Tag Archives for chicago o’hare.
United is escalating its Chicago fight with American on every front—capacity, Wall Street messaging, and now a fresh set of ads that openly taunt AAdvantage. The new “AAdvantage, United” line is the kind of not-even-trying-to-be-subtle jab that only makes the rivalry louder as ORD turns into a full-blown marketing and schedule war.
United announced another Chicago capacity build-up on the morning of American’s earnings call, adding new frequencies after American rolled out new ORD routes last week. The timing is the point: flood the market, pressure its rival to back down, and avoid a long, money-burning capacity war.
United’s CEO Scott Kirby went out of his way on the earnings call to “draw a line in the sand” in Chicago—promising United will add flights to match any American expansion at O’Hare. The point of saying it publicly wasn’t bravado. It was deterrence: to signal to American (and to analysts) that new Chicago capacity will be met in kind, making growth less attractive for both airlines.
American’s response came fast anyway, announcing new routes from O’Hare—turning Kirby’s game-theory warning into an immediate test of whether this becomes a real fare war or a negotiation by headline.
Chicago is exploring selling sponsorships and naming rights across O’Hare and Midway—everything from terminals and people-mover stations down to restrooms, trash cans, and pet relief areas. A new RFI asks brands what they’d pay for and how they’d activate it, as the city looks for ways to offset major expansion costs—while keeping the O’Hare and Midway names themselves off the table.
American Airlines is paying $30 million to buy two Spirit Airlines gates at Chicago O’Hare—G8 and G10—in a previously undisclosed deal revealed through bankruptcy court filings. This comes after American recently lost four gates to United in a controversial airport reallocation.
Kicking off Labor Day weekend didn’t go well for passengers booked on American Airlines 1831, the morning flight from Chicago O’Hare to West Palm Beach.
A visibly drunk American Airlines Concierge Key member used his status to demand changing the TV channel in the Chicago O’Hare Flagship lounge, hurled homophobic slurs at passengers, and assaulted the staff. Reportedly, nothing was done, because ‘he has high status’.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby loves to tout his airline’s superior performance to American Airlines. He became United’s President 9 years ago after being fired from American. In a set of slides he rubs salt in the wounds over his airline’s relative growth in size and financial performance at Chicago O’Hare, where both airlines operate hubs.
American wasn’t able to get a temporary restraining order in federal court to stop this process. They voluntarily dismissed the federal claim last week and re-filed in Cook County Chancery Court.
Last month Besnik Ismajlaj, a 53-year-old man from St. Charles, Illinois, was arrested at Chicago O’Hare for carrying a loaded gun through a TSA checkpoint and boarding a United Airlines flight. Newly released body cam footage shows the TSA failure that let him board his flight armed.
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 »
