United Airlines will fly nonstop from San Francisco to Barcelona next summer as part of its plan to offer 30% more seats to Spain in 2024 versus 2023.
New San Francisco – Barcelona Nonstop Service On United Airlines
United will launch daily service from San Francisco (SFO) to Barcelona (BCN) starting on May 23, 2024 using a Boeing 777-200ER aircraft. The aircraft features:
- 50 Polaris business class seats
- 24 Premium Plus premium economy class seats
- 46 Economy Plus (extra legroom) economy class seats
- 156 economy class seats
> Read More: United Airlines 777-200 Business Class Review
> Read More: United Airlines 777-200 Premium Economy Class Review
The new flights will operate according to the follow schedule:
- Depart SFO 5:45 PM // Arrive BCN 1:55 PM+1 // 11 hours, 30 minutes
- Depart BCN 5:20 PM //Arrive SFO 8:20 PM // 12 hours, 05 minutes
With this new Barcelona service, United will offer nonstop service from San Francisco to eight transatlantic destinations:
- Amsterdam (AMS)
- Barcelona (BCN)
- Frankfurt (FRA)
- London (LHR)
- Munich (MUC)
- Paris (CDG)
- Rome (FCO)
- Zurich (ZRH)
More Expansion In Spain
Overall, United will increase flights to Spain by 30% in 2024, compared to 2023. That includes service to Barcelona from four cities, including:
- Chicago O’Hare (ORD)
- Newark (EWR)
- San Francisco (SFO)
- Washington Dulles (IAD)
United’s nonstop flight between Washington and Barcelona and will begin this service 11 weeks early, on February 15, 2024.
Furthermore, United will resume service to all five cities in Spain from the US, whcih beyond Barcelona include:
- Madrid (MAD)
- Malaga (AGP)
- Palma de Mallorca (PMI)
- Tenerife (TFS)
To reach that 40% increase in seats, United will start service to Malaga a month earlier than this year, on May 2, 2023, and will shift service to daily, leading to approximately triple hte number of flights compared to 2023.
CONCLUSION
United will offer 30% more seats to Spain next summer compared to last summer, including new nonstop daily service from San Francisco to Barcelona.
Tickets will be available for purchase on the new nonstop route later this evening. If you are looking to use your miles or Plus Points, keep an eye out for saver award space or confirmed upgrade space.
Giving the timing of this “late” announcement, very likely this aircraft is using the SFO-TLV aircraft.
It’s odd that United choose SFO, rather than ORD or EWR for this addition given that they only use the 767&787 for their other Barcelona service. While of course Barcelona is the Miami of Europe for cruise ports, it seems odd to use such a western hub for this flight.
One would think United could fly the 787-10 from Newark instead of the 767.
Different aircraft I believe. 777-300 on the SFO-TLV route.
UA just announce the cancellation of its IAH- SCL route next summer 2024 and I’m guessing this is where the spare aircraft is coming from.
Interesting. So no SCL service?
Must be lots of O&D demand, as that’s the latest arrival (except FRA?) of an inbound TATL to SFO. Surprised to see a 777 as Barcelona is generally known for among the cheapest business class origin fares in Europe
The BCN-SFO departure and arrival isn’t ideal. UA will compete with Level on this route.
Somebody has too many widebodies than they know what to do with…
This is a nice addition. Perfect for summer flying 🙂
I live in Spain but would never fly direct to the USA . Why? Because of appalling immigration lines and the availability of pre clearance via Dublin.
Barcelona is or was wonderful but is overrun with tourists. Stay for a day or two and move on unfortunately.
We flew “business” once as a family from ord to BCN. Was such a good deal. Big recliner seats, good food and wine for like $900 return.
Does Madrid (MAD) Intl. airport landing slots hard to come by? I thought it makes more financial sense for UAL to provide non-stop flights to MAD over BCN.
MAD is primarily a business destination, whereas BCN hasn’t got as much business demand but does attract a ridiculous amount of tourist traffic. Furthermore, Star Alliance has virtually all destinations in Spain covered by hubs in LIS and Germany/Switzerland but no native presence in Spain, so I would guess that the amount of UA pax with connections via either airport is tiny.
united used to run a non stop between SFO and BCN each February for the mobile world Congress conference. took it pre-covid back in 2020. I don’t mind the timing, still gets you in earlier than connect in zrh on lx or muc/fra on lh.