United Airlines Flying The 787-10 To London From Los Angeles!
Intro
A couple of months ago, I wrote about how United Airlines had decided to reposition a portion of their 777-300ER fleet to Newark for the summer of 2025. Well, as this is due to come into effect on the 30th of March, there is another exciting development for Los Angeles-based flyers…
The Details
During the month of April, United's sole daily service from Los Angeles will be upgraded/downgraded (whichever way you look at it) from a 787-9 to a 787-10. On paper, this will see the business class cabin being reduced from 48 daily seats to 44 daily seats. However, if you are one who is open to flying economy, this is a severe upgrade as the 787-10 features 253 economy seats versus the 787-9 that features 188 economy seats.
Additionally, for any flyer, you’ll be happy to know that the United 787-10s are much newer as a whole compared to the 787-9s. With some wear and tear being reported on certain -9 variants, the 787-10 seems the more comfortable ride over to London.
I’m A Touch Confused
The United Los Angeles-London route has baffled me for quite a while. Originally, United used to fly 2x daily on the 787-9, before downgrading this route to 1x daily, and flying the other 787 over to Hong Kong (they did this schedule change when the second Hong Kong flight was announced). However, on most days of the week, you can easily find plenty of seats available on the solo United flight, so to see adding capacity is a bit odd…
Heck, when I flew this route in October, there were only 2 passengers in premium plus, and 30 passengers in economy…
Additionally, United doesn’t operate many 787-10s out of Los Angeles. During the second quarter of 2025, they seemed to have pulled all transcon routes on the 787-10 and will only operate to London and Tokyo Haneda 1x daily. Usually, aircraft can switch around at airports and fly to a different one to match scheduling, but considering this will be the only 787-10 flying to London (and for the last 2 years to LHR), this means there isn’t much leeway in terms of delays. I’m curious as to why this switch is only for a month though…
Final Thoughts
During the month of April, United Airlines will be flying the 787-10 from Los Angeles to London. It seems that with the Newark-Frankfurt leg being upgraded to a 777-300ER, United has made the decision to reposition a 787-10 over to Los Angeles. Where that 787-9 is going, I have no idea…
The reason I think they are repositioning that specific 787-10 is the last flight into Newark lands from Frankfurt, and then leaves later that evening to LAX. The next day, the 787-10 is scrapped from the transcon and begins service to London…
Comments