Five years ago, a video circulated online of an amusing announcement of Lufthansa’s LH2222 flight to Toulouse-Blagnac Airport(TLS): “Lufthansa flight LH two, two, two, two, to Toulouse.” United Airlines has now copied this tongue twister with its new flight UA222 between Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Toulouse. Workers at IAD will need to call out “flight UA two, two, two, to Toulouse,” with similar hilarity expected.

United will operate the route using its fleet of Airbus A321XLR. This fleet offers the right capacity for the route and excellent fuel efficiency. It is also produced by Airbus, which is the largest employer in the Toulouse region.

UA222 Will Be Between Washington Dulles And Toulouse

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On August 25, United announced UA 222. The service will begin on April 26, 2027. The route will operate daily. The new route comes as part of United’s largest-ever international expansion. Ten new overseas cities are being added to the network.

This nonstop route will take off at 6:05 PM in Washington and land in Toulouse at 8:15 am local time. Four classes will be available on this overnight flight. Paddle Your Own Kanoo ran a simulation booking. It found seats in Economy from $604, Economy Plus from $1,006, United Premium Plus from $4,984, and United Polaris from $6,252.

Simple Flying has contacted United for further comment.

The Flight Number Takes Inspiration From Lufthansa

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United aren’t the first airline to choose a flight number to Toulouse for some light relief. Simple Flying has previously reported on the endlessly amusing 2021 video of an announcement for Lufthansa flight LH2222 from Munich International Airport (MUC) to Toulouse that left passengers in hysterics. Users on Twitter (now X) had been picking up on the unusual flight number since 2014. The video also surfaced at an unusual time. There was a gap in LH2222’s operation from November 2020 to March 2021. United will hope to cash in on the PR win at a more relevant time than this.

As Simple Flying’s Jake Hardiman rightly points out, the Lufthansaflight sadly never reached its full comedic potential. The departure from Munich was scheduled for 8:20 PM, with arrival at 10:10 PM. A 12-minute delay would have perfectly led to an arrivals announcement of “flight LH two, two, two, two to Toulouse will be arriving at twenty-two, twenty-two.” An 11-minute delay in February 2020 came painfully close to this perfection. Given the early-morning arrival of UA222, we’re highly unlikely to get this close to the numbers lining up perfectly.

United Will Use Its A321XLR Jets To Operate The Route

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United’s new A321XLR jets will be used for its Toulouse flight. According to Aerolopa, the jet will have 20 business class seats (rows one to ten), 12 premium economy seats (rows 20 to 22), and 118 economy seats (rows 30 to 50).

Once the A321XLR comes into service with United, the initial network will be concentrated in Western Europe. These destinations will fall within a radius of 3,400 nautical miles (6,300 km) from United’s American hubs. That’s well under the 4,700 nautical miles (8,700 km) of range advertised by Airbus.

Although not impacting the Toulouse flight, the A321XLR’s entry into service has not been smooth sailing. That’s because United’s executives believe that the A321XLR’s true range is less than advertised by Airbus. Patrick Quayle, United’s Senior Vice President of Global Network Planning and Alliances, said the airline is “very conservative with the range of the aircraft.” United says that it has had to rethink the routes that it will use the jet on, Simple Flying’s Jack McGarity writes. An aircraft’s range is often more fluid than advertised depending on passenger loads, baggage, cargo, fuel reserves, weather, routing, and more. Airlines often have to wait until an aircraft is in operation to understand what they are actually working with.