How Full is Business Class on United 777 From IAD to SFO?
 

For anyone who regularly flies between Dulles IAD and San Francisco SFO on United's Boeing 777, what percentage of that plane's business class section is usually full? Also, does that plane have an additional first-class section in front of the business class section?

It is only 2-cabin (First and Economy), not 3-cabin (First, Biz and Econ). Just looking at what F seats are available this week on the website (not definitive by any means) it is very popular, there is only one seat per day currently available for purchase.

Seatguru's website says it is 3-cabin, but Expertflyer says 2-cabin. How did you determine 2-cabin? I do not believe Expertflyer's seat map for that flight. It smells of having large numbers of those seats being blocked from a view of status.

In this thread, I was really hoping to get lucky and find a person who frequently travels on that plane.

What date and flight? The regular daily 777 (400*/340) varies between 77G and the international configuration, which itself can be loaded as 77U or 77Q depending on how the computer feels. There are only five frames left in the legacy three-class configuration, and dwindling quickly.

It is extremely uncommon for any domestic flight on United to have any empty seats in the forward cabin, let alone a peak hub-hub frequency. It would be common for a Monday or Thursday SFO-IAD to be 90% or more paid F with few upgrades, and those probably GS.

*for some reason this flight number keeps changing whereas 340 has been constant for years

100% full. All the time... With dozens on the waitlist.

It can be determined by looking at the seat map directly from the airline.... SeatGuru indicates UA has 5 different configurations for the 777 - three of which are 2-cabin. You will have to check the UA website to see which 777 layout is scheduled on the date you want to travel. If you are flexible, note that on some flights they also schedule the 767 and 787 which also have the nicer First class.

I fly the route frequently, and have been upgraded maybe once. It's normally booked full.

Going forward, to play United's PQF game, I'll likely be flying IAD-DEN-SJC or IAD-ORD-SJC. Not sure if it'll improve my upgrade chances at all, but not dealing with SFO will be a nice benefit...

As sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

Extraordinarily rare for there to be a J cabin. If OP means a premium cabin, the question is how he intends to UG. Even as a GS, unsupported UG's are few and far between as it's routinely booked on cash tickets.

Gosh, as a Plat I easily end up somewhere down in the 30's or 40's on that flight's upgrade waitlist.

Edit: That's not to say it's impossible. I cleared the waitlist one time on Christmas Eve.

While there are a very small number of planes that still have a first-class seat, there are no flights with a first-class cabin; the first-class seats, on the planes that have them, are sold as business class.

What are you looking to find out? As stated, the answer to your question is yes, the cabin is full upon departure, pretty much 100% of the time. I can state that without ever having flown it, because United gives complimentary upgrades to Premier travelers on that route, and there are almost always going to be enough Premier travelers to fill any seats that haven't been sold.

If your actual question is, how good are your upgrade chances -- not good, but if you care to post your status and travel date, somebody can chime in with a guess.

It is valuable to hear from someone who flies the route often. Do you currently have any status level with United?

What day(s) of the week is that plane least full? Saturday and Sunday?

The question isn't, what days of the week is the plane least full, it's, what days of the year.

The answer is Christmas, Thanksgiving, July 4.

Maybe if you stated exactly what kind of insight you're looking for, it would help you out. You're asking question by question and being very vague.

What is your end goal for all these questions? What are you trying to determine?

This is the epitome of a WFBF (want first, buy first) route.

The ongoing questions about upgrades are kind of pointless.