eng3

I see commercials saying that UA flies team USA Olympians.

What does this actually mean? Every USA Olympian gets a free UA ticket? Or, it's not free and they are forced book UA regardless of price/competition? Or an USA Olympian can book whatever they want?

If UA really does fly every USA olympian, what about other olympic games where UA doesnt have flights (ie. sochi)? Do they just book them on a partner? Or do they gather all the olympians at some central locaiton (ie. ORD) and have a special flight that takes them direct?

Coskigirl

I happened to be returning from northern Italy right after the Sochi olympics and was routed through Munich. There were several Olympians on the flight so I'm guessing they used some partner for the leg from Sochi to Munich but then they were on UA metal. The pilot made an announcement toward the end of the flight congratulating them and UA gave them each a small bottle of bubbly. I then met a coach or other support person (can't remember) in the UA club at Dulles that day and she gave me a Sochi pin.

Billiken

Probably negotiated fare discounts with the USOC.

EWR764

This doesn't look like UA...



https://www.instagram.com/shaunwhite/?hl=en

trk1

United runs several Olympic charters to care of most of the athletes. They have done this for every olympics. The
Russian Olympics had many 747 charters. The current one has used several aircraft. I was at the Atlanta airport
in 1996 on a United aircraft where we followed the United charter 747 taking many athletes straight to the White house
after the games.

eng3

interesting

jsloan

Indeed. They actually have an entire Olympics logistics desk. I remember reading a bit about it in Hemispheres a while back (probably before Rio). It's not just the athletes, but it's also the gear, which is often bulky, fragile, expensive, and extremely difficult to replace at the last minute. And it's not just to the Olympics themselves -- you'll find lots of athletes on UA flights in and out of COS, which is where the US Olympic Training Center is.

As for the plane tickets themselves; yes, either charter flights or negotiated discounts. When UA doesn't operate a flight to the destination and isn't running a charter -- each Olympic site hosts a number of World Championships the year before, and you've got Olympic qualification tournaments, etc. -- they'd put them on partner flights, likely still on a discounted UA fare. While I imagine there's a provision that would allow them to book on other airlines when necessary (e.g., UA is sold out), these competitions are arranged far enough in advance that I doubt it's frequently an issue. The Olympics logistic desk presumably holds X seats on tickets that will be assigned once the qualifying athletes are known.

nnn

Can you tell what airline it is?

fastair

Don't forget the Paralympics. They too are carried.

mduell

Charters:

UAL1800 (N783UA) B772 KEWR-URSS 2014-01-25
UAL1802 (N209UA) B772 KEWR-URSS 2014-01-29
UAL1804 (N228UA) B772 KEWR-URSS 2014-02-01
UAL1806 (N217UA) B772 KEWR-URSS 2014-02-05
UAL1810 (N182UA) B744 KEWR-URSS 2014-02-09
UAL1808 (N782UA) B772 KEWR-URSS 2014-02-10
UAL1858 (N225UA) B772 KIAD-URSS 2014-02-15
UAL1858 (N199UA) B744 KSFO-URSS 2014-02-19
UAL1858 (N194UA) B744 KIAD-URSS 2014-02-23
UAL1859 (N785UA) B772 KIAD-URSS 2014-02-23
UAL1858 (N182UA) B744 KSFO-URSS 2014-02-24

MSPeconomist

Were they all 21+?

Coskigirl

Well, I didn't check their IDs but they all appeared to be as I recall.

EWR764

UA does Olympic charters for NBC as well.

KE A380 J.

JVPhoto

beachmouse

I remember a tweet from swimmer Dana Vollmer a few years back where she was hoping for a free upgrade on the flight home from Omaha because she'd just set a world record at the Olympic Trials.