I’ll admit, I hate the term “devalue”. That’s the term many travel bloggers use to describe when airlines increase the number of miles or points necessary to book award flights. To me, this is a price increase on awards. The reality is that many award flights United offers have gone up in price over the past few months. The initial changes were reported by many as “overnight” changes, though the changes were a bit more subtle than that. Many awards started to show higher pricing a few months ago based […]
United Airlines
IT Fail: Known Traveler Number Disappearing From United Reservations
Airlines are complicated beasts. Hundreds of unique systems need to talk to each other to make sure everything functions properly. Frequently, that’s not the case. Road warriors are used to things going wrong. Planes break, employees show up late, technology backfires. Add weather to the mix and things get even crazier. Those are all unpredictable parts of an airline operation. The software side of the operation should be the more reliable part. In multiple key areas recently, this has not been the case for United Airlines. On top of their […]
Quick Tip: Free “First Class” Seats For United Elites On Certain Routes
Complimentary upgrades to first class on domestic flights have largely become a thing of the past for road warriors. Gone are the days where I would clear the upgrade list on virtually every flight I booked. Economy class is nowhere near as pleasant as it used to be, so the occasional upgrade to first class can be a real treat on longer flights. Due to some recent scheduling quirks, I’ve found some instances where elite members can select a free upgrade to United’s Premium Plus seating. These are essentially domestic […]
The Curious Case Of United’s Edible Catering
In the early days of the pandemic airlines scrambled to find ways to save money. One cost-cutting method that the airlines have relied on frequently over the years is to reduce catering options onboard planes. Catering cuts are likely centered around the belief that customers choose an airline based on route, timing and price; that they’ll be forgiving if any of the soft touches are absent during their trip. It was understandable in the early days when such things as catering took a serious hit. Customers continued to be understanding […]
United Cuts Deep On International Flights at Dulles
The pandemic has yielded plenty of unexpected decisions by airlines and hotel chains over the past year. Recent moves by United Airlines aren’t all that surprising in general, but the depth of the cuts did surprise me. It’s clear from these cuts that United doesn’t think international travel will come roaring back as more vaccines find their ways into people’s arms. United Cuts International Flights At Dulles Airport The Points Guy reported on a deep number of cuts on international flights at Dulles Airport. Dulles Airport, located outside of Washington, […]
Finally! United’s Return To JFK Means Cheap Award Seats On Transcons
Throughout the pandemic, one thing that I noticed was a lack of truly affordable awards for domestic flights. Even in the face of an unprecedented drop in demand, cheap award seats were hard to come by. In the beginning of the pandemic, I wasn’t searching often. As COVID-19 has stretched on, I’ve started to search more frequently as friends have asked for help finding flights. Uniformly, I’ve not found nearly as many saver awards as I would have expected. Even on routes that consistently have some saver award availability, such as Washington-Dulles […]
United Treating Pilots Better Than Their Best Customers To Help Navigate COVID-19
Airlines are facing an incredibly unique set of challenges. The “winners” from this time period will be those that continue to make the best decisions possible. There’s certainly no playbook for navigating a pandemic while trying to run a massive airline. Admittedly, I’m running behind on writing about this story. A few weeks ago View From The Wing covered news that United Airlines had made some unique concessions to their pilots to help them navigate COVID-19: Pilots also achieved permanent, positive-space First Class deadheads, with stand-by eligibility before paying passengers, […]
United Airlines Eliminates Change Fees And Standby Fees on All Domestic Flights
United Airlines announced some significant changes today that will benefit customers. They call this a permanent move. Here are the changes: Effective immediately, United Airlines will no longer charge change fees on virtually all domestic tickets with the exception of Basic Economy. This is for all tickets, not just for elite members. On January 1, 2021 United will also eliminate standby fees for all passengers. United is also expanding free same-day changes. Now, Silver members will also be included in free same-day changes. You’ll still need to find the appropriate […]