TBA
United
tl;dr: there is a much abbreviated, but still lengthy, report of the United 7 Hub Run up on Live and Let's Fly.
Honestly, having done the first United 7 Hub Run last year, I was not too inclined to do it again this year. Several questions were in my mind: would it be as spectacular, the variable of getting any (or perhaps no) support from United, what if irregular ops (delays due to maintenance, weather, ATC, etc.) happened and the #United7HubRun didn't succeed? Plus, six flights and what is basically a 19 or 20 or 21 (or longer) hour day in airports and airplanes, fueled by snack boxes in economy class, is damned painful. For those baller enough (or perhaps smart enough) to book first, well, you're more comfortable, but it's still a long and painful day.
Fast forward to earlier this year, when the key forced behind the first organized hub run last year, Alex and Carl, really got things rolling for this year. Then at the United Elevated event earlier this year, we surveyed those who got invited and it seemed like everyone who did the hub run last year got invited. At that point, well, what the hell, it was time to sign up.
Unlike last year and the late schedule change that caused the United Hub Run to end at LAX instead of SFO, this year, we were able to stick to the original Jeb Brooks routing that ended at SFO. Add in that things literally got twice as crazy this year, with what looked like more than 60 signed up as opposed to the 30+ (35?) we had last year. Early signs that our little self-organized, definitely-not-official effort was going to get some support from United also emerged as things lead up to the hub run. Total head count was right around 70 who said they were coming, although as the internet goes, getting everyone to show who says they will is unusual, and I suspect we were closer to 60 than 70 in the end who did at least one segment.
Fast forward to the morning of, with clear skies at 4:00am at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), and an airport shuttle with Captain Jarrod (sp?) as well as his coworker Vernon to start the day. Captain Jarrod was to be our pilot for the first flight of the day from EWR-IAD (UA 504), and Vernon, it turns out, I think was on the hub run with us the whole way or close. By the time I got to the gate with my array of a half-dozen boarding passes, it was close to 4:45am, and the place was packed. United a huge presence including several higher-ups present to see us off, highlighted by Jon Gooda (VP of Newark Airport) and Jarad Fisher (vice president at United and president of MileagePlus), the latter of whom would be doing almost the entire hub run with us (!).
Properly fed, great fanfare given, the hub run kicked off 5 minutes early from EWR-IAD under Captain Jarrod, arrived even earlier to more fanfare, and then it was a quick walk from gate C27 to gate D1, where a celebratory atmosphere was in full force. Several hub runners who had missed the first segment joined up as well, including Matt and Nikki, in their trademark festive gear. Balloons and a giant stroopwaffle sent us off onboard N14541 (UA 1775, IAD-ORD) under the command of Captain Alec, who, like Captain Jarrod, had captained one of our hub run flights the year before and was eager to do so again-- so eager, in fact, he had trivia and prizes prepared for us. Sadly at this point things went bad, as N14541 had brake issues that turned out to be unresolvable, to the point we ended up back at the gate and swapped over to a different airplane. This cost us just over two and while it's hard to say how the service recovery would have been, with United deciding to support the hub run at an executive level... well, they were clearly in charge here.
My personal speculation is that telling us we were skipping a hub entirely would have been entirely reasonable, but also that rebooking so many passengers from the scheduled IAD-ORD to a different IAD-IAH might have been entirely infeasible, plus there's the optics. There were probably ~100 other passengers affected by our delays on each flight as well, not just hub runners, and not being in operations, I won't speculate to say how decisions were made inside United HQ.
In any case, once onboard a working A321neo, we finally made it off to Chicago O'Hare. Captain Alec's trivia was won by Cindy, who was sitting next to me, and she ended up with a ballcap and signed flight map. With our next three segments onboard an A321neo, Captain Jarrod said he'd managed to get us to keep N24542 for all three flights (!). Our late arrival at ORD was no less festive, and like last year, just about everything had been arranged to be a very short walk between gates. However as we were trying to make up time, we skipped the group photo in the rainbow tunnel at ORD, and instead all ran back onboard N24542 as soon as it was cleaned and catered. Snagged a few photos with Jarad Fisher as well as Joseph Mallia (director of customer service for United at ORD) somewhere in there as well-- with so many people this year, getting photos was crazy, even with a professional videographer (hi Logan!) hired by United to do the entire hub run. Energy levels were still high, and unfortunately any hopes of making up some of the time on UA 723 (ORD-IAH) were stymied, as many had been tracking over the past few days, by the weather. We lost "only" another 30 minutes avoiding thunderstorms on the way to Houston, which, while not great, could have been worse.
Southern hospitality was on full display in Houston, where, despite our belated arrival, they immediately herded us into a conference room that had been decorated and catered for us right next to the gate. Last year, with most of us subsisting on nothing but snack boxes in economy, and no time for any hot food until the Denver stop, it was pretty brutal. This year, while we weren't fed much in Houston, the wraps and drinks they had prepared for us were absolutely clutch in keeping us going. There was a very brief stop for line dancing with United employees in the conference room, then we immediately ran back to the gate to not delay things further. Somewhere in there, Lays Laraya, aka freakwentflyer, did her trademark Nutella service-- so glad she was able to join all the way from Dubai.
UA 1246, IAH-DEN, at least was not delayed any further. Just like our arrival to IAH, our departure was 2.5 hours late, and our arrival to Denver International Airport actually made up about 15 minutes. Denver was out in full force just like every other hub before them, this time complete with custom Coca-Cola 2026 Hub Marathon branding (!), along with a cake waiting for us at the gate. Several other hub runners skipped the cake, entirely reasonably saying they felt bad holding up so many other passengers for us, but I couldn't resist, grabbed a napkin and stuffed myself with cake as I boarded UA 2240, DEN-LAX.
All these delays aside, we actually had the longest programmed layover at LAX. What was just over 2.5 hours at LAX obviously had been eaten away entirely, but with so much buffer time, we at least wouldn't be ending the day quite as late. And with so much time originally scheduled at LAX, David Terry (managing director for United at LAX) had turned out a full buffet and DJ, knowing it was the second to last stop of a long day, that we'd be famished, and would need energy to make the final push to the finish line. Jarad also parted ways with us at LAX, clearly inspired by all the frequent fliers he'd just spent the day with, and there was an awesome gift for all of the hub runners at LAX-- a set of Meridian Bluetooth headphones, similar to what is used onboard in United's Polaris business class.
The final leg of the hub run, UA 2056 LAX-SFO, was only 35 minutes late on departure, and just over 20 minutes late on arrival. Headlined by Lori Augustine, vice president of SFO for United, just like EWR something like 21 hours ago, there was a full turn-out at the gate waiting for us. Celebratory drinks, medals, and lots of excitement, a huge group photo, and so many more photos. Even some of the crew had worked both UA 2240 (DEN-LAX) as well as UA 2056 (LAX-SFO), and when they finally made it off the airplane and out of the jetbridge, they too were greeted with cheers and applause.
Epilogue:
Having done the United 7 Hub Run two years in a row now, that was a lot of words to say not very much. Lots of people are clearly very excited by this, enough that Alex and Carl felt compelled to try it a second year in row, especially after last year was so successful, both in terms of actually being completed but with so much unexpected support from United at a corporate level. This year, as said repeatedly, was twice the size of last year, with even greater support from United-- support that we, as customers and not employees, know we cannot expect and absolutely do not take for granted.
But even more so, when delays happened in a big way this year, and they stacked from the second flight on and delayed every other flight that happened, we also know we inconvenienced hundreds and hundreds of other passengers, many of whom had schedules and plans and lives that were badly disrupted by us. For that all we can do is acknowledge the disruption we caused, and offer profound apologies.
Many special thanks to those who participated in the hub run, made all these gifts and swag and souveniers for everyone, and coordinated gifts for the crews who worked our flights-- much of the swag you see was provided by United, including the bibs, t-shirts, and booklet/trading cards for each hub, but so much was also fan-made by all the #AVgeeks on the flight. Most of all, many thanks to Alex and Carl, who were the masterminds behind the hub run, both last year and this year. A final note to those passengers on UA 2240, DEN-LAX, who had to race to catch their connecting flight to New Zealand; to whom LAX base specifically coordinated with ANZ not only to hold the flight for you but to arrange special transportation to get you all on the long haul from Terminal 7 to Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT). We are glad you made your flight and again, are sorry for the delay and stress we caused you.
Next year:
For those looking forward to next year, see the United 7 Hub Run website, as well as the United 7 Hub Rub Ops Room.
Adding in Guam
We've gotten more than a few questions, and yes, a much smaller subset of the group did continue on the United 7 Hub Run to make it a United 8 Hub Run this year, truly going to all of United Airline's hubs. Due to timing, it's only possible to do the 7 CONUS hubs in a single calendar day. Overnight at SFO, then do SFO-HNL, overnight in Honolulu, then, for extra fun, do the United Island Hopper to get to Guam. Michael, Joyce, Doug, Carl, Darci, Brian B., and Alex were the brave (and crazy) ones who did this, and I think Carl went even further, to Manila, on United metal before heading home.
Flight details:
UA 504, EWR-IAD, 6:00am - 7:22am (scheduled), 5:55am - 7:08am (actual), gate C105 to gate C27, 737 MAX 8, N27283.
UA 1775, IAD-ORD, 8:15am - 9:36am (scheduled), 10:20am - 11:40am (actual), gate D1 (original)/gate D19 (actual) to gate B10, A321neo, N24542.
UA 723, ORD-IAH, 10:30am - 1:28pm (scheduled), 12:55pm - 3:54pm (actual), gate B10 to gate C35, A321neo, N24542.
UA 1246, IAH-DEN, 3:00pm - 4:44pm (scheduled), 5:26pm - 6:59pm (actual), gate C45 to gate B31, A321neo, N24542.
UA 2240, DEN-LAX, 5:25pm - 7:00pm (scheduled), 7:33pm - 8:59pm (actual), gate B29 to gate 71B, 737-900ER, N69888.
UA 2056, LAX-SFO, 9:34pm - 11:02pm (scheduled), 10:09pm - 11:23pm (actual), gate 71A to gate E2, 737-800, N76503.