United drops planned move to Amadeus Altea

Understandably, United will make a one-time payment to Amadeus in consideration of the change in plans. However, that expected payment can not be compared with Amadeus’ potential profits resulting from servicing a big airline like United.

Date: 13 May 2011 commenting on http://atwonline.com/

Delta’s partnership with Virgin Blue causes pain for United in Australia

It is a knockout for United Airlines to lose the code-sharing agreement with Virgin Blue which they began together in 2002 and expanded it on April 2004.
Without enough economy-class passengers, the operation of United Airlines’ Boeing 747 between Australia and the west coast of USA would be mainly for emitting more carbon dioxide. Considering the attitude of United Airlines toward Dave Carroll, the Airline would be hostile to both its passengers as well as the environment.

Published at http://www.bnet.com/

Airline brands to look out for and those that can rest in peace beyond 2009

For now, I can confirm two airlines which are about to rest in peace:
The first is Air India due its current bloated pattern of operation. I have commented on an article discussing the situation of Air India. The second is United Airlines. The credit goes to its lousy operational policy and to the demonstration managed by Dave Carroll (http://bit.ly/MndAp & http://bit.ly/22NURU).


Date: 19 August 2009 commenting on http://simpliflying.com/

Untangling the Social Web

The basic equation stating that eye for eye and tooth for tooth is the fairest formula. Hence, for United Airlines to form a musical band to deliver an artistic apology to Dave Carroll makes a lot of sense. That option might be the most authentic apology with the hope to satisfy Dave’s expectations.

I commented earlier about the same incident (http://bit.ly/zURmT). Simply put, United Airlines was supposed to avoid the case to be so deteriorated like that. There should be some ongoing orchestrated efforts across the board to avoid similar situations to be mishandled by ignorant or careless airline service agents.

If the airlines are no longer capable of providing good competitive service, they have to seriously consider another line of business. For United Airlines, I would recommend the field of shoe-polishing. Who knows? They might find their way up and reach the sky again by the 25th century.
Viva all UA’s competitors!

Published at http://sparksheet.com/

United Breaks Guitars

It is a big mistake for the customer service representatives, who handled the case of the damaged guitar, to think that they have the final word for the cases which might affect the image of United Airlines. They were supposed to refer the case to the Public Relations Department before it is too late.

Unfortunately, airlines nowadays tend to hire untrained persons to handle the phone calls, enquires, and complaints of the passengers. Ms. Irlweg exacerbated the situation by ignoring the possibility of harming the image of United Airlines. Unknowingly, she did not think of Dave’s options. By keeping himself calm (but active) for about nine months, he deserves the current free-of-charge publicity.

The story imposes a new practice whereby the Public Relations Department should have the upper hand for all complicated issues handled by customer service representatives.

Published at http://www.planebuzz.com/

United removes website hold feature

This is somehow strange to be decided by an airline company to show its customer-friendliness. Instead of exerting some more efforts to keep their existing customers, they are doing something which might push the customers away.

Both canceling the non-ticketed booking within 24 hours, and canceling the ticketed booking within 24 hours without penalty have the SAME effect on the seat inventory but the former option is definitely more customer-friendly.

The feature of auto-cancellation due to expired time-limit has been there since almost the dawn of the automated reservation systems. That feature could be simply used without dissatisfying the customers and without negatively affecting the seat inventory of United Airlines.

Published at: http://www.bnet.com/