UNITED AIRLINES: Adelaide to San Francisco direct, seasonal route from December 2025

In a first for Adelaide, United Airlines is initiating the first non-stop flight between the South Australian capital city and San Francisco in the USA. The three-times-a-week seasonal flights will commence on 11 December 2025. The Star Alliance carrier will use Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners with Polaris business seats.

This is part of an overall expansion into the Australia and Asian market starting from October 2025, which includes new flights to Bangkok in Thailand and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in Vietnam via Hong Kong. United is also adding another flight to Manilla in the Philippines deploying a Boeing 777-300ER on the route.

The Adelaide/San Francisco Flights

These seasonal flights commencing in December are designed to leave Adelaide mid-afternoon, arriving in San Francisco late morning. To me, that’s good timing. It also means connections onto other American destinations should be easy:

• UA208 Departs Adelaide 14:55, arrives San Francisco 11:15 (Mon, Thurs, Sat) approx 14 hr 50 min
• UA207 Departs San Francisco 23:05, arrives Adelaide 09:30 +2 days (Mon, Wed, Sat) approx 15 hr 50 min
  

The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners have 257 seats, including 48 Business Class Polaris seats, 21 Premium (Economy) Plus seats, 39 Economy Plus extra legroom seats, and 149 Economy Class seats.

Adelaide is the fourth destination that United Airlines will serve in Australia after Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. It also means that United will be the only airline flying directly between Adelaide and North America.

No pricing has been announced, and the flights are not currently bookable. Let’s hope they get loaded soon.

Why Adelaide?

This may be partly just a way for United to use up some aircraft during the northern hemisphere winter, undoubtedly with some funding from South Australia. However, there may be another angle.

Adelaide is set to become a major hub for Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine program under AUKUS, with significant investment in the Osborne Naval Shipyard. This means more U.S. defense personnel, engineers, and contractors would be expected to travel to Adelaide, many of whom would be flying from the U.S. West Coast, where key defense hubs like San Diego are located.

This new direct route means that you will no longer have to transit via Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane to arrive in North America.

Adelaide, although generally a warmer climate than San Francisco, also has an abundance of outstanding wine districts from the Clare Valley and Barossa in the north to Maclaren Vale in the south.

2PAXfly Takeout

Adelaide is my hometown, so I may have some bias. Even though I haven’t lived there for over 40 years, I visit every cregularly to see family and friends. The city punches above its weight in theatre, entertainment and music culture. It runs an annual Adelaide and Fringe Festival and the World Music festival WOMAD. It also has an excellent food and restaurant scene. That’s partially due to the range and quality of ingredients available, not to mention its multicultural population.

This initiative will be great for South Australians. North Americans will be interested in visiting somewhere in Australia other than the East Coast for either work or pleasure.