UA863 distance and great-circle path
UA863 covers 11,949 km, or 7,425 miles. That makes it an ultra-long-haul flight, near the limit of what most twinjets can fly non-stop. Of the 439 routes we track, it ranks 31 by distance.
The plane leaves San Francisco heading south-west. On the map above, the line looks curved. That is normal. The shortest path over a round planet never looks straight on a flat screen. Our guide explains how the SFO-SYD route appears on a tracker map.
Why UA863 block time differs from cruise time
The schedule allows 14.9 hours from gate to gate. That works out to about 801 km/h. A Boeing 787-9 cruises faster than that. The gap is taxi time, climbing, descending and holding.
Flying west, this route pushes against the wind. The trip back east is usually shorter, even though the distance is the same. See how timing changes the trip in our red-eye flight guide.
Can the Boeing 787-9 comfortably fly UA863?
Not really. It uses about 85% of the Boeing 787-9's range. That leaves room for a full load of passengers and bags. The full numbers are on our aircraft page for the Boeing 787-9.
What to know about UA863
- Time change: you land 18 hours ahead of the time you left. That is enough to cause jet lag. Here is how pilots handle it.
- Crosses the equator: you swap seasons between takeoff and landing.
- Crosses the date line: the calendar date changes while you are in the air.