A United Airlines 777-200 en route to Rome diverted to Sacramento, California after a mechanical issue. But rather than spend a spare 777-200 from nearby San Francisco to rescue passengers onboard, United sent a 737 MAX 9 instead.
After United Airlines 777-200 Diverts To Sacramento, United Sends 737 MAX 9 To Pick Up Passengers + Crew
On Tuesday, August 13, 2024, United flight 507 took off from San Francisco (SFO) bound for Rome (FCO). But just minutes into the flight as the aircraft neared the California-Nevada border, a mechanical issue was flagged (an overheating right engine according to one of the passengers, though United has not confirmed this) and the choice was made to divert the flight quickly.
Thus, rather than returning to San Francisco International Airport, the flight landed at Sacramento International Airport, only 86 miles away.
Passengers waited patiently on the ground before disembarking the aircraft via airstairs and being bussed into the terminal. There, they waited while a replacement aircraft from San Francisco was dispatched.
But rather than send another 777-200, United sent a 737 MAX 9.
For comparison purposes, a United 777-200ER features 276 seats:
- 50 Polaris business class seats
- 24 Premium Plus premium economy class seats
- 202 economy class seats (including 46 EconomyPlus extra legroom seats)
And a Boeing 737 MAX 9 features 179 seats:
- 20 “first class” seats
- 159 economy class seats (including 45 EconomyPlus extra legroom seats)
So how was an aircraft with only about 2/3 as many seats able to accommodate the passengers onboard?
It was not full. There were only 148 passengers and 14 crewmembers oboard, making it easy enough to accommodate all of them on the 179-seat 737 MAX 9.
United CEO Scott Kirby told employees this week in a recorded video announcement that demand has weakened for travel and is below 2019 levels this summer. The fact that a 737 MAX 9 was able to accommodate all passengers returning to San Francisco (and there is no indication any passenger to Rome decided to stay in Sacramento instead…) is a telltale sign. In years past, getting an open middle seat on a Rome flight during the summer was very difficult.
CONCLUSION
A United 777-200 diverted to Sacramento due to an engine issue, but due to low passenger loads United only had to dispatch a 737 MAX 9 to rescue the stranded passengers and crew. The story here seems less about the mechanical diversion, which after all is common enough on these aging 777s, but on the low passenger count.
top image: @DerekKCRA / X
What I find interesting is as recently as this past May Kirby was touting demand was at all time high for summer travel this year. Now in August he’s sending messages to employees saying the exact opposite and now demand is below 2019 levels. I’m wondering were his statements this past spring based off forecast that never materialize and now that we are nearing the tail end of summer he’s trying to prepare employees for slightly lower revenue and profit for Q3 than what was expected going into Q3.
@Matthew . So , did the pax eventually go to Rome ? With or without their checked luggage ? Did UA give them some free drinks ?
Just happened yesterday – I’m sure United got everyone on their way.
I know I’m cynical but maybe, just maybe Americans are too broke to spend their money on expensive foreign trips and are doing more domestically. The years of higher prices and overall cost of living has many in credit card hell and a reckoning is coming.
2019 was the high point of American prosperity even if certain people (liberals) don’t want to admit it. I equally blame Trump and Biden for what happened since then because both made horrible decisions that we are all paying for now.
And what, pray tell did Trump do that was so terrible that we are all paying for it now? As I recall, economic conditions worsened once the ancient zombie Biden was installed.
The Covid giveaway scam that allowed billions and billions of dollars in fraud to be given away. To both Americans and foreigners. I encourage anyone to go to their town or zip and see who actually got money. Unemployed drug dealers created fake businesses and collected $10k with no verification. Businesses that stayed open added family and friends to the payroll and split the money. And the few investigations that have been done were on the biggest offenders, not the small time scammers.
All of this happened under Trump along with the initial lockdowns. Yes he listened to the wrong people but the damage was done and it’s still affecting us today. Of course Biden is an idiot but all the free money affected the inflation numbers that happened after Trump left office.
Still Trump is a much better choice than the cackling c##ksucker. He can get us back to 2019 but it’s not going to be easy with the mess he will be inheriting. And the personal debt levels are a time bomb that’s going to explode along with the housing market that is still overpriced.
I won’t speak to Trump versus Harris here, but I quite agree that both Trump and Biden made the pandemic situation and economy worse and Trump, in particular, should be blamed for the inflation he is now blaming Harris/Biden for.
Utter nonsense Matthew. Biden/Harris are entirely responsible for inflation, which started when they cancelled the Keystone Pipeline and the ensuing increases in energy prices, compounded by the continuing printing of money and ever bigger deficits. They own this. Before the pandemic, things were so good. My taxes were down, It was easy to make money in the stock market, and there was peace.
Now because of those two idiots inflation is up 20% over the last 3.5 years and there is a flood of illegals coming across the border with them doing NOTHING to stop it. It is so sad that such a great country gets saddled with the most incompetent people as leaders, Trump notwithstanding.
But hey, at least you got super competent DEI hire and polesmoker Pete Bootieplunger reading tweets. That’s just what America needs.
Despearate to win in 2020, Trump flooded the economy with extra (borrowed) money via absurd stimulus checks and PPP that were never needed in the first place and led to inflation…inflation is not instant! Are you simply a Trump cultist? His obscene bailouts to the airline indusry and others during the pandemic should never have hapepned. He’s a reckless spender and furthermore, his tariffs hurt the very people they intend to help–the American consumer–while protecting a conglomerate of manuactuers that could not care less about squeezing working and middle class consumers.
I am no lover of Trump but I don’t get Matthew’s accusation that Trump is responsible for inflation. Biden threw trillions around for Covid relief. Some businesses were really hurting but others were not affected too much and still got lots and lots of money. All that money caused inflation.
2024 is an unusual election in that BOTH candidates are terrible. Trump is more likely to suffer a stroke and Vance is better than Trump. Vance secretly knows that Trump is crazy and was even an anti-Trumpster before he shut up.
As far as the FCO flight, I was surprised even before reading the conclusion that the passenger load was light. I do get it if SFO-FCO is light in the winter but it is still summer. I wouldn’t expect 100 empty seats. Maybe that is where a 787-9 or even 787-8 comes into good use.
I’m not a “Trump Cultist” as you so eloquently put it but rather I’m comparing Trump and Biden (And, by extension his empty skull DEI VP) objectively and to blame Trump for inflation is just laughable. Trump didn’t do everything right, and no I didn’t like his covid response, nor the many state and local responses for that matter, but his tariffs didn’t hurt consumers at all.
Biden’s actions when he took office directly led to the skyrocketing inflation, just like his actions directly led to the border crisis, the disastrous Afghanistan rollout, and the War in Ukraine, and YOU Matthew are an apologist for him.
Bush and Obama oversaw large deficits with a notable bump in their transition during the Great Recision. Trump and Biden oversaw very large deficits with an enormous Covid bump. Cutoffs are always a problem, but national debt (trillions):
2000 $5.7
2016 $19.6
2023 $33.2
So, $14T in 16 years followed by $14T in 7. Increased inflation, what a surprises!
I’m surprised to see how misinformed some of the readers of this site are. Trump signed into law the CARES Act, and the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 that provided about $5T in immediate financial relief through various programs (Payroll Protection Program, extended unemployment, rent relief, etc.) during the first 10 months of the pandemic. The American Rescue Plan was primarily written and designed by the Trump administration and the 116th US Congress, but actually not passed until March of 2021 by the 117th Congress and signed into law by Joe Biden. This bill accounted for about $1.9T in COVID relief spending. Although this bill provided direct payments to individuals, these were geared towards low income individuals, and the Payroll Protection Program was not extended.
It’s important to note that the IRS, FBI and SBA are still investigating, prosecuting, and recovering PPP funds obtained illegally. Thanks to Democratic lawmakers who continue to extend the government’s deadline to recover funds (surprisingly, the same Republicans who want to defund the IRS also don’t want to extend the deadline the government has to claw back funds obtained illegally!) the government is still prosecuting individuals, and recovering funds obtained fraudulently.
Clearly the majority of COVID relief funds were provided by the Trump administration as it was running the government when COVID hit. The Trump administration also pressured the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates and reduce regulatory requirements to increase borrowing at the onset of the pandemic. This also released more cash quickly into the economy.
In addition, and perhaps most importantly the pandemic disrupted global supply chains. This disruption also triggered wild inflationary periods that continue to ripple through economies throughout the world to this day.
The facts are the facts whether you like them or not. The majority of the COVID cash and lending came while Trump was running the government and signing bills into laws. The only area up for discussion has to do with who the money went to, how much was provided and why.
He probably means the stimulus payments and other programs. Let’s not forget that Trump realized shutting down the country wouldn’t stop Covid but the liberals in big cities forced it by arresting people for opening their businesses. It’s was the liberals in congress who voted for the stimulus. Trump’s mistake is not ordering federal agents to arrest cops, mayors, judges, and governors for violating civil rights in arresting people for opening their businesses or doing business and instead let a liberal staff DOJ ignore this. Trump didn’t understand that every President before him fired prosecutors and replaced them with loyalists. Trump kept mostly Obama prosecutors in the DOJ and of course they did nothing about the massive amounts of mail in ballot fraud.
Biden and Kamala were miles worse for inflation. Stocks have gone up but everything is so expensive now that normal people are worse off than 2019 because wage growth doesn’t match inflation.
“It was the liberals in Congress who voted for it.”
So Trump veto’d it and it was overridden by a 2/3 majority in Congress made up of Liberals?
Brandon opening the border opened us to many infectious diseases of which we have never heard : Oropouche , Zika , and Chagas, to name but three . If you breathe the breath of the border-jumpers , you will find out their symptoms .
Who is Brandon and how did he open up the border?
SMF is a very short flight from SFO, only about 20 minutes in the air, or less. Sometimes when the SMF-SFO flight is cancelled, United packs customers in Ubers and sends them to SFO, which is about 2-3 hours away by car, depending on traffic.
If the Uber driver is Thai , where speeding and passing is a virtue , the time will be shorter .
A one off day with a low load factor isn’t indicative of demand, especially for a route to Rome. Head scratcher of a conclusion. Multiple reasons why a Max9 was chosen to rescue those pax I’m sure.
I know Tuesdays are typically slower travel days and it could, theoretically, just be that, but stay tuned for my next post in which I will dig into this futher.
I agree with you this could be a simple one off low load factor.
But that still doesn’t explain Kirby’s message to employees where he stated demand has in fact weaken and is below 2019 levels.
One has to wonder if airlines (not just United) but all airlines have added to much capacity to the TATL market. Both United and Delta announced earlier this year they both would be flying their largest ever TATL schedule this summer. This was on top of both airlines flying what was then their largest TATL schedule during the summer of 2023. We’ve seen both Delta and United make strategic cuts to their Australian/New Zealand schedules for this up coming fall/winter 2024/5 season. Will we see airlines trim back on TATL flights for summer 2025? Its to early to say what is going to happen for summer 2025 but judging by Kirby’s comments I don’t think this was a one off Tuesday low load factor. I think there is to much capacity in the TATL market and all airlines are to blame for it.
Well, this is surprising. I was in Rome a fee weeks ago and the airport was a total zoo to the point that wait time to get into amy Priority Pass lounges (there were 3 as I remember) was 3 hours long. Yes, huge lines outside and they were asking your phone number to text you. Also, there were no seats available anywhere on Terminal 1. People sitting on the floor.
Just talked to a friend that was in Switzerland and had a family emergency and had to fly back home sooner. It took her 2 days to find a flight back home. Thus, not really buying this story of low demand.
@Santastico … Your friend ought not have connected through Rome . Better to connect via Amsterdam , Copenhagen, or Mexico City .
Or Rio de Janeiro .
She was connecting through Amsterdam but couldn’t find a flight for 2 days. Crazy
We’re talking about a Tuesday flight to Europe in what’s basically the middle of August which has historically been the start of the slower shoulder season. Schools are starting back up and families aren’t going on vacation.
@Bob: Makes sense but what do you make of this comment? “United CEO Scott Kirby told employees this week in a recorded video announcement that demand has weakened for travel and is below 2019 levels this summer.” Is his comment comparing a Tuesday middle of August flight back in 2019 or he is just saying whatever with no data behind?
At least for the fares I am seeing, United/Delta are pricing higher than some of the major European and Asian carriers and certainly in economy there are people shopping totally on price. I am seeing some crazy high one-way fares in October Las – Den in totally wide open cabins that UA is pricing $100-150 at the same flight time as Southwest. Biz class on a flight a month from now HKG-SFO on United and LAX – TPE on CI are 75% open. Still no PZ space on united BTW.
scratching my head about this article and conclusions and non-big deal about a rescue plane being smaller
mid week mid august intl travel is ALWAYS lighter
the article reads the 737 max took them back to SFO – not to continue back to Rome . . am i missing something here?
or did author use AI to crawl the news and write this non-big deal article
I never said it was rare nor suggested the 737 took them to Rome. You’re drawing conclusions that are simply not valid.
How did they choose who got to sit in first class vs who was downgraded from Polaris to E? Compensation?
For the 82-mile flight?!
The eastbound flight may have been light, but I bet the westbound flight was booked to the gills. Europe-bound traffic is starting to wane since families are returning home to get ready for school.
Honestly, this is kind of typical for August. Fights coming back from Europe are full. going over now, now that schools are starting to go back in session over here, are not as full. Very similar thing happens every year. Play around a little bit on the United app. You’ll probably see east bound flights relatively empty, but everything coming back is full. I worked at United several years ago and going to Europe as a non rev pax was never a problem in August going, but coming back was always tough, so much so that they had an embargo on non employees using standby travel benefits for west-bound travel in August. Not surprising.
Matthew, if you track flights, do you have an explanation for UA flight 3771 from SFO to BNA on Aug 10? That weekend, UA flew a 77W into BNA a few times. Once from SJC and I think twice from SFO. Are these charter flights?
All of this low grade political bullshit over an airline’s mechanical issue? Don’t these readers have anything intelligent and meaningful to contribute to society?
Stop with the political posturing and do something positive. Read a book. Write a check to charity. Volunteer at a senior citizen home.
You must have just gotten here Mr David!!
Perhaps SMF’s 9,000 ft runway wouldn’t be sufficient to send a replacement widebody to complete the trip, but UA flying everyone back to SFO probably meant a full 24 hour delay to their arrival in Rome. And one suspects UA had to cancel whatever FCO flight would have been flown back to the US the following morning.
In other words, just a typical flying day for United. :/