Tag Archives for united.
One month into writing this blog, back in June 2002, I explained how you could fly Concorde for $1258.95 by earning miles for magazine purchases. Your cost would be even lower, of course, if you donated the magazines to a non-profit and took a tax deduction.
That deal is long gone, but you can still buy magazines, earn lots of miles, and even potentially donate them for a tax deduction (provided it still makes sense for you to itemize under last year’s tax reform).
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
I visited United’s new Polaris business class lounge in Chicago 18 months ago. At the time I thought it was the best business class lounge in the United States (and I really enjoy the outdoor deck of the Star Alliance lounge at LAX).
Over the past three and a half months United has picked up the pace of new lounge openings, with Polaris lounges also now in San Francisco, Newark, and Houston.
The United Polaris lounge Newark solidifies my impression of the Polaris lounge project: this is perhaps the nicest thing that United has done. The dining is very good. The lounge amenities are top notch. And there’s a real thoughtfulness that has gone into the details.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
This is all good news for corporate customers, especially big customers of United. Outside of change fee and reaccommodation waivers, the benefits largely come at the expense of flyers who are not corporate customers. Luckily the extra juice corporate customers are getting here is very much at the margin, a Platinum member’s upgrade will still trump a Gold member for instance.
More seats that require a fee isn’t surprising, but it does make buying up from United’s uncompetitive basic economy that much less appealing. Non-corporate leisure customers should increasingly consider American, Delta, or Southwest.
Frequent flyer programs create tremendous value for airlines. They’re highly profitable, and have been for years. When United filed for bankruptcy it was said to have to continue flying to support the underlying credit card business. The airline’s first call after seeing the judge each time was to Jamie Dimon.
The issuer of the United co-brand credit card provided debtor-in-possession financing to United, and co-led bankruptcy exit financing. As with other airlines, United received hundreds of millions of dollars in loans backed by future mileage sales to provide liquidity during the financial crisis.
According to its President Robert Isom at an employee forum last week “it is still a big issue.” Isom claims to have “made progress.. we’re pleased that there’s a recognition that when it comes to fifth freedom flights.. that that’s a problem.”
Isom concludes, “It’s still a focus area.. we’re pleased with the work we’ve been able to do with the Trump administration and we’re pleased with the results so far.”
United, Delta, and American are all offering business class roundtrips between Las Vegas and Beijing from $1901. These fares are widely available through the end of November. There are other cities where you can hop on cheap fares though they’re a few hundred dollars more.
We frequently see sales out of Toronto or Vancouver, or on Chinese airlines that have just recently started routes to the U.S. However seeing this kind of fare on the big 3 US carriers is rare indeed.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has announced a lawsuit against United Airlines for failing to discipline a pilot they say was harassing a flight attendant.
The government alleges this pilot “frequently posted sexually explicit images of a United flight attendant to various websites… referencing the airline’s tagline ‘Fly the Friendly Skies.” They argue United was aware of the harassment “but took no responsibility to put a stop to it.” Make no mistake these were x-rated photos.
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 »
