United Airlines is continuing its expansion at Washington Dulles with two new routes next summer, further growing its mid-Atlantic hub. In 2020, United will add service to Bangor, Maine (BGR) and Madison, Wisconsin (MSN). Service to Madison is effective May 8th while service to Bangor is effective June 4th. The Bangor route, 601 miles, will […]
United’s Bifurcated Approach To Aircraft Seating
Just what is a “Scott Kirby Retrofit”? Is that configuring a 767-300 with a staggering number of business class seats or squeezing more passengers onto a 787-8? My friend Gary from View from the Wing wrote a story yesterday entitled, “Leaked Seat Maps Show United’s 787s Are Getting A Scott Kirby Retrofit.” Working off seat […]
United Airlines’ New Focus On Quality
United Airlines President Scott Kirby has pledged a greater emphasis on the quality of the passenger experience after many years of shunning such a viewpoint. But what makes for a quality experience? Speaking at the Morgan Stanley 7th Annual Laguna Conference, Kirby said that “more and more” United must be “competing on quality instead of […]
United Reducing Service To Hong Kong + Buenos Aires
Citing weak demand, United Airlines will suspend two long-standing international routes to Hong Kong and Buenos Aires. This autumn, United will suspend its Chicago to Hong Kong flight, its Newark to Buenos Aires flight, and accelerate the suspension of its Guam to Hong Kong flight. United Suspends Chicago – Hong Kong Effective September 9, 2019 Without […]
United Adds Service To Nice, Palermo, And Curacao
United Airlines will add three new international routes from Newark, one from Chicago, and increase existing service from Denver, San Francisco, and Newark on four key routes. Three New Destinations From Newark United will add new service from Newark to: Curacao – weekly seasonal service on Saturdays beginning December 7, 2019 Nice – daily seasonal […]
United Hints At New International Routes
United Airlines will announce several new international routes tomorrow. A post on Twitter gives us some clues as to what they might be. A short video posted on Twitter include shots from San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, and New York: New international routes landing tomorrow. Any guesses? pic.twitter.com/xXwDrd9Qh2 — United Airlines (@united) August 21, 2019 Under […]
Making Sense of American Airlines’ Latest Route Additions
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 […]
