As a 100K I would like to share some of the things were are working on internally that you would not be able to see:

Severe and unusual weather across the country has definitely played havoc with the entire travel industry. From January to May of this year United alone has had to cancel 1,000 more flights, due to weather and air traffic, than we did during the same months of 1999. Obviously we cannot change the weather; however we have been very vocal about the
need for a revamping of the aviation infrastructure. This is imperative for the long-term health of the entire industry, so we will continue to push for those improvements. In the short term however, in order to begin to ease some of the congestion, we have significantly adjusted our schedule. Our adjustment has enabled us to create a cushion to help cover for that unforeseen weather or air traffic situation. It also allows us to operate more in line with current realities.

Again, in direct response to air traffic congestion, we have increased the block time. This means that we factor in extra time for all phases of the flight - taxi-out, airborne, taxi-in. Therefore, if a
Chicago-Los Angeles flight has a scheduled block time of four hours we could expand that time to provide increased schedule reliability. Additionally, during July and August we have added over 1,000 hours of ground time. Essentially, this provides more time for the aircraft on the ground so airport staff have a better opportunity to get the flight out on time. By allowing for this additional built-in time we will
achieve a better rate of on-time departures and arrivals.

In Chicago, our largest hub, we have begun to direct flights of 500 miles or less to fly across lower, less congested paths. By doing this, lengthy delays while waiting for an open path can be avoided, resulting in the reduction of ground time for other aircraft waiting for higher altitudes.

Additionally, we are limiting the different types of fleet we currently have operating at various stations, thereby increasing our crew
availability and reducing maintenance complexities. Tied to that, we have hired, and are in the process of training, a record number of pilots.

Hopefully you will notice some positive changes at United Airlines. We will certainly try our best!

Thank you for your continued patience and dedication!

Form letter, or not, I really appreciate that UA took the time to send me this.

[This message has been edited by auh2o (edited 07-21-2000).]