United Airlines is making Boston – San Francisco a 100% lie-flat route in business class staring this summer.

With fierce competition from JetBlue and Delta, starting on June 08, 2017 United will use a mix of 757s and 777s with lie-flat beds on all flights between Boston and San Francisco. Introductory fares start at $649 one-way.

Rumors of this service swirled on Flyetalk all week after United Club agents boasted about it. I reached out to United earlier this week and received this very non-answer:

We already fly 1 or 2 aircraft (with lie-flat seats) between BOS and SFO and we continually evaluate our products and services across all of our markets. We have not announced anything new or changing on those routes.

But the schedule has been updated this morning. All flights are lie-flat.

Some flights will be on ex-Continental 757-200s with 16 seats in business class, some on pre-merger United 757-200 premium service configurations with 28 seats in business class, and United will also place a high density 777-200 on the route. Check out the 10-across economy class seat map here–

I recently flew this bird from Honolulu to San Francisco and while it is nice having lie-flat beds, economy class is truly a tight configuration.

In comparing stats (with thanks to jeedk), it appears United will dwarf its competition in the number of one-way lie-flat seats per day:

196 United

64 JetBlue

32 Delta

0 Virgin/Alaska

Where is United Going to Get These Aircraft?

I am curious how United can allocate seven lie-flat birds to this route, especially as the 767-300s begin their Polaris retrofits this summer. It does appear that Newark to San Francisco will see a slight reduction in service, with no more late evening flights from EWR to SFO after 7:30p.

No Love for Los Angeles

While JetBlue MINT service (route map below) is currently on flights between Los Angeles and Boston as well, United will still run 737-900s without lie-flat beds between Boston and Los Angeles.

CONCLUSION

Good news for premium travelers with a glut of additional lie-flat seats now available between Boston and San Francisco starting in June. If you are flying economy class, my recommendation is to stick to the 757 and avoid the 777.

UPDATE: United may be playing a trick on us…