Tag Archives for united airlines.
A United Airlines passenger’s complaint is getting a lot of attention after she and her fiancé booked business class seats from London Heathrow to Chicago, only to find that the airline bumped the fiancé to coach in favor of an employee.
The airline can start putting up flight attendants in much lower quality hotels during their layovers. Instead of business class hotels, we could start to see hovels.
The United Airlines flight attendant contract that the union negotiated may already be in trouble. Online chatter is heavily negative. The future of the contract – whether flight attendants vote to ratify it or not – likely hinges on how well the union communicates with its members, and how much flight attendants trust the union. They need to quell these concerns quickly.
A United Airlines passenger flying from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Denver on flight 5339 – a CRJ-700 regional jet operated by SkyWest, found his seat cushion detached and on the ground of the aircraft when he boarded. He naturally let a flight attendant know – but this turned out to be a grave mistake. The man was given an ultimatum.
At first blush it seems like United got the better deal in its partnership with JetBlue. JetBlue’s flights really don’t get United that much, and the airlines aren’t codesharing. United gets back into JFK – by gaining 7 takeoff and landing slots from JetBlue, and the carriers are exchanging a handful of flight times at Newark.
It might be hard to see why JetBlue chose United as a partner. However, the deal makes sense when you read between the lines to what hasn’t been said about the partnership.
Back in January I reported that United Airlines and JetBlue were in talks over a partnership. Today the two carriers made it official with a “Blue Sky” partnership that is frequent flyer linkup, slot trade, and long-game move in New York.
United Airlines crew are wearing old uniforms for the last time, as frontline employees debut their new Brooks Brothers uniforms on Wednesday.
Flight attendants will still have to ratify the deal. Pending major surprises though it seems likely, though some flight attendants will believe that they can always do better – that you should ‘never take the first deal’. However starting the click on “40% total economic improvements” in the first year along with retro pay is going to be something most crew will want right away.
Airlines offer priority boarding to first class passengers and to their elite frequent flyers. They also usually offer it to uniformed military personnel, and passengers with disabilities and to families with small children.
If you want to get on the plane early and don’t want to enlist in the military, I guess just keep having kids? Or pretending to?
Starting June 3, you’ll have to check in earlier if you want to fly United Airlines. In an internal memo, the airline stays that customers without bags will have to check in at least 45 minutes prior to their flight. The current rule is 30 minutes. If you don’t make it in time, you’ll lose your seat.
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 »
