United Airlines has announced that it will begin operating all of its transcontinental flights between the Northeast and West Coast with more fuel-efficient Boeing 737 aircraft starting next month amid a dramatic decline in demand due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
"Due to the significant drop in premium demand, beginning May 4, we will operate more efficient Boeing 737 aircraft on transcontinental routes between New York/Newark and Los Angeles and San Francisco and between San Francisco and Boston which were previously operated with Boeing 757 aircraft. We will continue monitoring and reviewing demand and adjust our schedule as necessary," the airline confirmed.
The change means that travelers won't have access to United's lie-flat business-class seats, at least temporarily. Instead, first-class flyers will have to settle for the 737's recliner seats.
As The Points Guy reports, these seats are still being sold as business class at the same price, which could turn some customers onto economy class as flights are taking off near empty as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
United also announced it will begin introducing new steps in accordance with social distancing guidelines on all flights.
"Beginning late April, we are implementing additional steps to promote social distancing on all United and United Express flights by making some temporary changes to seat assignments and adjustments to our boarding process," the carrier said Wednesday. "We expect to keep these measures in place through May 31 and will continue to evaluate how best to proceed given the fluidity of the current situation."
The changes include limiting seat selections in all cabins, boarding fewer customers at a time, spacing out customers to minimize crowding in the gate area and on the jet bridge and processing complimentary premier upgrades in priority order at the gate ahead of departure.
United recently reported a $2.1 billion loss for the first quarter of 2020 announced its issuing more than 39 million new shares of common stock with the goal of raising $1 billion to mitigate the financial impact of COVID-19.
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