United Airlines is adding a flight attendant to its 767-300 (76L) fleet operating domestically. Why does this matter? It will meaningfully improvement the premium cabin experience and represents an important investment in soft product.
United Airlines Adds 767-300 Flight Attendant
I don’t usually write about my domestic flights, but I’ve been a regular guest onboard United’s new 767-300 service between Los Angele and New York JFK. The seat is great. The food is getting better (hot bread is back and there is even a pre-arrival meal now). Even the internet and IFE have been working fairly well.
But the service is so…so…slow. And it’s not because the flight attendants are lazy or even slow themselves. Rather, it’s because this subfleet of 767s has 46 seats in business class and only two flight attendants are assigned to the entire cabin.
It’s really a sad sight when meal service takes two hours if you are sitting in the rear of the cabin, especially considering everything is served on one tray. Frankly, it has been frustrating at times if I am trying to work or sleep and you have no idea when the meal will come because it takes so long.
I typically book last minute and prefer window seats, meaning I’m already in the back of the cabin, though lately I’ve been choosing center seats closer to the front precisely to avoid the long waits for food.
But effective October 30th, United is adding an additional flight attendant on this aircraft type, no matter the domestic route. In a memo to employees, United said:
Because our 76L staffing ratio will be better aligned with the rest of our fleet, we’ll more efficiently support future enhancements and added service in providing a truly exceptional customer experience.
Customers may not see this extra flight attendant, but they will certainly appreciate this extra flight attendant who will be stationed in the front galley preparing meals. That will free up the other flight attendants to actually attend to guests in the cabin and deliver drinks and food within a more reasonable time frame.
Now I still except that meal service will be a bit slower on this aircraft than others: after all, one person preparing meals and drink for 46 passengers will still take time. But there is no doubt this will help speeds things up and the flight attendants I speak to are thrilled for the extra set of hands. Hopefully this aircraft will return to the JFK route next year…
CONCLUSION
Certainly, United will incur a higher labor costs on 767 flights with the addition of one flight attendant, but it will lead to happier flight attendants and happier passengers. Nothing spoils a comfortable seat and nice flight like having to wait hours to be served breakfast. Well done, United. This is the sort of pound-wise, penny-foolish move that will pay dividends in the long-run.
Kind of crazy they tried to run that huge cabin on the transcons with only 2 FAs. AA has 2 in transcon business for 20 seats, and B6 2 for 16. I’m assuming UA is going to use 2 for 16 upfront when they switch JFK to the 757?
2 FA’s for 47 passengers???? You’ve got to be kidding me!!!! No wonder their service is pure crap!!! Not worth the $$$$.
Personally I believe you should write more about your domestic travel. While you have readers from around the world, I would believe most are from America and most of their travel is domestic.
Why not review what is relevant to the majority?
Maybe your friends & neighbors in The Villages would love to hear the latest & greatest about Branson, Daytona, & Galveston, but shocker, that’s not why people come to this blog
No, it would appear people come here for UA press releases.
Slightly off topic, but does anyone have a good method to find what flights are operated by 767’s? Booked an award ticket DEN-HNL on a UA 767 for November in economy and then bought Economy+ seats. This is a tolerable flight in a 767 with the 2 seats on the outside, and not too bad a deal for 22.5K miles oneway. However, United switched the flight to a 777, and even Economy+ sucks in this plane. Had to cancel my award ticket and bought 2 premium economy seats instead.
I’m on a TATL flight on this aircraft in November and I’m fairly excited about it. Is the staffing a little better for international flights? For a late departing redeye out of EWR, having to wait for meal service could really cut in to sleep time.
There’s already an extra crewmember on international flights. This change applies only to domestic.
How are the TATL or international 767-300 staffed Matt?
With United no longer flying the premium-heavy 767-300 on the California-JFK routes, what are the remaining domestic routes for this aircraft where the third premium cabin flight attendant is going to be added? Where is it going to make a real difference?
I see it ex-EWR to LAX/SFO now later in Q4
It’s time to face your inferiority complex in a more productive way. Mouthing off about Branson Missouri whenever you feel the need to show off your international cachet got old about 50 posts ago. Time to, as we hicks like to say, move on.
As I understand FAA Regulations, it’s 1/50 FA to Pax. So two FA for 46 Pax clearly tells you United FA are slowing it down. Is their contract nearing expiry?
Regulations aside, there’s a huge difference in effort/service required for business class versus economy class.
well your are incorrect ! It is 1 FA for 50 passengers for the FAA requirement of minimum crew . No our contract isn’t up and we are not slowing it down . You come try it with 2 people one of which is the Purser dealing with all the other issue that arise . What a rude comment and you clearly don’t know what you are speaking about . You should try and slam people for things you clearly know nothing about .
1. You’re mixing up Federal Aviation Regulations regarding cabin crew minimums with what is a rational ratio of cabin crew to passengers for customer service. One is controlled by the company and one is not.
2. The flight attendants don’t have control over staffing although their union may advocate for them. I’m sure you could ask any flight attendant at United if they find their staffing adequate and in most cases be told no.
3. Don’t blame the employees for poor decisions by management. Think about you hosting 46 often demanding strangers for dinner in someone else’s tiny apartment and trying to be quick, efficient and fulfill multiple individual queries and requests meanwhile trying to keep them all happy.
Ual always understaffed or had bare minimum crew on flts because of their bottom line. The company gave the impression of cool service of years gone by or international service in a domestic market depending on how the marketing ads went. Fancy meals and setups, trendy amenity kits, pax waited on hand and foot by unruffled crew is a stretch because pax were led to believe that there was no one else to serve but you alone and with a subservient smile or demeanor. Get over it. Crews from other companies usually are staffed well because their similar planes have less seats and the service flow may not be as overly extravagantly advertised as ual. Other factors that come into play for world class service is the individual attitude of crew, the cockpit maybe in a rush to go home, a mechanical or weather delay, pax having a bad day and of course your fav and mine…..the it’s all about me. These are some factors that occur when staffing is usually established by a revolving door of suits that need to make their mark on a business that they have no experience or knowledge of…..the best advice I could give is for travelers in premium cabins is to demand a pre-order of meals available to me at the time I make a ticket purchase to fly. You get your choice and crew can deliver. Also bring some food you like onboard to supplement. Partner airline company’s may not have similar advertised service either because of their own rules so be understanding. Check your etiquette and attitude because crew never forget on any flt and word spreads quickly. Keep this all in mind when you fly these days when you’re looking for service with a smile in the friendly skies because we really do work our tail for you!
Correction: UAL absorbed Continental Airlines, whose slogan was “At Continental Airlines, we really move our tail for you”… United just calls Airport Police to drag off doctors that UAL overbooked.
You’re not well, so shut up until you are well enough to read and understand what you’re talking about! Thanks
You do understand that the Dao incident took place after the disastrous merger of United and the double wide trailer airline AKA Continental?
You do understand that United‘s top management after the merge was from Continental? At the point in time of the Dao incident, they had Oscar Munoz who had taken over after Jeff Smisek (Continental) was ignominiously removed as CEO for bribery?
You do understand that although it was flying under the United Express banner this was actually a separate airline?
Or perhaps you don’t.
Flew the 763 for LAX/JFK a week ago.
FAs were absolute aces, but it was wild how they basically had to just constantly attend to the cabin nonstop for like 90 minutes straight during meal service.
I was near the front so it didn’t affect me, but they definitely could use another body to share the burden.
Most people have no idea of all the work that is involved in a business class service. To save time and for the purpose of trying to be as objective as possible let’s just say that most peoples expectations far exceed the reality of what most airlines offer these days. As with any customer service intense industry there are always exceptions of course. As a 30 year flight attendant I have personally seen many changes during my career and the truth is that air travel is only getting worse in all respects, be it with the airlines or the passengers they carry. The glamour and the service are both long gone from the skies for most airlines given a few exceptions if you’re willing to pay the price.
Can’t believe I missed this, but this is fantastic news. Something I’ve written in about quite a bit…