United Airlines: New Asia Route, Fleet Update & Miles For Bad Service

Three bits of news out of United Airlines in the last few days all of which I thought were worth a mention. The airline has announced a fleet update which will see it add more Boeing 737 aircraft while accelerating the retirement of older aircraft. There’s also a new Asia route for United flyers out of San Francisco and reports that passengers may be offered miles or cash for bad service or even rudeness.

United To Launch San Francisco – Hangzhou (China)

Unites Airlines has announced that it will operate a 3x/week non-stop service between San Francisco and Hangzhou’s Xiaoshan International Airport (HGH) in China from July 13, 2016.

Screenshot from Great Circle Mapper

The route will be operated by one of United Airlines’ Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners on the following schedule:

UA982 SFO 14:15 – 18:10+1 day HGH (Mon, Wed, Sat)
UA983 HGH 11:30 – 08:25 SFO (Mon, Wed, Fri)

No booking date has yet been announced.

I’ll be the first to admit that I know absolutely nothing about Hangzhou and United has started to make a habit of launching Asia routes about which I (and often a lot of other) know very little about.…so here a link to the Wiki page for those seeking more information.

According to the United Airlines press release:

Hangzhou, the capital of China’s Zhejiang province, will be the fifth mainland China city that United serves and the 14th Asia/Pacific destination the airline serves from San Francisco

United’s service between San Francisco and Hangzhou will feature amenities and services designed for Chinese customers, including:

• Mandarin-speaking flight attendants;
• Personalized inflight entertainment options, including Chinese-language services; and
• A wide selection of inflight meals and beverages, including Chinese-style cuisine.

The United Airlines 787-9 Dreamliner comes with 48 BusinessFirst flat-bed seats, 88 Economy Plus seats and 116 standard seats with the following dimensions:

Figures Courtesy of SeatGuru

United Airlines Fleet Update

United Airlines has announced the order of 25 Boeing 737-700 aircraft which is an addition to the previously announced order of 40 737-700s.

The airline says that the new order has been placed to allow it to reduced the size of its 50-seat regional fleet and suggests that it will turn to using the larger 737 aircraft on the routes vacated by the outgoing aircraft.

That’s an interesting statement from United because that would seem to suggest that either capacity will skyrocket on certain routes (unlikely) or some routes will see their frequencies cut quite heavily (more likely)

United Airlines 737 – Image Courtesy of United Airlines

My favorite aspect of the 737’s that United will be taking delivery of is the overhead bins that have been installed. I discussed these with relation to Alaska Airlines back in October last year and I love how much more room there is for rollaboards.

In other fleet news, United has confirmed that not only does it expect to have fewer than 100 aircraft in it’s 50-seat fleet by 2019 but that it is also retiring it’s 747 fleet by the end of 2018. To assist in the speedy retirement of the fuel-guzzling 747s United will be converting 787Dreamliner orders originally anticipated for delivery in 2020 and beyond into four 777-300ERs and five 787-9s beginning in 2017.

United To Offer MileagePlus Miles For Bad Service

In November last year United began authorizing some of their agents to hand out certificates, valid for use on future flights, as compensation for poor service. While it’s not at all unusual to see airlines handing out these certificates to passengers who voluntarily elect to take another flight (thus helping the airline out) it is unusual to have them handed out for just poor service.

The guidelines to help United Agents decide what warranted a certificate were as follows:

• Employee Conduct: Meant to “atone” for another employee who was rude to the customer.
• Baggage: As a reward for customers who are willing to stay in the airport to wait for a checked bag that arrived late rather than have United deliver it to their home/hotel.
• Appreciation: To thank a customer who helps a United employee. An example: A customer who is willing to give up a seat to a family or disabled person.

(I’m amazed United hasn’t gone bankrupt since November!).

Brian Summers is now reporting that United Airlines agents will also be authorized to hand out MilagePlus miles as a form of compensation and this is the information that’s been sent to agents:

Miles as goodwill compensation

As we all know, each customer we serve has different travel purposes and needs. In 2016, we will continue to focus on improving the customer experience, especially during irregular operations when we provide a disservice to customers. One way we will do this is by providing Supervisors and Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) with the ability to offer MileagePlus® miles as a form of goodwill compensation. We are also considering offering miles in lieu of Electronic Travel Certificates for Voluntary Denied Boarding compensation.

It doesn’t appear clear if the miles option is on top of or instead of the flight certificates. If the two are to go hand-in-hand this is a definite improvement in the offering. If, on the other hand, United are doing away with the flight certificates and replacing them with a highly devaluable currency (I have no idea if that’s a word but you, hopefully, get what I mean!) then that’s a step backward for an airline trying to improve it’s very tarnished image.