United Airlines to replace B747-400's with B777-200's to Australia from 1/4/14

[Stefan Perkas]

Afternoon all,

Sad news today, with United Airlines set to replace the B747-400's with B777-200ER's on its Australia flights. Final B747-400 arrival/departure flights in Australia will be on 31/3/14

Los Angeles – Sydney – Melbourne eff 30MAR14 UA 3-class Boeing 777-200ER replaces 747-400
UA839 LAX2145 – 0710+2SYD0900+2 – 1045+2MEL 777 D
UA840 MEL1220 – 1345SYD1450 – 1030LAX 777 D

UA840 operates with Boeing 777 from 01APR14. This marks the end of UA Boeing 747 operation at Los Angeles.

San Francisco – Sydney eff 30MAR14 UA 3-class Boeing 777-200ER replaces 747-400
UA863 SFO2210 – 0625+2SYD 777 D
UA870 SYD1445 – 1120SFO 777 D

UA870 operates with Boeing 777 from 01APR14

Info from: http://airlineroute.net/2013/08/17/ua-s14update1/

[Nigel C]

Does that mean an upgrade to the in-flight entertainment options?

[Julian L]

So another 747 operator gone from the Sydney skies.

Will that just leave Qantas and Thai as the only Passenger 747 operators into Sydney?

[Joe Frampton]

And I was just looking at United's new 8 across sardine business configuration on their refitted 777's... 8 across - seriously? WTF?

Jamming 8 across in business class with people facing each other just isn't the thing... I hope this doesn't start some stupid trend among airlines, I mean they can shove more seats in economy, but 8 across in business? They just have zero respect for their business class pax doing this.

They have a website flogging the new config ...
https://hub.united.com/en-us/news/pr...l-flights.aspx
and the nasty comments were previously quite visible, but it looks like they have taken them down or covered them up now.

[Kelvin R]

BA have 8 across in business and this works OK.

Really though you are flying UA because it is cheap, not because it has the best trans-pac business. If you are wanting cheap then often DL offer a better fare, product, and Velocity points and status credits. If you are looking for best product this would be QF or VA depending on personal preference.

[Jarden S]

That is a big reduction in seats from a 374 seat 747 to a 267 seat 3 class 777-200ER.
Its a shame they not ordered the larger -300ER as would be a better 747 replacement.
UA 747 operations will move to Chicargo.

[Radi K]

Does the 777-200ER have the range to operate LAX & SFO direct to SYD with no significant payload restrictions?

I thought it did? Unless they are capping the flight?

[JamesL]

I'm under the impression there is, but we will have to wait and see...

[Joe Frampton]

Originally Posted by Jarden S

That is a big reduction in seats from a 374 seat 747 to a 267 seat 3 class 777-200ER.
Its a shame they not ordered the larger -300ER as would be a better 747 replacement.
UA 747 operations will move to Chicargo.

Yes that's a massive reduction in capacity really... about 1400 seats a week each way from their current capacity!

Every time I have been trans-pacific on UA they seem to be pretty much bursting at the seams, so I don't think this is something they will advertise

[Jacob L]

Great,

SYD will start to become a 777 mega

DL,BA,EY (Sometimes),VA,SQ, and now UA

So sad to see the 747 start to diminish from Australian skies