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United Will Test Faster Meal Service on Washington Dulles Late Night Europe Flights in April

first class bed
Mar 29 2019

Starting Monday, April 1 United will be conducting a test for one month for late night departures from Washington Dulles. Transatlantic flights departing after 10 p.m. will see a modified meal service in business class that shortens the service to allow for longer sleep. Flights like Washington Dulles – London Heathrow, Frankfurt, and Dublin are scheduled for between just 7 and 8 hours gate-to-gate.

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United Flight Attendants are Selling Their Seniority – and the Airline Wants it to Stop

people posing for picture
Mar 26 2019

Unionized flight attendants — and flight attendants at airlines whose procedures mirror union work rules — get to work the most desirable trips based on seniority. Senior flight attendants at large international airlines can jet away to Sydney, to Buenos Aires, to Paris while more junior flight attendants overnight in Des Moines.

Those longer trips aren’t just more exotic. They pay more (more hours) in a short amount of time, have longer layovers, and may entail staying at better hotels. Secondary markets developed. Last year I wrote about American flight attendants renting out their seniority for $200 a pop. Now United flight attendants are doing it.

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United Now Pricing Awards as Low as 5000 Miles Each Way

united-plane
Mar 25 2019

At the beginning of 2019 I flagged that United removed its award chart tables from its website and rolled out premium economy awards without any award chart at all. This made me wonder whether United would eventually eliminate award charts entirely, as Delta has done, and move to align redemption more closely to the price of a ticket.

Interestingly United appears to be making reduced mileage awards available when ticket prices are low on short-distance routes like New York LaGuardia – Chicago, Los Angeles – Las Vegas, and slightly longer flights like Newark – Fort Lauderdale.

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Delta Now Punishing Frequent Flyers: Starting to Book Some Award Tickets Into Basic Economy

delta coach
Dec 06 2018

Basic economy tickets aren’t a ‘new way to offer cheaper fares’. They are new restrictions on the cheapest fares, a way of making the product worse so that some passengers will pay more.

Now that United, Delta, and American all offer Basic Economy fares (no advance seat assignment, no cancel/changes, no upgrades or extra legroom seats, and in United’s case no full-sized carry on bag) it’s only been a matter of time before one of the carriers tried booking award tickets into Basic Economy.

I admit to being surprised that it’s happened so quickly, since it’s not in the best interests of the airline – it’s a bad business decision – but I’m not surprised that it appears to be Delta going first.

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