UAPremierGuy

Actually, I think this (except for the furlough part) is great news. This airline is already so far in the toilet with very little left to salvage, they might as well go all the way. Who here remembers when pmUA tried to charge for Y meals TATL to/from IAD? There was a revolt. That was back when pmUA listened to its customers. IT IS CLEAR that COdbaUA does not. I say they go to BOB for ALL flights in Y, heck, even F. *meals should be free or discounted for those with the MP Explorer card, though, since clearly they are valued more than elites on this poor excuse for an airline.

They should also get rid of E+, and move to spirit seat pitch. There is very little that differentiates this airline from a LCC anymore.

fjfv19

They would not, simply put. I'd rather connect and fly Air Canada Rouge. For all the PQDs and GPUs in the world, nobody in their right mind other than budget conscious leisure travellers would willingly fly UA. Having said that, angering the customer is a move that is right in Smisek's wheelhouse, so we'll see what unfolds.

cerealmarketer

The sUA flight attendants have more restrictive rules on hours / days worked I believe, and overall limits.

Basically, under the sCO system if a flight attendant wants to work extra hours in a month, s/he can. Under sUA there is a stricter limit.

Those who are fit and eager can do very, very well with the sCO system and make some good money by putting in extra time. The sUA contract makes that harder.

I believe the Delta contract is closer to the sCO contract in terms of rules. And those attendants are a happy, hard working bunch.

fastair

I believe unsubstantiated rumors created by someone whose only posts are unsubstantiated rumors are about as legit as the source. Perhaps the thread should be closed until any independent verification can be found. Is FT really a site where we want info to be shared or a site where we want people to post things they made up (exception being the people who jump the gun on 31 Mar to be the 1st April fools post.)

JetAway

If this is true, more info and sources will filter out. And we probably won't have long to wait. If we hear nothing more, that speaks for itself.

halls120

One of your co-workers has already verified the furlough information.

LaserSailor

ROTFL !!!!

edcho

I'm aware of volunteer furloughs that is happening. Is this what you are talking about?

http://www.unitedafa.org/news/details.aspx?id=8270

eng3

If Jeff and some of his colleagues want to cut their own salary to help make the $2B in cuts, I have no problem with that

jetaway96

sUA FAs are biddibg for the volunteer furlough right now. The number needed is close to 2000 FAs. And yes, all flights to central and South America will go BOB with the exception of Brazil and Argentina. All cocktail snack in economy will be removed.

Here it goes. Sorry can not copy the whole page.

November 18, 2013
S-UA: Furlough options and Partnership Program
As anticipated in the spring and based on current flying projections, when the current S-UA voluntary furlough ends March 31, 2014, we will continue to have an overage of flight attendants, which has existed since 2008. The overage is larger than last year as a result of reduced block hours, lower demand for discretionary time off without pay and lower attrition. Effective April 1, 2014, Inflight Services needs to reduce its staffing by 1,950 flight attendants. For this reason, the Company is implementing Section 21 of the Flight Attendant Agreement.
While this step is necessary, it is always a difficult one to take and we are aware of the impact this has on all of you. As in the past, consistent with the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, our goal is to resolve the staffing overage through voluntary measures. We will use voluntary furlough and partnership options to help avoid the need to impose involuntary furloughs.
If there are insufficient voluntary furlough or partnership flying bids, some or potentially all, flight attendants junior to, and including system classification seniority 11,371 (class date 10/15/1999), would be subject to involuntary furlough. This is based on the 11/12/2013 system seniority list. Here are the details:
Voluntary Furloughs
 The voluntary furlough will be offered in a single duration of 12 months, ending on March 31, 2015.
 While on voluntary furlough, flight attendants accrue seniority and maintain most benefits.
 Voluntary furloughs will be offered and awarded in system seniority order.
 All active and inactive flight attendants can bid for this voluntary furlough; however, flight attendants on medical leave of absence must gain medical clearance with a return to work date prior to the effective date of the voluntary furlough, April 1, 2014. This medical clearance must be received and approved by Company Medical by January 3, 2014 (1700 Central Time).
 To bid, complete the Unimatic VOLUN screen or follow the options in CATS.
 Ifaninsufficientnumberofflightattendantsvolunteer, theninvoluntaryfurloughwillbeimposedusinginversesy stem
seniority order.
 Flight attendants who volunteer, but are junior to the most junior voluntary furlough award, will not be awarded a voluntary furlough and will be placed on involuntary furlough status.

edcho

Interesting

Flights to Canada are already BOB? (I don't travel to canada that much ... and only on UAx if I do.)

fly18725

Yes, flights to Canada on UA and AC are BOB.

jetaway96

Issue 86 November 20, 2013
Inflight Services Weekly

Offering Choice Menu in select Latin markets
Beginning Dec. 1, all flights to/from Port of Spain, Panama, Bogota and Quito will transition from a complimentary
meal to Choice Menu in United Economy. This change was made after analysis by Latin sales, Marketing, Food Services and Inflight Services. With this transition, all North and Latin American markets will offer Choice Menu; however, Caracas and long-haul South America (Peru, Argentina and Brazil), will remain complimentary. As an exception, on these routes, fresh food items will be available on red eye flights.
Choice Menu carts will be identified by colored seals making it easy to take inventory correctly.
 On flights without fresh food: Place one drawer of Snack Shop items and one drawer of snack boxes on top of the cart.
 On flights with fresh food items (Bistro on Board) and Snack Shop items: Place a Snack Shop drawer on top of the fresh food cart.
There are approximately five re-usable menu cards inside the Snack Shop cart you can share with customers upon request. The menu has a Latin America market section trans- lated in Spanish. Be sure to return all items to their respec- tive carts, including cutlery packets to Snack Shop carts, as they are round-tripped.
Dec. 1. catering change
International United economy cocktail snacks
To help offset increasing costs, we will no longer offer cocktail snacks in United Economy on international flights. This change will be implemented gradually as current inven- tory is depleted. Continue to conduct a pre-meal beverage service on lunch and dinner flights, when scheduled. United remains committed to offering customers high-quality options that they value and are willing to pay for.
Sweepstakes winners

joshwex90

They're willing to offer us (customers) high-quality options that we value and are willing to pay for? What about the snacks that we "paid" for with multi-thousand dollar tickets?

edcho

Even more interesting....

EWR-HNL is BOB (approximately 10 hours) so I can foresee a day when UA will offer BOB for all international flights that are less than 10 hours (except for routes where they must remain really competitive).