United’s Marathon 737 Journey Will Have You Begging to Get Off [Roundup]

by Gary Leff

News and notes from around the interweb:

  • I do not wish this on anyone.

  • U.S. Immigration Preclearance Partially Suspended In Abu Dhabi. Maybe with Etihad’s planned expansion this will return to full operation though as someone with Global Entry I always prefer to clear immigration in the United States rather than show up early at the departure airport.

    Currently, the CBP pre-clearance is available for the following Etihad flights to the US: EY 003 (New York JFK) EY 005 (Washington D.C. IAD) EY 009 (Chicago ORD)

    Check-in opens 6 hours before departure and closes 2 hours before the flight at Terminal A. After clearing immigration, head to Gate F 2 hours before departure and take the bus to the CBP facility. The gate closes 75 minutes before takeoff.

    …For a limited time, the following Etihad flights will not offer pre-clearance in Abu Dhabi:
    EY 001 (New York JFK) EY 007 (Boston BOS). Passengers on these flights will need to clear US immigration and customs upon arrival in the US. Check-in for these flights closes 1 hour before departure for Economy Class and 45 minutes before for Business and First Class at Terminal A.

  • Your bets in prediction markets now earn interest

  • Chase Ink 10th cardmember anniversary gift (HT: Leonard).

  • Those outside the box new United routes get partially funded by Heathrow service cuts:

  • Who among us hasn’t been there?

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should. Unless you want bragging rights.

    And at least the corn was left on the cob rather than in the toilet…

  3. Flying from Lisbon to LAX on United is crazy when there are better options. There are better options than United out of LAX to Ulaanbaatar, too. My back aches just thinking of doing this route on a B737.

  4. Flew the Island Hopper from Guam to Honolulu in February of 2020. Because Covid was just getting started, all passengers were not allowed to get off the plane at any of the stops, unless it was your final destination. With some delays and five stops this made for a very long day.

    At Majuro, the cabin had to be inspected by security before leaving for Honolulu. They security people moved all the onboard passengers to the rear of the plane, inspected the front, and then did the reverse to inspect the rear.

    In all it was over 15 hours in a 737 without getting off even once. I would do it again in a heartbeat, but I don’t think my wife would sign up for that experience again. We were in the extra legroom economy seats for all legs. The plane was about 2/3 full except for the final leg from Majuro to Honolulu were it was 100% full.

  5. People take the Island Hopper just for the experience. I believe it is the only flight which carries its own mechanic as there are no facilities in any of the islands until Guam.

  6. You can actually go a little farther than the example shows. UAL service from EWR to Madeira is on a 737 too and it’s farther east than PDL.

  7. I’m seriously considering this as part of my around the world adventure!! EWR to UBN, then on MIAT to Frankfurt. FRA to PDL and PDL back to EWR!!!!

  8. I wonder what United is doing with their Heathrow slots? They’re far too valuable to just give up.

Comments are closed.