United Airlines Files for Bankruptcy
UAL's bankruptcy filing has created no shortage of press discussion. Flying to both coasts this week (largely on United), I decided to relate a few of the many fine travel experiences I've had over the years on United Airlines.
Denver International Airport
1986 - 1989 Denver
I'd fly around a bit for work. I recall one flight, a 727 from SFO to ORD on a cold winter night. Depending on the winds, 727's didn't always have enough fuel to make the trip. Periodically, we'd stop in Omaha to gas up. I remember this night was particularily cold, and one of the service technicians who had been fueling the aircraft walked on the plane, bundled up with snow all over his hat, beard and jacket. He could not have been more pleasant, though the conditions certainly did not warrant such a positive personality.
Lots of room on this Eastbound 777 Tuesday afternoon
United also had an odd flight: Denver to Chicago departing around 2:00a.m. This relatively inexpensive flight had a lively crew. The plane arrived in Chicago so that one could catch the train downtown and easily make an 8:00a.m. meeting.
1989 - 1991 San Francisco
Living in San Francisco and dating my soon to be wife, who at the time lived in Chicago; I would often catch a 3:00p.m. UA flight from SFO to ORD. A number of times the gate agents would actually call Nancy in Chicago to tell her that I was on my way....
Airbus A320
United flew a few DC-8's into the 1990's. I was on a DC-8 from SFO to ORD one late Friday evening when there was a bit of noise coming from one of the rear bathrooms. Later, as I deplaned, six of Chicago's finest were waiting to arrest a passenger who continued to smoke cigarettes, despite being told by the flight attendants and the captain to put it out.
Periodically, I would try to catch the 1:00p.m. SFO to ORD flight. This 747-200 continued to Chicago from Tokyo. I found the passengers quite interesting and the service (and food!) was excellent. As we approached Chicago one Friday evening, thunderstorms circled the area. The pilot did quite a job of flying us up, down and around the storms (we really felt that flight). Some of my fellow passengers were amazed when they learned later on that a woman had flown us around the storms.
777: Ready to takeoff
1991 Paris
Honeymoon to Europe. What better way to fly than United to Paris. Champaign, caviar and excellent service all around as we watched the sun come up in France.
1994 Zurich
There's nothing better than booking one class of service and being asked to come forward to the sleeper seats for the long flight home.
Passengers waiting to board their flight
2000 Salt Lake City; United's summer slowdown
The pilot's work slowdown created havoc throughout United's system. I dropped off my rental car and walked to the SLC terminal and was just amazed at the line of passengers attempting to checkin. I joined the queue and slowly made my way to the front of the line. Pilot's can traditionally walk to the counter and obtain their boarding information if they are not flying, thus avoiding the long lines. However, in this case, the agents told the pilot to walk to the end of the line and wait his turn.
2001 The backdoor: somewhere in UA's route system
Every now and then my itinerary would change, but my ticket did not quite fit my revised plans. In such situations, a helpful counter agent could make all the difference in the world. In one particular case, a savvy agent knew that she could access United's systems via a traditional terminal window (a "backdoor") rather than the new GUI software that restricted her ability to make such unconventional changes. The changes made, I was happily on my way.
SFO
The situation is more difficult today. The systems that agents use substantially limits their ability to make non-standard changes (the theory is that this will force passengers to pay more money as they make changes to their itinerary).
I'm disappointed to hear that McKinsey is involved in UAL's strategic plan. Their recent aviation track record (now defunct Swissair) is not very promising.
1:03:48 AM 
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