WineCountryUA

You can track the recent history but the schedule placeholder will stay until 60-48 hours prior to departure. And it can still change after that. Things will get even more uncertain with the present grounding of the 24 UA 772s.

Kacee

UA has now zeroed inventory on my March 6 flight SFO-OGG, which is supposed to be on a Polarized 772, and has basically pulled the 772 flight (1273) off the market in subsequent weeks as well.

Given the slack in UA's long-haul fleet, I will be unbelievably pissed if they cancel or downgrade us.

cesco.g

Given that, are there plans for any backups (idled/new deliveries/out of storage) to join the widebody fleet?

cesco.g

Bunky posted the AD link:

https://www.faa.gov/news/media/attachments/Emergency%20AD%20Document%20AD-2021-00188-E.pdf

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-airlines-mileageplus/2031510-united-airlines-fleet-updates-2021-edition-7.html

dmurphynj

To be fair, I doubt United expected two dozen of their 777's to be grounded indefinitely. They have, what, 21 GE90 powered 777's that are parked in the desert right now? It takes some time to regenerate that fleet... all need inspections and maintenance etc. Some have been parked for almost a year now.

So it's not exactly slack -- it's a serious squeeze right now on the current fleet. The question is, what happens first: An Airworthiness Directive from the FAA for the PW4000 birds, or regenerating the GE90 fleet?

Edit: Oh, there's the AD above. I'd say the PW birds are likely to win the race. Whether it's before your March 6th departure or not -- that's the question.

cesco.g

'Per current AD:

"This AD requires performing a TAI inspection for cracks in certain 1st-stage LPC blades and removal of those blades that fail inspection"

It will be interesting to learn what timelines that requires, and if other ADs will follow.

HkCaGu

OK I'm seeing happy stories about HNL (28F becomes 60F and every last silver companion gets upgraded) and sad stories about OGG (772 downgauged to 738). Am I correct to conclude that the -300 is too big for OGG's longest runway?

Kacee

13 GE 772s are parked, leaving 9 in operation. Only 2/10 788, 5/30 789, and 1/5 787-10 are parked.

cesco.g

Great info! Do you happen to have a link you can share?
I am in a similar situation like you and would like to keep an eye on it.

cbrown5294

no there were a few times the last few months the 773 was subbed into OGG

Kacee

The essential resource for UA flyers: United Fleet Site

EWR764

My best guess is at least a week or two total grounding, with some aircraft gradually returning to service thereafter as their inspections are completed. The fact that P&W has to do the inspections at their shop in Connecticut makes the process more time-consuming. Full return to service could take a month or more.

Re-converting the 77F back to 77E standard should not be difficult (paperwork and removing ballast from aft galley) but reactivating a parked airplane from long-term storage is not an immediate process. Just today, N58101 (752) returned to service after over 5 weeks of fleet-return prep and maintenance.

There are 33 available 787-9 (2 in Polaris mod), 13 787-10s and 12 787-8; those that would be considered parked on the spreadsheet are actually in short-term storage, which is something like day-to-day parking. I would expect those airplanes to be returned to service ASAP, provided UA has enough pilots to staff that flying. The widebodies in long-term storage (desert) are 15/38 763s, 16/16 764, and 33/74 772 (plus N772UA OOS in DEN). Some of the aircraft in maintenance will return to storage.

Training is resuming for some pilots displaced out of 757/767 bases (such as EWR) to other fleets (737, A320, etc.). If the pilot is returning to a previous fleet, in most cases the training even will be just a few days, and then released to the line. We might see 757/767 picking up some of the slack starting next month.

chicago747

Currently have an ORD-MCO flight for late next week supposedly being operated by a 777-200. We are in first (paid,) and don't really care if we get swapped to a non-lie flat seat if they change to a single aisle bird. What we do care about is being downgraded into a completely packed coach cabin. At this point do you think UA would allow us to change to the earlier flight with NO fare difference? I have no UA status and never seem to have much luck with the non-US bases agents at UA....so hate calling them unless i absolutely have to.

Kacee

I know that's been a big issue for DL, hopefully not for UA?

EWR764

It's an 'issue', but not exactly a problem like DL. By pulling down entire types at the top and bottom of the fleet (777 and M88/90), Delta created lots of displacements and the need for training events to get people qualified in new seats/fleets. IMO it was an opportune time for Delta to 'rip off the bandaid' even though there were some negative operational impacts.

UA had to absorb a lot of displacement, too, especially in the middle of the fleet (B756), but the top (777/787) stayed busy and fairly well-staffed through the pandemic due to the extensive all-cargo schedule, even considering the early-outs that were offered, specifically targeting those nearing retirement at the top of the scale.

The issue, of course, is not that the airline is understaffed (clearly, it's not) but there has been so much upheaval with leaves, retirement, movement and currency over the last year, against a backdrop of moving targets and goalposts, that it's difficult to do anything staffing-related in a relatively nimble manner.