Hi Everyone,

With the upcoming retirement of the United 747's, I was wondering which routes were operated when United had the full fleet of 44 744's.
If I'm not mistaken this was between 2000-2002.

I just took my last United 747 flight last month UA 901, SFO-LHR. Gonna miss seeing these aircrafts

Regards,

B777LRforeveR wrote:

Hi Everyone,

With the upcoming retirement of the United 747's, I was wondering which routes were operated when United had the full fleet of 44 744's.
If I'm not mistaken this was between 2000-2002.

I just took my last United 747 flight last month UA 901, SFO-LHR. Gonna miss seeing these aircrafts

Regards,

For the most part, in the early 2000's (the heyday of the B744 fleet), it was all TPAC, all intra-asia, select TATL, and select domestic. Keep in mind, it wasn't until 2002-2003 or so that United even started TPAC with the 777 (SEANRT was the first flight) and the 742s and were already gone.

I don't have a full list, but I will throw out some of what I remember. Most were RTs, so I did not show both directions in my list.

ORDNRT
ORDHKG
ORDFRA (mostly in the summer)
ORDSFO (generally on the afternoon trip in the summer)
ORDIAD
ORDDEN (occasionally in regular schedule)
LAXNRT
LAXSYD
LAXAKL
HNLNRT
JFKNRT
SEANRT
SFOLHR
SFOFRA
SFONRT
SFOTPE
SFOSEL
SFOOSA
SFOHKG
SFOSYD
IADFRA
IADLHR
IADSFO (occasionally)
NRTHKG
NRTSEL
NRTTPE
NRTSIN
HKGSIN

There was also briefly

LAX-MEL DEC 99 APRIL 01 via AKL for years
LAX-HKG various times was tried

ORD-PVG & ORD-BJS in the peak too. I think ORD-NRT was 2x daily before the NH JV and NH going 2x daily before moving 1 to HND.

SFO-KOA

afcjets, SFO to KOA was for a brief period. By pure chance I was on the inaugural flight. I believe it was in the early 90s. I forget what replaced it in a year or so but it was probably a 767.

Back when UA had the ex-Qantas -200's, my dad was flying them to Hawaii, and remarked that UA was thinking of using them to OGG. Because of the relatively short runway, he wondered if it wasn't a great idea, as the pilots frequently seemed to "hunt" a bit on touchdown, but almost always got a good landing.

Also pretty sure IAD-NRT/PEK have seen the 744.

United also definitely used the 747s on the RTW flights UA1/2 that operated through LHR, DEL and HKG - resuming in 2001 after being suspended in 1999.

I did LAX-DEN on a UA 744 a few times in between '97 and '99. Always thought it was odd.

LAX-KIX as well around 1996. UAL 817 I believe.

commavia wrote:

United also definitely used the 747s on the RTW flights UA1/2 that operated through LHR, DEL and HKG - resuming in 2001 after being suspended in 1999.

I always thought LHR-DEL-HKG was a 763 during the time of the RTW service...

codc10 wrote:

I always thought LHR-DEL-HKG was a 763 during the time of the RTW service...

Nope, definitely a 747 - at least the second time it operated, starting in summer 2001.

ZK-NBT wrote:

There was also briefly

LAX-MEL DEC 99 APRIL 01 via AKL for years
LAX-HKG various times was tried

LAX-MEL later became LAX-SYD-MEL up until a few years ago. Shame one couldn't fly on the domestic tag!

commavia wrote:

codc10 wrote:

I always thought LHR-DEL-HKG was a 763 during the time of the RTW service...

Nope, definitely a 747 - at least the second time it operated, starting in summer 2001.

Initially they used a B767-300ER. Then it was upgraded to a B747-400

"I did LAX-DEN on a UA 744 a few times in between '97 and '99. Always thought it was odd."

As a LAX gate agent, I worked a 742 LAX-DEN flight back in the 70's (HNL-LAX tag) and they did a full
cocktail/dinner service in 1 hour 48 minutes in F and Y. Pretty incredible.

United Airline wrote:

Initially they used a B767-300ER. Then it was upgraded to a B747-400

Interesting. United's press release, linked above, indicates the use of the 747 "on all flight segments" of the RTW flight, and the timetable I have from that time shows 747s, too.

They also did an ORD-LAS domestic run quite frequently as well!

codc10 wrote:

commavia wrote:

United also definitely used the 747s on the RTW flights UA1/2 that operated through LHR, DEL and HKG - resuming in 2001 after being suspended in 1999.

I always thought LHR-DEL-HKG was a 763 during the time of the RTW service...

It was a mix. As I recollect, LAX-JFK-LHR-DEL was a 763 and DEL-HKG-LAX was a 744

CHI2DFW wrote:

ORD-PVG & ORD-BJS in the peak too. I think ORD-NRT was 2x daily before the NH JV and NH going 2x daily before moving 1 to HND.

Ah yes. I forgot that ORDPVG and ORDBJS were often 744s. Yes, ORDNRT was 2x 744 for a long time. Flights 881 and 883. One left at noon and the other around 1:30p.

gwrudolph wrote:

codc10 wrote:

commavia wrote:

United also definitely used the 747s on the RTW flights UA1/2 that operated through LHR, DEL and HKG - resuming in 2001 after being suspended in 1999.

I always thought LHR-DEL-HKG was a 763 during the time of the RTW service...

It was a mix. As I recollect, LAX-JFK-LHR-DEL was a 763 and DEL-HKG-LAX was a 744

Again - United's own press release announcing the resumption of flights to India, dated 28 March 2001, explicitly states, "United's Around-the-World flights will link the U.S. East Coast and West Coast with Delhi, and will cover 19,705 miles. The airline will offer Boeing 747-400 three-class service on all flight segments..." Additionally, I have a copy of United's summer 2001 timetable, and all the flights in and out of India - both from LHR and HKG - are clearly shown as operated with 747-400s.

commavia wrote:

gwrudolph wrote:

codc10 wrote:

I always thought LHR-DEL-HKG was a 763 during the time of the RTW service...

It was a mix. As I recollect, LAX-JFK-LHR-DEL was a 763 and DEL-HKG-LAX was a 744

Again - United's own press release announcing the resumption of flights to India, dated 28 March 2001, explicitly states, "United's Around-the-World flights will link the U.S. East Coast and West Coast with Delhi, and will cover 19,705 miles. The airline will offer Boeing 747-400 three-class service on all flight segments..." Additionally, I have a copy of United's summer 2001 timetable, and all the flights in and out of India - both from LHR and HKG - are clearly shown as operated with 747-400s.

That may have been the case for a certain period of time, but I am confident that it operated with a mix of 763 and 744 for some period of time. During the period of time I am talking about, LAX-JFK-LHR-DEL was 763 and DEL-HKG-LAX was 744. I also remember that something with the bilateral required them them to restrict the number of seats sold on the DEL-HKG 744 segment to no more than the LHR-DEL 763 segment seats