They were flying 787-9s, which per Wikipedia have a 7630 nautical mile range, longest of any 787 variant. Direct its 6700 nautical miles but with that routing i

They were flying 787-9s, which per Wikipedia have a 7630 nautical mile range, longest of any 787 variant. Direct its 6700 nautical miles but with that routing it’s 7360. http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=sfo-Cts-del&MS=wls&DU=nm http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=sfo-Cts-del&MS=wls&DU=nm https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner Add some winds, takeoffs/landings in the “wrong direction”, weather diversions and it probably needs a tech stop in at least one direction to do that routing. Maybe both. 777-200LR could do it easily, but United doesn’t operate any, and few others do https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Boeing_777_orders_and_deliveries https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Boeing_777_orders_an... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_777 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_777