United is going to expand its Houston Intercontinental to London Heathrow route to 3 times a day.
The new combined timetable looks something like this:
Houston IAH to London LHR UA920 DEPART IAH 15:40 ARRIVE LHR 06:50+1 UA984 DEPART IAH 18:30 ARRIVE LHR 09:40+1 UA970 DEPART IAH 20:30 ARRIVE LHR 12:05+1 London LHR to Houston IAH UA921 DEPART LHR 09:30 ARRIVE IAH 13:55 UA985 DEPART LHR 11:40 ARRIVE IAH 16:15 UA971 DEPART LHR 13:35 ARRIVE IAH 18:10 Booked Equipment: Boeing 767-300 Commences: 31st March 2013 - Minor variations over Easter.
From the seatmaps, these services will be operated by United’s Boeing 767-300ER aircraft (which are aren’t that bad – escpecilly if you’re in United BusinessFirst).
They will feature:
- 6 United Global First Seats
- 26 United BusinessFirst Seats
- 71 Economy Plus Seats
- 80 Economy Seats
You can see my views on the United BusinessFirst, United Economy Plus and United Economy Seats
aboard United Airlines Boeing 767’s.
Its another useful connection for those who need to head over to Houston and beyond, with reasonably timed flights and flight times, allowing for reasonable connections at Houston.
This one is interesting.
The 772s currently on this route have the pmCO configuration meaning that they have 100 BF seats per day. Now, with the pmUA 763 they will have 78 BF seats per day but also offer 18 GF seats. So as a result you have 4 less premium seats and less chances to upgrade to BF.
It’s also worth noting that the 763 has more E+ seats than the 772 so you’re actually going from 126 to 213 per day!
This is not so good for Economy customers as those 763s are old and do not have power at the seats, nor AVOD. I’m going to miss those 777s. I wonder where that 777 fleet is going?
Just had the unpleasant experience of flying the 11:40am London / Houston route. First and Business look wonderful and look like they have been refitted very recently. E+ and E on the other hand is awful. Tiny barely viewable headrest screens, no ondemand, no power in the seats – it all looks very tired and old. It’s like going back in time. I’ve been flying this route for 12+ years and the service is the worst it has ever been. The crew were actually really good though.
I’ve also had the recent displeasure of flying this route on these planes – very disappointing compared to the 777’s and I was in Business. Anyone who thinks Business in these sh*t heaps is as good as the 777’s is sorely mistaken !!!
I too have flown the IAH to LHR route for over two years monthly and with the recent changes in equipment I have decided to take my business elsewhere. I believe that 10 to 12 hours in an older 763 gets you to London feeling a bit more “beat up”. No question it’s a downgrade (for us E and E+ folks) for the same or slightly higher price! Use these older planes for shorter routes where long term comfort is less of an issue and bring back updated ones for the longer 10 to 12 hour routes!