United will not discontinue Washington-Brussels route...

flyexel · Post by **flyexel** » 12 Apr 2005, 14:15

Hi all,

Apparently UA is reorganising their european network and it looks like they are very much like to drop the brussels service out of washington.Belgian ticketing office should already be aware of this change?! Could anyone give some more information....

[title changed by admin sn26567 to reflect the actual situation]

JetB · Post by **JetB** » 12 Apr 2005, 14:40

Strange !.

I know a full AC doesn't equal a big profit, but United's Brussels - Washington route seems to do good !.

Post by **sn26567** » 12 Apr 2005, 14:45

JetB wrote:United's Brussels - Washington route seems to do good !.

...especially after Sabena abandoned the route, which meant no competition anymore.

Maybe US Air (which codeshares the flight) might take over...

Post by **Bruspotter** » 12 Apr 2005, 15:08

Hello

My guess; Would be studpid!!!

Really!!! Imagine!!! Like already said...no competition...can't believe it is a THAT bad route. It's the capital of the US...it MUST be connected with the CAPITAL of the EU!!!

Would be really stupid if not so....

By the way...were will UA stop than instead of Washington? Because if what I think , and what I've heard too is right...UA needs to stop there to fuel for the rest of the flight to SFO???

So in that case it would be REALLY STUPID to drop the route , even if it was just a refueling point....

So if that's true , than were will it refuel next...Denver....ORD....??? Looks even more stupid....is a bad route for sure...at least for Belgian travellers...they kind a like the traditional destinations to my guess...if you see the destination board....

We'll see...would be really strange...on the other hand I would be very glad that US airways or another airline would do that route...a heavy more

Best regards: Yannick

JetB · Post by **JetB** » 12 Apr 2005, 15:28

So many Africans fly United, don't ask me why ? especially since they arrive on a SN Brussels Airlines flight !. You would think they fly AA, that is SN's code share partner, but they don't !.

Also the Asian community seems to prefer United, guess because the big Asian community in and around San Fransisco.

I also noticed that high government officials, the rich and the famous like flying United, is that because its the only airline with a first class ?.

Sometimes I spot the price on a ticket, and you would think that this route would be extremely profitable with passengers paying $9.000 for a first class ticket !!!.

SE210 · Post by **SE210** » 12 Apr 2005, 15:28

AFAIK UA has no intention whatsoever to discontinue the BRU-IAD service.
Planes are full of high yield pax ( UA offers the only non-stop service between the capital of Europe and the US capital )
UA is also very much in demand by Belgian and US based business travellers for their unsurpassed punctuality and client-orientated service.
Flyexel's post isn't based on anything solid : "Apparently ... it looks like they are very much like to ... should be aware... "
Please let's keep this forum free from unfounded and silly rumours.

JetB · Post by **JetB** » 12 Apr 2005, 15:31

Welcome SE210, I totaly agree......

Question, do you work in the industry ?

themole · Post by **themole** » 12 Apr 2005, 15:48

I just got back from a 2 weeks business trip "down under", and it's unbelievable to see the amount of nonsense that has been written on these forums in the meantime.

United Airlines has absolutely no plans to abandon Brussels.

SE210 · Post by **SE210** » 12 Apr 2005, 16:06

Hi JetB !
Used to work in the industry (for about 30 years) but more than ever very much interested in the global civil air transport scene.
Still have my contacts though.

Flying-Belgian · Post by **Flying-Belgian** » 12 Apr 2005, 16:11

themole wrote:I just got back from a 2 weeks business trip "down under", and it's unbelievable to see the amount of nonsense that has been written on these forums in the meantime.

United Airlines has absolutely no plans to abandon Brussels.

Indeed.
UA won't drop BRU. Sabena was an harsh competitor back in 2000, but since then, IAD-BRU is a very good route for UA.
1/ IAD is one of the U.S gateway of Star Alliance.
2/ Shape and NATO market. Many Military use the route to join the Pentagon HQ in Virginia.
3/ Businnes and lobbying pax who need to reach the European capital.

FB.

B737229 · Post by **B737229** » 12 Apr 2005, 16:13

themole wrote:..., and it's unbelievable to see the amount of nonsense that has been written on these forums in the meantime.

Fully Agree...

Post by **sn26567** » 12 Apr 2005, 17:36

themole wrote:it's unbelievable to see the amount of nonsense that has been written on these forums in the meantime.

Please give us other examples so that we can take corrective action.

SicilianFalcon · Post by **SicilianFalcon** » 12 Apr 2005, 18:15

Id expect Ua to drop brussels and every other route when they finally go bankrupt, Rated as the 4th largest carrier in Usa after being passed by Delta now. Not looking good is it

Surely expected after all these years.

Knight255 · Post by **Knight255** » 12 Apr 2005, 19:06

Rated as the 4th largest carrier in Usa after being passed by Delta now.

Source for that?? If it's true, wow!! I didn't realize that their situation was getting that bad. 8O

SN30952 · Post by **SN30952** » 12 Apr 2005, 19:13

JetB wrote:Sometimes I spot the price on a ticket, and you would think that this route would be extremely profitable with passengers paying $9.000 for a first class ticket !!!.

Almost everybody, almost..., JetB, knows that the face value of a coupon (ticket) rarely reflects the true value.
And btw, with these frequent flyers schemes, no ticket reflects the true value*.

sn26567 wrote:Please give us other examples so that we can take corrective action*.

*It looks like we are in oxymoron high season here at Luchtzak.

themole · Post by **themole** » 13 Apr 2005, 13:06

sn26567 wrote:Please give us other examples so that we can take corrective action.

The list of sensible posts would be a lot shorter than the endless list of non-sensible posts. Besides, hoaxes or false rumours should not be corrected, they should be ignored.

Badabing · Post by **Badabing** » 13 Apr 2005, 18:02

Knight255 wrote:
Rated as the 4th largest carrier in Usa after being passed by Delta now.
Source for that?? If it's true, wow!! I didn't realize that their situation was getting that bad. 8O

Once more :
- a high loadfactor is not an indication of profit
- a large fleet is not an indication of profit
- anything relating with (having) being the biggest, tallest, longest or prettiest is commercial nonsense. If you're not at the top of the food chain (read : profitable) in today's shark pool, you're just food for the others.
Though it takes guts to cut routes with a good load factor from your timetable when the yield is bad and shows no improvement, that is the only correct way to avoid what happened to SN and to many others.

But in this case, there is NO indication whatsoever about UAL cutting BRU from their timetable.

SicilianFalcon · Post by **SicilianFalcon** » 13 Apr 2005, 19:52

Trying to find the source I read it from for you but failing at the moment.

On the other hand

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-u ... &cset=true

Does this spell the end for United?

Id assume if it goes through UA go bye bye.

Knight255 · Post by **Knight255** » 14 Apr 2005, 03:54

How can you not have a profit for a certain flight with your load factor above a break-even level?? Were you referring to the overall load factor of the airline?? Well if UA goes the way of the dodo, that leaves more room for my favorite at ORD!!!

nwa757 · Post by **nwa757** » 14 Apr 2005, 06:54

SicilianFalcon wrote:Rated as the 4th largest carrier in Usa after being passed by Delta now.

If Delta passed United, then United would be the USA's 3rd largest carrier.

...Unless Northwest passed them up too.