A reader recently asked me to explain the difference between a pending upgrade and a waitlisted uprade on United Airlines. It’s really quite simple: pending means that you are outside the time limit for a waitlist to clear. Waitlist...
Tapas Snackbox on United is Delicious
In November, United introduced three new snack boxes as part of its revamped buy-on-board menu for economy class. One of them, the Tapas snackbox, caught my eye and I had the chance to sample it earlier this week. The...
Poll Reveals Challenge Facing United and Continental
A recently released Zagat survey of 8,000 frequent flyers reveals a conundrum for the new United Airlines: passengers seem to love Continental and hate United. Continental certainly does many things well. Their website and mobile app is slick and...
From Hate to Great: Continental vs. United at Las Vegas International
As I have harped on many times before, attitude is key when it comes to forming my overall impression of a flight or travel experience. The amenities, ticket price, and hard product can all be great, but unless the...
Using a Flight Delay to Your Advantage
While most of the traveling public dreads the announcement that their flight is delayed, I usually welcome such announcements. To be sure, delays are not always a great thing. My Los Angeles-Las Vegas United flight was delayed yesterday by...
What the Spell Checkers Missed at United.com
Believe me, spell checking is not the easiest task in the world. Automated spell checkers are not perfect and without careful proofreading (as I have found more often than I’d care to admit on my own blog), a lot...
"Have a happy holiday…"
I interacted with quite a few United Airlines’ employees today on my journey from Philadelphia to Orange County via Chicago and was struck by something: no staff member–not a single one–uttered the word "Thanksgiving." Instead, everyone said, "Have a happy...
United, Continental Pilots Angry Over Outsourcing
United pilots have long protested the "regional creep" that permeates deeper in UA’s schedule each year. Essentially, more regional jets served by United Express subsidiaries are taking over routes that used to be exclusively mainline. For example, Los Angeles-Portland/Seattle...
United Returns to Lima! New Service from Houston with Domestic 767-300s
Starting in February, United will take over Continental’s Houston (IAH) to Lima (LIM) route. Currently, Continental operates a 757-200 on this 3,143-mile, 6.5 hour flight, featuring 16 BusinessFirst seats (though this winter they will be transitioning to a 757-300...
FAs to Vote on Retro 757 Livery to Celebrate United’s 85th Anniversary
To celebrate United Airlines’ 85th Anniversary next year, FAs (just the UA ones) will have a chance to vote on a classic livery that will be featured on a 757. The retro-schemed aircraft will survive the new UA “bingo container” paint jobs...
A Rundown of my Weekend Mileage Run: Snack, Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner on Continental Airlines
Last weekend I did a mileage run from Los Angeles to Denver and back via Cleveland on Continental. The fare was something like $160 r/t including taxes and gave me a chance to get some work done in the...
Why the 2011 United/Continental Elite Program Isn’t the End of the World
Reading some of the responses on Flyertalk today after United announced changes to the Mileage Plus program for 2011, you would think the world was coming to an end. Relax. I’m not happy about the changes either, but we may...
Why I Won’t Arrive 15 Minutes Before Departure Next Time I Fly Out of Burbank
Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California is a handy little United Express station. Less 20 minutes from my house, it is always my airport of choice when I travel to and from Southern California. When mainline pulled out over a...
United Plays Bait and Switch with VDBs
I noticed yesterday morning that my afternoon SFO-PHL flight was zeroed out. I haven’t had a bump since February, so just the thought of picking up $400 in travel credits perked me up. I arrived in San Francisco about...
Why don’t passengers follow crew member instructions on regional jets?
I suppose a more apt question may be why don’t passengers follow crew members instructions on most flights, but I really felt sorry for the SkyWest FA working my SFO-BUR flight yesterday. After the aircraft door closed, she asked passengers...
United Airlines’ Unscheduled Stop in Iceland
When Delta announced they would begin serving Iceland from New York Kennedy, I secretly hoped that United or Continental might jump into the fray. Iceland’s economy may still be in doldrums, but why not have one flight to London...
SFO’s Best Gate Agent
Sometimes, a gate agent can just make your day. Due to favorable wind conditions and UA’s generous schedule padding (gotta retain that #1 in on-time arrivals status), I arrived in San Francisco one hour early this morning, leaving me...
United Integrates Check-In at O’Hare…Sort of
Starting Tuesday, if you’re flying Continental out of Chicago O’Hare, you will check in with United at Terminal 1 rather than at CO’s traditional check-in and ticketing desks in Terminal 2. But there’s one small problem: Continental customers will...
UA’s Smisek: Cleveland must "earn its hub status every day"
With a mega-hub in nearby Chicago, word on the street is that Continental’s Cleveland hub will be a casualty of the merger with United. CLE is only 314 miles from ORD. While San Francisco and Los Angeles (UA’s West...
United, Continental Pilots Butting Heads Over Seniority
The dust of the merger hasn’t even settled yet and already Continental and United pilots are quarreling. Let’s hope this sibling rivalry is ironed out faster than America West and US Airways pilots have worked out their differences (we’re still waiting on that)… On...
