Tag Archives for united.
Travel & Leisure is promoting dressing up so you look like someone airlines want to upgrade. That doesn’t work, but reminds me of an equally silly claim in Bloomberg that there’s two magic words that work every time that do not work at all.
These are great examples of the genre of travel writing that claim you can fly first class just by pretending it’s your honeymoon. I prefer equally silly — and equally effective — suggestions that might be a little more fun.
Most people think the United club exclusion means United Gold elites don’t get lounge access on domestic trips (unless they’re a United Club member). But that’s wrong. I don’t believe I’ve written about this in two years so it seems worth sharing.
The trick – that the initiated know but most do not – is that any Star Gold member can access any Star Alliance lounge in the U.S. other than United’s clubs provided they are flying on Star Alliance airlines out of that airport that day and can physically access the terminal where the lounge is located.
A simple way to think about better breakfast is to think brunch. That opens up a whole new world of possibility beyond reheated scrambled eggs or omelettes, granola or oatmeal.
Since norms vary across airlines and have only recently changed it’s not a moral failing of passengers who don’t know or understand the position that any given airline takes here. On the contrary, it’s incumbent on the airline to explain in clear terms what their policy is and why rather than suggesting a passenger wanting to move is doing something untoward.
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Gerry Laderman and Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Nocella answered questions from Helane Becker at the Cowen and Company 12th Annual Global Transportation Conference.
During the discussion there were four things that stood out to me as being interesting, even if some were relatively tangential for analysts covering the stock.
Ground and flight attendant employees get a 4% raise. Employees who receive merit-based pay adjustments will have a 4% increase in the total compensation pool available to them. And bonuses are expected to be higher, too.
Just as importantly the airline communicates that it is investing in solving pain points in jobs, and employees are reminded that they’re empowered to address the most important issues at the airline (safety). It’s a well-written memo.
United Airlines has just announced that MileagePlus miles no longer expire.
MileagePlus has also eliminated award charts. The two changes viewed together redistribute United’s spending from frequent customers to infrequent ones.
Airlines don’t do enough to clean planes between flights. I feel especially bad for the cleaners who have to deal with the mess passengers leave behind.
When a customer is faced with a seat that hasn’t been properly cleaned, and can’t be prior to takeoff, I view the seat as inoperative or out of service — if the airline can’t move them, it’s tantamount to an involuntary denied boarding. Cash compensation should be due.
With the closure of Pakistani airspace, United suspended its India flying. They extended cancellation through late October right before the airspace re-opened. United added India flights back into their schedule. It doesn’t surprise me to see certain flights lightly booked.
As a result they’re using the mileage program to unload seats at a discount. United is running a flash sale – today only – with 50% off awards to Mumbai.
As a result of bad weather Wednesday’s Tel Aviv – Newark flight diverted to Cleveland, which is no longer a United hub.
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 »
