Check out all that space in economy class on a big, wide United 767 (Photo: United)
Are the golden days of flying domestically on spacious widebody, twin-aisle aircraft gone? Not necessarily, if you know where to look.
All four major US international airlines — American, Delta, United and US Airways — still operate a handful domestic widebody flights. These big birds are either providing a lot of seats on high-demand routes, positioning planes from hub to hub, offering premium products on valuable flights, or adding temporary capacity for special events. Sometimes widebodies are deployed for short periods of time, like Air Canada’s positioning of a Boeing 767-300ER on SFO-Toronto for four months this winter. Hawaiian Airlines flies only widebodies from the mainland to Hawaii.
Whatever the reason, it’s a bonus for passengers, since widebodies tend to give you more room (or at least the perception of more room) than single-aisle narrowbodies, no matter where you’re sitting in the plane. And internationally-equipped widebodies often offer more robust on-demand entertainment, power outlets, USB sockets, bigger bins and other bells and whistles.
Delta’s domestic first class section on a non-Business Elite 767-300 (Photo: Delta)
Up front on a widebody, you could find a fully flat bed seat à la international business class to stretch out — usually for no extra fee over domestic first. But not all domestic widebodies offer big new seats up front… notably, US Airways’ 767-200s have older cradle-style sleeper seats, and Delta’s domestic 767-300, coded as 763s, have standard domestic first class seats (see photo).
But how do you find them? Savvy travelers know where they are, but the airlines don’t make it easy when hunting for a flight.
One good tool for finding widebody flights is Routehappy, the half flight search, half data source startup that matches aircraft types to flights and scores them by comfort and amenities. (Disclaimer: an author of this post used to work there.)
We asked Routehappy to show us all the widebody planes jetting around the US on a given day: October 1st, in this case. Here’s what they found. Note that the big birds are on not on every flight, every day– just a chosen few. Also, there are no consistent trends showing that airlines price widebody flights higher than narrowbody flights.
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American Airlines
AA’s domestic widebodies are almost exclusively hub-to-hub.
You’ll find DFW-LAX and Miami-SFO flights using a 767-300ER.
LAX-Miami has a variety of 767-300ERs and 777-200s.
And passengers on Miami-Orlando get a nice, wide 767-300ER for the one-hour ride across the Everglades.
Delta Air Lines
Delta’s 767’s flying between LAX and JFK sport Business Elite seats up front. (Photo: Delta)
(Note: Delta recently stopped allowing Routehappy to display its inventory on the site, which is too bad. But we’ve located a few here anyway…)
Delta is the sole remaining airline to fly 767 widebodies (76w) on its transcontinental flights between New York and LAX and upfront on that route you’ll find its Business Elite seats. There’s also a 767 between JFK and Detroit with Business Elite up front.
You’ll also find Delta 767s (with domestic first class) on flights between Atlanta and Las Vegas, LAX, Orlando, Portland, San Diego, Seattle, SFO, Salt Lake City and Tampa. Atlanta to LAX passengers can also hop on the ultra-long-haul 777-200LR, which positions to LA from its ATL home for the Sydney flight.
Related: American Airlines’ brand new A321 Transcon Trip Report
Hawaiian Airlines unusual front-of-the-plane setup on its A330s has first and premium economy in the same cabin (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
Hawaiian Airlines
Hawaiian Air flies both Airbus A330 and Boeing 767s between the mainland and Hawaii– a standout as several carriers are now sending their single aisle planes down to the islands. Hawaiian’s A330s offer domestic style recliners in first class, as well as premium economy (“Extra Comfort”) seating in the fore cabin of the plane. Note: Hawaiian has single aisle Airbus A321s on order that will eventually replace some widebodies from the west coast.
United Airlines
United is the only airline to fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner within the USA. You’ll frequently find those on flights between Houston and Denver, LAX, and SFO. (The Houston-LAX flights will even get the brand new stretched 787-9 Dreamliner!)
United 767-300ERs jet between Houston and Washington Dulles, Newark and Chicago O’Hare. You can also find them between Newark and Dulles or SFO.
Serendipity intervened last week when TravelSkills editor Chris McGinnis went out to SFO last week expecting to board a United 757 for the four-hour flight to Houston, but ended up in a internationally configured 767 with an upgrade to Business First. 🙂
US Airways
Before US Airways and its rather elderly 767-200 planes disappear — it’s the only US carrier still using the stubby little widebodies — you can find them between Charlotte and Orlando or Philadelphia, and on Orlando-Philadelphia, but less frequently than the other airlines.
What’s your favorite domestic widebody flight? Which ones did we miss in our quick round up? Please leave your comments below!
–John Walton & Chris McGinnis
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For two years in a row I’ve flown Air Canada from Los Angeles to Toronto and back and both times I was on a Boeing 787–9 Dreamliner. I made this choice after flying Spirit from Los Angeles to Detroit (to save a buck) and then rented a car from Detroit to my home town of Woodstock in Ontario. In Spirit’s defense they never claimed to be anything than what they are which is an inexpensive cattle car that happens to fly. After that experience, which was basically a sardine can, I made the permanent decision to fly widebody domestically whenever I could. I pay more for the flight but it’s worth it. The only downside to wide bodies is disembarking. 250-300 people exiting the plane through the same single door is annoying.
I’ve flown United from DEN to SFO twice this year on 777s, and then have an upcoming flight from DEN to LAX on a 787-9, both ways. From what I can see, United flies widebodies from DEN to IAH, SFO, LAX and sometimes ORD, maybe Newark too. All hub-to-hub. But I always look for them for flights out of DEN.
really? That’s unusual. What are the dates?
I found a 777-300ER on SFO-IAD with United. Very nice!
I also flew Western Airlines DC-10 Spaceships from SEA to LAX. Very relaxing and comfortable. One year I booked my Grandparents on a flight to LAX from SEA on the same Pan Am 747 that later went down over Lockerbie. I still try to book a widebody, but it’s getting harder and harder. Plus, I like Amtrak with a sleeper car for long distance travel.
I miss the days where widebodies were a lot more common on domestic USA routes. I remember back on 1974 and 1976 Western Airlines flew DC-10 “Spaceships between LAX and SEA. Economy was configured 2-4-2. I also remember flying American Airlines DC-10 equipment from CLE-LAX in the 1972-1974 time frame as well as LAX-IAD between 1976 and 1980 and BOS-LAX in 1979. I was in First Class on many of those flights. AA also had DC-10 flights between LAX and ORD and also between ACA and DFW. I also flew American Airlines B-747 between DFW and LAX in 1982 and I was in First Class on that flight.
I flew on a B767 from SJU to CLT
Delta’s HNL-SLC pair (DL1104/1105) is on a 767 with domestic F.
4-5 hours is long haul trans on? Meh…. Try 6.5 hours from Anchorage to Chicago…..or nearly 8 hours between Anchorage and Atlanta! Those are both narrow body flights that are almost always full.
Most flights from Oakland to Hawaii are either 737s or Hawaiian’s 767s, which in my opinion, are the oldest aircraft in the industry with dated cabins. Some, if not all aisle seats on the 767 has this metal box underneath making leg stretching extremely uncomfortable. Instead of extending your leg straight forward, you have to do it at an angle to avoid the metal box. Very excruciating during a 5-6 hr flight.
The A330s are still rare from Oakland to destinations other than HNL.
I realize this is an old post but for your information US Airways is no longer using the 767-200 the last flight was from CLT to PHL on Feb 12th. The aircraft making the last flight was 24.7 years old, making it younger or about the same age as the majority of Delta’s 747’s flying.
As Sebastian stated, US had A330s on the 8am BOS-CLT earlier this year. Additionally, you’ll frequently see them flying PHL-MCO, PHL/CLT-SJU. I’ve also seen 767-200s scheduled to STT, CUN and SJU from CLT during the high season.
I’m trying to find a wide body flight from any of the new York area airports to either Orlando or Miami.
Any ideas?
@Jeff Delta has cracked down on any site but there own from “scraping” data that shows anyone anything useful. For example, Expertflyer had to remove all of it’s Delta information (you use to be able to search for seat maps which are great for seeing availability, plus award travel options, flight availability, etc). It does not bode well for frequent fliers that want to research quickly what use to be available information. Frankly, I am worried the other three US airlines will go the same way since they have or are copying Delta on pretty much everything else; especially United. This takes the power away from the consumer and forces you to either spend a lot of time at various airline websites or simply trust Delta. If you are a Delta frequent flyer, I’d recommend calling or writing them with your displeasure to these changes.
Actually that aircraft only operated sporadically (it is not on that route now). Also, the characterization that United has added seats is not accurate. United used to configure their 777s 2-5-2 in economy (9 seats across). They reconfigured the aircraft as 3-3-3. So there are exactly the same number of seatsas there were before. Whether one prefers one configuration to the other is a matter of choice, but most carriers have a similar configuration and most customers hated the 5 seats in the middle.
Delta A330-3 BE. Great seats that face outward. These are the same seats as are on the 747-4 also.
I miss the days of wide bodies on the LAX-BOS routes. When I first moved to SoCal from Boston in 1982, it seemed every flight home, regardless of airline, was on a wide-body. Then came the B757. I understand the fuel efficiency argument, but I missed the wide-open feel of the wide bodies. On the plus side, the B757s have more upgrade opportunity than the other narrow-bodies on that route.
How can delta stop Routehappy from posting public info?
United has a 777 between IAD and SFO at around the 5 o’clock hour but since they’ve added a third seat to the side rows, it’s not as roomy as Boeing intended when it was produced 20 years ago.
Thanks, Kirk. I read otherwise last year, but it admittedly was speculation.
e.g., http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/5604355/
I wouldn’t bet on the 763s being around forever, they’re relatively fuel-inefficient. However, if there’s an airline that will keep ’em around longer than anyone else, it’s Delta, with their conservative equipment + fuel hedging.
DL has 16 domestic 763s which never fly internationally. There is nothing temporary about these. If you’re talking about the LAX-JFK transcon, I think the BE configured 763 is permanent. DL has enough lie-flat 752s ready today to replace it if they wanted to.
I think a 767 on a transcon route can definitely match and even exceed the efficiency of a narrow-body jet (assuming you have enough passengers to fill it)
Isn’t Delta primarily running the 763s as a temporary substitute until their lie-flat 752s are deployed?
I also believe at least some of the AA MIA routes (like MIA-SFO) will soon use the AA’s new (non-transcontinental-configuration) A321s, so there’s another route likely to lose its widebody.
Basically, airlines don’t advertise them because many of the them are not long for this (domestic) world, due to their fuel inefficiency. Part of me misses AA’s transcon 762s, they had much better capacity (and therefore cost structure) as compared to the A321s.
US Airways was doing A330s from Boston to Charlotte earlier this year. If you’re going to include Air Canada then you might as well include Cathay Pacific, which does JFK-Vancouver 🙂 Air Canada is also briefly doing 777s from Toronto-LA this winter.