Tag Archives for united airlines.
On Friday, United Airlines flight 59 from Frankfurt to San Francisco had to turn around when a toilet overflowed. The Boeing 777-300ER was at 30,000 feet around 70 nautical miles northwest of Amsterdam when pilots asked to enter a holding pattern to troubleshoot the lav. Half an hour later they turned back.
Apparently one of the lavatory toilets “overflowed” and what was called “the soup” spilled into the cabin, with an unbearable stench.
If Jimmy McMillan had been a resident of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, he might have declared the airfares are too damned high!. Politicians in Guam and Saipan have figured out that you never lose by taking on the cost of air travel. And, they complain, that “[a] roundtrip ticket from Saipan to Guam can cost up to $580 on United Airlines. That’s more expensive than some tickets from the Marianas to destinations in Asia.”
Emergency services responded to the aircraft in order to treating multiple passengers on-site for injuries from the turbulence. Six people were transported to a local hospital. Other passengers called it like a “roller coaster” and a “Six Flags” ride.
They will no longer need to gate check 1 million passenger bags per year, across 150,000 flights operated by these aircraft.
United doesn’t have as robust an operation in my home city of Austin as Southwest, American or even Delta. And my most frequent destination for work is Washington, DC and I don’t love schlepping to Dulles. Their network rarely makes sense for me. But I had three great flights, much better than expected, enough to bump them up for future consideration compared to where they’ve been in my personal calculus.
The FAA reportedly won’t let United Airlines grow. They’re taking an active presence at the airline. Reportedly no new planes can enter commercial service, pilots can’t get certified, and new routes can’t be announced.
It’s been broadly covered that the FAA is stepping up inspections of United’s operation. United itself shared this with its employees, and made its employee note public. However the FAAs involvement is far greater than has been revealed publicly.
United Airlines plans to announce ‘family pooling’ of mileage this wee. This is a nice benefit where your kids can help you earn miles towards an award more quickly, and your once a year traveling in-laws can too. Miles get used faster, and become more useful.
A United Airlines first class passenger “took his shoes and socks off, then hung his dirty socks on the seat-back so they could dry” on Thursday. Flight attendants said nothing, but a man sitting across the aisle couldn’t help bringing it to social media – asking how United Airlines could permit such behavior.
United dropped change fees as a competitive response to Southwest. Kirby no longer believes are travel is a commodity – as he did throughout his career – having been shown it doesn’ thave to be by Delta. Boeing is headed back into his good graces. And United is working on their new business class.
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 »
