United has slightly walked back its crazy policy published this weekend not to provide refunds to customers in the event of a schedule change less than 25 hours.
After a swift backlash in social media, United will now let customers cancel and retain a travel credit without a change fee in the event United changes flight schedules 2 or more hours. They’re still applying new rules retroactively to already-purchased tickets.
Already we’re seeing a massive slowdown in travel. It’s scaring travel providers like United to do crazy things. Eventually they’ll need their customers when people travel again but for now United’s customers are the enemy.
How bad could things get for the travel industry? No one is certain, we’re taking stabs in the dark, but one scenario is that worldwide hotels could be down 65% in the second quarter.
One airline appears to be reneging on their promise to waive ticket change fees – and it’s not even United Airlines. It’s Frontier.
Frontier had said “customers with existing reservations between March 3 and 16 would be allowed to change their flights or cancel them for a flight credit valid for 90 days, free of charge.” A 90 day credit isn’t very helpful if things progress on a medium- to bad trajectory, but this was something.
Here’s a note shared by an American flight attendant on Saturday who boarded her flight to find that there were no gloves yet she’s expected to pick up trash from customers. It seems to me that if a flight can’t meet its safety standards it shouldn’t operate until it can, D0 notwithstanding.
It’s not just flight attendants though. Did you know that American’s airport employees aren’t permitted to wear gloves with the carrier’s new uniform standards?
There’s a theme developing at United: all your money belongs to us. Customers exist to serve the airline, the airline doesn’t exist to serve customers. From refusing refunds to customers even when flights don’t operate the same day, to telling customers they’ll still have to spend as much money on the airline this year if they want elite benefits next year the message is clear: loyalty is one way.
Sara Nelson is President of the AFA-CWA, flight attendants union with 50,000 members and part of the national Communications Workers of America. She’s an activist in the left wing of the Democratic Party, a Bernie Sanders supporter, and has been called ‘the most powerful flight attendant in America’ as a rising star in the labor movement.
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United is already taking significant steps to reduce spending in the face of coronavirus. They’ve instituted a hiring freeze, they’re delaying raises for non-union employees, and they’re reducing their flight schedules.
Now they’re refusing to give customers refunds even if they change schedules so the flights you buy operate on a different day.
Like Delta (Sky Bonus) and United (Perks Plus), American Airlines has a small business program. It’s designed for companies that aren’t going to have corporate-level agreements with an airline that come with discounts or rebates. Instead they offer points redeemable for travel and services from the airline.
The good news is that even some of the smallest businesses can join and can ‘double dip’. The traveler earns frequent flyer miles as usual, and the company earns points in the separate Business ExtrAA program on top.
It’s important for an airline or hotel chain to be able to use the loyalty program to goose travel, rather than just giving away the store without travel. So how do we understand status extensions, versus taking a wait and see approach and maybe using a double qualifying offer later in the year?
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
