hkskyline
June 15th, 2005, 03:07 AM
Now It Pays to Get Stuck on a Runway
United Will Give 500 Miles To Passengers on Flights 30 Minutes or More Late
By Ron Lieber
14 June 2005
The Wall Street Journal
NOW YOU CAN earn frequent-flier miles for getting stuck on the runway, even if weather is to blame.
Starting today, UAL Corp.'s United Airlines will give 500 miles to customers on flights that arrive at their destination gate 30 minutes or more late. The offer is good on flights to and from its hub at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport for service between seven airports: Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth International, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Newark, New York's La Guardia, Philadelphia, and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
United will award the miles even if weather or air-traffic-control delays cause a flight to be late. The carrier will also assign all of the flights to these cities to the concourse at O'Hare that is closest to ticket agents and security lines. United has done this before, but it discontinued the practice shortly after the terrorist attacks in 2001.
The move is United's latest attempt to convince Chicago passengers that there are big differences between it and AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, its archrival at O'Hare.
The airlines are already slugging it out over in-flight amenities. Earlier this year, United launched an ad campaign pointing out that American had added seats to its planes, reducing legroom. American promptly fired back, claiming that even with the added seats, it still offers more legroom to more people than United.
An American spokeswoman, when asked to comment on United's new guarantee, said in an emailed statement: "American's focus is on delivering better on-time performance for all its customers on every flight, and with the help of its employees, the airline is making strong progress on this front."
United is also acutely aware that O'Hare has a reputation as a delay-prone airport to be avoided whenever possible. Already, the Federal Aviation Administration had to intervene when United and American added so many flights that they couldn't all run on time. Both agreed to reduce their schedules.
"We're putting our miles where our mouths are on the reliability side," says United senior vice president of marketing Dennis Cary, himself a recent arrival from American Airlines. He adds that while the flights between Chicago and the seven cities will get extra scrutiny from United's operations team, the planes won't be able to cut in line on the runway in front of other flights.
United wouldn't disclose what percentage of its flights between Chicago and the seven cities have been more than 30 minutes late recently, but it says that 71.3% of those flights arrived within 14 minutes of their scheduled arrival time in the first quarter of this year. A United spokeswoman says that it won't be adding extra minutes to its flight schedules to give the planes a better chance of arriving on time.
United customers must register with the airline to be eligible to receive the 500 miles. The new initiatives are scheduled to last through the end of this year, but Mr. Cary says it's possible that the airline will extend them.
United Will Give 500 Miles To Passengers on Flights 30 Minutes or More Late
By Ron Lieber
14 June 2005
The Wall Street Journal
NOW YOU CAN earn frequent-flier miles for getting stuck on the runway, even if weather is to blame.
Starting today, UAL Corp.'s United Airlines will give 500 miles to customers on flights that arrive at their destination gate 30 minutes or more late. The offer is good on flights to and from its hub at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport for service between seven airports: Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth International, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Newark, New York's La Guardia, Philadelphia, and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
United will award the miles even if weather or air-traffic-control delays cause a flight to be late. The carrier will also assign all of the flights to these cities to the concourse at O'Hare that is closest to ticket agents and security lines. United has done this before, but it discontinued the practice shortly after the terrorist attacks in 2001.
The move is United's latest attempt to convince Chicago passengers that there are big differences between it and AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, its archrival at O'Hare.
The airlines are already slugging it out over in-flight amenities. Earlier this year, United launched an ad campaign pointing out that American had added seats to its planes, reducing legroom. American promptly fired back, claiming that even with the added seats, it still offers more legroom to more people than United.
An American spokeswoman, when asked to comment on United's new guarantee, said in an emailed statement: "American's focus is on delivering better on-time performance for all its customers on every flight, and with the help of its employees, the airline is making strong progress on this front."
United is also acutely aware that O'Hare has a reputation as a delay-prone airport to be avoided whenever possible. Already, the Federal Aviation Administration had to intervene when United and American added so many flights that they couldn't all run on time. Both agreed to reduce their schedules.
"We're putting our miles where our mouths are on the reliability side," says United senior vice president of marketing Dennis Cary, himself a recent arrival from American Airlines. He adds that while the flights between Chicago and the seven cities will get extra scrutiny from United's operations team, the planes won't be able to cut in line on the runway in front of other flights.
United wouldn't disclose what percentage of its flights between Chicago and the seven cities have been more than 30 minutes late recently, but it says that 71.3% of those flights arrived within 14 minutes of their scheduled arrival time in the first quarter of this year. A United spokeswoman says that it won't be adding extra minutes to its flight schedules to give the planes a better chance of arriving on time.
United customers must register with the airline to be eligible to receive the 500 miles. The new initiatives are scheduled to last through the end of this year, but Mr. Cary says it's possible that the airline will extend them.