Croatia
The start of spring 2026's inaugural flight season on United begins with Newark to Split, Croatia. Honestly did not have EWR-SPU as one of my guesses, but clearly people were very excited-- I think I counted 37 (?!) people on one of the frequent flier groups I'm part of expressing plans to go on EWR-SPU, which was substantially more than Bari, Italy (EWR-BRI) happening the day after - although people were quite excited for both.
Arrival at gate C121, aka the usual party gate for widebody departured at EWR, probably due to the ample space it has vs. other gates. No live music or anything, but the usual backdrops, ballons, signage, snacks, etc. The Croatia Tourism Board was present in numbers, they spent a bunch of time talking to both Carl (one of United's absolute craziest frequent fliers) and myself before things got busy, and United did a solid job with snacks at the gate - fritolas, burek bites, octopus salad. I might have had too much octopus salad given I did not have breakfast (a fortunate oops?), although this worked out in the end given it was a few more hours til dinner.
The usual speeches and ribbon cutting weren't too long, with United Airlines Senior Vice President, Global Network and Alliances Patrick Quayle headlining, followed by Croatian Consul General Nikica Kopacevic, Croatia Tourism Board's Leila Cresic-Juric, and finally City of Newark deputy mayor Ligia DeFritas. I won't even try to name all the frequent fliers and influencers who showed up, but a very incomplete list of highlights includes Aviator Dave, Travelwithtalia, and Bucketlistbums. Along with 30+ other frequent fliers/inaugural flight chasers, along with the rest of the VIPs and media, gate C121 managed to feel absolutely bustling, even if a 767-300ER (76L) high-J on United seats barely two-thirds or even one-half what some of the larger aircraft in United's fleet.
Onboard was quite a bit of excitement, although not quite to the same level as Greenland was last summer - in Polaris, commemorative teddy bears and pajamas joined the usual postcard, welcome flyer/menu, stickers, and whatnot. United flight 305, EWR-SPU, inaugural keychains were handed out at the gate, frequent fliers handed out airplane-shaped ornaments (thanks Amanda!), pins and custom Lego (!!) (thanks Warren!), more keychains (thanks Jay!), and cookies (thanks Bob!). Warren, of course, was dressed in full costume, appropriate to celebrate this flight to the Dalmatian coast... and then all too soon it was time to buckle up, taxi to the runway, and actually get underway to Split.
Serving an inaugural flight full of 46 excited passengers in Polaris out of the forward galley had to be an exercise in both skill and frustration, but purser Glenn, flight attendant Dave, and the rest of the crew managed to grind it out and get it done. Went with the beef pasticada, which was not bad, although the splitska torta for dessert was too sweet for me.
Ended up seated right next to PQ, so was good to chat for a bit, although as the senior executive on these flights he is always in demand. Was good to catch up with Jay, Bob, Brian, Bob, Carolyn, Scott, Erick, Amanda, Thomas, Doug, William, Adam, Chuck, Jaemi, and many other regulars on United's inaugural flights as well - and was fun to be around with Carl and Warren as Warren made his lap around N674UA to hand out gifts to the crew.