dkc192

OP, your IAH-HNL flight was originally showing a 772 as that's the "normal," pre-Covid aircraft assignment they used for the flight. UA's schedules more than one month out are merely a placeholder that is based on the pre-Covid baseline; frequency changes and aircraft swaps (such as yours from a 772 to 763) are typically loaded one month out for domestic flights.

During Covid, they have been running that flight exclusively using 763s, and yours is no different (it should've swapped from a 772 to a 763 sometime in early February, and the swap has nothing to do with the recent groundings). Even though the vast majority of 763s have been reconfigured with the Polaris cabin, for whatever reason UA is still using the seatmap for the old, unrefurbished cabin until they assign a frame to operate your flight, which typically happens around midnight CST two days before departure, which would be tomorrow night (3/2 going into 3/3). At that time, if the assigned frame has Polaris seats, the seatmap will be updated, though it can change back (and forth) until departure--which is especially important these few weeks as the widebody fleet is in a bit of disarray following the 772 groundings.

The seat blocking is normal for long-haul flights to Hawaii from beyond the west coast. I believe the 763 has one blocked seat (1A) for crew rest. If you are seeing more than one or two blocked seats in F, then yes, it seems like an oversell situation in the back of the bus. They don't usually oversell F.

Mods, this belongs in a thread about when Polaris seatmaps are loaded, not in this thread about 772 groundings.

zeus2120

I flew the route last week. For my particular flight, the held seats were due to a 46J 767 being loaded in last minute. 17 seats were held, presumably "in case" the traditional 30J version was subbed back in. Luckily the 46J bird held, 15 held seats were released, and I ended up in 15 L. I'd expect this might happen more often as the 46J fleet is revived for JFK and BOS-LHR routes in the near future.

BBSHOPSINGER

My LAX-HNL flight on 3/29 is now showing Polarized 777-200. The return on 4/4 is still showing HD configuration.

cbrown5294

Its been quite a mixed bag for Lax-HNL the last few days ...
sat cancelled
sun 752
mon 788
tue 763
wed 777 Polaris

just hope my flight this weekend stays with something decent 😬

Kacee

The Hawaii schedule is a complete mess for at least the next month. I may have to move my upcoming trip due to work, and the options (and available inventory) are extremely limited. This seems to have impacted demand on other carriers as well, because pickings are slim across carriers. UA is leaving money on the table not having lie flat seats available for sale.

pregabalin

Lots of last minute changes on the transcontinental EWR to SFO and EWR to LAX routes in the last few days. The aircraft on my flight has been changed twice in the last two days before travel. Some of the changes don't make sense either..on my original flight the 772 was swapped to a 752 with only 16 business class seats even though there were 30 people booked originally.

Guate87

Yesterday UA swapped me to a 767-300 DEN to IAH; I loved the 1-1-1 Polaris configuration! Flight recovery had called me about switching flights but their decision to change equipment was even a better idea.

uastarflyer

Has there been any Comms regarding how long the inspections will take? Hoping the full 777 fleet is back ASAP!

EWR764

Nothing official yet, but I wouldn’t expect to see the full fleet back for months. Maybe by April or May a gradual return can start, but the inspections are going to take a long time and UA is not rushing to get the airplanes back in service until the matter has been sufficiently investigated. Two catastrophic fan blade failures on a fleet in <36 months is a problem. While both flights landed safely, and everyone walked away unscathed, that outcome is far from assured in a situation like this and the passengers and crew of another one might not be so lucky.

Given the current circumstances, this is something they absolutely can afford to take the time to get right.

Guate87

Yes, the NTSB, FAA and UA must take the time to fix this.

On January 20, 1989 my sister was flying Piedmont home to North Carolina from Chicago. The engine fell off, the plane made it back to ORD safely but my sister has never flown again. She uses Amtrak.

The engine that fell from her Piedmont 737 flight was also Pratt & Whitney.

The NTSB took its time, a few years, then made conclusions and recommendations.

Interestingly, Piedmont was sold later that same year, 1989, to USAir.

Kacee

UA still has them in the schedule for early April, which sure seemed optimistic to me. Those who buy tickets on the routes they're still assigned to will be buying into a high level of uncertainty.

Guate87

UA also initially seemed overly optimistic regarding the 737 MAX. (Yes, I know UA has MAX 9 and the two catastrophic crashes were on MAX 8s but still.)

I hope PW will insist on taking the time to make sure these past near-tragedies don't become future total-tragedies.

Xyzzy

You like the HD config with 2-4-2 in J and 3-4-3 in Y? Nt me!

COSPILOT

Everything is relative. Compared to a normal, domestic first class seat 2-4-2 is good. OGG-DEN has mostly gone to 752's since the grounding of 772's, but a few nights ago they used a 753. I would have delayed my OGG departure if that had happened to me.

Guate87

I feel like I am sleeping in a Youth Hostel when I am in United First in the 4 of the 2-4-2 but I like the 4 of the 3-4-3 when I am in Economy and there is no one else on my row. 4 contiguous Economy seats is a poor person's dream bed.

ANA's First for the 772 is 2-3-2, which is a little better but I have also had 4 contiguous seats in their Economy 3-4-3 and I was able to lie down.