If you think you’re an aviation geek or a major United Airlines frequent flier, think again … unless you’re currently completing this marathon of a hub run today. I came across a post on Reddit (embedded below) from a user who came across the decked-out Newark gate and asked if anyone knew about this pretty eccentric frequent flier marathon called the United 7 Hub Run.
New announcement at EWR?
byu/SquirrelChemical3164 inunitedairlines
I’d never heard of this hub run before but if you’re trying to figure out United’s seven hubs, they are, from east coast to west coast: Newark (EWR), Washington D.C. (IAD), Chicago (ORD), Houston (IAH), Denver (DEN), Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO). And that’s exactly the route they’re flying, except LAX and SFO need to be flipped since they’re supposed to finish in LAX tonight at 10:32 p.m.
Here’s the exact itinerary:
6:00–7:19 a.m.: EWR-IAD, UA 1366
8:25–9:38 a.m.: IAD-ORD, UA 2440
10:35 a.m.–1:29 p.m.: ORD-IAH, UA 2483
2:50–4:40 p.m.: IAH-DEN, UA 241
5:59–7:45 p.m.: DEN-SFO, UA 1007
9:00–10:32 p.m.: SFO-LAX, UA 2409
The guy who started it all is @_carlbrothers on Instagram, whose bio says, “AvGeek rockstar @unitedmillionmiler 3.983 million miles and counting,” is doing a great job documenting the adventure. I can’t embed his story, but below are some screenshots.
It appears United is making a big deal out of this internally. They decorated the gate at Newark and had goodies waiting at each stop. The travelers were met by United’s social team (screenshot below), given private transfers across the IAH runway, and the pilots are making special announcements.
The pilot for their EWR-IAD-ORD leg made an announcement on both flights, which @_CarlBrothers recorded.
He said: “Over 30 passengers of this flight right now are doing what we call the Seven Hub Run. On June 7, they picked the right date to do it as well. So they started in New York this morning in Newark, and they’re going to hit all seven of our hubs by later tonight. Over 20 hours of flight time, one of the gentlemen told me. So starting in New York, then they came here to Washington. We’re going to head to Chicago, then they’re going to go to Houston, then to Denver, San Francisco, and finally to LA by 10:30 tonight. Nice work. Very brave souls. Very happy to have you onboard.”
One of the banners United had up read: “United Airlines Premier 1K, Global Services & Million Miler Members.” I’m not sure if it’s only for status members (I lost my 1K status a few years ago when I switched to American), but I wanted to learn more so I asked Carl via DM and he replied right away. Here are his answers to my questions:
Q: How are you feeling?
A: “A little tired, running on fumes but we are all surviving with each other.”
Q: Is this your first time doing it?
A: “It’s our first time doing this specific mileage run as a group. I’m a professional mileage runner that has been doing long-haul versions weekly for the last 4 years. DEN-EWR-SFO-SIN-SFO-EWR-DEN (25,000 miles).”
Q: Would you do it again?
A: “I’m going to host another run in November or December, to help others reach their 1K requalification goals.”
Q: Will United Airlines do it again next year?
A: “UA only found out about our event 6 days ago when I wrote them. Their social media team really stepped up and rolled out the red carpet for us in each station.”
Q: What’s the best part about it and the worst part?
A: “The best part is finding your own tribe that love flying United. Imagine finding a group of folks that would enjoy the experience of taking a 21-year-old 757-300. And in the group chat, one would time the take off roll (8.4 s), and another would comment that’s it’s amazing at this altitude! Those types of AvGeeks! The worst part is the food. Since all flights don’t quite pass the threshold for better inflight catering, we’ve been subsisting on snack boxes. The camaraderie is warm and energy is electric. Imagine the most well-prepared emergency exit rows!”
That’s pretty awesome of United to pull this together so quickly and kudos to Carl and all those who are about to complete this one-of-a-kind marathon.
Would I do it? I would have considered it 10 years ago but now that I have kids, I wouldn’t except to gain elite status. Judging from the Reddit comments, not many others would either. Here are some standout Reddit replies:
@trevor_plantaginous: This sounds like Hell
@thelaminatedboss: Paying thousands to be on a plane for 20 hours and only go cross-country is a strange choice
@pmarble15: What is the benefit? For those of us that don’t get it
@raininginmaui: I love that UA is celebrating this!
Clearly, this challenge is for a niche audience and it’s definitely unique. You have to be an aviation geek or mileage runner to get it.
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