Things in the Sky

United Airlines has been fined by the Department of Transportation for not violating the new tarmac delay rule.

Really.

First – a little bit of background. United had four flights in May that were bound for Denver, but had to divert to Colorado Springs due to poor weather conditions. They sat in Colorado springs for over three hours, so United reported them to the DOT as flights that had tarmac delays over three hours.

The incidents were reported in the July Air Travel Consumer Report, which contained delay data for May.

Once United had reported these delays to the DOT, they were investigated further. United then determined that in fact the flights did not violate the rule – passengers were given free food and water and were also allowed to deplane if they so desired.

According to DOT regulations, the clock on the three hour rule stops ticking once passengers can leave.

So what does the DOT do? Fine United for wasting their time, of course! The total fine is $12,000 – $6,000 of which is paid now. The other $6,000 will only be paid in the event of any other violations by United.

This just seems silly to me. Did United screw up? Yes.

But this was the first month where the DOT was enforcing the new rule – so this was a bit new to everyone, I think. Not to mention, United screwed up when they said they didn’t – the airline did not benefit from this move. That’s a lot better than, say, not reporting an actual issue to the DOT.

Here’s how this should have been handled – the DOT should have said that they found United did not violate the rule, and they are glad that airlines are taking the three hour rule seriously. It would have been a nice PR opportunity for both parties – the DOT can say the rule is benefiting consumers and United can say they’re committed taking care of their customers.

Instead, Uncle Sam gets a whopping six grand and airlines become more discouraged about being transparent with regulators.

For some reason or another, my thoughts on my first trip on United got a good amount of traffic. It included a couple of minor complaints. So I think it is only fair to write about a good experience I had on United on the way back from Oshkosh, now two weeks ago. (I’m almost done playing catch-up, promise!)

After an exhausting (but very enjoyable) few days covering Oshkosh, it was time for me and Jon Ostrower aka Flightblogger to head home to DC. The first leg of our journey was a quick hop from Appleton to O’Hare on United Express, operated by an ERJ-145 in ExpressJet colors. The flight was good – hell, the pilots up front were some of the nicest I’ve seen on any airline all year. They thanked the passengers for flying United more than any United employee did. (Just sayin’.)

Next up was an A319 flight to National (DCA). Unfortunately, my upgrade didn’t clear, but I was seated in Economy Plus. Plus, I was in seat 12A to boot, which has no seat in front of it. Add an empty middle seat and it was pretty nice! The flight went very smoothly – I was very happy that the captain had Channel 9 on, which I listened to during taxi and the first 15 minutes of flight, then I switched to music.

Once I noticed we had started our descent, I went back to Channel 9 – and the bad news began to come in. The weather had not been kind to National, apparently, and things were moving very slowly at the airport. The flight was placed into a holding pattern. It soon became clear that we didn’t have enough fuel to wait it out, so the decision was made to divert to Dulles.

Of course, the cool thing about Channel 9 is that you get to hear about this at the same time as the crew. But for those who weren’t listening, the captain and first officer were constantly updating passengers. Yeah, it wasn’t great news, but it was nice to be kept in the loop.

After landing at Dulles, we were first told that we wouldn’t be able to deplane. But a few minutes later we were told that a jetway operator was found, and people could get off if they wished, but checked luggage would have to be retrieved at National. This news made people happier, and most passengers decided to leave.

I wasn’t sure what to do – so I consulted with Jon. In the end we concluded that we would wait it out and fly to National. A cab from Dulles to downtown DC takes awhile and is expensive, anyway. Plus, let’s be honest – you have to earn some airplane dork points for being on an IAD-DCA flight. So we waited it out.

In the meantime, the flight attendants came through the cabin offering coffee. I asked for water and received it very quickly.

Soon enough, we were off on our way to National – never going higher than 7,000 feet. It was a cool, short little flight that I’ll remember for awhile.

Anyway – I just wanted to say that the crew on United flight 626 on July 29 did an awesome job. Despite having to deal with some annoying weather conditions, they never lost their cool. The pilots did a fantastic job of keeping everyone informed, and the flight attendants kept on taking care of passengers – with a smile, no less! Color me impressed.

For years, United’s Economy Plus has been pretty basic – an economy seat with a few extra inches of legroom (the exact amount varies by aircrafttype). But I discovered an interesting promotion via Twitter last week – from August 6 to August 16, those seated in Economy Plus will receive one complimentary alcoholic beverage. I found the airline’s decision to (temporarily) add some more value to the product very interesting.

This could be a one-off quick promotion to try to increase Economy Plus sales in August. Maybe August is a weaker time for sales. I honestly have no idea. As always, reading more into something than necessary is more fun, though.

What could be more interesting is if United ever decided to  make this (or any other additional perks – like food) a permanent feature of the product. There are a couple of benefits to such a move. United’s been very big on ancillary revenue, and this could help there.

To give a hypothetical, let’s say there’s someone flying from Denver to Seattle, and they want a drink – that costs $6. But if the free drink encourages said passenger to buy Economy Plus, that ancillary revenue turns into $49. The margin on that passenger gets even better – the only additional cost incurred by United is the alcohol, as everything else Economy Plus-related has already been paid for.

This could also be a nice perk for elites. United’s elites get free booze when they get upgraded to First with unlimited domestic upgrades. But if the upgrade doesn’t clear, they’ll most likely be in Economy Plus, so that makes the experience of elites a bit more enjoyable.

Anyway, I’m probably reading a hell of a lot into a quick and basic promotion, but I’d love it if United begins to differentiate Economy Plus a bit more and turns it into a true premium economy offering.