United Airlines will stop offering proactive compensation on flights delays of less than six hours. The move marks a tightening of what had been a fairly generous policy, but does not the limit individual compensation flight attendants and gate agents can extend.
First reported by Brian Sumers of Skift, United will makes changes to its “delay compensation matrix” based upon “customer feedback”. Proactive compensation will no longer be offered to entire flights for delays under six hours. Currently, some delays as little as 3-4 hours trigger emails to everyone onboard. Those emails include a secure link to choose compensation on United’s website.
Individual compensation will vary based upon MileagePlus status, but every passenger receives either credit toward a future flight or miles. This compensation is not triggered by weather delays or other acts beyond United’s control, but for mechanical or crew delays within the control of the airline.
I asked a front-line contact at United if that memo went out and was forwarded it. The memo is only two paragraphs long and was issued on December 16, 2019.
While stressing that United will trim back its proactive compensation, United also stressed that its gate agents and flights attendants are empowered to offer compensation on the spot with their “In-the-Moment Care” app:
“As always and in the frontline operation, you’re empowered to make great service decisions in the best interest of our customers. Our core4 standards serve as the foundation of how we make decisions with each other and our customers. When situations arise, and they warrant compensation outside of this guideline, do the right thing to take care of the customer. With the ongoing enhancements within the In-the-Moment Care app, you can issue compensation on the spot, recover service disruptions, and avoid sending the customer to a website or service desk.”
It’s A Cutback Only If You Don’t Ask
United claims this is not a cutback. A spokesperson said:
“This policy empowers our employees to make more personalized service decisions for our customers when a disservice occurs. We will continue to analyze feedback on our policies and further invest in approaches that are most appreciated by our customers.”
Can I stop here and question that “customer feedback” excuse in the memo. It undermines the argument that this isn’t a cutback. What customer would NOT want to be proactively compensated for a delay? Who wants to have to ask for it?
I’ve received a handful of proactive compensation emails over the last few years and don’t expect United to fail to make right wasting my time with a delay within its control. I don’t want to have to ask for it, but United has made it super easy for flight attendants and gate agents to issue compensation: it isn’t the end of the world.
CONCLUSION
There’s bad news here: unless you know to ask for it, you will not be receiving delay compensation from United on many flights. But there’s good news here too: United has given its employees broad leeway in offering compensation to customers. That is something to be celebrated.
Don’t forget to ask for it…
image: United Airlines
Maybe it’s me but I feel awkward asking for this. Should I do it at the gate, during boarding or during meal service? Not sure there is a perfect time to do this? I think it is a cutback.
Regarding the customer feedback angle…
I *may* have taken surveys for United that probed this issue. The questions were framed along the lines of “how upset are you during delays of 2/4/6+ hours?” “Rank how important each of these responses from United are during each length of delay: apology, compensation, etc” and so on.
So they did not ask directly “hey we give out free money without you asking should we stop doing that?”, but more open ended. And they probably gleaned from the honest survey responses that delays of 2-4 hours were not as big of pain point as they assumed so they could roll back auto compensation without a drop in customer satisfaction.
Just another perspective on it…
This is discrimination against introverts.
Also i have never gotten free money. Even though my first flight in a three flight itinerary was delayed by more than 2 hours.
How is putting the burden on the passenger to complain NOT a service cutback? Service means helping the customer. This is like telling waiters in a restaurant- don’t refill waters when you see they need it, wait until the customer complains. No. Just refill the damn water you know they want it and here, no one has ever said “no thank you” to free miles/money after being delayed! This just gets United off the hook for those who don’t know to ask, e.g. most of their flying public who aren’t huge frequent fliers, and will basically guarantee that those people don’t become United-loyal. I don’t know what penny-pinching genius thought of this but if I were John Q. Public and had a delay of two hours and got a nice spontaneous email from United saying “we know your time is valuable and we thank you for your patience heres 10,000 miles on us”, that would turn my angry/resigned/annoyed attitude right around and make me think United did give a crap, unlike American or other airlines. Poor choice United.
I bet the feedback they received was along the lines of “I missed a whole day of vacation and United didn’t care – they only gave me 2500 miles!” Technically, it’s true people would be upset about the situation, but it’s missing the forest for the trees to think that the upsetting part is the proactive compensation.
Does anyone want to know why this really happened? Scott “spreadsheet” Kirby.
Matthew, an honest question for a United pro like yourself. What IS the best way to ask?
Magic words, Twitter, GA upon arrival/departure, UC agents, FAs mid-flight?
I’m not opposed to asking, I just want to be tactful.
“I’ve received a handful of proactive compensation emails over the last few years and don’t expect United to fail to make right wasting my time with a delay within its control. I don’t want to have to ask for it, but United has made it super easy for flight attendants and gate agents to issue compensation: it isn’t the end of the world.”
—–
… Yes, you will have to ask for it (every time) and unless you get employees who really care or are capable of entering data correctly, will you really get compensated ? My guess is no. Good customer service and asking for compensation depends on the person you are talking to – and we all know that in every service industry (airlines or otherwise), when asked for compensation or substitution are met with a deer in the headlights stare or a false statement such as “we don’t do that” or “can’t be done” or “I don’t know how to do that”, “the computer won’t let me”, etc. So, just another way United has dumbed things down to put the onus on the passenger (to ask, beg, complain) and free-up their staff to hold no responsibility. All United ever does is set up themselves for more complaints.
Another dumbing down on the part of United to put the onus/ burden on the passenger. If you don’t ask, you don’t get any compensation or substitution? And look at WHO you are asking – some employees that may be surly, in a bad mood, lazy, in a hurry to end their shift, etc., who will make up excuses or lie for not providing this so-called compensation. Let’s not forget some actually don’t know what the rules are or how to enter data correctly. All United ever does is set themselves up for more complaining, passengers arguing with staff and frustrated employees.
We need EU261-style rules. Enough is enough.
What, not buying the “customer feedback” explanation? Can’t you just picture it:
United Customer#1: “I’m sick and tired of being compensated by United when things go wrong.”
United Customer#2: “Yeah, who do they think they are making unhappy customers whole?”
Crowd mutters darkly in agreement.
See my comment, #2 above at the top. I think this may have been gleaned from more general surveys, not the situation you are describing. Nobody will say no to hassle-free free money. But in general maybe people were being honest about when they expect it when they could answer during a time where they were not currently being inconvenienced.
To the American readers: I always wondered if EU261 is a selling argument for you. Do you specifically choose EU airlines when flying to Europe because you know that you have this guaranteed protection?
Yeah, I do. It’s like free travel insurance, but really good hassle-free travel insurance. I’d love to have a four-hour delay on a leisure trip to Europe arriving at 7 AM — that means I arrive at a more reasonable hour and I get €600, which might be more than the cost of the flight.
All other things being roughly equal, yes.
United refused to honor an EU261 claim I made last fall for an overnight delay due to a timed-out crew on the incoming aircraft. They offered a USD 250 voucher when I was due an EUR 600 cash payment.
That’s outrageous. You should have written to the aviation authority in the EU member state from which you departed and also kept pushing United to pay. Ultimately, I think they would have — they just assume Americans don’t realize they’re entitled to EU rights and will give up.