Comments on: Did Lufthansa Impact United’s Decision to Reverse International Meal Charges?

By: John Holland

John Holland — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:43:43 +0000

I was really amazed to hear this! I’ve used United several times for flights to Latin America from Europe, as an alternative to using Iberia. United wins in quality and service hands down every time, which is why I prefer the longer connection trhough Washington (United) to the faster one through Madrid (Iberia). I was really under the impression that US carriers offer better service then Europeans, and then I read this..

By: ingiltere vizesi

ingiltere vizesi — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:16:56 +0000

These are not surprising my anymore, but thanks..

By: Brad

Brad — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:31:44 +0000

(and insert “trans-atlantic” at the appropriate point in my previous post’s first paragraph)

By: Brad

Brad — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:28:30 +0000

I don’t understand why revenue C- and J-class customers fly UA at all — you can get a guaranteed lay-flat seat on VS, BA, LH, AF, etc. etc., but go with an American airline and you might get stuck with a non-lay-flat seat if you’re on the wrong model of bird.

I’m a government employee, so my hands are tied by the Fly America Act (for now) and the fact that we pay $800 r/t for LHR-IAD tickets on UA. (I could take LH flights as long as they’re booked on a UA flight number, and with the way UA’s going I may have to look into that.)

But in the private sector… why the heck would I pay for business class and get something less? And why are the seats in the LHR T1 *A business-class lounge worse than what WN is rolling out to their gate areas in the States? The same reason that UA thinks it can compete with LCCs by having higher prices, more fees, and worse service, apparently.

By: CF

CF — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:10:41 +0000

Peg – That’s an interesting question to which I don’t know the answer. I would be surprised if German law said that you had to feed someone for free, to be honest. But I suppose it’s possible.

By: Peg

Peg — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:13:29 +0000

Cranky — Very smart analysis. Question: Aren’t consumer protection laws related to travel in Germany much stronger than those in the U.S.? I wonder if, in addition to revenue, there was a customer-expectation/legal concern on Lufthansa’s part as well?

By: Sean

Sean — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:14:23 +0000

This was a terrific analysis, Cranky. Way to go!

By: CF

CF — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:20:49 +0000

Nick – There’s no question I’m being hard on United, but if the airline wants to talk about offering a premium experience, then I’m going to hold them to a higher standard.

Optimist – Star is headquartered in Frankfurt, I believe. It’s not the fact that they didn’t run this by Star Alliance that surprises me, but Lufthansa is a different story. These two airlines share revenue on transatlantic flights, so these changes have a big impact on Lufthansa.

By: The Traveling Optimist

The Traveling Optimist — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:39:34 +0000

LH et. al. may have pressured United in to reversing their decision, true enough. United’s management, notorious for taking inordinate amounts of time to make a decision, made this decision long before releasing the survey – they just wanted a percentage figure to work with. And I’m fairly sure they “vetted” every stakeholder within United before going forward. Since Star isn’t part of their management structure (they have their own offices in Los Angeles, I believe, with HDQ somewhere in Europe – CF….can you confirm?), it never occurred to whatever independently operating “Survival Committee” they’ve appointed to send an internal decision up the flagpole to the rest of their Alliance brethren. So…none of the obvious questions came up, like what if I’m LH-ticketed but UA-operated, do I get a meal, or what if I’m UA-ticketed but OS-operated how come I don’t have to pay.

And note the continued arrogance of the airline. “We’ve heard our premier and executive customers loud and clear.” As I mentioned earlier, the ones with corporate expense plans who HAVE the money to pay may have found something in their policies that disagreed intensely with this idea. But what about the families, retirees and other budgeted travelers who don’t have buckets of money for this kind of expense. They weren’t listening to this group? Didn’t care in the first place?

From a pure revenue contribution perspective, United still means a great deal to the other Star carriers. Otherwise I would have moved for their removal quite some time ago, allowed this idiotic idea to go forward and simply taken on board all of their former customers jumping ship for a clearly superior travel product.

By: Nicholas Barnard

Nicholas Barnard — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:28:57 +0000

Will someone please stick a fork in the meandering mass that is United? These guys were done back at their last strike, they’re just a flying bucket of planes.

Seriously if I was in a union position here I’d deliver my resignation in person to Chicago and give them the finger on the way out.

I’ve never seen a greater collection of management incompetence than at United.