ithinkurdumb

UA will resume flying direct starting May 31. Regardless, as long as the route remains profitable, stopping by GUM allows UA crew to quarantine at TPE (similar to what BR is doing in reverse) and therefore maintains the route.

myperks

i think the more important question is if you are able to book a covid test in Taipei. I heard that it’s hard to book and ridiculous that Taipei doesn’t offer rapid antigen tests.

IMissThe747

I live down south, and the good news is that we have 10 more rapid antigen sites going online tomorrow (info attached).

I already have a PCR test reserved for 6/18 at the moment, which is within 3 business days of my currently scheduled TPE-SFO flight. If I understand correctly, Taiwan is requiring the PCR in order to fly. I know UA and the USA are fine with the antigen, but doesn't Taiwan still require the PCR for anybody departing from TPE?

myperks

There are lots of rapid testing in Taiwan right now with the surge in cases but I’m not sure those rapid testing sites issue reports for travel. As for Taiwan requiring PCR to leave, not sure because I also heard at Taoyuan airport there is a special medical clinic that will do rapid testing for USA departures but can’t find any info on that online.

Neil35

It's the Landseed Hospital Airport Clinic.

The rapid antigen test appointments are fully booked till June 15. The clinic may open future appointments IF they have the capacity to do so in the face of local outbreaks.

The website is in Traditional Chinese though.

airport.landseedhospital.com.tw/airport-clinic/serve/reservation.php

uanj

There are actually many more hospitals doing tests for travel than you will find on any government website. Make sure you know the specific requirement for your destination (type of test and date of test) and call several around you and see if they can do it.
I imagine TPE area is tough at the moment to get a test. When we called and checked it was both cheaper and easier to get a test for international travel in cities other than TPE. Again, many hospitals offer this test and they are not always listed on the CDC or other websites.

a330300

The cabbage is typically used to keep dim sum, rice, etc. from drying out during reheating. Common on departures ex-Asia...no cabbage fetish here, move along.

TerryK

SFO-TPE-SFO flights are back to normal schedule. How do they work out crew overnight issue? Do they need to be quarantined?

uanj

Yes, the crew need to be quarantined but this requirement is not new and was not the issue. The airport Novotel was the hotel UA and many other carriers were using for quarantine. An outbreak of COVID among hotel workers and overseas airline crew quarantining there (not UA) and the subsequent investigation showed that the hotel allowed some airline crew to violate their quarantine. The hotel was temporarily closed to be deep cleaned and recertified. UA was not able to find a satisfactory quarantine hotel for a short period of time so changed the route to enable a crew change in GUM. After UA found a suitable hotel the service reverted to TPE-SFO non-stop.

sfo3388

How can United run SFO-TPE non-stop passenger flight daily during the pandemic while CI and BR can't? Is it because CI and BR have cargo-only flights?

uanj

Not sure I follow your question, but I will try to answer it. CI and BR can and continue to fly to the US during the pandemic, with passengers and freight on the same plane. In the beginning UA re-introduced SFO-TPE with 3 days a week, then 4-5 days per week and finally back to 7 days a week. There were also a few weekly flights from LAX and even one from ORD but they were freight only. These have now stopped. Passenger flights were always SFO-TPE. CI has been flying several times a week to ONT and LAX while BR has been flying several times a week to SEA, SFO, LAX and JFK. (Anyone feel free to correct me if I missed something.)

If you are asking why CI and BR have not brought their frequency up to daily, then I don't know. CI is more limited in seats per week to the US compared to BR. BR has chosen to support more US stations but with less frequency. UA has simply gone back to their pre-pandemic schedule of one daily to TPE. Fares are through the roof, at least 4 X what was paid before on average. I would bet with 20% load factors BR and CI are flying profitable flights and they see the current level of flights as optimal for them.

sfo3388

Sorry I was not specific about my question but you have answered what I wanted to know. I was talking about frequency of SFO-TPE. Yes, SFO is the only US gateway city for UA to TPE. CI and BR run flights from other US cities to TPE in addition to from SFO. I think that is why we see UA runs daily SFO-TPE flight while BR and CI do not in SF market during the pandemic.

I guess cargo makes UA871/872 very profitable during the pandemic to sustain daily frequency, with not much passenger traffic in a 773 equipment.

lsquare

Is UA still operating UA871/872 daily?