United's Boeing 787-9 gets inflight Internet for Melbourne-LAX
By David Flynn, October 3 2014
United Airlines will flick the inflight Internet switch on its new Boeing 787-9 service between Melbourne and Los Angles when Dreamliner flights begin on October 28.
The Boeing 787-9 – the first of 26 due for United’s fleet – comes factory-fitted with satellite Internet, although a United Airlines spokesperson was unable to advise how much travellers will have to pay.
United has been steadily rolling out inflight Internet across its fleet but it’s rarely if ever seen on the airline’s Sydney and Melbourne services, with United estimating that less than one in ten of the Boeing 777s as used on those routes being upgraded to date.
By comparison, all newly-delivered Boeing 787-8 and -9 aircraft will be kitted out for inflight Internet to tap into both satellite and US ground-based Internet feeds.
But this blast of sky-high surfing won’t last for long, with United downgrading several Melbourne-Los Angeles flights to a smaller Boeing 787-8 from October 29 – the day after the direct route kicks off with the Boeing 787-9’s debut – through to November 16.
As first reported by Fairfax Media, United will run the 787-8 on three out of the route’s six days. The -8 will fly Los Angeles-Melbourne on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, and Melbourne-Los Angeles on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
The use of the smaller and shorter-range Boeing 787-8 on those days means that United will be unable to sell what the airline describes as a “small number of seats” on the US-Australia leg.
Also read: United Airlines – why Melbourne got our first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
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David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
Thai Airways International - Royal Orchid Plus
16 May 2011
Total posts 111
This part did not make sense, seemed contradictory?
"But this blast of sky-high surfing won’t last for long, with United downgrading several Melbourne-Los Angeles flights to a smaller Boeing 787-8 from October 29 – the day after the direct route kicks off with theBoeing 787-9’s debut – through to November 16."'
earlier your said...
"By comparison, all newly-delivered Boeing 787-8 and -9 aircraft will be kitted out for inflight Internet to tap into both satellite and US ground-based Internet feeds."
According to what you said above, both the 787-8 and 787-9 will have the wifi service, which would mean all the flights, regardless if some flights are 'downgraded' to 787-8?
American Airlines - AAdvantage
30 Sep 2014
Total posts 5
It mentions in the article that all new 787-8s and 787-9s will be delivered with wifi equipped. That only leaves a few 787-8s with wifi, compared with the amount that haven't got it. I also suspect that UA is putting 788s on this route after the inaugural because of a lack of aircraft to run the route
24 Oct 2010
Total posts 2563
United's current 787-8s - those already delivered – do not have inflight Internet, and those will be the ones used on LAX-MEL in the short term. However, from this point on, all newly-delivered 787-8 and -9 will have inflight Internet.
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