United Airlines to launch Sydney-Houston flights in January 2018
By David Flynn, September 8 2017
United Airlines will begin direct flights between Sydney and Houston from January 20 2018, with the new route going head to head against Qantas' daily Sydney-Dallas flights.
The UA flights will see United's long-range Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner darting between the two cities, with Houston – as United's Texas hub – offering onwards connections to more than 70 cities throughout North America.
And it'll be a long flight, at up to 17½ hours on the Houston-Sydney leg and a more bearable 15h45m from Sydney to Houston.
Here's how the schedule looks:
- Flight UA100 departs Sydney at 11.50am to reach Houston at 10.35am that same day
- Flight UA101 leaves Houston at 8pm to arrive into Sydney at 6.30am two days later
This will be United's fourth Aussie route following Sydney-Los Angeles, Melbourne-Los Angeles and Sydney-San Francisco – and like those flights, it'll run on the airline's Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner fitted with 48 lie-flat business class seats, albeit in a 2-2-2 arrangement (shown below) rather than the airline's very latest direct-aisle access Polaris seats.
Still, that layout puts United's Boeing 787 seats roughly on par with the Qantas A380's Skybed Ii business class seats.
Creature comforts include pyjamas and Saks Fifth Avenue bedding...
... and Cowshed Spa products...
... which along with upgraded meals and drinks are part of the 'soft product' component of the Polaris business class proposition, even if the seats are last-gen models.
“We are delighted to provide travelers from Sydney with unparalleled easy access to the U.S. and beyond through this new route launch,” said Alison Espley, UA's managing director of Japan and Pacific Sales.
“United carefully planned this route with the convenience and comfort of our customers in mind so that we may provide them with a premier inflight service."
David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
21 Jul 2014
Total posts 147
Hope the route does well for them.
31 Aug 2017
Total posts 5
I think it will. Air NZ will not be happy at all. It will ruin their service to Houston which relies on Americans and Australians to fill their premium seats. UA has the deep pockets and the grunt to stick it out as they will on SFO to Auckland. Air NZ again will be very unhappy with this ... Americans will choose their own to fill those premium cabins and get the bang for their loyalty buck.
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 644
@Qzark:
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 644
@Ozark:
QF Platinum
15 Mar 2011
Total posts 3
@FLX1:
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
02 Jan 2015
Total posts 68
I wish them well, but will stick with Air NZ via AKL until the actual New 1-2-1 Polaris Seats make it to OZ.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
17 Jan 2012
Total posts 177
I guess from Melbourne it's easier transiting via AKL than SYD to get to IAH.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
22 Jul 2015
Total posts 223
Very sad but very true. The transfer from T2/3 to T1 is a pain. Mind you if's no different to Terminal 3 to 4 at Heathrow. QF 1 arrives at T3 and I am often out from T4 which means picking up the Heathrow Express for one stop.
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 644
@DGP:
31 Aug 2017
Total posts 5
I really think you'll find the NZ service will be pulled if United stick at it. Sydney is the main game and without the bulk of Americans who will probably go United...
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 644
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
19 Feb 2014
Total posts 452
Looking at that 'business class' and the service offered by United, I don't think Qantas has much to worry about.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
06 Sep 2012
Total posts 218
It will only be a concern if United prices the route a hell of a lot cheaper than what QF charges.
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 644
@Jedinak K:
UA
09 Mar 2016
Total posts 56
You're joking right? Even this version of UA's J hard product is better than anything QF currently offers on routes AU-US, much better. The Polaris soft product is highly competitive with QF, including the food which was never bad and is now very good. UA's inflight entertainment on the 789 is superb including relatively fast and reliable wifi even out in the middle of the Pacific.
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 644
@Chris_PER:
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
06 May 2016
Total posts 30
Looks soooo attractive, but as Qantas Gold we'll stick with QF7/8 for our regular visits to our family in Houston. BHP tried so hard to convince Alan to fly direct from Sydney to Houston five(?) years ago. Interesting to hear Alan describe BHP as a "major customer" in an interview this week, and yet he chose Dallas instead of Houston.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
10 Jan 2012
Total posts 270
I can see why DFW was chosen, it's an AA hub. IAH would provide practically zero connections for QF customers and O&D would be minimal too. But one BHP contract wouldn't make the route viable like DFW would be.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
30 May 2013
Total posts 346
Why would he have chosen Houston? Dallas is an American Airlines hub, Houston isn't. As OneWorld members, it makes perfect sense for QF to team up with American Airlines and tap into their domestic flights ex DFW.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
30 May 2013
Total posts 346
Why would he have chosen Houston? Dallas is an American Airlines hub, Houston isn't. As OneWorld members, it makes perfect sense for QF to team up with American Airlines and tap into their domestic flights ex DFW.
08 Nov 2014
Total posts 20
any ideas on award availability?
United Airlines - Mileage Plus
10 Jan 2014
Total posts 4
Loads of saver biz awards available, I've already snagged a couple!
Cathay Pacific - Asia Miles
08 Sep 2017
Total posts 2
How exciting to see this new route added
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 644
@AshleyC:
02 Dec 2016
Total posts 32
17.5 hours in UA economy! No chance!
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 644
@BrisbanePE:
Qantas
19 Apr 2012
Total posts 1282
UA economy also has appaling food service - tiny helpings, no mid flight snacks, cramped seats and very average service (over 17 hours) all-in-all no real threat to QF.
31 Aug 2017
Total posts 5
I think you're right re QF with its Aussie oneword loyalists and the US based Star loyalists will be delighted...
QFF
16 May 2016
Total posts 66
Not sure when you last flew UA out of Australia, but the economy and economy plus seats on the Dreamliner are very spacious. No way you could call them 'cramped'.
13 Sep 2016
Total posts 184
A real threat to QF7 SYD-DFW? Won't dislodge QF and Oneworld loyalists, and to be fair I would still rate the overall Qantas A380 business class experience well above that of United. The Qantas seats are still quite comfortable, the meals are much better, as is the SYD lounge and of course the service and attitude of the crew. I'm happy to see some competition all the same but I think like the current UA flights the majority of business travellers will be Yanks coming and going or Aussies employed by US companies with a UA-centric travel policy.
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 644
@Bob Burgess:
QFF
16 May 2016
Total posts 66
UA doesn't have a lounge in Sydney. J class or StarA use AirNZ
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
15 Feb 2017
Total posts 6
I'm just glad there will be more competition on this route which hopefully will see some better business class prices being offered! After everything has been said and done if flight time is same for both airlines a saving of a couple of thousand will see me switching from QF7/QF8 in a heartbeat, sorry Qantas!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
30 May 2013
Total posts 346
More competition on this route? This is the only service offered on this route.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 Dec 2014
Total posts 46
Competition probably refers to the Texas - Australia market which is already served by Qantas (QF7/8)
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
15 Feb 2017
Total posts 6
That is exactly what I was referring to, thanks Lala295
15 Sep 2012
Total posts 92
Forbes magazine today reported Air Nz CEO looking at Auckland - Chicago and Auckland- New York in next few years.
31 Aug 2017
Total posts 5
Very interesting. The problem Air NZ has is the power of QF frequent flyers and the Plat One-seeking corporates out of Oz if they replicate direct services to either city. You would be relying on the US markets where NZ has no profile. A country of 4.5m people and its carrier relies on AU's 25m and the 300+ US market to make its spread viable... Now if VA joined Star and they had a good domestic offering in Australia...
UA
09 Mar 2016
Total posts 56
As I say, the UA J hard product is at least as comfortable as QF's old J product which is what you get trans Pacific, and actually better. The food is in the American style, which having lived there for half my life, I don't mind, it's been much upgraded since Polaris, and who flies J or F for the food anyway? Puhleeze. Sure, the 2-2-2 is a drag unless you're in the middle, but it is on QF too. I suspect both will go to their new 1-2-1 product at about the same time. My personal experience on the trans-Pacific in J with both QF and UA on a fairly regular basis is that there's not much diff in the FA service. QF crew can be disturbingly chatty and casual and get snarky if you don't like something but when they're good they're very good; UA crew (mostly ex-CO on this route) can be stony and snappish and just not into it, but when they're good they great. The play book with American cabin crew is to be really polite, quietly friendly, and considerate. I'm out of MEL, but I go to IAD, JFK, and BDL. I loathe doing the 13 hours, the kerfuffle at LAX then having to get on another flight for 5-6 hours. If I could do MEL-IAH, I would do it every time just because the last leg would be only 3 hours or less. IAH is pretty much trouble free and easy, DFW more so.
11 Dec 2016
Total posts 38
Wow this is stunning news - my old hometown and my new one connect and I had no idea this was coming. And a very quick launch time with January 2018.
25 Feb 2013
Total posts 66
Just a question from a relative newb. Who does UA rely on for feeder traffic in Oz? I assume the NZ tie-up doesn't really give them many domestic Oz options.
I mean AA have QF and DL have VA, yet UA has more flights into Oz than either of those carriers. Are they just relying on the SYD and MEL markets?
I'm guessing a direct SYD-ATL on DL can't be too far away now either.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
28 Aug 2015
Total posts 15
Having flown SYD - IAH 16 times in the last 2 years on all carrier options over the pacific ( AA, DL, NZ, VA, QF & UA) this is welcome news - only Air NZ has a better J class product. I am QF Plat and the current A380 seat is poor, no storage and entertainment is falling behind. United 787-9 is better seat than QF current product - direct flight over a connection is a winner
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