United Elevated
 

Just announced:

https://www.united.com/en/us/newsroom/announcements/cision-125449

I think this is officially the end of the 757s. At least all the 200s. With fuel increasing and the 321XLR it’s a forgone conclusion.
i would also imagine vacancy/displacement bids initially to get the west coast and DEN and IAH 756 bases closed and move the 756/767 flying primarily out of EWR and IAD with maybe ORD?
Overall good news for us!

41 seat CRJ-200? Didn’t see that coming

They can save on labor cost if get the CRJ down to 19 seats.

Don’t forget they can save on mx if they remove the galley, and the autoflight system. Hell, while they’re at it, get rid of the lav too. I’m getting B1900 nostalgia already.

At least it won't face the same issue as the 550 of easily getting weight restricted if they need fuel for an alternate since it needs to stay within the weight limit of your 50 seat scope clause( note: Not saying it as if it is a bad thing).

Unless 41 seaters have a lower weight limit under your scope clause that I am not aware of.

The 550 is a good product overall, but curious how it is possible to improve the experience of being on a 200.....

Just waiting on the ERJ410 now......

probably not ORD as the 767 is needed because it can park in the alley and we are short WB gates. ORD 756 will hang on until the new gates come online.

DEN will hang on for LIH and seasonal 756 Hawaii markets they would have already canned it if it wasn’t for those markets.

there will also need to be a base that hangs around to fly the 753…..it only goes to EWR on ESUBS and barely goes to IAD. So unless they change where that plane flies a base out west will need to stick around.

but yes SFO/LAX/IAH are for sure on death watch I don’t think anything will happen until next spring though.

I wonder whose 200s these are going to be? Skywest?

or is this the reason Air Wisconsin is recalling pilots?….

the one on display in LAX is SkyWest

Skywest for now….

Great . More RJs. Exactly what we need . 🙄🙄🙄NOT . Especially old worn out 200s pulled from the desert .

For those wondering what the first CRJ-450 is, it’s N973SW.

They just released a 41 seat RJ. The airplane with the highest CASM in the fleet, just got a new lease on life as an even MORE expensive airplane to operate.

I don’t think the 752 is going anywhere anytime soon.

The 752 can live a long happy life flying ewr-den and the like. Bet some get converted back to domestic interiors.

until they’re ready to can the whole fleet, it’s efficient to keep around

The question now remains…. Can the company even operate these under the United Express umbrella…. No where in 1-C-1 permits a 41- seat jet to operate under the UAX umbrella…

that is a fascinating question. Probably in the union’s interest to cut a deal for “50 or fewer seats”

Curious how bad the company wants it

See UPA 1-L-29 which defines a 50 seat aircraft

1-L-29 Definitions


“50-Seat Aircraft” means aircraft certificated in the United States for fifty (50) or fewer passenger seats and
a maximum certificated gross takeoff weight in the United States of 65,000 or fewer pounds.

doesn’t matter one bit to me how bad they want it. Scope isn’t for sale, at least not my vote.

thanks, found it after posting awhile ago.

you’ve already voted on it. Whether you voted yes or no is the Question.

Just in time for contract negotiations to begin . How ironic

Those new Polaris Studio Suites are going to be an unpleasant surprise for people that book them. They're in rows 1 and 9. Both of those rows are right next to the galley...good luck getting a wink of sleep when 5 FAs are hooting and hollering and discussing their layover plans in the brightly lit galley at 3 am at 180 degrees west.

I give it six months before they reconfigure those studio suites to the midsection of each cabin (ie rows 5 and 11). That's by far a quieter part of the Polaris cabin.

How long is UAL expected to keep the B756 around?

They can’t do that. The reason for the extra space is there is no seat ahead of them. Only bulkhead seats have that extra space.

on the 767 the rest seat is 1A. Personally I’ve never had an issue with noise in that seat except when the FA’s are doing the service, and even then it is minimal. The curtain doesn’t cut down noise that much. And before and after break, the galley is almost never “brightly lit”. Of course, during break the curtain does do a good job of blocking light, so maybe they turn the lights off right before break is over.

Good question. I’m on the fleet and no one seems to know.

Some of my friends on the B767 at EWR are saying well into 2030 but I guess that depends on Boeing deliveries which has not been predictable.

the 764 and 753 are the wildcards. They’re newer, useful, cost effective… and as long as they are around keeping the 752 and 763 is minimal extra expense. I

The CRJ-450 isn't about a smaller jet or getting around SCOPE, it's already allowed by SCOPE, it's about adding premium seats and getting rid of single-class airplanes. It's about advertising premium seats on every flight.

It's cost per seat-mile are higher, but the revenue per seat-mile will be even higher than that. Passengers booking premium seats won't have legs in small, RJ-sized, economy seats. They'll have premium seats for their entire trip. That will keep them from going to competitors to avoid the economy seat.

there will be 767s and 757s in the fleet into 2030. The real question is how big the fleet will be. If the economy craps out the 757-200s will be gone 1:1 with XLRs. If the economy does well then the -200s may last longer to fill gaps or new route growth. The 767-300s will start going once 787 growth and intl expansion stops.

Bingo... Though I will add that the high-J 767 has its place too for now. If a (new) route can pay for that with almost identical premium seat counts, then that route will likely be able to support a 787 in the future. Replacing the 767 high-J with a standard 787-9 upgrades the total passenger experience and gives another 90 econ seats for very little additional direct operating cost (+ ~7% on hourly gas, but much less per pax). The 767 is the perfect "pathfinder" for such medium haul routes. UA is behind on widebody capacity for now, so the 767s (high-J and -400) will likely hang around for some time.

As mentioned, the 757-300 has no replacement either, but it's not nearly as good on CASM as the slightly-fewer-seat A321Neo. The 753 has 17% more seats, but a much larger fuel penalty (~50% more gas!). Increasing frequency (where airport capacity/slots/gates allow) makes more sense than hanging on to a 757-300.

Yes, 764s almost certainly beyond 2030. But the economy and reputation of the company will drive the rest of the fleet as replacements continue to arrive. I agree that the 757 will be used to explore or confirm routes that will work for the XLRs, like the high-J 767 is being used today for the 789s...

One addition that I didn't see announced until later in the afternoon was the introduction of the "Relax Rows" on our planes allowing three coach seats to convert to a lie-flat surface for one or more people (think a couple or parents with kids). Saw an analysis on X about this new product that is quite interesting:

Aakash Gupta • @aakashgupta • 17h

The most profitable seat on a 787 isn't in business class. It's three economy seats with a $40 mattress pad. I've flown the original version on Air New Zealand. United just figured out the math.

A Polaris suite takes the footprint of roughly four economy seats. At $4,000 one-way on a transatlantic route, that's $1,000 per seat-equivalent of revenue. A Relax Row takes three economy seats, sells for $3,000 to $5,000 as a unit, and requires zero cabin reconfiguration. That's $1,000 to $1,700 per seat-equivalent with almost no incremental cost. The margins on a mattress pad and adjustable leg rests versus a lie-flat suite with a privacy door, dedicated galley, and premium meal service aren't even comparable.

Air New Zealand proved this in 2011. Called it Skycouch. Same seat. Same concept. Fifteen years of booking data showing parents choose flat over reclined at almost any price. United licensed the design and locked North American exclusivity.

The timing maps to a ceiling in their premium strategy. United posted $59.1 billion in revenue last year. Premium cabin revenue grew 11% while economy flatlined. But there are only so many rows you can convert to Polaris before you've hollowed out the cabin. At some point you need the 300 economy passengers to fund the aircraft.

Relax Row threads that needle. 200 widebody aircraft. Up to 12 sections per plane. 2,400 units fleet-wide on routes where families will pay anything to let a toddler sleep horizontal for 14 hours. Dynamic pricing at American willingness-to-pay levels on a product Air New Zealand sells for $200 to $1,500.

Six fare classes on a single widebody now: Basic Economy, Economy, Relax Row, Premium Plus, Polaris, Polaris Studio. Each tier reframes the next as reasonable.

They wrapped it in a plushie because "highest-margin seat in commercial aviation" doesn't fit on a boarding pass.

There’s more to casm than fuel costs. Paid for planes can tolerate inefficient layovers, days off etc. the 757 can do hot/high/short better.

and 321neo/max availability is still constrained.

If the 756 class broadly makes sense, the 753 makes sense as part of it

Say it again louder for those in the back of the room.

Doesn’t matter, it’s covered under current scope. Just because they only put 41 seats in a 50 seat jet, it’s still a 50 seat jet.

​​​​​​​This might be the most informative post I’ve read in a while on here. Kudos.

My favorite part is that we are taking 250 planes over the next 2 years which is more planes than any airline in history has taken in a 2 year period. About 50 of these are 787s.

Fleet plan for 2026 shows ZERO 757s being retired even though we are getting XLR deliveries this year. They said eventually we would start retiring some of the 757-200s and the 757-300 they want to fly until 2035 because they are the lowest CASM airplane we have on property.

I hope you're right! Just did 4 Pacific flights in Polaris (SIN and ADL roundtrips for vacation). Had 1D for a couple of those legs and 9A for the others. Never again, because of the issues mentioned above. Wifey was a couple rows back and slept like a baby.

As someone with an interview in the next few weeks, I'm quite excited to see that. Any clue how many of those are Airbus 320-family aircraft?

From article in the first post:

• 47 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners with the Elevated interior
  • 33 will be configured with additional premium seats
• 40 Airbus A321neo Coastliners out of 50 total on order
• 28 Airbus A321XLR out of 50 total on order
• 119 Boeing 737 MAX
• 18 Airbus A321neos

WOW!!!! We’re such innovators :rolleyes: