Football fans stuck on a plane during the Super Bowl will be in luck on some United Airlines flights.
As part of a move to enhance the flying experience, the carrier is no longer charging passengers who want to watch DirecTV. That change takes place immediately, which will be welcome news for those in the air during the Super Bowl, which kicks off Sunday night.
“This year, we will be introducing a series of innovations and improvements designed to help build a great experience for all our customers,” chief customer office Toby Enqvist said in a statement.
The change will be seen on 211 United 737s that have DirecTV service. Previously, passengers had to pay either $5.99 or $7.99 to watch live TV, depending on the length of the flight.
Some of United’s competitors already offer free entertainment options on board. For example, JetBlue Airways has free DirecTV throughout its fleet and American Airlines passengers can stream live television from their personal devices on board many domestic and international flights
Making DirecTV free is part of United’s plan to improve its customer service image.
Last year, the airline was blasted after a flight attendant had a customer put a dog in an overhead bin for a flight. The dog died in flight, prompting days of bad press for United. And in 2017, United found itself apologizing, and ultimately paying a settlement, for dragging a passenger off of a plane that was oversold. The video of security officers pulling the passenger out of his seat and dragging him down the aisle created an uproar on social media.
While apologizing for the incident, CEO Oscar Munoz called the treatment of the passenger a shame, adding: “We will work to make it right.”
Since then, Munoz and his team have focused on improving the airline’s customer service. United has dramatically reduced the number of passengers it bumps from flights, and its on-time arrival performance improved in 2018.
Watch Chris Jansing speak with Paul Rinaldi, the President of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association about the group’s urgent new warning over the shutdown and the risk thousands of flights are facing every day.Jan. 24, 2019
Jan. 28–Severe winter weather in the Midwest is forcing Southwest and United airlines to either cancel, delay or divert some flights between San Diego and Chicago. Southwest says the disruption could last through Feb. 1.
Southwest canceled some flights between the two cities on Monday, and United delayed flights between 1 hour and more than 3 hours.
(Click here to check your flight.)
Chicago was getting heavy snow on Monday morning. Conditions will deteriorate with the arrival of the polar vortex.
The National Weather Service says that the vortex could drop temperatures to minus-23 degrees on Tuesday night in Chicago, and to minus 21 degrees on Wednesday night. The temperature could plunge below minus-30 degrees in other parts of the Midwest. Forecasters say the wind chill could be minus 40 on Wednesday night in northern Illinois.
The cold weather will spread into the Northeast.
Southwest said that on Monday the weather also could affect major airports in Buffalo, Cleveland, Des Moines, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Rochester.
United Airlines has issued weather-related travel waivers for dozens of airports in the Midwest and Northeast due to the polar vortex. The airline said that such waivers enable travelers to change to alternate flights without paying a change fee. The changes can be made through Jan. 29.
The affected airports include, but aren’t limited to, Buffalo, New York-Kennedy, Cleveland, New York-Newark, Philadelphia, Ottawa and Quebec City. The fee will be in effect through Feb. 1 at Chicago-O’Hare.
___ (c)2019 The San Diego Union-Tribune Visit The San Diego Union-Tribune at www.sandiegouniontribune.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
SAN FRANCISCO — At least three companies are hoping to bring supersonic airplanes back into the skies, but environmental groups worry their return could mean a big increase in greenhouse gasses from aviation.
The issue is expected to come to the fore next week as international regulators meet in Canada beginning Monday to discuss environmental and noise standards for the newly-revived supersonic transport technology.
The International Council on Clean Transportation released a study on the climate impacts of a creating a new commercial supersonic network Wednesday in anticipation of the meeting.
Supersonic jets fly faster than the speed of sound and at higher altitudes. The jets could fly from Paris to New York in three and a half hours, less than half the eight hours a conventional commercial jet would take.
British Airways and Air France ran Concorde supersonic service from 1976 until 2003, when it was discontinued in part because of low sales caused by the high cost of tickets, as well as concern over a 2000 accident that killed 113 people.
Now at least three startups are working on bringing supersonic transportation back, including the commercially-focused Boom Supersonic and two others working on business jets, Spike Aerospace and Aerion Supersonic.
The Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection of the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations group, will meet in Montreal to discuss standards for supersonic aircraft, which haven’t flown commercially for 16 years.
A concern among environmental groups is that supersonic jets burn much more fuel per passenger than conventional jets. The International Council on Clean Transportation estimates the new supersonic jets will consume as much as five to seven times as much fuel per passenger as subsonic aircraft on the same routes. That’s partly because going faster requires more fuel and partly because the supersonic jets are expected to transport significantly fewer passengers per plane.
The aviation industry has set a goal of reducing its carbon dioxide emissions by half in 2050 compared to 2005 levels, a level that’s already expected to be difficult to meet, said Dan Rutherford, director of aviation programs at the International Council on Clean Transportation.
“Adding these planes, which could be five to seven times as carbon intensive as comparable subsonic jets, on top of that just to save a few hours flying over the Atlantic seems problematic to me,” he said.
Here are the facts: Despite winter storms, global warming is real
Boom Supersonic says it is working on making its supersonic flights sustainable and that its goal is making the fuel burn necessary for supersonic travel equivalent to business class on conventional aircraft.
“We are committed to pushing the envelope to discover new ways to make supersonic travel environmentally and socially sustainable for generations to come,” said Dan Mahoney, Boom’s chief marketing officer.
Business class is between two to three times as emission intensive as economy class because the amount of energy required to fly a plane is divided among the people being flown. The more people, the more energy efficient. Business class seats fewer people, so it’s less efficient.
United Airlines is tightening its policy on emotional support animals on its flights.
Starting Monday, support animals are no longer allowed on flights longer than eight hours.
United says it’s making the change because of a rise in on-board animal-related incidents.
In addition, the airline will no longer allow kittens or puppies less than four months as support animals, in-cabin pets or service animals, saying animals that young typically haven’t had all the necessary vaccinations.
Delta and Spirit also recently changed their policies, now requiring at least 48 hours notice to bring service animals on flights.
Your emotional support animal in training may not get to fly business class anymore.
Or any other class, for that matter.
United Airlines is changing its policies regarding emotional support animals, banning animals under the age of 4 months from the cabin, “to further ensure the well-being of our employees and customers while accommodating passengers with disabilities,” the company said in a blog post on Thursday.
“This is just another move in a long line of moves to restrict pets on aircrafts,” said Christopher Elliott, founder of consumer advocacy organization Elliott.org. “Animals could go the way of peanuts on planes at some point in the future — ideally airlines do not want to have any animals in the cabin.”
The new policy will go into effect on Jan. 7 and comes weeks after Delta Air Lines made a similar change. “Animals under the age of four months typically have not received the necessary vaccinations that help ensure the safety of our employees and customers,” United said. The airline did not respond to a request for additional comment.
United will also limit animals allowed on flights, banning all emotional support animals that are not dogs and cats. Service animals, which unlike emotional support animals are trained to assist a qualified person with a disability, are still accepted on flights as long as they are a dog, cat or miniature horse, the new policy said.
This comes after United turned away one passenger in January 2018 for attempting to board with her “emotional support peacock,” for whom she had purchased a ticket.
The number of animals in the cabin has been on the rise in recent months, despite the fact that Delta, American and United Airlines have tightened paperwork requirements on emotional support animals. Most service animals, which are trained to assist a qualified person with a disability, are still accepted on flights
Delta said it had six biting incidents in a period of two months in early 2018 and the number of “animal incidents” on planes, ranging from urination to barking and biting, has increased 84 percent since 2016, Delta chief operating officer Gil West told The Wall Street Journal in August.
The airline carries an average of 700 emotional support animals per day on flights, up from 450 a day in 2016, West said.
Delta banned pit bull dogs from flights in July 2018 after a dog scratched a flight attendant, and United Airlines banned dozens of breeds of dogs from flights in May 2018, including bulldogs, Boston terriers, all kinds of pugs and boxers, Shih Tzus, mastiffs, American bully, pit bulls, American Staffordshire terrier, and Pekingese. Many of these breeds have been found to suffer respiratory problems on flights.
Elliott said the rise in animal passengers reflects a larger shift in how people view their pets — one airlines are struggling to combat.
“The role pets play in society has really shifted in the past couple years,” he said. “When people think of pets as children, they will do anything to fly with them. But pets should really stay at home.”
TAMUNING, Guam—United Airlines announced its plans for extra sections to meet the demand for travel during the upcoming Spring Break and Golden Week holiday period in Japan. United added nine extra flights on Boeing 737 aircraft between Tokyo, Narita and Guam, beginning on March 31, 2019 (March 31, April 2, April 5, April 28, April 29, May 1, May 2, May 4, and May 5). These flights will add more than 1,300 seats each way between Tokyo and Guam. This year’s Golden Week holiday is expected to last 10 days from April 27 through May 6.
United reintroduced the Boeing 777-200 aircraft on two of three daily flights between Guam and Tokyo’s Narita International Airport through March 30, 2019. During the upcoming non-peak season from April 1 through July 31, a Boeing 737 aircraft will be used for all three daily flights. United will once again reintroduce B777s on two of its three daily flights beginning August 1, 2019 though the end of the Winter Season on March 30, 2020. The reintroduction of the B777s during this period will offer customers nearly 900 daily seats each way between Tokyo and Guam.
“We are extremely pleased to offer our customers more opportunities to travel between Tokyo, Narita and Guam during the Spring and Golden Week holidays,” said Sam Shinohara, United managing director of Asia/Pacific Airport Operations. “We continue to monitor the Guam market closely and adjust accordingly to the demand for travel in a very timely manner. We are committed to working with local stakeholders and the Guam Visitors Bureau (GVB) to boost traffic to Guam. Supporting the recovering Japan market has been a top priority for our sales teams.”
Due to a strong demand for travel between Nagoya, Japan and Guam after the Winter period, United will continue to offer 11 weekly flights between the two cities. This schedule will continue to meet the strong demand for leisure travel to Guam and provide customers with convenient morning and evening departure times.
GVB president and CEO Jon Nathan Denight said, “We thank United for their unwavering support and commitment to the Guam market with the addition of the new segments and quickly adjusting to the demand for travel to Guam. We will continue to work very closely with the United team in Guam and Japan to fill these seats so we can sustain the capacity and frequency we enjoy during peak travel seasons.”
United Airlines and United Express operate approximately 4,800 flights a day to 353 airports across five continents. In 2018, United and United Express operated more than 1.7 million flights carrying more than 158 million customers. United is proud to have the world’s most comprehensive route network, including U.S. mainland hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark/New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. United operates 770 mainline aircraft and the airline’s United Express carriers operate 559 regional aircraft. The airline is a founding member of Star Alliance, which provides service to 193 countries via 28-member airlines. For more information, visit united.com, follow @United on Twitter or connect on Facebook. The common stock of United’s parent, United Continental Holdings, Inc., is traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol “UAL.” (PR)
Ever since Qantas launched its historic direct flight between Perth and London in March last year, the Australian airline has been doing more than probably any other airline to figure out the effects of ultra-long-haul travel – and how they can change consumer attitudes to ditch the layover in favour of non-stop flights no matter how long they might be. It’s not even like the 17-hour fight between Australia’s west coast and the UK capital is the longest in the world – although Qantas certainly has ambitions.
Codenamed Project Sunrise, Qantas is hoping to offer the world’s first non-stop flight from east coast Australian cities like Sydney, Melbourne and perhaps even one day, Brisbane to New York, London and Paris – all by the year 2022. The 17,016 km flight from Sydney to Europe would easily pip the current worlds longest flight record held (for the time being at least) by Singapore Airlines on its 19-hour non-stop service to New York JFK.
We’re expecting further announcements from the Project Sunrise team to be made later this year – including, and perhaps most importantly, which aircraft type will be used for what Qantas calls the “final frontier of global commercial air travel.” The airline’s new fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s may soon be joined by Airbus A350’s or Boeing’s next-generation 777X – Both are currently still in contention.
Ultra-long-haul air travel is the centrepiece of Qantas’ business strategy and its success will hinge on convincing enough people to endure 20-hours or longer sat in a metal tube hurtling through the sky.
So far, Qantas has had no problem convincing consumers to choose the direct route rather than waste hours transiting in some mid-way city like Dubai or Singapore. The airline claimed last summer that its Perth to London route was not only performing well but even “exceeding expectations”.
Independent research puts the load factor (a measure of how many seats are occupied on any given flight) at a low of 75.5% to a high of 83.7%. Figures which most definitely shouldn’t be sniffed at.
Working with Sydney University’s Charles Perkins Centre, the airline has been doing a lot of research to improve the load factor even more. One study concentrated on fitting sensors to a selection of passengers to see how they behaved on the Perth-London flight – resulting in the surprising revelation that one passenger didn’t leave his seat, not even to use the washroom, for the entirety of the 17-hour flight.
There’s also been focus group research to find out what services consumers would like to see on an ultra-long-haul flight – Stationary exercise bikes are apparently one of the requested features that passengers want.
“The engagement and enthusiasm we’re seeing from this research highlights how passionate our customers are to be a part of the evolution of ultra-long-haul travel,” explained Alison Webster, the chief executive of Qantas International.
“Our job now is to determine where the most demand is and create this cabin in a way that makes it both affordable for customers and commercially viable for the airline. Everything is on the table and we are excited about what innovations may come from this research.”
That probably means that while in-flight spinning classes make for a great headline, there’s little actual chance of seeing anything like that on a plane in the near future. Qantas and Airbus may well have touted in-flight gyms, bunk beds and more but the commercial reality makes these all but non-starters.
Instead, Qantas is likely to focus on more deliverable services – they’ve spoken of wireless noise cancelling headphones, virtual reality relaxation and entertainment, and spaces where passengers can stretch and do “gentle exercise”. On the more extreme end, there’s even the possibility of an in-flight cafe – serving wine, smoothies and canapes. A key area for attention will continue to be the airline’s so-called “wellness” cuisine programme.
“Customers are sharing some incredibly imaginative ideas, which is an exciting challenge and helps us to think outside of the box to redefine the ultra-long-haul experience,” says David Caon who is working on Project Sunrise.
“Bringing some of these concepts to life will involve an entire rethink around how to be clever about use of all cabin space and what is practically possible but it may well involve incorporating design elements never before seen on commercial aircraft.”
Jan. 28–Commercial airline travel between San Diego and Chicago could be affected by the potentially life-threatening ‘polar vortex’ weather that’s beginning to descend on the Midwest.
Southwest Airlines said Sunday that flights in and out of Chicago Midway Airport could be delayed, diverted or canceled through Friday, Feb. 1.
The airline operates daily flights between San Diego and Midway. The Chicago airport also is a key transfer point between San Diego and the Northeast, which also will receive unusually cold weather this week.
The National Weather Service says that the polar vortex — a mass of extraordinarily cold air dropping into the country from the Arctic — could drop temperatures to minus-23 degrees on Tuesday night in Chicago, and to minus 21 degrees on Wednesday night. The temperature could plunge below minus-30 degrees in other parts of the Midwest. Forecasters say the wind chill could be minus 40 on Wednesday night in northern Illinois.
The cold weather will spread into the Northeast.
Southwest said that on Monday the weather also could affect major airports in Buffalo, Cleveland, Des Moines, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Rochester.
United Airlines has issued weather-related travel waivers for dozens of airports in the Midwest and Northeast due to the polar vortex. The airline said that such waivers enable travelers to change to alternate flights without paying a change fee. The changes can be made through Jan. 29.
The affected airports include, but aren’t limited to, Buffalo, New York-Kennedy, Cleveland, New York-Newark, Philadelphia, Ottawa and Quebec City. The fee will be in effect through Feb. 1 at Chicago-O’Hare.
___ (c)2019 The San Diego Union-Tribune Visit The San Diego Union-Tribune at www.sandiegouniontribune.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Whenever the subject of electric aircraft comes up I see the room filled with skeptical looks. The looks are not unwarranted. Even electric cars remain in the low single digits for worldwide market share and electric flight is undoubtedly a greater hurdle. The enemy of flight is weight after all and batteries are rather heavy. The skepticism though, while justified, is misplaced.
The problem is that we tend to think of air transport as large intercontinental craft flying thousands of miles at a time. Those certainly exist and there’s even one that travels 9000 miles, flying 17 hours from Perth to London. The reality for most air travel, however, is somewhat different. Statistics from the US Bureau of Transportation show that the overwhelming majority of US passengers are on domestic flights and what’s more, nearly half of those are under 700 miles.
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Market (All Carriers), Passengers, All Scheduled Domestic and International within/to/from USA 2017
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics – T100 domestic, all carriers
The data graphed above shows that 20% of domestic passengers are flying under 350 miles in the USA, with nearly 50% under 700 miles. Forget about the 9,000 mile international flights, this is the market for electrified flight in the near-term. The aircraft to support it are nearly here.
I’ve written in the past about the various electric aircraft in development from companies like Zunum Aero, Wright Electric, Airbus/Siemens, NASA, Eviation, BYE, and others. It’s still very early but advancement is steady and the age of electric flight is coming. For a moment consider Zunum Aero’s aircraft, the ZA10. It’s a 12-seat hybrid for regional transport, slated to begin test flights next year and deliveries in the early 2020s. The aircraft is targeting a range of 700 miles and will have a shorter range all-electric version. There’s also a larger variant planned.
Zunum Aero’s ZA10
60 to 80% reduction in operating costs
80% lower emissions and noise
40% reduction in runway needs
Hybrid-electric range of 700 miles
Back to those skeptical looks. The financial driver for electrification is huge, with the potential to reduce operating costs 60 to 80%. More so with carbon pricing. If said hybrid aircraft also create less pollution, require shorter runways, reduce maintenance, and produce less noise, well then which carriers wouldn’t want to use them? Particularly in a regional market which, as noted previously, includes nearly 50% of all domestic flights in the US.
That all seems great, but even this understates the impact of electrification. What’s missing from the analysis is the potential for electric aircraft to fundamentally transform air travel as we know it, to vastly increase the number of flights under 700 miles.
The data we have today shows us the past, but this is the future:
Electric and hybrid aircraft have the potential to open up new regions to air travel, revitalize small neglected airports, create jobs in small communities, and make travel more enjoyable for everyone. This vision will become a necessity if we hope to have a cohesive society and growing economy,
“In the globalized economy, communities without good air service struggle to attract investment and create jobs” – Zunum Aero
There’s a wonderful write-up on IEEE Spectrum which highlights how electrification can be the catalyst that rejuvenates regional travel. The article’s authors are from Zunum Aero, including the founder and the chief technology officer.
The article includes some interesting statistics on the current state of air travel. For example, the authors note that only 1% of the airports in the USA are responsible for 96% of the air traffic and that since 1980 the average aircraft seat capacity has increased by a factor of 4. What if electric aircraft can increase travel to just some of those other airports?
The current state of air travel is largely the result of financial choices made over many decades. Larger aircraft are more economical to purchase and operate, while fewer routes keep aircraft load factors high and simplifies logistics.
“Regional Travel is Ripe for Reinvention” – JetBlue Technology Ventures
The problem with this is that large airplanes require large infrastructure to support them (think space, buildings, runways) and the noise they generate is not well liked by residents. There aren’t many airports able to accommodate these needs so people are funneled to major airports located outside of major cities, sometimes inconveniently out of the way of the passengers’ ultimate destinations. This means more time is spent traveling to the airport, at the airport, and flying on the airplane, for an experience that is all to often chaotic and impersonal. In fact, door to door travel times have actually gotten worse for regional air travel, not better. Add in a snowstorm or a single large aircraft is delay and it can become a logistical nightmare.
The benefits of electric aircraft are particularly well suited to regional air travel needs. The question is, will it be enough to usher in a renaissance for regional flight, where smaller aircraft travel more routes and to smaller airports? I certainly think so. Toronto has a great example of how this might occur. The Toronto Island airport can only operate small aircraft due to noise restrictions, but it’s use has grown steadily. It’s accessibility from downtown and the spectacular speed of service are key drivers. With electric aircraft I believe this type of scenario will become the norm.
Now, what if you could do it from your own front door?
Hyper-local air travel with electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (E-VTOL)
Imagine this. You wake up in the morning, dress, open your phone and request an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (VTOL) to take you to a city a few hours drive away. An electric autonomous car picks up you and drives you to a local VTOL access point, on top of a parkade near your home. Several small two and four seat aircraft are waiting there. Maybe someone is there to greet you but it’s only customary. Your phone recognizes your access and opens up the passenger compartment to your aircraft. You get in, there is no pilot, no cockpit – the vehicle is autonomous. Quickly the electric motors spin up, the craft rises into the air and carries you directly into the centre of a nearby city. Or maybe you go to a remote campsite or to an airport outside of the city where you can access an intercontinental flight. All of this for a cost less than traditional means of transport.
Long have we been promised a future of flying cars, but this time electric propulsion and increased autonomy can actually make it happen. Check out the video below of the first full scale test flight of the Lilium Jet in 2017. Such ideas were once confined to science fiction, but no more. Yes, this technology is in the early stages and it remains to be seen how far batteries can take us. Yet those batteries get better each year. For Lilium’s part they have manned test flights coming next year and they are targeting a range of 300km and speed of 300km/hr. That could open up a whole new type of air travel.
Electric VTOL – Lilium
Lilium started in 2013 with the vision of developing an all-electric “air-taxi” vehicle.
There are now dozens of companies working on electric VTOL aircraft, with over 100 projects underway. Norway’s aircraft operator Avinor even issued a report earlier this year that sees a path to small VTOL aircraft with 1 or 2 passengers in the early to mid 2020’s, with larger 4 or 5 person craft reaching market by the end of the 2020’s.
The fascinating world of VTOLs aside, fixed-wing hybrid and electric regional jets provide an obvious path for electrification. This will reduce operating costs, open up new opportunities for passengers, and reduced the environmental impact of flying. It’s where corporations and countries are already going. Norway for example has a target of 2030 for all regional flights to be fully electric, not hybrid, fully electric. While operators and manufacturers are pushing to see who can take the lead. One thing is certain, with the coming advancements in electric flight regional transport will never be the same.
