United has implemented 10 policy changes it hopes will help prevent customer service breakdowns in the future. The change regarding bags is kind of random but there's so many more draconian policies that United should be looking at modifying and/or eliminating.

Here are the changes:
Limit use of law-enforcement to safety and security issues only.
Do not force customers seated on the plane to give up their seat involuntarily, unless safety or security is at risk.
Increase customer compensation incentives for voluntary denied boarding up to $10,000.
Establish a customer solutions team to provide agents with creative solutions such as using nearby airports, other airlines or ground transportation to get customers to their final destination.
Ensure crews are booked onto a flight at least 60 minutes prior to departure.
Provide employees with additional annual training.
Create an automated system for soliciting volunteers to change travel plans.
Reduce the amount of overbooking.
Empower employees to immediately resolve customer service-issues.
Eliminate the red tape on permanently lost bags by adopting a “no questions asked” policy on lost luggage valued up to $1,500.

http://www.businessinsider.com/united-a ... =buffer-bi

Well done. This should be standard practice with all airlines.

"Empower employees to immediately resolve customer service-issues."

Embarrassing for a business that they even have to make this a policy change, though I understand in a massive organization like United that it's easier to just take that power away from front line staff than it is to train on all the different scenarios. However, I'd be curious to know just how much of a monetary impact doing so would have on the business? That's rhetorical since I'm sure there's no way to know, but at some point empowering your front line folks to fix issues on the fly has got to be part of Doing Business 101.

PlanesNTrains wrote:

"Empower employees to immediately resolve customer service-issues."

Embarrassing for a business that they even have to make this a policy change, though I understand in a massive organization like United that it's easier to just take that power away from front line staff than it is to train on all the different scenarios. However, I'd be curious to know just how much of a monetary impact doing so would have on the business? That's rhetorical since I'm sure there's no way to know, but at some point empowering your front line folks to fix issues on the fly has got to be part of Doing Business 101.

Did you read the article? Of course agents have had the ability to compensate passengers in the past, but they are introducing new tools:

Empower employees to immediately resolve customer service-issues. United will roll out a new app that will allow employees to provide passengers with compensation (financial and otherwise) directly from their company issued iPhones. Flight attendants are expected to have this capability by July while the app will be available to gate agents later in the year.

flyguy84 wrote:

PlanesNTrains wrote:

"Empower employees to immediately resolve customer service-issues."

Embarrassing for a business that they even have to make this a policy change, though I understand in a massive organization like United that it's easier to just take that power away from front line staff than it is to train on all the different scenarios. However, I'd be curious to know just how much of a monetary impact doing so would have on the business? That's rhetorical since I'm sure there's no way to know, but at some point empowering your front line folks to fix issues on the fly has got to be part of Doing Business 101.

Did you read the article? Of course agents have had the ability to compensate passengers in the past, but they are introducing new tools:

Empower employees to immediately resolve customer service-issues. United will roll out a new app that will allow employees to provide passengers with compensation (financial and otherwise) directly from their company issued iPhones. Flight attendants are expected to have this capability by July while the app will be available to gate agents later in the year.

You got me. I didn't read the article, only your summary. Sounds like a great new tool. In the broader context, though, I was referring more to handling issues than simply compensation, but clearly compensation is a key component of that. Nice that they are giving their front line people better tools, as not only will that make the guest experience better but it will also improve the job satisfaction for employees who would much prefer to say "Here, let's take care of that right now" rather than "You'll need to proceed to a ticket counter" or "You'll need to call this number" or "I can't help you any further than what I've already offered you".

Is it just me or does it often take Delta to induce changes at UA? Rollout of Basic Economy, Redeemable Miles based on dollars, Polaris, now this. Glad to see Oscar doing what must be seen by 90% of the public (and in hindsight also many finance and legal people) as "the right thing" to do under the circumstances that brought this about.

Hopefully making this change will put the ongoing public debate to rest. Enough already with the dead rabbits that had world record potential and the exit row wedding crashers...

Pretty sure in reality the iPhones will basically replace the old time sky kit with the paper forms where you'd sometimes get $150 for onboard service issues and that the bulk of gate issued VBDs will still walk away with $400 e-certs, especially once a good IT system for handling this is put in place.

These are all so generic. Nothing concrete, general guidelines at best.

ua900 wrote:

Is it just me or does it often take Delta to induce changes at UA? Rollout of Basic Economy, Redeemable Miles based on dollars, Polaris, now this. Glad to see Oscar doing what must be seen by 90% of the public (and in hindsight also many finance and legal people) as "the right thing" to do under the circumstances that brought this about.

Hopefully making this change will put the ongoing public debate to rest. Enough already with the dead rabbits that had world record potential and the exit row wedding crashers...

Pretty sure in reality the iPhones will basically replace the old time sky kit with the paper forms where you'd sometimes get $150 for onboard service issues and that the bulk of gate issued VBDs will still walk away with $400 e-certs, especially once a good IT system for handling this is put in place.

Didn't UA roll out E- and Polaris before DL's E- and Delta One? I was of the understanding AA was the first of the US3 to roll out E-. could be wrong though.

77H

These changes are all nice and good, though I'm sure it won't be enough for some people short of Munoz getting tarred and feathered and UA being liquidated and sold off to Richard Branson. The public probably doesn't care or remember anymore anyway.

77H wrote:

Didn't UA roll out E- and Polaris before DL's E- and Delta One? I was of the understanding AA was the first of the US3 to roll out E-. could be wrong though.

77H

DL came out with Basic Economy in 2014. UA only introduced it in the last few months, with AA following shortly after.

http://news.delta.com/basic-economy

DL also rebranded Business Elite as Delta One starting in late 2014 too. UA didn't come out with Polaris until last year.

http://crankyflier.com/2014/12/09/delta ... -new-ones/

Spiderguy252 wrote:

These are all so generic. Nothing concrete, general guidelines at best.

I thought I would read:

1. Always smile
2. Free meals or better snacks
3. Free checked bags
4. More miles
5. More cash + upgrade in case of denied boarding

flyguy84 wrote:

United has implemented 10 policy changes it hopes will help prevent customer service breakdowns in the future. The change regarding bags is kind of random but there's so many more draconian policies that United should be looking at modifying and/or eliminating.

Here are the changes:

Increase customer compensation incentives for voluntary denied boarding up to $10,000.

If it's up to $10'000 in vouchers, but still $0 in cash / bank transfer, there is still a problem.
You get real money when you are denied boarding. Why not offer cash to volunteers ??

sergegva wrote:

flyguy84 wrote:

United has implemented 10 policy changes it hopes will help prevent customer service breakdowns in the future. The change regarding bags is kind of random but there's so many more draconian policies that United should be looking at modifying and/or eliminating.

Here are the changes:

Increase customer compensation incentives for voluntary denied boarding up to $10,000.

If it's up to $10'000 in vouchers, but still $0 in cash / bank transfer, there is still a problem.
You get real money when you are denied boarding. Why not offer cash to volunteers ??

Where does it say UA never offers cash for VDBs? They may offer vouchers/credit at first, but that doesn't mean that they don't write checks, especially if you ask.

I would add

# Increase capacity to match demand.

Looks like creative team worked real hard and come up with creative language without having to change a thing.

intotheair wrote:

sergegva wrote:

flyguy84 wrote:

United has implemented 10 policy changes it hopes will help prevent customer service breakdowns in the future. The change regarding bags is kind of random but there's so many more draconian policies that United should be looking at modifying and/or eliminating.

Here are the changes:

Increase customer compensation incentives for voluntary denied boarding up to $10,000.

If it's up to $10'000 in vouchers, but still $0 in cash / bank transfer, there is still a problem.
You get real money when you are denied boarding. Why not offer cash to volunteers ??

Where does it say UA never offers cash for VDBs? They may offer vouchers/credit at first, but that doesn't mean that they don't write checks, especially if you ask.

I don't know. But I asked several times in the Doctor's topic if it was possible for UA employees to offer cash to find volunteers. No one has ever replied "yes", or cited an example of where this happened.

It feels written by lawyers.

BestWestern wrote:

It feels written by lawyers.

Not uncommon for many knee-jerk reactions. Hurry to put something out to say you "addressed the issue" when really you haven't changed much of anything. And the tone of this post isn't directed at United, it's just par for the course to quell the storm of PR issues.

intotheair wrote:

DL came out with Basic Economy in 2014. UA only introduced it in the last few months, with AA following shortly after.

http://news.delta.com/basic-economy

As the linked news release points out, Delta started testing basic economy in limited markets in March 2012.

https://thepointsguy.com/2012/03/deltas ... edallions/

Back in the day people were happy with getting a free ticket and paid overnight hotel if it was needed. Now UA will be paying pax up to $10,000 just to voluntarily give up their seat.

sergegva wrote:

Why not offer cash to volunteers ??

Because the gate agents most likely don't have $10,000 available on hand to pay out?

Does anyone have another major carrier with the exact same 10 policies that were standard before UA announced this? It seems like all positive changes to me, and of course it was written by lawyers. If you were CEO you too would have the lawyers review and refine language. I also do not think it will stop here. I am sure there will be more to be announced.

When it comes to more training: we can't complain about surly UA flight attendants and then also complain that UA plans to retrain them. Plus, I had 1 (one) unpleasant FA about 6/7 years ago on UA in 25 years and 3 million miles of flying them...and I complained. They responded right away with a phone call, and apologized and deposited miles in my account and swore to speak to that FA. Depositing miles for mishaps has been common practice at UA since I started flying them in 1991. And, when they do, it is often a rather generous amount of miles. The small handful of times I wrote to United in the past 25 years and said I was "very disappointed" by something, I got a personally written note (not a form letter) and twice got a phone call, and the compensation has often been 10,000 to 20,000 miles or MORE (depending on the infraction). Also, my worst experiences in all my flying life have happened on other airlines, 2nd worst of all time was on CO during it's heyday. People are people and some can be nasty and work for anyone.

$10,000 is a lot, no matter if it's cash or vouchers for future flights. For a family $10,000 in future flight vouchers could equal a lot of free flying, or a Polaris trip to anywhere.

Yesterday I was on a E-170 operated by Republic, a 2 hour and 50 minute flight, in regular Y and yes, I felt like I was sitting in a rush hour subway car. But I survived just fine and appreciated the free tiny snack. I had a free drink voucher, I asked for a vodka and tonic (the FA gave me 2 bottles of Tito's which was I thought was very nice and not necessary given I had a free voucher), I watched a movie with a friend on his iPad. No complaints at all...other than the woman behind me who was bent on having the ENTIRE cabin hear her insipid conversation with her friend about her kids.

Sad and embarrassing. There is nothing -absolutely nothing- to seriously address and tackle the general malaise of this sick giant, the low morale of staff, the 'generic' customer care attitude as well as the [now] low expectation that the travelling public has of UA. This silly little 10 'rules' booklet/guidance is entirely a knee-jerk reaction to the violent deplanement of Dr Dao and the subsequent PR disaster that ensued. Indeed these rules solely revolve around what in the real world of good airlines is/should be almost a non-event, i.e. having in place a smooth, well-oiled system to address overbooking/bumping pax off/finding volunteers and having employees who still remember how to deal with a fellow human being.
Not a word about actually addressing the "hardware malfunctions" of customer care and customer attitude (and I am not solely talking about the much-maligned gate agents, but of sour FAs too), or embracing a new corporate culture of friendliness.

Like many large organizations, you can't change the culture overnight. This is a nice feel good response, but I will wait and see what happens 1 year down the road.

Let's see where they are on customer rankings/complaints, overselling, and how many $10,000 vouchers they give out.

and stock price and profit.

Most of it I see as positive. I find it somewhat amusing that there will now be a dedicated team to come up with "creative" reaccomodation solutions that I've been able to come up with on my own since my first week as a gate agent.

Future Changes for United AL:

Deploy android robots so that all Rules are complied with before passengers are allowed to board the plane, and after boarding the plane, and during the flight, for safety concerns.


Introducing Walter

VC10er wrote:

of course it was written by lawyers. If you were CEO you too would have the lawyers review and refine language.

Especially when the company is looking at multi-millions of dollars of exposure in connection with Dr. Dao's lawsuit. The combination of the public outcry, nature of the incident and the Corboy firm spells an astronomical demand ahead of what will be a massive confidential settlement.

Yesterday I was on a E-170 operated by Republic, a 2 hour and 50 minute flight, in regular Y and yes, I felt like I was sitting in a rush hour subway car. But I survived just fine and appreciated the free tiny snack. I had a free drink voucher, I asked for a vodka and tonic (the FA gave me 2 bottles of Tito's which was I thought was very nice and not necessary given I had a free voucher), I watched a movie with a friend on his iPad. No complaints at all...other than the woman behind me who was bent on having the ENTIRE cabin hear her insipid conversation with her friend about her kids.

1K/GS get a free drink and BOB item in Y...

Did they forget more personal space in the aircraft for passengers?

1. What would have been better would have been elimination of the carry on sizers at the TSA checkpoints. Since those sizers force most FAA Authorized carry on bags made by the manufacturers not allowed to pass thru the x ray machine That was a United mandated item as you ALL know!
2. Also elimination of checked bag fees.
3. Bring back the 70 pound bag limit.
4. Bring back free meals for all flights more than 1 hour during normal meal times and yes in economy (coach class) - There is no need to be fancy a meat and taters meal that fills you up to keep you sane yes I would go for that !
5. Bring back the 2 carry on plus personal item for carry on baggage and 50 pound limit per bag .
6. Bring back giving full cans of soda inflight and please do not open the can IF i wanted it opened I would open it myself I am not a invalid!
7. By all means please put your soda cans thru a washer before placing then in the catering coolers Tired of having filthy soda cans from restocking the carts with dirty items YUCK !
8. Instead of mandating that employees are checked in 60 minutes before the flight have it be 24 hours- notify employees you may be subjected to removal for a fare paying passenger so plan accordingly for alternate travel plans Removal would happen 180 minutes prior to departure since yes most connecting flights are in the air and yes you will know what you have coming inbound so there is NO excuses period !
9. End the practice of charging for seats such as aisle window or front of the plane since I have been subjected to on AA where I was buying a ticket from ORD-MSP and was ofered the low fare and no seats to assign me at that fare so I was forced to buy a seat - Thats bait and switch and double charging!.
10. increase seat width and leg space .
11. take out those entertainment systems that hog the under seat storage space you can place then elsewhere in the aircraft and not in a overhead bin also those plastic spacers in the overhead bins need to be removed you know those at the front of the bin that prevent you from sliding in your roller bag without a fight !
12. Bring back the rectangle overhead bins with no partitions between bins internally get rid of those oval or strange angle shaped bins You want to know why you have issues with carry ons and getting flights out on time that is one of your answers period plain and simple !
13. Use my process for Overbooking end of story.
14. Bring back the seat number boarding scheme end the group numbers and just board in 3 waves for coach do front of coach first then middle then back - one wave for first. If you do not board when your boarding wave is called you loose your seat ! that will end the wandering around the terminal or loitering for the last minute to board and will force connecting flight to get a sense of urgency to get to the hub on time so you can get your connections to their gates on time for boarding when they need to board.
15. Work with local ATC to get their act together act with sense of urgency to get planes in and out as quickly as possible.
16. By all means Ramp workers please clean up the gate after you do that flight so the next plane can get in without waiting for you to remove carts , bag loaders and bin loaders and company owned cars or vans ! that ticks me off like no end!
17. Management please act proactive ensure that you have staff ready to service a early arrival . If you have to change the fricken gate to get that plane in - for those fuel saving people well here is one place that you can work on right ? why be so inflexible to only place that plane at THAT gate if you have a open gate use that one let the one coming in next use the other one easy enough huh ?
This is just a partial list more can come later depending on feedback .

Are you going to pay for the price increase for all this? If they did all this tickets would be 4 times the current price.

ILUVDC10S wrote:

1. What would have been better would have been elimination of the carry on sizers at the TSA checkpoints. Since those sizers force most FAA Authorized carry on bags made by the manufacturers not allowed to pass thru the x ray machine That was a United mandated item as you ALL know!
2. Also elimination of checked bag fees.
3. Bring back the 70 pound bag limit.
4. Bring back free meals for all flights more than 1 hour during normal meal times and yes in economy (coach class) - There is no need to be fancy a meat and taters meal that fills you up to keep you sane yes I would go for that !
5. Bring back the 2 carry on plus personal item for carry on baggage and 50 pound limit per bag .
6. Bring back giving full cans of soda inflight and please do not open the can IF i wanted it opened I would open it myself I am not a invalid!
7. By all means please put your soda cans thru a washer before placing then in the catering coolers Tired of having filthy soda cans from restocking the carts with dirty items YUCK !
8. Instead of mandating that employees are checked in 60 minutes before the flight have it be 24 hours- notify employees you may be subjected to removal for a fare paying passenger so plan accordingly for alternate travel plans Removal would happen 180 minutes prior to departure since yes most connecting flights are in the air and yes you will know what you have coming inbound so there is NO excuses period !
9. End the practice of charging for seats such as aisle window or front of the plane since I have been subjected to on AA where I was buying a ticket from ORD-MSP and was ofered the low fare and no seats to assign me at that fare so I was forced to buy a seat - Thats bait and switch and double charging!.
10. increase seat width and leg space .
11. take out those entertainment systems that hog the under seat storage space you can place then elsewhere in the aircraft and not in a overhead bin also those plastic spacers in the overhead bins need to be removed you know those at the front of the bin that prevent you from sliding in your roller bag without a fight !
12. Bring back the rectangle overhead bins with no partitions between bins internally get rid of those oval or strange angle shaped bins You want to know why you have issues with carry ons and getting flights out on time that is one of your answers period plain and simple !
13. Use my process for Overbooking end of story.
14. Bring back the seat number boarding scheme end the group numbers and just board in 3 waves for coach do front of coach first then middle then back - one wave for first. If you do not board when your boarding wave is called you loose your seat ! that will end the wandering around the terminal or loitering for the last minute to board and will force connecting flight to get a sense of urgency to get to the hub on time so you can get your connections to their gates on time for boarding when they need to board.
15. Work with local ATC to get their act together act with sense of urgency to get planes in and out as quickly as possible.
16. By all means Ramp workers please clean up the gate after you do that flight so the next plane can get in without waiting for you to remove carts , bag loaders and bin loaders and company owned cars or vans ! that ticks me off like no end!
17. Management please act proactive ensure that you have staff ready to service a early arrival . If you have to change the fricken gate to get that plane in - for those fuel saving people well here is one place that you can work on right ? why be so inflexible to only place that plane at THAT gate if you have a open gate use that one let the one coming in next use the other one easy enough huh ?
This is just a partial list more can come later depending on feedback .

Empower employees to immediately resolve customer service-issues.

The whole problem was United didn't allow the poor employees to do anything. Lets see if this is just corporate talk, or if they actually allow them to resolve issues.

a/c dxer wrote:

Are you going to pay for the price increase for all this? If they did all this tickets would be 4 times the current price.

ILUVDC10S wrote:

1. What would have been better would have been elimination of the carry on sizers at the TSA checkpoints. Since those sizers force most FAA Authorized carry on bags made by the manufacturers not allowed to pass thru the x ray machine That was a United mandated item as you ALL know!
2. Also elimination of checked bag fees.
3. Bring back the 70 pound bag limit.
4. Bring back free meals for all flights more than 1 hour during normal meal times and yes in economy (coach class) - There is no need to be fancy a meat and taters meal that fills you up to keep you sane yes I would go for that !
5. Bring back the 2 carry on plus personal item for carry on baggage and 50 pound limit per bag .
6. Bring back giving full cans of soda inflight and please do not open the can IF i wanted it opened I would open it myself I am not a invalid!
7. By all means please put your soda cans thru a washer before placing then in the catering coolers Tired of having filthy soda cans from restocking the carts with dirty items YUCK !
8. Instead of mandating that employees are checked in 60 minutes before the flight have it be 24 hours- notify employees you may be subjected to removal for a fare paying passenger so plan accordingly for alternate travel plans Removal would happen 180 minutes prior to departure since yes most connecting flights are in the air and yes you will know what you have coming inbound so there is NO excuses period !
9. End the practice of charging for seats such as aisle window or front of the plane since I have been subjected to on AA where I was buying a ticket from ORD-MSP and was ofered the low fare and no seats to assign me at that fare so I was forced to buy a seat - Thats bait and switch and double charging!.
10. increase seat width and leg space .
11. take out those entertainment systems that hog the under seat storage space you can place then elsewhere in the aircraft and not in a overhead bin also those plastic spacers in the overhead bins need to be removed you know those at the front of the bin that prevent you from sliding in your roller bag without a fight !
12. Bring back the rectangle overhead bins with no partitions between bins internally get rid of those oval or strange angle shaped bins You want to know why you have issues with carry ons and getting flights out on time that is one of your answers period plain and simple !
13. Use my process for Overbooking end of story.
14. Bring back the seat number boarding scheme end the group numbers and just board in 3 waves for coach do front of coach first then middle then back - one wave for first. If you do not board when your boarding wave is called you loose your seat ! that will end the wandering around the terminal or loitering for the last minute to board and will force connecting flight to get a sense of urgency to get to the hub on time so you can get your connections to their gates on time for boarding when they need to board.
15. Work with local ATC to get their act together act with sense of urgency to get planes in and out as quickly as possible.
16. By all means Ramp workers please clean up the gate after you do that flight so the next plane can get in without waiting for you to remove carts , bag loaders and bin loaders and company owned cars or vans ! that ticks me off like no end!
17. Management please act proactive ensure that you have staff ready to service a early arrival . If you have to change the fricken gate to get that plane in - for those fuel saving people well here is one place that you can work on right ? why be so inflexible to only place that plane at THAT gate if you have a open gate use that one let the one coming in next use the other one easy enough huh ?
This is just a partial list more can come later depending on feedback .

United must still compete with Spirit and Allegiant. Since nothing is free most of the demands will not be met.

United is inflexible currently. That is an issue. Since UA is inflexible with employees, they do not feel empowered to be flexible with passengers.

There is a culture issue at UA. I stopped flying them in 2005 after 3 flights with the worst service, ironically after my 4th to last flight with them.

Reality is, with the US3, unless you are triple Platinum Uber tier, you aren't a customer of value. It is why many customers like B6, WAN, and AS/VX.

Yes, NK and G4 have horrid complaint rates, but the use too many gotcha fees and sell a minimal product.

Lightsaber

ILUVDC10S wrote:

1. What would have been better would have been elimination of the carry on sizers at the TSA checkpoints. Since those sizers force most FAA Authorized carry on bags made by the manufacturers not allowed to pass thru the x ray machine That was a United mandated item as you ALL know!
2. Also elimination of checked bag fees.
3. Bring back the 70 pound bag limit.
4. Bring back free meals for all flights more than 1 hour during normal meal times and yes in economy (coach class) - There is no need to be fancy a meat and taters meal that fills you up to keep you sane yes I would go for that !
5. Bring back the 2 carry on plus personal item for carry on baggage and 50 pound limit per bag .
6. Bring back giving full cans of soda inflight and please do not open the can IF i wanted it opened I would open it myself I am not a invalid!
7. By all means please put your soda cans thru a washer before placing then in the catering coolers Tired of having filthy soda cans from restocking the carts with dirty items YUCK !
8. Instead of mandating that employees are checked in 60 minutes before the flight have it be 24 hours- notify employees you may be subjected to removal for a fare paying passenger so plan accordingly for alternate travel plans Removal would happen 180 minutes prior to departure since yes most connecting flights are in the air and yes you will know what you have coming inbound so there is NO excuses period !
9. End the practice of charging for seats such as aisle window or front of the plane since I have been subjected to on AA where I was buying a ticket from ORD-MSP and was ofered the low fare and no seats to assign me at that fare so I was forced to buy a seat - Thats bait and switch and double charging!.
10. increase seat width and leg space .
11. take out those entertainment systems that hog the under seat storage space you can place then elsewhere in the aircraft and not in a overhead bin also those plastic spacers in the overhead bins need to be removed you know those at the front of the bin that prevent you from sliding in your roller bag without a fight !
12. Bring back the rectangle overhead bins with no partitions between bins internally get rid of those oval or strange angle shaped bins You want to know why you have issues with carry ons and getting flights out on time that is one of your answers period plain and simple !
13. Use my process for Overbooking end of story.
14. Bring back the seat number boarding scheme end the group numbers and just board in 3 waves for coach do front of coach first then middle then back - one wave for first. If you do not board when your boarding wave is called you loose your seat ! that will end the wandering around the terminal or loitering for the last minute to board and will force connecting flight to get a sense of urgency to get to the hub on time so you can get your connections to their gates on time for boarding when they need to board.
15. Work with local ATC to get their act together act with sense of urgency to get planes in and out as quickly as possible.
16. By all means Ramp workers please clean up the gate after you do that flight so the next plane can get in without waiting for you to remove carts , bag loaders and bin loaders and company owned cars or vans ! that ticks me off like no end!
17. Management please act proactive ensure that you have staff ready to service a early arrival . If you have to change the fricken gate to get that plane in - for those fuel saving people well here is one place that you can work on right ? why be so inflexible to only place that plane at THAT gate if you have a open gate use that one let the one coming in next use the other one easy enough huh ?
This is just a partial list more can come later depending on feedback .

A majority of this is not feasible. Pretty laughable in my opinion.

Lipstick on a fugly pig.

Is that the best you can do, UA? Disappointed, but not surprised. To put in their manifesto words to the effect: 'ok, we won't beat up any more self-loading cargo- promise!'

The thing that needs to change is the rotten culture with their rotten employees. Once that is fixed, the customer experience will improve. It's not rocket science.

bgm wrote:

their rotten employees

You might find those employees less rotten if you don't act like they're scum of the earth when you deal with them.

a/c dxer wrote:

Are you going to pay for the price increase for all this? If they did all this tickets would be 4 times the current price.

ILUVDC10S wrote:

1. What would have been better would have been elimination of the carry on sizers at the TSA checkpoints. Since those sizers force most FAA Authorized carry on bags made by the manufacturers not allowed to pass thru the x ray machine That was a United mandated item as you ALL know!
2. Also elimination of checked bag fees.
3. Bring back the 70 pound bag limit.
4. Bring back free meals for all flights more than 1 hour during normal meal times and yes in economy (coach class) - There is no need to be fancy a meat and taters meal that fills you up to keep you sane yes I would go for that !
5. Bring back the 2 carry on plus personal item for carry on baggage and 50 pound limit per bag .
6. Bring back giving full cans of soda inflight and please do not open the can IF i wanted it opened I would open it myself I am not a invalid!
7. By all means please put your soda cans thru a washer before placing then in the catering coolers Tired of having filthy soda cans from restocking the carts with dirty items YUCK !
8. Instead of mandating that employees are checked in 60 minutes before the flight have it be 24 hours- notify employees you may be subjected to removal for a fare paying passenger so plan accordingly for alternate travel plans Removal would happen 180 minutes prior to departure since yes most connecting flights are in the air and yes you will know what you have coming inbound so there is NO excuses period !
9. End the practice of charging for seats such as aisle window or front of the plane since I have been subjected to on AA where I was buying a ticket from ORD-MSP and was ofered the low fare and no seats to assign me at that fare so I was forced to buy a seat - Thats bait and switch and double charging!.
10. increase seat width and leg space .
11. take out those entertainment systems that hog the under seat storage space you can place then elsewhere in the aircraft and not in a overhead bin also those plastic spacers in the overhead bins need to be removed you know those at the front of the bin that prevent you from sliding in your roller bag without a fight !
12. Bring back the rectangle overhead bins with no partitions between bins internally get rid of those oval or strange angle shaped bins You want to know why you have issues with carry ons and getting flights out on time that is one of your answers period plain and simple !
13. Use my process for Overbooking end of story.
14. Bring back the seat number boarding scheme end the group numbers and just board in 3 waves for coach do front of coach first then middle then back - one wave for first. If you do not board when your boarding wave is called you loose your seat ! that will end the wandering around the terminal or loitering for the last minute to board and will force connecting flight to get a sense of urgency to get to the hub on time so you can get your connections to their gates on time for boarding when they need to board.
15. Work with local ATC to get their act together act with sense of urgency to get planes in and out as quickly as possible.
16. By all means Ramp workers please clean up the gate after you do that flight so the next plane can get in without waiting for you to remove carts , bag loaders and bin loaders and company owned cars or vans ! that ticks me off like no end!
17. Management please act proactive ensure that you have staff ready to service a early arrival . If you have to change the fricken gate to get that plane in - for those fuel saving people well here is one place that you can work on right ? why be so inflexible to only place that plane at THAT gate if you have a open gate use that one let the one coming in next use the other one easy enough huh ?
This is just a partial list more can come later depending on feedback .

Uh no. Fares were not higher in the 90's were they huh ?
This charging for this and that was purely to make the Airline business into a banking business. Sure I get that you need to make money yes I get that. Strange that in the 90's billions of revenue was coming in and no complains.
What the airlines are doing now is just flat our wrong!
Especially bait and switching offering a 128 dollar fare from ORD-MSP on AA or DL or UA and when you go to select your seats guess what NO SEATS OPEN for you to select forcing you to buy a seat ! That is flat our wrong ! Offering a 128 dollar product at end of the purchase the price is 200 plus ! is that good business practice UH NO !
How would you like to come to me to buy a product that I was selling for 128 and when you came to buy it I said oh no its now 200 plus ? How would you feel huh ? Mad ? angry ? tell me to take a hike I will buy the one from your neighbor for 128. or take Greyhound for less than 50 . some here talk about profits so you are okay loosing 128 sale because of a ill advised seat pricing scheme ?
SO no I say Airline time to pony up and end the stress of travel Partly caused by the Airlines others at fault is the TSA too. & NYSE also .
Maybe its time to cut expenses at UAL huh ? Ending the practice of housing UAL crews at the ORD Hiltion steps from the plane and stay at a Days Inn or a Super 8 huh ? since at the front desk at the Hilton there is a dedicated Hilton staff member dealing with UAL crews and yes there was a sign by UAL there saying UAL crew check in here. Ending the practice of staying in downtown higher priced hotels in international destinations where cheaper hotels are located near the airport. Time for the airline to do belt tightening internally first before squeezing us passenger. Yes I do know that some airlines have their own boat to take them to HKG Island. Private bus service to Downtown BOS& NYC Hotels when free hotel shuttles are there for Airport hotels. And the union mandated hot meals for the cockpit when passengers only get a bag of peanuts or pretzels? See the imbalance here ? I do

flyguy84 wrote:

ILUVDC10S wrote:

1. What would have been better would have been elimination of the carry on sizers at the TSA checkpoints. Since those sizers force most FAA Authorized carry on bags made by the manufacturers not allowed to pass thru the x ray machine That was a United mandated item as you ALL know!
2. Also elimination of checked bag fees.
3. Bring back the 70 pound bag limit.
4. Bring back free meals for all flights more than 1 hour during normal meal times and yes in economy (coach class) - There is no need to be fancy a meat and taters meal that fills you up to keep you sane yes I would go for that !
5. Bring back the 2 carry on plus personal item for carry on baggage and 50 pound limit per bag .
6. Bring back giving full cans of soda inflight and please do not open the can IF i wanted it opened I would open it myself I am not a invalid!
7. By all means please put your soda cans thru a washer before placing then in the catering coolers Tired of having filthy soda cans from restocking the carts with dirty items YUCK !
8. Instead of mandating that employees are checked in 60 minutes before the flight have it be 24 hours- notify employees you may be subjected to removal for a fare paying passenger so plan accordingly for alternate travel plans Removal would happen 180 minutes prior to departure since yes most connecting flights are in the air and yes you will know what you have coming inbound so there is NO excuses period !
9. End the practice of charging for seats such as aisle window or front of the plane since I have been subjected to on AA where I was buying a ticket from ORD-MSP and was ofered the low fare and no seats to assign me at that fare so I was forced to buy a seat - Thats bait and switch and double charging!.
10. increase seat width and leg space .
11. take out those entertainment systems that hog the under seat storage space you can place then elsewhere in the aircraft and not in a overhead bin also those plastic spacers in the overhead bins need to be removed you know those at the front of the bin that prevent you from sliding in your roller bag without a fight !
12. Bring back the rectangle overhead bins with no partitions between bins internally get rid of those oval or strange angle shaped bins You want to know why you have issues with carry ons and getting flights out on time that is one of your answers period plain and simple !
13. Use my process for Overbooking end of story.
14. Bring back the seat number boarding scheme end the group numbers and just board in 3 waves for coach do front of coach first then middle then back - one wave for first. If you do not board when your boarding wave is called you loose your seat ! that will end the wandering around the terminal or loitering for the last minute to board and will force connecting flight to get a sense of urgency to get to the hub on time so you can get your connections to their gates on time for boarding when they need to board.
15. Work with local ATC to get their act together act with sense of urgency to get planes in and out as quickly as possible.
16. By all means Ramp workers please clean up the gate after you do that flight so the next plane can get in without waiting for you to remove carts , bag loaders and bin loaders and company owned cars or vans ! that ticks me off like no end!
17. Management please act proactive ensure that you have staff ready to service a early arrival . If you have to change the fricken gate to get that plane in - for those fuel saving people well here is one place that you can work on right ? why be so inflexible to only place that plane at THAT gate if you have a open gate use that one let the one coming in next use the other one easy enough huh ?
This is just a partial list more can come later depending on feedback .

A majority of this is not feasible. Pretty laughable in my opinion.

Was feasible in the 90's was it not ? Yes it was . I respect your view on that thank you .

ILUVDC10S wrote:

1. What would have been better would have been elimination of the carry on sizers at the TSA checkpoints. Since those sizers force most FAA Authorized carry on bags made by the manufacturers not allowed to pass thru the x ray machine That was a United mandated item as you ALL know!
2. Also elimination of checked bag fees.
3. Bring back the 70 pound bag limit.
4. Bring back free meals for all flights more than 1 hour during normal meal times and yes in economy (coach class) - There is no need to be fancy a meat and taters meal that fills you up to keep you sane yes I would go for that !
5. Bring back the 2 carry on plus personal item for carry on baggage and 50 pound limit per bag .
6. Bring back giving full cans of soda inflight and please do not open the can IF i wanted it opened I would open it myself I am not a invalid!
7. By all means please put your soda cans thru a washer before placing then in the catering coolers Tired of having filthy soda cans from restocking the carts with dirty items YUCK !
8. Instead of mandating that employees are checked in 60 minutes before the flight have it be 24 hours- notify employees you may be subjected to removal for a fare paying passenger so plan accordingly for alternate travel plans Removal would happen 180 minutes prior to departure since yes most connecting flights are in the air and yes you will know what you have coming inbound so there is NO excuses period !
9. End the practice of charging for seats such as aisle window or front of the plane since I have been subjected to on AA where I was buying a ticket from ORD-MSP and was ofered the low fare and no seats to assign me at that fare so I was forced to buy a seat - Thats bait and switch and double charging!.
10. increase seat width and leg space .
11. take out those entertainment systems that hog the under seat storage space you can place then elsewhere in the aircraft and not in a overhead bin also those plastic spacers in the overhead bins need to be removed you know those at the front of the bin that prevent you from sliding in your roller bag without a fight !
12. Bring back the rectangle overhead bins with no partitions between bins internally get rid of those oval or strange angle shaped bins You want to know why you have issues with carry ons and getting flights out on time that is one of your answers period plain and simple !
13. Use my process for Overbooking end of story.
14. Bring back the seat number boarding scheme end the group numbers and just board in 3 waves for coach do front of coach first then middle then back - one wave for first. If you do not board when your boarding wave is called you loose your seat ! that will end the wandering around the terminal or loitering for the last minute to board and will force connecting flight to get a sense of urgency to get to the hub on time so you can get your connections to their gates on time for boarding when they need to board.
15. Work with local ATC to get their act together act with sense of urgency to get planes in and out as quickly as possible.
16. By all means Ramp workers please clean up the gate after you do that flight so the next plane can get in without waiting for you to remove carts , bag loaders and bin loaders and company owned cars or vans ! that ticks me off like no end!
17. Management please act proactive ensure that you have staff ready to service a early arrival . If you have to change the fricken gate to get that plane in - for those fuel saving people well here is one place that you can work on right ? why be so inflexible to only place that plane at THAT gate if you have a open gate use that one let the one coming in next use the other one easy enough huh ?
This is just a partial list more can come later depending on feedback .

holy cow this is a nightmare. What world do you live in?

1. You can't eliminate something the TSA implements. So you think United forced the TSA to use a bag sizer that affects all airlines??
2. Why? had nothing to do with the incident and all airlines except Southwest do it. Whether you pay for it separate or in the price of your ticket you will pay for it.
3. I don't ever remember, atleast on United, the max being 70 lbs. Its been 50 for as long as I can remember.
4. Why do you need to be fed on every flight? Are you really that hungry? Or do you just feel you are entitled to it? Free meals over 5 hrs I can support.
5. You can't put 50 lb bags in the overhead it would exceed the structural weight limit not to mention they would be to big to fit. Also if everyone brought on 2 bags only half the plane would get there bags on, dramatically increasing gate checks.
6. If you ask nicely the FAs will give you the entire can. If you don't want it opened just tell them..........communication is important, nobody knows what you want if you just sit there and get pissed.
7. I agree and it is why I don't drink sodas on airplanes, but again has nothing to do with incident.
8. You can't tell your employees to plan accordingly on a scheduled Dead Head, then remove them from the flight, the operation would fall apart. Once I am at work it is up to the company to get me to where I need to be. I WILL plan on being on my scheduled flight and if not I will go home it is NOT my responsibility to get to another city. 60 minutes is enough time 24hrs is to far out. There would be no possible way to recover from an operational issue if employees had to check in 24 hrs prior.
9. You were "forced" to buy a seat? This doesn't even make sense......why didn't you just fly a different airline?
10. How can you increase seat width and leg room without decreasing seating density? Sure the airlines can do that but YOU will pay for it with much higher fares. There is a place on the aircraft that has wider seats and more legroom It is called first class. It is available to you use it.
11. Entertainment systems are already being removed on United for PDE. What petitions are you talking about in the overhead bin? You want 1 long door that spans the length of the aircraft??
12. Talk to the aircraft manufactures. This has NOTHING to do with United, and is not fixable.
13. Whats your process of overbooking?
14. There is no good way to board an aircraft with assigned seats. SW does it the fastest but people like to have an assigned seat. Losing your seat because you didn't board with your assigned group????? How the hell does that improve customer service?
15. You don't think ATC works at max capacity? You think they just sit around and do nothing while planes are holding? You are way out to lunch buddy. Again how does this have anything to do with United?
16. Agreed.
17. You clearly have no idea how logistics work. Giving you that gate seems awesome when you are on the airplane but people constantly running around the terminal to be at the proper gate for their outbound flight is a nightmare. You have no idea what plane is scheduled to come into that gate you want. You are promoting pure and total chaos.

lightsaber wrote:

a/c dxer wrote:

Are you going to pay for the price increase for all this? If they did all this tickets would be 4 times the current price.

ILUVDC10S wrote:

1. What would have been better would have been elimination of the carry on sizers at the TSA checkpoints. Since those sizers force most FAA Authorized carry on bags made by the manufacturers not allowed to pass thru the x ray machine That was a United mandated item as you ALL know!
2. Also elimination of checked bag fees.
3. Bring back the 70 pound bag limit.
4. Bring back free meals for all flights more than 1 hour during normal meal times and yes in economy (coach class) - There is no need to be fancy a meat and taters meal that fills you up to keep you sane yes I would go for that !
5. Bring back the 2 carry on plus personal item for carry on baggage and 50 pound limit per bag .
6. Bring back giving full cans of soda inflight and please do not open the can IF i wanted it opened I would open it myself I am not a invalid!
7. By all means please put your soda cans thru a washer before placing then in the catering coolers Tired of having filthy soda cans from restocking the carts with dirty items YUCK !
8. Instead of mandating that employees are checked in 60 minutes before the flight have it be 24 hours- notify employees you may be subjected to removal for a fare paying passenger so plan accordingly for alternate travel plans Removal would happen 180 minutes prior to departure since yes most connecting flights are in the air and yes you will know what you have coming inbound so there is NO excuses period !
9. End the practice of charging for seats such as aisle window or front of the plane since I have been subjected to on AA where I was buying a ticket from ORD-MSP and was ofered the low fare and no seats to assign me at that fare so I was forced to buy a seat - Thats bait and switch and double charging!.
10. increase seat width and leg space .
11. take out those entertainment systems that hog the under seat storage space you can place then elsewhere in the aircraft and not in a overhead bin also those plastic spacers in the overhead bins need to be removed you know those at the front of the bin that prevent you from sliding in your roller bag without a fight !
12. Bring back the rectangle overhead bins with no partitions between bins internally get rid of those oval or strange angle shaped bins You want to know why you have issues with carry ons and getting flights out on time that is one of your answers period plain and simple !
13. Use my process for Overbooking end of story.
14. Bring back the seat number boarding scheme end the group numbers and just board in 3 waves for coach do front of coach first then middle then back - one wave for first. If you do not board when your boarding wave is called you loose your seat ! that will end the wandering around the terminal or loitering for the last minute to board and will force connecting flight to get a sense of urgency to get to the hub on time so you can get your connections to their gates on time for boarding when they need to board.
15. Work with local ATC to get their act together act with sense of urgency to get planes in and out as quickly as possible.
16. By all means Ramp workers please clean up the gate after you do that flight so the next plane can get in without waiting for you to remove carts , bag loaders and bin loaders and company owned cars or vans ! that ticks me off like no end!
17. Management please act proactive ensure that you have staff ready to service a early arrival . If you have to change the fricken gate to get that plane in - for those fuel saving people well here is one place that you can work on right ? why be so inflexible to only place that plane at THAT gate if you have a open gate use that one let the one coming in next use the other one easy enough huh ?
This is just a partial list more can come later depending on feedback .

United must still compete with Spirit and Allegiant. Since nothing is free most of the demands will not be met.

United is inflexible currently. That is an issue. Since UA is inflexible with employees, they do not feel empowered to be flexible with passengers.

There is a culture issue at UA. I stopped flying them in 2005 after 3 flights with the worst service, ironically after my 4th to last flight with them.

Reality is, with the US3, unless you are triple Platinum Uber tier, you aren't a customer of value. It is why many customers like B6, WAN, and AS/VX.

Yes, NK and G4 have horrid complaint rates, but the use too many gotcha fees and sell a minimal product.

Lightsaber

I respect you lightsaber, have for years. However if you haven't flown United in 12 years how can you comment on our culture?

bgm wrote:

Lipstick on a fugly pig.

Is that the best you can do, UA? Disappointed, but not surprised. To put in their manifesto words to the effect: 'ok, we won't beat up any more self-loading cargo- promise!'

The thing that needs to change is the rotten culture with their rotten employees. Once that is fixed, the customer experience will improve. It's not rocket science.

All 80,000 of us are rotten huh?

There is companies I don't like. I don't go online and bash them and their employees, they just don't get my business.

dampfnudel wrote:

Well done. This should be standard practice with all airlines.

It should be regardless of what happened with the recent debacle. "Well done" should have always been the norm in terms of service. Not after your company is crucified in the media.

It's simple UA, and I've had this opinion since 2010. Get rid of anything and everything that related to that God-awful regional airline Continental. Livery/paint needs to go, old seats need to go, the name in the parent company needs to go, and the Continental attitude of the former employees at all levels need to go. Keep the UA name but completely re-brand/start out fresh.

Time to make United Airlines great again.

BestWestern wrote:

It feels written by lawyers.

Everything at corporatetions will be gone through a lawyer.

flyguy84 wrote:

United has implemented 10 policy changes it hopes will help prevent customer service breakdowns in the future. The change regarding bags is kind of random but there's so many more draconian policies that United should be looking at modifying and/or eliminating.

Here are the changes:
Limit use of law-enforcement to safety and security issues only.
Do not force customers seated on the plane to give up their seat involuntarily, unless safety or security is at risk.
Increase customer compensation incentives for voluntary denied boarding up to $10,000.
Establish a customer solutions team to provide agents with creative solutions such as using nearby airports, other airlines or ground transportation to get customers to their final destination.
Ensure crews are booked onto a flight at least 60 minutes prior to departure.
Provide employees with additional annual training.
Create an automated system for soliciting volunteers to change travel plans.
Reduce the amount of overbooking.
Empower employees to immediately resolve customer service-issues.
Eliminate the red tape on permanently lost bags by adopting a “no questions asked” policy on lost luggage valued up to $1,500.

http://www.businessinsider.com/united-a ... =buffer-bi

These look like pretty good adjustments to customer service. The $10k compensation is solid. I cannot imagine a situation where the $10k limit is hit and you still cannot get someone to give up their seat. I suppose you could have a situation where you have a big equipment change and you are badly overbooked. You would need the perfect storm of fail for this policy to not do the job. If that comes up there better be some pretty creative solutions offered up

"safety and security issues only"

I would like to see a very clear definition to this. "Safety and security" could easily be abused by an employee having a bad day. It is a blanket term for anything you want it to be. The passenger seems upset so naturally that is a safety and security issue so call the police. He looked at me in a way that appeared intimidating so that was a safety and security issue so call the police.

slcdeltarumd11 wrote:

Empower employees to immediately resolve customer service-issues.

The whole problem was United didn't allow the poor employees to do anything. Lets see if this is just corporate talk, or if they actually allow them to resolve issues.

...which is something they have needed to do for a while. One of the chief complaints I had after the merger (as a 1K) were pmUA agents were able to problem solve and trouble shoot issues on their own vs after the merger it took a phone call or a mgr to get involved. Hopefully this solves some of that.

United1 wrote:

...which is something they have needed to do for a while. One of the chief complaints I had after the merger (as a 1K) were pmUA agents were able to problem solve and trouble shoot issues on their own vs after the merger it took a phone call or a mgr to get involved. Hopefully this solves some of that.

Both sides' agents were given more freedom to problem solve pre-merger than the combined group were given (or at least felt they were given) under Smisek after. It's improving, but there is still a ways to go.

CriticalPoint wrote:

ILUVDC10S wrote:

1. What would have been better would have been elimination of the carry on sizers at the TSA checkpoints. Since those sizers force most FAA Authorized carry on bags made by the manufacturers not allowed to pass thru the x ray machine That was a United mandated item as you ALL know!
2. Also elimination of checked bag fees.
3. Bring back the 70 pound bag limit.
4. Bring back free meals for all flights more than 1 hour during normal meal times and yes in economy (coach class) - There is no need to be fancy a meat and taters meal that fills you up to keep you sane yes I would go for that !
5. Bring back the 2 carry on plus personal item for carry on baggage and 50 pound limit per bag .
6. Bring back giving full cans of soda inflight and please do not open the can IF i wanted it opened I would open it myself I am not a invalid!
7. By all means please put your soda cans thru a washer before placing then in the catering coolers Tired of having filthy soda cans from restocking the carts with dirty items YUCK !
8. Instead of mandating that employees are checked in 60 minutes before the flight have it be 24 hours- notify employees you may be subjected to removal for a fare paying passenger so plan accordingly for alternate travel plans Removal would happen 180 minutes prior to departure since yes most connecting flights are in the air and yes you will know what you have coming inbound so there is NO excuses period !
9. End the practice of charging for seats such as aisle window or front of the plane since I have been subjected to on AA where I was buying a ticket from ORD-MSP and was ofered the low fare and no seats to assign me at that fare so I was forced to buy a seat - Thats bait and switch and double charging!.
10. increase seat width and leg space .
11. take out those entertainment systems that hog the under seat storage space you can place then elsewhere in the aircraft and not in a overhead bin also those plastic spacers in the overhead bins need to be removed you know those at the front of the bin that prevent you from sliding in your roller bag without a fight !
12. Bring back the rectangle overhead bins with no partitions between bins internally get rid of those oval or strange angle shaped bins You want to know why you have issues with carry ons and getting flights out on time that is one of your answers period plain and simple !
13. Use my process for Overbooking end of story.
14. Bring back the seat number boarding scheme end the group numbers and just board in 3 waves for coach do front of coach first then middle then back - one wave for first. If you do not board when your boarding wave is called you loose your seat ! that will end the wandering around the terminal or loitering for the last minute to board and will force connecting flight to get a sense of urgency to get to the hub on time so you can get your connections to their gates on time for boarding when they need to board.
15. Work with local ATC to get their act together act with sense of urgency to get planes in and out as quickly as possible.
16. By all means Ramp workers please clean up the gate after you do that flight so the next plane can get in without waiting for you to remove carts , bag loaders and bin loaders and company owned cars or vans ! that ticks me off like no end!
17. Management please act proactive ensure that you have staff ready to service a early arrival . If you have to change the fricken gate to get that plane in - for those fuel saving people well here is one place that you can work on right ? why be so inflexible to only place that plane at THAT gate if you have a open gate use that one let the one coming in next use the other one easy enough huh ?
This is just a partial list more can come later depending on feedback .

holy cow this is a nightmare. What world do you live in?

1. You can't eliminate something the TSA implements. So you think United forced the TSA to use a bag sizer that affects all airlines??
2. Why? had nothing to do with the incident and all airlines except Southwest do it. Whether you pay for it separate or in the price of your ticket you will pay for it.
3. I don't ever remember, atleast on United, the max being 70 lbs. Its been 50 for as long as I can remember.
4. Why do you need to be fed on every flight? Are you really that hungry? Or do you just feel you are entitled to it? Free meals over 5 hrs I can support.
5. You can't put 50 lb bags in the overhead it would exceed the structural weight limit not to mention they would be to big to fit. Also if everyone brought on 2 bags only half the plane would get there bags on, dramatically increasing gate checks.
6. If you ask nicely the FAs will give you the entire can. If you don't want it opened just tell them..........communication is important, nobody knows what you want if you just sit there and get pissed.
7. I agree and it is why I don't drink sodas on airplanes, but again has nothing to do with incident.
8. You can't tell your employees to plan accordingly on a scheduled Dead Head, then remove them from the flight, the operation would fall apart. Once I am at work it is up to the company to get me to where I need to be. I WILL plan on being on my scheduled flight and if not I will go home it is NOT my responsibility to get to another city. 60 minutes is enough time 24hrs is to far out. There would be no possible way to recover from an operational issue if employees had to check in 24 hrs prior.
9. You were "forced" to buy a seat? This doesn't even make sense......why didn't you just fly a different airline?
10. How can you increase seat width and leg room without decreasing seating density? Sure the airlines can do that but YOU will pay for it with much higher fares. There is a place on the aircraft that has wider seats and more legroom It is called first class. It is available to you use it.
11. Entertainment systems are already being removed on United for PDE. What petitions are you talking about in the overhead bin? You want 1 long door that spans the length of the aircraft??
12. Talk to the aircraft manufactures. This has NOTHING to do with United, and is not fixable.
13. Whats your process of overbooking?
14. There is no good way to board an aircraft with assigned seats. SW does it the fastest but people like to have an assigned seat. Losing your seat because you didn't board with your assigned group????? How the hell does that improve customer service?
15. You don't think ATC works at max capacity? You think they just sit around and do nothing while planes are holding? You are way out to lunch buddy. Again how does this have anything to do with United?
16. Agreed.
17. You clearly have no idea how logistics work. Giving you that gate seems awesome when you are on the airplane but people constantly running around the terminal to be at the proper gate for their outbound flight is a nightmare. You have no idea what plane is scheduled to come into that gate you want. You are promoting pure and total chaos.

Respectfully- Those X ray machine barriers were a United thing. NWA/DL/CO/US/TW/AA all balked at UAL for doing this.
Yes you can place multiple 50 plus pound bags in a overhead bin I have gone with 50 pound bags for YEARS not a issue with millions of miles flown on multiple airlines too.
Your choice to live in a far flung city and based in another Odd that the airlines allows such practice.
And Airlines did buy different Overhead bins than the standard Rectangle bins with a rectangle door and some airlines did add a plastic round piece to the front of the bin to limit bags and size open up a 757 bin and you will see the round plastic thing at the edge the FA's claim it makes roller bag storage better UH NO it limits the size of the bag and amount of bags you can place in the bin and yes airlines did add plastic partitions between the bins or ordered seperated bins with tub like bins where you are trying to place a square in a round hole not smart I say huh ?
As far as boarding YES you board the front first then middle then the back this way you have no passenger in 38-A placing his or her bag above seat 12-A You ensure each section is seated and bags stowed before next section touches the plane .
This way of boarding will ensure passenger urgency to get to the gate and be ready for boarding so on and so forth. ensuring a on time departure.
As far as ATC yes they can get planes in faster and get them out quicker there is no need to overthink things and keep safety #1.
Well for instance you are on AA 1445 PVD-ORD and you are scheduled to arrive at gate K-1 in ORD well Gate K-1 is being occupied by a flight that is being delayed due to lack of urgency and there is K-15 open I say take it ! since AA-500 from MIA is still a hour and half out and that plane is to go out again to DFW before MIA plane arrives by all means use gate K-15 instead of keeping that one empty , and do not tell me in all of your travels you have not been subjected to a gate change ! its part of traveling Get used to it I have and I am here to tell you about it .

ILUVDC10S wrote:

CriticalPoint wrote:

ILUVDC10S wrote:

1. What would have been better would have been elimination of the carry on sizers at the TSA checkpoints. Since those sizers force most FAA Authorized carry on bags made by the manufacturers not allowed to pass thru the x ray machine That was a United mandated item as you ALL know!
2. Also elimination of checked bag fees.
3. Bring back the 70 pound bag limit.
4. Bring back free meals for all flights more than 1 hour during normal meal times and yes in economy (coach class) - There is no need to be fancy a meat and taters meal that fills you up to keep you sane yes I would go for that !
5. Bring back the 2 carry on plus personal item for carry on baggage and 50 pound limit per bag .
6. Bring back giving full cans of soda inflight and please do not open the can IF i wanted it opened I would open it myself I am not a invalid!
7. By all means please put your soda cans thru a washer before placing then in the catering coolers Tired of having filthy soda cans from restocking the carts with dirty items YUCK !
8. Instead of mandating that employees are checked in 60 minutes before the flight have it be 24 hours- notify employees you may be subjected to removal for a fare paying passenger so plan accordingly for alternate travel plans Removal would happen 180 minutes prior to departure since yes most connecting flights are in the air and yes you will know what you have coming inbound so there is NO excuses period !
9. End the practice of charging for seats such as aisle window or front of the plane since I have been subjected to on AA where I was buying a ticket from ORD-MSP and was ofered the low fare and no seats to assign me at that fare so I was forced to buy a seat - Thats bait and switch and double charging!.
10. increase seat width and leg space .
11. take out those entertainment systems that hog the under seat storage space you can place then elsewhere in the aircraft and not in a overhead bin also those plastic spacers in the overhead bins need to be removed you know those at the front of the bin that prevent you from sliding in your roller bag without a fight !
12. Bring back the rectangle overhead bins with no partitions between bins internally get rid of those oval or strange angle shaped bins You want to know why you have issues with carry ons and getting flights out on time that is one of your answers period plain and simple !
13. Use my process for Overbooking end of story.
14. Bring back the seat number boarding scheme end the group numbers and just board in 3 waves for coach do front of coach first then middle then back - one wave for first. If you do not board when your boarding wave is called you loose your seat ! that will end the wandering around the terminal or loitering for the last minute to board and will force connecting flight to get a sense of urgency to get to the hub on time so you can get your connections to their gates on time for boarding when they need to board.
15. Work with local ATC to get their act together act with sense of urgency to get planes in and out as quickly as possible.
16. By all means Ramp workers please clean up the gate after you do that flight so the next plane can get in without waiting for you to remove carts , bag loaders and bin loaders and company owned cars or vans ! that ticks me off like no end!
17. Management please act proactive ensure that you have staff ready to service a early arrival . If you have to change the fricken gate to get that plane in - for those fuel saving people well here is one place that you can work on right ? why be so inflexible to only place that plane at THAT gate if you have a open gate use that one let the one coming in next use the other one easy enough huh ?
This is just a partial list more can come later depending on feedback .

holy cow this is a nightmare. What world do you live in?

1. You can't eliminate something the TSA implements. So you think United forced the TSA to use a bag sizer that affects all airlines??
2. Why? had nothing to do with the incident and all airlines except Southwest do it. Whether you pay for it separate or in the price of your ticket you will pay for it.
3. I don't ever remember, atleast on United, the max being 70 lbs. Its been 50 for as long as I can remember.
4. Why do you need to be fed on every flight? Are you really that hungry? Or do you just feel you are entitled to it? Free meals over 5 hrs I can support.
5. You can't put 50 lb bags in the overhead it would exceed the structural weight limit not to mention they would be to big to fit. Also if everyone brought on 2 bags only half the plane would get there bags on, dramatically increasing gate checks.
6. If you ask nicely the FAs will give you the entire can. If you don't want it opened just tell them..........communication is important, nobody knows what you want if you just sit there and get pissed.
7. I agree and it is why I don't drink sodas on airplanes, but again has nothing to do with incident.
8. You can't tell your employees to plan accordingly on a scheduled Dead Head, then remove them from the flight, the operation would fall apart. Once I am at work it is up to the company to get me to where I need to be. I WILL plan on being on my scheduled flight and if not I will go home it is NOT my responsibility to get to another city. 60 minutes is enough time 24hrs is to far out. There would be no possible way to recover from an operational issue if employees had to check in 24 hrs prior.
9. You were "forced" to buy a seat? This doesn't even make sense......why didn't you just fly a different airline?
10. How can you increase seat width and leg room without decreasing seating density? Sure the airlines can do that but YOU will pay for it with much higher fares. There is a place on the aircraft that has wider seats and more legroom It is called first class. It is available to you use it.
11. Entertainment systems are already being removed on United for PDE. What petitions are you talking about in the overhead bin? You want 1 long door that spans the length of the aircraft??
12. Talk to the aircraft manufactures. This has NOTHING to do with United, and is not fixable.
13. Whats your process of overbooking?
14. There is no good way to board an aircraft with assigned seats. SW does it the fastest but people like to have an assigned seat. Losing your seat because you didn't board with your assigned group????? How the hell does that improve customer service?
15. You don't think ATC works at max capacity? You think they just sit around and do nothing while planes are holding? You are way out to lunch buddy. Again how does this have anything to do with United?
16. Agreed.
17. You clearly have no idea how logistics work. Giving you that gate seems awesome when you are on the airplane but people constantly running around the terminal to be at the proper gate for their outbound flight is a nightmare. You have no idea what plane is scheduled to come into that gate you want. You are promoting pure and total chaos.

Respectfully- Those X ray machine barriers were a United thing. NWA/DL/CO/US/TW/AA all balked at UAL for doing this.
Yes you can place multiple 50 plus pound bags in a overhead bin I have gone with 50 pound bags for YEARS not a issue with millions of miles flown on multiple airlines too.
Your choice to live in a far flung city and based in another Odd that the airlines allows such practice.
And Airlines did buy different Overhead bins than the standard Rectangle bins with a rectangle door and some airlines did add a plastic round piece to the front of the bin to limit bags and size open up a 757 bin and you will see the round plastic thing at the edge the FA's claim it makes roller bag storage better UH NO it limits the size of the bag and amount of bags you can place in the bin and yes airlines did add plastic partitions between the bins or ordered seperated bins with tub like bins where you are trying to place a square in a round hole not smart I say huh ?
As far as boarding YES you board the front first then middle then the back this way you have no passenger in 38-A placing his or her bag above seat 12-A You ensure each section is seated and bags stowed before next section touches the plane .
This way of boarding will ensure passenger urgency to get to the gate and be ready for boarding so on and so forth. ensuring a on time departure.
As far as ATC yes they can get planes in faster and get them out quicker there is no need to overthink things and keep safety #1.
Well for instance you are on AA 1445 PVD-ORD and you are scheduled to arrive at gate K-1 in ORD well Gate K-1 is being occupied by a flight that is being delayed due to lack of urgency and there is K-15 open I say take it ! since AA-500 from MIA is still a hour and half out and that plane is to go out again to DFW before MIA plane arrives by all means use gate K-15 instead of keeping that one empty , and do not tell me in all of your travels you have not been subjected to a gate change ! its part of traveling Get used to it I have and I am here to tell you about it .

You should start your own airline. I wish you luck.

In related news, UA has already settled with the Dr. Looks like everyone wants to put this behind them and quick. I am guessing that UA issuing a statement of these changes was part of the agreement...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ... story.html

CriticalPoint wrote:

ILUVDC10S wrote:

CriticalPoint wrote:

holy cow this is a nightmare. What world do you live in?

1. You can't eliminate something the TSA implements. So you think United forced the TSA to use a bag sizer that affects all airlines??
2. Why? had nothing to do with the incident and all airlines except Southwest do it. Whether you pay for it separate or in the price of your ticket you will pay for it.
3. I don't ever remember, atleast on United, the max being 70 lbs. Its been 50 for as long as I can remember.
4. Why do you need to be fed on every flight? Are you really that hungry? Or do you just feel you are entitled to it? Free meals over 5 hrs I can support.
5. You can't put 50 lb bags in the overhead it would exceed the structural weight limit not to mention they would be to big to fit. Also if everyone brought on 2 bags only half the plane would get there bags on, dramatically increasing gate checks.
6. If you ask nicely the FAs will give you the entire can. If you don't want it opened just tell them..........communication is important, nobody knows what you want if you just sit there and get pissed.
7. I agree and it is why I don't drink sodas on airplanes, but again has nothing to do with incident.
8. You can't tell your employees to plan accordingly on a scheduled Dead Head, then remove them from the flight, the operation would fall apart. Once I am at work it is up to the company to get me to where I need to be. I WILL plan on being on my scheduled flight and if not I will go home it is NOT my responsibility to get to another city. 60 minutes is enough time 24hrs is to far out. There would be no possible way to recover from an operational issue if employees had to check in 24 hrs prior.
9. You were "forced" to buy a seat? This doesn't even make sense......why didn't you just fly a different airline?
10. How can you increase seat width and leg room without decreasing seating density? Sure the airlines can do that but YOU will pay for it with much higher fares. There is a place on the aircraft that has wider seats and more legroom It is called first class. It is available to you use it.
11. Entertainment systems are already being removed on United for PDE. What petitions are you talking about in the overhead bin? You want 1 long door that spans the length of the aircraft??
12. Talk to the aircraft manufactures. This has NOTHING to do with United, and is not fixable.
13. Whats your process of overbooking?
14. There is no good way to board an aircraft with assigned seats. SW does it the fastest but people like to have an assigned seat. Losing your seat because you didn't board with your assigned group????? How the hell does that improve customer service?
15. You don't think ATC works at max capacity? You think they just sit around and do nothing while planes are holding? You are way out to lunch buddy. Again how does this have anything to do with United?
16. Agreed.
17. You clearly have no idea how logistics work. Giving you that gate seems awesome when you are on the airplane but people constantly running around the terminal to be at the proper gate for their outbound flight is a nightmare. You have no idea what plane is scheduled to come into that gate you want. You are promoting pure and total chaos.

Respectfully- Those X ray machine barriers were a United thing. NWA/DL/CO/US/TW/AA all balked at UAL for doing this.
Yes you can place multiple 50 plus pound bags in a overhead bin I have gone with 50 pound bags for YEARS not a issue with millions of miles flown on multiple airlines too.
Your choice to live in a far flung city and based in another Odd that the airlines allows such practice.
And Airlines did buy different Overhead bins than the standard Rectangle bins with a rectangle door and some airlines did add a plastic round piece to the front of the bin to limit bags and size open up a 757 bin and you will see the round plastic thing at the edge the FA's claim it makes roller bag storage better UH NO it limits the size of the bag and amount of bags you can place in the bin and yes airlines did add plastic partitions between the bins or ordered seperated bins with tub like bins where you are trying to place a square in a round hole not smart I say huh ?
As far as boarding YES you board the front first then middle then the back this way you have no passenger in 38-A placing his or her bag above seat 12-A You ensure each section is seated and bags stowed before next section touches the plane .
This way of boarding will ensure passenger urgency to get to the gate and be ready for boarding so on and so forth. ensuring a on time departure.
As far as ATC yes they can get planes in faster and get them out quicker there is no need to overthink things and keep safety #1.
Well for instance you are on AA 1445 PVD-ORD and you are scheduled to arrive at gate K-1 in ORD well Gate K-1 is being occupied by a flight that is being delayed due to lack of urgency and there is K-15 open I say take it ! since AA-500 from MIA is still a hour and half out and that plane is to go out again to DFW before MIA plane arrives by all means use gate K-15 instead of keeping that one empty , and do not tell me in all of your travels you have not been subjected to a gate change ! its part of traveling Get used to it I have and I am here to tell you about it .

You should start your own airline. I wish you luck.

I would like airlines to bring back what they took away from us passengers thats all. meanwhile not tightening their belts like each and every business out there Airlines are not exempt from belt tightening cut out expenses on the non passenger items before cutting the passenger side of the equation. I see places where things could be cut and changed. Processes and procedures changed so on and so forth .
I do think that FA's are underpaid though. And I do think that the pay should start once you arrive at the Airport not the way pay is done now.
Onward and Upward .

Quite honestly, I hope my UA/DL flights are overbooked so I can rack up 10's of thousands of dollars in free travel. That would be amazing! Get denied boarding on a $150 LAX-SEA flight, only to get $10,000 for it? I'll take one for the team!