United Airlines already serves (by far) the most destinations in Asia of any airline in the United States. The carrier has now revealed yet another new route to Asia, which is exciting.
Continue reading: So Cool: United Airlines Adds Flights To Sapporo, Japan, For The Winter Season!
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
really cool route for United to start. I'll be curious to see how it does.
On other sites, a lot of delta fans were speculating about a DL LAX-CTS route and I never really saw how that would work given the weakness of Delta on each dot, but the NH/UA JV is an obvious place to start service to CTS from the US.
Very excited for the award rates to show. Based on trends I’ll be shocked if one way J is any less than 200k.
Since Ben is convinced how cool yet another route to Asia is on UA (or any international route), perhaps he can explain why DL managed to make $300 million in 2025 flying the Pacific even though UA had a much larger TPAC system but only made $505 million.
And Ben can also explain how UA's larger international system benefitted them given that UA only made $1.4 billion in 2025 international profits while DL made DL made over $2.0 billion.
In fact, there is nothing cool about copying your alliance partner's strategies so that they don't show you up but that is the only reason why UA had to add service to CTS.
With $4/gal jet fuel certain throughout the winter, it is doubtful that UA will make money on much of their TPAC system during the dead of winter while flying half of their routes on gas-guzzling 777s.
a 788 on what should be a hub to hub route?
UA still doesn't hold a candle to the amount of Tokyo service that DL has from the Midwest on its own metal.
and not just Tokyo but ICN and PVG.
let's be sure and note how much capacity NH flies and UA just puts its code on.
(it really isn't a great idea to talk about UA's size (or lack thereof) to Asia from anyplace other than SFO
Delta serves Tokyo from
Their hubs in Minneapolis and Detroit, united from its hubs in Chicago and Denver. Denver covers much of the same traffic that Minneapolis does. Again, get a life.
Hokkaido in winter requires pax bring Eskimo coats and boots . The stupid pax will attempt to bring all clothing in a small carry-on .
Indeed. This is cool. Cold even! Especially during winter. Hokkaido has some of the best seafood in the world, so I’d imagine the cargo alone will make this a profitable route.
Yeah, 200K seems to be the new average for J long-haul one-way per person. That said, if the cash-price is $5-10K, it’s still 2-5x value, so…
Still way better than Delta SkyPesos, basically!
@ Tim Dunn -- I hate to break it to you, but most people decide which routes are "cool" based on them being to destinations they want to visit, rather than based on a detailed analysis of the profitability of routes.
Like, if someone plans a weekend getaway to Aspen, they're thinking "cool, there's a nonstop flight from X," not "I wonder what the RASM is on this flight. Never mind, I don't want to fly it, it's not as profitable as Delta, how uncool."
Tim
it truly is amazing how much of a loser you are. It's a new route and it's a cool route. No one forgets how you said 2-3 years ago how Delta would be commanding the Pacific by now or that we should be waiting for an enormous Pacific growth plan -- instead, we're seeing them shift flights from SEA and realizing they'll once again be #2 or #3 in LAX within 2-3 years.
Just chill out. It's a cool route and how is UA copying NH Here? Have you lost your marbles more than usual?
Try. At least TRY to be coherent.
Ben really needs to do something about Dim Tunn, and his disturbing fixation on all things Delta. He's here today, sparking flame wars and ruining the experience for nothing but his own sick gratification.
He's under every single post, spewing his gibberish about how flawless Delta is. Even on the articles that don't mention Delta a single time - he's here, trashing any airline that's not named Delta. The guy's a mental case.
And Tim, since you're reading: Seek professional help. If Delta were an actress, you'd already be planning to shoot a politician to impress her. You have a genuine sickness, and a pathological obsession that may pose a danger to others someday.
😉
In fairness to our resident Delta nut job, I was referencing posters on a website where Timmy is banned from posting 😉
What is wrong with you?
Ben thinks it’s cool because he admires United’s route network (and has for a long time). You respond by demanding profitability explanations from him. What does one thing have to do with another?
@ Tim Dunn -- Also, since you keep making these profitability claims, could you please share how you think Delta's profits in 2025 broke down between domestic, international, SkyMiles, etc.? So 40% of Delta's overall profits came from international, and what percent came from domestic and SkyMiles?
Also, do you think Delta's LAX-HKG route will be profitable with $4 per gallon jet fuel? Is that why there are SkyMiles award sales in Delta One, showing massive pricing discounts?
Delta's never going to love you back, Tim.
Why haven't you started your own Delta-stalk blog yet? Lord knows you have the free time.
I agree with Tim. DL has the most impressive Asia network! I hope DL continues expanding and launches MNL and SIN, I am thinking 2x daily from one of their west coast hubs. HKG could also work with 4x daily but this time, from two west coast hubs. Separately, I think ordering 60 B787-10s would be cool, I don't think any other airline in the US has it. I can't wait to fly all these routes using Amazon LEO's high-speed WiFi in 2076.
I will book this flight just for the chance to sample United’s kung pao chicken!
Seriously, had anyone ever chosen profitability over convenience when selecting their flight to/from the US and Asia?
Spectrum Boy has a sad because his beloved Georgia Klan Air (which got a record breaking 27th racial EEOC complaint this week, more than the other majors combined) is a distant 3rd to East Asia choosing to dump pax in South Korea and be done with it versus actually serving places people want and need to travel. The over a dozen negative news articles about the sycophants DL these last two weeks, including from hometown AJC really have Spectrum Boy down.
As for ORD-NRT UA will take this route from ANA as it has better U.S. point-of-sale and yields for all on ORD-NRT now are trash. UA can improve on those vs ANA. Smart startegy.
and yet, Ben, you are convinced that private companies exist to humor you - when their objective is to make money.
If UA really didn't care about making money, there are all kinds of routes they could fly nonstop.
I don't expect passengers to make a decision as to whether to buy based on the profit or not of a route.
I do expect someone like you that claims that they understand the airline industry to be able to admit that no amount of "coolness" makes up for a lack of profitability.
UA repeatedly thinks being cool is more important than being profitable.
at what point do you think that UA will be able to continue to subsidize your need for cool at the expense of their employees and stockholders?
and UA loses more bags than any other airline. Your point?
Flying someplace with $4/gal jet fuel because your alliance partner did it first and not wanting to be left behind is not cool... it is deep insecurity that someone else might possibly do something better than you
Nobody says Ben "needs" cool and demands it from United other than you. He's just remarking, in the context of his web site which is all about fun travel, that United has an interesting, distinct route. That's all that's required here.
it comes right off DL's financial statements and DOT data, Ben.
It really isn't that hard to find.
As for LAX-HKG, DL's bet when it announced the route is the same as it is now... if UA will bleed enough to give up on double daily from LAX to HKG.
you really think that UA is going to command price premiums if DL is undercutting them?
Surely you know which loyalty program is worth more - and it sure isn't Mileage Minus.
Even Gary knows THAT
“it is deep insecurity that someone else might possibly do something better than you”
Lol every accusation a confession
Wish we could have routes to Sapporo from the US/Canada year round even if it's 1x/2x a week.
It's a selfish reason, but it would save me a stop and sometimes overnight in Tokyo when I want to go see family. Though the more I think about it, it may just move my overnight from Tokyo to SFO depending on when I can get a positioning flight from the east coast US.
"UA still doesn't hold a candle to the amount of Tokyo service that DL has from the Midwest on its own metal."
>> Congrats on discovering the hub-and-spoke model. You'll be shocked to learn that the US3 have different international gateways — how much TPAC flying does Delta do from DFW or SFO?
"a 788 on what should be a hub to hub route?"
>> UA already flies ORD-HND on the 78X, the NRT service is supplemental. Try to keep up.
@ Tim Dunn -- You're crashing out, buddy, please go out and get some fresh air. I love how now you're defending the amount of capacity Delta has to Asia, while otherwise criticizing how capacity doesn't matter, because it's about profitability.
And wow, kudos to Delta for having all that service to Asia out of the Midwest. May I suggest that you take a look at the local demand for various points in Asia for SFO vs. DTW and MSP. It might be enlightening to you.
you can't figure out that the reason why these routes aren't run in the summer is because there is no chance of them being profitable compared to other alternatives.
The alternative in the winter is to park the plane - which means paying employees for six months for doing nothing.
Routes like this are simply a way to burn aircraft time in the winter.
Cranky covered UA's low TPAC LFs years ago and they have been doing the same thing for years now.
that is why UA makes 40% less per seat mile flying the Pacific than DL.
UA still has the worst baggage handling performance in the industry and it isn't getting any better.
@ Tim Dunn -- Goodness gracious, I love how a post about United launching a cool new route to Sapporo has now devolved into you talking about United's baggage handling performance.
do you guys think when TD does it with his wife in sad missionary, he bemoans the productivity he lost during that 60 second timespan?
Hopefully Alaska starts service to Osaka. If they join the JAL joint venture, they could plausibly add service here and get demand on both sides. Lots of loyalty to JAL in Hokkaido since Hokkaido Air System is part of JAL and is the only carrier to many airports in the area.
Did I mention that UA made just 2/3 of what DL did in international profits in 2025 - which pretty closely lines up with the total profit difference?
IOW, UA has a much larger international route system but makes less per seat mile on its international network than DL and more per seat mile on its domestic system - and yet everyone including UA execs are convinced that UA's advantage is international?
So wait Delta’s plan is to fly LAX-HKG unprofitably to hurt UA who has already launched SGN and BKK to boost loads to HKG (which has been quite successful) but if an airline launches any routes that aren’t profitable then that’s “not cool”. So doesn’t this mean Delta is “not cool” Tim? Make it make sense.
Also do you really think Delta adding one flight a day to HKG is a worry to UA? You do realise there is an entire airline based in Hong Kong is 1. Better and more premium than both Delta and UA and 2. Flies much more capacity between the US and HKG than UA does. DL’s flight is a drop in the ocean. Like it is literally <20% of the city pair capacity but given how much of the traffic is connecting on both ends, DL’s flight will have a tiny impact. I’d also add that HKG is a huge freight hub and this also adds just a tiny % of the freight capacity from the US to HKG. I think your theory on this route is so hypocritical to your argument and also just so incorrect considering the nature of the route. Why is it that your theories always never make sense Tim?
Nobody cares about this perspective on this web site. We are here because we like to travel and like to talk about interesting destinations.
I do hope too. Sapporo area is beautiful year-round (not too hot in summer) and demand from the region to the U.S. is somewhat there. But Tim’s point is also true - there are so many alternative high-revenue destinations in summer. Maybe this is a good start though.
So on this thread the dick-measuring is limited to flying on your own metal.
On the Asiana/KE merger thread, its fine to include JV flying.
Got it.
yes, "you" all expect companies to do everything "you" want but can't understand why employees take 5 years to get raises and why supposedly cool airlines have the worst baggage handling in the industry.
I get exactly what is going on.
YOU are incapable of seeing the big picture and grasping that everything comes at a cost.
If a company doesn't make money or as much as someone else, they can't invest in the product.
No, i understand all that. I'm very aware that there are tradeoffs and resource constraints in everything anybody and any company does. I do not expect companies to do everything I want. Not sure why you keep repeating that line. here, the bigger picture is that United, for whatever reason, has decided to allocate its capacity in a market that shows promise to them during a time of year when people like to go skiing. People think that's a cool decision. Not sure why this is such a hard concept for you to grasp.
Ben's addicted to the clicks. And his ancient comment feature that does not allow user filtering.
Nice, though same thing I wondered with the AC route, is there really enough demand for people to fly across the Pacific just to ski when there are plenty of ski resorts in North America (inc. Vancouver)? Yes, I know the ones in the US are expensive, but still.
Oh, I couldn't care less who flies it. Why limit ourselves to UA and DL in this thought exercise?
Let SQ or QF fly a fifth freedom route from LAX/JFK - CTS - SIN or SYD/MEL and let me off in Sapporo.
I told you why UA does this.
Because they fly too much capacity to be able to use it profitably year round so they have to do stuff like this to not park jets and pay employees not to work in the winter.
I am not sure why it is so hard for you and others to grasp that UA's strategies come at a cost to you as a customer... if one company can make more money, then they invest more in their product.
and the real kicker here is that anyone thinks that UA is being cool when they are just copying their alliance partner.
Spectrum Boy is now comparing racism and discrimination (something 'DL' does excel at) with non sequitur baggage handling, which is now his go-to for all the posts showing non-'DL' airlines doing good things, meanwhile the media is onto the 'DL' fall. The AJC had it right. This triggers Spectrum Boy and his safe space is now baggage handling stats, not reality or facts. That 'DL' loss last quarter must have really hurt then...ouch.
US-Japan largest markets by PDEW which favours UA also:
HNL: 2,238
LAX: 1,928
SFO: 1,073
NYC: 1,039
SEA: 475
ORD: 350
WAS: 269
IAH: 244
LAS: 215
BOS: 210
Im sure most traffic will be for snow, but a lot of people travel up and down Japan. This gives you the option to start in Sapporo and end in Osaka/Tokyo or vice-versa, without having to connect back through HND/NRT. For me, it provides another chance for a biz flight for 68k miles to get to Japan. I would not take the return due to the timing.
I think most customers, unlike Tim Dunn, do not get a hard-on because they fly the most *profitable* airline. This is not how people decide what’s cool or what a good product is. I’d take JL or NH to Japan any day rather than DL…
True, they can invest in things like paying consultants to invent basic economy and devalue the milage program. DiD tHaT cOmE aT a CoSt????
Maybe it’s time for lil’ Timmy to go back in the timeout chair.
you tell us what the cost of everything that DL, UA and every other airline spends money on.
You do realize that these are public companies that report their financial results?
You also realize that there are abundant facts that DL just does a better job of generating revenue - which also means they have a higher bar to start routes?
and DL pays its people more, delivers better service (DL gets a lot less complaints per passenger than AA or UA) and DL customers pay DL more.
Lots of people love to argue that all of the big 3 are the same but actual data says the opposite.
UA is fixated on size esp. in the international arena and does a lot of things that not only cost it profits but also cost customers better service and employees better pay
The route is exciting. It will make for an expensive ski trip though. Even in Economy, a round trip from SFO is $2K in either February or March.
Finding things to do with resources counter cyclically is what every airline does. I appreciate The connectivity and the options United provides. If they were to stop doing that I'd be fine with that too. But honestly this not how people plan their travel, nor should it be. Go get a life.
AC and UA don't duplicate flying days of the week... suddenly, Sapporo will be reachable from the West Coast 6 days out of seven.
Also, in theory, YVR and SFO would channel different connecting traffic.
Who knows about the summer season... Japan is welcoming more and more Canadian tourists. KIX is summer-seasonal out of YVR on AC. It makes sense to explore CTS cautiously...
YVR-BKK was also seasonal in the beginning, then it became a year-long destination.
I bet Cali residents may be interested in exploring Northern Japan not just for skiing, but also as a Winter getaway. Yen remains weak, and the hotels are still reasonable outside of the mountain resorts
I think it’s great for consumers to have options between: United - great route network, AA - great milage program, and DL - premium, or whatever.
I love how easy it is for Tim to push all y’all’s buttons. If you don’t like free speech, I hear Venezuela is a nice place to live.
Excited to fly this! One nitpick - UA's standard 787-9s have 257 seats, not 251. Thanks for sharing this, Ben!
If I remember correctly, Ben gave good coverage to Delta launching seasonal service to Catania, Olbia, Valetta, and Porto in the last few years.
It would be interesting to see how well those routes have performed, and load factors ahead for the summer months?
Anytime a new route is launched is should garner some headlines, but Los Angeles - Hong Kong just doesn't seem to cut it...
United launches a cool new route….
Tim Dunn: “Here’s some DOT data on their “poor” baggage performance.”
He is oblivious that he’s the laughing stock of travel blogs.
@Tim Dunn, what everyone here is trying to tell you politely is who the effing cares. None of us care why the f UA decided to introduce this route. It simply is an interesting route and those of us who can afford the tickets, fits in our schedule, and fill like going there on UA, will go there, else we won't.
This is not rocket science. As a paying customer, I don't give a rat's ass, why an airline has a particular route but its competitor has same or different route. I don't care, whether airline I am flying on makes money by flying me/selling me miles/signing me up for its credit card.
I've been (somewhat jokingly) hoping for a Sapporo service for years, so it's cool to see them actually add it! Would have liked to see it out of DEN but that was definitely wishful thinking.
Dude, use your brain and think for a minute.
This site runs (in part) on ad revenue.
Ad revenue requires view and click-throughs.
A person who predictably comes to the forums, and pepper-sprays it with content that reliably provokes others to respond, is a GOLDMINE for views and click-throughs.
And you can't figure out why Ben is reluctant to do anything lasting, to him?
Hell, Ben routinely goads him into posting, lol.
There's zero market for a route like this in summer.
Even other Asian airlines (except Korean and Greater Chinese short-haul) only fly there in the winter.
IINM, Thailand is the only other country with yearround mainline links to Hokkaido. Everything else (Singapore, Philippines, Canada, Australia, etc) are winter seasonal.
Tim, as we've covered before, when you talk about how much an airline makes per seat mile, it makes it look like you don't understand how airline economics work.
It's the same when you talk about how profits are allocated by region.
1 - Airline profits are measured by yields. Period. UA and DL had almost identical yields in Q1, in spite of the billions of extra dollars made in DL credit card revenue. Multiple pieces have shown UA is more profitable in terms of airline operations. It also explains why DL is shrinking in NYC while UA grows.
2 - There is no single way to break out earnings by region. Each airline does it differently. They can measure how much a region has gone up down, but comparing one airline to another doesn't work.
You know this, and we know you know this. Please do better.
Hokkaido food is excellent, especially crab and soup dishes, very warming in winter.
DEN can barely sustain its Narita flight, and you think they’re going to launch CTS?
His "wife" is his Ed Bastian waifu pillow, and sixty seconds would be a marathon for him.
Oh no... bye-bye reasonably-priced, reasonably-crowded ski resorts. Hello American crowds and inflation! 🙂
Great. Just at the same time as Hyatt devalues. More Americans in Nisekko.... it's already like basically visiting SF. Sorry, I'd avoid and ski elsewhere.
the real question remains unanswered.
How is it cool if UA copies a route their alliance partner AC starts?
and since UA FAs subsidized UA's routes for more than 5 years, who is subsidizing UA's loss-making routes now?
well, no, Mark.
you desperately want to believe that revenue only includes passenger and cargo revenue - because that is all that UA is capable of generating.
UA's operating margin which includes ALL revenue including credit card and MRO revenue trails DL's.
UA uses the same business model as DL except UA doesn't get near as good of a credit card deal because international revenue is much less important to credit card partners than domestic revenue.
You realize that UA also tried to buy a refinery but failed - so, of course, we should exclude the profits that will fuel DL's bottom line because UA wasn't able to make a deal work, right?
Tell your buds that UA's reports to the DOT are fake. They provide the data to the DOT.
The sad thing is that you don't recognize that UA reports profits between domestic and int'l that are very much in line by percentage with what it reports on its bottom line.
UA has long focused on size vs. revenue or profit quality.
This new route to CTS as well as the weak addition of ORD-NRT is about adding more poor quality routes in order to keep the oversized UA network going.
a leisure route that burns $4/gal jet fuel while continuing to fly gas guzzling 777s makes zero financial sense.
As if the plague of Australians polluting Japanese ski resorts wasn't enough. Sigh... I really miss the 90s.
Tim, respectfully you've turned UA earning 68% more absolute profit into evidence of inferiority by dividing it over a larger network. That feels like arithmetic arranged to reach a conclusion, not analysis imo.
And Delta's overall profitability edge as you know mainly lies in the 8.2 billion from AMEX and refinery for today. Strip out the credit card deal and the refinery, and you're comparing two airlines that fly similarly. Delta's advantage is a contract with Amex, not superior route strategy at this moment in time which makes the passion for critiquing UA's network choices somewhat beside the point. DL is profitable at a larger level because Ed negotiated well for the deal with AMEX.
UA just overhauled its Chase partnership through 2029. The loyalty economics gap you keep treating as permanent is actively closing. Critiquing UA's Pacific network while that gap narrows on the balance sheet seems like increasingly thin ground to stand on.
Take care and safe travels.
