United Airlines has relaunched daily nonstop flights between Chicago O'Hare and Tokyo Narita, a route of roughly 14 hours that had been absent from its schedule. The service returned on Saturday, October 24, and is running as a daily, year-round operation on a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. With it, United becomes the only US carrier flying this city pair nonstop, and it now serves Tokyo from Chicago through both Narita and Haneda.

The timing is no accident. United had been chasing additional slot capacity at Tokyo's Haneda, came up short, and pivoted to Narita instead. It's also a defensive move: Delta recently launched Los Angeles–Hong Kong, and United — long the strongest US carrier in Asia-Pacific — is making sure competitors can't gain a foothold. Across the US, United now sells 13 daily flights to Japan.

Narita is more than a second Tokyo airport in United's plan. The airline runs its own fifth-freedom routes out of the hub to the Philippines, Taiwan, Mongolia, Saipan and Palau, letting travellers reach much of Asia on a single ticket. A joint venture with ANA extends that reach further — think Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Phnom Penh, Manila, Cebu, Kaohsiung, Busan, Mumbai and Delhi. United Premier members and Polaris passengers get access to ANA's premium lounges at both Tokyo airports, and co-located facilities mean no terminal change, immigration queue or bag re-check when connecting.

The aircraft choice matters on a flight this long. United's 787-8 carries 243 seats in a deliberately premium-heavy layout: 28 enclosed Polaris suites with direct aisle access and fully flat beds in Saks Fifth Avenue bedding, 21 Premium Plus seats in a 2-3-2 layout, 36 Economy Plus seats with extra legroom, and standard economy behind that. The Dreamliner also helps with jet lag — its lower cabin altitude, higher humidity and circadian LED lighting are all aimed at landing you in Tokyo feeling more human.

For travellers, this is a genuinely useful addition if you're flying from the Midwest or anywhere United feeds into Chicago. One ticket can take you to Tokyo or deep into Asia with sensible connections, and business class availability on the new route should be decent given the large premium cabin. Frequent flyers on MileagePlus have the most to gain, since the ANA tie-up opens up a huge onward map.