United Express
 

Is anybody else completely embarrassed to be a part of this operation? Don't get me wrong "united, please hire me", but OMFG! As a regional pilot who works for both united express and delta delta connection wow!

This raises a question from me. How much influence does mainline have on the day-to-day operations of their feed? I know mainline sets the schedules, and in some cases owns the airframes etc. But in the more day-to-day sense, what type of control does mainline have? For example...... can mainline make the call to cancel or delay a flight?

Everyone should be embarrassed. But that's what happens when you put someone who used to be in charge of Call Centers at CO, and is now in charge of United Express. They have no earthly idea what's going on, or even how to attempt to fix it. Their first problem is not having a consistent schedule. One day OO and EV may operate a certain city pair, and the next day its G7 and AX. There is no streamlined product between express and mainline, and the outstations are exceptionally bad. Lately, we have been showing up to planes at ORD that haven't been catered or cleaned overnight which delays the whole line of flying for the day. And it takes FOREVER to get potable water if we can even end up getting it and the truck isn't broke. It's a truly abysmal operation.

Not at all. Regardless of the fact that I'm way underpaid i provide 200% effort every day. I'm not a gate agent, or an airplane cleaner, so if there's a problem with that area of the product, the best i can do is be honest and communicate with the right people to make things work. The operation is only as strong as it's weakest link; don't let that become you. Talking to aa/UA/etc mainline carrier pilots while jumpseating has taught me that the grass is the color you make it. When we finally make it to the big show, there will be new things to complain about.

I've learned to not dare to ask for potable water on the weekends! How dare there be water for our 4 hour flight to Edmonton! "Mainline has priority and our other truck is broke." My favorite line is "yeah we don't hook GPU's for Express carriers." Yonited's company motto should just be "not my problem."

Im going to guess this will change. I predict UA will do a big UAX shift this fall. And "streamline" the UAX operation to 2-3 regionals for each hub city.. No more of this ORD mess....

You are making a bold assumption in thinking UAL has a competent management team capable of any form of 'streamlining' esp at UAX.

Like I said on another thread, nothing sucks like United Express operations. I'm SkyWest and usually fly Delta lift and occasionally United lift, I purposely bid avoid United flying. But when I do the difference is profound, I'm pretty sure United can claim victorious in providing the worst customer experience for regional flying. I mean, it's bad enough as it is, but United goes to incredible efforts and really digs deep to make it sickening. I used to try to make a difference, but have given up. I show up and fly, nothing more, I'm not going to give the only effort for a crap product when management has gone to extreme lengths to make flying United Express hideous.

There's a CPA running United, CPAs running everything, everybody makes money but nothing works. Smisek is running United and is the only major to lose massive amounts of cash while everybody else is making billions!

Like I said, nothing sucks like United!

United Express
 

It is truly an embarrassment to fly in the UAX system. Period. And yes, United pre-cancels way more Express flights before they'll even touch their own. I get it, but when you're running about 15% more outsourced capacity than your competitors, you'll have a major problem so quickly. United relies on the Express carriers so much for its North American feed. I won't even say domestic because it's not. Anyone one here that works for a carrier that flies for UAX understands. I saw a stat the other day that Delta has around 77% mainline capacity at its largest hub (ATL) while United is like 35% at ORD. Granted ORD is not Uniteds largest hub and is around half the size of the Delta ATL operation, but still. Seeing how ORD has gate capacity issues you would think that number would be higher. I would be interested to see what IAH runs as the largest hub for United.


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I've worked the Delta Connection side for 5 years and now I work for CommutAir. The difference in service is astounding. I find our crews are always busting their butts trying to make everything work right, but it's like leading a horse to water only to have it stand there stubbornly not drinking. I'm Dulles based and the ground handling from Air Wisconsin is absolutely abysmal. Trying to get a lav service, commissary, or ground air is an effort in futility. "Hey ops, we need blah blah blah." "Copy" Aaaaaand, then nothing happens until I walk into the commissary area and say we need commissary at gate so and so. Then I walk into the ramper break room and say, "hey guys, this is a Q200, we don't have an APU, we need ground air. It's 90 degrees today." And they look at me like they have no idea what I'm talking about. I won't even get started on the customer service agents "above the wing."

I feel so terrible for the passengers. By the time they get to my plane, they are already ****ed off. I try to make my part of the experience as enjoyable as possible (it is a Dash8 after all) but I can only do so much. I really hope United gets its act together....and soon!

Somebody must have heard me complaining. Just got word that Swissport will be replacing Air Wisconsin in IAD effective 11/01/14. Here's to hoping things will get better!

It blows me away how United craps all over it's regional operation. Cancel, delay, ignore ACARS in range requests, don't clean the aircraft and on and on and on. They are screwing their own customers. The passengers bought tickets from United, not UAX. It seems as though United management thinks they can shift the blame for their suckieness over to the regional carriers somehow. They don't seem at all interested in protecting the image of their brand. United is truly one sad airline.

nailed it!

I can't believe after that first abysmal quarter Smisek is still around.

In case you're new to this industry, that's just a shuffling of contracts to keep workers from having too much longevity. The same people will be rehired by swissport. There's a few good eggs at the A gates in IAD but the cards are so stacked against them it's hard not to get jaded.

This is always the issue for businesses when they outsource their core competency. It takes an extreme amount of effort to get contractors to perform at your level. If you don't pay them well enough for them to know where there bread is buttered there's no incentive to do the job really well.

DCI was exactly the same way 10 years ago. Epically bad. Hats off to Delta for fixing it. UAX is just plane (plain) embarrassing.

When dealing with UAX I just advise the station on the in-range call that we will be needing lav, bug-wash, commissary, etc and we will not be leaving until we get it. The delay will be on them, and I follow up with a phone call to the company to make darn sure the delay sticks where it belongs. I think they know who I am now, but I always seem to get what I ask for.

I do however try to plan PITA ground service requests for the longer turns so the station isn't hopelessly under the gun.

That's about the best I can do with UAX.

You all are a 100% correct!! The UAX product stinks!!! Hopefully, with the continued bad service it will eventually die, and return to mainline!!

Wouldn't count on it. They will probably just rehire the same people.

...For lower pay and fewer benefits….I'm sure they will do a GREAT job!

Are you a professionally trained gravy robber?

That would agree with what a recent a ALPA rep told me recently. There is a major overhaul coming to UAX this fall, he said. Reducing the number of carriers serving each hub. Altering the type of flying from each RJ hitting numerous hubs in one day to a single hub out and back route structure. This supposedly gives them better flexibility and the ability to recover from IROPS.


Killing off a few of the UAX carriers from our list of contractors is a hot rumor. The sooner the better.

Yes, they have been talking about this for quite sometime. Of course it wont solve the problem with ground workers who don't care, show no effort, and have little to no resources to get the job done.

Yes. I've mastered the surprise attack, and can snatch that sweet, sweet gravy right off their plate.

I don't know if I would go as far as to cal it a huuuuge overhaul, but the express carriers will no longer fly routes like IND/IAD/LIT/IAH/ASE/DEN/SBA/LAX (over exaggeration, but anyone that's flown something similar gets the idea)

Mainline calls the shots on which flights get cancelled when weather hits. And usually that means that the 19-76 seat flight gets cancelled instead of the 150 seat flight. The only time a feeder will cancel a flight is when there is no crews left for the day or a broken airplane that won't be fixed that day. Feeders will operate a flight many hours late because that's how they are paid, for completed flights, even if they are empty. I operated a flight from YYZ to IAH six hours late that was completely empty because every passenger was re-accommodated on other flights. But many times mainline will cancel a flight anyway.

Mainline also controls ramp, ground crew, gate agents, catering, lab service, etc. It is extremely rare that a flight is late because of a crew. Usually that only happens if someone accidentally sleeps in.

Scrooge: well, a few more dying off would be just fine, we are overpopulated anyway
Parson: yes, but no one can agree on WHOM is doing the overpopulating

Intelligence officer 1st Air Cav 1970: Statistics are very absolute when they apply to you.

As of now UAX is doing longer routes. LAX-MSP, in an RJ sounds like it should be a 737 or A320, but it's a CRJ700. UA is notorious for outsourcing flights 2, 3, 3:40+ hrs long.

LOL have you ever dealt with Swissport? Trust me it will get worse. The only reason Swissport won the contract is they underbid Air Whiskey. Dulles had been abysmal for years, regardless of the contractor.

For those of you who enjoy the excellent customer service in GRR, MDT, CVG, and other places United outsourced its customer service from mainline to Envoy, DGS or whoever.....this fantastic plan by Smisek is soon to come to all the UAL hubs as well. According to a 787 CA on the jumpseat last week, the rumor is UAL is going to outsource its entire customer service operation....no kidding...

Wouldn't surprise me... this goes back to the offhanded comments he has made in the past stating that the first actual United employee a passenger will come in contact with would be the crew.

So the first person a passenger would encounter that actually gives a damn is never?

United Express
 

You guys are missing the big picture here. At this point United is too big to fail. It's the wonderful byproduct of the merger spree. Seriously. They have ZERO incentive to maintain decent customer service. I hate to say it, but get used to it.

You realize why swissport won the bid right? Because they proposed a cheaper bid. You think they're going to work effectively when they will be getting paid even less?