A United Correction and a Reminder for This Saturday’s Event

United

It’s a rare Wednesday post for me today, but I had two things to mention.

First, please remember that this Saturday is the 2nd annual Cranky Dorkfest at LAX. What is it? Just a bunch of us airline dorks getting together to watch airplanes at the In ‘n Out Burger on Sepulveda just north of LAX. I’ll be there from 11a to 2p and we have some special guests including Henry Harteveldt (@hharteveldt), David Parker Brown (@AirlineReporter), and the NYC Aviation (@NYCAviation) folks. We’ll also be giving away a limited number of t-shirts from the new site Routehappy. I’ve recently become an advisor to the company and CEO Bob Albert will be there on Saturday. If you have suggestions for the site, make sure you flag him down when you arrive.


Second, I wanted to issue a correction to a post I wrote about United’s split operation in San Francisco. In that post, I said “United has been strangely silent about this. There is a page on the SFO website describing what’s happening but United isn’t saying much at all.” Apparently that’s not true.

Boarding passes have a highlighted message:

United Boarding Pass Message

You probably can’t read it on the image above, but it says the following:

United ticketing, check-in and baggage drop for all flights are located at Terminal 3 at San Francisco (SFO).

You may proceed through security at Terminal 3, and if you are departing from Terminal 1, take the shuttle bus to Terminal 1 from Gate 71A or 87A. If you are departing from Terminal 1 and have already checked in, do not need to see a United representative, and do not have any bags to check, you may proceed through Terminal 1 security with your boarding pass.

United is also putting it on the “Important notices” section of the website, but I can’t imagine that anyone actually goes there before a flight.

This doesn’t change the fact that United still won’t let you check in at Terminal 1 or claim bags there, and it still doesn’t help people to know in advance which terminal their flight will be using, but there is certainly more communication out there during the travel experience than I thought. So, sorry about that error, United.

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22 comments on “A United Correction and a Reminder for This Saturday’s Event

  1. I’m still bummed I won’t be there on saturday, but here’s to hoping for a blowout success so I can catch the sequel nexxt year.

    Had never heard of RouteHappy, but interesting concept and will pass the word along. Only 2 suggestions: add category of overhead bin space (can be filtered by a/c) and add “contact us” or “suggestions” link, especially in beta.

    1. I wish I could be there on Saturday.

      Regarding the SFO T1 business, is there any other airline at any other airport that has a gate area in a terminal with no check-in/bag claim?

    2. Sanjeev – I don’t know of any others but it probably has happened. This is a temporary situation so I’m sure it’s happened before.

  2. so jealous… have a double-double for me!

    cranky, we should host a “planespotting” event at Gravelly Point along the Potomac next time you’re in DC. it’s such a great spot but, of course, we won’t have a very exotic array of commercial aircraft to spot, mostly just a bunch of 737s, A319/320s and RJs, a few 757s if we’re lucky!

    1. Would love it, Bill. Used to go there all the time back in college, but of course then we saw a ton of 727s plying the skies. That was a lot more fun.

  3. That message is somewhat new and was not there when they first started using T1…however, they have improved the Shuttle location (no longer using Gate 92 “A-C”) this month…Now there is a very obvious transfer point near the Yankee Pier at 71A. Better, but still a pain.

    1. I wouldn’t expect to see any increased traffic between OC and LAX. It’s those coming from the north who should probably stay home.

  4. I recommend hosting Dorkfest III at beautiful Founders’ Plaza in DFW. No fast food, but it is a great spotting location.

  5. Sadly I must miss this but I’m heading to see my sister and my new nephew who is still in hospital in Vancouver. Go animal style and have a shake too!

  6. Brett, I wonder if UA’s T1 notice appears on its mobile boarding passes. With some airlines seeing 5% or more of pax using mobile BP, at an airline of UA’s size that number could be considerable.

  7. A no-show I’ll be, in person, that is, not in spirit.

    And oh, that transfer on UA at SFO, that is something. But then again, aren’t most transfers from a mainline to a regional messes of one type or another?

    But, if that’s the only difficulty one has to deal with in taking a vacation trip to heavenly Lake Tahoe, well, so be it. My complaint letters will just have wait a week.

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