UA 977 Dubai to Washington DC Direct

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

You read that correctly... United Airlines flight 977, a B777 direct from Dubai to Washington's Dulles.I flew this flight yesterday (Thursday, November 13th, 2008) from Dubai to Dulles and was amazed. I have flown long hauls many times in the past; mostly B747's from SFO or LAX to Sydney, Australia and countless times on ANA 747-400's from Dulles to Narita. But I had never flown on a 777 on a route greater than Frankfurt to Dulles. 15 Hours 14 Minutes scheduled flight time was forecasted and we actually made it in just under 15 arriving about 20 minutes early.One of the aspects of the departure that for some reason surprised me was the short taxi to take off. Our gate number (external) was F8 (Internal #115) and the taxi to take off was very short. We departed on runway 12, which appeared to be almost a mid runway departure. On Google Earth, the image is of runway 12/30 being extended, but it is now complete, as we departed on 12 without more than about 5 minutes taxi time.Departing at 12:30 a.m. on the 13th, we flew up over Bahrain, Kuwait City, over Iraq, and Turkey. By the time we reached the Iraq / Turkey border, food service had taken place and I went to sleep. I awoke as we were passing just south of Stavanger, Norway, and then again as we passed about 150 miles INSIDE the southern tip of Greenland. From there we proceeded south flying west of Goose Bay, and then over Montreal, over Albany, New York, and then into DC. It was an excellent flight and it appears the jet stream was less active than had been anticipated at departure, because we did have an early arrive at 0620 a.m. on the 13th. Now, if I can, I have to go replicate at least the flight plan to see the complete route.If you get a chance to fly this, be prepared... It becomes a VERY long day. :)

[Guest Staggerwing]

Wow...that's some flight, hope you were in the TLC section 8-)

[Guest zacharace]

I didn't even know United flew that route.Good to hear about a really nice airline experience now and then ;)

[Guest jbinner]

Dang Tom, you could have said hello to the folks for me. :) they come back Dec 8th, flying an Emeriates A380 from Dubai to JFK. I told them they better load the camera FULL of photos for me. :)

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

My trip orginated in Muscat John, and I was just transiting through Dubai, otherwise I would have looked them up. As for photos on my flight, I left the camera home and besides, this is the first flight I have ever taken of that distance where the entire flight was in the dark. Departed Dubai at 12:30 a.m. and landed at Dulles at 0620 the same day. Totally in the dark. As a comparison, KIAD - KSFO - Sydney, Australia: depart KIAD at 1730 - Depart KSFO at 2330 - Arrive Sydney at approximately 0700 two days later. :)

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

The route is new, introduced about a month ago. I used to have to fly via Frankfurt, Germany (or Paris) to get to D.C. from anywhere in the Mid East. I took this flight as an experiment. I will never transit through Frankfurt again (or Paris for that matter), thank god. Taking the UA977, I was sitting in my recliner catch up with the news at 10:00 a.m. on the 13th. Had I done the Frankfurt route, I would not have been home until after 7 p.m. on the 13th. A big benefit to that routing.

[ABE 0]

Quite an experience, Tom.In September,2007, I flew the 777 LAX-TLV on ELAL LY006, Departure 4:00pm, Arrival 4:10pm, 14Hrs 10min. Flew back TLV-LAX on LY005, Dep. 12:40AM, Arrival 6:10AM, 15Hrs 20min about 30 min. early - ALL in complete DARKNESS....Somehow I entertained myself with movies, book and magazines - a very looong night.Abe

[Guest Ethan744N763]

From FlightAware:RANBI N571 BALUS UL768 RAMSI UL602 FALKA UL602 ALPET R784 KATOT R784 KABAN UT37 SRT UL614 EZS UW710 SIV UW72 CRM UT33 KUGOS UL851 ADINA UL624 TLC UL624 LABUK UY444 ELMEK UL726 OKG UL984 LOHRE UL610 BATTY UL608 DENUT UL610 LAM UL179 CPT UL9 DIKAS UP4 EVRIN UL607 CRK UL175 GIPER UN514 DINIM 5000N 02000W 5000N 03000W 5000N 04000W 4900N 05000W LOGSU VIXUN EBONY ENE ALB J6 LRP DELRO2 Or Go To: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/UAL977

[UDflyer 0]

I'm thinking about going to Dubai for a couple days over my school's Christmas break next month. I'd originate in Moline, IL and head down to Atlanta and then over to DXB. I need to play around with the dates a little bit because the flight is pretty full and I don't want to get stranded anywhere. How was Dubai? Was it reasonable insofar as price? Could a poor college kid make it for a couple days over there without going broke?:) Thanks and I'm looking forward to hopefully making my way over there.

[Guest jbinner]

Sean,my family is living over there right now; stepdad over there for work. However they will be coming home to NY Dec 6th. I could put you in touch with them before they leave if you want info.

[UDflyer 0]

Sean,my family is living over there right now; stepdad over there for work. However they will be coming home to NY Dec 6th. I could put you in touch with them before they leave if you want info.

That would be great, but I don't think I'll be headed there until after the 12th of December at the earliest. Another think is that I don't know for sure if I'm going to DXB yet because I might go somewhere else instead. I really want to get there this coming summer if I don't go in December, though. One of the many perks of being an airline employee. :(

[Guest nshahzad]

I'm thinking about going to Dubai for a couple days over my school's Christmas break next month. I'd originate in Moline, IL and head down to Atlanta and then over to DXB. I need to play around with the dates a little bit because the flight is pretty full and I don't want to get stranded anywhere. How was Dubai? Was it reasonable insofar as price? Could a poor college kid make it for a couple days over there without going broke?:) Thanks and I'm looking forward to hopefully making my way over there.

It's VERY expensive there.My father flew to Karachi, Pakistan through Dubai for a fam emergency, ended up going on the A380 flight, on the second week of service I think. I've flown it myself on the 772 but several years ago. A380 flight he said was nice, large plane (obv), and top notch service. 1st class seats were 20k a piece, 17k for business, a reasonable 1200 for economy :)

[Trans_23 0]

You just racked up more mileage plus miles on that trip than I had in the last 10 years.

[UDflyer 0]

It's VERY expensive there.My father flew to Karachi, Pakistan through Dubai for a fam emergency, ended up going on the A380 flight, on the second week of service I think. I've flown it myself on the 772 but several years ago. A380 flight he said was nice, large plane (obv), and top notch service. 1st class seats were 20k a piece, 17k for business, a reasonable 1200 for economy :)

No worries, I work for an airline that serves DXB (not United), so my Business Class seat would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $50-$70. It truly does pay to be an airline employee! :(