New United Airlines Service to Buenos Aires

United will bring back service between Newark and Buenos Aires starting this fall.

As the Argentinian economy gradually improves, United sees an economic opportunity in resuming a dormant route. New service is set to begin on 28 October 2017.

Here’s the new flight schedule, subject to government approval:

UA979
dep Newark (EWR)
9:50 PM
arr Buenos Aires (EZE)
10:50 AM+1

UA978
dep Buenos Aires (EZE)
9:00 PM
arr Newark (EWR)
6:10 PM+1

The route will be operated with a Boeing 767-300 aircraft with

30 seats in United Polaris business class
49 seats Economy Plus class
135 seats in economy class

These will not be United’s new Polaris seats, but a 2-1-2 configuration featuring horizontal lie-flat beds.

Keep an Eye Out for Award Space to Argentina

At present, United only operates to Buenos Aires from its Houston hub. As a result, the flight is in high-demand and difficult to score saver award seats on. While it would not surprise me if United holds back all the business class saver (and upgrade) space on the new route, I do expect we will see some saver economy class availability.

United is a compelling option to reach Argentina, especially if you are a Star Alliance flyer. While Air Canada also fly to Buenos Aires (via Santiago) from Toronto, other options for lie-flat seating are limited. COPA has no lie-flat seating in business class and Avianca-TACA has few aircraft it sends to Buenos Aires with beds in business.

CONCLUSION

It is nice to see this route return and the additional capacity should mean award space won’t be quite as difficult to secure, at least in economy class.