Old Jan 24, 2020, 7:24 pm
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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) and in 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
Originally Posted by EWR764
In the earnings call today, UA noted that has been transitioning back to its 'normal' (pre-pandemic) 90-day schedule load process, which should be complete in the very near future.
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}
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UA System Schedule changes

Old Jun 3, 2023, 10:09 pm
  #76  
 
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I noticed some unfortunate schedule changes impacting IAH-MCO flights. Specifically, now the latest flight departs at 1819 and arrives at 2143. That's rough for weekly commuters trying to maximize time at home on Sunday. This seems to extend through October. Somewhat curiously, the return flights (MCO-IAH) are unaffected. Sadly, this may push me to another airline for my outbound flights.
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Old Jun 15, 2023, 5:47 am
  #77  
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Got more changes last night including December flights. Pretty early for these adjustments. Now a 752 BOS-EWR; don't mind the lie-flat for the short hop ... hope it sticks!
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Old Jun 15, 2023, 10:28 am
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Originally Posted by cfischer
Got more changes last night including December flights. Pretty early for these adjustments. Now a 752 BOS-EWR; don't mind the lie-flat for the short hop ... hope it sticks!
Same! On the route you get at least 20 minutes to lie-flat!
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Old Jun 15, 2023, 10:35 am
  #79  
 
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Also seeing 752 show up on SFO-IAH... haven't looked at how SFO/LAX-EWR/BOS have been reshuffled but wondering where these airframes are coming from.
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Old Jun 15, 2023, 11:03 am
  #80  
 
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I had some December changes:
  • SFO-IAD with a very minor timing change
  • IAD-PVD changed from Mesa to Commuteair (and E175 to E145....)
  • PVD-EWR moved several hours earlier
  • So I switched to an early EWR-SFO, which is showing up as a B787-10!
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Old Jun 15, 2023, 1:28 pm
  #81  
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Originally Posted by aCavalierInCoach
Also seeing 752 show up on SFO-IAH... haven't looked at how SFO/LAX-EWR/BOS have been reshuffled but wondering where these airframes are coming from.
BOS-SFO is all 752 ...
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Old Jun 15, 2023, 2:55 pm
  #82  
 
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Originally Posted by cfischer
BOS-SFO is all 752 ...
There's still one 7M9 each way most days through most of October.
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Old Jun 15, 2023, 3:37 pm
  #83  
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Originally Posted by cfischer
BOS-SFO is all 752 ...
Originally Posted by wxguy
There's still one 7M9 each way most days through most of October.
And, as we've seen, whatever UA planneth, UA taketh away as well.

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Old Jun 16, 2023, 10:20 am
  #84  
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Originally Posted by wxguy
There's still one 7M9 each way most days through most of October.
as we are discussing December schedule changes my comments were obviously related to the currently posted December schedule.
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Old Jun 20, 2023, 3:47 pm
  #85  
 
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SHOULD I BE WORRIED?

United changed my first flight (of 3) from an Airbus to an Embraer 175 for over the Thanksgiving weekend. I tried to change the seat assignment myself. Have called twice. Last Thursday I was told there was a "change to the seat maps" and it would sort itself out. Today I was told, again after she spoke to her supervisor, that it's too far out to assign a seat. I am a little concerned the flight may be cancelled? I already moved from a later flight to an early morning one to allow more time between the domestic and the international flight (IAD - FRA). Should I be proactive and fly to IAD the night before or am I being too paranoid. The timing (Thanksgiving weekend) is making me more concerned. Why can't they assign me a seat? All my other seats have been assigned??? I am Biz/First and she told me I am the only person in that cabin of 12 seats. Why she told me that I have no clue . . . . I have a cruise and have allowed 2 extra days BUT . . . should I just wait until August and see how things are looking then??? THANKS!
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Old Jun 20, 2023, 4:33 pm
  #86  
 
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Originally Posted by WheelsUpGal
SHOULD I BE WORRIED?

United changed my first flight (of 3) from an Airbus to an Embraer 175 for over the Thanksgiving weekend. I tried to change the seat assignment myself. Have called twice. Last Thursday I was told there was a "change to the seat maps" and it would sort itself out. Today I was told, again after she spoke to her supervisor, that it's too far out to assign a seat. I am a little concerned the flight may be cancelled? I already moved from a later flight to an early morning one to allow more time between the domestic and the international flight (IAD - FRA). Should I be proactive and fly to IAD the night before or am I being too paranoid. The timing (Thanksgiving weekend) is making me more concerned. Why can't they assign me a seat? All my other seats have been assigned??? I am Biz/First and she told me I am the only person in that cabin of 12 seats. Why she told me that I have no clue . . . . I have a cruise and have allowed 2 extra days BUT . . . should I just wait until August and see how things are looking then??? THANKS!
What happens when you try to assign yourself a seat?
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Old Jun 20, 2023, 5:38 pm
  #87  
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Originally Posted by WheelsUpGal
SHOULD I BE WORRIED?

United changed my first flight (of 3) from an Airbus to an Embraer 175 for over the Thanksgiving weekend. I tried to change the seat assignment myself. Have called twice. Last Thursday I was told there was a "change to the seat maps" and it would sort itself out. Today I was told, again after she spoke to her supervisor, that it's too far out to assign a seat. I am a little concerned the flight may be cancelled? I already moved from a later flight to an early morning one to allow more time between the domestic and the international flight (IAD - FRA). Should I be proactive and fly to IAD the night before or am I being too paranoid. The timing (Thanksgiving weekend) is making me more concerned. Why can't they assign me a seat? All my other seats have been assigned??? I am Biz/First and she told me I am the only person in that cabin of 12 seats. Why she told me that I have no clue . . . . I have a cruise and have allowed 2 extra days BUT . . . should I just wait until August and see how things are looking then??? THANKS!
With a change from UA to UAX you can get a free 'change' anyway. Is there a better routing? UA should be able to get you what you want and yes ... you most definitely should be able to get a seat assigned for a flight in November.
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Old Jun 21, 2023, 7:18 am
  #88  
 
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Thanks! The new flight is on "Mesa". Never heard of them. So I guess that's the hold up? It's not really United. One of the other flights on the six (three there and three back) changed by nearly 90 minutes so I guess I have a good case? I will see about flying into IAD the night before. Luckily the airport hotels around there look pretty cheap, compared to Boston and Chicago. Appreciate the advice! It did just seem kind of strange. And yes, I did try several times to change it on my own. I put myself in the seat, got the yellow little circle, and all looked good but the itinerary still had the old seat. Never did get it to 'stick'. Did not get an error message or the ones you get from trying to change your seat for LH on a UA ticket. And neither explanations from the phone reps made much sense. THANKS MUCH!
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Old Jun 21, 2023, 8:33 am
  #89  
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Originally Posted by WheelsUpGal
Thanks! The new flight is on "Mesa". Never heard of them.
Mesa is a regional carrier that operates many flights as United Express.

Originally Posted by WheelsUpGal
So I guess that's the hold up? It's not really United. One of the other flights on the six (three there and three back) changed by nearly 90 minutes so I guess I have a good case?
The DOT requires that the operating carrier be disclosed at the time of purchase. A change from UA-operated to Mesa-operated is grounds for a refund or a reasonable re-route.

Originally Posted by WheelsUpGal
And yes, I did try several times to change it on my own. I put myself in the seat, got the yellow little circle, and all looked good but the itinerary still had the old seat. Never did get it to 'stick'.
That seat map is probably messed up. It would probably work itself out at some point. The inability to select a seat is not a secret indication that UA is planning to cancel the flight; in and of itself, it's meaningless. However, if you'd rather fly a UA-operated flight the night before, it shouldn't be a problem to get that change made.
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Old Jun 21, 2023, 12:23 pm
  #90  
 
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I Googled Mesa. They left American (American said they had "reliability concerns" about Mesa) and just started with United in March of this year. The seat map had changed from my original plane but perhaps wasn't accurate. If the phone rep had said "We just started flying with Mesa and I'm sure they will have their seat maps accessible by July 4th" I would have said OK. But there was too much . . . sort of making things up. Mesa is also having trouble hiring pilots (true of most airlines I guess) and had 2nd quarter losses of $35 million.

Anyway, thanks to the above replies I was able to confidently change my flight to the night before with no problem whatsoever. Thanks in particular to jsloan for the "operating carrier" comment since that helped me sound legit rather than "I don't trust those little planes!!"

I doubt this will be the last of the drama for my flights, but maybe? I almost did this Northern Lights cruise 3 years ago but getting from Nashville to Bergen seemed daunting. And Delta/KLM has some decent connections now, too, if all else fails. Thanks again. I love this forum!!!
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