Finishing up our trip with this flight across the Pacific from Christchurch to San Francisco. Back in 2023, United Airlines began service to this New Zealand city from its West Coast fortress hub, operated during the Northern Winter season with the 787-8 Dreamliner. However, the first flight was operated with a 787-9 and the type has been used on the route intermittently when a -8 isn’t available.
Server: Solo
Airline: United Airlines
Aircraft: Boeing 787-9 (Evo Blue)
Origin: Christchurch Airport, Harewood, New Zealand (CHC)
Destination: San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California (SFO)
Flight Number: UA731
Route: NZCH-KSFO
Seat: 7A (Polaris)
Time En Route: 12 Hours 48 Minutes
Gearing ready to board at Gate 34 shortly after lunch. While United’s 787-8s are a more common sight on the South Island, the much more numerous 787-9 is occasionally sent down here when its shorter stablemate isn’t available.
Taxiing by the International Terminal on the way to the runway. We’re in a familiar setting for our flight, in one of United Airlines’s Polaris seats in business class.
Heavy takeoff out of Harewood. We’re estimated at roughly 12 hours and 50 minutes of flying eastward, which is towards the limits of the 787-8’s useful range without payload restrictions, but well within the capabilities of the 787-9.
Climbing along the mountains of the South Island that run roughly down the center. One can easily see why New Zealand is increasing in popularity as a tourist destination from the U.S. It’s a glorious day to travel!
We’ve leveled off over Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. As the General Electric GEnx-1Bs throttle back to cruise thrust, we’re also settling back for a relaxing journey across the Pacific.
Dinner is served somewhere southwest of Rarotonga, in the Cook Islands. We’ve ordered our traditional Colorado flat iron steak, which is cooked to perfection this time. As the Sun sets pretty late at this time of the year at this latitude, we still have a fair deal more daylight ahead of us before it’s time to get some sleep.
On the other side of the Pacific in our final descent before dawn. San Carlos Airport is off to our left. We’re somewhat envious of people who live around here, as they get the transatlantic and transpacific heavies passing by, or in the case of Palo Alto, turning onto final directly overhead.
Arriving at SFO on Runway 28L. The airport is just starting to wake up as we land, with the morning flights to the East Coast beginning to push back and taxi.
Taxiing to the G Pier past a lineup of Star Alliance member widebodies. We’re the first of several United flights from below the Equator to arrive in San Francisco this morning, with flights from Auckland, Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Papeete coming in after us.
Deplaned at Gate G7. It’s been a fun time traveling through Southeast and South Asia, along with Oceania, but now it’s time to get some much-needed rest and sleep off this jet lag. However, we’ll definitely be heading across the Pacific again soon enough.