Enhanced customer service commitment including free DirecTV on all DTV A/C.
Jan 30, 2019, 5:22 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2010
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Enhanced customer service commitment including free DirecTV on all DTV A/C.
Originally Posted by UA Facebook
Lots of companies say they care about their customers. We want United customers to feel it. Every customer. Every flight. Every day. At United, we have big ambitions about what we can become, and we know this goal will only be achieved when "business as usual" is transformed into a new standard of caring for our customers.The opportunity to serve our customers is more than a transaction to us. It's an interaction. So, in 2019, we're looking at every aspect of our business to ensure that we keep our customers' best interests at the heart of everything we do. We've already taken steps to deliver on our commitment to caring customer service:
- Starting today – just in time for Sunday's football game – every passenger on 211 United jets will be able to watch more than 100 channels of live TV for free. Seat back monitors make viewing easy gate-to-gate. This multimillion dollar investment will benefit the 29 million people expected to fly United's DIRECTV-enabled planes this year.
- Last week, United released a re-imagined version of the No. 1 most downloaded app in the airline industry. With a modern design and more engaging content, the app pushes the most helpful, up-to-the-minute information to the home screen at every step of a customer's journey, making it much easier to manage travel, from booking to landing.
- We're investing in modern airplanes that are even more reliable (meaning fewer delays) and more efficient (meaning fewer carbon emissions). We're also excited about some improvements (which we'll announce later this year) that will make traveling on them even more comfortable for our customers.
- By the end of this month, every one of our 90,000 United employees will have completed training in the core4 service principles that guide every interaction with our customers: safe, caring, dependable and efficient. These essential values are the foundation of the customer service culture we're building.
- And we're putting our money where our mouth is. There are now two ways every United employee earns bonuses: 1) beating our competitors with the best on-time departure performance and 2) improving customer satisfaction.United's shared purpose is "Connecting People. Uniting the World." We – as one United team – have embraced the opportunity to shape the culture of caring customer service that we want United to be known for. It won't happen overnight, but we're more confident than ever that we'll get there.As an airline, we've embarked on a journey that will reveal the character of our people and our passion for customer service. We invite you to join us on board.
- Starting today – just in time for Sunday's football game – every passenger on 211 United jets will be able to watch more than 100 channels of live TV for free. Seat back monitors make viewing easy gate-to-gate. This multimillion dollar investment will benefit the 29 million people expected to fly United's DIRECTV-enabled planes this year.
- Last week, United released a re-imagined version of the No. 1 most downloaded app in the airline industry. With a modern design and more engaging content, the app pushes the most helpful, up-to-the-minute information to the home screen at every step of a customer's journey, making it much easier to manage travel, from booking to landing.
- We're investing in modern airplanes that are even more reliable (meaning fewer delays) and more efficient (meaning fewer carbon emissions). We're also excited about some improvements (which we'll announce later this year) that will make traveling on them even more comfortable for our customers.
- By the end of this month, every one of our 90,000 United employees will have completed training in the core4 service principles that guide every interaction with our customers: safe, caring, dependable and efficient. These essential values are the foundation of the customer service culture we're building.
- And we're putting our money where our mouth is. There are now two ways every United employee earns bonuses: 1) beating our competitors with the best on-time departure performance and 2) improving customer satisfaction.United's shared purpose is "Connecting People. Uniting the World." We – as one United team – have embraced the opportunity to shape the culture of caring customer service that we want United to be known for. It won't happen overnight, but we're more confident than ever that we'll get there.As an airline, we've embarked on a journey that will reveal the character of our people and our passion for customer service. We invite you to join us on board.
Jan 30, 2019, 5:55 am
#2
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Golden, CO USA
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Something I read years ago that has stuck with me:
"I am always amazed at how much a company will spend in advertising to get me to come to their store, when, if they had just treated me right, I would have never left"
"I am always amazed at how much a company will spend in advertising to get me to come to their store, when, if they had just treated me right, I would have never left"
Jan 30, 2019, 5:57 am
#3
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Delaware
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Posts: 1,393
I like the Free DTV. I, as well, am slightly skeptical of the improvements that will be announced later this year. Don't get me wrong, I'll take what we can get, but we've been down this road before.
Rule of Marketing - it is easier to keep a customer than to earn back a lost one.
Rule of Marketing - it is easier to keep a customer than to earn back a lost one.
Last edited by phkc070408; Jan 30, 2019 at 5:59 am Reason: Addition
Jan 30, 2019, 6:11 am
#4
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 1,116
Except the vast majority of their planes do not feature DTV and have defective streaming options. They still fly a ton of "dark" 737 planes with no IFE.
When I flew Lufthansa recently from MUC-HKG they had live TV at every seat (enjoyed watching the bears win in the middle of the night). If United offered true live TV on more planes or streaming options that would be great.
How about better food or pre-ordering food?
When I flew Lufthansa recently from MUC-HKG they had live TV at every seat (enjoyed watching the bears win in the middle of the night). If United offered true live TV on more planes or streaming options that would be great.
How about better food or pre-ordering food?
Jan 30, 2019, 6:37 am
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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I should imagine only a subset of their customers want to watch television throughout their flights - and particularly not DirectTV which never seems to be showing anything I would want to watch.
Jan 30, 2019, 6:40 am
#6
Join Date: Mar 2013
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the title of this thread should be “UA announces free TV for Y pax in DTV equipped 737s”, bc thats the only significant announcement here.
too bad it’s not free wifi (on a lower-bandwidth tier).
too bad it’s not free wifi (on a lower-bandwidth tier).
Jan 30, 2019, 6:50 am
#7
Join Date: Feb 2010
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The announcement says 100 channels for free, but doesn't mention the movies. Are they free as well? In either case, is UA doing this because it's cheaper than installing PDE on the DTV planes? I just wish the DTV screens were set to off, and you had to activate them if you wanted to watch. So many passengers just leave the scrolling commercials and movie previews on the whole flight, not realizing you can turn the screen off.
Jan 30, 2019, 7:21 am
#12
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: GRR
Posts: 544
Exactly. I always end up watching the Flight Map or turning it off.
Last edited by BigJC; Jan 30, 2019 at 7:31 am
Jan 30, 2019, 8:28 am
#14
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Long, long overdue, but a nice amenity. It's older tech (not AVOD, not touch screen, not HD), but the best inflight TV suite there is. Too bad the plan appears to be to remove the LTV system when the contract expires, which I assume is within the next few years.
The 'dark' 737s were the -900ERs that came with no entertainment options whatsoever, prior to installing and activating streaming IFE. Every 70+ seat airplane at least has a streaming option, which I find to be working properly about 9 in 10 flights. Conversely, two of my most recent 3 757-200 (75B) flights in Y had completely inoperative IFE, once only at my seat and once in the whole cabin. In that case, I actually used the streaming instead. So, YMMV.
It's sort of obviated by the wifi login page now (and Google maps, if you know...) but this gets a ^ from me. Now, if only the primitive map could be updated to provide a bit more information, or slightly higher resolution!
It's sort of obviated by the wifi login page now (and Google maps, if you know...) but this gets a ^ from me. Now, if only the primitive map could be updated to provide a bit more information, or slightly higher resolution!
Jan 30, 2019, 8:33 am
#15
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 546
I just noticed the DirecTV announcement on the United website. While the only change for me personally (like for others in this thread) is that I can have the map on the screen for more than the first 20 minutes of the flight, it's great to see more free entertainment options.