cerealmarketer

They are in public saying they want to be able to match Delta's on time record

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/united...--finance.html

So it is now an official (eventual) goal

bmr12

Good thing they aren't rushing into anything by giving themselves several months to plan.

Kmxu

I wish that they have a target in mind, 90% instead of 80% on time, preferred by $MI/J.
Because all flights are so full, the initiative may not impact the customers much. If your plane is late and misconnect, you will have to wait for next day's flight. Good luck, United.

Edit: I forgot that this story came out late Friday afternoon. So, I guess that United is not that serious about improving their on-time performance. If the performance does not improve next year, nobody will hold them accountable for it.

transportprof

My read of this article is that next year, UA is planning to get serious about getting to 80% OT systemwide, most of the time, except for wx, mx, and crew availability.

the examples they gave of how they'll do better sound a bit confused to me. For example, having software that can calculate tight connections and hold an aircraft for late arriving passengers who are racing between gates would actually reduce OT performance, although it could reduce missed connections.

Maybe this is UA's attempt to counter the full page Delta advertising of their reliability?

transportbiz

We can all hope, but the initiatives they outline in the article don't seem like they will help much, when the issues seem to stem more from labor and union relations than anything else.

luckypierre

After reading the PR blurb, I am afraid those measures will not succeed in achieving DL type performance. Slowing down boarding so passengers in danger of misconnecting may make the flight?? What kind of solution is that? (apart from an indirect admission of a systemic problem).

A lot of what DL does is fairly public knowledge. Spare parts, for instance, having them at more stations so you don't sit for 4 hours waiting for that pump to arrive from IAH or SFO. Spare parts are significant investment and anti Hunter Keays mindset, since they sit around until needed and many have lifetimes, which may expire before being used.

Increase predictive maintenance, again hard for a purely accounting mindset to accept..."you want to replace a part that hasn't failed, isn't it perfectly good?"

Last time I checked UA's balance sheet there has actually been a decline in aircraft fuel, spare parts and supplies (hard to figure out how much is fuel which obviously has declined in the first quarter 2015, but I believe they basically purchase fuel on a daily basis and then burn it so it is not a large part of their current assets)

Baze

Hey, at least they finally are saying they need to improve on time performance to remain competitive. the way to fix a problem is to admit there is a problem. They have now admitted there is a problem and at least starting to do something to fix it.

fly18725

Fuel is often purchased in advance, or at least contracted.

The maintenance philosophies of United and Continental were about as polar opposite as you could be while still being fully committed to safety. The differences and aggressive cross fleeting, which Delta also suffered from pre-2012, are a driver in maintenance issues. There are spares and preventative maintenance. I honestly don't know if there's enough, but I do know it takes time for both initiatives to take hold.

1kBill

This is somewhat OT, but within the article, so ...

Jojo said United is taking additional steps to defend against cyber attacks. The airline has not suffered a breach of its data systems, except for isolated cases in which hackers accessed mileage accounts by guessing a customer’s weak password or using passwords leaked elsewhere.

So they consider a MP account number (readily visible on itineraries and BP's) and a 4 digit pin code to be strong security?

halls120

If UA has overcome the initial post-merger problems relating to different maintenance philosophies, that's a good thing. Until they realize a unified workforce, that will continue to be a weight dragging down their performance.

artvandalay

Depending on one's perspective, this is either good news or bad news for folks in Bangor and Halifax.

riphamilton

that was the part of the story that almost made me spit out my water. UA blaming the consumer for the fact that the airline still uses a 4-digit PIN as the basis of account security.

shame the reporter didn't realize this and take linda jojo to task.

exerda

I love the pie-in-the-sky "fix" of having plane cleaners wear RFID badges so they can know right away when to board a plane. Because the GAs or FAs are wasting precious seconds every turn in not boarding the second the cleaners head for the front of the plane!

kettle1

I love how this is reported on a Friday. So is UA management finally stating they have an inferior product compared to DL? They are going to strive to reach DL's numbers? 2-3 years of being dead last of the major US carriers in most metrics/categories.

What happened? Did someone in UA management run into a wall and get a "brilliant idea". Perhaps the altitude in Willis Tower is too high to think and someone flew back to Houston (for fresh air) to realize that for 3 years - "Damn we were ignorant!"

Better fix this. Let's copy DL.

NewportGuy

So flying time from ORD-LAX will now be "adjusted" to be 9h 45m. On time performance soars!