United Says 787 Taken Off Flight Schedule Through June 5

According to Bloomberg. And the DEN-NRT route is now pushed out to May 12.

Although it looks between 5/12 and 6/5 they still expect to use the 787, so there's no backup plan if a solution fails to materialize by then.

Backup plan: CR2 island hopper, Aleutian style.

Which other airframes in UA's fleet could serve the route, given the range requirements and altitude of DEN? Can a 767 do it? Or would they need to up-gauge to a 777?

Did not miss by much my end of June and 2nd week of July LAX-PVG/NRT-LAX 787 flights, both upgraded to BF!

The 767s and 777s can do the route if needed.

I'd almost be as happy about that as being on the real inaugural.

Some lines and dots are not worth it.

Actually, I'd be much more interested in that one. I don't really care about inaugurals, but that would be one cool route to fly.

Well, I'd rather row 12 in an ERJ if we have to do it on a 50 seater. But the lines are awesome.

How's that marketing campaign of "look at this shiny new 787" working out?

It sure has been a game changer!

Managed to change my early April SEA-DEN-NRT-DEN-SFO-SEA to SEA-NRT-SEA and preserve the B fare and upgrades. First agent wanted an extra $4,300, second was OK with making the change. Lost nearly 6,000 PQM in the process.

UAInsider is also saying that this will effect other non-787 routes as well:

SFO-CDG now slated to start on April 26th (originally due to start April 11th)
SFO-TPE now slated to start on June 6th (originally due to start April 9th)

I think its a giant scam to rid yall of those cheapo B Fares everyone booked

So what do we do? I am just waiting since I don't care how I get to NRT and since I have non-refundable fares from CLE to DEN, I would prefer not to change anything unless UA forces me to. I guess I am going to have to play the wait and see game.

But what year?

It would explain how all those batteries mysteriously went up in flames with no obvious cause.

But you'll fly in C! You can make up 6K with an easy $200 MR to just about anywhere with a connection.

If your positioning is on UA metal they should take care of you with that. The schedule updates will load this weekend and then you can call in and do what you want.

The backup plan is probably to further delay start of service.

My speculation is that UA is generally taking the 787 off the schedule until June so that they don't have change all the reservations made in interim if 787 grounding continues. But internally they are hoping to start operating again by May, so they'll sell DEN-NRT from May 12, and if they can get the 787 back in the air, they'll do some plane swaps back to the 787. And if they can, only the DEN-NRT bookings will require changes.

I guess we'll see what they load. But I doubt we'll see the DEN-NRT route start up with the 787. UA doesn't operate any 767 aircraft at NRT at all, and I don't know if a 767 would be weight-restricted from DEN due to elevation. And probably 772 and 744 are overkill in capacity and wouldn't be profitable, and there may not be enough airframes, since DEN-NRT will require 2 aircraft. UA will just reroute anyone who booked DEN-NRT via SEA, SFO and LAX.

I expect all such schedules by affected airlines are in flux and contingencies in place to continue all year if not longer. My next 787 flight is in May on LOT but I'm beginning to think I'll find myself in some dilapidated 767 retread! Well, at least I can say I've flown it a couple of times...

Is there such a huge weight penalty and engineering challenge to just swap the lithium batteries with regular nicads or whatever is used on other planes? Suppose that would compound into a myriad of new issues.

There are a couple of other threads that discuss the implications of a battery type change in some detail (of course, from our outsider/interested amateur point of view).

http://milepoint.com/forums/threads/787-schedule-update.49050/
http://milepoint.com/forums/threads/ana-grounds-787-fleet-ua-impact.54493

I heard (in passing) that UACO holdings got a 737 (for free, or close to it) because of all the delays, from the begining of the 787 order, as compensation.

What really sucks is that I also heard that there are some new routes that are supposed to come on line contingent on 787 delivery that are being pushed out further. Ugh.

BTW, please bring back IAD-DME ( Ugh)

I know that planes are expensive but that actually seems a bit light to me.

SFO-TPE/CDG are definitely affected. IAH-LOS is still running, but not on the new planes yet. The company is going to be in quite a pinch if the summer season rolls around and they don't have the 787s back in the air.