As summer approaches in Australia, United Airlines is ramping up its service to the Land Down Under.
United Airlines Increases Australia Service
With borders fully re-opened in all Australian states, United is restoring a number of routes we have not seen since before the pandemic, adding a new route later this month, and increasing frequency on a key route.
SFO-SYD Doubles In December
United will launch a second fight between San Francisco and Sydney on December 14, utilizing a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
The second service will operate three times per week under the following schedule:
San Francisco (SFO) to Sydney (SYD)
United 829
Dep: 8:15 pm
Arr: 6:35 am+2 days
15h 20m
Sydney (SYD) to San Francisco (SFO)
United 830
Dep: 12:10 pm
Arr: 7:00 am
13h 50m
The additional flight will operate Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday from SFO, returning Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday from SYD.
LAX-MEL, IAH-SYD Returns
United will restart two pre-pandemic Australia routes later this month, including Los Angles – Melbourne and Houston – Sydney. These flights will operate three times per week, with both starting on October 28, 2022
SFO-BNE Launches
United’s new route to Brisbane launches on October 28, 2022. A Boeing 787-9 will be utilized on the flight, including:
- 48 business class “Polaris” lie-flat seats
- 21 premium economy “Premium Plus” recliners
- 188 economy class seats
- 39 Economy Plus seats with up to five extra inches of legroom
- 149 standard seats
Service will operate 3x weekly.
> Read More: United Airlines Announces New Service To Brisbane, Australia
In total, we will see seven flights to Australia:
- Houston ⇄ Sydney (restarts October 28, 2022, goes daily in December)
- Los Angeles ⇄ Melbourne (restarts October 28, 2022, goes daily in December)
- Los Angeles ⇄ Sydney
- San Francisco ⇄ Brisbane (starts October 28, 2022)
- San Francisco ⇄ Melbourne
- San Francisco ⇄ Sydney (second service – launches December 14, 2022)
United has also resumed service from San Francisco to Auckland (AKL).
Patrick Quayle, United’s Senior Vice President of International Network, explained:
“With United’s strong history in Australia – and now with a great partner in Virgin Australia – it’s the ideal time for United to expand service to Brisbane as demand for travel continues to grow. Throughout the pandemic, we’ve looked for strategic ways to grow our international network, and we’re proud to be the first U.S. airline to put a new dot on our route map across the Pacific.”
CONCLUSION
United Airlines is bringing back its full line-up of pre-pandemic service to Australia and even adding a second SFO-SYD flight as well as a new service to Brisbane. With strong demand between the two continents, expect these flights to be full.
Very excited about the return of a day flight from the US – Australia. I used to love taking Virgin Aus’ Saturday day flight from LAX-BNE. I know QF have had a few day flights to SYD/BNE during the pandemic but I don’t think they are happening anymore. I wish there were more of them!
I think you might have a typo as it would be arriving at 7pm, not AM?
Both UA services are night flights. The 7am arrival in SFO is correct.
Bummer! Bring back a day flight!
It’s also worth noting the LAX-MEL increases to daily on Dec 1 and IAH-SYD goes daily on Dec 15, unlike SFO-BNE, which is not set to increase to daily at any point.
Also if anyone is looking for an upgrade, there is PZ on LAX-MEL on Oct 28, not common to see that!
Can’t wait to actually fly my Polaris ticket on Sydney to Houston in March, the to-be longest flight in the United system?
Yep, that is slightly longer then the current longest UA flight to SIN
Flew IAH-SYD in Aug 2018..it was LONG to say the least but cool for the experience. Probably better on the new Polaris product than the old 2x2x2.
I didn’t realize it until recently but United is the only airline that is big in the Pacific. Delta, which took over Asian route powerhouse Northwest, practically has exited the Asia Pacific (now called Indo Pacific) region. DL seems to only fly to Sydney, Japan, Beijing, Shanghai, and Seoul. American is also lousy flying to India, Sydney, Japan, Korea, and China.
Except for some United’s route to/from San Francisco, US carriers have abandoned Taiwan, Singapore, New Zealand, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia.
Sad.
It is sad, but at least now a sign of the times. Hopefully we will see more service return. United will be returning to double daily to SIN this winter.
Well, AA and DL don’t have enough planes right now for these type of routes, so they couldn’t fly them anyways. I believe both AA and DL have poor management, especially in regards to route/network.
I expect once a place reopens, United will add service back quickly. I have heard some rumors that Hong Kong is going to be resumed on UA in January.
UA serves AKL, and AA starts it this month, but honestly, the entire population of New Zealand is comparable to the Inland Empire, or 20% smaller than metro Atlanta. It’s a wonder to me they can support as much nonstop service as they do.
As for TW, PH, TH, MY, ID… Too far and too low yield. Plus wouldn’t you rather fly through Japan or HKG anyway and get much better service?
The AKL flight doesn’t just pull from local traffic. Australia can feed the flight also.
Too bad UA is not releasing any saver seats on the new flights, I only see 100k economy and 200k biz class one-way for peak season flights in December.
I guess they oversold the 60k biz seats a few months ago during their mistake sale
You seem to have a typo in referring to Austria rather than Australia
Pity that United won’t staus match with virgin velocity
Has anyone noticed that Virgin Australia flights are no longer available as UA awards? There used to be loads of availability but now, nothing.
It’s a shame, there’s now no way to connect on UA awards to anywhere but SYD and MEL