October 2020 schedule was updated 4-5 September 2020
The November 2020 schedule was updated 2-3 October 2020
The December 2020 schedule was updated 30-31 October 2020
Holidays can move the major date a week earlier or later.
Weekly updates are still generally done over night Friday-Saturday (Chicago)
UA does not publish a summary of most schedule changes but a variety of sources below do and summaries / links of those sources can be found in this thread & wiki.
Always crosscheck with UA's Travel Notices , Coronavirus (COVID-19) travel waivers and information, www.united.com/coronavirus as the situation is dynamic
Other Resources and Statistics
Archive: COVID19 UA-Schedule {Archive}
new Archive : UA-Schedule changes {Archive}
UA publishes a schedule for 330 days in advance (called Beginning of Schedule) and
Present updates are every Friday and sometimes mid-week usually focused on the next month and farther out.
Check Your UA Itineraries for Schedule Changes and what to do after one
Examples (Major updates)
The October 2020 schedule was updated 4-5 September 2020
The November 2020 schedule was updated 2-3 October 2020
The December 2020 schedule was updated 30-31 October 2020
Holidays can move the major date a week earlier or later.
Weekly updates are still generally done over night Friday-Saturday (Chicago)
UA does not publish a summary of most schedule changes but a variety of sources below do and summaries / links of those sources can be found in this thread & wiki.
Always crosscheck with UA's Travel Notices , Coronavirus (COVID-19) travel waivers and information, www.united.com/coronavirus as the situation is dynamic
Other Resources and Statistics
- CDC Travel Notices (Worldwide)
- US State Department Advisories (Search or Click "Date Updated" to Sort by Date)
- US State Department - COVID-19 Country Specific Information
- John Hopkins' Incident Map
- Worldometer Statistics
- WHO Page on Covid-19
- IATA Latest Travel Document News
- UA's Page to Query TIMATIC Database (an IATA database with the current documentation and entry requirements worldwide
Archive: COVID19 UA-Schedule {Archive}
new Archive : UA-Schedule changes {Archive}
UA System Schedule changes
Aug 23, 2023, 11:29 pm
#110
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,337
UA hasn't operated EWR-HKG since pre-COVID and there's no reason to think they will start until / unless Russian airspace reopens.
Aug 24, 2023, 12:15 am
#111
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 118
It definitely was a bookable revenue fare, I had the price changes saved on GFlights - it was actually YYZ-EWR-HKG RT, with the EWR-HKG on UA179 and UA180 late December.
Aug 24, 2023, 12:58 am
#112
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,337
Sorry, I probably should have added more detail. They’ve been keeping it on the schedule and progressively removing it a couple of months / a season at a time.
Aug 24, 2023, 3:44 am
#113
Join Date: Apr 2023
Posts: 24
When do UA Schedule Change usually happen?
Does anyone have any insight or have noticed any patterns regarding when United usually makes schedule changes? For example, for the Nov-Dec schedule between NYC (LGA,EWR) and IAD, when is it usually finalized/ changed? I want to only book when I have a good idea of the schedule given that United only has 6X daily for IAD-LGA right now for the fall schedule but has 9X scheduled for the winter, which seems like a huge jump to me. Feel free to jump in with your thoughts. Thanks!
Aug 24, 2023, 8:15 am
#114
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 23,011
Does anyone have any insight or have noticed any patterns regarding when United usually makes schedule changes? For example, for the Nov-Dec schedule between NYC (LGA,EWR) and IAD, when is it usually finalized/ changed? I want to only book when I have a good idea of the schedule given that United only has 6X daily for IAD-LGA right now for the fall schedule but has 9X scheduled for the winter, which seems like a huge jump to me. Feel free to jump in with your thoughts. Thanks!
Aug 24, 2023, 8:45 am
#115
Join Date: Apr 2023
Posts: 24
Final cuts to Sep/Oct IAD-LGA schedule to 6x daily were made this past weekend (they had already been reduced to 7x daily prior to this past weekend). Most changes to EWR schedule this past weekend were only to Oct schedule as Sep schedule is probably pretty well set. The exceptions were EWR-BOS and EWR-DCA flights which saw some cuts to both Sep and Oct schedules. I'd expect Nov/Dec schedules for IAD-LGA to be finalized by end of next month.
Aug 24, 2023, 8:56 am
#116
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,337
If your choice is United or another carrier, then I suppose this makes some amount of sense — although UA will give a refund when there’s an arrival or departure change of more than two hours.
If your choice is which United flight, this really makes no sense at all, as if you book a flight that you like, and they eliminate it, you can pick any other flight on the same day for no additional charge.
The only reason I wouldn’t be booking for November / December right now is that, with the exception of holiday travel, it’s a couple of months too early to expect UA’s best prices. But I certainly wouldn’t be worried about a schedule change, as a schedule change is pretty much all upside.
If your choice is which United flight, this really makes no sense at all, as if you book a flight that you like, and they eliminate it, you can pick any other flight on the same day for no additional charge.
The only reason I wouldn’t be booking for November / December right now is that, with the exception of holiday travel, it’s a couple of months too early to expect UA’s best prices. But I certainly wouldn’t be worried about a schedule change, as a schedule change is pretty much all upside.
Aug 26, 2023, 5:07 pm
#118
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: SFO/SJC
Programs: UA Silver, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 14,876
If your choice is United or another carrier, then I suppose this makes some amount of sense — although UA will give a refund when there’s an arrival or departure change of more than two hours.
If your choice is which United flight, this really makes no sense at all, as if you book a flight that you like, and they eliminate it, you can pick any other flight on the same day for no additional charge.
The only reason I wouldn’t be booking for November / December right now is that, with the exception of holiday travel, it’s a couple of months too early to expect UA’s best prices. But I certainly wouldn’t be worried about a schedule change, as a schedule change is pretty much all upside.
If your choice is which United flight, this really makes no sense at all, as if you book a flight that you like, and they eliminate it, you can pick any other flight on the same day for no additional charge.
The only reason I wouldn’t be booking for November / December right now is that, with the exception of holiday travel, it’s a couple of months too early to expect UA’s best prices. But I certainly wouldn’t be worried about a schedule change, as a schedule change is pretty much all upside.
also probably good to point out that even purchasing a [non-be] fare that drops later, you can just ‘re-book’ to get a credit for the difference. It’s not cash back, sure, but if you’re not sure, this is a good fallback, so long as you regularly fly UA. In fact, sitting on $900+ in credits for the fam right now due to a summer flight to SIN dropping.
Sep 9, 2023, 10:46 am
#120
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: BOS/EAP
Programs: UA 1K, MR LTT, HH Dia, Amex Plat
Posts: 31,948
Got more January schedule changes last night ... that is #4 for that particular ticket. Kind of surprised UA keeps re-working their schedule that often ... is Covid back?
