Apple Buys 50 Business Class Seats From San Francisco to Shanghai Every Day

[citysnaps]

600,000 phones per day is likely do-able in North America.

Nope. Not even close. The infrastructure and labor pool does not exist in North America. It developed in China over many years and was helped with huge government subsidies.

Apple knows what they're doing. Especially when it comes to huge volume manufacturing, test, and fulfillment that can instantly turn on a dime when needed. You are very naive with respect to this subject.

 

[anthogag]

Nope. Not even close. The infrastructure and labor pool does not exist in North America. It developed in China over many years and was helped with huge government subsidies.

Apple knows what they're doing. Especially when it comes to huge volume manufacturing, test, and fulfillment that can instantly turn on a dime when needed. You are very naive with respect to this subject.

Apple put its eggs in one China basket. I did not say 600,000 can be made today in North America. People reading my comments lack imagination. It would take a lot of will and can-do spirit.

Right now Apple is making or assembling almost everything in China. They could make devices for North America in North America.

 

[B4U]

Makes me wonder why are they flying to Hong Kong which basically have no more manufacturing sector.
What else can they be doing there?

 

[Krispykrme]

I thought they stopped buying business class for their employees... at least for the ones who do not fly regularly..

It’s over 8 hours. Automatically gets business.

APAC team has slightly worse policy. For example from SIN to PEK/PVG which is just under 8 hours you can take business class. But you must be on red eye flights (save one day hotel)
[doublepost=1547357236][/doublepost]

No way Apple fills 50 business class seats every day. Not a chance. They may have a contract saying Apple can use up to 50 seats in an emergency but no way they have that many R&D folks going that often. I also question why Shanghai. That’s another flight away from Shenzhen where most of their products are made. SFO to Hong Kong would make more sense.

I don’t doubt the scale of Apple’s international travel, but these specifics seem off.

No it’s not.
[doublepost=1547357290][/doublepost]

Makes me wonder why are they flying to Hong Kong which basically have no more manufacturing sector.
What else can they be doing there?

Because it’s gateway to shenzhen?

While Foxconn has shrunk a lot in that area. Some of the key suppliers are still there.
[doublepost=1547357477][/doublepost]

600,000 phones per day is likely do-able in North America. It would mean more automation. Maybe when AI robots are smarter it could happen. The point is Apple could work on this kind of thing if it can work on autonomous projects like Titan.

Unless you want to bring of the pollution, working conditions... blah blah coming back to us.

Have you ever really think how bad polishing aluminum is?

 

[WatchFromAfar]

Computer technology originated in the West,

Did it? who invented the Abacus?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abacus

 

[djgamble]

I thought they stopped buying business class for their employees... at least for the ones who do not fly regularly..

Yeah it suggests relatively senior staff are travelling there?

I'm not with Apple but in my experience it's pretty standard corporate practice that you only get 'business' if you're a senior executive.

Guessing most of these tickets aren't Apple staff flying to Shanghai/Hong Kong. There's only so many senior executives and 50 a days seems a lot of fat...

 

[Marzzz]

Why do they fly to London so much?

The others make sense in terms of suppliers and so on but Apple doesn't build anything in the UK, their only real presence here are the stores and Beats One.

London is a hub for the rest of Europe; there are only so many direct flights from SFO.

 

[826317]

It’s over 8 hours. Automatically gets business.

APAC team has slightly worse policy. For example from SIN to PEK/PVG which is just under 8 hours you can take business class. But you must be on red eye flights (save one day hotel)

Like I said, I don't know if it is still like that, but not too long ago, it was policy to only allow regular flyers to fly business class. It might have been updated since.

 

[anthogag]

Did it? who invented the Abacus?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abacus

Go back into history as far as you want genius. Find-out which human used fingers first to count.

 

[Queen6]

I hated working for a large company (not Apple) and having to do these trips. Even with Business/First class the traveling get old quickly. These days one or two overseas trips a year is about my limit.

Trust me it's not got any better; 3 days wheels up to Malaysia. The engineering problems I'm more than happy to deal with, the more complex the better. Travel not so much just a royal PIA these days, zero entertainment value...

Don't do long haul unless it involves serious money. Flying used to really decent, until all the paranoia took over, now it's just another money spinner. Early 2K KLM - Dallas to London, we partied the entire flight by the main door just sat on the floor (20+ Oilfield folk) and let it rip, crew was spectacular never an empty glass the entire flight I'm of the mind that life's for the living, and a life lived in fear is a life half lived...

Have to say that flying low level in the chopper over the rainforest in Papua New Guinea at dawn absolutely blew my mind, nothing has yet to come close Now that's something I'll willingly travel for, one of the most impactful moments of my life, I'd return in a heartbeat...

Q-6

 

[WatchFromAfar]

Go back into history as far as you want genius. Find-out which human used fingers first to count.

Oh I'm sorry I put forward something that proves you wrong (with a link to why you might be wrong) you default to fingers (with no link, hmm)....

 

[firewood]

No, not "California". Apple has the entire North America to do it.

Then they would still spend a ton of airfare from SFO or SJC, near engineering HQ, to whatever site in North America.

BTW, Apple used to have a Mac manufacturing site very near Tesla's current California assembly line that is making one of the best selling performance cars in the world.

 

[EdT]

Not sure how Cook responds, but Jobs would've cancelled all reservations personally and would send someone to find a new airline where such details don't get out in public.

We'll never know for sure, but this is probably the correct answer. He wouldn't change what he was doing, he would quit doing business with a company that can't keep information private.
[doublepost=1547403779][/doublepost]

Plenty of tech focused roles here in the UK. They probably see companies such as ARM for their CPUs etc.

London, at least for the next few months, is and has been the primary financial center of Europe. We will see if thats still true after March 29th.

 

[anthogag]

Oh I'm sorry I put forward something that proves you wrong (with a link to why you might be wrong) you default to fingers (with no link, hmm)....

Proves what wrong? Your Wikipedia link mentions the origin of the abacus is not known. The abacus was used in China a long time ago. They still didn’t invent computer technology.
[doublepost=1547404509][/doublepost]

Then they would still spend a ton of airfare from SFO or SJC, near engineering HQ, to whatever site in North America.

BTW, Apple used to have a Mac manufacturing site very near Tesla's current California assembly line that is making one of the best selling performance cars in the world.

If there was a tech corridor all along NA perhaps a bullet train route could be developed between hot spots.

Auto companies like Tesla have operations in many countries around the world. Apple put all its eggs in a China basket. If Trump’s Oval Office puts more tariffs on exports from China It would affect Apple.

 

[T-R-S]

its all Jony Ive

he's from there, he likes to hangout, do dinner, hit the clubs.
it helps get the creative juices flowing


its why we don't see him on stage much lately just pre recorded video's
think of all that time in the air/airports

Jon Ivy only fly's on the Apple Private jets - no way does he fly commercial - those business class seats are for peons.

 

[Pirtti]

No way Apple fills 50 business class seats every day. Not a chance. They may have a contract saying Apple can use up to 50 seats in an emergency but no way they have that many R&D folks going that often. I also question why Shanghai. That’s another flight away from Shenzhen where most of their products are made. SFO to Hong Kong would make more sense.

I don’t doubt the scale of Apple’s international travel, but these specifics seem off.

I agree. Also quick seatguru.com Intel would suggest that there are only 74 biz seats with United on that route per day anyway. So 50 sounds too high.

 

[sylvestersjc]

I agree. Also quick seatguru.com Intel would suggest that there are only 74 biz seats with United on that route per day anyway. So 50 sounds too high.

Try to book flights, to me it shows 2 direct flights per day, 48 seats per flight = 96. Also demand may not be same day to day, and not everyone may be taking a direct flight. I can see it happening, with some days (weekend travel) being better than others.

50 per day X 250 biz days = 12500. Just guessing a busy person involved in China work travels 4 times a year, so maybe 3000 people fly in and out during a year ... some more than others, some less than others.

 

[jerryk]

Have to say that flying low level in the chopper over the rainforest in Papua New Guinea at dawn absolutely blew my mind, nothing has yet to come close Now that's something I'll willingly travel for, one of the most impactful moments of my life, I'd return in a heartbeat...
Q-6

Get a private pilot's license. Nothing like getting up in the air before dawn and seeing the sun come up over Death Valley or spending a late afternoon watching lightning hitting the Great Salt Lake when the wind has created white caps.

 

[firewood]

Jon Ivy only fly's on the Apple Private jets - .

Maybe it used to be one of Apple’s jets, but reports were that Ives purchased Steve Jobs Gulfstream from Laureen.

Per passenger-mile, a United seat would probably contribute less CO2

 

[Tech198]

$150 million a year = That's allot of flights.

Apple seems to prefer the Chinese/Asian market more.

 

[crescentmoon]

Another thing to add to United's fu#$up list.... Last time I flew with them they were late in taking off and never made up for the time in the air....

 

[tominco]

Time zone difference.

It's not effective to work solo in a team and wait 8 hours for a reply to a simple question.

Which is exactly why I went through a time when I had regular 9:30pm phone meetings with folks in Bangalore. I had no interest in travel

Not sure how Cook responds, but Jobs would've cancelled all reservations personally and would send someone to find a new airline where such details don't get out in public.

Yeah. I don't get why United would release this information. I would think companies wouldn't want their competitors know what they are up to.

 

[Angrydad]

Apple is United Airlines' biggest customer at the San Francisco International Airport, according to signs the airline has available that were shared on Twitter today.

According to United, Apple spends $150 million on airline tickets each year, and purchases 50 business class seats on flights to Shanghai every day.

​

Apple has many suppliers in China, which explains why the company sends so many employees to the Shanghai Pudong Airport.

Apple spends $35 million each year on flights from SFO to Shanghai, which is the number one flight the company purchases. Other routes are also popular, with Apple employees flying between these top 10 locations frequently:

1. Shanghai (PVG)
2. Hong Kong (HKG)
3. Taipei (TPE)
4. London (LHR)
5. South Korea (ICN)
6. Singapore (SIN)
7. Munich (MUC)
8. Tokyo (HND)
9. Beijing (PEK)
10. Israel (TLV)

Apple has more than 130,000 employees across its retail and corporate locations, and its headquarters is located in Cupertino, California. The San Francisco International Airport, located near Millbrae, California and south of San Francisco, is the closest major airport for international flights.

This statistic accounts solely for the flights taken from SFO. Apple has campuses in other locations around the world, and the San Jose International Airport is also nearby, so this is likely just a fraction of the airline travel that Apple funds.

As The Verge's Nilay Patel points out, statistics like these are a reminder of the huge number of employees that Apple has working behind the scenes on the devices that we use every day.

Apple is by far the biggest United airline customer in the Bay Area, and its $150 million spending total far outranks Facebook, Roche, and Google, companies that each spend over $34 million on United flights annually.

Article Link: Apple Buys 50 Business Class Seats From San Francisco to Shanghai Every Day

Apple is United Airlines' biggest customer at the San Francisco International Airport, according to signs the airline has available that were shared on Twitter today.

According to United, Apple spends $150 million on airline tickets each year, and purchases 50 business class seats on flights to Shanghai every day.

​

Apple has many suppliers in China, which explains why the company sends so many employees to the Shanghai Pudong Airport.

Apple spends $35 million each year on flights from SFO to Shanghai, which is the number one flight the company purchases. Other routes are also popular, with Apple employees flying between these top 10 locations frequently:

1. Shanghai (PVG)
2. Hong Kong (HKG)
3. Taipei (TPE)
4. London (LHR)
5. South Korea (ICN)
6. Singapore (SIN)
7. Munich (MUC)
8. Tokyo (HND)
9. Beijing (PEK)
10. Israel (TLV)

Apple has more than 130,000 employees across its retail and corporate locations, and its headquarters is located in Cupertino, California. The San Francisco International Airport, located near Millbrae, California and south of San Francisco, is the closest major airport for international flights.

This statistic accounts solely for the flights taken from SFO. Apple has campuses in other locations around the world, and the San Jose International Airport is also nearby, so this is likely just a fraction of the airline travel that Apple funds.

As The Verge's Nilay Patel points out, statistics like these are a reminder of the huge number of employees that Apple has working behind the scenes on the devices that we use every day.

Apple is by far the biggest United airline customer in the Bay Area, and its $150 million spending total far outranks Facebook, Roche, and Google, companies that each spend over $34 million on United flights annually.

Article Link: Apple Buys 50 Business Class Seats From San Francisco to Shanghai Every Day

But they can’t afford to pay retail a little wage so we can pay our bills and decide whether we need to eat pay rent or buy medication.
[doublepost=1547442588][/doublepost]It’s time to pay retail employees more money if you can afford plain tickets. Stop being so cheep to retail employees, give us a cost of living increase.

 

[KPandian1]

Which is exactly why I went through a time when I had regular 9:30pm phone meetings with folks in Bangalore. I had no interest in travel.

This "conference call" at 9:30 pm to Bangalore must be for IT - i.e., software only - I presume.

Don't you think that it is a different ballgame for turnkey projects? Physical presence is a must in physical manufacturing.

_____

Anyway, apart from United's FU, why is anyone surprised by the Apple bill of $150 million? For the size of the company, and given that they assemble near zero products stateside, that is par - the amount is definitely not unmanageable or budget breaking.

They would rather spend that money than try to own their own fleet to commute between the continents. Those costs can spiral out easily; plus, being on a commercial line gives a certain structure - no preferential flights/treatment, no micromanaging, etc.

 

[dontwalkhand]

This "conference call" at 9:30 pm to Bangalore must be for IT - i.e., software only - I presume.

Don't you think that it is a different ballgame for turnkey projects? Physical presence is a must in physical manufacturing.

_____

Anyway, apart from United's FU, why is anyone surprised by the Apple bill of $150 million? For the size of the company, and given that they assemble near zero products stateside, that is par - the amount is definitely not unmanageable or budget breaking.

They would rather spend that money than try to own their own fleet to commute between the continents. Those costs can spiral out easily; plus, being on a commercial line gives a certain structure - no preferential flights/treatment, no micromanaging, etc.

Exactly. Also even IT projects sometimes would require a physical site visit, especially when its much more than just a software only issue, and remote doesn't work all the time. Physical Firewall goes down, boom, time to ship out a replacement, and maybe someone who knows what they're doing has to go out there as well to facilitate the installation.