Far-flung and flexible, United Airlines has built a reputation listening to corporate customers
The numbers only begin to tell the tale of a fabled airline once again on its way up. United Airlines’ route structure ranks as the planet’s most comprehensive: 226 domestic destinations; 136 international. 362 airports in all, apportioned amongst 58 countries. United is a trans-Pacific juggernaut, serving China as no other US airline. United fields nonstops not just to Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, but smaller cities (the term is relative in China) such as Chengdu and – soon – Xi’an.
“We fly 5,000 daily flights, carrying over 138-million customers annually,” says Dave Hilfman, United’s senior vice president of Worldwide Sales.
Girth is great, unless it renders you muscle-bound and slow to change. To compete and win on an international stage you’ve got to be flexible and fast to respond to market changes – as well as far-ranging.
Look, Listen, Lean ForwardCorporate customers, corporate travel buyers and travel management companies want an airline to listen to them, meet their needs. Cookie-cutter incentive programs just don’t cut it anymore. Carefully-crafted initiatives are what customers today are demanding.
When a corporation’s travel patterns change, “they need a program such that the [usage] goals are adjustable, based on where they’re going,” says Karen Catlin, United’s managing director of Worldwide Sales Resources. “If they’re an architectural firm maybe this year their project is in the Middle East, whereas last year it was in the Pacific. So, a fixed goal doesn’t work for them.” A carrier needs to adjust as its customers’ travel patterns change. United’s 700-person-strong Worldwide Sales force has put programs in place to do precisely that.
While some business travelers focus on price, Catlin notes, “with other customers it’s all about amenities and traveler services.” The focus for these corporate customers, she says, is “the experience we can offer. So we listen to what the customer is asking us for, what’s important in their travel program, and then really try to craft our programs for each customer.”
TMCs have always been important in United’s scheme of things. “They’re key to us,” says Catlin. “We work together to ensure a smooth travel experience for our mutual corporate travelers.”
United has done a lot of work over the last couple of years to place more power in the hands of TMCs so together they and the airline can better serve corporate customers. Catlin says, “We’re doing this by providing them with the tools and resources to do more in terms of re-booking customers during irregular operations”— weather, mechanical, air traffic control delays or cancellations. She says the idea is to allow “wider and deeper parameters so they can serve the customer at first point of contact.”
That way the TMC “can just handle the PNR when the customer calls them and get the customer on their way. That’s really resonated not only with the travel management companies, but also the corporate traveler. They don’t want to have to make two phone calls to get something done,” she adds.
Flexibility, food, seats and in-flight entertainment – all work in concert to set the tone for a trip. Time aloft should be productive or restful, as you like it. But the sine qua non of service, the indispensable element, remains reliability. United has made real strides in that arena.
Hilfman says for the period encompassing the last two weeks of September through the first two weeks of October 2015, the carrier’s completion factor (the percentage of flights actually completed) was 99.8 percent. Pair that with another number, 85 percent on-time performance, and the equation is decidedly business-friendly. Fewer appointments missed, more deals done.
Polishing the AmenitiesUp front, beyond the curtain, the food can be fabulous. But if your corporate travel policy won’t put you up front there’s still culinary hope. Earlier this year, United radically revamped its long-haul economy class menu. This was no mere tweak. The complimentary meal service is served up on United trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific flights. Trips from the United States to Argentina, Brazil and Chile got upgraded too. Consider Tuscan ravioli with roasted pepper sauce, served with a petit artisan roll and mixed salad. Choose from gelato, sorbet, ice cream or mousse.
No amenity counts more than a good seat. United just introduced a new custom-designed premium seat slated for 200 of its narrowbody jets – A319s, A320s and a number of 737s and 757s. At 21.1 inches across the new United First seat is wider than the current one. It sports an articulating seat bottom for greater comfort when reclining and features universal AC power outlets that let you charge mobile devices.
Fliers in all classes of service can put their mobile devices to good use on most of the United mainline and United Express fleet, since the great majority of these aircraft offer onboard WiFi and Personal Device Entertainment.
No one’s more wedded to their personal digital devices than business travelers. They have scant time to stop and ask directions in an airport to the nearest good on-site restaurant, or the United Club.
Now, customers navigating through the airline’s Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles International, Newark Liberty International, San Francisco International, Denver International and Bush Houston Intercontinental hubs don’t have to break stride to find what they’re looking for. United has updated its mobile app to show you where to go. One feature that’s especially helpful when making a tight connection estimates walk times gate-to-gate. There’s also a self-booking function for faster re-booking in case of flight delay or cancellation.
How ‘Bout Those Hubs?“We’re continuing to invest – to the tune of billions of US dollars – in our fleet, our facilities, our product and ultimately our people,” says Hilfman. “That pays off big. Ultimately, customers notice.”
Indeed they notice in San Francisco, home of United’s vaunted trans-Pacific service. Next year he says there’s going to be a flurry of new long-range service from SFO, with new nonstops to Tel Aviv (March 30), Xi’an, China (May 8) and Auckland, New Zealand (July 1). All three routes will be operated aboard 787 Dreamliners.
Xi’an is an intriguing new flight, a nonstop from the United States to a city that business travelers could only access heretofore via an overseas connection.
Over on the East Coast, United’s Newark Liberty International hub thrives. United’s move of its popular p.s. Premium Service from JFK to EWR marks “a chance for us to consolidate our strengths,” says Hilfman, “at the crown jewel of New York airports.”
The re-location (United will no longer field flights out of Kennedy) means the airline should be able to cement its position on the transcon by offering more than 1,250 flat-bed seats between Newark and both San Francisco and Los Angeles. Along with the move from JFK comes a multi-million makeover of EWR’s Terminal C lobby.
Other carriers, of course, are investing too – new airplanes, new routes, upgraded amenities and added apps. Nothing stays static in business travel, not for a nanosecond. Dave Hilfman understands. “We realize we have good competition,” says United’s senior vice president of Worldwide Sales. That said, “Our aspiration is to be the best airline in the world.”