I thought UA was maxed out on their widebodies. Where would the planes come from?
I thought the transcons done by the international fleet were mainly for maintenance reasons so that the periodic overnight checks could be done in SFO and/or LAX. Any truth to that rationale? And even if the aircraft doing those transcons could be shifted to new international markets, what would replace that lift? It's not as if those mostly hub-to-hub flights go out empty.
), in descending order of likelihood, are: 1.) SFO-TPE (as noted above); 2.) IAD-PEK if the DOT awards United the 2007 frequencies, which I believe is a very strong possibility; 3.) IAD-DEL which needs only one aircraft if done in conjunction with IAD-PEK and would further build on the "Capital-to-Capital" theme, especially if both routes were started at the same time; 4.) IAD-MAD with MAD being a Star Alliance hub that was one of the few major European cities that received no additional transatlantic service this year, and it also qualifies as "Capital-to-Capital" service; 5.) ORD-VIE to connect to another Star Alliance hub; 6.) IAD-Italy, either MXP due to Alitalia's upcoming cessation of service on that route or FCO as another "Capital-to-Capital" service, or perhaps both; 7.) DEN-MUC to complement Lufthansa's service to FRA; 8.) IAD-GIG to partially replace Varig's service and allow the IAD-GRU flight to handle more GRU passengers also impacted by that carrier's retrenchment; 9.) IAD-LIM with LIM being the largest international Washington (DCA + IAD) market without nonstop service and another "Capital-to-Capital" market (anybody seeing a trend here? 
) and 10.) IAD-TLV since U.S.-Israel traffic is booming. There could also be frequency increases, such as making the second ORD-HKG flight daily and offering additional LAX-SYD service. Of course, while I believe that these suggestions have decent potential, beyond numbers "1.)" and "2.)" above that United will start and wants to start, respectively, they have been made without any serious review of traffic and yield figures. More importantly, it's unlikely that more than three or four of these routes could be done in the next year, and for United to implement all of them would likely take at least three years and probably longer.
Hey WT
The DOJ isn't out of the regulating business as far as anti-trust and the last time I looked the DOJ was part of the US Gov't. or weren't you paying attention?
