Tag Archives for united airlines.
Dubbed United NEXT, the fleet plan was ambitious and positioned the airline as a more premium airline. And then… nothing happened. A year and a half passed and they didn’t actually do any of the retrofitting of their existing planes to offer more premium seats, seat back TV with bluetooth, and fast internet as they’d promised. There was hand waving about supply chain.
That’s finally changing.
United occasionally runs short-term award sales, and doesn’t always tell everyone. For Cyber Monday they ran up to 50% off coach awards to Europe and Asia Pacific.
Today they’re doing up to 47% off of Hawaii awards, with the best deals for elite members who also have a co-brand credit card.
The saga of one United Airlines customer’s lost bag, tracked down using an AirTag, is the story of one of these third party delivery services. The airline turns it over, and basically loses track of the bag, assuming that their contractor will do their job and make the delivery.
Captain Neil Swindells was elected to head the United Airlines pilot union in a controversial and close vote, where members of the group’s Master Executive Council tried to shut down discussion of his homophobic, misogynistic, and anti-Semitic online commentary.
I wrote, though, that he was unable to represent all of his pilot members equally. And this wasn’t just an internal pilot issue – the head of the pilot union gets a board seat at United Airlines. He was clearly unable to represent shareholders, either.
The Air Line Pilots Association negotiated a new contract with the airline. Seeing pilots at other airlines getting more than they had negotiated they ripped up the agreement rather than sending it to their members. And many United pilots now want a fight with the airline.
But just-elected Captain Neil Swindells is the wrong person to lead them, because he cannot represent the full membership of his union with racist and misogynistic commentary.
United dropped Air Wisconsin and gained more Mesa. Neither is a great experience, but the trade seems to align with United’s network strategy and American’s cost strategy. The Mesa bankruptcy stalking horse that had been much-discussed likely played a role in the ability for Mesa and American to terminate, since if they didn’t Mesa wouldn’t be able to continue ‘losing $5 million per month’ and therefore American’s ability to insist on either specific performance or penalties wasn’t sustainable indefinitely.
United Airlines and Boeing are planning a big announcement today at the airframe manufacturer’s facility in South Carolina. They’ve been expected to announce a huge order for Boeing 787s, which should be line-fit with a new Polaris business class suites with doors.
Ahead of the announcement details of the order have already been released. The Boeing 787 details are correct but they’re ordering MAX aircraft, too.
On Saturday I wrote about wide open United Airlines award space nearly every day from Los Angeles to London in business class for four or more passengers this spring and summer.
Business class awards to Europe during peak season have been tough. It’s especially hard from the West Coast. And harder still when you’re looking for more than two seats. So this was huge. But it gets even better. There’s amazing United Airlines saver award space on numerous routes to Europe.
Business class awards to Europe during peak season have been tough. It’s especially hard from the West Coast. And harder still when you’re looking for more than two seats. Fortunately right now United has 4 or more business class saver awards available flying Los Angeles – London Heathrow nearly every day this spring and summer.
United is holding an event on Tuesday with Boeing at the aircraft manufacturer’s facility in South Carolina. They are expected to announce a major order for Boeing 787 long haul aircraft.
These new planes will come with the same economy and premium economy seats United currently uses on their Boeing 787-10 aircraft, however business class with be a new seat – ‘next generation Polaris’ – which offers suites with doors.
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 »
