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Old Apr 14, 2011, 1:00 pm
  #61  
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Originally Posted by TIMOS
http://www.ausbt.com.au/united-conti...an-747-service

Thank god! As someone who flies UA LAX-SYD at least 3 times a year normally in E+ this is welcome news!
Originally Posted by SEA1K4EVR
That article is from December 30th... it was posted here back then.
He could have bought a few thousand ipads by now, and hired a side kick for Annie to charge the in bound ones over night for the next outbound.
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Old Apr 14, 2011, 1:38 pm
  #62  
 
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I know they have an RFP out for AVOD on the 747.
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Old Apr 14, 2011, 4:58 pm
  #63  
 
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Originally Posted by cubfan99
+1. So true. It's great that UA focuses on their top tier of customers, but it can't be at the expense of the E- passenger. A friend who flies UA a few times a year muses that -- in her experience -- UA's new marketing slogan might as well be "At United we put the U in FU." Lots of truth in humor.
+1 here too. I always said that UA is the best US carrier for frequent flyers and the worst for the occasional tourist. FWIW, CO seemed to be way better at attending to that public. They need to do a far better job actually selling those upsells. We're all used at FT to how things work in an airline, but that's not true for the majority of people.

I would love to see the new UA have great customer service not just for elites, one that can help normal customers navigate a very user-unfriendly system that most people don't understand (different fare bases, how upgrades work, who gets bumped, etc, etc). Put that together with good service from FAs and GAs and you're already WAY ahead of any other legacy carrier in the US. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would be a good start.
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Old Apr 15, 2011, 5:16 pm
  #64  
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Whoa! Did he just say AKL-IAH Daily? That's amazing! and it would certainly be a change that I like!

Smi/J says....
“Let’s say you want to fly between Auckland and Houston, and you want flights on a daily basis. We have our (Continental) Houston hub, we have our single carrier network with United and we have the power of Star Alliance. That market is dependent on the 787 – we will not fly that route without the 787. But with the 787 we can make money on that route. That’s one reason we’re very excited about getting that airplane.”
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Old Apr 15, 2011, 8:18 pm
  #65  
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Originally Posted by PhlyingRPh
Whoa! Did he just say AKL-IAH Daily? That's amazing! and it would certainly be a change that I like!

Smi/J says....
That was announced pre-merger as the first CO 787 route.

Of course, it's yet another example of Jeff living the CO legacy because we all know AKL-LAX or AKL-SFO is a much more desirable and lucrative route than AKL-IAH.

(But you have to keep IAH alive and the biggest hub so we don't forget about CO...)
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Old Apr 15, 2011, 11:28 pm
  #66  
 
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Originally Posted by UNITED959
That was announced pre-merger as the first CO 787 route.

Of course, it's yet another example of Jeff living the CO legacy because we all know AKL-LAX or AKL-SFO is a much more desirable and lucrative route than AKL-IAH.

(But you have to keep IAH alive and the biggest hub so we don't forget about CO...)
Yeah trust me. Coming from Australia I can tell you there are ZERO New Zealanders who want to fly to Texas!
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Old Apr 16, 2011, 1:03 am
  #67  
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Originally Posted by TIMOS
Yeah trust me. Coming from Australia I can tell you there are ZERO New Zealanders who want to fly to Texas!
LOL
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Old Apr 16, 2011, 8:08 am
  #68  
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Of course, it's yet another example of Jeff living the CO legacy because we all know AKL-LAX or AKL-SFO is a much more desirable and lucrative route than AKL-IAH.
On AKL-LAX, maybe the CEO of an airline in Star Alliance isn't thinking "hey, I'll start up a route that an alliance partner like Air New Zealand already flies so I can stick a thumb in their eye, overfill a route with capacity, and... um, PROFIT!11!!!"

As for AKL-SFO, I can't help but notice that QF just dropped SYD-SFO... to fly from SYD to Texas (DFW), in order to connect with a partner's USA midcon hub. Apparently QF didn't find SFO all that lucrative.

So, midcon hub in Texas, using a smaller plane (787) for a smaller market (AKL), the West Coast is already covered by an alliance partner out of LAX... doesn't seem all that stupid to me.
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