Grace B

Well, they have sacked all their Australian-based staff and closed the SYD res ctr. I wouldn't be surprised to see UA pull out of Australia, as they did with NZ.

They must be having real problems with their 747 fleet, as any half competent operation should be able to make money on the (protected) USA-Australia route.

goodo

UA pulled out of NZ because they had an agreement that NZ would pull out of LAX-SYD and each would have their own route, rather than compete with each other. I doubt UA would pull out because they make a heck of alot of $$$ with cargo on the routes.

goodo

chitownflyer

United will continue its SYD and MEL operations due to the high profitability of cargo. What needs to be considered is the acquisition of additional 747s, as they do not currently have back ups, and this causes problems during irregular operations.

nermaljcat

Last 4 times I've flown 863 or 870, there has been a deep vibration/rattling on take off (complete with a couple things popping open in the cabin). Last two flights have been delayed for maintenance issues:

863 (Aug 25) - delayed for 3 hours because of a "cargo sensor" and "sat-nav unit" (the maintenance guy popped out the ceiling above my head and climbed up to replace the unit - got a good view of the space up there)

870 (Sep 04) - delayed for 2.5 hours because of a "mis-calibrated center of gravity" (computer did not agree with manual calculations). Later, I overheard a flight attendant saying it was a "cargo sensor" ??? .

I've flown about 7 SYD/SFO segments so far on UA (all within the last 12 months), but the aircraft seem to be getting worse. Is this normal for UA (was I just lucky the first few times)? I might try Virgin when they (hopefully) open up the pacific route at the end of next year.

I was also caught out by the M-H upgradeable booking classes (AU/US, with miles) on the last two segments (read the Region 1 classes by accident) .

UnitedSkies

I am not sure this is indicative of anything wrong...

nermaljcat

I wasn't too worried about it. Maybe they are just loading a lot of cargo on the flights . It's the maintenance-related delays that are annoying.... oh and the Indian call centers and ".bomb".

someotherguy

150 tons of fuel might have something to do with it.

winovin

Is this also true for Qantas? I read that Qantas makes 20% of its profit on the transpacifc route, but assumed it was on passenger traffic.

Most of the UAL flights I have been on are pretty full. Given the high fares, I thought they would be making a decent profit on passengers too.

ozstamps

Bingo.

Yes I wonder how many maintenance /tech folks went in the recent purge? Might be connected.

I could phone Manila and ask I guess, or email the '1K line' and never get a response.

Loads are still pretty good tho.

We fly in a couple weeks to SFO, and upstairs has EVERY seat allocated on dot.bomb, and first Biz cabin downstairs also 100% allocated and only a few other seats not taken - even now.

An upgrade on that one is going to be impossible methinks.

Aspen

If the loads are so high an increase in service should be considered by UAL.(appreciating they are short of aeroplanes- perhaps they should be leasing a number of 747s- to ease the strain on their fleet) Would it be possible to re-start the 847/848 non-stop MEL-LAX?

HomeAgain

Well, after reading all of these posts, I have to say that I am rethinking the routing of my first business trip to MEL. I wanted to just take 839 over, however given the UA track record with these flights, I may just go with NZ and deal with the layover.

I'll be on paid buisness class - I wouldn't get the 100% 1K bonus on the NZ legs, correct? Do you get class of service MP bonus miles on NZ segments?

Downunder girl

Oh this thread is giving me chills Sometimes a little knowledge is not a good thing

I really hope UA get their 747 planes under control soon. It is not a fun route to go mx on as there is only 1 or 2 flights out per day, and you dont want things being broken on a 14 hr flight. I am on SYD-LAX end Sept also (still waiting to clear to C class ).

I was blissfully unware of all the issues on this route until I came on FT. However thanks to FT, I am taking printouts of seat maps, alt routes (not many to choose from SYD though) and my fav hotels so that I am well prepared should we go mx or whatever else could crop up......

Here's hoping it goes ok.

Wondering how Satbeach went - was your flt also delayed on Thursday??? Please come and report for us

TradingFiend

Right, you're not going to get the 100% RDM bonus on the NZ legs.

As for the COS bonus, this is the link:

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,,1181,00.html

You'll get a 25% COS bonus, but the EQM is not as generous as UA where you would get 50% EQM COS bonus.

Aspen

The dot bomb website says 870 SYD-SFO on Wed Sept 19 was cancelled and the re-scheduled flight 9804 for Sept 20 at 18.00 is listed as cancelled as well.
What is happening with these SYD flights?

Grace B

It seems the 747/400's are falling apart from over use and poor maintenence.

I've been on a couple of 747 transpacs recently where the flights were more than 3 hours late departing. Mechanicals as I understand it.