UA/CO Cross-Fleeting

Just found this on Airliners, and confirmed by a UA/CO employee on the other site..

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/5063646/

Looks like we will get birds with no E+, and less premium seats

 

Interesting down-gauge for SkyTeam hubs.

 

Great. Lovely. So I'm booked on CDG/IAD in First in december... will I get to sit in business class on a narrowbody instead?

 

I'm assuming these are the first of many schedule changes to come-- should be interesting to see across the board.

 

I hear the 747 will be in the mix at CO legacy hubs this summer. At least two routes from EWR-TLV/NRT/FRA and IAH-NRT/LHR/FRA are my guesses. 767 and 777s between EWR/IAH and the legacy United hubs are a fair bet too. Fingers crossed for widebodies on EWR-SFO/LAX .

It also remains to be seen what will happen to the current CO pilot contract provision that precludes regional partner flying between hubs. This would result in a dramatic capacity increase in the EWR-IAD market.

 

From the lengthy discussion on the "other site" on this same topic, seems like they are starting the process of taking advantage of no slot restrictions at IAD vs. restrictions at EWR; for example 2x CDG (757) from IAD instead of 1x w/777, which frees up the 777 to add capacity to a slot that was previously held by a 757 at EWR.

While no one wants to fly TATL on a 757, I can see how it makes sense.

 

I'll gladly fly a 757 TATL (in J)

 

do these 757's have in seat entertainment? or does it become like flying a smaller 747 on UA?

 

If they pull a downgrade you are eligible for a rerouting and/or refund

 

I completely agree with your international routes out of EWR. I see the 744 doing IAH-NRT and possibly FRA but not LHR.

There is the possibility that they'll try to open another Asian route out of IAH with a 744.

I have little hope that we'll see widebodies on transcons but I guess there may be one or two to reposition equipment.

In reality, the only real downguage is the 757 to AMS. The others are a movement of equipment to help in frequency and probably to get load factors around 80%.

 

I'm actually pretty excited about flights on UA metal from EWR! I imagine the novelty will wear off quickly, but being able to use SWU's out of NYC has gotta be a thumbs up in the long term.

Wait, am I making a rash assumption? UA metal means UA crews and a UA flight number, and therefore SWU's right?

 

Granted, but not in Y. Even if seats/IFE are equal, just so much easier to get up and take a walk mid-flight with two aisles.

 

Silly question time...... can a 57 (ER I assume ) fly n/s IAD-CDG and vv?. Not that I'd EVER want to spend 8 hours in a 57 mind you <feh>......

 

It's only 180nm difference between EWR-CDG. The winter return flights may require a fuel stop.

 

Goalie: easily. Whether I could fly IAD-CDG on a 57 is another question.

 

I am disapointed to see IAD-CDG get downgauged to a 757. Are thee any upgauges for UA?

 

Amen to that my friend. Amen to that.

 

I think the EWR-??? will still be CO-operated (or at least CO flight number, so do not think the SWUs will work.

 

It's possible that by the time this gets off the ground, they may have SWU reciprocity.

 

I don't like any of the 757 options. If I did, I might have flown the miserable globe before.

 

Why not?

Lie-flat in J, AVOD/power in Y.

It is a completely reasonable product.

 

Put that way it is. Add bone-crushing pitch and rock-hard Y seats, and it's not so attractive if you're not one of the privileged ones to get an ELR seat.

 

But that's no different on the 752 from the other CO aircraft. So, if we accept your premise that CO's seats all suck, why is the 752 so much worse?

Yes, there is only one aisle. IME the aisle has carts in it for about 90 minutes of the flight. That's a whole lot of other time that is available for pacing if desired.

 

If it is CO-metal, yes, and 110V power.

ARN-EWR is operated today - 3930 mi
IAD-CDG is 3861 mi

 

If you're comparing a CO widebody to a 752, your post makes sense. But in this context, we're talking about them putting the CO 752 on an IAD-Europe route, a former UA route, so the appropriate comparison would be a UA aircraft, in which case this is a downgrade in terms of comfort if you're in the Y cabin.