United makes some changes that you'll actually like!

Coins,
You said, in your opening, there doesn't seem to be a catch. Well, that's because they leaked the bad news prior to this. The 'catch' was upfront. Personally, I think UA is full of $h it. They have to upgrade their fleet to stay competitive. Who are they kidding??
I'm getting dizzy from their spin.

If they put real E+ into P.S, I'm interested. Truth be told, I wish they'd add 319/320's to P.S. routes. Then, we'd have 'real' E+, and there would be no reason to use miles or a CR1 to upgrade to biz class.

It's funny you mention that E+ is a huge step up from the current PS setup since that's what it was supposed to be already, but I agree with you.

I also agree that they should really invest in entertainment, I used to fly a lot with AC but now I moved to SF so I fly UA/CO exclusively. Last Christmas I was doing YUL-LAS with AC again and I was just flabbergasted by the quality of their coach product in comparison to UA's. More pitch, pleasant crew, good food and entertainment on demand, yeah!

Now I'm looking at my SFO-LHR trip on UA's 744 in November and I'm filled with sadness... even in E+ that's going to be a long 10h.

You're being far too generous on the p.s. changes. Not only are upgrades going to be impossible, it'll be that much more difficult to get a revenue seat to connect to internatonal itineraries. Not to mention award space going to the west coast to connection to Australia/NZ. Major, major thumbs down to getting rid of p.s. First.

The re-configured UA 767-322ERs will be replacing all of the CO 762s. The UA 763s will also get winglets and be uprated for ETOPS.

The CO 762s are old and (more importantly) too expensive to fly for the number of seats on-board. CO has reportedly already retired one of their 767-200s.

So I expect the reconfigured 2-cabin ETOPS 763s to appear on flights in/around GUM, and also flights in/around HNL.

@ Anonymous Coward: actually the CO 762s are new builds from the early 2000s. They feature PTVs in every seat and Boeing Signature (777) Interior

I hope the new United does not decide to use these planes exclusively for flying to Hawaii and then prohibit UDUs or CR1s from being valid on them. This would be another dangling the carrot and wacking the customer back with a stick.

I still have hope that the rumoured MP changes were leaked to test the waters, and I give lucky credit for his blog being a great source of potential opposition to these changes, so they hopefully do not in fact occur.

The wi-fi streaming option actually seems like a great option for the planes that don't have in-seat IFE (747 anyone?). This seems to be a novel feature. Any other instances of this in the industry?

767's moving from domestic to int'l configs seems like a good thing on the surface, but I'm nervous this might really mean a net reduction in the number of widebodies serving domestic routes, and an increase in CO-style RJ's as an offset (752s replace the 767s, A320s the 757s, etc, with RJ's pluggin the gap in the end).

Bigger bins sound good, assuming they will extend further into the aisle and not further down into my headroom.

But worst of all- why do I get the feeling this announcement is timed in an attempt to soften the blow of the coming MP changes?

Would this mean the United 767 going to HI from SFO would have Intl first seats in May '12????

@ Billy -- Only time will tell, though I suspect United will be taking the flat bed 767s off the Hawaii routes and putting them on international routes instead, while keeping domestic 777s and 757s for Hawaii flying.

@lucky - Thanks! Not exactly what I want to hear. Currently LAX/SFO - OGG they are showing 767-300 and a 757-200 in May 2012. I can take a CO 767 on the way back via DEN.. Might take the chance on the way there as there is no option via Houston to Honolulu than onto OGG.:(

@jsgoldbe I agree it's a novel idea, and can't think of anyone else doing it, but what use will it be when batteries all die a few hours into the 10+ hour flight? Without in seat power, in economy class, this "enhancement" is not that useful in my opinion.

Mark

On another track, here and there, I wonder if we'll see SFO-BOS p.s. added. I'm thinking of it because there have been several recent instances, that I know of, of UA changing out a 757 to a 757 p.s., SFO-BOS, reported in FlyerTalk. Could be just a coincidence, as the change-out has occurred at scrimmage, so there's no testing the market appeal. Just a thought.