United Courts Corporate Flyers With Basic Timeliness

United Airlines takes on competitor Delta Air Lines head-to-head, offering their own on-time guarantee to corporate travelers.

United Airlines wants to take back business travel from fellow legacy competitor Delta Air Lines by offering their own on-time guarantee to corporate flyers. Bloomberg reports United is committing to offer airline credits for flights that are not as reliable as fellow legacy competitors American Airlines or Delta.

The plan goes directly head-to-head with Delta’s on-time guarantee, albeit with certain changes. While Delta’s guarantee only covers domestic flights operated by the Atlanta-based carrier, United’s “global performance commitment” will cover all United-branded flights around the world. Furthermore, United will measure on-time performance based on the actual arrival time of the aircraft, while Delta measures their performance by the scheduled arrival, plus-or-minus 15 minutes.

While the United plan is much more liberal with coverage and measurement, the Chicago-based carrier is limiting how their credits can be used. Any credits awarded to business travelers can be redeemed towards the in-flight experience, including the cost of seat upgrades. Credits offered by Delta can be redeemed towards airfares with the carrier.

Another key difference is the terms over when corporate flyers will receive a payout. In order for business travelers to receive payout for their flights, the airline must perform worse than either of their legacy competitors on qualifying flights.

By United’s own admission to Bloomberg, this caveat could make receiving a payout an unlikely scenario. However, executives for the airline are standing behind the program, stating it is their commitment to win back business travel.

“If [the improved on-time performance] were a short-term blip, we wouldn’t be making this commitment,” Jim Compton, chief revenue officer for United, told Bloomberg. “We’ve been having months from September to November that are some of the best in the last three years.”

The “global performance commitment” is one of many changes at United since the ouster of former chief executive Jeff Smisek. Earlier in December, the airline announced a plan to mobilize their airport workforce with iPhones, allowing them to solve customer problems from beyond the desk.

[Photo: Getty]