Travel Blog

Delta Air Lines says no. United Airlines is seriously studying it (is there an exam coming up?). Other airlines are staying quiet after American Airlines’ controversial announcement that it will start charging $15 for the first checked bag.

I am used to Google Adsense providing really well-targeted ads. It’s almost scary how good Google is with these kinda things. It’s kinda refreshing sometimes to see the almighty Google being totally off track. I am ready to leave for a trip tomorrow and United Airlines emailed me asking to check in online. The email is clearly travel related, but when I saw the Google Adsense ads in my GMail account, I was not so sure anymore.

Yesterday, I landed back at LAX after a day trip to Seattle and the United Airlines pilot politely pointed out the Airbus A380 parked across the runway. United has not yet ordered any A380's and as a United frequent flyer I'm not too upset. I really don't want to be one of the 555 passengers waiting in line to use one of the 18 restrooms planned for a typical configuration. But one can see why the plane has its appeal, as we also taxied past 5 Quantas 747's, no doubt more than one of them leaving within several hours of another for Sydney.

Located 17 miles from the Chicago Loop and the Best Western River North Hotel, Chicago’s O'Hare International Airport (ORD) is one of the best-connected airports in the world, second busiest airport in the country, and the largest hub for United Airlines. Over 70 million people a year travel through Chicago O'Hare International Airport, voted "Best Airport in North America" in 2000 by Business Traveler magazine.

If you live in the New England area and flew on United Airlines on or about October 9th or 10th.Then contact David Berlind. He has your iPod.

United Airlines was fabulous. They helped us with all our luggage and took very good care of our dog. We boarded our plane, but at 8:00, they announced that they weren’t sure when we would be leaving as one of the flight crew had not shown up for work quite yet. Hahaha we laughed. Isn’t that funny? We are going to be a little late because someone didn’t come to work. Hahaha. But then they announced that everyone had to leave the plane because it would be several hours until they could solve the problem. We weren’t laughing anymore. If we were 2 hours late, then we would miss our next flight.

The poor GF she has the worst luck flying her flight to Germany left over 2 hours late yesterday(no she wasn't on NorthWorst) United Airlines but the delay wasn't their fault O'Hare was backed up by Massive Thunderstorms and when a airport like O'Hare gets knotted up it takes a while to untie it. I haven't spoken to her yet she had a 2 hour train ride after the flight so she is still in transit as I write this. But I know the plane made it to Frankfurt in once piece so that worry is over I really hate it when she flies.

As a side note the MP3 player I ordered 2 months ago using frequent flyer points still hasn't arrived; United Airlines keep on predicting delivery dates and Toshiba keep on missing em. UA's most recent communication, 3 weeks ago, says it 'should be shipped by May 12'. No sign of it. But I can't blame UA for this; the Gigabeat S series has been delayed and delayed and most online retailers are now predicting a June 1 release. It was released in Japan on April 28th but hasn't hit the US yet. Sigh... :-)

when i was employed at united airlines, i was part of a terrific group of people who took seriously then-ceo jerry greenwald's commitment to transform the company... unfortunately, greenwald never gave the boot to all the old dinosaurs and i would sit in meetings with the sorry senior execs under him and they would all say the same thing - "this, too, will pass..." in my mind, it became the mantra for imminent extinction...

Both my favorite and least favorite commercials are the animated United Airlines spots set to Rhapsody in Blue.

Yea, we thought so too. But if you missed the ads, which are by far more interesting than watching a bunch of grown men throw a pigskin around a field, you can watch them HERE. Among our favorites: “Bud Light: Secret Fridge,” “Ameriquest Mortgage Co,” and “United Airlines: Slaying Dragons.”

United Airlines somehow lost my luggage in Dulles, so it took them about thirty hours after my landing to locate the luggage. Thankfully, the doorbell at 1AM earlier tonight was the luggage delivery service. That’s a difficult job, deliverying luggage at wee hours of the morning. We also purchased a Dell computer, and a $250 off coupon to go along with it. I’ve got some dental procedures lined up for tomorrow, and hopefully, I’ll be able to get going on some of the “work” I’ve planned for these few weeks.

And in case they aren’t checking their email - oops they can’t because they used my domain for the return address - so I will tell them now, Todd V******** wants to cancel his December 4th trip… oops again. Sorry guys, a little late. But here is a little trip tip for anyone flying flight United Airlines UA903 from Dulles to Denver on December 8th, Seat 39G is going to be empty…

But I do hope WestJet employees are not over-invested in their company stock. The airline industry is a tough place to do business: cut-throat competition, high operating (fuel) costs, huge capital expenditures, terrorist attacks, government regulations etc. are just some of the risks facing investors. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, the industry has witnessed a large number of bankruptcies (Air Canada, JetsGo, Delta, US Airways, United Airlines, NorthWest). It doesn’t make financial sense for most people to depend on a fickle industry for a pay check and also be invested heavily in it.

Speaking of airport security though, my experience at the Outagamie Regional Airport, near Appleton WI was far more positive than I feared. Both the United Airlines ticket agent and the TSA personnel at the checkpoint were exceedingly professional, sympathetic — and thorough. I knew damned well any of them could’ve made my life hell and literally kept me from getting on that plane, but they treated me with respect and courtesy. I still disagree with the whole notion of the way these searches work, and I still think they’re looking for all the wrong things on all the wrong people. (For instance, I firmly believe we’re merely one corrupted groundcrew person away from the next act of airline terrorism. It won’t be the passengers…or rather, it might be some of them who carry it out, but the items they need will almost certainly be pre-positioned by those with a legitimate airport badge and security codes. In my opinion.) But I have nothing but positive things to say about the professionalism of the Outagamie airport people. Just sayin’.

Approximately 300 United employees stationed on international flights received the new passports in mid-June as part of a three-month, three-country test of IDs equipped with RFID chips. The chips can be read at a distance at border crossings by special readers installed for the trial.

Tom Peters' blog has a great story about a recent experience on United Airlines: A grandmother was supposed to fly to Denver to meet her 13 year-old grandaughter and fly on to Washington D.C. for a vacation together. When the grandmother's flight to Denver was cancelled and arrangements were made to meet up w/ the grandaughter in Washington, the mom asked United to provide services for the unaccompanied girl free of charge. United's response: "We can't waive any fees because we are in bankruptcy"!

We get into O’Hare airport at some time that does not even correlate with anything I am used to and of course went to get on a different flight, since it would take off six minutes after we get to the gate. With that in mind why wouldn’t we hurry. Well, O’Hare has this problem with being bigger than required of a human structure. After walking the length of SJC four or five times we finally get to the gate where there is, in fact, a plane that is going to leave. Well, it did leave, but without us.

Really, there should be special planes for women only. Those planes should be designed for the special needs of women. And, the tickets should be cheaper, or maybe even free.

And United Airlines, after I said nice things about them, managed to screw us over after all. I called yesterday to reconfirm our reservation and its attached cats, only to find out that the waiver we’d gotten to take two cats on a one-cat plane wasn’t a waiver at all. “We’ll send one cat cargo between Madison and Chicago,” they said.

At LA last night I had plenty of time to kill. I'd checked in at United Airlines and had 3 and a half hours to wait. So I crossed the car park to terminal 2 where Starbucks lurks and enjoyed a Grande Hot Chocolate. The only place I've managed to break a one hundred dollar bill without being regarded by the clerk with deep suspicion. He didn't even blink at the bill! Hot choccy consumed it was back to terminal 7 with three hours to kill. Since you can't smoke inside I spent most of the time outside watching the sun set and the traffic swirl by. Hundreds of airport shuttles, hotel shuttles, limousines and cabs.

So my trip has almost ended. I’m sitting in the United Airlines premiere lounge at Tokyo Narita airport on the way back to Chicago. This Lounge is the biggest I’ve seen, it must be able to sit at least 300 people and has 2 floors. The premiere exec status has really helped out a lot this trip, I feel like a king at every airport I stop at. Did you know that the Singapore airport has a swimming pool?

Ellen Saracini lost her husband, United Airlines Capt. Victor J. Saracini, when his Flight 175 crashed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Now she stands to lose more than half of her widow’s pension in a very different kind of crash—United’s default of its $9 billion pension obligations.

United Airlines finally is giving up on its expensive, ill-functioning automated baggage system at Denver International Airport.

According to an article in the International Herald Tribune the U.S. regulators approved United Airlines proposal to offer wireless internet networks on domestic flights. Passengers will be able to check email, send instant messages and surf the web while in flight by mid-to-late 2006.

Here are the amazing numbers: the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), the government agency that is supposed to protect the private pension system, recently estimated that the amount of money currently owed to cover pension liabilities is $450 billion; 851 pension plans are underfunded by at least $50 million. United Airlines may have been the biggest pension default ever but we’re looking at a looming financial catastrophe: The PBGC, which takes over defaulted plans, had a $23 billion deficit in 2004 and that’s just the proverbial...

Today I’m scheduled on United Airlines 7688 (Operated by UNITED EXPRESS/CHAUTAUQUA), DFW to IAD, seat 2A (got the regional upgrade).

UPDATE: I was able to make it back to San Francisco without incident. United Airlines was able to locate the originator of the WMD. Winona Ryder is now being held for shoplifting the WMD from a dealer in Morocco. A full investigation is underway… and…

Until this year however, the demand for flights was far below their 2001 peak. Now that flights are back up, airlines want to add capacity. Things get more complicated though, since Mayor Daley is now using the flight increase to push for his long-desired O'Hare expansion plans, smaller airlines operating at O'Hare are upset that United and American Airlines already own 88% of the flight slots and many northwest suburban village elections turned on support for or against O'Hare expansion.

Bankrupt United Airlines has asked its home state of Illinois to cap the tax it pays on fuel at 2004 levels — a move that could save United $8 million. Other airlines that refuel in Illinois would also benefit. Experts disagree over whether the cap — if approved — should be a short-term or long-term measure. Read more.

United Flight Attendants Forced to Sell T-Shirts: This is how pathetic United Airlines is to its workers. I already reported on the attack on the workers' pensions and how a judge gave permission to United to terminate pensions for 134,000 workers. To dramatize their plight, a group of flight attendants put together a calender where...they don't wear a whole lot. They are also selling T-Shirts. While it's truly sad that workers have to resort to this, the flight attendants have got a political mission in mind. Here's what they say is their mission:...

Germany’s Deutsche Lufthansa is Europe’s #3 passenger airline. It is also the world’s #2 cargo airline behind FedEx. Including code-sharing agreements, Lufthansa serves about 330 destinations in more than 90 countries. It flies about 370 aircraft. With hubs in Frankfurt and Munich, the carrier is part of the Star Alliance that includes United Airlines, Air Canada, and All Nippon Airways. Lufthansa also has interests in travel-related businesses, including ground services, catering, and leisure travel services. Lufthansa owns a stake in Amadeus, one of the world’s largest computerized airline reservation systems.

While UAL Corp. was getting approval this week to dump United Airlines' pension woes on the federal government, Congress was working to make that a harder act to follow for other companies with underfunded pension plans. In dealing with the growing problem, though, legislators face a tough balancing act.

United Airlines and its ramp workers and machinist unions are reportedly near a deal to settle their disputes over lowering costs on existing union contracts. No details on the purported agreement are available. If a deal is reached, it would settle the matter that is currently at trial before Judge Eugene Wedoff and get United Airlines that much closer to exiting bankruptcy.

Oddly enough, the same logic does not extend to airlines. I've never quite understood why. By way of illustrating this point, it turns out that United Airlines is terminating its employee pension program because it can't afford to pay promised benefits, so the government is stepping in to help out. If railroad subsidies increased by a fraction of what airlines get from the feds, Amtrak could kick some serious ass. Instead, Republicans try to kill Amtrak time and time again. Fortunately, they haven't yet succeeded. But you have to wonder, if...

United Airlines and Jet Airways of India today announced plans for a new codeshare agreement that enables both airlines to sell seats on certain Jet Airways and United flights – providing customers of both airlines with more connection options, Mileage Plus® opportunities and automated through check-in on travel to and from India.

I fly Air Canada from Toronto with a change of planes in Denver to arrive in Burbank. The Denver flight was on United Airlines. It must have been one of those flights where a bunch of crew were heading in the the LA area with it's zillion airports as almost every seat around me was a United Airlines crew member.

United Airlines is in bankruptcy because of its unsustainably high cost structure. In an effort to become cost-competitive, it has just proposed turning its pension obligations of nearly $10 billion over to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation of the United States government. I.e., all taxpayers will now be paying some portion of the overly generous pension commitments made by the company. This proposed action has now led to threats of strikes by the union.

A United Airlines plane from New York to San Francisco was diverted to Chicago on Tuesday after a passenger reported suspicious materials, but police investigating the complaint said the items turned out to be vials of a harmless herbal extract.

FT.com / Transport / Airlines - US to assume pension plans at United : United Airlines has reached an agreement with the federal agency that insures defined benefit pension plans to transfer $6.6bn in pension liabilities, marking the biggest pension transfer to the government.... The agreement with the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation comes after United reached an impasse with some unions over its need to terminate...

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference The U.S. Government Kicks in for the United Airlines Bankruptcy:

It would have been even nicer if one of the conditions for transfer of benefit liabilities would have been shutdown of United Airlines.

I suspect that United Airlines doesn't own those airplanes but operates them under lease already. GE owns the largest fleet of aircraft and engines on the planet and moves them around to whatever airline wants to lease them. The airlines learned a long time ago that they couldn't actually buy the airplanes anymore and switched over to leasing. Hence, United can't double-dip to pay an outsized dividend to its shareholders.

Terror in the Skies? Flight 327? I was not aware that Annie has been writing a series of articles about airline security and terrorism. She's been following up on complaints from air marshals about dress codes that endanger them, disingenuous PR campaigns and denial of the facts in the field and bureaucratic stupidity.

In October of last year, Annie reported an incident on a United Airlines flight from London to Washington, D.C. Nine men boarded the flight at the last minute, several without even carry-on luggage, and behaved in a suspicious manner. The Captain radioed back to London and found out that two of the men were on the no-fly list! Even though the Captain requested that law enforcement meet the plane when they landed in Washington, not one law enforcement officer was there, and the nine men, including the two on the no-fly list disappeared in the crowd!

Tomorrow morning it is back onto a plane to head to Orlando Florida. I am contemplating listing my home address as a United Airlines flight number...

US Airways tried unsuccessfully to walk down the aisle with United Airlines, but the latest talk of a marketing marriage with America West might actually lead to an exchange of vows. The Arizona Republic reports today speculation by a JP Morgan airline industry analyst of a "linkage" between US Airways and Tempe-based America West. At first glance, a relationship makes sense because America West has strong roots--and routes--in the West, while US Airways is a player on the East Coast. But the problem is, US Airways is...

So, as you can imagine, I was totally tearing up while writing this in seat 3E, sitting next to this football-player-looking guy, on a United Airlines flight to Chicago. It was kinda obvious because I had to wipe my eyes. But instead of hoping the guy next to me would ignore my emotion, I decided to practice yet another of Dad’s lessons -- audacity. I turned and briefly shared that I was writing about my dad and the recent anniversary of his death. Well, did this open up a conversation! Next thing I knew, we were landing, and Ben and I were agreeing...

I have called American Airlines, United Airlines, Swiss International Airlines, Lufthansa, British Midlands; all of these have had a hand in the due processing of my bag. No one seems to know where it is. Nor what to do to find it. I have a File Locator number, a File Reference number, a Baggage Claim tag number, and a RUSH tag number. I also have the telephone numbers for a variety of baggage service offices in Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt and London. When I call, they don't even ask for my name. They reply, "Oh,...

The Washington Post says some passengers on a United Airlines flight to L.A. were irked that a flight attendant uttered the words "God Bless You" over the aircraft public address system.

Two United Airlines unions are rattling sabres and threatening to strike if the airline convinces a US Bankruptcy Court to annul their contracts and let the airline impose wage and benefit cuts. Unions representing United's 6,800 mechanics and 19,500 other ground workers are angry at, among other things, a $366,000 bonus paid the airline's CEO last year. (Glenn Tilton, the airline's boss, earned $1.1 million in regular salary.) Given the airline's continual losses, the unions question the bonus and say workers have already given...

I left L.A. on Tuesday, March 8, 2005 at 11:15 am on United Airlines flying first class (first indication this is not your typical backpackers journey). I highly reccomend the experience. Imagine a little pod all your own with multiple storage places for complete organization and an automated seat that has flat bed potential. However, I never fully realized its potential since I chose not to sleep.

United Airlines "was trying to put the squeeze on Air Wisconsin" when it put that business up for bid, said Michael Boyd, president of Boyd Group Inc., an aviation industry consulting firm in Evergreen, Colo.

He said United's executives probably figured they could force Air Wisconsin to cut the prices it charges United Airlines to keep that business.

Dan Richman reports in “United to close Kent call center” that all 400 employees of the United Airlines call center in Kent will be laid off if they don’t accept employment in any of the company’s four out-of-state reservation centers in Chicago, Detroit, Honolulu and Washington, D.C.

2-24-05 - Thur - Sunny - Another bountiful buffet breakfast, then we took a cab to the United Airlines office (70 B), where we got tickets on Thai Airlines to travel to Chiang Mai ($80). We exchanged $200 and received 7616 B. Grabbed a cab (60 B) to Chinatown. Bangkok has a large Chinatown and we strolled their streets for a couple of hours, buying outfits for little Maggie and Ralph (200 B). Bottled water cost us 40 B and we took a cab back to our hotel (60 B) and enjoyed a siesta.

Dinner that night was at the Carillons where we had corned beef and cabbage and pistachio ice cream. Its a lovely dining room….linen tablecloths and napkins…..very nice. So many of Dorothy’s friends were there and we got to greet Elizabeth (whose arm was in a sling), Ann, Marie, etc. Afterward Tracy and I played 8-ball (I won!!!). We called United Airlines and found all flights very full….we would not be able to leave for a few days. We also made arrangements with Mike to meet on Friday.

United's maintenance and engineering division -- has been recognized as an industry- leader by winning the 2004 Charles B. Ryan Award for Business Innovation. The award will be presented on April 19 at Aviation Week's Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) Conference in Dallas, Texas.

"United Services has very successfully taken a market-driven approach to MRO, shedding cost while growing its customer base, making it a deserving recipient of our annual Charles B. Ryan MRO Award," said Kenneth E. Gazzola, executive vice president/publisher-Aviation Week Group. "Challenging times led to innovation and inspired United Services with the courage to examine its MRO business and make significant strategic changes -- even exiting work segments where it could not be competitive and restructuring its collective bargaining agreements -- in order to focus its business and increase revenue."