First new P.S. bird takes flight 3.18.13

First flight is UA651 LAX to JFK. Can't wait since I'm scheduled to fly it on Wednesday.

 

For today:
UA651 LAX - JFK; UA535 JFK - LAX; UA912 LAX - JFK.

 

I have two JFK-LAX p.s. flights, one outbound and one inbound, as part of a TPAC trip, which use different 2-cabin configurations of the 757-200:

For the outbound in late June, it shows the new configuration (top) and then just over a week later on the inbound, it shows the old 3-cabin p.s. turned into a 2-cabin bird:



Can you tell us which one of these configurations is the one for your p.s. flight?

 

Is this considered a decent level of utilization for an aircraft? I'm thinking it's about 15.5-16 hours of flight time.

 

I'm flying the config shown on top. UA303 from JFK to SFO on 3.20. The bottom config is the classic old PS.

 

I'm going to miss row 9 on the old aircraft

 

But you'll most likely enjoy lie flat bed seating and the eradication of the Digi players.

 

Yes. It is the old p.s. config reconfigured from 3 to 2 cabins. Are there still such beasts around? If so, then that would address this:

because I too loved row 9 and got it every time except for once when I was upped to F. As you can see above, row 9 is still available but I do not want to select my favorite seat (9D) only to find out that the shown configuration is just temporary (if it is, I am not sure why they are even showing it)...

 

BTW, my BF seats on the p.s. shown in the pictures above are upgrades from Y for flights I am taking at the end of June and in early July...just for those who keep reporting on how GPU upgrades are tough to get.. One clear at booking and the other a few days later.

 

One is a redeye so it isn't really that high. The ps fleet typically does one round-trip daily with a lower total block time than most of the rest of the domestic fleet IIRC, and the long-haul fleet is even higher.

 

Row 9 had two things going for it. 1) no one reclined into you. This problem is solved with the new config for all seats. 2) You never had to step over or be stepped over to get out. This problem is not solved, but it still is easier in all other rows because of fixing item 1. Of course, four windows wasn't so bad either lol.

The old ps setup had a great run, the ratio of premium seats to passengers was unmatched and it resulted in lots of happy elite flyers over the years I would have to imagine. It is almost surprising it lasted as long as it did. With that said here's to the next generation of product. Hopefully it at least makes those t-con red eyes more bearable.

 

Is there a difference between the new PS fleet and the International configured 757?

 

p.s. fleet has Wi-Fi and the mix of F/E+/E- seats are different.

 

Also, the new p.s. has more BF seats (28 lie-flat) than the Int'l 757-200 (16 lie-flat).

 

I'm on UA 133 LAX-SFO Wednesday 6am. It has lay flat, but not an extended BF cabin. Looks like the same layout as a PMCO 757-200 I flew LHR-EWR last year.

You guys think they are using these in the interim?

SFOPeter

 

They do mix the sCO 752's in.

 

The one thing the old p.s. flight had going for it (not sure if that is still the case) is that all of E was actually E+. I definitely appreciated that the two times I sat there

 

It is not any more, but the E+ seats are more like 35-36" pitch and have AVOD for IFE rather than 34" and overhead screens.

Win some, lose some.

 

If other sites are correct, N596UA, the newly reconfigured 757, is also ETOPS certified. Any bets on whether it might make some EWR-LHR runs as well as the p.s. routes since it's a premium-heavy configuration?

 

It won't, as that would greatly complicate crew and aircraft rotations, and deliver no upside as we head into the summer season, a time when business class demand actually falls on TATL flying.

 

There was a lot of discussion when the new p.s. config was announced about the potential it has for going TATL on some routes, too. It may yet happen, but it'll take a while before it does, with the focus on getting the actual p.s. product up to par and consistent on the new config first.

 

It would be to grab a seat on the JFK-EWR aircraft repositioning segment!

 

Wow, 4 days in and no trip report.

 

That makes sense. But it also makes sense that there must be markets that warrant more than 16 BF seats while still smaller than the 30-39 premium (and far more economy seats) on the 767 fleet. Plus a 28 BF configuration might have a bit more range than 16 BF, though that depends on the relative fuel economy of the sCO and sUA B752 aircraft, since they have different engines.

Are they adding sharklets to the non-sharklet aircraft?

 

There are lots of markets with different demands. The trick is not having so many different subfleets that you cannot remain operationally reliable.

Winglets (or, if you're into that sort of thing, Wing Glitz) are on the Boeing aircraft. Sharklets are on Airbus planes. United did fit many of the non-winglet 752s with winglets but not all. I believe those being retired soonest were not fitted.