Tag Archives for united airlines.
The seal on a $100 bottle of whiskey was “obviously cut” and one-third of the bottle was drained when it was collected at baggage claim. It didn’t spill. And it was packed by an industry professional. Who could have taken the precious Glenmorangie?
United Airlines is running an award sale to Japan for 25,000 miles each way in economy. It’s marketed in a bit of a funny way, since they’re promoting both paid fares and awards on sale – the lede is about financing the trip for “$74/mo!”
I think it would be interesting if they promoted awards as ’12 months same as miles! Japan for just 2,083 miles per month!’ But financing travel is bigger business than you might expect.
United Airlines wants flight attendants to greet customers and thank them. They want cabin crew to offer to hang coats in premium cabins and offer pre-departure beverages. And they don’t want crew gossiping loudly in the galley.
If the airline’s flight attendants can do this, United believes they will earn a revenue premium since they argue that research suggests “service is more important to customers than price.”
A little over a year ago United Airlines fired two senior flight attendants who were union leaders. A junior crewmember reported their mask violations, and then the two senior crew solicited false conduct reports against the junior flight attendant in retaliation. United uncovered this, and had no choice but to fire the union reps.
It turns out United fired six senior flight attendants for bullying junior crew. And the six flight attendants are suing for age discrimination.
Every airline has a cursed plane that consistently has more problems than the rest. At United Airlines one of these seems to be Boeing 767-300 registration N641UA.
This aircraft keeps having problems. Just last month the plane diverted to Newark. The same 32-year old aircraft had a gear problem on arrival in Chicago from London and a fuel imbalance reported over the Atlantic that caused a diversion to Iceland. Now it’s an engine fire.
For anyone who ever thought, “I’d like my whiskey to smell like cake,” Glenmorangie makes a $100 single malt aged in ex-bourbon barrels and finished in a Tokaji dessert wine cask.
Christopher Ambler packed a bottle in his checked luggage and entrusted it to United. Then, he says, it was returned to him one-third empty.
Even before the pandemic United cut flight attendant staffing in business class. They replaced proper plating of meals in the galley by a flight attendant with less attractive pre-plated meals.
The union wants staffing levels restored, and to pressure the airline as part of slow-moving contract negotiations they’re asking flight attendants to report their own poor service.
It’s especially galling to see United Airlines selling the option to receive a refund when they cancel a flight during the booking process on their website. A customer is entitled to a refund when United cancels their flight for any reason however United makes it appear that this is not the case when a flight is cancelled due to weather, unless the customer pays extra.
A United Airlines pilot, hired in April 2022, was terminated after less than two months at the carrier “because he struggle[s] to discern different colors while flying at night.” The pilot is suing.
Combined with a broad sense of bank fragility in the face of rising interest rates, alongside a concern that we’re late in the economic cycle and potentially headed into recession, United’s announcement worried some observers that it was a sign that consumer spending was tightening alongside shrinking household balance sheets.
But what changed at United? They cite some booking softness earlier in the year. And they made a decision to accrue costs related to a new pilot contract into the first quarter for their projections. Isn’t that… a little weird?
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 »
