Tag Archives for united airlines.
A read out from an employee meeting at United details the headaches the airline is going to face at Newark over the next few months, and what that means from passengers. They’ve also detailed how they’re using the crisis to get the government to limit competition from other airlines in the Newark market.
Business travel seems to be coming back, with airlines generally reporting that it’s returned to about 40% of 2019 levels, heading towards 60% in the current quarter, with two primary drivers that will lead to its further return.
United Airlines reports that while frequent flyers still make up a reduced percentage of travelers overall – they are “7 to 8 points below normal” for even MileagePlus members on a given flight – three quarters of elite members have either flown or booked travel this year. They believe those elites who haven’t are primarily people who fly to international markets that have been closed. United also claims that 84% of MileagePlus members are vaccinated.
United Airlines introduced map-based flight search last year for revenue flights. And the increasingly revenue-based MileagePlus program now has this new feature as well. This allows filtering awards by non-stop vs. connection, dates, one-way vs. roundtrip, along with an “interest filter.”
A doctor and mother, Farah Naz Khan, took a United flight out of Wyoming late in the week that was operated by United’s regional express carrier Mesa.
She was flying first class, and went to the back bathroom to change her baby’s diaper. She used a “scented diaper disposal bag” and placed it into the lavatory trash.
When she returned to her seat, the first class flight attendant “berated [her] for throwing away a poop diaper on the plane” calling it a “biohazard.” He forced her to retrieve the poop-filled diaper. Then, she says, he started harassing her after the flight.
With a big aircraft order and a new commitment to seat back video screens, including retrofitting existing aircraft, United Airlines is trying to capture the mantle of a premium carrier that customers will choose to fly.
However they’ve been slow to re-open their club lounges. Fortunately the airline is feeling the pressure, has started to re-open more of its clubs outside of hubs, and has a plan to re-open more over the summer.
United Airlines didn’t just announce a major aircraft order today, they pitched a plan to offer a more premium flight experience. A symbol of that plan is to offer seat back entertainment screens to all passengers, not just on new planes but retrofitting the existing fleet as well.
CEO Scott Kirby isn’t just arguing that these are important to passengers. He isn’t just saying that he’s had a change of heart, covering not just United’s opportunities going forward but at his previous airlines that haven’t made similar investments. He is throwing shade at other airlines, saying he’s always been a proponent of seat back entertainment but has been stymied. That’s not even close to true.
United has placed an order for 270 narrowbody planes: 200 Boeing 737 MAXs (50 MAX 8s, 150 MAX 10s) and 70 Airbus A321neos. 200 regional jets will be replaced by mainline aircraft. And they’re retrofitting cabins on their existing narrowbody planes with more premium seats, seatback entertainment with bluetooth for headphones, seat power and larger overhead bins. The retrofit is promised to be 66% complete by 2023 and 99% complete by 2025.
Most of this had already leaked, and I reported that it was expected, but it’s still huge news that it’s happening. The airline clearly sees strong travel growth and a return of business travel to normal levels sooner than competitors.
United Airlines was the first to really get the seriousness of the pandemic and scale down its operations accordingly. They furloughed almost as many workers as American Airlines did, and cut deeply into management ranks. They’re also though symbolically coming out of pandemic serving alcohol on more flights than competitors and first class meals too.
Some of the tactics they employed to get through the pandemic were downright despicable, such as illegally withholding refunds from customers and devaluing MileagePlus awards when no one was looking. We’ll see what they announce tomorrow about how they plan to make up for these betrayals.
The airline is changing the method they use to calculate distances between two airports. That’ll mean some customers earn more miles and some earn fewer. And that matters also because ‘Million Miler’ status is still based on distances flown.
United Airlines is running a sweepstakes giving away free travel to people that have been vaccinated. But they won’t consider someone getting AstraZeneca shots to be vaccinated. Anyone who took AstraZeneca needs to follow the same mail-in route to enter as a vaccine refusenik.
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 »
