Now It Pays to Get Stuck on a Runway

[question everything]

Now It Pays to Get Stuck on a Runway

United Will Give 500 Miles To Passengers on Flights 30 Minutes or More Late

By RON LIEBER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
June 14, 2005

Now you can earn frequent-flier miles for getting stuck on the runway, even if weather is to blame.

Starting today, UAL Corp.'s United Airlines will give 500 miles to customers on flights that arrive at their destination gate 30 minutes or more late. The offer is good on flights to and from its hub at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport for service between seven airports: Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth International, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Newark, New York's La Guardia, Philadelphia, and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

United will award the miles even if weather or air-traffic-control delays cause a flight to be late. The carrier will also assign all of the flights to these cities to the concourse at O'Hare that is closest to ticket agents and security lines. United has done this before, but it discontinued the practice shortly after the terrorist attacks in 2001. The move is United's latest attempt to convince Chicago passengers that there are big differences between it and AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, its archrival at O'Hare.

(snip)

United is also acutely aware that O'Hare has a reputation as a delay-prone airport to be avoided whenever possible. Already, the Federal Aviation Administration had to intervene when United and American added so many flights that they couldn't all run on time. Both agreed to reduce their schedules.

(snip)

United wouldn't disclose what percentage of its flights between Chicago and the seven cities have been more than 30 minutes late recently, but it says that 71.3% of those flights arrived within 14 minutes of their scheduled arrival time in the first quarter of this year. A United spokeswoman says that it won't be adding extra minutes to its flight schedules to give the planes a better chance of arriving on time.

United customers must register with the airline to be eligible to receive the 500 miles. The new initiatives are scheduled to last through the end of this year, but Mr. Cary says it's possible that the airline will extend them.

Write to Ron Lieber at [e-mail]

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111870755389858650,00.html

[uppityperson]

1. News release-UA extends time of all its flight by 30 minutes

Therefor none will be more than 30 minutes late. (dang I'm getting cynical. better get off DU for a while)