I was talking to someone from one of these lucky airports recently and he told me that there are 10 cities in the United Airlines system that have nonstop service to each of United’s 8 hubs. As a reminder, those hubs are San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Houston/Intercontinental, Chicago, Cleveland, Washington/Dulles, and Newark. Can you name them all? These don’t have to have year-round nonstops to all hubs – seasonal service counts. For comparison, I missed three.
48 comments on “Topic of the Week: Which 10 Cities Have Service to Every United Hub?”
My guess bos, cun, las, msy, mco, phx, Phl, sea, dfw, and pit
yeah…PIT surprised me.
The PIT-LAX and SFO flights are only once daily, and they were ‘taken over’ from US Airways when US dropped them about 2 years ago.
Michael nailed it – that was quick.
Doesn’t YYZ have service to all of the hubs?
Arcanum – Not LAX. That’s all Air Canada.
LHR used to have 7/8 – shame about dropping DEN.
I think I can probably live my whole life without visiting Cleveland, however…..
Don’t knock it until you try it: Among other things, there’s very good ethnic food plus the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Short drives away: The Pro Football HOF in Canton to the south and Cedar Point to the west, which is one of the world’s greatest amusement parks and a must-see if you like roller coasters.
Ok, just curious. What kind of ethnic food are we talking here?
Now, Cedar Point…i would love to go, never been, but would love to do it.
All of the usual suspects, including a strong eastern European bent. But you can find Caribbean and African cuisine as well, just as you would in any major city.
http://clevelandethniceats.wordpress.com/
Hmm I actually count 11 (other than hubs themselves).
bos, bwi, cun, dfw, las, mco, msy, phl, phx, pit, sea
BWI doesn’t have service to IAD.
Strangely, it actually used to. 10 years ago, I worked for UAX at IAD, and we flew J32’s up there twice a day. That flight was always swapped out a lot, because if they needed an aircraft you could bus people to BWI quite easily.
Even stranger were the former DCA-BWI flights on US!
There was a mainline flight (I believe on United) in the early 80s between SFO-OAK. Crazy!
The lucky ten!! Obviously, these are comfortable markets for UA to make that kind of investment in each.
Was there an answer given already? Was it the “bos, cun, las, msy, mco, phx, Phl, sea, dfw, and pit” guess?
The limiting hubs would be LAX, SFO, and CLE as UA’s California ops are very West Coast and Asia oriented and CLE is their smallest hub. I would guess SEA, LAS, PHX, DFW, AUS, BOS, MCO, TPA, MIA, & YYZ.
Thankfully I don’t care enough to go crazy trying to figure it out…..LOL
It’s bos, sea, cun, dfw, las, mco, msy, phl, phx, pit
Good challenge. Got 7 on the first attempt, missed CUN, MCO and MSY.
I missed Philly, Cancun, and New Orleans when I tried.
Isn’t Guam (not that I have ever been, or have any reason to go there) also considered a hub? I think Continental used to call it one for the Continental Micronesia Flying.
I’m not sure if Guam (and Narita, for that matter) are still considered hubs or not.
UA considers them hubs. The newest on board video discusses UA’s “10 hubs” and then highlights the importance of SFO to the network. My guess is they’ll do one hub per month on the videos over the next year.
Also according to their magazine, which I kept a copy of from last night’s flight, Narita and Guam are hubs…
It actually still shows the 787 flight from IAH to Aukland, though, so maybe their graphics department hasn’t caught up with their other spin…
I missed CUN, PHL, and MSY.
Are there 11 cities with service to each hub?
BOS, CUN, DFW, LAS, MCO, MSY, PDX, PHL, PHX, PIT, SEA (?)
Rob – Portland does not have service to Cleveland.
What’s the big deal? I would guess ATL, DTW and MSP all have non-stop service to all United hubs via Delta. DFW probably does via American. What matters to me isn’t access to someones hubs, but non-stop access to the places I need to be.
For example I was in DFW and needed to take a business trip to MFE. Sure, I could take United and connect through IAH, but it was far faster to take the direct flight on AA. My time is more valuable than being loyal to an airline and I would guess most corporate travelers are similar.
Lighten up, dude. It was just a freaking trivia question.
I’ve heard that SEA is the only UA non-hub with long-haul international service (the 777 to NRT). Is that correct?
HNL (also to NRT)
My guess
BOS
DFW
JFK
MIA
LAS
ATL
YYZ
DET
PDX
PHL
Demo – Some yes, some no…
JFK – no service to Newark, Cleveland, or O’Hare
Miami – no service to Cleveland, Denver, LA, or SF
Atlanta – no service to LA or SF
Toronto – no service to LA
Detroit – no service to Cleveland, LA, or SF
Portland – no service to Cleveland
Good challenge. For future similar posts, is there some sort of online quiz where we can post (rather than get the spoilers in the comments section)?
Keep ’em coming!
What about Delta with ATL, JFK, LGA, DTW, MSP, CVG, MEM, SLC? Not including Ams or Nrt those would be a bonus?
BNA, BOS, CLT, DCA, DEN, DFW, MCI, MCO, ORD, PHL, STL
SAN does. It has non stops to LAX,SFO,IAD,DEN,ORD,IAH,EWR, and seasonal service to CLE.
* SAN is San Diego, CA
Joey – I don’t see any seasonal service to Cleveland from San Diego. I see United 1073 which goes San Diego – Houston – Cleveland in the winter, but I don’t see any nonstops.
THe list above, but starting in August, RDU, will have flights to every United Hub including SFO
Matt – Not LAX
Since you didn’t differentiate between US hubs and International hubs (GUM, NRT) the correct answer is zero!
GUM is not technically int’l. ;-)
COS used to have service to every hub, but post merger they have more hubs. Missing CLE and EWR.
ABQ use to have flights to every pre-merger UA hub now we are misses CLE and EWR but 6 for 8 is not bad as you would think I can get to any of the six hubs and get where I want to go normal with just the one stop
What about MSP?
You forgot Tokyo and Guam