David J.
Danto
Business travel
thoughts in my own, personal opinion
eMail: ddanto@IMCCA.org Follow Industry News: @NJDavidD
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‘Polaris-izing’ –or- The
Tale Of Two Airlines
In my last business travel blog I
explained how United Airlines’ recent moves essentially eliminated the Platinum
elite level. What I didn’t fully explain
is that this is only one small part of a larger picture. United is now both a high-end international /
trans-con luxury carrier, and also a poor excuse for a modern, domestic
carrier. The gap is as great as it has
ever been, and it is getting much larger.
From
a passenger-segmentation standpoint, the growing divide is obvious. In addition to virtually eliminating the
Platinum Elite level as I explained in the last blog, United
has made a number of changes to the requirements to reach the 1K (100,000 miles
a year) level. Firstly, they’ve
raised the required spend to reach 1K from $12,000 to $15,000 (in addition to
flying the miles of course.) Next,
they’ve also dropped the previously double miles earned on the least expensive
premium tickets (“P” class) to now 1.5 miles earned. These moves are meant to make fewer people
qualify for the top tier, and make achieving that level even more dependent on
how much money you spend and not how much flying you do.
The
bottom line is United wants customers that spend a lot
of money. I get that. I don’t like it, but there’s nothing
inherently wrong with it. The problem is
that the lack of competition for non-stop domestic flights has allowed United
(and other US carriers) to drastically diminish the passenger experience for
those passengers that aren’t flying
on the most expensive routes and tickets.
It’s “Robbing Peter To Pay Polaris” as Joe Brancatelli
helped me formulate the quote a few months ago.
If
one has purchased a First Class ticket from Newark to Europe or Asia, and one
does that frequently, one is likely to be admitted into United’s Global
Services tier. (Also, if one is a “C”
suite executive at a large business one is also likely to have had Global
Services gifted to them for free – which is another enormous problem, but not
the focus of this blog.) When this
extravagant traveler arrives at Newark he or she enters a completely separate
Global Services check-in lounge. He or
she is then allowed to use a hidden lounge exit that lets them go to the front
of the security line. They are then
allowed to use the newest United Club at Newark (stolen from paying
club members without refund or compensation) until it’s time for their
flight. It’s a gloriously uncomplicated
and pampered experience.
If,
however, one is just a lowly silver, gold or platinum elite flyer on a domestic
trip, it is truly a tale of two airlines.
That is my personal experience and the experience of the numeric
majority of United’s customers.
If
I have Pre-Check it means almost
nothing if I’m departing Terminal C, because the lines often wrap around longer
than the regular security line. If I’m
Pre-Check and departing from Terminal A, it means absolutely nothing. Despite years of opportunity, United and the
TSA still haven’t added a Pre-Check line at Terminal A.
The Continuously Crappy Experience of Flying Out of
EWR Terminal A
If
I’m departing from Terminal C, and I’m a United Club member, I experience a
shadow of what I once had. Since the
newest club was stolen from paying club members and designated as Polaris only,
the remaining club has had all of the comfortable seating removed, and is
always far over capacity. I covered that in
detail in a past blog, so I won’t re-hash it here, but I will add that at a
recent visit I was given a moist towelette by United staff, passing them out
like product hawkers on a street corner – an obvious acknowledgement that the
bathrooms are inadequate at these supposedly premium locations – which cost
members upwards of $450 a year. (That
buys a lot of moist towelettes.) Airport
clubs are supposed to be a place where one can go to go to relax and get work
done – because they are better than the terminal seating experience. With stackable plastic chairs, inadequate
awful food, overcrowding and inadequate, dated bathrooms, the Newark clubs are
no longer better than the terminal experience – and in many cases they are
worse. What’s the point of paying for
membership? (Chase Bank is complicit in
this sham as well, still offering a “Club Card” to New York/New Jersey members
without reducing its price commensurate with the drastically reduced EWR experience.)
The
gap between the Global Services international/premium flying experience and the
domestic experience is enormous and growing larger every day. United – and the other airlines as well –
feel there is no reason to improve the day-to-day experience of their domestic
travelers, as deregulation and mergers have created an environment where there
is virtually no competition at many US airports. I’ve blogged about
that before, and when I did people accused me of exaggerating how bad it
was. Let me tell you about my flight
experience this past weekend as just one example.
My
wife and I attended a family party in Greensboro, North Carolina. Our experience getting into Newark Terminal A
was as described above – no Pre-Check, long lines, etc. Ironically, the United Club in Terminal A –
historically the bastard stepchild of the good clubs in C – is likely now the
best United Club experience at the airport.
We boarded the United Express RJ-145 and had a relatively smooth flight
to Greensboro (GSO – Piedmont Triad International Airport.) GSO is a tiny, little nothing of an airport
that provides a slam-dunk excellent passenger experience that should embarrass
anyone connected with the large New York area airports. A fully-staffed Pre-Check lane with zero
hassles getting through, plenty of comfortable seating room and dining options,
no kiosks or free-standing stores in the middle of walkways, etc. We boarded our flight home on-time (despite a
rapid turn-around on a late plane) and took off for EWR within 10 minutes of
the planned departure. We landed about
ten minutes late. The gate was
C130x. Many of the passengers –
including me – were happy to be landing at Terminal C and not Terminal A, as
that would help with tight connections.
It was my first experience at this travesty of a gate. Now I know better.
C130x
is a tarmac landing gate. They roll
stairs up to the plane and make you wait for gate checked bags outside on the
airport grounds. OK, it’s stupid to have
to deal with that kind of throwback at an airline’s home hub in 2018
(especially in light of the Jetway and pleasant
experience at the dinky GSO we just came from) but no big deal. I fly to a few airports on these stinking RJs
that still have tarmac departures, and it’s not that much of an issue – walk
down the stairs, get your bag and go.
However, never put it past United to make a big mess out of any
situation when they have the chance.
There was no entrance to the
terminal from gate 130x.
Apparently, no one bothered to blast a hole in the wall and add some
stairs. The plan – which no one told the
passengers until we deplaned – is to wait for and get the gate checked bags,
then board a bus to the terminal.
The tarmac and bus experience of EWR gate 130X - Click
the photo to go to Twitter and see the real time comments and video
So,
using simple math here, if an RJ145 has a seating capacity of 50, and an
airport bus has a seating capacity in approximately the 30s, the ‘bus the late passengers’ plan is
clearly not an adequate solution for not having a stinking door into the
terminal where the plane lands.
First
we were admonished to “get into a single-file line” to wait for bags. Then, once that mess was finally over, we had
to head to the bus. Naturally, everyone
onboard needed to get to the terminal ASAP, so everyone crowded onto the bus –
which was never made to hold that many people.
We were already very late due to the wait for bags and the time it took
to stuff everyone into the too-small bus.
The bus then proceeded to give us a tour of the underbelly of Newark
Airport – past the garage, the garbage dumps, the mechanical entrances, etc. –
bumping and jostling the people tumbling into each other all the way. When you land in an airplane they always tell
you to stay seated and keep your seatbelts fastened ‘till you come to a complete
stop at the gate because you’re on an active airport tarmac. But, apparently, they can use grease and a
plunger to stuff you onto a bus that is too small – where you have to stand and
try to hold on for dear life – as you ride around that very same tarmac. (How the DOT and FAA allows United to get
away with that is beyond me.) The bus
then takes the passengers to the absolute polar opposite side of Terminal C –
Gate 70 – at which point the United staff has the gall to shout at the late and
exasperated passengers to “hurry-up.” A
number of the late passengers replied with “how dare you” comments. Quoting my wife on the experience, “It’s
hard to describe how degrading it all was.
The absolute lack of courtesy and care was just astounding. Out treatment felt as if we were prisoners
going to jail, not paying customers receiving a rather expensive service. How dare they treat customers this way,
especially at their hub airport. We
weren’t criminals, we were people just trying to catch a connecting flight or
get home. How does anyone who made the
decision to implement this process look at themselves in the mirror?”
I
think it’s pretty safe to say this was not exactly the ‘tea and crumpets’ of the Polaris service to Europe. Before anyone tries to excuse this by saying
it’s not really United, but a different carrier marketed as United Express –
yes, but that’s the aircraft experience.
The airport configuration, ground staff, etc. – that’s all United. This is a planned process that someone
approved. ‘Why does it need to be better’ they must have presumed, ‘it’s not like it’s our high-paying
customers.’
I’m
perfectly clear that this isn’t a being
dragged off the plane and beat bloody
experience – most of the daily pain from United doesn’t rise to
that level. “Death by a thousand pinpricks - just a series of unnecessary
indignities that make passengers dread getting on airplanes” is what I called it before, and it is now
worse than ever. If you’re not dumping
thousands of bucks per flight to go to exotic international destinations,
United – with everything they do – is saying you’re the lowest, worthless scum
that deserves the bare minimum treatment.
Unless there is some change in airline regulations, I’m sure they will
continue to be a tale of two airlines, and they will continue to explore just
how low the non-international, non-premium service can be distanced from the
top. We’ll all continue to be Polaris-ized.
This article was written by David Danto and
contains solely his own, personal opinions.
All image and links provided above as reference under
prevailing fair use statutes.