First flight to the Land Down Under in a while and did it out of United’s main transpacific hub at San Francisco International Airport. United flies to Sydney from 2 other airports in the United States, these being Los Angeles year-round and Houston during the northern winter season. Service to SYD has seen a variety of aircraft types, including the 747, 777, and 787. Currently, only SFO-SYD is operated by an aircraft other than a 787-9 due to high pax loads. Besides Sydney, United flies to two other Australian cities from San Francisco, Brisbane and Melbourne. These are operated by the 787-9 during the northern summer and upgauged to the 777 in the winter (SFO-MEL to a 777-300ER and SFO-BNE to a 777-200ER).
The aircraft operating this flight is a Boeing 777-300ER which along with the 787-9 makes up the lion’s share of United’s long-haul operations in San Francisco. Currently, the following cities see service from SFO with the largest member of the 777 family: Sydney, Taipei, Shanghai, Tokyo (Narita and Haneda), Frankfurt, Honolulu, Hong Kong, Newark, and Manila. These jets have the second-highest capacity in United’s fleet at 350 seats, trailing the high-density 777-200s with 364 seats. But that’s enough background information, let’s get to the flight!
Server: Solo
Airline: United Airlines
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Origin: San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California (SFO)
Destination: Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport, Sydney, Australia (SYD)
Flight Number: UA863
Route: KSFO-YSSY
Seat: 11L (Polaris)
Time En Route: 14 Hours 49 Minutes
Boarding at Gate G9
Getting ready to taxi
“United 863 Heavy, cleared to FL340, switch to departure, monitor guard, have a nice night”
Leveling off at our initial cruising altitude of 34,000 feet, before climbing to FL360
Sunrise over New Caledonia
Cabin crew making their final sweep through the cabin as we approach the coastline of New South Wales
Passing the canoeing and rowing venue from the 2000 Olympic Games on our descent
“United 863 Heavy, g’day and welcome to Sydney!”
Getting off the jet at Gate 60