United Airlines To Fly Nonstop From Los Angeles to Beijing

Updated: December 20, 2024, 6:55am CST

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United’s New Route Between Los Angeles and Beijing
How To Book
Final Thoughts

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United’s route expansions for next year just won’t stop. The latest addition to its 2025 flight plans: Los Angeles to Beijing.

United already serves Beijing from multiple U.S. airports and offers service to other Chinese gateways. As of May 1, 2025, add this new route to the mix.

Flights are already on sale for this new route, so let’s take a look.

United’s New Route Between Los Angeles and Beijing

Starting on May 1, 2025, United will fly nonstop from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK). It will operate this service 3x per week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Departing Beijing, flights will operate on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

Currently, Air China is the only airline offering nonstop service on this route. It’s a Star Alliance partner with United.

United will use its Boeing 787-9 aircraft on this route, and the flight time is scheduled for 14.5 hours from Los Angeles but just 12.5 hours when departing from Beijing.

United Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner at London Heathrow (LHR). Image Credit: Daniel Ross

When factoring in time zones and flight times, United will operate the route as follows:

UA771 will depart LAX at 11:10 p.m. and arrive at PEK at 4:45 a.m. (+2 days)
UA772 will depart PEK at 12:00 p.m. and arrive at LAX at 9:35 a.m.

United has announced numerous new flights for 2025, including Greenland and Mongolia, among other destinations. The carrier also started flying between Los Angeles and Shanghai earlier this year.

United’s new route from Los Angeles won’t be its only offering to Beijing. It currently serves PEK from Chicago (ORD), Newark (EWR), San Francisco (SFO), and Washington, D.C. (IAD).

How To Book

Now, for some bad news: While these flights are already on sale, they aren’t cheap.

Presently, flights are selling at $1,200 or more for a one-way trip in economy. United’s Polaris business class is selling for over $8,000 on this route right now — and that’s not a round-trip price.

If you’d like to use United MileagePlus miles on the trip, prices aren’t cheap here, either. Seeing a price of 97,000 miles in economy (one-way!) or 210,000 miles per person in business class is pretty common right now.

Hopefully, these prices will drop soon. They may be a symptom of new flights being loaded into the search engine.

Hot Tip:

If you’re interested in a trip to China, check our guides on the best ways to redeem United miles and the best ways to fly to China with points and miles.

Final Thoughts

Starting in May, United will serve Beijing from an additional airport. It will operate nonstop flights from Los Angeles to Beijing 3 times per week using a Boeing 787-9 aircraft. Flights are already on sale, and we’re desperately hoping the prices for these flights will drop from what we’re seeing right now.