Often1

This is much more sophisticated than some think. UA Ops. may be able to prioritize a departure or find a better routing to shave some time off and still arrive ontime. Won't always be possible but a departure delay does not equate to a similar arrival delay and it is arrival that matters.

smxflyer

Flew LAS-ORD-SYR last night / this morning. LAS-ORD was delayed more than an hour. Made it from C27 to F10 in <10 minutes, but the door was just closed - plane departed about 2 minutes early. I know it's a complex decision, but a little disappointing I didn't make it.

jimmc66

[QUOTE=rj_flyer;31357092]

This is a groundbreaking change to airport operations, implemented by leveraging all the information at their fingertips for benefit of the PASSENGERS first.

Four years ago, the UA implementation online and with their app was a technological joke. Partially trying to build two systems together (UA and CO) and partially because UA just didn't have a clue what customers needed.

All the credit goes to Linda Jojo, who UA brought in from Rogers Cable where she was CIO. This despite this press release with Toby Enqvist taking the bow.

After struggling early on trying to bandaid the existing systems, she implemented a rebuild of both the online web access as well as the UA app. I heard there was a lot of internal pushback who predicted "doom and gloom".

That has proven to be not the case. The rollout of the new app was mostly trouble-free, as has been the web access change. These were far more than graphics changes. These required a whole underlying rethink of the processes involved.

And now we're seeing features that can be enabled by mastery of the data and knowing WHAT THE PASSENGER WANTS BEFORE THEY KNOW IT.

The first groundbreaking change is "ConnectionSaver". Those that are very FF's know full well there are flights that can easily see a departure delay - long turnaround times (including overnights), favorable winds, and other reasons. Gate agents were always straitjacketed to the rules. The source of many many online videos with passengers screaming to get on a flight that's been closed. With "mastery of the data", United has developed a tool that fixes this long-standing problem.

Now we see the IRROPS process being automated as well.

UA is clearly the technological leader in passenger-facing benefits.

(Not a UA employee, just a 34+ year flyer on United Airlines).

windhund

From The Seattle Times:

United Airlines’ new technology aims to cut down on missed connections
Full article: https://www.seattletimes.com/busines...d-connections/

(I searched and couldn't find any thread about this new software in particular - but please merge with another thread if more appropriate.)

Seems like a task perfectly suited for a computer.

FlytheTail

This didn't help me a few weeks ago. Inbound flight was delayed by 75 minutes and I arrived at my connecting gate 3 minutes after scheduled departure. The plane had already pushed back and I was SOL. It was the last flight of the night, so apparently UA's algorithm thought it was better to continue my streak of late/canceled flights and pay for my hotel and meal at ORD.

EWR764

Did you sprint to the gate? I think the algorithm uses some generous transfer times such that it probably predicted you'd arrive much later than that.

The objective is to be in a position to close 10 minutes before departure, with boarding complete at T-15. If you read some of the articles about the software, it seems more geared to keeping the door open inside of the T-10 window in the event of late connectors. A later-than-D:0 departure starts to introduce downline complications (turn time, crew legality, takeoff position, ramp congestion, among others) that the ConnectionSaver algorithm will actually consider, but in such cases will probably be less likely to recommend a hold.

FlytheTail

I did walk quickly and probably arrived 5-10 minutes earlier than someone who would have walked slowly.

All good points. Considering it was around 9pm, I don't think turn time, takeoff position, or ramp congestion would have played factors, but crew legality certainly could have. I'll hope for better luck next time.

emcampbe

donjo

This new algorithm certainly didn't work for my wife last night. She was on the last itinerary out last night (AUS-IAH-MFE). The first leg was on an aircraft coming into AUS from EWR. It was delayed due to "route planning" by the airline. She thus arrived IAH late with only 25 min to get from terminal E to B. Arrived to her connecting gate 10 min prior to departure but the boarding door had closed and the flight actually departed the gate 2 minutes early. She is now in a hotel at our expense. The customer service agent said it was "weather related," though there was no mention of weather in EWR, nor in AUS or IAH, nor any mention of weather issues on the United app. She is Premier Gold. I expected they might offer a hotel voucher or food voucher but that did not occur. Would anyone have expected anything under these circumstances? She used miles for pay for the itinerary, so claiming travel delay benefits on the United card was not an option

747FC

First time with a relatively short transfer under this new system. One hour, and had to get from F1 to B18 in ORD. Had some delay, awaiting our gate-check bag off of the Devil’s Chariot, then proceeded up the jetway. Saw someone holding an electronic sign with my name on it, and the last time that happened was off a GF flight LHR-SFO, with a GS agent giving me bad news about my connection.

This time, the sign-holder turned out to be a wheelchair pusher, offering a ride to B18. A bit startlingly, as I’ve never requested any form of mobility assistance. Declined the ride and hoofed it through the crowded concourse way faster than a wheelchair pusher could have navigated the busy corridor. Wonder whether this wheelchair offer is part of the new program to assure connections?

FlyerTalker70

ConnectionSaver has only been rolled out to ORD so far. I was there on Tuesday and saw a ton of people coming from LATAM with the orange/red ConnectionSaver sleeve catch my flight to YYZ just before doors close.

Technically no she wouldn't be guaranteed a hotel and meal vouchers per Star Alliance policy. Per Star Alliance manual (pg 152) passengers travelling in business, first or Star Gold in any class who are:
are eligible for the following services, regardless of cause:
In practice, airlines will often taken pity on their *Gold passengers and do the right thing and book them a hotel, meal vouchers, etc. This was my experience with AC and UA although I had to be persistent talking to several agents before I got my way. In theory you should be able to write in to United to ask for some compensation, at a minimum I would expect they provide some points as a token of appreciation. You may also want to check the credit card you used to book those flights since many cover hotel bookings, meals and the like when such IRROP events occur.

Hope this provides some guidance.

Safe Travels,

James

jsloan

The actual message is "Your flight departed late because we needed to update your flight plan;" however, that sounds like UA printing the most recent of its myriad delay messages and suppressing the others. Here's what I see in ExpertFlyer:

I interpret that as "the crew was delayed," which could certainly be the result of weather. In fact, if you go back one flight further, the EWR-AUS flight was operated by a plane that had just arrived as UA1885 from MSY; scheduled for a 2:33 PM arrival, but actually arrived at 3:50 PM; the reason it gave was "we were waiting for air traffic control to approve our departure." Since the EWR-AUS flight was scheduled for a 3:55 PM departure, that accounts for at least part of the delay.



That said, if your wife was actually at the gate 10 minutes prior to departure, I'm disappointed that they had already closed the door. They don't appear to have needed the seat -- the flight flew with five seats empty -- and they should have known where she was coming from. 15 minutes to get from E terminal to B terminal is not an Herculean task; I'd expect that they'd give her a chance to arrive.​​​​​​​

You keep saying this. It continues not to reflect reality. If there's weather, UA will provide a hotel for 1K members -- and, even then, it often takes prodding. Otherwise, it's hard enough even to get them to follow the *G guidelines on applicable (intercontinental) flights.

Suggesting that it's not actually policy.


They might, but only because I've completely given up on understanding when UA will send a travel credit and when they won't.


​​​​​​​This, on the other hand, I agree with. Often, just paying the taxes / fees on a card is enough to trigger trip delay insurance.

SS255

My SFO-HKG flight was delayed 20 minutes yesterday due to late-arriving passengers (and their bags). They still showed an on-time arrival when the delay was posted, so I’m guessing that was factored in. We ended up arriving about 5 minutes early. I suspect there were some very grateful pax on that (very empty) flight.

fumje

I have no inside knowledge about whether this algorithm is improving connections or not. But no method can catch every exception, and it will always be possible to find some failure anecdote.

In this case I suggest just send UA a copy of the hotel receipt and a short note about how you were disappointed with their accommodation of your wife's flight delay. I think there is a decent chance that they'll reimburse or issue a certificate.

Chamor

Any sense of how this tool is working? Is it really saving lots of connections that otherwise would have been missed? I have an upcoming flight with a tight connection to last flight of the day, so I may need this.