With only one potential exception, United Airlines will remove the “premium” from premium transcontinental and use 737-800s on flights that used to have guaranteed lie-flat seating in business class during the month of May.
United: This Is Temporary And Fuel Efficient Change
Even with depressed demand due to COVID-19, United has continued to offer 1-2 flights per day between Newark and Los Angeles/San Francisco onboard an aircraft featuring lie-flat seating in business class.
That changes on May 4th.
Take a look LAX-EWR for May 3rd:
And May 4th:
Same story for SFO-EWR. Here’s May 3rd:
And May 4th:
United blames a “significant” drop in premium demand for the change.
Due to the significant drop in premium demand, beginning May 4, we will operate more efficient Boeing 737 aircraft on transcontinental routes between New York/Newark and Los Angeles and San Francisco and between San Francisco and Boston which were previously operated with Boeing 757 aircraft. We will continue monitoring and reviewing demand and adjust our schedule as necessary.
San Francisco – Boston, the third premium transcontinental route, has not even been operating lately. It will resume on May 4th as well, but using an Airbus A319, also without lie-flat beds in business or seatback TV throughout the aircraft.
Zach Honig of The Points Guy reports that one daily flight between San Francisco and Newark will revert to a 787-10, though that is not yet reflected in the schedule.
The “regular” schedule returns on June 4th, though with demand down 97% I would not count on this happening.
You’ll also note from the screenshots above that United has not lowered fares despite the aircraft swap. Expect to pay $690 one-way for a premium seat. While that’s a great deal if flying with a lie-flat seat, I think I’d rather have three seats in economy class and save the money on a 737-800.
CONCLUSION
You can hardly blame United for making these changes in response to demand down 97% across the network. Still, this change may further hurt demand by driving away potential traffic, who will now seek other options between New York and the West Coast.
> Read More: Trip Report – Flying United During COVID-19 Epidemic
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Any idea when the schedule for June will be released by UA? I have a flight ORD-FRA at the end of June, and while I am pretty sure this will be canceled, I was curious as to when approximately I should get the news.
United is rolling out more schedule changes this weekend (will be announced tonight), though I suspect it won’t be until sometime in late May that you will know for sure.
Noted.
Thanks for your work. As someone who travels almost exclusively on Star Alliance carriers, your blog is really helpful. Can’t wait to be back in the skies.
Thanks Tom! I also cannot wait to get back into the skies.
UA certainly isn’t looking to entice customers back into the air with low prices either.
They must figure that only people who have to fly, will fly, so why not just charge premium pricing.
Do the 737-800’s have seatback monitors?
Some have DirecTV, some do not. Those DirecTV-equipped planes have live TV, but only five looping videos.
I found it interesting that the fares and buckets were identical for all of those flights. They’ve obviously turned off their normal fare algorithms.
they were also flying some A319/20s in late March/early April on the redeye from LAX that obviously do not have flat beds.
The screenshots for SFO-BOS are showing SFO-EWR for both dates.
No screenshots for SFO-BOS, just LAX-EWR and SFO-EWR.
Indeed, but the text introducing the images currently reads: “Same story for SFO-BOS. Here’s May 3rd:”
Ah, now I see it. Thanks Eric!
I wonder if they’ll still serve hot meals on these flights as well?
They will, but only SFO/LAX-EWR and SFO-BOS.