HNLbasedFlyer

It will definitely be a lie flat.

exp

Been watching some SFO-LIH fares for early next year.

The 9 AM departure is consistently higher, by $200 or more on some dates, compare to the 6:33 PM departure.

But the 9AM flight is listed as 737 so no lie flats. The 6:33 PM flight is listed as 757 with lie flats.

So maybe you get some sleep on the 6:33 PM flight so that you arrive just before 11 PM and you can check into hotel to sleep?

Around mid or late February, the evening flight departs at 4:42 PM, arriving around 9 PM so a little better but on arrival you do little more than get ready to sleep.

I guess the fare differential shows greater demand for the morning flight, lie flats be damned.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Yes - the morning and mid-day flights to all Hawaii destinations are more popular since you get to spend late afternoon and/or evening in Hawaii. The later flight also turns back to west coast as redeye, so you want lie-flats on that one. Less need for lie-flat as morning west coast to Hawaii turns as afternoon flight Hawaii to west coast.

WineCountryUA

9AM: 9 hours more in Hawaii, day time flight and for those with kids (or are not night owls) a much better flight time

exp

no doubt, but 5-6 hours in more uncomfortable seat.

may be an FT thing but we do have threads like this.

thesun

How about SFO-DEN-LIH to guarantee that lie flat over the water I did do BWI-SFO-LHR once...

Actually in this case SFO-DEN-LIH wouldn't be too great (for me at least) given the late afternoon arrival of at LIH. I'd take the morning 737 flight. I've never liked the idea of taking a late arriving flight to Hawaii to just have to check right into a hotel and sleep.

exp

So is a F worth it if it's non lie flat?

Fare difference between an Economy and First fare is at least $900 and we're talking about 737 outbound and 777 return (2-4-2 lie flat) on the route and dates I'm looking at, SFO-LIH and HNL-SFO.


I have to use an ETC anyways, which is greater than the price of a current T fare for this route. So I was looking at C or F fares. Looks like the 777 they operate from HNL to SFO has both F and J seats but appears to be the same price whether you search for Business or First Class on Google Flights?

If not booking an Economy Round trip, I could go Economy on the outbound since there's no daytime flight with lie flat and then return on a J or F fare..

IAH-OIL-TRASH

The plethora of lie-flats is relatively new. The F fares are basically the same as what people were paying pre-pandemic for 753s and 737s to Hawaii. During the past year, people are getting accustomed to lie-flats and are expecting them to be the norm. I don't think most people realize they're getting more (the lie-flats) for the same price, not more for more price. When the aircraft start making their way back to int'l service and UA returns more non-lie flats ex West Coast, people are really going to moan about the "good old days" of 2020-21. No - the prices are not out of line and the aircraft being used gives people a lot better chances of upgrades with miles or points, and even CPUs.

UA only markets economy, basic economy, or First West Coast to Hawaii. Premiers buying economy can select (the non-marketed) Premium Economy seats for free and anyone buying economy can purchase E+ or Premium Economy seats as a buy-up.

exp

Hmm, how has UA been handling customer-canceled flights recently, especially West Coast to Hawaii?

Flight credit? ETC? Refund?

IAH-OIL-TRASH

No different than any other domestic flight. Depends on ticket bought - FFC or refund.

emcampbe

this.

I’m a bit surprised, given how long we’ve been in this, that UA hasn’t sold Premium plus as a separate cabin on CA routes to the Islands. Given how full Business goes out on the 777s on some of those flights (though admittedly not all), with few CPUs, I’m thinking they could make some dough even just selling P+. Not sure what the ‘historical’ norm has been with PP on non-international routes, but I’ve seenit over the past few months on SFO-EWR for $100-$150 above economy fares (though sometimes more), and I’m thinking that SFO to the islands are about the same distance/time, actually just a tad less far. Why wouldn’t UA try to get that same premium on 24 seats per flight, and give folks a choice of a service between Y and J? Even at $100/person, that’s just shy of $5000 per round trip they might be able to get on the widebodies. Sure, they would have ti add meals, etc, but I think it would probably work for them to boost revenue and profit on those flights.

I’m not a premium fare paying guy, but I’d probably jump at that chance (especially with how cheap the Y fares have been - we just completed SFO-OGG in Y last week, and we paid <$300. Instead, on our outbound, J was pretty full - something like 4 upgrades within T-24 (which ended up being 10 more within a couple of hours of departure as we had a real last minute swap from a 772 to 77W), but the premium plus seats were only half taken, and we were able to get them free as silver). I very well would have paid the Prem. Plus fare if it was offered. On the return, bus and Econ+ (Including PP) were both almost full - I have a hard time beleiving that UA couldn’t have gotten that extra revenue if they were willing to sell P+.

these were also not peak times to HI, I’m guessing they could definitely fill those P+ seats at an even greater premium now given the Thanksgiving and then Dec. holidays coming up.

exp

Wait, which planes have Premium Plus to Hawaii?

All elites get upgrade to PP?

Unitedloyalflyer

No complimentary upgrades to PP

emcampbe

with the PW 777s out of service, anything with a 772 to HI these days have PP seats (though at least CA to the islands, they aren’t sold as such, I think they are on long haul to HI).

in this case, they are treated as normal E+ seats, so any elite pax can select them for free (at the check in window for silver, time of booking for any gold or higher), and any pax booked in Y can select them for a fee.

may also not be well known. On my SFO-OGG a couple of weeks ago, we ended up something like 8-12 on the upgrade list at take off as silver on a K fare, even after an aircraft upgrade with 10 extra J seats (772 - 77W). Something like 22 or 24 on the upgrade list around T-24. Despite the amount of people on the upgrade list, also at t-24, the P+ seats were only half full, and E+ maybe 70% or so full. I was surprised to see that - most of the people on the upgrade list were likely premiers or companions with access to the seats at booking (I realize some might have been on gifted certs or something, but I can’t imagine that many), and I can only imagine didn’t realize they had access to those seats. Unlike when they sell PP, where the cabin is clearly delineated on the seat map (purple/bigger seats, vs. The regular blue E+), on these flights, the PP seats look just like any other E+ seats - the biggest giveaway is the 2-4-2 configuration in those rows vs. the 3-4-3, and kind of easy to miss if you’re not paying too close attention. We were a party of 4, and had no issues at T-24 getting 4 seats next to each other in PP seats.

again, this isn’t sold as PP, so nothing special aside from the seats itself, but makes the ride more comfortable for sure.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

They are complimentary seat selections for premiers to/from West Coast. I view the cabin as a waiting room for First upgrades

correct - Premium Economy is marketed on long-haul HI from IAD, EWR, ORD, IAH