American Airlines announced several new international routes this week. Is there any deeper strategy we can discern in the new routes? American will return to Tel Aviv, begin service to Africa for the first time, and expand in Eastern Europe. New routes will include: Chicago (ORD) to Krakow, Poland (KRK) and begins May 7, 2020 […]
United Instructs Agents To Covertly Report Hidden City Travelers
United Airlines does not appreciate passengers who engage in hidden city ticketing. Now it wants airport agents to play a greater role in discouraging this practice…covertly, not overtly. First, a review of hidden city ticketing. Briefly, United (and all carriers) often charge a premium for nonstop flights. For example, a flight from Los Angeles to […]
United Airlines Expands ConnectionSaver To More Hubs
United Airlines will expand its already-popular ConnectionSaver to more hubs starting this week. In June, I wrote about United’s ConnectionSaver tool that rolled out to Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles. Starting this week, United will roll out the tool to remaining hubs. > Read More: United ConnectionSaver Tool Has Serious Potential United explains the multi-faceted […]
United Airlines Gambles With New Snack Offerings
United Airlines has expanded its complimentary snack selection on all flights. But is United prepared for greedy passengers? Effective immediately, United will offer a choice of one the following three snacks, no matter the time of day or length of flight: Byrd’s Maple Wafers Pretzels Stroopwafels Toby Enqvist, United’s Chief Customer Officer, said: Since we […]
United Airlines Looks Past Air India To New Partner
As United Airlines plans expansion India, it will add full-service Vistara as a codeshare partner later this year. United Airlines plans to resume its Newark – Delhi service this autumn and commence new San Francisco – Delhi service in December. As it seeks to offers it passengers more reliable onward connections and feed its longhaul […]
United Polaris On Display At Saks Fifth Avenue
United Airlines is front and center at Saks Fifth Avenue’s flagship New York City store this weekend. Through Monday, Saks Fifth Avenue is highlighting United’s new summer destinations from Newark and its Polaris business class product in the ground floor street windows of its 5th Avenue store. United is offering summer seasonal service to the […]
United’s Diametrically Different Hawaii Strategy Than Southwest
United Airlines and Southwest could not differ more when it comes to how each approaches service to Hawaii. Southwest’s entry into the Hawaiian market has caused ripples. This has concerned some legacy airline employees who fear cutbacks. But for United, which offers more service to Hawaii than any other mainland carrier, the key is offering […]
American Airlines Partnership With Hyatt Ruffles Feathers But Should It?
American Airlines and Hyatt Hotels announced a partnership that will allow elites from each program to earn while flying or staying with the other. But some aspects of the partnership are one-sided, leaving Hyatt members upset, but maybe they shouldn’t be upset. If you are considering booking travel or signing up for a new credit card please click here. Both […]
Will Etihad Partner With United And Join Star Alliance?
Rumors are swirling that Etihad Airways will ditch American Airlines and partner with United Airlines. What will this mean for all three carriers? It was two years ago that rumors were swirling that Etihad was close to joining Star Alliance. At the time, I confirmed with several sources that the talks were serious. Early 2017 […]
United’s Bold New Growth In Denver
United Airlines will restructure its schedule on Thursday at Denver International Airport, adding more than 60 mainline flights each week. I’ve written about United’s domestic growth strategy and rebanking strategy before. Rebanking means clustering arrivals and departures together to maximize ease of connection. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, United’s latest move at Denver will […]
How The Weather Hurts The Pocketbooks Of United Employees
United Airlines posted a dismal January in terms of operational performance and all employees are likely going to feel the pain. Data released on Thursday shows that United ended the month of January a distant fourth place (behind American, Delta, and Southwest) in terms of on-time arrivals and flight cancellations. With only 73.6% of flights […]
Bombardier CRJ 550: A New Regional Jet Experience On United
United revealed a brand new aircraft today, the CRJ-550, that I call the business-friendly regional jet. It’s quite a leap from United’s current 50-seat jet. Currently, United operates CRJ-200s through its various United Express partners. These 50-seat aircrafts are single-cabin, feature tight legroom, no power, no wi-fi, and are generally very uncomfortable. But today, United unveiled […]
United Massively Increases Premium Cabins Across Fleet
United Airlines announced it will add 1,600 United Polaris Business and United First Class seats to almost 250 international and domestic aircraft. I’d call 25-50% increases in the size of premium cabins massive. Last week I wrote about the increase in United Polaris business class on 21 767-300s from 3o to 46 seats, plus the addition […]
United’s 2019 Growth Strategy: Target Hubs
After a year of robust “easy” growth, now United will try a riskier growth strategy: small-city growth from its hubs. United’s domestic growth last year was predicated on “low hanging fruit”. The Chicago-based airline increased service to Hawaii and many larger U.S. cities and was able to sustain that growth through improved operational reliability and […]
10 Airlines I Hope To Review In Business Class
As much as I love reviewing first class products, I think business class reviews tend to be more helpful to more readers. Here’s a list of 10 airlines I hope to review this year in business class, but I’m open to suggestion. Earlier this month I wrote a piece entitled, 10 Flights I Look Forward […]
United’s Loss Is Emirates’ Gain
Emirates is considering restarting a Fifth Freedom route between Hamburg, Germany and New York JFK. It’s a bold move in the “America First” era, but hardly a route so odd that it merits scorn. Without formal announcement, United suspended service to Hamburg last autumn. After serving Hamburg year-around for several years from Newark via a 757-200, […]
American, Delta, United Jostle At LAX, Billboard Style
It’s a great time to fly out of Los Angeles because carriers, flush with profit, are re-investing in the airport. As I walked down Sepulveda Blvd and onto the aircraft grounds last week, I noticed three billboards. Let’s have a look: Billboard #1 – American Airlines What’s next at LAX? Reimagining your travel experience. American […]
United Orders Additional 737 + 777 Aircraft
Buried in the news of United’s excellent financials was a new Boeing aircraft order. As the airline continues to expand, United has placed a firm order for 24 additional 737 MAX aircraft and four additional 777-3o0ER. The deal was actually signed last month, but only made public during the earnings calls earlier this week. This […]
United Reports Healthy 2018 Earnings, Rosy Outlook For 2019
United reported healthy fourth quarter earnings and an optimistic outlook on 2019, sending shares soaring in after hours trading. Let’s do the numbers first. Feel free to skip over this portion if you want to find out what these numbers means. Fourth-quarter net income of $462 million, diluted earnings per share of $1.70, pre-tax earnings […]
How United Reclaimed Its Rank As World’s #2 Airline
By at least one measure, United has surpassed Delta as world’s second largest airline. Under Scott Kirby’s leadership, United has been in expansion mode for the last year. Denver is expanding. Houston is expanding. Chicago is expanding. In fact, there’s growth at each hub and a concerted effort to re-capture domestic market share ceded during […]
