United Airlines will reveal new longhaul routes tomorrow morning and as in years past, has offered a teaser video with clues. This year, the clues are in Morse code.
United Airlines Offers New Route Clues Via Morse Code
A pair of videos offers clues (or maybe red herrings) about tomorrow’s new route announcement. The first is from United:
If I’m translating this correctly, it means, “New Routes Across The Globe.”
The second is from Patrick Quayle, who leads United’s Global Network and Alliances team:
(I’ve uploaded the video from my own account because Quayle’s Instagram account does not allow embedding)
Quayle’s video shows his laptop blinking in Morse code, but I cannot decipher it.
The video United posted includes several clues:
I’m not quite sure what to make of these clues, but I have some thoughts:
- The clouds suggest United will add five new routes
- The “Clyde” clue (on the water) might signify the River Clyde in Scotland, signaling United will return to Glasgow (GLA)
- I’m not sure what”Hog” means, but the Dalmation suggests United might add service to the Dalmation Coast of Croatia, notably Split (SPU) or maybe just launch service from Dulles (IAD) to Dubrovnik (DBV)
- I’m thinking United will start service to Bari, Italy (BRI)…this has been rumored for awhile
- Could the brick roof be Florence (FLR)?
- It is my understanding that United’s Manila (MNL) route has performed very well. Might we see service from Los Angeles (LAX) to MNL?
- Could we see more routes from United’s “mini-hub” in Tokyo Narita (NRT), like to Indonesia or Malaysia?
- The “Up, Up, Up” clue is a winding set of stairs, making me think of a tower. Will United add service to Pisa (PSA) [Leaning Tower of Pisa] or perhaps to Istanbul (IST) [Galata Tower]?
We’ll find out tomorrow morning what the new routes are. In the meantime, what are your guesses?
The routes that are really needed are:
JFK-LHR
EWR-LCY
Stuttgart
Hamburg
Gothenburg
Birmingham
Lyon
Taichung
Fukuoka
Sapporo
Jakarta
Perth
Canberra
UA ought to return t JFK and close down EWR .
Close down EWR? It’s a highly profitable fortress hub!
@derek, would love to see UA return to smaller German cities like STR and HAM, but those routes have struggled in the past.
Absolutely! While I’m not massively interested in travelling to the USA at the moment as it’s become pretty expensive and less welcoming overall, the dearth of transatlantic service from BHX, STR/DUS/HAM, LYS/MRS, OTP etc is disappointing, these are all important conurbations and being forced to connect twice (or at best having just one airline offering an one-stop journey) to get to equally major destinations on the other side of the pond like YYC, GDL, and BNA is ludicrous considering the enormous amount of traffic on the N. Atlantic routes.
Less air traffic , less destinations , and fewer passengers would be preferable .
More steamship service would also be preferable .
Less air traffic , less destinations , and fewer passengers would be preferable .
Also , more trans-Atlantic passenger ships would be preferable .
Forget the Panama Canal … make the Isthmus crossing by foot and by camping . Be hardy .
I don’t think UA has a plane that could do LCY, which is a shame because I would love that flight for work.
I would be pleased to see IAD – SRQ (Sarasota) return, even if only seasonally.
United is not announcing domestic lmfao
But to @rjb’s point, I’d be happy to see that return too.
one of them is ORD -> ICN
That would be great. Anything to bypass SFO. OZ dropped service years ago leaving I believe just one daily KE flight.
also EWR -> BRI is another
EWR-IST would be a great choice. No U.S. carrier flies to Turkey. TK’s connection advantage in IST could be offset by UAL’s domestic connections in EWR.
We won’t get Florence FLR b/c of runway length or other conditions iirc
Pisa is 90 mins by train & would serve
I am betting on a flight to DPS based on table/ Dips since Indonesia is famous for their risjtaffel
Rijstafel is a dutch dish comprising Indonesian food. We don’t find it here except at some tourist places. That said, CGK or DPS would be great destinations.
I could see NRT-CGK the Up Up Up clue reminded me of the Petronas Towers in Jakarta.
The Petronas Towers are in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Absolutely correct, I have absolutely no explanation as to how I got that wrong other than I had a brain fart, if this website allowed me to edit my post I would correct it.
I have visited the Petronas Towers in KUL, so I should not have made that mistake.
Absolutely correct, I have no explanation as to how I got that wrong other than I had a brain fart.
I have been to KUL and visited the Petronas Towers.
If this website allowed one to edit their post, I would correct it.
There is no doubt that MNL from LAX is a probability. I have taken the SFO flights twice in the past year and they are full and seemingly doing great. Though the margins are lower as it’s the sweet spot from Asia for decent J fares. But, given the fact that LA is home to the largest Filipino population in America it makes sense.
Glasgow seems also likely. As does Croatia seasonally. But I doubt Istanbul…it’s so heavily guarded by TK and they are Star A. Seems a silly waste of aircraft utilization.
The stair case is a photo of the staircase in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The Bricks with Roof is Bari, Italy. The houses in Puglia with the stone Roofs are in Puglia. Clyde is the River Clyde which is Glasgow but could also mean another route to Edinburgh to the USA.
Hmmm
Perhaps Riga is on the new destinations?
Florence’s runway and terminal are very unlikely to support long haul international flying without penalties. Pisa or Bologna perhaps as substitutes.